Zen Master Zhongfeng Mingben taught: “The reasons why Zen practice today is ineffective are, first, the lack of genuine resolve like the ancients; second, not treating life, death, and impermanence as a matter of great
importance; and third, being unable to discard the habits accumulated over countless kalpas, while also lacking the enduring heart of unwavering perseverance.” “Only those who take the great matter of life and death as their own urgent responsibility, utterly eradicating their deceitful minds, can truly engage with it. If even the slightest trace of views regarding good and evil, grasping and rejecting, love and hatred, or continuity and cessation remains, then branches and leaves will sprout. How can one not be cautious?”
Enlightenment is the foundation for resolving the matter of life and death. To attain enlightenment, one must first prepare for it, just as before moving to a new home, one must select the location, plan, design, construct, complete, and thoroughly clean it before moving in. Genuine practitioners who achieve realization in the Three Vehicles all have a solid foundation in their practice, a fervent aspiration for the Way, a strong renunciation mind, robust self-reflection and self-awareness, knowledge of their shortcomings followed by diligent learning, and the
courage to face and overcome their own deficiencies and problems. Only then can they accomplish the fruit of the Way.
The methods and efforts of engaging the huatou in Zen are additional practices requiring sincere application. They are the ultimate means to attain enlightenment, driven by a genuine resolve to understand life and death and realize the Way, with a readiness to sacrifice everything for the Dharma and to cultivate diligently with rigorous effort. Without the stabilizing power to focus the mind, without disciplined conduct, and with a vague understanding of the Dharma and views, one is easily swayed by external conditions, leading to the proliferation of afflictions as circumstances fluctuate. Such individuals, whether reciting the Buddha’s name, holding mantras, or practicing any school, remain stagnant, making no progress, let alone engaging in subtle practices like Zen. The saying, “The merit of three lifetimes as an emperor, the talent of seven lifetimes as a top scholar”—how could this deceive us? Both enlightenment and realization require merit and a broad mind capacity. Only with sufficient merit, an expansive mind capacity, and diligent resolve toward life and death can one accomplish them.
Modern practitioners find Zen practice ineffective because they do not apply themselves earnestly. They aim too high while neglecting the basics, seek results without planting causes, have no fear of life and death, disregard cause and effect, remain unaware of their own faults, and are driven all day by the habits of self-attachment, with endless afflictions and disputes. Their heavy, ingrained habits are difficult to reverse, burying their awakened nature deep within afflictions, attachments, and ignorance, with no way to emerge. Practice requires self-awareness, the power of self-reflection, and the ability to recognize and correct shortcomings. Otherwise, even after countless years, not an inch of progress will be made.
Vairocana Miao Tsan