FROM VIPASSANA¯ IN THERAVA¯DA TO
GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE
MEDITATIVE TECHNIQUES

Caifang Zhu

Introduction

Peter Gregory remarks in the preface to Traditions of Meditation in

Chinese Buddhism that one could hardly discern how the modern Therava¯da
practice of Vipassana¯ based on the Maha¯satipattha¯na Sutta differs from the
meditative techniques involved in practicing Sui Zi Yi sama¯dhi in Tian Tai (T’ien
T’ai) and the one-practice sama¯dhi in Chan. To Gregory, the meditative
techniques among the three ‘seem so strikingly similar that we must pay
attention to their doctrinal contexts” to seek possible differences’ (1986, 7).
This paper argues, however, that there are noticeable or distinguishable
differences of meditative technique and strategy in regard to Vipassa¯na, Tian
Tai and Chan.

On the basis of the Maha¯satipattha¯na Sutta we learn that Vipassana¯ may

take any of ‘body’, ‘feeling’, ‘consciousness’ and ‘dharma’ as the practitioner’s
object of meditation or contemplation. Such a meditation is typical of training to
become aware or mindful of the origination and dissolution of every object—be it
parts of the body, feeling, consciousness or dharmas. Realizing the impermanent
and transitory nature of all these contemplated phenomena, the practitioner is
enlightened and no longer seeks attachment or clinging to anything in the world.
He/she is thus liberated from suffering. Vipassana¯ defined as such remains to be
shared to differing degree in various derivative methods of meditation in different
schools of Buddhism developed in China. Guan (discerning) or guan xin
(discerning or investigating the mind) is a notional Chinese translation of
Vipassana¯. In Tian Tai (T’ien T’ai) School, Sui Zi Yi—cultivating sama¯dhi wherever
the mind is directed—is very close to Vipassana¯ practice. The application of
discernment in guan xin, however, is remarkably refined by Zhi Yi (Chih-i) in his
Tian Tai teachings and praxis. This refined technique of meditation finds nuance in
the developmental states in what is known as the four marks or operations of

Contemporary Buddhism, Vol. 6, No. 1, May 2005

ISSN 1463-9947 print/1476-7953 online/05/010053-12

q

2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd

DOI: 10.1080/14639940500129454

mental activation (not-yet-thinking, being-about-to-think, actually-thinking,
having thought) (Stevenson 1986, 77). In the Chan tradition, the sinicization of
Vipassana¯ is probably best reflected, among others, in the claim that Chan points
directly to the mind and that seeing the nature of mind one attains Buddhahood.
Tian Tai and Vipassana¯ in the Maha¯satipattha¯na teach the contemplation of the
illusory mind (guan wan xin). Chan, however, teaches and practices contemplation
of the true mind (guan zhen xin). In this paper we shall only be able to take Kan
Hua Chan (Kan huadu) as a representative of Chan meditation to compare and
contrast with the Vipassana¯ and Tian Tai meditative praxis.

Part One: Vipassana¯ in Maha¯satipattha¯na Sutta

The Pali name of the Maha¯satipattha¯na Sutta is translated into English as The

Four Foundations of Mindfulness. The four are mindfulness of or meditation on the
body, feelings, consciousness and dhammas. They are used as objects of
meditation to achieve liberation or Nibbana, the soteriological goal. One can
choose objects other than those falling into the four prescribed categories,
although the four are indeed sufficient to cover virtually all phenomena.

It seems the Sutta has a deliberate orientation in prescribing the four

foundations. The order starts from mindfulness of the body, followed by feelings
and consciousness, and ends up with dhammas. It is easily detectable that
practitioners are advised to convene meditation practice with concrete objects in
the category of the body, which includes, but is not limited to, breathing, body
postures, interiors of the body, four material elements and even cemetery
scenarios. Among these optional bodily objects of mindfulness or meditation,
breathing is introduced atop all the others, giving it a sort of prioritized position.
Following the first foundation of mindfulness on the body, which is concrete and
even tangible, the second, third and fourth foundations seem, by and large, to be
in an ascending order of abstraction, with the last object of the fourth foundation
(dhammas) being the fourfold noble truth.

One is wrong, however, if one takes a one-perspective view that Vipassana¯

meditation follows a strict course leading necessarily from meditations on body to
meditations on feeling, consciousness and dhammas. In fact, by staying with any
one of the four prescribed categories of contemplation, the practitioner can
equally achieve the soteriological goal. This is evident from the recurring message
in the identical format that appears at the very end of each and every one of the
numerous prescribed objects of meditation throughout the Sutta. What highlights
the repeated message is, whatever object of meditation one starts from, one ends
up relating the meditated object to the law of origination or arising and
dissolution or falling (the law of dependent origination) that all things come
under. Realizing this truth—impermanence, transitoriness and unsatisfactori-
ness—the practitioner stops craving for and clinging to anything and is thus
liberated from suffering. Let us take breathing practice as an example to see how
the recurring thematic message is formulated throughout the Sutta:

54

C. ZHU

He dwells contemplating the origination factors in the breath-body, or he dwells

contemplating the dissolution factors in the breath-body, or he dwells

contemplating both the origination and dissolution factors in breath-body.

. . .

Not depending on anything by way of craving and wrong view, he dwells. Nor

does he cling to anything in the world of the five aggregates of clinging. Thus

too, bhikkhus, a bhikku dwells contemplating the body in the body.

1

In other words, we can extrapolate that each and every meditation object
prescribed in this Sutta is directed toward Vipassana¯, although at certain early
stages the meditation can be Shamatha, which is merely concentrating on the
object of meditation without developing awareness of anything else. Vipassana¯
taught in this Sutta trains one to ‘keep awareness on everything that is present,
everything that comes to you at the right moment’ (Sı¯la¯nanda 2002, 30). This, as
we shall discuss later in the paper, pioneers the principle of Sui Zi Yi sama¯dhi in
Tian Tai and Chan praxis. When one practices breathing, for instance, one knows
clearly that one is either breathing in or breathing out a long or short breath. ‘Ever
mindful, he breathes in, ever mindful he breathes out. Breathing in a long breath,
he knows, “I breathe in long”; breathing out a long breath, he knows, “I breathe
out long”’ (Sı¯la¯nanda 2002, 176). Furthermore, one also keeps clear mindfulness of
the entire breath body (the duration of the breath) and the subtle, almost
imperceptible, breaths. Likewise, when one sees, hears, feels and cognizes, one is
fully mindful of them and when stray thoughts or distractions emerge, he/she is
aware of them and may note: this is a stray thought. I am aware, aware, aware of it.
By keeping fully aware or mindful of any rising thought or meditation object, that
thought or object must dissolve of its own in a chain or stream of thoughts or
consciousness. Realizing and experiencing the reality of this unstoppable, non-
abiding impermanence is gaining insight into the truth of the mind, life and the
world. With this insight one is free from delusion. One is enlightened and liberated
from suffering.

Part Two: Guan in Tian Tai

Zhi Yi, the great synthesizer of thought and practice of early Tian Tai

Buddhism, summarized all forms of practices in Buddhism, irrespective of their
traditions, sects and lineage, into four classes. Classified by way of physical
postures, these four as defined in Mo He Zhi Guan (Treatise on the Great Calming
and Discernment) are: (1) constantly sitting, (2) constantly walking, (3) half sitting
and half walking, and (4) neither sitting nor walking. The fourth one, neither sitting
nor walking (fei zuo fei xing san mei) is also known as Jue Yi San Mei, which derives
its name from the Da Ping Jing (Pamcavimsati), and as Sui Zi Yi cultivation, which is
first used by Hui Si, Zhi Yi’s dharma teacher. Regardless of the difference or
preference in naming, the three are denotatively in agreement: cultivating
sama¯dhi wherever mind happens to be directed. I will take Sui Zi Yi as an example

FROM VIPASSANA¯ IN THERAVA¯DA TO GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM

55

and discuss how Sui Zi Yi in general resonates with and somewhat differs from
Vipassana¯. The other three kinds of practice are to be passed by due to the lack of
close relevance to the thesis as well as limited space of this paper.

Strictly speaking, we may not see Sui Zi Yi as an independent type of

practice along Zhi Yi’s classification based on physical posture. This is because Sui
Zi Yi permeates all the other three types. Mo He Zhi Guan says, ‘As mental activity
[or intent] arises one cultivates Sama¯dhis right on the spot . . . Wherever one’s
mind happens to be directed, one always [strives] to remain thoroughly aware of
it’.

2

So, Sui Zi Yi, apparently a method belonging to discernment or guan xin, does

not have any particular object of mindfulness or meditation. Rather it takes
whatever pops up into the sphere of consciousness as its target to be mindful of,
to watch and discern. When the practitioner or, technically speaking, the noting
consciousness

3

of the practitioner ‘remains thoroughly aware of’ the thought that

pops up or any mental activity that is going on, that object ‘shies away’
instantaneously. One does not have to chase it away if it is unwanted and nor need
one keep it if it is desirable and desired. Provided that the noting consciousness is
watching inwardly or retrospectively, it discerns the mental object or activity
running in a continuum. As William James put it, ‘States of mind succeed each
other in him’ (James, 1992, 152 ). This is the teaching of impermanence and one
who gains insight into this truth abandons attachment or clinging to anything. He
thus attains or is to attain liberation. We see the exact parallels here with the
Vipassana¯ or insight meditation that the Maha¯satipattha¯na Sutta teaches.

While the general similarity between Vipassana¯ and Sui Zi Yi is apparent,

their difference is nonetheless noteworthy. One such difference is between the
four ‘marks’ or ‘stages’ of mental activations (si yun xin xiang) in Sui Zi Yi in Tian Tai
meditation and the four kinds of breaths in Vipassana¯. Si yun xin xiang is not
exclusive to Sui Zi Yi but, according to Zhi Yi, ‘embraces all states of mind’,

4

be they

meditative or non-meditative states of mental activity. The four marks or stages of
mental activation are: (1) not-yet-thinking (wei nian), (2) being-about-to-think (yu
nian), (3) actually thinking (zheng nian or dang nian), and (4) having thought (nian
yi). Like practicing four kinds of breathing mindfulness—short, long, entire and
virtually imperceptible breaths in the Maha¯satipattha¯na—the four marks or stages
of mental activation are meant to train the alertness, sensitivity and acuity of the
cognizing mind. When one is well trained to catch or be mindful of the stages, one
attains the insight of the rising (the first two stages) and falling (stages three and
four), the coming and going of mental objects and states, hence the truth of
impermanence and the admonition of non-attachment. Unlike the four types of
breaths that progresses in subtlety, however, the four stages proceed in a
continuum on a plane. It seems there is no one single stage of them that is
building up depth or subtlety on top of the other. Having-thought is not to be
considered any deeper or finer than not-yet-thinking or the other stages, because
the stages of mental activity are treated merely as stages of mental activation. No
content of the mental activity is paid attention to; no logic exists between the
stages; no hierarchical narrowing or abstraction is called for. The ‘stages’ are not

56

C. ZHU

picking up nor going down in height, depth or subtlety. So, ‘four marks’, I believe,
is more accurate than ‘four stages’ as used by Stevenson in translating the Chinese
term si yun xin xiang. ‘Yun’ literally means operating or operation and moving or
movement. So, I would consider translating si yun xin xiang into ‘four operations
or marks of mental activity’.

The plane rather than stereo dimensional advancement of Sui Zi Yi

cultivation, however, does not signal a message that it is less than Vipassana¯ in the
attainment of meditative acuity and power. If one thinks it is, one may have
neglected the fact that the four operations or marks of mental activity simply
jump-start from a very subtle and almost imperceptible state of mind, which is
comparable with the fourth of the breathing training in Vipassana¯. This sort of
negligence in progressive training and the eagerness of jump-starting with a very
steep state or simply from the very destination characterizes much of the praxis
and theorization of Chinese Buddhism. ‘The first task that confronts the
practitioner in the cultivation of sui-tzu-i is to familiarize himself with these four
phases and develop his meditative concentration to the point where he can
clearly distinguish their presence in each moment of mental activity’ (Stevenson
1986, 72 ). This ability of discernment is regarded as pre-requisite or basic. When it
is stabilized, the practitioner can proceed to work on discerning and
contemplating each of the four operations or marks.

Another noteworthy difference between Vipassana¯ and Tian Tai is

detectable and observable in the text of The Treatise on the Lesser Calming and
Discernment (Tong Meng Zhi Guan or Xiao Zhi Gaun). In Chapter Six, Cultivation
Proper (Zheng Xiu Xing), two kinds of calming and discernment are discussed: zuo
zhong xiu (calming and discerning in seated meditation) and li yuan dui jin xiu
(calming and discerning appropriation between sense-organ and sense objects in
midst of bodily and speech actions). The two methods comprise the predominant
space of the chapter, the most important of all the chapters.

Li yuan means experiencing conditions or situations that, in this case, refer

to the experiencing of walking, standing, sitting, lying down, performing tasks and
speaking. Dui Jin means the six sense-organs appropriating their corresponding
sense-objects. In a total of twelve items or dharmic things, both calming and
discernment are described in a rehearsing formula. The method of discerning
(gaun), the topic in study in this article, merits further attention and examination.
Serving as an example in the following is the description of walking in the li yuan
dui jin discernment.

What is meant by cultivating discernment amidst walking? One should think as

such: the mind causes the movement of the body, hence walking. Because of

walking, various afflictions, good and evil things occur. One thus should reflect

on or look back at (fan guan) the walking mind. Upon reflection, he perceives no

form nor characteristics whatsoever and thus realizes that the walker and all the

things involved in the process of walking are after all non-substantial and empty.

Such is called cultivation of gaun [of walking].

5

FROM VIPASSANA¯ IN THERAVA¯DA TO GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM

57

The discernment of the other five conditions (standing, sitting, lying down,
performing tasks and speaking) simply follows this pattern of cultivation.

In Vipassana¯ meditation, it is always the object of meditation or mindfulness

that is to be discerned and when that object—breathing, for instance—is finally
contemplated as constantly originating and dissolving, the meditator gains insight
and consequent liberation. But in the meditation using guan as in Li Yuan Dui Jin,
the meditator has to take a step further; that is, having contemplated on the
object, he needs to contemplate the contemplator, the noting consciousness
itself.

6

Although in some cases, Xiao Zhi Guan points out, when the object of

meditation (suo guan) dissolves by contemplation, and the noting consciousness
(neng guan) stops appropriation accordingly, throughout the li yuan dui jin
cultivation, the stress and culmination of the method is on the reflective
contemplation on the noting consciousness itself. We see such a method of guan
replicated exactly in the appropriation of the six-sense organs with the six sense-
objects. This method of discernment is not mentioned in the teaching of
Mahasatipattana Sutta.

Part Three: Contemplating the True Mind in Chan

Chan claims to be a special transmission beyond the scriptural canon. It

points directly to the mind. Seeing the nature of the mind, the practitioner attains
Buddhahood. The most frequently used ways to work on the mind in Chan are
guan (discern or contemplate), kan (observe, gaze or watch), can (investigate) and
zhao (illuminate). These methods of meditation in Chan, although bearing nuance
in technique, come under a rubric term called guan xin (contemplating the mind).
Guan xin is also well applied to the meditative methods of Tian Tai discussed in the
previous section. Zhi Yi himself composes or dictates a work simply named Treatise
on Contemplating the Mind (guan xin lun). If we are to draw a generic line
distinguishing the mechanics of guan xin employed in Tian Tai and Chan, we may
say that Tian Tai contemplates the illusory mind (gaun wang xin)

7

and that Chan

contemplates the true mind (gaun zhen xin).

By contemplating the illusory mind, one contemplates either a selected

meditative object as breathing or various objects of mind as in Sui Zi Yi cultivation.
Both the Vipassana¯ and Tian Tai contemplation fall into this category, which
features the mechanics of being fully aware of the dynamic mental state of
coming and going or originating and dissolving constantly. Hence the
contemplation of the illusory mind and the insight as such leads to the
soteriological goal of liberation by non-attachment to the evanescent
phenomenal world. Why the term ‘discernment of the true mind’ is reserved to
Chan cannot be developed n a paper of this length. But I will just provide two
quick clues to the answer: (1) Chan claims to point directly to the nature of mind
that must be understood as the true mind; and (2) We have textual support from
the Platform Sutra (Tung Huang version): ‘One practice of sama¯dhi is to hold the

58

C. ZHU

true mind all the time amidst either walking, standing, sitting and lying down . . .
True mind is the Buddha land; true mind is Pure Land’.

8

What is then the true mind? The question touches the most elusive and

ineffable topic of meditation, and indeed Buddhism in general. But within our
context of discussion, it can be simply defined as the animated substance or the
ground, for lack of a better word, that underlies the illusory mind that is
characterized by the discriminative, competing thoughts that keep coming and
going constantly. As far as the teachings of the Platform Sutra (both Tung Huang
and later editions) are concerned, the conception of true mind seems to be
impacted by both the Tatha¯gatagarbha theory and that of the Perfection of
Wisdom. This is an important but complicated issue and again it is beyond my
intention to discuss here.

Discerning or contemplating the true mind has evolved into many

techniques as Chan developed into wu jia qi zong (five schools with seven styles)
throughout the Tang, Wu Dai and Song Dynasties. In the following we will just
take Kan Hua (literally, speech-watching) Chan and as an example to see how guan
xin in Chan qualitatively differs, by continued abiding investigation of hua tou to
see into the nature of the mind, from the previous two ways of discerning the
illusory mind.

According to Robert Buswell (1986, 217), Kan Hua Chan was pioneered by

Hong Ren (602-75), the fifth patriarch of Chinese Chan Buddhism, but generally it
is attributed to Da Hui Zong Gao (1089 – 1163) of the Lin Ji (Rinzai) lineage

9

for its

wide popularity. Da Hui uses an array of terms to label the different states of mind,
among which are the illusory mind, the cultivating mind (xiu zheng xin), the
substance of the mind (xin ti) and the true mind. Awakening to the true mind,
however, must be seen as holding the key to the practice of Kan Hua Chan. All the
other wonderful states and functions of the working mind have to be born by the
exhuming of the true mind.

Kan Hua Chan is popularly known as Kan Hua Tou. Hua Tou literally means

the head of speech or ahead of speech. Taken semantically, or ‘metaphorically’ as
Buswell puts it, it is understood as the ‘point at which or beyond which speech
exhausts itself’ (1986, 219). Another interpretation I have, more ontological rather
than epistemological, of hua tou is the mind ground ahead of or prior to the rising
or formation of speech, or prior to the activation of intellection, imagination or any
sort of linguistic cognition. Such a prior state is in fact the original nature of mind,
the mind that is undefiled and undefined whatsoever.

There are two ways to investigate (kan) hua tou. One is investigating the

meaning of the speech (can ju) in a conventional way, and the other is
investigating the word (can zi) in a supra-conventional Chan manner. These words
or sentences like ‘wu’, ‘lu’ (expose), ‘fan xia zhe’ (lay it down) are usually the
sources of Gong-an (Koan).

10

Investigation of meaning is called live investigation

and ‘tasteful’ because it employs logic and intellection as we normally do in
reasoning and analysis. This ‘liveliness’ and ‘tastefulness’, however, does not have
much positive connotation and prominent value in the case of our speech

FROM VIPASSANA¯ IN THERAVA¯DA TO GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM

59

investigation. It is not a means that leads to ultimate fruit. By means of the
‘tasteful’ investigation of speech, one realizes at most ‘understanding wisdom or
enlightenment’ (jie wu). In contrast, the investigator of the other kind does a
‘tasteless’ job by contemplating ‘dead words’ (si ju). The words are ‘dead’ because
the contemplator does not investigate them semantically, phonetically,
psychologically, philosophically, theologically. No, nothing of any rational and
intellectual kind! He takes the word or words, sometimes meaningful and
sometimes totally whimsical and non-sensical, just as an object of continued acute
investigation, an abiding object that differs from those ephemeral objects in
Vipassana¯ and Tian Tai contemplation.

Da Hui apparently disparages ‘tasteful’ investigation in favor of ‘tasteless’

work. This is self-explanatory when he excoriates the literati’s rational approach of
investigation and the way of silent illumination, both of which were in vogue in his
time. ‘There is absolutely no tasteful juice to suck from a dry bone’, he admonishes
(Takakusu vol 47, 912 ). According to Dai Hui, if an aspirant is really determined to
resolve the perplexity of the exigent question of life and death, he/she aims at
consummate enlightenment at once, putting down all evanescent concerns.
Technically, the aspirant sets out looking inwardly at the ‘abode that is neither to
be located nor to be forsaken’ and that engenders a sensation like warmth as a
result of uninterrupted attention to it (Takakusu vol. 47, 912 ). Hold on to this non-
localized abode and ‘plug in’ the Hua Tou, wu lu or fan xia zhe for instance, to look
at mentality. Wherever the practitioner is, whatever he/she is doing, he/she keeps
holding unbrokenly on to the tasteless investigation. Continued investigation of
the Hua Tou in this tasteless manner makes the mind geared or ‘primed’ for a
breakthrough where one totally transcends all limits to become identified with
‘Dharmada¯tu’ or ‘Suchness’—the world as it is. He is thus said to have attained
realization awakening (zhen wu), an existential, empirical realization of liberation
rather than an indirect liberation at intellectual level known as understanding
awakening (jie wu).

As we can see, the tasteless investigation does not follow a rational or

logical pattern. Using Yoga¯ca¯ra or Vijna¯nava¯da theory as a hermeneutic device,
however, we may still somewhat decode the work of staying with the hua tou as a
means to reduce the random and defiled thoughts from the sixth consciousness or
any of the first five consciousness in conjunction with the sixth. As the
investigation intensifies or matures, the first six types of consciousness
transformed to become unobstructed, and the ever-reflecting seventh
consciousness (manas) becomes prominent and comes to the foreground.
Although free from being defined and discrete, the manas is obstructed or
obscured with four defilements conjoined all the time, which are self-regard, self-
delusion, self-pride and self-love.

11

Continuously refined watching at the hua tou

results in the lessening and weakening of the grip on the obscured egocentric
manas. When this process of investigating deepens to a certain point, the manas
evolves or transforms into a non-clinging (unobstructed) and neutral (undefined)
state of mind that attunes the complete conglomeration with the eighth

60

C. ZHU

consciousness (a¯layavijna¯na), which is undefiled, undefined, equaniminous and is
ever turning like a torrent of water. Still further investigation of this increasingly
elusive hua tou in the arena of a¯layavijna¯na, the root consciousness, is eventually
to turn the a¯layavijna¯na into the emancipated-body or truth-body of the Great
Sage.

12

It ‘sparks the light of the primordial mind’ (Kai Ji 1996, 86), and such a

sparking of the light is the awakening to the original nature of the mind, the true
mind that Kan Hua Chan refers to.

From investigating the true mind as espoused by Kan Hua Chan, we can see

the strategy here is to go straight for the consummate enlightenment (bodhi), the
revelation of the true mind. The technical apparatus Kan Hua Chan teaches to
arrive at such an end is to investigate uninterruptedly the hua tou. Although Da
Hui uses an array of terms describing the mind (Kai Ji 1996, 2),

13

the central task of

Kan Hua Chan should be, first and foremost, to awaken to the nature of the mind
(true mind). From there, one can keep discerning the state of the true mind in the
background while performing all kinds of daily tasks using various kinds or states
of the working mind in the foreground. As the Platform Sutra says, ‘Be good at
making discriminations and yet stay unmoved with the nature of mind’.

14

Both the strategy and technique that Kan Hua Chan entails are noticeably

different from what Vipassana¯ and Tian Tai (sui zi yi) employ. Nonetheless, Kan Hau
Chan still has one significant quality to share with the other two in study: it
stresses relevance and live application to ordinary life in this world. It is mainly in
this sense that Kan Hua Chan is compatible with Vipassana¯ and Tian Tai (su zi yi). It
is also because of this that Ta Hui belittles Mo Zhao Chan (Silent Illumination) for
its ensconcing in a passive state of epochal withdrawal and silent illumination.

15

Conclusion

I have argued that there exists similarity and compatibility in the meditative

mechanics and strategy of Vipassana¯, sui zi yi and kan hua tou. They all emphasize
discerning and investigating the mind, and they all teach live applications to
everyday life situations. However, their techniques show noticeable differences.
Vipassana¯ differs from sui zi yi (and Tian Tai in general) in that Vipassana¯’s four
stages (short breath, long breath, breath body and imperceptible breath) ascend
in subtlety while the four marks or operations of mental activation in Tian Tai are
of equally subtle levels from which practitioners are supposed to jump-start. Both
Vipassana¯ and Tian Tai can be categorized as guan wang xin whereas Chan is guan
zhen xin. Kan Hua Chan espoused by Da Hui Zong Gao teaches tasteless
investigation of a hua tou. In the process of the investigating a hua tou, the
practitioner directs the mental attention to the same object of meditation, a hua
tou like wu, fan xia zhe and lu. In Vipassana¯ and sui zi yi, one practices mindfulness
of whatever is coming and going in the mind moment by moment. Their emphasis
is on discerning the illusory mind by which one gains the insight of impermanence
and aspires to liberation by non-attachment. In Kan Hua Chan, enlightenment is

FROM VIPASSANA¯ IN THERAVA¯DA TO GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM

61

the result of continuous investigation of the same hua tou until the breakthrough
sparkles where one sees the true nature of the mind.

I wonder if we can possibly extrapolate this: when engaged in discerning the

illusory mind (guan wang xin) one still has the noting consciousness (the
transformed manas) at work, and hence the retaining of the attachment to atman
in some way although the attachment to dharmas is abnegated; in investigating
the true mind (guan zhen xin), when the original nature of the mind is revealed,
attachment to both dharmas and atman is abjured.

NOTES

1. The translation is by Sı¯la¯nanda unless otherwise indicated.
2. Daniel Stevenson (1976, 76). See also, Mo He Zhi Guan in Taisho (vol. 46, 14b26-c1)

or Kuan Xin Lun Shu in Taisho (vol. 46, 603b22-26 ).

3. Sı¯la¯nanda uses the term ‘noting consciousness’ when he discusses the third

foundation of mindfulness—the mindfulness of consciousness (2002, 88). It

seems to me that it is like what Vijna¯nava¯da refers to as the transformed seventh

consciousness (manas). I will also try to use the Vijna¯nava¯da system to decode

the true mind in Chan later in the paper.

4. Daniel Stevenson (1986, 77). See also Jue Yi San Mei Xing Fa in Taisho (vol. 46, 623a ).
5. Li An (1988, 33). The translation is mine.
6. In Mahasatipattana Sutta, the contemplation on consciousness sounds

deceptively analogous but in effect it is the practice of contemplation or

mindfulness on the six discrete forms of consciousness rather than on the

reflexive or noting consciousness that perpetuates the cognizing mind.

7. Si Ming Zhi li holds that Tian Tai way of guan xin is the examination of the illusory

mind not the absolute mind. See Bernard Faure (1986, 114).

8. Li Sheng and Fang Guangchan (1999, passage 14, p. 35). Popular editions in

Song Yuan and Ming Dynasties often have ‘zhi xin’ (straightforward mind) in

place of true mind.

9. In the Lin Ji school, which has two offshoots, it is the Yan Qi subschool that Kan

Hua Chan has directly derived and developed.

10. There are at least 1700 famous koans that are ‘investigated’ throughout the

development history of Chan. A few of them are said to be most favored by Dai

Hui. Here are two:

(1) One monk asked Zhao Zhou, ‘Does the dog have Buddha nature?’ ‘Wu

(mu)’, Zhao Zhou said.

(2) A monk named Yan Yang asked Zhao Zhou, ‘If one thing is not coming,

what should I do?’

‘Put it down’, replied Zhao Zhou.

See more of Da Hui’s favored Hua Tous in Kai Ji (1996, 82).

62

C. ZHU

11. Thomas E. Wood (1991, 51). Thomas Kochumuttom (1982, 225) and Stefan

Anacker (1984, 186) have slightly different translations. The Chinese translation

of the four defilements or afflictions are wo jian, wo chi, wo man and wo ai.

12. Thomas Kochumuttan (1982, 11) Trimshika, verse 30.
13. The four kinds of mind that are most often talked of, in descending order, are:

the ground of the mind (xin ti), the illusory mind (wan xin), the cultivating or

investigating mind (xiu xing xin), and the true mind (zhen xin). I am inclined to

match and equal zhen xin and xin ti. Zhen xin should also be understood as

‘xing’ (the nature of the mind).

14. Shan neng fen bie xiang, di yi yi bu dong. Passage 48 in the edited Tung Huang

text and chapter 10 Fu Zhu Ping in the popular version.

15. Mo Zhao Chan was espoused and promulgated by Da Hui’s contemporary

Hongzhi Zhenjue (1091 – 157). In private, they are friends. For details see Kai Ji

(1996, 87), Leighton and Wu (2000, 6), and Taisho (vol. 48, 120 ). The thrust of

Hongzhi’s teaching is devoting to manifesting or uncovering this ultimate truth

of the mind: the field of vast brightness that is right there endowed with

everybody right from birth. Accordingly the meditation is geared to the

revelation of the true mind right from the outset and its chief method is

silencing, calming and illuminating. The following passage epitomizes Hongzhi’s

description of the true mind and the way to retrieve it:

My home is a piece of land. It is pure, vast, luminous and bright. It

illuminates reflexively. Being empty, it is unbound with conditions but is

animated; being tranquil, it abstains from thinking but is awakened. This

home is also the abode where Buddhas and patriarchs come and go,

manifests and transforms and enters into Nirvana. Wonderful as it is,

everybody is endowed with it. But people do not work on polishing to

make it immaculate. Rather they are lethargic and not enlightened. Their

wisdom is covered by ignorance and they drift along. If one instant of

thought shines through the ignorance covering the wisdom, he/she

transcends kalpas of samsa¯ra. [He/she sees the home,] bright, radiant and

immaculate.

In volume nine of the Extensive Record of Hongzhi Chan Master, it is surveyed that
there are at least thirty-nine places where Hongzhi is expatiating the true mind
and its wonderful manifestations (see Kai Ji 1996, 64).

REFERENCES

ANACKER, STEFAN

. 1984. Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor.

Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

BUSWELL, ROBERT E. JR.

, 1986. Chinul’s systemization of Chinese meditative techniques in

Korean son Buddhism. In Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism, edited by

Peter Gregory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

FROM VIPASSANA¯ IN THERAVA¯DA TO GUAN XIN IN CHINESE BUDDHISM

63

COUSINS, L. S.

1984. S´amatha and Vipassana¯. In Buddhist Studies in Honor of Hammalava

Saddhatissa, edited by G. Dhammapa¯la. et al., Nugegoda, pp. 56 – 68.

FAURE, BERNARD

. 1986. The concept of one-practice sama¯dhi in early chan. Traditions of

Meditation in Chinese Buddhism, edited by Peter Gregory. Honolulu: University of

Hawaii Press.

GREGORY, PETER

, ed. 1986. Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu:

University of Hawaii Press.

JAMES, WILLIAM

. 1992. Psycology: A Briefer course in William James Writings 1878 –

1899. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. pp. 1 – 445.

KAI, JI

. 1996. Hua Yan Chan—Da Hui Zong Gao De Si Xiang Te Se (Hua Yen Chan: The

Characteristics of Da Hui Zong Gao’s Thoughts). Taipei: Wen Jing Publication Co.

KOCHUMUTTOM, THOMAS

. 1982. A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience: A New Translation and

Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu, the Yogoca¯rin. Dehli: Motilal
Banarsidass.

LI, AN

. 1988. Tong Meng Zhi Guan Jiao Shi (Editing and Explanations on the Treatise of

Lesser Calming and Discernment). Beijing: Zhong Hua Shu Jue (Publishing House

of China).

LI, SHENG

, and

GUANGCHAN FANG

. 1999. Tun Huang Tan Jing He Jiao Jian Zhu (Combined

Edition and Brief Notes on the Tun Huan Texts of the Platform Sutra). Tai Yuan:

Shanxi Gu Ji Chu Ban She (Shanxi Press of Ancient Classics).

LEIGHTON, TAIGEN DAN

and

YITR., WU

. 2000. Cultivating the Empty Mind: The Silent

Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi. Boston and Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.

Sı¯LA¯NANDA, U.

2002. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness. Boston: Wisdom Publication.

STEVENSON, DANIEL B.

1986. The four kinds of sama¯dhi in early T’ien-t’ai Buddhism.

Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism, Honolulu: University of Hawaii

Press.

TAKAKUSU

, Junjiro and Wantanabe Kaiayoku, ed. (1924 – 1934). Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo,

100 vol. Tokyo: Taisho Issaikyo Kankokai.

WOOD, THOMAS E.

1991. Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of the

Vijna¯navada. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

YAMPOLSKY, PHILIP

. 1967. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. New York: Columbia

University Press.

Caifang Zhu , San Francisco Zen Center, 300 Page, San Francisco, 94102, CA, USA.

E-mail: [e-mail]

64

C. ZHU