mettavalokanaya_international_buddhist_magazine_december_2019

Equanimity
of mind….
Chinese Buddhism originated
almost two thousand years ago,
but despite slow and gradual
progress since the 1980s, it still
faces many challenges and difficulties.
With the restoration and revival of
Shaolin Temple’s position as the ancestral
monastery of Chan we must orientate
monks towards the serious practice of
Chan Meditation.
Many say that “Shaolin is the cradle
of all martial arts under Heaven” and
that statement is true. In the minds of
many, our kung- fu is unrivaled. However,
the real Kung-Fu and practice in the
Shaolin is Chan meditation. Different
forms of fist arts and other martial arts
styles were passed down from Shaolin’s
previous generations of masters and
derived from the practice process of
Chan cultivation. Meditation is the focal
point of the daily life of a Shaolin monk
and monastic members are able to
transcend life and death only through
meditation, which is the foundation of
Shaolin’s culture. Other forms of cultural
expression perfected with meditation
The Chief Abbot
of Ananda Temple,
China, Head of Shaolin
Pharmaceutical Bureau
at Shaolin Temple Prison,
China
Most Venerable Master
Shi Yan Lin
China
include wushu, medicine, calligraphy,
architecture and sculpture, etc..
In the earlier days, Shaolin’s
Kung-Fu deferred to the cultivation
of meditation and dharma practice.
The level of one’s insight in Kung-Fu
measured by one’s level of cultivation in
meditation. Shaolin’s position as a major
Kung-Fu school and its international
fame are inseparable from the cultivation
in meditation. The ideal state of Shaolin
k Kung-Fu practice is the attainment of
“immutable mind”. I have been telling
people for over twenty years that
Shaolin wushu is more than a series of
movements and practice.
routines as these are only the
outer form of Shaolin martial arts.
The ultimate of Shaolin Kungfu is the
practice of immutable mind and the
unperturbed mind has equanimity,
without attachments to the external
appearance of Chan Only when there is
no attachments to external appearances
can one be deep and profound and
change unpredictably. If one is not in a
state of immutable mind, all the Kung-
Fu one has learned would be in vain
because one is bound to be frantic and
fearful at the juncture of life and death.
If one achieves the state of immutable
mind, then one will no longer be
attached to life and be fearful of death.
In this state, it does not mean one does
not love life. On the contrary, one loves
life even more.
Only when one learns to love life
does one understand the true purpose
of studying Chan then questions: What
kind of life is worth loving? Only a life
that is freed from worries and suffering
is worth loving. Who then has a fervent
love for life? Only those people who are
freed from worries and sufferings will
truly love life. In order to attain a state
that is free from worries and sufferings,
one must practice immutable mind.
Wushu Chan is a wide open path towards
the state of immutable mind.
Many consider Chan, the
representative of Chinese Buddhism,
somewhat mystical. The way I understand
it is the word represents a form of wisdom
in the life of a practitioner. Patriarch
Bodhidharma once said, “Our mind must
be like a wall in order to reach realization,
without grasping of external appearance
and with equanimity of mind.” This
statement refers to Mahayana’s Wall-
Gazing dharma gate, whereby we use
one thought to overcome all the tens of
millions of thoughts. Only then can we
achieve our monastic vow.
As the ancestral monastery of
Chan sect, Shaolin Temple considers
the recognition of meditation as the
most important and critical process of
restoring the tradition and continuing
the development of Shaolin Temple. By
omitting mediation, we lose everything.
By reviving meditation, we revive
Shaolin’s root foundation. Because of
this, I have a number of disciples who
insist on staying in thatched shacks and
engage in practice of asceticism, and
the monks at Shaolin Temple insist on
engaging the longstanding tradition of
jointly undergoing “Chan S’ or “Chan
Seven” (engaging in seven days of retreat
according to the Chan sect’s practice
methods. At Shaolin Temple, the Shaolin
Chan is actually a series of seven sessions
of meditation practice totaling forty-nine
days).
According to Shaolin Temple’s
rules, summer is mainly for expounding
and studying sutras, and winter is mainly
for Chan Qi and sitting-meditation.
During the cold weather of winter with
the grains in storage, it is easier for
people to reign in their mind, and is
therefore, the perfect time for Chan Qi.
In the past, many masters and achieved
practitioners had attained enlightenment
when they were undergoing Chan Qi in
the meditation hall.
Studying and practicing Chan is a
regular aspect of a monk’s daily life and
mediation is the best way to cultivate
and practice Chan. Without a doubt, the
best way to study and practice Chan is
for the monastery’s monks to assemble
together to meditate according to the
rules taught by previous masters. This
is the most diligent and progressive
method to meditate and is referred to as
Da Chan.
Since Shaolin Temple has revived
Da Chan Qi, not many outsiders know
about this because our canonical rules
stipulate that Da Chan Qi requires the
monks to remain in a state of austere
practice behind closed doors and
undisturbed. Therefore, not many people
truly understand Da Chan Qi, which is
viewed by lay people as a mysterious
“Our mind
must be like a
wall”….
and important Buddhist practice. The
very important matter on my mind after
I became Shaolin Temple’s abbot was to
re-store the meditation hall as soon as
possible and revive meditation as part of
our monks’ daily life.
40 l Mettavalokanaya l December l 2019 l www.mettavalokanaya.com www.mettavalokanaya.com l 2019 l December l Mettavalokanaya l 41