Những Thiền Phái Ngay Sau Thời Lục Tổ Huệ Năng Tập 1 (Song ngữ Vietnamese-English PDF)

Preface

Almost 26 centuries ago, after experiencing a variety of methods of cultivation without success, the Buddha decided to test the truth by self purification of his own mind. He sat cross-legged for 49 days and nights under the bodhi-tree and reached the highest meditative attainments which are now known as enlightenment and deliverance. He gradually entered the first, second, and third Jhanas. So Zen originated from the very day of the Buddha and Buddhist meditation forms the very heart and core of the Buddha’s teaching. It is said that one day Brahma came to the Buddha who was residing at the Vulture Peak, offered a Kumbhala flower, and requested him to preach the Law. The Buddha ascended the Lion seat and taking that flower touched it with his fingers without saying a word. No one in the assembly could understand the meaning. The venerable Mahakasyapa alone smiled with joy. The world-Honoured One said: “The doctrine of the Eye of the True Law is hereby entrusted to you, Oh Mahakasyapa! Accept and hand it down to posterity.” Once when Ananda asked Mahakasyapa what the Buddha’s transmission was, Mahakasyapa said: “Go and take the banner-stick down!” Ananda understood him at once. Thus the mind-sign was handed down successively. The teaching was called the ‘school of the Buddha-mind.’ We are told that Sakyamuni Buddha had given the secret doctrine to Mahakasyapa through the incident of "Smiling and twirling a flower between the fingers" (Buddha held up a flower and Kasyapa smiled). However, this incident does not appear till about 800 A.D., but is regarded as the beginning of the tradition on which the Ch’an or Intuitional sect based its existence. In Japanese, the term 'Nenge-misho' means 'smiling and swirling a flower between the fingers'; a Zen expression that refer to the wordless transmission of the Buddha-dharma from Sakyamuni Buddha to his student Kashyapa, later called Mahakashyapa. The transmission from heart-mind to heart-mind is the beginning of the "Special transmission outside the orthodox teaching," as Zen calls itself. The story begins with a sutra, the "Ta-fan T'ien-wang Wen Fo Ching." In it it is told that once Brahma, the highest deity in the Hinduist assembly of gods, visited a gathering of disciples of the Buddha on Mount Gridhrakuta (Vulture Peak Mountain). He presented the Buddha with a garland of flowers and requested him respectfully to expound the dharma. However, instead of giving a discourse, the Buddha only took a flower and twirled it, while smiling silently, between the fingers of his raised hand. None of the gathering understood except for Kashyapa, who responded with a smile. When the World-Honored One holds up a flower to the assembly. Mahakasyapa's face is transformed, and he smiles. Zen practitioners should open your eyes and look carefully. A thousand mountain ranges separate the one who reflects from the one who is truly present. According to Zen Keys, Vietnamese King Tran Thai Tong said: "While looking at the flower that the World-Honored One raised in his hand, Mahakasyapa found himself suddenly at home. To call that 'transmission of the essential Dharma' is to say that, for him alone, the chariot shaft is adequate transport." According to the somewhat shortened version of this episode given in example 6 of the Wu-Men-Kuan, the Buddha then said, "I have the treasure of the eye of true dharma, the wonderful mind of nirvana, the true form of no form, the mysterious gate of dharma. It cannot be expressed through words and letters and is a special transmission, outside of all doctrine. This I entrust to Mahakashyapa." After this event, Kashyapa was called Mahakashyapa, thus became the first patriarch of the Indian transmission lineage of Ch'an. The story of the Buddha twirling a flower before his assembly, like the story of the baby Buddha taking seven steps in each of the cardinal directions, need not be taken literally. The first account of his transmitting the Dharma to Mahakasyapa is set forth in a sutra of Chinese origin that is dated A.D. 1036, fourteen hundred years after the Buddha's time. This was the Sung period, a peak in the development of Chinese culture when great anthologies, encyclopedias, and directories were being produced. Myth, oral tradition, and sectarian justification all played a role in this codification. The fable of the Buddha twirling a flower filled a great need for connection with the founder, and it was picked up immediately and repeated like gospel. The 'Four Principles' attributed to Bodhidharma were also formulated during the Sung period, some six hundred years after Bodhidharma's time, using some of the same language attributed to the Buddha: 'A special transmission outside tradition, not established on words or letters.' The Sung teachers were making important points with their myths." No matter what we say, Indian Zen Sect began with the First Patriarch Maha Kasyapa and handed down to the tweny-eighth Patriarch Bodhidharma before moving to China (handing down the Patriarchs in China). According to the Zen history, men who inherited and passed on teaching of Sakyamuni. Zen sect was transmitted from one patriarch after the other, which was not expounded in words but transmitted from mind to mind and without the use of written texts. However, until today, the history of Zen is mythical.

Talking about the Chinese Zen School, according to the Zen History, in around the late second half of the fifth century, the Zen School was established in China by Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth patriarch, who brought the tradition of the Buddha-mind from India. Ch’an is considered as an important school of Buddhism in China. This was the recreation of the Buddhist sutras in the Fourth Council. The first three councils being the Abhidharma, the Mahayana, and the Tantra. Zen is nearly contemporary with the Tantra and the two have much in common. Bodhidharma came to China about 470 A.D. and became the founder of esoteric and Zen schools there. It is said that he had practised meditation against the wall of the Shao-Lin-Tzu monastery for nine years. The followers of Bodhidharma were active everywhere, and were completely victorious over the native religions with the result that the teachings of Zen have come to be highly respected everywhere in China. After Bodhidharma Patriarch, speaking more exactly, after the time of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng, the Chinese Zen School was divided into at least four schools: the Hsing Ssu Zen School, the Huai-Jang Zen School, the Hui Chung Zen School, and the Sheân-Hui Ho Tse Zen School. First, the Hsing Ssu Zen Branch, founded by Zen Master Ch'ing Yuan Hsing-Ssu (660-740), one of the most outstanding people of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng's Dharma heirs. Second, the Huai Jang Zen Branch, founded by one of the most outstanding people of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng's Dharma heirs, Zen Master Nan Yueh Huai Jang. Third, the Hui Chung Zen Branch: Zen Master Nan-Yang-Hui-Chung was born in 675 A.D., was an eminent student of the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-Neng. He was the founding patriarch of the Zen Branch named Hui Chung. Fourth, the Shen Hui Zen Branch: Shen-Hui-He-Ze, surname was Kao. He was born in 670 A.D., and left home at the age of 13.  He was one of the eminent disciples of the Sixth Patriarch. He strongly supported and promoted Hui-Neng’s place in Chinese Zen history. Shen-Hui led the Southern Zen school named Shen Hui Zen Branch. Then, later, the Chinese Zen School was again divided into five main sects or the Five Houses of Zen which refer to separate teaching lines that evolved from the traditions associated with specific masters. Three of these traditions, Ts'ao-tung, Yun-men, and Fa-yan, descended from the transmission line traced back to Ch'ing-yuan Hsing-ssu and Shih-t'ou Hsi ch'ien. The other two, the Lin-chi and Kuei-yang, proceeded from Ma-tsu Tao-i and Pai-chang Huai-hai. The Lin-chi House later produced two offshoots, the Yang-chi and Huang-lung. When these last two were added to the Five House, together they are referred to as the Seven Schools of Zen.

Truly speaking, the Zen School has been one of the most important Zen schools in Buddhism that contributed a lot to the daily life of so many people in many centuries. For this reason, I've tried compose the book titled “The Chinese Zen School Before the Time of The Five Houses & Seven Schools”. This book is not a profound history and philosophical study of the the Zen School, but a book that summarizes the history and philosophical study of the Zen Branches and their lineages of transmissionas well as methods of cultivation right after the time of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng. Devout Buddhists should always remember the ultimate goal of any Buddhist cultivator is to attain enlightenment and emancipation, that is to say to see what method or methods to escape or to go beyond the cycle of births and deaths right in this very life. For these reasons, though presently even with so many books available on Buddhism, I venture to compose this booklet titled “The Chinese Zen School Before the Time of The Five Houses & Seven Schools” in Vietnamese and English to briefly introduce on the Zen Branches right after the time of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng . Hoping this little contribution will help Buddhists in different levels to understand on how to achieve and lead a life of peace, mindfulness and happiness.

Respectfully,