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What Is Chan? Is Zen Chan? |
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Written by Web Master
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Monday, 10 September 2007 |
If you have read Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, books by R.T. Susuki, Thomas Cleary, Osho, but still not sure..
The following statements typify the descriptions of Zen in the western world.
- Zen can not be defined by words.
- Be one with the present moment.
- Zen is taught without words or formalities.
- All descriptive methods are like the bubble and the dream.
- Zen is not this and not that.
These words are also true in Chan. But in Chan, they are description of a spiritual journey. A spiritual experience such as love, hate, or itch just can not transmitted over through words. The difference between Zen and Chan is like the description of joy verse the joy itself.
If your practice of Zen does not incorporated Chi or Ki or Qi, then it does not contain a spiritual element. Spiritual experience is not a sensation or an emotion, our true spirit, or soul, is a life force, which is omnipresent, life sustaining, peaceful and connected to the universe. Our spirit, like an energy, which we can feel, channel and identify with. Our spirit often can elucidate us, bring us intuition beyond our logical mind.
After dedicated Chi-based practice, one would then be able to experience these claims beyond its word based philosophical meaning.
When Chan is passed to Japan, the original Chan practice based on a Chi/Qi/Ki foundation may have lost along the way in some of the schools. It is especially possible, when a father priest passes onto a son-priest. Perhaps to some of the Japanese linage, only the experience and not the chi-based practice was passed over. Zen may have become a study of the experience instead of the experience itself. Perhaps that is why Zen is called a life style, while in reality it is way beyond just a life style.
Chan experience, as stated in all sutras, is possible only from a practice based on a foundation of Chi/Qi/Ki.
As defined by our enlightened Master, Wu Jue Miao Tian, "Chan is the life force and wisdom of the universe." It is simple, clear, precise. Chan is absolute and not subject to interpretation or debate. So is our practice. Our practice is simple, clearly laid out and there is no short cut. It is not deep and not convoluted. Any illiterate can learn and master it. We have many practitioners in our school do not read or write.
Because Chan is the universal life force and wisdom, it is not in the domain of logic. Nor can it be comprehend by our mind, be mastered as a skill, measured by our limited intruments.
Only through dedicated Chan practice, can we be connected to the life force and wisdom of Chan. Without the right practice, it is just a mental understanding, a withered practice without the power to manifest or transform.
Therefore, Sutra can talk about Chan and Masters can teach Chan. But it is not Chan. Like love, Chan is really a spirituality to be experienced and a connection to be witnessed. Chan is alive and kicking.
We ask everyone to practice and witness directly.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 29 December 2008 )
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