By Phanuthep
During the Buddha’s time many people were suddenly enlightened by just hearing few words of the Buddha. If we notice something most of those people were illiterate, their mind and thought were not much complicated. As a matter of fact, the teaching of the Buddha was something that was simple and uncomplicated. It was right before their eyes. Every sentient being has the potential to fully realize it. They just need to sincerely aspire with a concentrated will. So anyone can attain the stages of enlightenment. Mahaparinirvana Sutra states that all sentient beings possess the nature of a Buddha. From this a fundamental principle of the doctrine of sudden enlightenment is established: "spiritual cultivation cannot be cultivated."[1]
Sudden enlightenment is the main characteristic of Ch’an which is well known as Southern
The mind is the Bodhi tree,
The body is the mirror stand.
The mirror is originally clean and pure;
Where can it be stained by dust?
Hui Neng’s poem illustrates “sudden” enlightenment. It was recognized as southern school. According to him, our minds are already “clean and pure.” This method is suitable for someone with very keen faculty and ability, who is also spiritually ripen, may attain sudden enlightenment with turn of words. As the case of Hui neng, who attained sudden enlightenment while listening to a few words of the Diamond Sutra from the fifth patriarch when he transmits succession to him.
Shen hsiu is a pupil of Hong ren. He has high education but has no potential to realize the Buddha nature as hui neng. He composed the poem which was argued by Hui neng
The body is the Bodhi tree,
The mind is like a clear mirror.
At all times we must strive to polish it,
And must not let the dust collect.
Shen Hsiu’s poem illustrates “gradual” enlightenment. It was recognized as Northern school. This method has to use effort and practice to purify the mind such as by practicing meditation. This method is for people who have inferior faculty and ability. Their thoughts are more complicated and not much capable to realize the Buddha nature.
In the records of Agamas state that, the way of enlightenment is sudden, not gradual. The gradual practices are just preparation for sudden enlightenment. Just like gradually chopping a tree down then it suddenly falls. Tsung mi (780-841), a ch’an master says, “While awakening from delusion is sudden. The transformation of an unenlightened person into an enlightened person is gradual.”[3] The Platform Sutra itself states that “fundamentally there is no differentiation to be made between “gradual” and “sudden” as they relate to enlightenment.”[4]
The stages to achieve enlightenment are four fold levels, the first stage is Arahant, the second stage is Pratyekabuddha, the third stage is Bodhisattva, and the forth stage is Tathagata or Buddha. For attaining each stage, it depends on their karma and Punna which means how much that they had accumulated previously, like for attaining Tathagata stage we must walk in the Bodhisattva path by practicing paramitas in many Asamkheya kalpas or incalculable of years. Sakyamuni Buddha had to go through three asamkheya kalpas and he does not want us to suffer the same way unnecessarily. He tried to help sentient beings to attain nirvana as much as he can do. But the way to attain it, depend on ability of each person. The person who are clever and have capacity can achieve sudden enlightenment in one life time. For the person who are dull and have inferior ability have to gradually practice step by step.
Gradual enlightenment is the way of practice by going through the various stages of practice from an ordinary or mundane being to all the way towards Buddhahood. This method has to be gone higher step by step as climbing up to the mountain so that we gradually can see the further view. When we reach to the top of apex we ultimately perfect all virtue and merits and reach Buddhahood, we can understand and see the truth in vast area.
Sudden enlightenment is to realize that provided that the ordinary mind in the present moment is free from any effort of pretension then this very mind is wisdom, true suchness, the profound Bodhi mind of the Tathagata. Attainment through this method is pursued by using no method and by not understanding it. The true nature is already within us, we don’t need to think so much, no need to find any formula to attain it. Just release all thinking, all bondages, and then we can realize Buddha nature inside. As Hui neng said about his method that “without thinking of what is good, with out thinking of bad, right here and now, where are you?” [5]
The way to reach the aim is just not attaching to anything, not making our mind complicated, no questioning, no thinking. Then we realize the truth of nature and the pure mind of Buddha nature seeing things as there are. To reach the aim depends on our mind. Everything is already there. If we think the aim is far away from us, then it is really very far from us, and may be we have no chance to reach the aim in this life time. But if we think it is not so far away, it is possible to reach that aim very soon. Actually our minds are already pure as we all have Buddha nature. Tsung mi state that, “Sudden enlightenment is the experience in which one sees that one's true nature is, and always has been, wholly identical with that of all Buddhas.”[6] Dharma is the truth. It already exists in this world. All Buddhas just discovered it. The dharmas are same eventhough they may be in different period of times of each Buddhas. Then when anyone attained the stage of Buddhahood they attained the same knowledge of the truth and that mind is Buddha.
There are two methods to approach enlightenment, gradual and sudden enlightenment. Peter Gregory illustrates distinctions between gradually and suddenly as follow.
“The rose grew slowly; I am suddenly aware that it has blossomed. The temperature drops slowly; I am suddenly aware that I am cold. My blood sugar level drops slowly; I am suddenly aware of hunger. They have all gradually fallen asleep; I am suddenly aware that the house is quiet. I had listened to his boring conversation for an hour when I suddenly realised what he was trying to tell me. The noise in the (suspension, gearbox, engine) had risen slowly; I am suddenly aware that there is a major mechanical difficulty.”[7]
Wherever there is a sensory threshold there is suddenness. Wherever there is continuous change there is gradualness. Hui neng state that “The dharma is without sudden and gradual; it is people that are clever or dull, therefore the names of sudden and gradual” [8]
Understanding Dharma, Understanding True mind, Buddha dharma is the truth of all truth. Convention truth can be changed with time and space but Buddha dharma is absolute truth that does not change with time and space. As the Platform sutra state that “In term of space, there are east, west, north, and south, in term of people there are rich, poor, noble, and common, but this mind that everyone has is neither in the east, west, north nor south, neither rich, poor, noble nor common, neither male or female old nor young.”[9] So this is an absolute truth. Who is right? Who is wrong? It is not easy to say for sure. This is different time and different place. As the case of Hui neng he is illiterate, in the beginning when we know that we may say he is so stupid, cannot read and write. But finally he has potential to attain enlightenment before others. Then stupid and intelligent how it is different, we just concept it. Everything is manifestation of the mind. Everything is empty. Dharmas are empty. We cannot define anything. We can see dharma by seeing thing as they are. The world in all direction, north, south, east, west, above and below, all space and time are within our mind. The mind is limitless. It has no boundaries. The mind knows no distance. Our minds have potential to understand everything as the sutra state, “If you put your mind in one place, it can accomplish anything.” [10] As we can see how amazing are those people, who created spaceship to fry to the moon, created satellites for communication around the world. But these things come from thoughts which look outward. If we can learn to look inward and listen within, we also will be able to realize our mind and thought then we will reach serenity and calm at the spot.
Our thought is working all the time by never resting since we were born till we die. In each moment there are four stage of thought, arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. In the sutra it says that “840 million thought go by each day and night.”[11] Most of the time in our life, we spent our thought with the waste of things that are all illusion. In one life time, half of our life we spent on sleeping, and other half is spent on dreaming. Things in our thought are just manifestation of our mind. These are two biggest attachment and delusion. Sudden enlightenment is to understand and realize the true nature of mind, as the sutra says, “A mind without mundane defilement is the way to supreme enlightenment.”[12] Our minds originally are pure as Buddha nature.
Conclusion
The potential to attain Buddhahood for people in nowadays are distinct from the past, because their minds are different. We may think people in these days more intelligent than people in the past, because we have more high education and more high technology. But actually those things make our thought more complicated. Our minds are not naïve as people in the past. This is a big obstacle to attain Buddhahood, because to realize Buddha nature within us cannot be realized by rational thought. The way is, we have to make our mind free from any bondage. But this way is very difficult for people at the present time to practice; because their minds have a lot of attachments. So the methods of practice in achieving Buddhahood in this generation should be both Gradual and Sudden. While preparing for Sudden Enlightenment we must practice the gradual cultivation of our mind until these are well ripen enough to achieve Sudden Enlightenment.
bibliography
Stevenson, Dan. Hoof print of the ox: Princiles of the Chan Buddhist Path as taught by a modern Chinese master.
Ray ,Gary L., The Northern Ch'an School And Sudden Versus Gradual Enlightenment Debates In China And Tibet,
Gregory, Peter (edited), Sudden & Gradual, Excerpts from and commentary on a book titled Sudden & Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, 1987 http://www.tphta.ws/index.htm Accessed: November 12, 2006
Gregory, Peter (edited), Sudden & Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Motilal Banarsidass,
Yuansong, Li, Sudden Enlightenment is the Essence of Buddhism
http://www.buddhistinformation.com/sudden_enlightenment_is_the_esse.htm Accessed: November 12, 2006
Chueh, Wei, Gradual Cultivation and Sudden Enlightenment
This talk was given on December 22, 2001, at Buddha Gate Monastery. It was translated orally by Ven. Jian-Hu, CA,
[1] Gregory, Peter (edited), Sudden & Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought,
[2] Ray ,Gary L., The Northern Ch'an School And Sudden Versus Gradual Enlightenment Debates
In
3 Gregory, Peter (edited), Sudden & Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, 1987, http://www.tphta.ws/index.htm
[4] Stevenson, Dan. Hoof print of the ox:
[5] Stevenson, Dan. Hoof print of the ox:
[6] Gregory, Peter (edited), Sudden & Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought,
[7] Gregory, Peter (edited), Sudden & Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought,
[8] Ray ,Gary L., The Northern Ch'an School And Sudden Versus Gradual Enlightenment Debates
In
[9] Chueh, Wei, Gradual Cultivation and Sudden Enlightenment, Buddha Gate Monastery, CA, 2002, p.2
[10] Chueh, Wei, Gradual Cultivation and Sudden Enlightenment, Buddha Gate Monastery, CA, 2002, p.10
[11] Chueh, Wei, Gradual Cultivation and Sudden Enlightenment, Buddha Gate Monastery, CA, 2002, p.5
[12] Chueh, Wei, Gradual Cultivation and Sudden Enlightenment, Buddha Gate Monastery, CA, 2002, p.5
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