Commentary:
Since Chan Master Yung Chia was self-awakened to the ultimate Truth of Unborn. The Unborn refers to the Absolute Truth or Reality of neither arising nor ceasing or neither beginning nor ending. It is the state of a Tathāgata. The unborn is the transcendence of time, space and karmic bondage. It connotes full liberation from suffering. The Unborn is the final spiritual station of spiritual attainment called Nirvāṇa.
Psychologically, Nirvāṇa is the complete silence of the chatter of human mind. It is the complete appeasement of human dispositions. It is a beautiful state of avoiding evils , doing good and having purified the mind. It is liberative wisdom of dying before one dies. The false self is annihilated and the new True Self is born. Consequently, Yung Chia was able to abide at ease and was undefiled by desires. His desires were selfless and therefore cankerless. He remained equanimous towards disgrace and success; shame and honor. He was not averse towards disgrace. Neither was he attached to success or accomplishment.
Even though he had actualized gnosis certified by imperial China’s 6th Chan Patriarch, he still dwelled in the hut in the deep forest on a mountain. He would meditate and live in solitude in the hut peacefully in order to sustain the Original Face of the Unborn discerned. Not only his sitting meditation was Chan which is the manifest of the Body of Truth (Dharmakā̄ya). Dharmakāya is manifested only after the complete extinction of self-centric ego. Every action of his body, speech and mind was the manifest of Dharmakāya.
Dharmakāya is the spiritual product of perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). His walking, his running, his eating, his relaxation and any action of daily activities were directed and empowered by Chan. Chan, the perfection of wisdom, is manifested in the form of Truth Body (Dharmakāya). Dharmakāya is synonymous with the Holy Spirit of God because Holy Spirit is born from the extinction of self-centric ago. From Sufi perspective , Chan or Dharmakāya is Baqā resulted from al-Fanā’. Al- Fanā’ is the extinction of self-centric ego. Baqā is the soteriological summit of Non-duality (Advyaya) – the Unity with God.
Whoever has discerned the Unborn or Buddha-nature does as the Buddha does; speaks as the Buddha speaks; thinks as the Buddha thinks. All actions of the Buddha are cankerless and are directed and empowered by pure, infinite consciousness of the True Self. The True Self is the Cosmic Self which is the Buddha-mind.
An ordinary worldling acts with his or her carnal self or false self. Likewise, Yung Chia had perceived ultimate Reality of Emptiness (‘Sūnyatā) or Insubstantiality (Nairātmya) of his five aggregates (pañcaskandhas) like the floating clouds. Whoever has discerned Emptiness or Insubstantiality comprehends the ultimate Truth (Paramārtha Satya) of dependently co-arisen non-dual Unity. Non-dual Unity is process becoming which is dynamic. Intuitive discernment of Truth or Gnosis (Jñāna) indicates training period of a Gnostic has ended and there is no more to be learnt. What is to be done has been done. This is the soteriological state of a Gnostic (Jñāni). Yung Chia was one of the Mahāyāna Buddhist Gnostics who is the Knower of Truth. Gnostics are the Enlightened Ones , the supermodels to be emulated by all Buddhists.
His Chan poetry ‘The Song of Enlightenment’ mirrors not only his state of self-enlightenment (bodhi) but also the state of enlightenment of ‘Sākyamuni Buddha. His poetry of ‘The Song of Enlightenment’ enjoys equal prestige and liberative value as any Buddhist Sūtra expounded by the Exalted One (Bhagavan). His poetry ‘The Song of Enlightenment’ is actually an encapsulation of the entire Mahāyāna canonical texts, the Tripitaka. This explains why his celebrated Chan poetry has attracted countless Chan practioners worldwide to study and to practise on its basis hitherto. It is a useful road map to guide Chan practioners on their esoteric journey of Chan leading toward the soteriological goal of Nirvāṇa by which the saved practioners are redeemed . They return to the haven of the inner Heart – the Buddha-mind .The Buddha-mind is the pure and infinite human consciousness. Buddha can only be seen through the purified mind of Man. Man is the temple of Buddha.
It is obvious that Yung Chia employed both sudden and gradual methods of Chan meditation. Even though he had discerned the Unborn, he still continued to meditate solitarily as a recluse in a hut in a deep forest reclused from the mundane world. The purpose was to sustain the womb of the Tathāgata (Tathāgatagrabha). It is the continuous cultivation on the basis of the perceived Original Nature of Man.
Sudden enlightenment entails an instantaneous intuitive discernment of Truth that the Buddha-nature is originally neither arising nor ceasing, neither pure nor impure, neither increase nor decrease (Heart Sūtra). It exists potentially in all sentient beings. No deliberate effort is exercised to purify the mind. It is purified by direct discernment of the Emptiness of the five aggregates and an exercise of right mindfulness of intrinsic awareness. It is direct discernment of the innate unconditioned Buddha-nature. What is required is the self-realization that Man is innately and divinely supreme. There is no neccessity to polish it as it is innately empty – neither pure nor impure. Everybody is potentially a Buddha. Whoever knows his or her True Self sees the Buddha.
After having been self-awakened instantaneously to the Unborn or Buddha-nature, Yung Chia continued to meditate without any more method such as mindfulness of breathing, recitation of mantra, or recitation of the name of the Amitābha. These objects of meditation are confined to only beginners of gradual Chan meditation. He did not continue anymore with gradual method of meditation. He just employed a silent illumination method to watch his Buddha-mind that was completely equanimous towards all thoughts which arose and perished. He dwells in the complete silence of the mind in the inner Heart.
In silent illumination practice of Chan meditaion, he merely watched all thoughts arising and ceasing without any clinging. He neither accepts or rejects the wandering thoughts. He stayed completely aloof from the six sense activities while he was engaged actively in all sense activities. He had actualized the Non-dual state of transcending the dichotomy between the perceiver and the perceived. The notion of subject of perceiver was extinct. The notion of the objects of perception was also extinct. What remained was only the activity of perceiving without any notion of the doer and the done. He had attained a complete ease in all his sense activities in which phenomena and principle interpenetrated without any impedement. He self-redeemed himself esoterically in his inner Heart and realized his Buddhahood . Mastering his Buddha mind, he dwells in unity with the cosmic self. His self-identity is annihilated in his Buddha-mind. The Buddha-mind is the mind of non-dual knowledge. It is the intuitive awareness devoid of object reification. He dwelled everything without grasping and produced the no-mind . No-mind is not the cessation of mental activities. It is merely the cessation of mental conceptualizations or false imagination of the unreal.
True Chan practice is thus : Not reifying any object, the Chan yogi realizes no-mind (Buddha-mind) . Directed and empowered by no-mind, he or she does not cling upon anything in the world. No mind is the ceasation of the false mind directed and empowered by self-centric ego. This is the true state of Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā). He or she is released soteriologically from kammic bondage. He has completely appeased the chatter of his monkey mind. The complete appeasement of the human mind is Nirvāṇa. The experience of Nirvāṇa of Chan is the mind of non-attachment and non-aversion. It is mind of perfect equanimity like a polished clear mirror which reflects all objects without being soiled.
