Based on the Second Patriarch's tradition, Most Ven. Thich Thanh Tu taught his disciples how to pacify the mind or keep the mind from being driven by illusory thoughts. Whenever a thought arises while the practitioner is meditating, s/he recognizes it. Knowing that it is illusory, s/he simply lets it go. Such thoughts, like waves caused by winds on the water surface, gradually will die out, and the river (the mind) remains calm and clear.
From the Sixth Patriarch's teachings, Most Ven. Thich Thanh Tu taught his disciples how to use wisdom to observe the dependent origination law in action in all phenomena, to keep the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind from being contaminated by sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings (sensations from touching), and illusory ideas and phenomena. The practitioner, undisturbed by surrounding happenings, is to dwell calmly in the Buddha Nature, or the natural calmness, the clear vast space which always exists from within us and in the Universe.
From the tradition disseminated by Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen Founder, King Tran Nhan Tong, Most Ven. Thich Thanh Tu taught his disciples how to be free from duality thinking and from being bogged down in the transient world, and how to live with the Real.
In short, the four guidelines for a Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen practitioner are:
1. Do not be driven or bogged down by any illusory thoughts. Just let them go,
2. Do not be disturbed by the outside world that is dependent-originated by nature,
3. Do not get trapped by a mind of discrimination, or in the dualistic way of thinking and perception (good vs. bad, long vs. short, rich vs. poor, success vs. failure, happiness vs. unhappiness....)
4. Always dwell in the Buddha Nature (the vast,clear and unperturbed space, the Ultimate Truth and Reality which unites you with the Universe).
Sources:
Thich Thanh Tu, Thien Tong Vietnam Cuoi The Ky 20. Written in Thuong Chieu Zen Monastery (1991). Circulated by Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen monasteries in Vietnam and abroad.
http://www.truclamvietzen.net/MasterTTT.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Thanh_Tu
Philip Taylor,Modernity and Re-enchantment: Religion in Post-Revolutionary Vietnam (Maryland, USA, 2008).
http://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/phatgiao-vn/con-nguoi-vn/9709-Triet-hoc-Tran-Thai-Tong.html
http://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/phatgiao-vn/con-nguoi-vn/3604-Phat-hoang-Tran-Nhan-Tong.html
http://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/phatgiao-vn/con-nguoi-vn/4245-Phat-hoang-Tran-Nhan-Tong-viet-ve-Thay.html
http://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/tu-sach-dao-phat-ngay-nay/6103-Chuong-12-Gioi-thieu-Mot-so-trung-tam-tu-hoc-tai-Viet-Nam.html
