Commentary:
Yung Chia Chan or Zen Master advised us to develop an intuitive insight into the Ultimate Reality. The Ultimate Reality is the perfect wisdom of Chan transmitted by the Chan master from generation to generation. Besides, a Chan or Zen practioner should investigate deeply and discern the Word of the Buddha or the Buddhist canonical texts as Chan meditation alone is not sufficient. The self-awakening ought to be endorsed and invigorated by the right understanding of the scriptures. Even though Bodhidharma recommends direct understanding of the mind beyond the scriptures to self-actualize gnosis, the Buddhist Scriptures must not discarded. They are very helpful like a road map which guides the practioners on the right path leading to the soteriological goal of Nirvāṇa. This will strengthen right concentration and will invigorate perfection of wisdom realized. It is only during the process of meditation that everything including the scriptures must be abandoned. Any thought about the scriptures during the process of meditation will impede enlightenment. Enlightenment requires the utility of the intuitive mind – the inner Heart. Intuitive mind is the mind of equanimity beyond intellect or conceptualization. Ordinary conceptual or intellectual mind conceals the Truth of Emptiness – the dependently co-arisen Unity or Non-duality. This is precisely the reason why the scriptures are not thought of during the process of meditation.
Initial self-awakening or gnosis may not be profound. Having perceived the Buddha-nature within or the Emptiness of the five aggregates, the Chan or Zen gnostic should cultivate further on the basis of the initial intuitive penetration of the Buddha-nature and emptiness of the world through instantaneous self-awakening aided by the master.
The perfection of wisdom is consummated if and only if there is not even any grasping upon the Emptiness. All forms of ontological commitment cease. Ontological commitment is substantial worldview which results in object reification and mental obssessions. Mental obsessions dye to conceptualizations are the products of grasping upon the five aggregates as this is I; this is mine ; this belongs to me. Most importantly, the Enlightened One utilizes the conventions of the mundane world without any ontological commitment (object reification) which is either attachment or aversion. This is, in essence, the perfection of wisdom of adopting middle path of self-actualizing Emptiness of Emptiness which is the climax of any spirituality of any esoteric religion including Buddhism. The first emptiness is derived from destruction of ontological commitment or substantial view of ontology of becoming. The second emptiness is perfect emptiness in which even emptiness is not grasped upon. It is then followed by reconstruction of phenomena (dharmas) to recognize relative truth of the empirical world. The final contemplation is the middle path. One should verify one’s soteriology by reading and comprehending the Sūtras, such as the Diamond Sūtra after meditation exercises.
Diamond Sūtra expounds the three-fold truth of one mind in three contemplations. The first contemplation is the deconstruction of all phenomena to admit the Emptiness or dependently co-arisen Unity of all phenomena. Next, all phenomena are reconstructed to preserve the middle path. The illusive conventional truth and the ultimate Truth are interpenetrative and co-exist. The purpose of deconstruction is to eliminate grasping upon all phenomena. The purpose of reconstruction is to preserve the pragmatic value of the conventional truth in mundane life.
The ultimate Truth is the One ; the conventional truth is the many. The middle path is the One is in the many and the many is in the One. The One and the many are reciprocal and inseparable. Therefore, Chan masters expound that sentient beings, mind and Buddha are one and the same. This is synonymous with the immanence and transcendence of God in Monotheism. There is one and only Truth in the universe: The One is All; the All is the One. This is the universal Truth of all religions. The One is Emptiness and the All is all phenomena. Therefore, we have Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form which is Buddhist Theosophy expressed in the Heart Sūtra.
The middle path is that one’s Buddha-mind perceives the Truth of multiplicity while one is immersed in the world of multiplicity. This is optimum level of self-realization that the phenomena and the principle are unobstructed. When the phenomena and the principle are unobstructed, the phenomena and phenomena are unobstructed. This is the true state of liberation of the mind in the world of multiplicity. It is the non-discriminative wisdom of dwelling in the world of multiplicity or discrimination without the notion of multiplicity or discrimination. This is the perfect level of being in unity with the realm of the Buddha (unity with the cosmos). It is living in oneness of the world without any sense of separation. This is the perfection of discerning the Emptiness or Oneness of the world. Emptiness rejects individualities or individuations. This is the communal Truth of Wisdom realized by all Enlightened Ones (Buddhas) since time immemorial.
Chan Master, Young Chia admitted that he was not alone who had perceived the Buddha or had realized the oneness of the world.There is an infinite number of Buddhas of the past and present before him who have fully realized the communal truth of Emptiness – the ultimate reality of Unity, Insubstantiality or Non-duality. Chan Master Young Chia communicated the truth that every sentient being is potentially a Buddha – the innate divine nature of Man. A Buddha is a Gnostic who knows the full Truth of relative truth and ultimate Truth and their relationship.
