師示衆云 此門坐禪 元不著心 亦不著淨 亦不是不動 若言著心 心元是妄 知心如幻 故無所著也 若言著淨 人性本淨 由妄念故 蓋覆真如 但無妄想 性自清淨 起心著淨 卻生淨妄 妄無處所 著者是妄 淨無形相 卻立淨相 言是工夫 作此見者 障自本性 卻被淨縛 善知識 若修不動者 但見一切人時 不見人之是非善惡過患 即是自性不動
Shī shì zhòng yún cǐ mén zuò chán yuán bù zhuó xīn yì bù zhuó jìng yì bú shì bù dòng ruò yán zhuó xīn xīn yuán shì wàng zhī xīn rú huàn gù wú suǒ zhuó yě ruò yán zhuó jìng rén xìng běn jìng yóu wàng niàn gù gài fù zhēn rú dàn wú wàng xiǎng xìng zì qīng jìng qǐ xīn zhuó jìng què shēng jìng wàng wàng wú chù suǒ zhuó zhě shì wàng jìng wú xíng xiàng què lì jìng xiàng yán shì gōng fū zuò cǐ jiàn zhě zhàng zì běn xìng què bèi jìng fù shàn zhī shí ruò xiū bù dòng zhě dàn jiàn yī qiē rén shí bù jiàn rén zhī shì fēi shàn è guò huàn jí shì zì xìng bù dòng
Key Message
True seated meditation is not a matter of form. Without attaching to purity and without judging others' right and wrong, one allows the inherently pure self-nature to manifest naturally — that is genuine Chan.
▸The Chapter on Seated Meditation contains Huineng's revolutionary redefinition of what zazen (坐禪) truly means.
The Chapter on Seated Meditation contains Huineng's revolutionary redefinition of what zazen (坐禪) truly means. Traditional seated meditation involved sitting with the body upright to still the mind or contemplate purity. Huineng overturns this completely. True Chan meditation is not about attaching the mind (著心), nor about attaching to purity (著淨), nor about mere physical stillness. Since the mind is originally illusory, there is nothing to attach to. Since human nature is inherently pure, setting up 'purity' as a goal is unnecessary. Attaching to purity only creates a new delusion — a 'purity-delusion.' True non-movement (不動) of self-nature means that when one sees all people, one sees no right or wrong, no good or evil, no faults — that is, one does not engage in discriminative thinking.