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YfJ N-HUA J AN

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT(WU-NIEN) IN SOME INDIAN AND

CHINESE BUDDHIST TEXTS

The term and the concept of No-thought (wu-nien) has been wellknown to scholars of Buddhlsm since D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966) publishedhis Zen Docnine of No-Mind in 1949. Even then, Hu Shiha (1895-1972)already had published on the subject in the nineteen thirties. But theseworks, though helpful in understanding the Buddhist doctrine, oftenleave erroneous impressions. Hu studied the concept as a part of hi sresearch on the thought and life on Shenhui (670-762),which he regard-ed as a revolution of the Chinese Mind against what he called Indian Bud-dhist scholasticism. This night leave readers with the impression that No-thought is a Chinese idea. Suzuki was preoccupied by hi s thesis that thedoctrine of No-mind was the central idea in the South School of ChancBuddhism. But this might leave the impression that the doctrine was uni-versally important to all the tb kers of the Chan school. The need for acomparative inquiry into the Indian background of the Buddhist concept,aswell as the development of the doctrine of the Chan schools, is obvious.

This paper will focus on three points: First, the usage of the termwu-nien in pre-Chan Buddhist texts, especially the Chinese translationsof Indian works: rhis will demonstrate that the concept was not a Chineseidea, but rather a Buddhist concept introduced to the Chinese from India.Second, the development of the concept in the Chan school, notingcontinuities and diffzrences of understanding and use among the fourleading Chan masters during the seventh and eigth centuries A.D; theconcept reached its most significant development through the efforts ofthose four thinkers. The doctrine was also not uniform in its importanceand place in the thought of those masters. Third, a comparison of the

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J ournal of Chinese Philosophy I 6 (1 989)37-58Copyright@ 1989byDialogue Publishing Company,Honolulu, Hawaii, II . S.A.

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3a YON-HUA J A N

concept as found in both the Indian and Chinese texts: The patternof the Chinese assimilation of foreign ideas will become clear, as wellas the advantages and limitations of comparative equiry.

Contrary to most standard references, wu-nien is not a term exclusiveto Chan Buddhism. I t appeared in the Chinese translations of I ndianBuddhist texts centuries before the formation of the Chan schools, andwas also used in other Chmese Buddhist works. The concept is found,ffor example, in the tranlsations of the F o-shuo hui-yin sun-mei ching(Tathiigatujn~namudr~sam~hi),s well as the Vimalak?rtinirde& bythe Indo-scythian monk, Chihchiene (fl. A.D. 222-229).2 The formertext discusses samiidhi or concentration; the latter is usually related to thePerfection of Wisdom literature because of to philosophical inclinations.

The first text, related to samadhi, its describes the process leadingto sameness (sumatu) which is representative of the Indian usage of wu-nien in meditation. Considering the significance of the work and its earlydate, the passage should be quoted in full:

What is the characsteristic of no-work? The characteristicis unobtainabil ity. What is the characteristic of unobtainabi-li ty? The characteritic is innumerability. What is the char-acteristic of innumerabil ity? The characteristic is nothing toarise. What is the characteristic of nothing to arise? Thecharacter is nothing to make exti nct. What is the character-istic of nothing to make extinct? The characteristic isnothingto gain. What is the characteristic of nothing to gain? Thecharacteristic is nothing to depend on. What isthe character-istic of nothing to depend on? The characteristic is nowhereto stay. What is the characteristic of nowhere to stay? Thecharacteristic is nowhere to go away from. What is the char-acteristic of nowhere to go away from? The characteristic ofimmovability. What is the characteristic of immovability?The characteristic is the freedom from movability. What is the

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 39characteristic of freedom from movabil ity? The Characteristicis no-mind. What is the characteristic of no-mind? The char-acteristic is no-thought (wu-nien). What is the characteristicof no-thought? The characteristic is nonduahty. What is thecharacteristic of nonduality? The characteristic is the same-ness of things.3

The statement contains a number of technical terms of I ndian Buddhismwhich are clearly not of Chinese origin. A lthough the original Indian textof this work isno longer extant, some of these techcal terms are identifi-able from other works.4

The text begins with the statement on no-work (or wu-tsuog)which is rather ambiguous in the Chinese context, since the word tsuocan mean to rise or to create, to make, and hence to work inancient Chinese. If i t were put into an Indian context, :he term wouldrelate to karma or action, so that the .work negated in the statementwould mean all that which leads to the formation of karma. Thereafter,the passage seems clear: the practi tioner, step by step, enters into progres-sively deeper stages of concentration. In the fmal four states ofthe practice, once one has reached no-mind, there will be no thought;and consequently one attains nonduality and sameness. The process fromno-work to sameness is very systematic, especially compared to the A bhid-harma doctrines. I t is also clear from the passage that no-mind and no-thought are two different states in the process. They are not identical asSuzuki argued. The text explicitly states that No-mind is the character-istic of freedom from movability; and No-thought is the characteriticof No-mind. The attainment of nonduality is possible from No-mind,but only through the state of No-thought.No-thought is also linked with concentration in other Chinese transla-tions of Indian Buddhist scriptures. In the Ch ih-hsin-fan-tien o-wenchingh or Visesacinribrahmapariprccha,6there is a passage which reads:

Noconsciousness and no-thought ...when the four conscious-nesses are stopped, one will then not abide in anything norstay in thoughts. Those who are not abiding in thoughts will

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40 YON-HUA J A N

abide in the absolute (chen-chi ). When abiding in theabsolute, one does not abide in anything; the consciousnessdoes not stay anywhere. If consciousness abides anywhere,it is not real and it should be called false(wu/hs~~.

The stopping of the four consciousnesses mentioned here is a translationof the Four Foundations of Mindfulness or Smrfyupasthaiia,which isone of the oldest Buddhist meditation teachings. The most significantpoint of the passage is the relationship of the absolute and thought:Not abiding in thoughts is abidance in the absolute. In other words,No-thought is the way and the state of the absolute; abidance in anythought is a falsehood.

The relation between thoughts and falsehood, and between No-thought and the absolute, are both confirmed in the Ch ih-shihchingktranslated by Kumarajiva ( 344409) . In the chapter on the EightfoldNoble Path, when good knowledge and correct thought for the Boddhi-sattva and Mahasattvas are discussed, it states:

All thoughts from knowing and seeing are hewrodox.Whatever thoughts abide are all heterodox. No-recollectionand no-thought are named the correct thought (samyaksmrti).

Once a Bodhisattva has attained the path of correct thought, hewill not follow nor be conditioned by thought or No-thought.This is because when he attains to the uncondi tioned, hewil l realise that all thoughts are really not thoughts, he will nolonger be bothered either by thought or no-thought. Thus hepeacefully abides in the correct th~ught . ~

First, regarding the identification of No-thought with M indfulness, No-thought is a technical term in Indian Buddhism; the thought that is to be ne-gated does not have broader senses. Second, the thought precisely referredto in the context denotes contemplative thought on four items: body,feeling, mind and mind-objects. Thud, one can rid oneself of worldlyycd ?tr.d grief through contemplation on these four items; in this way one

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A COMPARATI VE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 41may ardently and consciously remain an the Buddhist path. Becauseof thenegation of worldly greed and grief as well as remaining on the path,an early and authentic Buddhist scripture, the Satipatthana-sutta,evaluatesthe effectiveness of mindfulness in these words.

This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings,for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruc-tion of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for theattainment of Nibbana, namely rhe four Foundations ofMindfulness. lo

The claim of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as the only wayto achieve the religious goal of Buddhism, makes Mindfulness some-thing very special. I t is much more advanced than views (dirti)andthought (sunkappa). Mindfulness is concerned with religious achievementand realization; philosophical views and understanding relate to the out-look of world phenomena and personal attitudes towards thesephenomena. Views and understanding mark the beginning of religiousawareness; mindfulness denotes an advanced stage of religious cultivation.

Preferences LO No-thought are found in a number of scriptureswhich have a philosophical inclination: However, only one Buddhistscripture, the Vimalakirti Nirdesa, will be studied, as it is regarded byscholars as an authentic and authori tative work on Indian MahayanaBuddhism that was vital to the development of Chan thought in China.

In the earliest Chinese translation of the Vimalakirti Nirdesa byChihchien of the third century A .D., a passage refers to the term No-thought: Dharmas have no seeing and hearing, no-thought and noknowledge. Whatever has seeing, hearing, thinking and knowing ofdharmas, it has already discriminated. This means that thought isempirical; the object of thought is dharma, and its nature is discriminative.From the Buddhist point of view, discriminative thought inevitably re-lates to subjective judgement and value which create situations that condi-tion and trap man in bondage. The text therefore teaches that the re-ligious seeker is one who seeks nothing from seeing and hearing.12

The term No-thought occurs more frequently in a later translationof the same scripture done by K umarajiva. As this translation has been

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42 YUN-HUA J ANmore authoritative and influential in China, some passages are worthexamining. In one place,

Bodhi can be won by neither body nor mind. For Bodhi isthe state of calmness and extinction of passion (i.e., ninznu),because it wipes out al l forms. Bodhi isunseeing, for it keepsfrom a i ~auses.

T hs statement contrasts world by phenomena wi th wisdom or bodhi.The former consists of body, mind, seeing, thought and forms; while thelatter wipes out passions and forms. The religious goal cannot be achievedif all forms, including thought, are not negated. For this reason, the textstates,

(External) disturbance and (inner) t hk i ng are a duahty.When disturbance subsides, thmking comes to an end and theabsence of thought leads to nondiscriminating. Reaching thisstate isinitiation into n~ndu al i ty . ~

No-thought or the absence of thought is both the procedure and the pur-pose of Buddhist soteriology. As procedure, the psychology moves fromexternal disturbance to thought, from thought to no-thought, and fromno-thought to nondiscrimination, thus achieving nonduality or the ab-solute religious experience. As for the purpose of No-thought, it is thepath leading to the religious goal - onduality. When the wisdom of non-duality is entirely free from al l forms, though of external or inner formswdl have been negated. Therefore, the Vimalak%i Nirdeh teaches thatBodhisattvas must unceasingly search for the thought-free (wu-nien)Wisdom of reality.

Another usage of N o-thought in the Chinese translation of IndianBuddhist texts is found in the F achi chink or the Dhurmasumg%-s~truby Bodhiruci (fl. 508-537). 16 The text classifies the six kinds of empiricalconsciousnesses into three kinds of thoughts, of which the first one isupside down thoughts (viparyaya). These thoughts are related to thetriple spheres of existence: the sensuous world, the fine-material worldand the immaterial world. The second refers to thoughts that are not

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A COMPARATIVESTUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 43upside down, which means the thought of nirviina, as understood bythe H hay ka Buddhist. The third is No-thought. The text comments:

What is No-thought? That whch is separated from the firsttwo kinds of thought is named No-thought. What does thismean, separated from the two kinds of thought? I t meansthe thought of the supreme Buddhas.

l h s usage is very useful for clarifying whch thoughts are being identified.Since the whole discussion begins from the six kinds of consciousness,it is clear that the first kind of thought relates to empirical experience.The second kind of thought refers to I-hnayana doctrines. In the view ofthose who belonged to the Great Vehicle of Buddhism, thought ofpersonal liberation is far from perfect; it lacks compassion towards fellowbeings, though it has a correct outlook on the world. The third is a nega-tion of the first two kinds of thought, .whch means that t h ~susage isMahayanistic. The proclaiming of No-thought as the thought of theSupreme Buddhas is thussimilar to the other passages referred to previously.

The earliest known usage of No-thought in Chan Buddhism is foundin the Platform Sutra of the Sirth Patriarch. The usage is presented ina very dramaticfashion. The sutra states that the Chan school set upNo-thought as the main doctrine, non-form as the substance, and non-abiding as the basis.8 The terms main doctrine ( tsunp), substance(rih) and basis (peno)19 were, originally metaphysical terms for theabsolute in Neo-Taoism. The Chan thinker borrowed these metaphysicalterms and applied them to his own system, thus making the concept ofNo-thought an essential component of Chan Buddhism. This is the fi rsttime that a Buddhist had choosen these three terms from among manyconcepts and used them as the basic teaching. The selection and emphasisgiven to the terms marked a new development in the history of Buddhistthought in general, and of Chmese Buddhism in particular.

What did thought mean? The Platform Sutra teaches that thought

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 45The concept of No-thought continuously occupied an important

place in the thought of Shen-hui (670762). To a large extent, this monkwas instrumental in malung the concept the core of Chan Buddhism. Themonk defined the concept of No-thought in these words: J ust do nothve any intention, and no arising of the mind, it is the true [state of]No-tho~ght.~~n the view of Shen-hui , mind arises when it is provokedby intention or purpose. No-thought is not a complicated concept inphilosophy, but a practical recipe. I t is simply to drop away from anyintention or purpose, and let the mind remain in an unprovoked state.When the mind is freed from conditioning factors, it will spontaneouslyreveal its own potentiality.

Shen-hui also gave concrete content to the concept. In contrast toprevious definitions, this thinker now described the concept of No-thoughtin a number of passages. In one of the documents attributed to Shen-hui,it is written:

What is called No-thought? I t meansnot to think of existenceor non-existence; not to think of good and evil; not to thinkof absolute or non-absolute; not to think of limited or unli-mited; not to think of bodhi and not taking bodhi as the ob-ject of thought; not to think of nirviinuand not taking nirvZnaas the object of thought. This is N o- th~ught.~~

The items of No-thought given in the passage may be divided into twogroups: thoughts of existence and nonexistence and so forth are connect-ed with secular l ife; while thoughts of bodhi and nirviina are the goal ofsacred cultivation. Both are negated in the thought of Shen-hui.

The place of No-thought in Shen-huis system is very fundamental,as when the thinker identified No-thought with the Buddhist concept ofabsolute. He said, Those who are confronted with No-thought wil l befree from contamination in their s i x sense-organs, and will obtainthe wisdom that proceeds to the Buddha.25 He went on to teach theattainment of Reahty (Shih-hsiangp) by No-Thoughts, declaning it to bethe First Principle of the Middle Path, the achievement of innumerablemerits, the mastery of all things and the all -embracing doctrine. Howcould the negation of thought possess such a power? Shen-hui said that

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46 YON-HUA J A Nonce thought is free from purpose, there will be the destiny of wisdom(chih-rningq)within N o-thought. This destiny of wisdom itself is Reality.All Bodhisattvas use No-thought as the dharma body of liberation.%

In another of the Shen-hui documents, he was asked by a disciplewhether the doctrine uf No-thought was a teaching for laymen or forholy men. Is it different from Suchness (chen-id)? He answered thatthe teaching was exclusively for holy men and that No-thought was notdifferent from Suchness. Shen-hui not only offered a defini tion wi thconcrete content and evaluated the importance of the concept, he alsooffered advice for the practical implementation of the concept. He said,

Good friends, those who are stil l remaining in the state oflearning, should illuminate the arising of the mind, when youare aware of the arising. When the arising mind has perished,the il lumination will be eliminated by itself. T h~ss No-thought. This No-thought is identical with the negation ofall realms. I t wil l not be No-thought even if there is a singlerealm that still remain^^

A lthought Shen-hui developed the concept of No-thought in lusteachings,the concept was only one of his principal doctrines. There were still anumber of other ideas that were equally important in his thought.28It was the two schools of Chan Buddhism that developed in the state ofShu (presently Sichuan) which gave further attention to the concept. Infact, these two schools made No-thought the exclusive doctrine of theirteachings. It was Wu-hsiangs (684-762), originally a native of the Sillakingdom in the Korean peninsula and more well-known in China as Monk.K im29, who ini tiated the development. I n the early part of a documentrelated to his teachings, the monk taught three concepts, namely, No-recollection is the discipline; No-thought is the meditation; and ho-forget-fulness is the Wisdom.30 However, in the later part of his teachings,the monk declared,

No arising of thought is the entrance of discipline, no arisingof thought is the entrance of meditation, and no arising ofthought is the entrance of wisdom. No-thought itself is the

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 47complete attainment of discipline, meditation and wisdom.The innumerable Buddhas of the past and future as well as thepresent all entered into Buddhahood through this gate. Ifthere is another gate, it is certainly nonex i ~tant.~~

M mk K im claimed that this triple entrance is the A llembracing Gate, orthe only entrance into reality. Apart from this gate there is no other gate.The monk followed the theoretical framework of the Awakening of Faith,dividing the principle of One Mind into two aspects: One is the aspectof Mind in terms of the Absolute (tatharri/Suchness); the other is theaspect of Mind in terms of phenomena (sarnfira; birth and death).32The monk then stated that No-thought is the aspect of the Absolute, andthoughts are the aspect of ~hen omena. ~~

For the first time in the history of Chan Buddhism the concept ofNo-thought had been declared the exclusive doctrine, and the doctrine wassystematically identified with the absolute aspect of Mind a s discussedin an influential scripture. This significant contribution to the concept,as well as the monk who taught the doctrine, were both missed by Suzukiwhen he wrote The Zen DoctrineOf No-Mind.

The concept of No-thought was stil l further developed after MonkK im. In the sermons given by Wuchut (14-774),a disciple of M onk Kim,No-thought was also the most important doctrine of the Chan monk.MAlthought Wu-chu is known for hs threefold or fourfold teaching(viz.,No-thought as the discipline, No-action as the concentration, Non-dualityas the Wisdom, and No-elaborated arrangement in religious places aspractice , the concept of No-thought is still the only theme repeatedlyfound in his sermons. It is clear from these sermons, however, that Wu-chus concept of No-thought for refers to different levels of thought.At the first level, the thoughts that have to be negated refer to di -scriminative thought, the experiences and views that men encounter indaily life. As indicated previously, the Buddhist regards these views asupside down and responsible for trapping men in bondage. L iberationmeans to liberate man from bondage. A correct understanding of thereasons responsible for a person being caught in ths situation beginswith understanding mans view point. Wuchu stated that:

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4a YUN-HUA J ANIf no thought then no production; if no thought then no an-nihilation. If no thought then no love; if no thought thenno hate. If no thought then no grasping; if no thought thenno abandonment. If no thought then no high; if no,thoughtthen no low. If no thought then no [distinction of] man;if no thought then no [distinction of3 women. If no thoughtthen no [claim ofl right; if no thought then [no claim1 ofwrong. At the moment when there isno thought, No thoughtis not selfexistent .%

The abandonment of discriminative views and values is common to a lschools of Buddhism, so this is not new. However, some new elementsdo emerge. All the discriminative views are exclusively linked with No-thought; also the content of No-thought reflects Chinese usages and isnon-technical. No-thought is obviously the central concept in the teachingsof this Chan school , and it becomes easier for the believer to understand.

The idea of No-thought is not l imited by the above discriminations,but is also contrasted wi th correct views, which may be regarded as thesecond level of the concept. In one of his sermons, Wuchu taught,

If no thought, then no form; to have thought then becomesempty and false. No thought, then gone beyond the triple-realms; to have thought then caught w i t h the triple-realms.If no thought, then no [claim of1 right; if no thought then no[claim of ] wrong. If no thought then no self; if no thoughtthen no others. To be free from [the distinction of1 self andothers, one accomplishes the wisdomof B ~ddhas.~

Here conventional values and views are contrasted with religiouswisdom, indicating the direction in which the religious philosophy isaimed, namely, the accomplishment of wisdom, and by this meansbecoming a Buddha.

Wu-chu also identified a third level of No-thought, wherenot only the thought of discrimination and the contrast of false andreal were abandoned, but the discrimination between the sacred andpro f i e was also negated. In one of his sermons, he fi st contrasted

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 49bondage and liberation, nirvZna andsamsira,wisdom and ignorance,self and others. He then stated:

Lf no thought, then no Buddhas; if no thought then nosentient beings. In the great wisdom of prujE, there is noBuddha nor sentient beings. No Buddha that attained nirviina,nor nivriina for Buddhas. Those who understand this clearlyare the ones who truly understand.=

If a practitioner of Chan is able to transcend discriminative views throughNo-thought, to contrast worldly views with r eb ous wisdom through No-thought, and finally to abandon any discriminative thought including thedistinction between sacred and profane through No-throught, only thenmay he be regarded as one who really understands the truth of ChanBuddhism. Wuchu explained:

The venerable one of Great Enlightenment created andspoke about the doctrine of No-thought. No-thought leadsto no arising of the mind; the Mind is producing constantlyand inextinguishable. I t remains independent through allperiods of time: neither following nor turning, neitherfloating nor drowning, neither flowing nor stagnant, neithermoving nor shaking, neither coming nor going, remaining livelyas the sitting of meditation whether one is walking or sitting.39

I11A

The concept of No-thought was not unique to Chan Buddhism.It had a long tradition of usage in India and often occurred in Chinesetranslations of Indian B u d m texts from the third cnetury A.D. untilthe formation of Chan schools in China. At least three usages of the termare found in these translated texts: meditative, reflective and doctrinal.Whatever the differences between usages, their goals were the same: to

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 51clear that the two are not the exclusive means either in religious under-standing or practice; they are on ly components of a more complicatedsystem.

A lthough the term wu-nien or No-thought is not Chinese in origin,its place in Chan Buddhism is quite different from the Indian context.The concept was, for the first time in history, upgraded by the PlatformSutra of the Sixth Patriarch to become one of the three key teachings ofChan Buddhism. Monk Shen-hui was responsible for the concretization ofthe concept wi th a number of items. He also regarded No-thought astheonly way to attain reali ty. He stated clearly that ths was the exclusiveway only for holy men. However, there are other important teachingsbesides the concept of No-thought, both in thePlatform sutra was well asin Shen-huis sermons. The ideas of the original purity of Buddha-naturein al l sentient beings, the Sudden Enlightenment, the nonduality ofmeditation and wisdom, and the precepts of formlessness are goodexamples.42

It was during the 8th century AD. that the concept of No-thoughtreached its climax in the history of B uddht thought, when Monk K improclaimed it as the whole of Buddhist teachings. For K im, the doctrineof No-thought covered al l the practices and wisdoms of Buddhism. Theconcept became the all-embracing dharma (tsung-chih-fa) of the Chanschool under his leadershp.

Although hs disciple Wuchu taught other doctrines, the conceptof No-thought is actually the core teaching of his sermons. Wuchu fol-lowed h s teacher, Monk lm, in regarding No-thought as the all embracingdharma of Buddhism and studied Shen-hui for the content of theconcept. With Wu-chu No-thought became a concentrated and intensif iedway to achieve the religious goal of M ahi yza Buddhism, the attainmentof Buddha-hood. Tnis way starts from the negation of discriminative andcommon thoughts, contrasts these thoughts with religious ones, and finallynegates al l together the discrimination between common and religiousthoughts.

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52 YUN-HUA J ANWhen the structure and content of the concept as found in the Chan

documents are compared with those found in the translations of IndianBuddhist texts, two contradictory tendencies emerge. On the one hand,the Chan thinkers followed a reductionistic pattern by brushing aside anumber of ideas that were associated with the concept of No-thought inthe Indian texts; yet, at the same time, they developed the concept bymaking it the core of Buddhism with a new and concrete content. I t istrue that some technical terms from Indian Buddhism still remained asimportant ideas in Chan doctrine, yet most forms are Chinese in flavor.No-thought is thus no longer a foreign, abstract and remote conceptbeyond the grasp of the average Chinese. Both structure and content havebeen transformed i nto a form that is more suitable and effective in theChinese context.

CThs comparative study of No-thought in translated Indian texts and

its Chinese development, can be taken as a case study inthe Chinese assi-milation of foreign ideas. The pattern of this assimilation conf i i s thatof other studies on the subject. For example, Pure Land Buddhism andTien-tai in China both underwent a pattern of selective, concentrativeand intensified development.43 The Chinese geverally selected one ortwo foreign ideasor practices out of many, set the rest aside, and devotedthemselves to the selected few that suited thei r needs and were effectivein solving their problems. This pattern is clearly seen in the present study.Of the many concepts in I ndian Buddhism, the Chan thinkers selected afew, made them mai n doctrines, practised them and verified them bytheir experience; they then further reduced the number, retained andenriched the most effective one, thereby making it Chans exclusivedoctrine.

In this pattern the selection-concentration-intensification processbegan with many, then reduced the many to a few, and finally ended withone. The process is, therefore, reductionistic. T h pproach is necessarysince religious philosophy or practice always aims at the liberation of anindividual from bondage. This liberation is possible only through the

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT 53

concentrated use of one of the ideas or methods. As no individual can doeverything at a given moment, especially wi th regard to such a seriousmatter as salvation, it therefore becomes necessary to select a method thatsuits ones own situation. By concentrating on it and deepening it in onesexperiences, one is able to achieve freedom. Th s pattern is clearly seenin both Pure Land Buddhism and the schools of Chan Buddhism.

This should not, however, be regarded as the sole pattern of theChinese absorption of foreign ideas. There are other patterns, too. In thecase of the philosophical schools of Chinese Buddhism, like Tien-taiand Hua-yenw, developments fol lowed another pattern. Both of theseschools took a number of concepts and practical ideas from varioustexts that originated from different schools of Indian Buddhism and re-organized them into comprehensive systems of their own. The contrastof the two patterns of Chinese absorption of foreign concepts illustratesan interesting point: namely, schools of Buddhism which- concentrateon religious cultivation usually fol low the reductionistic pattern, whereasthe schools wi th philosophical inchnation often follow an expansionisticpattern. The development of Chinese Buddhism generally followed oneof these two different patterns.

DThe approach of th s paper has been comparative. Comparisons

of Chinese translations of Indian texts were made insection I ; comparisonsof four Chan masters concepts of No-thought were made in the second;the characteristics of the Indian and Chmese usages of No-thought werediscussed above. The results illustrate the importance of comparativestudy in improving our understanding of the concept of No-thought,for it would othervise have been impossible to determine either thecontent or the context of the development of the doctrine of No-thought.

This conf ms the point made by a Chinese Buddhist thinker,Tsung-mix (780-841) who pointed out long ago that acomparative investi-gation is essential for broadening the vision of a student.44 The studentsees that outside his own field there is stil l a large world rich with pos-

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54 YUN-HUA J A N

sibilities with which he is not famil iar. These possibilities might not beuseful and effective for ones problems, yet they might be suitable andeffective for others. This broad vision ishelpful in remedying dogmaticoutlooks and assertiveness, available options for meeting hi s owns needs, aswell as helping him advise others on finding proper remedies for a particularproblem. A wrong prescription will not only fail to cure a disease, butmight even kill the patient that issupposed to be cured.

But a dicky point still remains. The development of No-thought i nthe Chan schools has followed the pattern of selection, concentrationand intensification. Th s pattern contradicts the broad vision and ex-tensive knowledge that are prerequisties to comparative studies. Does th smean the comparative approach is useless in terms of the practicality of re-ligious life? What ths study has discovered is otherwise. The comparativeapproach is essential and irreplaceable as far as the clarification of conceptsisconcerned. However, most Buddhist thinkers believe that understandingcan solve only certain kinds of problems. Knowledge without practice ismere empty theory and is meaningless for reb ous life. Tsung-mi callssuch intellectuals W d wiseman @ua&huir> He also c&. in the s a m etone, those who merely practice but do not knowwhat they are doing,dull practitioners (ch7hi.h i~n).~The Chinese thinker counseled thatonce a broad vision and knowledge had been gained through comparativestudy, one must move beyond the comparitive. One must not be afraid ofchoosing one of the paths or concepts that suits hi s personalityand problems, and then practice it exclusively and intensively. One mustnot not worry that he might be limited by the particularity, and thus loosehimself in the vastness and have nothing to rely on,46 Tsung-mi advises.The vastness here mentioned refers to the broad range of knowledge;something to rely on means the exclusive practice that isneeded by anindividual in a given situation. Only when a broad understanding and anexclusive practice are simultaneously achieved, can liberation from theconditioned be expected.McMSTER UNIVERSITY

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1.

2.3.

4 .

5.

6

7.8.9.

10.

1112.13.14.15.16.

17.18.

19.

NOTESSuzuki , The Zen Doctrine of No-mind (L ondon, 1949) has been translatedinto French by H. Benoit, Le non-mental selon la pensee Zen (Paris, 1952),and into German by Emma von Pelet, Die Zen-lehrevom nicht-bewusstsein(Miinchen, 1957).Hu Skiha, Shen-hui ho-shang i-chlaa (Shanghai, 1930); especially his Ho-tseta shih shen-hui shenhui chuanab published in the same year, The latter i scollected inHu Shih wen-tsunac IV, pp. 245-200. Se e also J . Gernet, transl.Enfretien du Maitre de Dhyana Chen-houei du Ho-tso (Hanoi, 1949) and theComplement aux Entretiens du Maitre de Dhyana Chen-houei (668-760),BEFEO XLIV (1954),pp. 453-66.For Chih-chiens career, see E. Zurcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China(Leiden, 1959), 48-51.Translated from Taisha shinshU daiz5kyZad, vol. 15, p. 466c. Unless it isnoted, all quotations from the Chinese collection of the Buddhist scripturesare from the Taisho edition of Ta-tsangchingae, hereafter referred to as T.The term no work is probably a Chinese translation of its Sanskrit equiva-lent, akarmaku; unobtainable, from anupulabdhya; innumbetable, fromaksnya; nowhere to stay from asthunri; immovable from acala; nc-mind fromaciftu; non-duality from advaya; and sameness, fromsumafa:Cf. Ku-han-yii Ch angyung-tzu tzu-tiena (Peking, Shang-wu yi nshukuan,1979),p. 342.Thiswor k was translated into Chinese by Chu Fa-hua9or Dharmaraksa, whosecareer as a translator is discussed by Zurcherpp. eft., pp. 65-70.Translated from T. Vol. 1 5 , p. 7a.Translated from T. Vol. 14,p. 661c.Ibid.From The Foundations of Mindfulness, translated by Nyanasatta Thera,(Kandy, 1968),p. 27.Translated from T. Vol. 14, p. 527 a.I bld.From the translation of Charles Luk, The VimalakirtiNirdesaSurra (Berkeley,1972),37.Ibid.. 93.Ibid., 116.For the career of this translator, see P. C. Bagchi, Le canon bouddhique enChine, Vol. 1 (Calcutta, 1927),p. 252 f f .Trans. from the Chinese text in T . 17, p. 614 c.From the translation by P. B. Yampolsky, The Pl atf ormSutra of the SixthPutriarch (New York, 1967),pp. 137-38.Chan has discussed these Neo-Taoist terminologies in the Introdmtionof Commentary on the Lao Tzu by Wang A , transl. by A. Rump with col-

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56 YUN-HUA J A N

20.21.22.23.

24.25.26.27.28.29.

30.

31.32.

33.34.

35.36.37.38.39.40.41.42.43.

laboration of W T. Chan (Honolulu, 1979),esp. xiii-ff.Yampolsky, op. cir.. p. 139.I bid., p. 138.Ibid.Translated from Hu Shih,op.ci t. , Shen-hui ho-shang i-chi, p. 246. This ser-mon has been translated by W Liebenthal, The Sermon of Shen-hui,Asiamajor, n. I I I :2 (1953),pp. 132-155. The quoted passageOCCUTS on p. 151,which he has rendered loosely as A consciousness ln which no thoughtsarise which are reactions.Trans. fromibid.. p. 308.Trans. fromibid., p. 123. Comp. J . Gernet, (1949),op. cit. p. 43.Trans. from ibid., p. 101;Gernet, ibid., p. 13.Trans. fromibid., p. 308-9.Ihid.. pp. 49-51, 321-328.About the life of this monk, see J an, Mu-sang and His Philosophy of NoThought, in theProceedings of the Vfh nternational Symposium, NationalAcademy of Sciences, Republic of Korea ( Seoul ,1977),pp. 55-86; and J an,Tung-hai ta-shih WuhsIang chuan yen-chiu (A Biographical Study of Mu-sang (694-762), the Great Master of Chhn Buddhism from Silk K ingdom),Studieson Tun-huang I V (1979),pp. 47-60.Trans, from Li-tai fa-pao chrh in the edition of Yanagida SeizanaiShokino ZenshPj I I (Tokyo,1976),p. 143. See also Y anagida, The Litai fa-pa0chi and the Chan Doctrine of Sudden Enlightenment, transl. Into Englishby Carl Beilefeldt, in Early Chan in China and Tibet, ed. by L . Lancaster,etal. (Berkeley,1983),pp. 13-49.Trans. fromL i-tai fa-pa0 chi, op, ci t., p. 143.From the translation of Y. S.Hakeda, The Awikening of Faith (New1967),p.31.Trans. fromLi-tai f a-pa0chi, op. cit.,p. 143.See Jan, Tsung-mi and his analysis of Chan Buddhism, TP LVIII (1972),pp. 43-45.Li-tai fa-pa0 chi. op. cit., p. 200.Trans. fromibid., p.213.Trans. fromibid.. p. 239.Trans. fromibid., p.248.Trans. fromibid., p.245.CharlesLuk, op. cif.,pp. 92ff.I bid., p. 100.Hu Shih, op.cit., pp. 37-59.SeeS . Yanagida, Bukky5 no shisho 7 - -M u no tangu (Chugoku Zen? k

York,

(Tokyo, 1970),pp. 106-7.

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44. J an, "K 'anhui or the 'Comparative Investigation': T he K ey Concept inTsung-mi's Thought," in the Korean and Asian Religious Tradition, ed. by C.S. Y u (T oronto, 1977),pp. 12-24.See Tsung-mi, Ch 'on-yuan chu-ch 'uun-chi tu-hsiia' ed. by S. K amada in Zen nogoroku 9 (T okyo, 1971),p. 30.

4 5 .

4 6 . J an, "K 'an-hui", p. 19.

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YUN-HUA JAN

CHlNESE GLOSSARY