Shattering the Great Doubt (eBook)

Discovering Huatou

All the teachings of Chan have one purpose: liberation. Yet, according to the styles of different Chan masters throughout the ages, Chan was presented differently. Among all the Chan masters, it was the teachings of the sixth patriarch Huineng (638–,713) that established the foundation of the tradition, even though his teachings can be traced back to India through the Indian monk Bodhidharma (d. 536?), who was later named the first patriarch of Chan. After Huineng, five historically significant Chan lineages arose but only two survive: the Caodong and the Linji. In Japan, Chan became Zen, the Caodong lineage became the Soto, and the Linji lineage became the Rinzai. A popular conception of the huatou method is that it is a distinct attribute of the Linji line and that other Chan lines did not teach this method. This is a mistaken view, at least for China. All lines used this method. However, it is safe to say that it was Chan Master Dahui Zonggao (1089–,1163) who gave it its special place in the Chan tradition. At about the same time, Chan Master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–,1157) of the Caodong sect was advocating Silent Illumination, although in his discourse records he also seems to have used the huatou method. Through the transmissions of the lineage masters, both methods survive till today.

The huatou method is closely connected to the gong'an. The Japanese pronunciation of this term is koan, which means 'public case,' as in a legal case or events in the judicial system in premodern China. In Chan, a gong'an is an episode or case in the life of a Chan master, an episode that often bears directly upon the enlightenment of that master. Later, many gong'ans became subjects for practice, or investigation, by Chan practitioners. In actual practice, the entire gong'an is not always used because it can be complex and lengthy. Therefore, the early Chan masters would extract the essential point or the critical phrase or word from a gong'an and use it as a tool for practice. A huatou may consist of a fragment—,a question or a word—,derived from a gong'an. However, not all huatous are necessarily derived from gong'ans. Some are obscure in origin while others can simply be given by a master to a disciple as a method of practice.

Literally, huatou means 'head, or crux, of a saying.' A great modern Chinese master, Xuyun (1840–,1959), explains a huatou as that which occurs just before a thought arises in your mind. To practice huatou the practitioner recites the sentence or fragment in a questioning manner but without theorizing or analyzing in order to find an answer. If you tried to reason out the meaning of a huatou, this would be looking at the tail end of the thought, not the head. In theory, to investigate the huatou means to examine that which occurs before thoughts arise. But what is that which lies before thoughts arise? What does the huatou point to? Our original, liberated mind. This is also called the 'buddha-mind.' To conceptually understand this is not enough, certainly it has no bearing on our vexations and life problems. You have to personally experience this. In practice, you must abandon concepts, knowledge, and previous experience until the huatou becomes the only thing in your mind, and you must eventually smash through the huatou itself.

Meditating on the Breath

When you first sit in meditation, your mind may be unsettled and you may have wandering thoughts. To calm your mind before taking up the huatou, you may practice breath meditation. You can do this by counting the breath or by following the breath. To count the...