Patriarchal Ch’an, as I have experienced it, refers to the method of realising the empty mind ground here and now, and integrating this realisation with
Tag: Ch’an
Definition: Mahayana Term ‘True Self-Nature’ (自我真性)
As the Mahayana Buddhist tradition adheres to the Buddha’s teaching of ‘anatman’, or ‘non-self’, this term cannot be used to refer to a permanent self, or ‘soul’. T
Buddhism: Pali Bhavana and Chinese Ch’an
Chinese transliterations and translations are useful as the early Chinese scholars had to understand the Indian Pali and Sanskrit terms before they could be rendered effectively into the Chinese language. Obviously, some of the early transliteration of Indian Buddhist terms are purely ‘phonetic’ in nature and in themselves do not convey much meaning as ideograms. This represents an initial process of a slow, careful and gradual building-up of knowledge in China about a thoroughly ‘foreign’ Indian philosophy that had to develop an ‘interface’ with existing Chinese culture.
The Material Basis of Buddhist ‘Consciousness’ (Vijnana)
Instead, the Buddha reiterated that different types consciousness arises out of specific material conditions, and that without the presence of these specific material conditions, the different types of consciousness do not arise. The concept of Buddhist consciousness does not constitute a theistic ‘atma’, or ‘soul’ that stands in opposition to the material world, but is in fact a product of conditions arising out of the material world.
Interpreting Ch’an – Basic Errors in Western Discourse
This has created a situation whereby ‘Chinese’ history and culture has been inadequately interpreted by one culture (i.e. the ‘West’), through the erroneous scholarship of another (i.e. ‘Japan’), which is compounded by the fact that neither the West nor Japan are willing to admit the errors they have made…
Distorted Zen – By Thomas Cleary
There are many differences between Chinese Ch’an and Japanese Zen – here the esteemed translator Thomas Cleary – focuses on the misunderstanding regarding ‘breathing’ as applied within the Japanese Zen schools, and how this deviates from Chinese Ch’an and Chinese Daoism.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 