What is Ch'an?

This article was written by David Jamieson

Ch’an or Chan, is the practice of seated meditation as handed down by it’s first patriarch Bodidharma. Many who practice Chinese martial Arts are familiar with the word Ch’an and as well, many have practiced it.

Bodidharma is the legendary Buddhist monk who came to China in approximately 520 AD*. To the chinese he was known as Pu Ti Ta Mo, or simply Ta Mo. It is uncertain as to whether Ta Mo was Persian or Indian, but this is of little importance overall when held up to the light of what he brought with him.

Ta Mo brought to China with him the teachings of the Mahayana (Indian name) school of Buddhism in order to spread the teachings of said school. The Mahayana school included Dhayana exercises and Ch’an and Dhayana can be interchangeable terms. In fact, Dhayana exercises were already being practiced in China before Ta Mo’s arrival, but they did not have a “seat” with the populace that was gained by Ta Mo and those patriarchs of Ch’an who followed.

Ta Mo’s first student and the second patriarch of Ch’an was Hui K’e. Ta Mo transmitted to Hui K’e the text of Lankavatarasutra. This sutra had as its focus the doctrine of inner enlightenment and taught that a person who has come to realize the inner enlightenment no longer sees duality because he has transcended these subjective descriptions of man, the world and the universe around them. It also states that this is made possible by the “Tathagata womb” which is present in all of us. The Lankavatara sutra also teaches that words are not necessary for communication of concepts and ideas and that things like body language have as much validity in bringing understanding. IE: the nod of a head, the wink of an eye, the shifting of a posture and so on. It is in this idea that you can see how this particular sutra shared much with the later teachings of Ch’an practice.

There were in all, 6 patriarchs of Ch’an. The first being Bodidharma himself, the second his disciple Hui K’e, the third Seng ts’an, the fourth Tao hsin, the fifth Hung jen and the sixth Shen hsui. To find out more about these people, please refer to the footnote at the bottom of this article. They all have interesting stories related to Ch’an and directly to it’s practice in China.

Moving right along to the topic subject, what is Ch’an. To quote directly and verbatim from the reference material I am using, - Ch’an has been described as an intuitive method of spirtual training aimed at the discovery of a reality in the innermost recesses of the soul, a reality that is the fundamental unity which pervades all the differences and particulars of the world. This reality is called the mind, or the Buddha nature that is present in all sentient beings. In common with other Mahayana systems Ch’an teaches that this reality is sunya, empty or void, inexpressible in words and inconceivable in thought.-

So, you may well be asking in the words of the American popular cartoon character Homer Simpson “Who’s gonna eat the what now”, or you may understand what has just been written.

Anyway, to help students and adepts alike to understand this concept and knowledge of the inconceivable and the inexpressible, the Ch’an Masters would use such methods as silence or not answering queries to get the point across. This is because it is accepted that the Buddha Nature can only be apprehended directly via intuition, completely and instantly. The more a person tried to analyze it, the further they got from the realization of the deep truth of their very soul. In order to avoid this intellectualization of the core idea, the practice of Ch’an was to calm the mind and seek to achieve no concious thought. To achieve this state of “no mind” is to wash away the ego and it’s distinctions between subject and object. Ego, in Buddhism is also what ties us to the endless cycle of birth and death and attachment to external objects of desire.

Ch’an, teachings subsequently abandoned the use of books and recitations as a means to achieving enlightenment. Instead it was “done” or “practiced” with the knowing that enlightenment would be sudden, but of course not lasting. However, the lesson gained in that moment of clarity that was gained by the crystalline moment would sit with the practitioner always and serve the practitioner in greater understanding and the bringing forth of the Buddha nature within.

Seated meditation with the goal of no mind was the pinacle of Ch’an practice. It still is. The enlightenment that is achieved through this vehicle is different for everyone but at the same time common to all.

So, in a nutshell there it is. There are of course numerous resources on the practice of Ch’an. In context to Ch’an practice and the Martial Arts, it was adopted and practiced foremost at the Shaolin Temple and later spread across asia and finally to Japan where it was practiced as “Zen”.

It is the state of “no mind” that allows the martial artist to achieve their objective without having to think about what they are doing. And in doing so, outwardly, fluidity and masterful application are the result.

For more information on Ch’an and Martial practice, I recomend that the reader visit the website http://www.hsuyun.org and for further information on the historical context of Ch’an as one of the main schools of Buddhism in China see the footnote below.

peace

David Jamieson

*There are several historical versions of Ta Mo’s arrival in China, where he went first and who he taught what to and so on. For the purpose of this article, I am referencing the historical survey -Buddhism In China- Author Kenneth Ch’en- ISBN#-0-691-00015-8 (paperback edition) (c)1964 -Princeton University Press

This article is published with permission from David Damieson. For more information please go to http://www.davidjamieson.com/kunglek/home.htm