Zen and Purification

Question: Buddhism says that Zen Master Yongming Yanshou is the return of Amitabha Buddha. The “Four Materials Slips” left by the old man said, “There is Zen but no Pure Land, and nine out of ten people will miss the road.” The old man himself is a Zen disciple, but he said that Zen is not as good as the Pure Land. How do you understand this sentence?

Answer: The four sentences are: There is Zen but no Pure Land. Nine out of ten people are on the wrong road. The underworld suddenly appears in front of you. Just take a look and let it go. / There is a pure land without Zen, and thousands of people will go there. But if you can see Amitabha, why not worry about not being enlightened. / There is Zen and there is a pure land, just like a tiger wearing a horn, it is a teacher in this world and a Buddha in the next life. / There is no Zen, no Pure Land, a copper bed and iron pillars, for thousands of kalpas and thousands of lives, no one to rely on.

My understanding is:

When the World Honored One was alive, there was only Buddhism, and there were no sects or sects within the religion. After the Buddha’s nirvana*1, with the widespread spread of Buddhism and the different methods of practice, there gradually emerged the divisions of Mahayana and Mahayana, or the divisions of Southern Buddhism and Northern Buddhism, as well as the different cultivation methods of the five sects of Zen Buddhism, Vinaya and Tantra. . Although it is divided into five sects, the purpose is the same: to get rid of delusions and attachments and achieve the Buddhahood.

“The pure mind means the Buddha Land is pure.” The purpose of Zen teachings, Vajrayana, and Tantra is to purify the mind, and to observe the precepts as the foundation. There is no distinction between high and low. The word Pure Land refers to the purity of mind, not specifically to Pure Land Sect. The Pure Land Sect uses reciting the name of the Buddha as a method to calm the mind and stop delusion, and it is also a method common to other sects to stop delusion and prevent wrongdoing. Zen meditation is another method used by Zen disciples to help them “clear their minds and see their nature” and develop wisdom based on chanting the Buddha’s name. Patriarch Bodhidharma said: “The Buddha is the mind, the mind is the Buddha, the Buddha is the Tao, and the Tao is Zen.” Therefore, Zen and Jing, as well as other sects, are brothers with the same roots and the same surname. ?.

As for Zen Master Yongming Shou’s “Four Material Slips”, judging from the phenomenon at that time and now, it is completely correct. This is how I understand it:

“There is Zen but no Pure Land. Nine out of ten people are on the wrong road. The underworld suddenly appears. I will follow him.”

The Zen practiced by many people in modern times, as time goes by, is far from the Zen of the period when “holding flowers and smiling” or even when Patriarch Bodhidharma faced the wall. There are more and more people who practice Zen but have no concentration. They only learn to meditate but don’t know how to cultivate their mind. The majority of people seek help from outside. I am only satisfied with getting a little “purity” and “peace”. Or if you feel a little light and airy, you may think that you have mastered the skills and have “achieved enlightenment.” You can’t make further progress. However, this kind of “kung fu” is only the realm in the early stage of Zen meditation, it is a “yin realm” and it is not the ultimate state. If you run away with the underworld, you have lost the right path, which is not Zen. If you don’t correct it in time, you will just “let it go”. This is all caused by not seeking inwardly to cultivate the mind, but by seeking outwardly, so “nine out of ten people make mistakes”.

Therefore, those who only know how to meditate but do not purify their minds will have no benefit from practicing Zen, and there is no Zen to talk about.

“There is a pure land without Zen, and thousands of people will practice it. But if you can see Amitabha, why not worry about not being enlightened.”

People who don’t like to sit and meditate, but can cultivate their minds by seeking inwardly, “bearing what others cannot bear, doing what others cannot do, doing the work for others, is the beauty of adulthood”, sitting quietly thinking about one’s own mistakes, and chatting regardless of people’s faults…such a practitioner is Having seen the true nature of Amitabha, he will definitely be reborn in bliss in the future, so it is called “Thousands of people who cultivate and go”. If you just recite the Buddha’s name with your mouth without actual practice, even if you recite it through your throat, it will be in vain, and you will not see Amitabha in the end.

“There is Zen and there is a pure land, just like a tiger with horns.” The tiger is inherently powerful. If it grows two more horns, wouldn’t it be powerful and powerful, and it will definitely achieve success. It is natural to become a Buddha for your teacher! This is the practice method praised by Zen Master Yongmingshou. Otherwise, why would a horned tiger be used as a metaphor for “Zen plus purification”?

As for those who have no good roots, they neither practice Zen nor recite the Buddha’s name. After being in a coma for a lifetime and coming to the human world for nothing, it is natural that once the body is lost, “there will be no one to rely on for a thousand kalpas and a thousand lifetimes.”