Finding the Ultimate Value of Life through Chan Practice

Our lives as ordinary householders are exceedingly busy, leaving us little opportunity to settle the mind and return it to a state of stillness and openness. This is particularly true in contemporary society, which functions as a huge “dyeing vat,” constantly coloring and corrupting the mind. Wealth, sensual pleasure, fame, food, and sleep—the five great objects of desire—gradually consume and corrode much of our lives. We are perpetually preoccupied with fame, wealth, status, and power, caught up in their turbulence and incessant fluctuations. When the mind is entangled in these pursuits, it becomes difficult to maintain clarity and tranquility. Beyond this, the world offers countless forms of entertainment and distraction that cause us to squander the precious time of our lives.

Human life is profoundly impermanent and exceedingly difficult to obtain. How, then, can we cherish this transient existence and realize its optimal value? Most people seek meaning in life through acts of kindness, charitable work, and service to others. Yet to realize the ultimate value of human life, one must directly realize the original face and awaken to one’s true nature through meditation.

Human life is profoundly impermanent and exceedingly difficult to obtain. How, then, can we cherish this transient existence and realize its optimal value? Most people seek meaning in life through acts of kindness, charitable work, and service to others. Yet to realize the ultimate value of human life, one must directly realize the original face and awaken to one’s true nature through meditation.

I often say that the body is an illegal construction: we never know when it will be demolished. It is assembled at one moment, only to be dismantled again before long. How, then, can we settle all our deluded conceptions, return to the clarity of the present mind, and uncover our original face before this illegal construction—the body—is demolished? In essence, the answer is to put an end to afflictions and transcend birth and death. This is precisely the purpose of sitting meditation. How do we put an end to afflictions? We must cut them off at the very point from which they arise; and we must resolve birth and death within the very phenomena of birth and death. The purpose of sitting meditation is to enable each person to return to what is true, rather than becoming lost in delusive appearances.

Where, then, does the true value of human life lie? It lies in uncovering oneself again. You may find this strange: I am already myself—what is there to find? Yet do you not often find it difficult even to deal with yourself? What exactly constitutes the self? Is it the nose? The eyes? The hands, feet, or hair? If all of these constitute the self, then who is the self after death? Once the limbs and body are disintegrated, the hand is merely a hand, and the head merely a head—which of them is truly “me”? What, then, is the definition of the self?
Through seated meditation, we can gradually sort through these questions, purify and settle the mind, and arrive at genuine clarity and understanding. Only then can we say that we have not lived this life in vain.