The Ultimate
Enlightenment
of
Hui-yiian
in Lu-shan
Koshiro TAMAKI
(I) IntroductionSince Buddhism was transmitted from India into China, three hundred years had passed when Hui-yuan (334-417) was horned. About that time the schools of Chinese Buddhism were not yet established, so he could research the ultimate enlightenment very freely in the integral Buddhism. He was a rigorous observer of Buddhist precepts and after he entered into Lu-shan at his fifty age, he had never gone out of the mountain until he was dead. He studied many doctrines of Buddhism and also Confucianism and the philosophy of Lao-tze and Chung-tze.
About that time Chiu-mo-lo-shih (Kumarajiva 344-413) went to China and translated many important sutras and sastras of Mahayanism. Under his instruction the excellent scholars like Seng-chao (384-414) and Tao-sheng (-434) emerged and principally studied the doctrine of prajnapara-mita which means the attainment of the absolute enlightenment by intui-tive wisdom. The teaching of prajnaparamita demands to transcend our ordinary and superficial consciousness and logic and to forsake all the ego-attachment. In order to complete the essence of it it is insufficient only to learn the sutras of prajnaparamita. The practical meditation (dhyana) is very important for it. By that practice the people of this sect strived to transcend the superficial consciousness and experience the absolute non-attachment of ego, sunyata which is the absolute nothingness. Therefore they mentioned only the dicussing logic until the experience of sunyata as in Chao-lun written by Seng-chao, or only the formal logic on the sun-yata itself as in several books of Chi-tsa (549-623) who belonged to the lineage of Chiu-mo-lo-shih.
The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) (2)
rience the absolute nothingness. He emphasized that it was impossible to
acqire the true wisdom without the true meditation. But he could not stop
only in the experience of sunyata, and tried to pursue the human and
world nature and at last the ground of the absolute Buddha. While the
people of sunyata sect were positive in their practce and negative or
formal in the expression of their thoughts, Hui-yuan was very positive
and vivid both in his practice and his thought.
(2) His Viewpoint on Human Nature
He deepened the meditation and tried to find out the common and
fundamental human consciousness, where the human feeling was naturally
, and calmly streaming. He thought over and speculated the human nature.
According to my opinion he seems to divide the human nature into the
three ideas. Supposed that they might be named, they would be 1) the
human nature of the artistic sympathy, 2) the human nature of the actual
retributin, 3) the human nature of ethics and morality.
1) The human nature of the artistic sympathy. In India there is a
book called Abhidharmahrdaya-sastra, the name of Chinese translation,
O-pi-tan-hsin-lun, which belongs to Hinayana Buddhism. The mind (hrdaya,
hsin) is the central subject in this book. Hui-yuan writes the introduction
on it, where he refers to the human nature of the artistic sympathy. It
says: "When we are singing, we seem to be as if the birds were flying,
the beasts were walking. While our feelings are moving together with
our fellow's, the song will be naturally realised according to the nine
tones. When our humor fits to the fundamental way, the sound will be
in union with the harmony. Beating the gold and stone with the harmony,
one hundred beasts are dancing. Playing it on an instrument, both human
beings and gods are sympathizing with it. This is the ultimate and natural
(1)
issue of the sound and voice." The artistic feeling which is here
mention-ted, does not be horned in one single man, but in a sympathy among us,
not only human beings, but also beasts, birds and gods. This feeling is
(1) Taisho-tripitaka, 55. 72c.
-858-(3) The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) considered to be fundamental and natural in the human consciousness.
2) The human nature of the actual retribution. It is very natural to hold that the good produces the happiness, and the evil produces the sin. It may be considered to be a reasonable postulate. Hui-yuan seems to notice the natural sentiment flowing in human consciousness with regard to the actual retribution. Ming-pao-ying-lun, his work, refers to as follows: "Ignorance is the source of delusion, passion is the basis of misfortune. All the happiness and sin in our world are only the variation of this retribution. From the ground, water, fire and wind our bodied are produced. If it be so, our bodies are discriminated with one another, and the boun-daries are settled among us. If it be so, we take our bodies for our ego. When there is a ego-substance in the good and evil, the attachment for the life continues incessantly. The evil increasing, the disaster comes. The sin emerging, the hell punishes it. This is a necessary way of which there is no doubt. With regard to the mind, the good and evil are comp-ared to the shape and voice. With regard to the fruit, the sin and hap-piness are compared to the shadow and sound. We become aware of the fruits as sin and happiness. So this way is called the nature, which is
(2)
nothing but the shadow and sound of ego. "The human nature is here observed as the actual retribution.
3) The human nature of ethics and morality.
Since the olden times Chinese people attach importance to ethics and morality based on Confucianism. It is very natural for human beings in general that parents, children and brothers love ,with one another. Hui-yuan especially gives attention to this respect and says as follows: "When people obey the rule at home, they are much accustomed... It is impor-tant to teach people the love in friendship and make them know the natural gratitude, to teach people the respect in strictness and make them
(3)
know the natural regard." From this sentence, it is known that he pays attention to the natural rule in human relation.
(2) T. 52. 33c. (3) T. 52. 30a.
The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yiian in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) (4) Based on the above consideration of his viewpoint on human nature, two problems arise; 1) the common idea of nature in which the above three ones are related with one another, 2) the original and fundamental idea of nature at the root of the above three. From the first problem the universality of human way, from the second problem the ultimate subject of human way will be discussed.
(3) Universality of Human Way
As considered on his viewpoint of human nature, he approves that man aims at the common idea in many spheres of human spirit. As to religion, he also does not think his own religion absolute, but is ready to approve the same truth in the other religions. He does not try to get the doctrine of religion. It is the only object for him to search for the ultimate truth and to realise it himself. Although he is converted to Buddhism and practises Nenbutsu based on dhyana (meditation), the spirit of searching for truth penetrates all his career. From this respect, it is considered that he opens the door of his heart to the other religions and bears the universality of human way in his mind. The religions to which he pays attention are of course Confucianism and the philosophy of Lao-tze and Chung-Lao-tze. On this respect he refers to as follows: "When I lea-rned the philosophy of Lao-tze and Chung-tze, I have understood that Confucianism was a transient doctrine. But Laotze and Chung-tze have a defect of sinking into the deep gloom, so I cannot but make Buddhism the most pre-eminent way. Unifying all teachings, however, and reducing them to their basis, it is known that one hundred sects have the same
(4)
spirit." Moreover he states that Lao-tze, Chung-tze, Confucianism and Bud-dhism are internally kept in touch with one another and reduced to the
(5)
same basis. He does not try to suppose theoretically the same principle among these doctrines, but to ascertain the inner communication among them through the practice of morality and experience of meditation. Spe-culation and experience are the most important elements in his way of
(4) T. 52. 34a. (5) T. 52. 32c-33a.
(5) The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yiian in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) search for truth.
From the above mentioned he presents the following two principles; 1) at first one, afterwards differentiated, 2) at first differentiated,
(6)
wards one. The former principle shows the action of Buddhas that the natural dharma of Buddhas becomes sometimes hermits or kings, someti-mes ministers or reverend priests. The latter principle means the work of kings that the successive kings complete one great project and at last are reduced to the ultimate one way. Seeing the one from the differen-tiated we can notice the necessary one of synthetic reason, seeing the differentiated from the one we can notice the multitude of the ultimate substance. Whatever ways we may walk along, we are necessarily conve-rted to the one truth, and on the contrary, there appear many truths in the world based on the one. So it is considered that he tries to see a relation between the unity and variety of truth. The relation is presented in his following statement: "As to the way of heaven and earth, the merit appears in the action. As to the virtue of king, the reason arises in the obedience." The way of heaven and earth is metaphysical, the virtue
of king is actual. The metaphysical way is realised in the concrete action, the actual virtue obeys the metaphysical reason.
In his such viewpoint we can see the embryo of idea one-many and many-one in the thought of Hua-yen sect developed later. But we are apt to fall in danger to justify easily the actual condition, if we do not examine so closely the real problem of state and policy. As to this respect we should be careful of his thought.
Thus observed, although the natures of artistic sympathy, actual ret-ribution and ethics and morality are different from one another as above mentioned, we can notice that each nature presents a way of heaven and earth. This way is nothing but what appears in each sphere of human actual world as natural way. From the natural finality, it will be necessary to hold the existence of universality among Buddhism, Confucianism and
The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) (6) philosophy of Lao-tze and Chung-tze.
(4) Finality of Human Way 1) Transcendence of Buddhism
As a essential characteristic of Buddhism he holds the non-obedience to the actual world. According to his viewpoint, all beings are divided into the sentient beings and non-sentient ones. The problem of life arises only in the sentient beings; they move along feeling the real matter, moving along the sentiment arises, so their existences continue incessantly and their forms become more complicated and changeable, and their sentime-nts are still more stagnant, their evils are still more deepened, and if changes of life are exhausted, its causality disappears for ever, and if they flow, it becomes covered with the limitless evils. From this respect he says that man should transcend all actual life in order to attain nirvana, that is to say, he considers that the non-obedience to actual world is essential to transcendence of delusion.
2) Pursuit of Human Way
It is known that Hui-yuan pursues the human way both on the part of object of recognition and on the part of subject of it. At first with regard to the object of recognition, he considers as follows; our life arose in the beginningless time and has come up to this present occurring and disappearing, so being and non-being, life and death are relative, never fundamental or absolute, i. e. nothing but sunya (nothingness) without the substantial subject. This is the object of recognition, or the state of world itself. Next with regard to the subject of recognition, he considers as follows; the subject should be deepened in the object itself, so the
(7) enlightenment becomes still more ripe and mysterious.
Thus, the subject of recognition must be enlightened in the object of it. In the process of this practical training he tries to show two meanings. The first meaning is as follows; though all beings are produced by cau-sality, the nature of beings is nothingness, so they are all the same, and
(7) T. 55. 75c-76a.
(7) The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) one who is able to go into the depth of all beings... his mind and wisdom
do not function...
is naturally calm and tranquil This is a mystery of
nothingness and the finality of human way, in which the function of subject is extinguished up to the absolute calmness of nothingness. The
second meaning is as follows; going into the depth of human way, it is beyond our speculation, observation and experience, it is inexhaustibility
itself, that is to say, the finality of human way is to enter the (9)
tible dharma of Buddha. This way is beyond the three vehicles (sravaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva), its wisdom is in touch with the ten stages of bodhisattva and its basis is penetrated by dharmakaya (body of truth). So the finality of human way is not a certain state of self-awakening, but to enter the world of limitless action. And yet its basis is in touch with dharma-kaya, so the limitless action means going into the inexhaustible
dharma of Buddha.
It will be needless to say that both the first and second meaning show the same world of Buddhist practice. Although the first one presents the absolute calmness through the extinction of subjective world and the second one points to the limitless action going into the inexhaustible dharma of Buddha, it is considered that both are only the inside and outside of finality of human way. In the limitless action the ego-sense is extinguished up to the absolute calmness and through the absolute tranquility of
sense it will be possible to act infinitely. As to Hui-yuan, however, the importance of the ultimate human way is not only in the absolute calmness of subjective condition, but in going into the limitless action. Therefore
the following problems will be; 1) the basis of subject penetrated by dharma-kaya, 2) Buddha himself of which inexhaustible dharma means
at the same time our limitless action. 3) Basis of Subject
As to his noticeable technics he says as follows: "We are able to make an exhaustive study of our consideration by washing our heart and we
(8) T. 55. 76a. (9) T. 55. 66a.
The Ultimate Enlightenment of I-Iui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) (8)
(10)
hare able to realise 'shen' (Y4) by making our enlightenment ripe." He uses the word 'shen' very often, but its origin is known in the texts of Lao-tze and Chung-tze. Observed from the technics of these thinkers, it is consi-dered that the 'shen' points to our spirit or the nature of mysterious action of our heart, i. e. our basis of subject. Based on such an idea peculiar to China as shen, he search for the basis of subject in Buddhism.
His well-known work 'Sha-men-pu-ching-wang-the-lun' which means a monk need not make a bow to, a king', contains five essays and the last one of them- is 'Hsing-chin-shen-pu-mieh' which means 'the body is mortal, shen is immortal'. In this essay he holds his viewpoint on the shen as follows; what is shen? it moves along feeling the actual matter and it acts on karman, but it is distinguished from the matter or. karman itself, so even if the matter or karman disappears, it is immortal, nevertheless it should be felt in our heart through the actual matter and realised in
(11) sour consciousness through karman.
According to his viewpoint above mentioned, it looks to be a sort of immortality of the soul. What is called, however, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul holds that by objectifying the soul it is immortal. On the contrary, he seems to call the subject of the enlightened world the shen, by being reduced to the basis of his existence. Although the shen is immortal by , distinguishing itself from the actual matter or karman, yet it is felt through the actual matter, or realised through karman. He
says this action of shen 圓 鷹 無 生, 妙 蓋 無 名. It means that the shen is itself
non-production responding to all things completely, and yet its action is most delicate beyond name and title. Thus he holds that it is most impo-rtant for a monk to realise the immortality of shen which is the absolute basis of our self awakening. In this respect he tries to ascertain the foun-dation of an argument in 'Sha-men-pu-ching-wang-the-lun.'
4) Buddha
It is a fundamental object for him to realise the immortality of shen (10) T. 55. 65c.
(11) T. 52. 31c.
-852-(9) The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yiian in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) which is the basis of our self awakening. And yet it necessarily goes intcl our limitless action which is penetrated by the inexhaustible dharma of Buddha. Now how is about Buddha what he calls ? According to the biog-raphy of monks, it is said that he built a society of Nenbutsu before a statue of Amita-Buddha in Lu-shan with one hundred and twenty three;
(12)
members and wished to be borned in the Paradise. We can here suppose-his deep religious sentiment. Perhaps for him the world of Buddha would comprehend the vast and boundless superb spirit. In his firm belief he-says that Buddha is the ultimate substance, so it is unchangeable, so it is, limitless. Buddha is for him a great and immeasurable Personality, so itt is a object of worship, and at the same time it is an unchangeable, limi tless and ultimate substance of dharma, i. e. the ultimate basis felt in his, own self-awakening. So Buddha is used sometimes in the same meaning as the shen. The immeasurable Personality of Buddha will be never con-tradictory to the ultimate basis of self-awakening, rather it will be proper to see that both ideas are in touch with each other. It is however incon trovertible for him that the latter tendency remarkably appears in his
viewpoint.
As to the meditation of Nenbutsu, he states that it is the most pre-eminent meditation of all ones. Its characteristics are the concentration of mind and the calmness of it. If concentrated, the aim is consistent, and if calmed, the feeling is empty and the shen is clear. If the feeling is empty,. the wisdom is able to illustrate all things, and if the shen is clear, its light is able to penetrate all matters. Both the emptiness of feeling and
the clearness of shen are the mysterious coincidence of nature (自 然 玄 符)
Such a idea of nature is considered to be fundamental of his viewpoits of it.
With regard to Buddha in the, meditation of Nenbutsu, he considers as follows; Buddha is a shen-substance of Tathagata which exhausts the calmness of the ultimate basis and yet unlimitedly responds to all things.
The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) (10) So one who enters the meditation of Nenbutsu, becomes one with the shen-substance and lose his consciousness. And yet the shen-substance becomes a mirror which reflects all things. The mirror itself or Buddha himself is said to be a pure and bright nature. By listening to the myst-erious sound of the pure and bright Buddha, the evil of our heart disap-pears, the hiudxance of our feeling vanishes and the delusion of our
(13)
karman is reject d.
Considered from the above mentioned, Buddha in his meditation of Nenbutsu is not sambhoga-kaya which has thirty two or eighty marks, but a union of dharma-kaya which exhausts the calmness of the ultimate basis and nirmana-kaya which unlimitedly responds to all things. Such Buddha will be related to the subject of self-awakening by concentration and calmness of mind.
His another work on Buddha is named 'Fu-ying-ming' which means an inscription of Buddha-image. In this work he considers on Buddha as follows: The action of Buddha is reduced to the compassion without relations which is the response of dharma-kaya, and yet the response is the action of the silent shen. In other words, the subject of fundamental basis does in silence the action of dharma-kaya. Now how is about the substance of Buddha? Searching for the finality of dharma-kaya, it seems to exist dimly, but of course beyond argument. Although the reason of nature is beyond all things, formless and nameless, the reasonable way is omnipresent all over the world. So Buddha sometimes appears absolutely in the special case, sometimes appears relatively in the actual case. Even if the Buddha in absolute appearance looks to be its shape and the Buddha in relative appearance to be its shadow, there cannot be in reality two systems of shape and shadow in Buddha. If we suppose, however, the ultimate basis of Buddha, we. can say that its condition is' the interval in
(14)
pure continuance' (有 間 於 無 間 臭). Perhaps Hui-yiian's 'pure continuance'
will mean the incessant action of dharma-kaya and the 'interval' will (13) T. 52. 351b. 47. 166a.
(11) The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) point to our actual perception of it. Yet he holds that we should never objectively search for Buddha, but in its present response.
It will be known that though Hui-ytian's viewpoint on Buddha is very simple, it has several characteristics. We shall be able to summarize them as follows:
1. The Buddha is felt through our subject of self-awakening. It is a nonsense for him to search for the objective Buddha without our subject. It means meditation to search for something through our subject, and through meditation Nenbutsu appears.
2. The basis of our self-awakening is not at once Buddha. As it is said that one who enters the meditation of Nenbutsu loses his own cons-ciousness, the subject itself which loses its own basis is considered to be Buddha, too. It is dharma-kaya, or a substance of empty mirror.
3. It is said that both basis of subject and substance of dharma-kaya are natural. As to the basis of subject, it is a mysterious coincidence of nature that our feeling is empty and our shen is bright. As to the empty mirror of dharma-kaya, it is the pure and bright nature. As his viewpoint of nature is very characteristic, he holds the same idea about the basis of subject or the finality of dharma-kaya. Anyhow here it will be considered that the subject without ego-sense is Buddha himself by being reduced to the natural.
4. The Buddha is not only the subject itself without ego-sense, but also he has a independent action. This is clear in that by listening to the mysterious sound of Buddha the evil, hindrance or delusion is rejected. It is said to be the compassion without relations which has unlimited response of nirmana-kaya. Such Buddha is, however, related to the basis of subject, so in this respect the subject does silently the action of dharma-kaya.
5. Buddha is in reality a union of dharma-kaya and nirmana-kaya. In other words, it is a fusion of the ideal and the actual. Dharma-kaya and nirmana-kaya should be really inseparable with each other. It is, as it were, 'the interval in pure continuance'. Just in our actual interval, we can
The Ultimate Enlightenment of Hui-yuan in Lu-shan (K. Tamaki) (12) touch to the pure continuance of Buddha.
It will be a noticeable manifestation of Buddhist spirit that Hui-yuan tries to search for the ultimate human way with so simple but deep spe-culation and experience. We can say that his life of seeking after truth is essential to Buddhism. It will be doubtful, however, how steadily such a spirit has developed in Chinese Buddhism later. He will be considered to be one of rare people who tried to exhaust the human way.
