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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

BUDDHIST STUDIES

E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

A.K. Narain

University of Wisconsin, Mad ison, USA

E D I T O R S

tL.M.Joshi

Punjabi University

PaliaUi, India

Alexander W. M acdonald

UniversaledeParis X

Nanterre, France

Iiardwell Smith

Carleton College

Northjield

Minnesota, USA

Ernst Steinkellner

Universityof Vienna

Wien, Austria

fikido Takasaki

Universityof Tokyo

Tokyo,Japan

RobertThurrnan

Amherst

College

Amherst Massachusetts, USA

A S S I S T A N T E D I T O R

Roger Jackson

Fairfield Unwersity

Fairfield Connecticut, USA

a

Volume 8 1985 Num ber 2

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C O N T E N T S

I . A RTICLES

1 . P a d m a d K a r - p o o n t h e T w o S a t y & s , by

Michael

Broido 7

2.

N o-T ho ug h t in P a o T ' a n gC h ' a n a nd Early A t i-Y oga ,

byA.W Hanson-Barber 61

3 . W on hy o (Yuan Hsiao) on the Nirv ana School :

S um m a t i on U nd e r t he O n e M i nd D oc t r ine ,

byWhalenLai 75

4 .

T h e Bodh isa ttva Idea l o f Th era va da ,byShanta

Ratnayaka 85

5. Na ture in Dog en ' s Ph i losophy and Poe t ry ,by

Miranda Shaw

111

II . B O O K R E V I E W S

1.

Buddhism in Life:

The

Anthropo logical Study of Religion

andthe Sinhalese Practiceof Buddhism, by Martin

Southwold

(G e orge D .B ond ) 1 33

2. Dhamma: Western Academicand SinhaleseBuddhist

Interpretations: A Study o f a Religious Concept,

by Jo h n Ross Ca r te r

(Ha rry M. Buck) 135

3 . Ma trix of ystery: Scientificand H umanistic Aspects of

rDzogs-Chen Thought,

by H e rbe r t

V.

G u e n t h e r

(A.W. Ha nso n-B arber ) 138

4 .

The Sutra of the Contemplationof theBuddha of Immeas

urable Life,

by the Ryuk oku Universi ty T ra ns

la t ion Center

(M inor u Kiyota) 140

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5.

The Sutra of the Wisean d the Foolish (mdo bdzarisblun), or,

the Oceanof Narratives (uliger-un d alai),

t ranslated

byStanley Frye

John R. Kr ueger) 1

6. Tibetan Budd hist Medicine and Psychiatry: The

DiamondHealing

by

Ter ry Clifford

To dd Fenner) 1

O B I T UARI E S 1

L IS T O F C O N T R I B U T O R S 1

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N o-Th oug ht in Pao-T 'ang C h a n and

Early Ati-Yoga

by A.W. Hanson-Barber

T h e no t ion of no - tho ug ht is found in bo th the P ao -T 'ang

school of Ch 'an

1

and the ear ly Ati-Yoga system

2

now preserved

in the Nyingma school o f Tibe tan Buddhism.

3

Some au tho r s

have s ta ted tha t Ch 'an thought and the At i -Yoga thought a re ,

in fact , the same in many aspects . Some have even suggested

that the Ati-Yoga has incorporated Ch'an at an ear ly stage of

its de ve lop m en t or im plied th at the A ti-Yoga is a tantr ic ized

form of Ch 'an .

4

It would seem likely that in part these authors

have formulated their theor ies based on the fact that the not ion

of no- thought appears in both schools . However , as wil l be seen

below, the not ion of no - th ou gh t has a com pletely dif ferent con

notat ion for these two schools of thought .

T h e re is good re aso n he re to select the Pa o-T 'an g school

from among the var ious schools of Ch 'an. Pr imari ly , a s t rong

argument cou ld be made tha t the now infamous Hwa Shang

Mahayana ( the represen ta t ive of the Ch 'an school a t the debate

of bSam yas or Lhasa) was at least in part a representative of

this school , especial ly in his theo ry of no - th ou gh t . This ar g um en t

is no t on ly based on the in form at ion ga the red f rom th e un do ub t

edly exaggerated Tibetan sources about the council , but a lso is

avai lable f rom Chinese sources found at Tun Huang.

:>

T h e r e

fore, i t seems likely that if there were any connection between

Hwa shang 's thought and the no t ion of no- thought in Ch 'an ,

it wo uld be with th e m o re radical version of this no tion fou nd

in the Pao-T'ang school . The Tibetans had easy access to th is

school and i t had obviously become popular enough for one of

its spo kes m en to hav e bee n cho sen for the deb ate .

61

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62

J I A B S V O L . 8 N Q . 2

In this brief paper, I will present a description of both the

actual doctr inal posi t ion that the Pao-T'ang school took on the

not ion of no-thought and how this posi t ion developed within

the Ch'an school. Secondly, I will present a description of the

doctrinal posit ion of this same notion as found in the early

Ati-Yoga. However, a his tory of i ts development within that

school is at present not possible to reconstruct , due to a lack of

any cri t ical study based on the material available.

/. The Development of the Notion of No-Thought in China

Acc ording to Whalen W . La i, the not ion of n o- th ou gh t

(Ch.

wu-nien)

cannot be separa ted f rom the

nien

comp lex found

in the Han t rad i t ion . He has a rgued tha t the not ion of no-

thought can be used to de te rmine the or ig in of

The Awakening

of Faith in the Mahdydna,

the f i rs t Buddhis t work wherein one

encounte rs the not ion of no- thought . However , the not ion of

no - tho ug ht a nd its exac t m ean ing wi th in th is work a re p rob lem

atic;

not only is an E ngl ish ren de rin g diff icult , b ut the not io n

is difficult to co nt en d with even for the alleged tran slatio n m ad e

by Siksananda.

Be that as i t may, within the Ch'an tradit ion one first finds

the not ion of no - th ou gh t be ing pu t for th by the Sou ther n school

to cou n te r t he no t ion o f de t ach m ent f rom thou gh t (Ch . li-nien)

of the Nor thern school . The very use of the te rm no- thought

is eve n fou nd in th e

Platform Su tra of the Sixth Patriarch.

One can

surm ise i t was on e of the key issues that divided the two br an ch es

of Ch 'an . Whether or not the Southern school unders tood cor

rectly the implications of li-nien is s till un de te rm in ed .

7

A l t h o u g h

th is ques t ion is im po r tan t to Bud dho logis t s , the So uth ern school

did finally gain the hea rts of th e Chi ne se , as Suz uki has n o ted :

. . . as time went on (the Southern school) proved to be the w inner

as being in better accord with the thought and psychology of the

Chinese people.

8

From th is beginning , Wu Chu, one of the founders of the

Pao-T 'ang school , deve loped the not ion of no- thought to i t s

radical , a l though logical , conclusion. The not ion put forth by

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N O - T H O U G H T

63

Wu Chu can be found in the

Li Tai Fa Pao Chi,

9

a d o c u m e n t

f o u n d a t T u n - H u a n g .

/ / . The Ch an D octrine of No-Thou ght

The not ion of no- thought has to be seen wi th in a context

of philosophical notions before the fuller implications of i ts

m ea ni ng can be asce r ta ined . This con text cons ists of th ree pa r ts :

1) de f in i tion o f en l igh ten m en t ; 2 ) sud de n en l ig h te nm ent ; and

3) the no t ion of no - tho ug h t p ro pe r .

As is well known, the Ch'an school, basing i tself on the

s ta tements in the

Lanhavatara Sutra

and elsewhere, basically de

f ines en l igh tenment as sva-citta. As Hui Neng exp la ins :

To know our mind is to obtain liberation. To obtain liberation

is to attain Samadhi of Prajna, which is though tlessness. What

is though tlessness? Th oug htlessness is to see and to know all

Dharmas (things) with the mind free from attachment. When in

use it pervades everywhere, and yet it sticks nowhere. What we

have to do is to purify our mind so that the six gates will neither

be defiled by nor attached to the six sense-objects. When our

mind works freely without any hindrance, and is at liberty to

com e or to go, we attain Sam adhi of Prajna or liberation .

10

Thus, as wil l be seen below, this posit ion of defining enlighten

ment as sva-citta is necessari ly implied in the philosophical po

s it ion of the P ao -T 'ang school . T he re fo re , th er e is no d i f ference

between the Southern school and the Pao-T'ang school on th is

point and the above s ta tement by Hui Neng would be accepted

by the Pao-T'ang.

As for poin t three above, one can ascer ta in Wu Chu 's po

s i t ion on this from a s tatement in the

Li Tai Fa Pao Chi:

W h e n

the re is t ru ly no - th ou gh t , the n no - th ou gh t it se lf doe s not

exis t .

1 1

By this is meant that when there really is no discrimi

nation, then one can not even speak of a thing called no discrimi

nat io n . Th is is fur th er e lab orated by a cr it ic ism b ro ug ht agains t

this school by Tsung Mi:

. . . The ir idea is that the cycle of birth and death is du e to the

arising of thought(ch i hsin

d

):when thought arises there is delu-

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64

J I A B S V O L . 8 N Q . 2

sion

(wang

h

);

when no thought, either good or evil, arises there

is truth.

1 2

He fur ther goes on to cr i t ic ize the Pao-T'ang along the same

lines that Hwa Shang Mahayana was cr i t ic ized in Tibet . Final ly ,

he concludes :

Thus, their practice is not (concerned with) right or wrong, but

only values no mind

(wu hsin

1

)

as the p rofound ultimate

{miao

Fur ther , as no ted above , there i s no way to unders tand the

impl ica t ion of the Pao-T 'ang posi t ion o ther than wi th in the

s t ream of su dd en en l igh ten m en t . Th at is , when the d iscr imina

t ions have been comple te ly s topped , en l igh tenmen t mus t come

sudd enly . Th is is fu r th er cor robo ra ted by the c r it ic isms b ro ug ht

against this school by Shen Sh'ing in the

Pel Shan Lu.

XA

T he ref or e , the no t ion of no - tho ug ht is seen as the goal .

When one can s tay wi th in the rea lm of no- thought wi thout

straying from i t , one has arr ived. This can also be ascer tained

f rom the unus ua l p rac tices o f the Pao -T 'an g . Th ey d id no t m ake

offer ings to the B ud dh as , pract ice com pas sion ate act ivi ty , fo llow

even the s ta nda rd e t iq ue t te o f the t ime, o r have the s tan dard

ceremonies o f o rd ina t ion of monks and nuns . Al l o f these cus

toms were seen to be no th ing more than d iscr imina t ions and

therefore on the side of samsara.

Thus , i t has been shown tha t the Pao-T 'ang school under

s tood en l igh tenmen t a s sva-citta, accep ted the theory of sudden

enl igh tenment , and saw no- thought as the goal .

/ / / .

No-Thought in the Ati-Yoga

As ment ioned above , a h is to ry of the development o f the

notion of no- tho ug ht in the Ati-Yoga is a t pre sen t im possible .

This is primarily because most of the materials for a crit ical

study have only become available to the West in the past few

years and as of yet no one has intensively studied the earliest

m ateria l of this system . A stud y of such m ateria l is, of co urs e,

crucial for the history and doctr ine of the rather c loudy ear ly

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N O - T H O U G H T

65

tantr ic per iod. However , lacking th is , I have presented below

mater ia l drawn from the individual perhaps most responsible

for the transmission of Ati-Yoga to Tibet: Sri Simha, who was

the teacher of both Vairocana and Vimalamit ra , who in turn

t ransmit ted the At i -Yoga sys tem that they learned from Sri

Sim ha in to Tib et du rin g the firs t pro pag at ion per iod.

For th is paper , I have drawn on the teachings of Sr i Simha

that were t rans lated in to Tibetan by Vairocana. In th is sect ion

of the invest igation I again wil l use the three categories men

t ioned above to t ry to ga in a comprehens ive unders tand ing of

the notion of no-thought in the Ati-Yoga system.

IV. D efinition of Enlightenment in Ati-Yoga

Unlike the Ch'an school posi t ion on the defini t ion of en

l igh ten m en t p res en ted above , the At i-Yoga posit ion is that e n

l igh ten m en t is def ined as

bodhicitta.

Th is is un de rs to od wi thin

the general context of the tant ras ; the mul t i - level meaning of

bodhicittafou nd within th e tan tric l i tera ture is acc epte d by this

school

in

toto.

He re , the n, is the Ati -Yoga school 's un de rs t an di ng

o f en l i gh t enmen t a s

bodhicitta

and then its un de rs ta nd ing of

wha t bodhicittam eans :

The B hagavan arose from the midst of his profound meditation

without app eara nces (i.e., thought constructs), and spoke: Th e

-supreme vehicle, which is peerless, by whatever mounting on

this great vehicle [that one undertakes] one certainly arises from

samsara. Since [samsara] is the place fwherein one] dep ends upo n

other vehicles, it is proper to meditate upon this [supreme] ve

hicle. Whoever meditates on this great vehicle is similar to the

Jina-Buddhas. Since the great vehicle is

bodhicitta. .

. .

ir

'

. . . from all the spheres of the com plete pu re ocean [like]

skywomb which is the completely pure bodhicitta thig le of all

appearances there arises that very pure awareness from that

sphere . . . From both the p ure awareness and the sph ere one

realizes (that) characteristics and characteristiclessness are iden

tical. Since meat, religious articles, and the marxjala of the gods

and goddesses are realized as not being separate (from the non-

dual pure awareness sphere), it is Anuyoga.

lh

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J I A B S V O L . 8 N 0 . 2

T h u s ,

enl ig hte nm en t is un de rs to od in At i-Yoga asbodhicitta.

In the second qu ota t io n wh a t is be in g prese nte d is an exp lana

t ion of how to understand the Anuyoga tantr ic level from the

Ati-Yoga persp ect ive . Th is is an inter est in g fea ture of this system

tha t needs fur the r inves t iga t ion; however , he re wha t must be

poin ted ou t is tha t the qu ota t io n does show tha t the un de rs t an d

ing of

bodhicitta

is within t he usu al con text of the tan tra s .

V. Sudden Enlightenment in Ati-Yoga

W ithin the Ati-Yoga system, en l ig ht en m en t is seen as occur

r ing in an instant . This is so because the non-at t rac t ion to or

non-ave rs ion f rom though t s c an on ly happen sudden ly . Tha t

is when one nei ther t r ies to s top or s tar t thoughts , but res ts in

the s ta te of pure awareness (Tb.

rig pa);

the ac t of a t tachment

to or avers ion f rom thoughts i s s topped in an ins tant . There i s

no middle gr ou nd ; e i the r on e is in the mo de of a t tachm ent /av er

sion or one is not. In the

Root Tantra Without Birth Being the

Great Sky Like Vajrasattva, it says:

As for fulfilling the conditioned minds of all sentient beings,

because of persevering, one is called brave; the body of all

Tathagaias manifests from the five-bodhi meditation; not by

stages but in an instant. In an instant (one becomes) the son of

a good family (i.e., a Bodhisattva).

17

T h e t e rm tha t is he re ren de red as i ns t an t (Tb .

cig car)

has

been brought in to ques t ion by R.A. S te in . He has mainta ined

tha t t he T ib e t an shou ld be un de rs tood as s imu l t aneous and

no t i n s t an taneous .

1 8

However , the mate r ia l tha t he was us ing

was p r imar i ly f rom the Mahamudra t e ach ings and does no t

apply to the Ati-Yoga system. This is so because of the fact that

in the tex ts inves t iga ted , the sudden break- through i s more

of ten spok en of as spon taneou s ly a r i sen (Tb . Ihun grub) o r

exis ting spo ntane ous ly a r i sen (T b. Ihun

gyis

grub pa yin) instead

of i ns t an taneous (Tb . cig car). Th e re f o re , t he T ib e t an t e rm

cig car

shou ld be t rans la ted in th is m ate r ia l a s ins ta ntan eou s ,

and the comments that Professor Ste in has given on this term

do not apply in this case.

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J I A B S V O L . 8 N Q . 2

level, of pure awareness. At slightly lower levels one can be

pure ly a wa re of th ou gh ts ; th a t is , on e is abid ing in a s ta te tha t

has no a t tachment to or avers ion f rom the thought pro jec t ions .

Th is can be seen f rom the fact tha t the term pu re aw aren ess

(Tb .

rig pa)

can act a s bo th a ve rb , m ean ing pure ly aw are , an d

a s a no un , m e a n ing pu re a wa re ne ss .

However , the pure awareness i s f a r more impor tan t to th is

system than that implied above for it is in fact the very goal of

the medita t ion. This can be seen f rom the se lec t ions presented

below:

As for the pure view, because of [that] nature, (i.e., emptiness)

[one] enters right into the meaning. Moreover, the meaning of

pu re is the emp tiness of thatness. Em ptiness means an em p

tiness of attending [to] objects; it is not like being without some

thing . The emp tiness ofathing is the essence of pu re awareness,

and so forth.

2 2

. . . all the

dharrruitas

of dharmas, the

bodhicitta

foundationfrom

the beginning one realizes [them] due to the pure awareness

which is unarisen, unproduced, and without birth and death.

2

*

In the fi rs t qu ota t io n, p u re aw arenes s is def ined as em pti

ness.

Th is is ca lled the p u re view, which m ean s he re the high est

v iew. In the second, the unar isen , unproduced , and non-

samsar ic p ur e awareness is the fou nda t ion of bodhicitta and the

dharmatas o f dha rm a s . He re , a s m e n t ione d be fo re , bodhicittais

a de fin it ion o f e n l igh te nm e n t . The re fo re , e n l igh te nm e n t ' s

foundat ion is rea l izable by pure awareness . However , the pure

awareness does not cause en l ightenment , because th is would

m ean tha t the two terms s tand in a cause and effec t re la t io nsh ip.

This could not be the case , because the pure awareness is un

a r i se n a nd unproduc e d . The re fo re , e n l igh te nm e n t m us t c om e

about in a na tura l spontaneous f la sh , for how can someth ing

tha t is un pro du c e d p ro du c e som e th ing e lse? Th e re fo re , a s s ee n

above and f rom the quota t ion be low, en l ightenment jus t spon

taneously exists.

Sarpsara and nirvana both cannot be distinguished. As there is

no duality, it is separated from fault and is excellent. From the

beginnin g without beg inning it is unspea kable and separate from

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N O - T H O U G H T

69

words. In essence it is the spontaneously sprung nature. The

arising of realization and non-realization: when it is realized,

[one] is a Buddha, and when it is not, [one] is an [ordinary]

sentient being.

24

With regard to the expres s ion o f no- though t p roper , aga in

one should note that there is no specif ic technical term that has

the same weight as the Chinese

wu-nien.

There a re s evera l t e rms

tha t in gene ra l can be in te rp re ted as m ean ing no - tho ug h t

T h e s e a r e : dmigs pa medpa, mi dmigs, semspa med pa, an d mi sems

pa.

T h e f irst is t rans la te d as : wi tho ut ima ginin g, wi tho ut

th o u g h t , an d w i th o u t ap p r e h e n d in g . T h e t ran s l at io n w i tho u t

ap pr eh en d i ng is p robab ly m ore t echn ica l ly accura te , and has

been determined f rom reading var ious passages in the texts

su rveyed . How ever , the m ea n in g wi thou t tho ug h t ( i. e. , no -

tho ug ht) is a lso correct , but in a mo re gene ral sense . T h e second ,

mi dmigs,

having the same basic operative word as the above, is

t echn ica lly no ap pr eh en s io n o r no tho ug h t in a genera l

sense.

Finally

sems

pa med pa can be t rans la te d as : wi th out th ou gh t ,

without imagining, or without intel lectual act ivi ty. Also,mi

sems

pa can be t rans la ted as no- thought , no imagining, or no in te l lec

tual activity. The first translation of these two terms seems to

be the m ore technically correct . This can be de ter m in ed f rom

the fact that for the Ati-Yoga system the term

sems

is und ers to od

as co nstr uc ting m ind . T hi s is a m ind tha t is involved in th e

fundamenta l p rocess o f f ab r ica t ing samsara . Thus , sems pa has

to be unders tood as something more bas ic than in te l lec tual ac

t ivi ty, for this exis ts on a soph is t icated level . A lth ou gh im agin

ing has a con structiv e ele m en t to i t, in English i t seem s to carry

a not ion of being som eth ing that is com pletey dev elop ed in a

framework of i l lus ion. Although one can say that samsara is

i l lus ionary on th e ult im ate level, it do es a p p e a r real on the

conven t iona l l eve l . Imag in ing appears unrea l on the conven

t ional level, so within this co nte xt tran slat ingsems paas im ag in ing

would be unacceptable . This leaves one wi th t rans la t ing th is

te rm as no - tho ugh t . T h e word tho ug h t s eems to con ta in

enough f lexibil i ty to encompass more basic levels of the mental

process as well as the more sophis t icated, and at the same t ime

con ta ins a cons t ruc t ive e le m en t .

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7

J I A B S V O L . 8 N 0 . 2

T h e e tymology hav ing been de t e rm ined , t he ques t ion can

now be ra i sed: Wh at s ta tus does the not ion of no - th ou gh t pr op er

have within the Ati-Yoga system?

As has bee n seen abov e, the goal of m edi ta t ion in this system

is to arr ive a t a s ta te of pu re aw aren ess . Since this p u re aw aren ess

can be un de rs to od as be ing both dyn am ic and a l l -encom pass ing ,

i t must be seen as being beyond the conceptual framework of

the not ion of no - th ou gh t . I t is de te rm ine d as dyn am ic b ecause

it is a posi tive s ta tem ent tha t is op en -en de d abo ut th e e xp er ien ce

of m ed i ta t io n. I t is a l l -enco m pass ing beca use on e can be both

in a s ta te of pure awareness and pure ly aware of something .

This something has been expla ined as the tha tness of objec ts

or thought pro jec t ions .

If p u re aw aren ess is the goal of th e m edi ta t ion , then no -

thought has to be seen as having another re la t ionship to the

process . This re la t ionship, i t seems, is tha t of a by-product of

the m edi ta t ion . W he n on e is fo llowing the presc r ibed proc e

dures of Ati -Yoga, then the f low of thoughts gradual ly s lows

and finally stops. One is not to try to stop the flow of thoughts,

n or is o n e to try to incr ease i t . T h e id ea is to allow th e th o u g h ts

to come or go wi thout a t tachment or avers ion , but a t the same

time to be aware of the flow

itself.

T h e f low of th ou gh ts f inally

sto pp ing of the ir own accord is spo ken of as l ibera ted in their

own place :

What does it mean to understand Buddhahood in this way? [It

means] every thing is com pleted in this body, so thatispurerDzogs

Chen(i.e., Ati-Yoga). Every thing is comp lete in speech , so that

is pure rDzogs

Chen.

Eve rything is com pleted in th e object, so

that is pure rDzogs Chen.Not e nte ring the extensive vehicle of

transmigration is the pure

rDzogs Chen.

T he designation being

liberated in its own place is the p ur e instruction. Cuttin g off

hope and fear in the conditioned mind is the pure instruction.

Gaining confidence in oneself is the pure instruction. So it is

said . . . ,

2r

*

Thus , the use of the va r ious te rms tha t can be rendered as

no - th ou gh t wi th in th i s system m ust be un de rs to od as the use

of a by-produc t to indica te the ac tua l occurrence of something

else , an d in this case that is p u re aw aren ess . Th is is l ike p oin t in g

out the smoke to indicate the f i re .

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VII. Conclusion

I have presented a br ief s tudy of the not ion of no- thought

in Pao-T'ang Chan and ear ly At i -Yoga, sys temat ized under

th re e he ad ing s for each school. T h e firs t he ad ing is su dd en

en l igh ten m en t . Both schools ma inta in as thei r bas ic pos i tion

that enl ightenment comes about suddenly . This i s not a t a l l

surpris ing, given the fact that both schools ' philosophical foun

dat ion is the theory of T ath ag ata ga rbh a.

Under the second heading, that of def in i t ion of enl ighten

ment, i t was noted that the Ch'an school can basically be deter

mined to def ine en l ig h ten m ent as

sva-citta,

while the Ati-Yoga

system defines it asb odhicitta.Th is is a co nsid erab le difference ,

because in i ts development, the Ch'an school has s tar ted with

th e

Ijanakdvaiara Sutra.

I t m ainta in ed a su t ra level un de rs t an di ng

of en l igh tenment and a l though th i s pa r t i cu la r deve lopment i s

seasoned by the theories put forth in the Ijanka and o t he r s imilar

su t ras ,

i t does not go beyond what can be unders tood on the

sutra level . However, with the Ati-Yoga definit ion of enlighten

m e n t

bodhicitta,

on e has en tere d th e realm of the tantras . H ere

the re is a complete ly d i f ferent un de rs ta nd in g of the min d, en

l ightenment, and the process for arr iving at this exalted s tate.

Therefore , the bas ic l ine of developmental d i f ferences between

these two can be s tated as the differences between the sutras

and the tantras .

Finally, the las t heading was the notion of no-thought itself.

It was de ter m ine d that the Ch 'an school un d er inves tigat ion

had the basic notion that i f there was thought, then there was

samsara; whi le i f there was no- thought , then there was n i rvana.

Thus for the Pao-T'ang school , no- thought became the goal .

W ithin Ati-Yoga, the no tion of no -th ou gh t i tself is not pre sen ted

as the goal . The goal , accordingly, is to arr ive at a s tate of pure

awareness . This then would re legate the not ion of no- thought

to a secondary role. This role is more than likely that of a

by -pro du ct . T h a t is, wh en o ne is in the s tate of p u re aw aren ess ,

the thought process has a tendency to decrease and f inally sub

side.

T hu s , when the texts of th is t radi t ion speak of n o- th ou gh t ,

they are pointing out the s tate by using a by-product of that

state as a sign.

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JIABSVOL.8NCV2

N O T E S

1. Because the Ch'an school of Buddhism has been the subject of a

considerable amount of invest igat ion, in th is br ief paper I have only outl ined

major points and elucidated some of the differences between the Pao-T'ang

and other schools of Ch 'an.

2.

Because Ati-Yoga does not now exist as a separate school of Bud

dhism, and histor ical ly f rom the advent of the Nyingma school th is branch

has been pr ese nt , 1 have cal led it a system.

3 . From the hag iog raph y of Vairoc ana we know that the Ati-Yoga was

pro pa ga ted in Kh otan . Also, because the ear ly India n and Tibetan teachers ,

af ter propagating this system in Tibet , departed for Wu Tai Shan, i t may

have been pro pa ga ted th ere , a l th ou gh the identificat ion of the f ive pea ked

m ou nta in m en tion ed in the texts with W u Tai Shan in Ch ina is not cer tain .

However , I have only been able to gain information on this f rom Tibetan

sources. As in other studies of higher tantr ic pract ice in China, information

and research by other scholars seems to be lacking.

4. E.g. , Tucci ,

M inor Buddhist Texts II.

Ser ia Or ien ta le Roma, Roma,

1958,

pp. 2 1, 64 and 115; W.Y. Evan s-W entz,

The Tibetan Book of the(Weal

Liberation. Ox ford: O xford Universi ty Press, 1909, p . 74; H.B . Gu en th er ,

Tibetan Buddhism in Western Perspective, Bou lder : Sham bhala , 1976, pp . 140

f f .; Eva Dargyey,

The Rise of

Esoteric

Buddhism in Tibet.

Delhi: M otilal B anar-

sidass, 1977, p. 9.

5.

Hwa Shang Mahayana (Ch . Ma Ho Yen), seems to have held the

teachin gs of several Ch 'an schools. T h e doctr inal aff il ia t ion of his teachin gs

and the teach ings o f the Pao-T 'ang school have been demonst ra ted by

Hironobu Obata based on the Tun wu ta ch eng

c.heng

li chtieh: see T he Study

of Tibetan C h'an Manu scripts Reco vered from Tun hu an g, by Da ishun

l ' eyana in

E arly Ch an in C hina and Tibet,

Berkeley Bu ddh ist S tudies Ser ies,

1983,

p. 3 3 8. The teach ings of Hwa Sh ang as reco rde d in var ious Tibetan

sources in par t icular are easi ly comparable with the Pao-T'ang teachings in

th e Li Tai Ta Pao Chi, especial ly on the quest io n of N o- T ho ug ht . Also the

Blon po bKa i Thang Yig,

a Nyingma text , c i tes the l ineage of the Ch'an masters

accord ing to the

Li Tai Ta Pao Chi

and en ds th e lis t with H wa S han g. See

Daishun L'eyana, ib id . , p . 335.

6.

Journal of International

Association

of Buddhist Studies,

1980, vol. 3, no.

l , p . 3 4 .

7.

See Rober t B. Zeus chner , Th e Con cep t o fLinien . .. inEarly Chan,

p . 131.

8. D.T . Su/.uki,

Zen Buddhism.

Garden Ci ty : Doubieday Anchor Books ,

1956, pp . 157-8 .

9 . See Ta ish o Shinsh u D ai/.okyo (20 75, 1 74 -196 ) , vol. 51 . Tor fur th er

bibl iographical inform ation see Yanag ida Se i/an , Th e Li 'Tai Fa Pao Ch i in

Early Ch an, p. 44 IT.

10. Pr ice , and M ou-Lan .

The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng.

Berkeley: The Clea r Light Ser ies, 1969, p . 32.

11 . Yan agida Sei/.an, T he Li Ta i Yd Pao Ch i, p . 30 .

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12 .

Ibid. , p. 3 1.

13. Ibid., p . 3 2.

14 . Ibid., p. 3 2.

15 .

Taken f rom

The Root T antra Without Birth Being the Great Sky Like

Vajrasattva ( T b . rDo rje Sem s dPa N am Kha Che rTse Ba i rGyud sKye Ba Med

Pa.)

in Hanson-Barber, A.VV.

The Life and Teachings of Vairocana

(unpub l i shed

disser tation , Univ. of Wisconsin-M adison, 1984), p. 196. T b . text,

Vairo rGyud

Bum. Le h: 1971 , vol. 1, p. 293 .

16. Also taken from

The Root Tantra Without Birth . .

. , p. 201; Tb. text,

p .

297.

17 .

Ibid. , p. 21 1; T b . text, p. 3 05 .

18. Slein, R.A., I l lum ina tion Subite ou Saisie Sim altan ee, in Revue d-e

I Histoire des Religious, vol. 179, 1971.

19.

The Preciou s Whe el of Disputation

(Tb .

Rin po che rTsad pa i Khor lo

bZhugs.)

F I T Peking ed . no . 584 1 , p . 12 1 , p i t. 1. Ha nso n-B arb er , p . 258.

20. Ibid. , p. 196, T b . text, p. 294.

2 1 . Ibid. , p. 23 0, T b. text, p. 117,

pi t .5 .

2 2 .

From the

A Tanlric Com mentary to the Heart Sutra

in Hanson-Barber ,

p .

183 (Tb .

Sher sNying

Grel

jm sNgags su Grelpa bZhugs)

P I T Pek ing ed . no .

5 48 0 ,

p . 113 ,

plt.5. '

2 3 . From Root Tantra . . . . p . 204 , Tb. text , p . 299.

24 . From The Precious Wheelof Disputation,p. 23 6; T b . text, p. 118,pi t .3 .

25.

Ibid. , p. 25 7; T b. text, 118, plt .4 .

Chinese characters

a. jg,k

c f b