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A TASTE LIKE THE OCEAN

1

WHAT IS CHAN?

Chan is a happy life with wisdom and compassion.

To learn Chan is to learn to be happy, to learn to lead a happy life.

What are wisdom and compassion?

I cannot tell you.

You have to experience them for yourself.

2

CHAN IS NOT the formal teaching of what is called the buddhadharma, which in this case refers to the terminology of Buddhism, the book learning and formal corpus of Buddhist knowledge. The teachings of Chan are called Xinfa in Chinese—the teaching of heart and mind. In Chan, we open our hearts and minds to our loved ones and then to the whole world.

In Chinese we have a saying that approximates the Golden Rule: “If you do not wish it to happen to you, do not do it to others.” Isn’t it wonderful that East and West came up with the same basic thought about the way people should treat each other?

In the West, the Golden Rule is a basis of moral behavior that, if followed, helps people live together in peace and harmony. But in Chan it is not only this. There is more to it. We see no separation between me and you, us and them. We are all the same. The interconnection between all of us and the entire universe, in fact, is not speculative or theoretical. It is experiential and exists in every breath we take, in every moment we share on this great earth.

An expression of this in Chan is the sagara mudra, otherwise known as the oceanic mudra, a form of samadhi. Everything flows into the ocean. The ocean accommodates the big and small, the whales and prawns. We sometimes think of the waves and water as different. Big waves look down at small waves. Small waves feel inferior to waves that are big. Yet when the ocean calms and becomes tranquil and flat, where is the difference in the size of the waves?

We all have the same buddha nature. All the teachings are the same. They all have one taste like the ocean. The taste of salt.

The Chan experience is to realize that the happiness of the self is dependent on the happiness of others. In Chinese we say, “Buddhas of the ten directions breathe through the same nostril.” We all breathe together.

This is a very Chinese idea: the strong, tight sense of family, the strong interconnection between all levels of society. But in Chan, the hierarchies, so much a part of the Confucian model, are dispensed with. We are all equal. We not only treat others as we would have them treat us. We are others. There is no difference. No separation.

This is the insight behind what we call the Four Immeasurables, the way in Chan we aspire to treat others. The first immeasurable is metta, loving-kindness, the genuine wish that I may be well as you may be well. The second is karuna, to remove suffering: When I see you suffering, I will make you well. The third is mudita: The joy at your happiness is my joy, and there is no envy in it, no regret; we rejoice in each other’s merits. The fourth immeasurable is upeksha, nonattachment: I remove your suffering, but I do not think I’m superior. This is the quality of equanimity.

3

WHAT IS BEAUTY in Chan? To see something fully, experience it fully, and become one with it.

4

WE CALL CHAN a lazy practice. You are lazy in Chan. Why? Because you stay with the method. You don’t go out to wandering and scattered thoughts. You don’t go into the past or the future. Thoughts say: “Come, come, come! Come out and play!” And you reply, “No, thank you. I’m too lazy!”

5

CHAN, ZEN, SON, and Thien are four brothers. Chan is Chinese; Zen, Japanese; Son, Korean; and Thien, Vietnamese.

Chan is the eldest brother.

Chan derives from the Sanskrit word dhyana, or “meditative states.” But it is not about these meditative states of absorption but rather about wisdom. Zen, Son, and Thien are renditions of the word “Chan” in their various languages.

In Chan, you find masters who study, teach, and merge with other schools of Buddhism. But they are still, at their root, Chan masters. In all schools of Chinese Buddhism, you need to meditate. So you find the Chan spirit everywhere.

Chan is a Mahayana school of Buddhism, known as the larger vehicle. The practitioner of Chan is motivated by compassion, or bodhicitta. The Mahayana vow is to deliver all sentient beings, putting others before oneself.

This is the northern tradition of Buddhism as it exists in Asia. The southern tradition is Theravada, which generally speaking took hold in Thailand, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. The Buddhism that exists in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines is a combination of Mahayana and Theravada. In the rest of the world, including America, we see a mix of Theravada and Mahayana.

6

BODHIDHARMA, ACCORDING TO some legends a Persian prince, is credited as the first lineage holder of Chan. According to most sources, he came to China in around 530 CE to teach “a special transmission outside scriptures, not founded in words and letters.” Scholars disagree about whether he was an actual person or a composite.

I resonate with Bodhidharma for the strength of his practice. According to Chan legend, he spent nine years sitting in meditation in a cave. He was a traveler and went to a distant land where everything was strange and unfamiliar. I too have had that experience—more than once! Bodhidharma sat and sat and patiently waited for his teachings to take hold. I try to follow his example. Still, his approach is a bit too Indian for me, and he was a prince; my parents were simple people.

I have a special feeling for the sixth lineage holder, Huineng. He was a commoner like me and a woodcutter by trade. He was told by the fifth lineage master, Hongren: Go pound rice. That was his practice.

Huineng went into hiding because Hongren had given him transmission and verified his enlightenment experience. He gave him an alms bowl and a set of robes to signify his attainment. But he also told him to slip away in the middle of the night because Hongren’s many other disciples were sure to be jealous and might not only try to strip Huineng of his bowl and robes but do away with him altogether because he was a painful reminder of their own lack of attainment.

Huineng left in the middle of the night and went to go live with the tribes, the hunters of the deep forests and the hills.

What I particularly love about Huineng is that his teachings are so direct and down-to-earth. He has a patience and gentleness that is very Chinese. He was so ordinary. So quiet. In his teachings, Chan finds its distinctively Chinese voice. It is adaptable, inclusive, all embracing, and accessible to common people. It is about daily living.

When I think of Huineng, I see him chopping wood and pounding rice.