seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

emember. How much credence can we accord texts (the Pali Canon) compiled so long after
the actual teaching?
Let's consider their version of the Buddha's deathbed pronouncements - one of the
least controversial texts in Buddhism. According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta this eighty
year old man, expiring in the agony of food poisoning, halted his death throes long enough to:
1. Instruct his followers to discontinue the practice of calling each other `friend' as they had
done throughout his lifetime. In the future, junior disciples were to address senior disciples
as Sir or Venerable One. Senior disciples could still call junior disciples `friend' or, if they
chose, address them by their given names. (He neglected to specify how junior disciples
should address each other.) 2. Give permission for priestly communities to alter or abolish as
they chose any of the minor precepts of his Path. (He did not specify which precepts were
minor.) 3. Order that his beloved disciple and former servant, Channa, be ostracized from the
community as punishment for having presumed upon his long and close association with the
Buddha and for having behaved in a haughty manner towards the other disciples. 4.
Pronounce them all (with the obvious exception of Channa) spiritually accomplished, secure
and without doubts (thereby putting his Imprimatur on their doctrinal opinions and versions
of events); and, having made all this perfectly clear, added, 5. "All conditioned things are
transient. Work diligently for your salvation." Then he died.
For unintentional humor, it is a deathbed scene Charles Dickens could not have
improved upon.
Unfortunately, with the advent of writing came even more scriptural profusion and
diversity. Not content with their monopoly over existing editions of prescribed truth -
ordinary laymen had no private libraries - priests, elders and Buddhist scholars of every stripe
began to create new sacred literature to suit themselves and their audiences. Those with
Brahman pretensions compounded their works with Brahmanism. Those with Jainist
sympathies mixed Jain beliefs into Buddhist dogma. Intellectuals, gravitating as usual to
hard-core Samkhya expositions, laced their disquisitions with the headier stuff of
metaphysics and yogic discipline; and the spiritually unripened, as is their custom, penned
tracts which offered salvation through obedience to endless rules of righteous conduct. For
the young at heart, touching stories about the Buddha's efforts to save innocent life - such as
the time he changed himself into a rabbit and jumped into a frying pan, substituting himself
for the scheduled entree - were ingenuously recorded. Most astonishing of all were the
fevered writings of those turgid authors who claimed that the Buddha had exhorted his flock
to indulge in any and all kinds of licentiousness. As they quoted him, he advocated
fornication with any and all kinds of women including those who would render the coupling
incestuous, adulterous, or child-abusive; killing any animal and eating any meat, including
human flesh; lying; cheating; stealing; and committing various other high crimes and
misdemeanors to obtain nirvanic `liberation.' As the Guhyasamaja Tantra Scripture
explained, "Perfection can be gained by satisfying all one's desires." For some, then,
Buddhism threatened damnation for stepping on an ant; for others, Paradise was gained by
sleeping with one's Nana.
CHAPTER 3 CHAN SCRIPTURES
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
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