Chan Practice: Refine to Uncover the Awareness

Every one of us possesses an innate ability for learning, referred to as “awareness.” It is through this awareness that acquiring knowledge or even wisdom becomes possible. This awareness is inherently present in both sentient beings and Buddhas alike. Why, then, do sentient beings fall into delusion despite having this awareness? It is due to a lack of clarity and understanding. The purpose of Chan practice is to cultivate such understanding, specifically, to gain insight into the two dimensions of reality: the material world and the spiritual world. The phenomena of the material world are said to be “created by the mind and manifested through consciousness,” meaning that the material world is a projection of the mind.

How can the mind create? Through of our conceptions. Each thought, under karmic influence, gives rise to various phenomena and takes form as material perceived by individuals. This material world is understood as one of cyclic existence with memories and suffering. Due to the misconception of believing in an inherent nature, we become obstructed by physical forms. Stemming from the five poisons or the mental afflictions: greed, aversion, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt, the mind fixates on the material forms and gives rise to attachment and pride. This results in a constant struggle between mind and phenomena.

In contrast, the other dimension is the realm of emptiness, which is neither bound by material form nor unaffected by it. This is the spiritual dimension, also known as the realm of awareness. This awareness is non-physical, free from attachment and constraints, characterized by ease, lightness, and freedom. Thus, the objective of Chan practice is to return to our original nature—our primordial state. In essence, we are originally unarising or unceasing. Sitting meditation is a path to rediscover this primordial, unarising, unceasing, and unchanging nature.

The Four-step Technique of Peace Meditation of Ling Jiou Mountain is a method to cease delusions and realize the truth. The “truth” here refers to the reality free from notions. The Four-step Technique of Peace Meditation offers a means for purifying the adventitious stains and uncover the immaculate spiritual essence. Like the process of refining ore into pure gold, through sustained practice and steady sitting meditation, deluded attachments gradually settle and dissolve. Eventually, the nature of mind radiates its luminosity like the rising sun, growing ever more radiant, until it shines with the brilliance of a clear, cloudless sky—a luminous, expansive, and vividly awakened awareness.