Zen

Minghui briefly mentioned Zen in her blog. It reminds me of this Zen story which I like alot. This story also brings out the core philosophy of Zen, and it roughly goes like this:

 

 

Once upon a time, there was this very highly respected Zen master, 禪宗五祖 - 弘忍, who knew he was going to die soon. So, in order to decide who would be his successor, he called all his diciples to him and said:

 

"Today, I am going to test you on your understanding on Zen teachings. Summarise the Zen philosophy into a short 4 sentence poem. Who wants to go first?" The eldest diciple, 神秀, stood up and recited this poem:

身是菩提树,  Body is Puti tree,
心如明镜台；Heart is like mirror stand.
时时勤拂拭,  Clean frequently and deligently,
莫使染尘埃。Never let them get dusty.

 

-神秀

 

What he meant was that a man's Body and Heart (Mind) will always have impure thoughts. We must practice Zen meditation frequently and deligently to purify the Mind and Body to reach a peaceful and enlightened state.

 

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Everyone clapped. All the diciples thought it was a very good poem which clearly demostrated a good understanding of the Zen philosophy. However, at this point, another diciple, 慧能, suddenly stood up and said he has another poem! It goes like this:

菩提本非树， Puti originally is not tree,
明镜亦非台， Mirror is also not stand.
本来无一物， If there is Nothing in the first place,
何处染尘埃？ Where do the dust land on?

 

-慧能

 

This is in reponse to 神秀's poems, demonstrating another interpretation of the Zen philosophy. 神秀's understanding of Zen state still includes 'Body' and 'Mind'. However,  慧能's understanding of Zen is that Zen's eventual aim to reach a state that is so PEACEFUL that even the concept of 'Self' (tree / body and mirror / mind) is forgotten - so much so that the issue of 'impure thoughts' is not even an issue anymore. Only then can TRUE enlightenment be achieved.

 

This is the real meaning of Zen saying: "万物皆空".

 

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So in the end, 弘忍 passed the mantle to 慧能, who became 禪宗六祖. 神秀 eventually went off and set up another school in the north, teaching his understanding of Zen, hence dividing Zen into two schools of thoughts - the new 禪宗北宗 and the original 中土禪宗.

 

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So, Minghui, when you said, 'Need to practice Zen.... seriously... clear my mind...' , do you mean 'clear your mind of impure thoughts' or literally 'clear your mind' (until you have no mind)? Haha!

 

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Actually, I have composed another poem in response to 慧能 's poem!  It goes like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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^_^

 

Disclaimer: Translation and interpretation of the poems is done by me, they may not be 100% true to the meaning behind the poems (esp the 'mirror stand' part, haha).