Publish Date:2024-12-24
The bulk of religious activities of the Buddhist Chan Order and also the bulk of religious activities of Buddhism in China as a whole, are the day-to-day self-cultivation carried on by all individual practitioners. What is the guiding principle for them to abide by in their day-to-day self-cultivation activities? It is the “Four Practices” (in Chinese: 二入四行) which were bequeathed to us by Bodhidharma at the time when he began to propagate Chan in China. The “Four Practices”, as a Chan concept, is not difficult to understand. Rather, it is easy to comprehend and feasible in its application as basic behavioral norms. Most contemporary Buddhist votaries are familiar with them, because they have long been established as a tradition in the past millennium. Without them the Buddhist Chan Order would have been disbanded long ago. And so would Buddhism in China have been, had the “Four Practices” ever lapsed into oblivion. That the emergence of the special form of heart-to-heart and outside-of-the-Scriptures transmission of Dharma, which was initiated in China by Bodhidharma, was possible is precisely due to the concomitant execution of the “Four Practices” and also due to the emphasis raised within the Buddhist Chan Order on the cardinal importance of the “Four Practices”. Otherwise neither the Buddhist Chan Order nor Buddhism in China as a whole would remain as they are today. It is plain that the activities of the “koan” practice alone can never elevate a Chan practitioner to the platform of enlightenment. Nor the transmundane paths to enlightenment, which are often attempted by those of higher spiritual advancement, are as feasible as some would imagine. Therefore if a practitioner who is truly fond of the activities of the “koan” practice and believe that they are conducive to his everyday effort at practicing self-cultivation should not remain contented merely with his capacity for duly appreciating the wisdom and religious insight evinced in every “koan” case. He should urge himself to strive for an in-depth and balanced understanding of Buddhism as a whole. Devoid of an in-depth and balanced understanding of Buddhism, he cannot be rated as being able to differentiate the Buddhist Chan Order from other sects of Buddhism. In that case he would neither be able to comprehend the “koan” practice thoroughly and nor be able to have a complete knowledge about the workings of “hua-tou”.
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