What is “bản lai vô nhất vật”, the Fundamental Suchness that has nothing? That is only another name for the True Emptiness/Void, which the Sixth Patriarch called “bản lai vô nhất vật”. He realized it, therefore he was liberated from birth and death. Now if we realize that we also have that Fundamental Suchness, we will be liberated from all fetters, and from life and death. I quoted the Sixth Patriarch’s gatha, so you may understand the meaning of “Chân Không.”
Furthermore, Master Chân Nguyên, a Vietnamese Thiền master at the beginning of the 18th century, wrote this gatha:
The Dharma Suchness is Void
Yet it takes cares of hundreds of chores for the multitude.
If we realize this Void, we then know
that the Suchness always resides on Linh Sơn Mountain.
Pháp tánh Như Lai vô nhất vật,
Ứng độ quần sanh hữu bách ban,
Nhược ngộ chân không hằng địch diện,
Như Lai thường trụ tại Linh San.
(Chinese)
Pháp tánh Như Lai không một vật,
Ứng độ quần sanh việc cả trăm,
Nếu ngộ chân không luôn đối mặt,
Như Lai thường trụ ở Linh Sa
(Vietnamese)
Master Chân Nguyên had realized the Way in Thiền (meditation practice) when he wrote Kiến Tánh Thành Phật (Realizing the True Nature to Become a Buddha), which I translated and had published already. He said the True Nature has nothing in it (Void), yet once realized, it could be applied in multiple forms and uses. “Ứng độ quần sanh hữu bách ban” (it takes cares of hundreds of chores for the multitude.) means that depending on the spiritual level of each subject,the Void will accordingly appear in the appropriate form. Thus, "Pháp tánh Như Lai không một vật" (The Dharma Suchness, which is Empty/Void”) is the True Nature, and "Ứng độ quần sanh việc cả trăm" (It takes cares of hundreds of chores for the multitude) is its applications. Once realized, the Suchness is always present. The historic Buddha was at Linh Sơn Mountain; where are our Buddhas? At Chân Không or Thường Chiếu ?
The Patriarchs have realized the True Nature. It is always there, never born nor dead. From the Sixth Patriarch to Master Chân Nguyên in Việt Nam, this was the same. For us, too, once realized, it is always with us. Never born nor dead. The Sixth Patriarch said, “bản lai vô nhất vật.” Master Chân Nguyên in Việt Nam also mentioned this. Both pointed to this True Nature directly, so that we may realize our Buddha, who is always with us.
I have mentioned the two partriarchs.
There was another Thiền master, Master Minh Chánh in the 19th century, i.e., one century after Master Chân Nguyên, under the Nguyễn dynasty. He belonged to the Tào Động School in Việt Nam. From Buddhist story about the last days of the Buddha (before He demised and entered PariNirvana), Master Minh Chánh learned that the Buddha had His final meal at Thuần Đà’s (Cunda’s) house. Thuần Đà was a blacksmith (hunter?), who, according to the Mahayana tradition, found some precious mushrooms (truffle) in the forest, and served them in the Buddha’s meal. The Buddha accepted and ate the meal which had the mushrooms, but forbade any monks to eat them, which surprised everybody. According to the Theravada tradition, Thuần Đà killed a warthog, and served its meat in the Buddha’s last meal. We do not know which version is true, but after the meal, the Buddha fell ill seriously (dysentery?). The monks were upset, and said the meal killed the Buddha.
[Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. (From Wikipedia)]
Master Minh Chánh created a poem after reading about the story of the Buddha’s last meal:
Well-done, Cunda! Well-done, Cunda!
Do not talk long. Do not talk short.
Long-short, good-bad, both are not right.
Trying to be skilful, you may be blamed as unskillful.
Trying to kill a sparrow, your sparrow may be eaten by a waiting fox
Fame and status are like early morning dew.
Wealth and prestige are but a long dream
If one does not realize one’s True Mind
One has worked hard in vain, and wasted one’s life.
Hay lắm Thuần Đà, hay lắm Thuần Đà !
Không nói ngắn, chẳng nói dài,
Ngắn dài, tốt xấu thảy đều sai.
Tìm hay lại hóa người chê vụng,
Bắn sẻ ai dè sói chực ngay.
Công danh cái thế màn sương sớm,
Phú quý kinh nhân giấc mộng dài.
Chẳng hiểu bản lai vô nhất vật,
Công lao uổng phí một đời ai !
This gatha was written in Nôm (Notes: Nôm is ancient Vietnamese, which has some similarities with Chinese scripts, but pronounced in Vietnamese. nttv). Why did he say “Hay lắm Thuần Đà, hay lắm Thuần Đà !”? (Well-done, Cunda! Well-done, Cunda!). It was because Cunda was the cause of arguments in the congregation. However, the arguments were not substantial. Therefore he complimented Cunda, then explained why the arguments were useless.
Do not talk long. Do not talk short.
Long-short, good-bad, both are not right. Thus, long vs. short are designations.
Long or short, both are relative. A ruler of one and a half meters on the floor by itself may be considered long. If we put another ruler of three meters long next to it, it becomes shorter. Similarly, a 3-meter ruler becomes short next to a 6-meter ruler. And so on and so forth. We see that nothing is stable. The same with good vs. bad, beautiful vs. ugly. When there is no vase of flowers around, even the vase with the simplest wild flowers looks good. But if we put another vase of flowers that are more beautiful next to it, the first becomes homely. Such discriminations are not valid or solid. They are not valid, but they may make us happy or upset, even angry. When you think this ruler is long, but another person says it is short, you are not pleased. In fact, both perceptions are not valid, but we keep holding on to them.
Therefore, Master Minh Chánh added, “Trying to be skilful, you may be blamed as unskillful./Trying to kill a sparrow, your sparrow may be eaten by a waiting fox.” We try to do good things, but our serious efforts sometimes backfire. Skillful deeds turn out to be unskillful ones. Anyhow, both skillful and unskillful are relative, impermanent, and not solid.
Trying to kill a sparrow, your sparrow may be eaten by a waiting fox
Fame and status are like early morning dew.
What we have gained may be stolen away from us, and what we think is good may turn out to be bad. Nothing can guarantee their validity and stability.
With the dichotomy of all worldly phenomena, there is nothing real. Such phenomena are unstable, impermanent and unreal. Therefore,
Fame and status are like early morning dew.
How pitiful! Fame is compared to morning dew; and wealth and prestige, to a long dream. We made great efforts to gain them, shocking others with our richness, but after some time wealth and prestige are gone, too. Master Minh Chánh warned humans about these illusions, and about their attachments to fame, wealth, and prestige or social status. All are a long dream or morning fog, which we should not chase after, for in the end they will disintegrate.
(To be continued)
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huineng
http://www.thientongvietnam.net/kinhsach-thike/dirs/tmdoitoi/index.pdf
