YfJN-HUA JAN

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT

(WU-NIEN) IN SOME INDIAN AND CHINESE BUDDHIST TEXTS

The term and the concept of No-thought (wu-nien) has been well known to scholars of Buddhlsm since D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966) published his Zen Docnine of No-Mind in 1949. Even then, Hu Shiha (1895-1972) already had published on the subject in the nineteen thirties. But these works, though helpful in understanding the Buddhist doctrine, often leave erroneous impressions. Hu studied the concept as a part of his research on the thought and life on Shenhuib (670-762), which he regarded as a revolution of the Chinese Mind against what he called Indian Buddhist scholasticism. This night leave readers with the impression that Nothought is a Chinese idea. Suzuki was preoccupied by his thesis that the doctrine of No-mind was the central idea in the South School of Chanc Buddhism. But this might leave the impression that the doctrine was universally important to all the t b k e r s of the Chan school. The need for a comparative inquiry into the Indian background of the Buddhist concept,as well as the development of the doctrine of the Chan schools, is obvious. This paper will focus on three points: First, the usage of the term wu-nien in pre-Chan Buddhist texts, especially the Chinese translations of Indian works: rhis will demonstrate that the concept was not a Chinese idea, but rather a Buddhist concept introduced to the Chinese from India. Second, the development of the concept in the Chan school, noting continuities and diffzrences of understanding and use among the four leading Chan masters during the seventh and eigth centuries A.D; the concept reached its most significant development through the efforts of those four thinkers. The doctrine was also not uniform in its importance and place in the thought of those masters. Third, a comparison of the
Journal of Chinese Philosophy I 6 (1 989) 37-58 Copyright@ 1989 by Dialogue Publishing Company, Honolulu, Hawaii, II. S.A.

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concept as found in both the Indian and Chinese texts: The pattern of the Chinese assimilation of foreign ideas will become clear, as well as the advantages and limitations of comparative equiry.

Contrary to most standard references, wu-nien is not a term exclusive to Chan Buddhism. It appeared in the Chinese translations of Indian Buddhist texts centuries before the formation of the Chan schools, and was also used in other Chmese Buddhist works. The concept is found, for example, in the tranlsations of the Fo-shuo hui-yin sun-mei chingf (Tathiigatujn~namudr~sam~hi), as well as the Vimalak?rtinirde& by the Indo-scythian monk, Chihchiene (fl. A.D. 222-229).2 The former text discusses samiidhi or concentration; the latter is usually related to the Perfection of Wisdom literature because of to philosophical inclinations. The first text, related to samadhi, its describes the process leading to sameness (sumatu) which is representative of the Indian usage of wunien in meditation. Considering the significance of the work and its early date, the passage should be quoted in full: What is the characsteristic of no-work? The characteristic is unobtainability. What is the characteristic of unobtainability? The characteritic is innumerability. What is the characteristic of innumerability? The characteristic is nothing to arise. What is the characteristic of nothing to arise? The character is nothing to make extinct. What is the characteristic of nothing to make extinct? The characteristic is nothing to gain. What is the characteristic of nothing to gain? The characteristic is nothing to depend on. What is the characteristic of nothing to depend on? The characteristic is nowhere to stay. What is the characteristic of nowhere to stay? The characteristic is nowhere to go away from. What is the characteristic of nowhere to go away from? The characteristic of immovability. What is the characteristic of immovability? The characteristic is the freedom from movability. What is the

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characteristic of freedom from movability? The Characteristic is no-mind. What is the characteristic of no-mind? The characteristic is no-thought (wu-nien). What is the characteristic of no-thought? The characteristic is nonduahty. What is the characteristic of nonduality? The characteristic is the sameness of things.3 The statement contains a number of technical terms of Indian Buddhism which are clearly not of Chinese origin. Although the original Indian text of this work is no longer extant, some of these t e c h c a l terms are identifiable from other works.4 The text begins with the statement on no-work (or wu-tsuog) which is rather ambiguous in the Chinese context, since the word tsuo can mean to rise or to create, to make, and hence to work in ancient Chinese. If it were put into an Indian context, :he term would relate to karma or action, so that the .work negated in the statement would mean all that which leads to the formation of karma. Thereafter, the passage seems clear: the practitioner, step by step, enters into progressively deeper stages of concentration. In the fmal four states of the practice, once one has reached no-mind, there will be no thought; and consequently one attains nonduality and sameness. The process from no-work to sameness is very systematic, especially compared to the Abhidharma doctrines. It is also clear from the passage that no-mind and nothought are two different states in the process. They are not identical as Suzuki argued. The text explicitly states that No-mind is the characteristic of freedom from movability; and No-thought is the characteritic of No-mind. The attainment of nonduality is possible from No-mind, but only through the state of No-thought. No-thought is also linked with concentration in other Chinese translations of Indian Buddhist scriptures. In the Ch ih-hsin-fan-tienso-wen chingh or Visesacinribrahmapariprccha,6 there is a passage which reads: Noconsciousness and no-thought ... when the four consciousnesses are stopped, one will then not abide in anything nor stay in thoughts. Those who are not abiding in thoughts will

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abide in the absolute (chen-chi ). When abiding in the absolute, one does not abide in anything; the consciousness does not stay anywhere. If consciousness abides anywhere, it is not real and it should be called false ( w u / h s ~ ~ . The stopping of the four consciousnesses mentioned here is a translation of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness o r Smrfyupasthaiia,which is one of the oldest Buddhist meditation teachings. The most significant point of the passage is the relationship of the absolute and thought: Not abiding in thoughts is abidance in the absolute. In other words, No-thought is the way and the state of the absolute; abidance in any thought is a falsehood. The relation between thoughts and falsehood, and between Nothought and the absolute, are both confirmed in the Ch ih-shih chingk translated by Kumarajiva (344409). In the chapter on the Eightfold Noble Path, when good knowledge and correct thought for the Boddhisattva and Mahasattvas are discussed, it states: All thoughts from knowing and seeing are hewrodox. Whatever thoughts abide are all heterodox. No-recollection and no-thought are named the correct thought (samyaksmrti). Once a Bodhisattva has attained the path of correct thought, he will not follow nor be conditioned by thought or No-thought. This is because when he attains to the unconditioned, he will realise that all thoughts are really not thoughts, he will no longer be bothered either by thought or no-thought. Thus he peacefully abides in the correct t h ~ u g h t . ~ First, regarding the identification of No-thought with Mindfulness, Nothought is a technical term in Indian Buddhism; the thought that is to be negated does not have broader senses. Second, the thought precisely referred to in the context denotes contemplative thought on four items: body, feeling, mind and mind-objects. Thud, one can rid oneself of worldly ycd ?tr.d grief through contemplation on these four items; in this way one

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may ardently and consciously remain an the Buddhist path. Because of the negation of worldly greed and grief as well as remaining on the path, an early and authentic Buddhist scripture, the Satipatthana-sutta, evaluates the effectiveness of mindfulness in these words. This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely rhe four Foundations of Mindfulness. lo The claim of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as the only way to achieve the religious goal of Buddhism, makes Mindfulness something very special. It is much more advanced than views (dirti) and thought (sunkappa). Mindfulness is concerned with religious achievement and realization; philosophical views and understanding relate to the outlook of world phenomena and personal attitudes towards these phenomena. Views and understanding mark the beginning of religious awareness; mindfulness denotes an advanced stage of religious cultivation. Preferences LO No-thought are found in a number of scriptures which have a philosophical inclination: However, only one Buddhist scripture, the Vimalakirti Nirdesa, will be studied, as it is regarded by scholars as an authentic and authoritative work on Indian Mahayana Buddhism that was vital to the development of Chan thought in China. In the earliest Chinese translation of the Vimalakirti Nirdesa by Chihchien of the third century A.D., a passage refers to the term Nothought: Dharmas have no seeing and hearing, no-thought and no knowledge. Whatever has seeing, hearing, thinking and knowing of dharmas, it has already discriminated. This means that thought is empirical; the object of thought is dharma, and its nature is discriminative. From the Buddhist point of view, discriminative thought inevitably relates to subjective judgement and value which create situations that condition and trap man in bondage. The text therefore teaches that the religious seeker is one who seeks nothing from seeing and hearing.12 The term No-thought occurs more frequently in a later translation of the same scripture done by Kumarajiva. As this translation has been

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more authoritative and influential in China, some passages are worth examining. In one place,

Bodhi can be won by neither body nor mind. For Bodhi is the state of calmness and extinction of passion (i.e., ninznu), because it wipes out all forms. Bodhi is unseeing, for it keeps ~ from a i causes.
T h s statement contrasts world by phenomena with wisdom or bodhi. The former consists of body, mind, seeing, thought and forms; while the latter wipes out passions and forms. The religious goal cannot be achieved if all forms, including thought, are not negated. For this reason, the text states, (External) disturbance and (inner) t h k i n g are a duahty . When disturbance subsides, thmking comes to an end and the absence of thought leads to nondiscriminating. Reaching this state is initiation into n ~ n d u a l i t y . ~ No-thought or the absence of thought is both the procedure and the purpose of Buddhist soteriology. As procedure, the psychology moves from external disturbance to thought, from thought to no-thought, and from no-thought to nondiscrimination, thus achieving nonduality or the absolute religious experience. As for the purpose of No-thought, it is the path leading to the religious goal - nonduality. When the wisdom of nonduality is entirely free from all forms, though of external or inner forms wdl have been negated. Therefore, the Vimalak%i Nirdeh teaches that Bodhisattvas must unceasingly search for the thought-free (wu-nien) Wisdom of reality. Another usage of No-thought in the Chinese translation of Indian Buddhist texts is found in the Fachi chink or the Dhurmasumg%-s~tru by Bodhiruci (fl. 508-537).16 The text classifies the six kinds of empirical consciousnesses into three kinds of thoughts, of which the first one is upside down thoughts (viparyaya). These thoughts are related to the triple spheres of existence: the sensuous world, the fine-material world and the immaterial world. The second refers to thoughts that are not

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upside down, which means the thought of nirviina, as understood by the H h a y k a Buddhist. The third is No-thought. The text comments: What is No-thought? That w h c h is separated from the first two kinds of thought is named No-thought. What does this mean, separated from the two kinds of thought? It means the thought of the supreme Buddhas.
l h s usage is very useful for clarifying w h c h thoughts are being identified.

Since the whole discussion begins from the six kinds of consciousness, it is clear that the first kind of thought relates to empirical experience. The second kind of thought refers to I-hnayana doctrines. In the view of those who belonged to the Great Vehicle of Buddhism, thought of personal liberation is far from perfect; it lacks compassion towards fellow beings, though it has a correct outlook on the world. The third is a negation of the first two kinds of thought,.whch means that t h ~ susage is Mahayanistic. The proclaiming of No-thought as the thought of the Supreme Buddhas is thus similar to the other passages referred to previously.

The earliest known usage of No-thought in Chan Buddhism is found in the Platform Sutra o f the Sirth Patriarch. The usage is presented in a very dramaticfashion. The sutra states that the Chan school set up No-thought as the main doctrine, non-form as the substance, and nonabiding as the basis.8 The terms main doctrine ( t s u n p ) , substance (rih) and basis (peno)19 were, originally metaphysical terms for the absolute in Neo-Taoism. The Chan thinker borrowed these metaphysical terms and applied them to his own system, thus making the concept of No-thought an essential component of Chan Buddhism. This is the first time that a Buddhist had choosen these three terms from among many concepts and used them as the basic teaching. The selection and emphasis given to the terms marked a new development in the history of Buddhist thought in general, and of Chmese Buddhism in particular. What did thought mean? The Platform Sutra teaches that thought

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passes through a stream of moments, successive thoughts follow one after the other without cessation. It further explains,

No is the no of what? Thought means thinking of what? No is the separation from the dualism that produces the passions. Thought means thinking of the original nature of True Reality. True Reality is the substance of thoughts; thoughts are the function of True Reality.2o

This explicitly states that the thoughts referred to in the term No-thought mean the dualist thoughts that are capable of producing passions. These passions are the conditioning factors responsible for trapping man in bondage. If one wishes to stop and remove the passions, it has to be wiped out at its source -the thoughts that produce the passions. The Platfonn Sunu explains both the productive process from thought to passion, passion which in turn conditions mans existence, and how the stopping of thought frees man from bondage. The text states that If one thought clings, then successive thoughts cling; this is known as being fettered. Contrarily, If in all things successive thoughts do not cling, then you are unfettered. Why? Because
if one instant of thought is cut off, the Dharma body separates

from the physical body, and in the midst of successive thoughts there will be no place for attachment tc, anything.
To not be attached to anything means to not be conditioned by things and the feelings of things that one confronts in everyday life. Once a person is unstained by his environment,
then, in regard to things, thoughts are not produced. If you stop thinking of the myriad things, and cast aside all thoughts, as soon as one instant of thought is cut off, you will be reborn in another realm.
I t is easy to see why and how the idea of No-thought has been so crucial to the religious philosphy of Chan.

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The concept of No-thought continuously occupied an important place in the thought of Shen-hui (670762). To a large extent, this monk was instrumental in malung the concept the core of Chan Buddhism. The monk defined the concept of No-thought in these words: Just do not h v e any intention, and no arising of the mind, it is the true [state of] N o - t h o ~ g h t . In ~ ~ the view of Shen-hui, mind arises when it is provoked by intention or purpose. No-thought is not a complicated concept in philosophy, but a practical recipe. It is simply to drop away from any intention or purpose, and let the mind remain in an unprovoked state. When the mind is freed from conditioning factors, it will spontaneously reveal its own potentiality. Shen-hui also gave concrete content to the concept. In contrast to previous definitions, this thinker now described the concept of No-thought in a number of passages. In one of the documents attributed to Shen-hui, it is written: What is called No-thought? It meansnot to think of existence or non-existence; not to think of good and evil; not to think of absolute or non-absolute; not to think of limited or unlimited; not t o think of bodhi and not taking bodhi as the object of thought; not to think of nirviinu and not taking nirvZna as the object of thought. This is N o - t h ~ u g h t . ~ ~ The items of No-thought given in the passage may be divided into two groups: thoughts of existence and nonexistence and so forth are connected with secular life; while thoughts of bodhi and nirviina are the goal of sacred cultivation. Both are negated in the thought of Shen-hui. The place of No-thought in Shen-huis system is very fundamental, as when the thinker identified No-thought with the Buddhist concept of absolute. He said, Those who are confronted with No-thought will be free from contamination in their six sense-organs, and will obtain the wisdom that proceeds to the Buddha.25 He went on to teach the attainment of Reahty (Shih-hsiangp) by No-Thoughts, declaning it to be the First Principle of the Middle Path, the achievement of innumerable merits, the mastery of all things and the all-embracing doctrine. How could the negation of thought possess such a power? Shen-hui said that

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once thought is free from purpose, there will be the destiny of wisdom (chih-rningq) within No-thought. This destiny of wisdom itself is Reality. All Bodhisattvas use No-thought as the dharma body of liberation.% In another of the Shen-hui documents, he was asked by a disciple whether the doctrine uf No-thought was a teaching for laymen or for holy men. Is it different from Suchness (chen-id)? He answered that the teaching was exclusively for holy men and that No-thought was not different from Suchness. Shen-hui not only offered a definition with concrete content and evaluated the importance of the concept, he also offered advice for the practical implementation of the concept. He said, Good friends, those who are still remaining in the state of learning, should illuminate the arising of the mind, when you are aware of the arising. When the arising mind has perished, the illumination will be eliminated by itself. T h ~ sis Nothought. This No-thought is identical with the negation of all realms. It will not be No-thought even if there is a single realm that still remain^.^' Althought Shen-hui developed the concept of No-thought in lus teachings, the concept was only one of his principal doctrines. There were still a number of other ideas that were equally important in his thought.28 It was the two schools of Chan Buddhism that developed in the state of Shu (presently Sichuan) which gave further attention to the concept. In fact, these two schools made No-thought the exclusive doctrine of their teachings. It was Wu-hsiangs (684-762), originally a native of the Silla kingdom in the Korean peninsula and more well-known in China as Monk. Kim29, who initiated the development. In the early part of a document related to his teachings, the monk taught three concepts, namely, Norecollection is the discipline; No-thought is the meditation; and ho-forgetfulness is the Wisdom.30 However, in the later part of his teachings, the monk declared, No arising of thought is the entrance of discipline, no arising of thought is the entrance of meditation, and no arising of thought is the entrance of wisdom. No-thought itself is the

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complete attainment of discipline, meditation and wisdom. The innumerable Buddhas of the past and future as well as the present all entered into Buddhahood through this gate. If there is another gate, it is certainly n o n e x i ~ t a n t . ~ ~ M m k Kim claimed that this triple entrance is the Allembracing Gate, or the only entrance into reality. Apart from this gate there is no other gate. The monk followed the theoretical framework of the Awakening of Faith, dividing the principle of One Mind into two aspects: One is the aspect of Mind in terms of the Absolute (tatharri/Suchness); the other is the aspect of Mind in terms of phenomena (sarnfira; birth and death).32 The monk then stated that No-thought is the aspect of the Absolute, and thoughts are the aspect of ~ h e n o m e n a . ~ ~ For the first time in the history of Chan Buddhism the concept of No-thought had been declared the exclusive doctrine, and the doctrine was systematically identified with the absolute aspect of Mind as discussed in an influential scripture. This significant contribution to the concept, as well as the monk who taught the doctrine, were both missed by Suzuki when he wrote The Zen Doctrine Of No-Mind. The concept of No-thought was still further developed after Monk Kim. In the sermons given by Wuchut (14-774), a disciple of Monk Kim, No-thought was also the most important doctrine of the Chan monk.M Althought Wu-chu is known for h i s threefold or fourfold teaching(viz., No-thought as the discipline, No-action as the concentration, Non-duality as the Wisdom, and No-elaborated arrangement in religious places as practice^),^' the concept of No-thought is still the only theme repeatedly found in his sermons. It is clear from these sermons, however, that Wuchus concept of No-thought for refers to different levels of thought. At the first level, the thoughts that have to be negated refer to discriminative thought, the experiences and views that men encounter in daily life. As indicated previously, the Buddhist regards these views as upside down and responsible for trapping men in bondage. Liberation means to liberate man from bondage. A correct understanding of the reasons responsible for a person being caught in t h s situation begins with understanding mans view point. Wuchu stated that:

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If no thought then no production; if no thought then no annihilation. If no thought then no love; if no thought then no hate. If no thought then no grasping; if no thought then no abandonment. If no thought then no high; if no,thought then no low. If no thought then no [distinction of] man; if no thought then no [distinction of3 women. If no thought then no [claim ofl right; if no thought then [no claim1 of wrong. At the moment when there is no thought, No thought is not selfexistent .% The abandonment of discriminative views and values is common to all schools of Buddhism, so this is not new. However, some new elements do emerge. All the discriminative views are exclusively linked with Nothought; also the content of No-thought reflects Chinese usages and is nontechnical. No-thought is obviously the central concept in the teachings of this Chan school, and it becomes easier for the believer to understand. The idea of No-thought is not limited by the above discriminations, but is also contrasted with correct views, which may be regarded as the second level of the concept. In one of his sermons, Wuchu taught,

If no thought, then no form; to have thought then becomes empty and false. No thought, then gone beyond the triplerealms; to have thought then caught w i t h the triple-realms. If no thought, then no [claim of1 right; if no thought then no [claim of] wrong. If no thought then no self; if no thought then no others. To be free from [the distinction of1 self and others, one accomplishes the wisdom of B~ddhas.~
Here conventional values and views are contrasted with religious wisdom, indicating the direction in which the religious philosophy is aimed, namely, the accomplishment of wisdom, and by this means becoming a Buddha. Wu-chu also identified a third level of No-thought, where not only the thought of discrimination and the contrast of false and real were abandoned, but the discrimination between the sacred and p r o f i e was also negated. In one of his sermons, he f i s t contrasted

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bondage and liberation, nirvZna and samsira, wisdom and ignorance, self and others. He then stated:

Lf no thought, then no Buddhas; if no thought then no

sentient beings. In the great wisdom of prujE, there is no Buddha nor sentient beings. No Buddha that attained nirviina, nor nivriina for Buddhas. Those who understand this clearly are the ones who truly understand.= If a practitioner of Chan is able to transcend discriminative views through No-thought, to contrast worldly views with r e b o u s wisdom through Nothought, and finally to abandon any discriminative thought including the distinction between sacred and profane through No-throught, only then may he be regarded as one who really understands the truth of Chan Buddhism. Wuchu explained: The venerable one of Great Enlightenment created and spoke about the doctrine of No-thought. No-thought leads to no arising of the mind; the Mind is producing constantly and inextinguishable. It remains independent through all periods of time: neither following nor turning, neither floating nor drowning, neither flowing nor stagnant, neither moving nor shaking, neither coming nor going, remaining lively as the sitting of meditation whether one is walking or sitting.39

I11
A
The concept of No-thought was not unique to Chan Buddhism. It had a long tradition of usage in India and often occurred in Chinese translations of Indian B u d m texts from the third cnetury A.D. until the formation of Chan schools in China. At least three usages of the term are found in these translated texts: meditative, reflective and doctrinal. Whatever the differences between usages, their goals were the same: to

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effectively overcome discriminative thought, and thus achieve nonduality . Though No-thought occupied an important place in the texts referred to, at the same time, the concept was only one of many items or methods in a n Indian context. In the context of meditation, for example, there are ffteen states beginning from no-work and ending with sameness. The state of No-thought is thirteenth on the list. In the reflective context, the usage of the term in Vimuluk?finirdeb indicates the same tendency. In the chapter Initiation Into the Nondual Dharma, more than thirty Bodhisattvas responded to the question: How do you understand the nondual D h m a ? Of the various answers only one was No-thought.40 More significantly, when the questions and the answers were completed, Maiijukd, the leading Bodhisattva of the assembly asked Vimalakirti: Tlease tell us what is the Bodhisattvas initiation into the nondual Dharma? The learned lay wiseman, however, kept silent without saying a word. MGjuk; then realized and exclaimed that until words and speech are no longer used, it would be impossible for a Bodhisattva to be initiated into the nondual Dharma4l In other words, all the understandings of the Bodhisattvas, including the concept of No-thought, cannot lead the pratitioner into nonduality until words or differentiated forms all end in silence. In the doctrinal usage of No-thoght, the concept refers to negating common experiences of the six consciousness and being freed from them. Both common experience and Hinaynaic views, though differing in many points, are systematic analysies based on discriminative consciousness. It is this usage that seems closer to the concept of No-thought in Chan Buddhism, in which both secular and relgious views are f d y rejected. At the same time, the negation of these views is identfied with the supreme wisdom of the Buddhas. When the Indian usages of the concept are reviewed as a whole, it is clear that the idea is one of many means for religious cultivation, at least as far as meditation and wisdom are concerned. Even in the context of doctrinal usage, the subject stdl remains in the domain of wisdom. The Indian Mahayana Buddhists usually regarded the six perfections @arumifas) or the ten stages (bhumis) as standard programs for Bodhisattvas cultivation. Wisdom and meditation are only two items of this complex. If the concept of No-thought is related only to meditation and wisdom, it is

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clear that the two are not the exclusive means either in religious understanding or practice; they are only components of a more complicated system.

Although the term wu-nien or No-thought is not Chinese in origin, its place in Chan Buddhism is quite different from the Indian context. The concept was, for the first time in history, upgraded by the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch to become one of the three key teachings of Chan Buddhism. Monk Shen-hui was responsible for the concretization of the concept with a number of items. He also regarded No-thought as the only way to attain reality. He stated clearly that t h s was the exclusive way only for holy men. However, there are other important teachings besides the concept of No-thought, both in the Platform sutra was well as in Shen-huis sermons. The ideas of the original purity of Buddha-nature in all sentient beings, the Sudden Enlightenment, the nonduality of meditation and wisdom, and the precepts of formlessness are good examples.42 It was during the 8 t h century AD. that the concept of No-thought reached its climax in the history of B u d d h t thought, when Monk Kim proclaimed it as the whole of Buddhist teachings. For Kim, the doctrine of No-thought covered all the practices and wisdoms of Buddhism. The concept became the all-embracing dharma (tsung-chih-fa) of the Chan school under his leadershp. Although h i s disciple Wuchu taught other doctrines, the concept of No-thought is actually the core teaching of his sermons. Wuchu followed his teacher, Monk lm, in regarding No-thought as the all embracing dharma of Buddhism and studied Shen-hui for the content of the concept. With Wu-chu No-thought became a concentrated and intensified way to achieve the religious goal of M a h i y z a Buddhism, the attainment of Buddha-hood. Tnis way starts from the negation of discriminative and common thoughts, contrasts these thoughts with religious ones, and finally negates all together the discrimination between common and religious thoughts.

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When the structure and content of the concept as found in the Chan documents are compared with those found in the translations of Indian Buddhist texts, two contradictory tendencies emerge. On the one hand, the Chan thinkers followed a reductionistic pattern by brushing aside a number of ideas that were associated with the concept of No-thought in the Indian texts; yet, at the same time, they developed the concept by making it the core of Buddhism with a new and concrete content. It is true that some technical terms from Indian Buddhism still remained as important ideas in Chan doctrine, yet most forms are Chinese in flavor. No-thought is thus no longer a foreign, abstract and remote concept beyond the grasp of the average Chinese. Both structure and content have been transformed into a form that is more suitable and effective in the Chinese context.

T h i s comparative study of No-thought in translated Indian texts and its Chinese development, can be taken as a case study in the Chinese assimilation of foreign ideas. The pattern of this assimilation c o n f i i s that of other studies on the subject. For example, Pure Land Buddhism and Tien-tai in China both underwent a pattern of selective, concentrative and intensified development.43 The Chinese geverally selected one or two foreign ideas or practices out of many, set the rest aside, and devoted themselves to the selected few that suited their needs and were effective in solving their problems. This pattern is clearly seen in the present study. Of the many concepts in Indian Buddhism, the Chan thinkers selected a few, made them main doctrines, practised them and verified them by their experience; they then further reduced the number, retained and enriched the most effective one, thereby making it Chans exclusive doctrine. In this pattern the selection-concentration-intensification process began with many, then reduced the many to a few, and finally ended with one. The process is, therefore, reductionistic. T h approach is necessary since religious philosophy or practice always aims at the liberation of an individual from bondage. This liberation is possible only through the

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concentrated use of one of the ideas or methods. As no individual can do everything at a given moment, especially with regard to such a serious matter as salvation, it therefore becomes necessary to select a method that suits ones own situation. By concentrating on it and deepening it in ones experiences, one is able to achieve freedom. This pattern is clearly seen in both Pure Land Buddhism and the schools of Chan Buddhism. This should not, however, be regarded as the sole pattern of the Chinese absorption of foreign ideas. There are other patterns, too. In the case of the philosophical schools of Chinese Buddhism, like Tien-tai and Hua-yenw, developments followed another pattern. Both of these schools took a number of concepts and practical ideas from various texts that originated from different schools of Indian Buddhism and reorganized them into comprehensive systems of their own. The contrast of the two patterns of Chinese absorption of foreign concepts illustrates an interesting point: namely, schools of Buddhism which- concentrate on religious cultivation usually follow the reductionistic pattern, whereas the schools with philosophical inchnation often follow an expansionistic pattern. The development of Chinese Buddhism generally followed one of these two different patterns.

D
The approach of this paper has been comparative. Comparisons of Chinese translations of Indian texts were made in section I; comparisons of four Chan masters concepts of No-thought were made in the second; the characteristics of the Indian and Chmese usages of No-thought were discussed above. The results illustrate the importance of comparative study in improving our understanding of the concept of No-thought, for it would othervise have been impossible to determine either the content or the context of the development of the doctrine of No-thought. This c o n f m s the point made by a Chinese Buddhist thinker, Tsung-mix (780-841) who pointed out long ago that a comparative investigation is essential for broadening the vision of a student.44 The student sees that outside his own field there is still a large world rich with pos-

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sibilities with which he is not familiar. These possibilities might not be useful and effective for ones problems, yet they might be suitable and effective for others. This broad vision is helpful in remedying dogmatic outlooks and assertiveness, available options for meeting his owns needs, as well as helping him advise others on finding proper remedies for a particular problem. A wrong prescription will not only fail to cure a disease, but might even kill the patient that is supposed to be cured. But a dicky point still remains. The development of No-thought in the Chan schools has followed the pattern of selection, concentration and intensification. This pattern contradicts the broad vision and extensive knowledge that are prerequisties to comparative studies. Does t h s mean the comparative approach is useless in terms of the practicality of religious life? What t h i s study has discovered is otherwise. The comparative approach is essential and irreplaceable as far as the clarification of concepts is concerned. However, most Buddhist thinkers believe that understanding can solve only certain kinds of problems. Knowledge without practice is mere empty theory and is meaningless for r e b o u s life. Tsung-mi calls such intellectuals W d wiseman @ua&huir>. H e also c&. in the same tone, those who merely practice but do not know what they are doing, dull practitioners (ch 7hi.h i~n).~ The Chinese thinker counseled that once a broad vision and knowledge had been gained through comparative study, one must move beyond the comparitive. One must not be afraid of choosing one of the paths or concepts that suits his personality and problems, and then practice it exclusively and intensively. One must not not worry that he might be limited by the particularity, and thus loose himself in the vastness and have nothing to rely on,46 Tsung-mi advises. The vastness here mentioned refers to the broad range of knowledge; something to rely o n means the exclusive practice that is needed by an individual in a given situation. Only when a broad understanding and an exclusive practice are simultaneously achieved, can liberation from the conditioned be expected.

McMSTER UNIVERSITY

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT

55

NOTES
1.

Suzuki, The Zen Doctrine of No-mind (London, 1949) has been translated into French by H. Benoit, Le non-mental selon la pensee Zen (Paris, 1952), and into German by Emma von Pelet, Die Zen-lehre vom nicht-bewusstsein (Miinchen, 1957). Hu Skiha, Shen-hui ho-shang i-chlaa (Shanghai, 1930); especially his Ho-tse ta shih shen-hui shenhui chuanab published in the same year, The latter is collected in Hu Shih wen-tsunac IV, pp. 245-200. See also J. Gernet, transl. Enfretien du Maitre de Dhyana Chen-houei d u Ho-tso (Hanoi, 1949) and the Complement aux Entretiens du Maitre de Dhyana Chen-houei (668-760), BEFEO XLIV (1954),pp. 453-66. For Chih-chiens career, see E. Zurcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China (Leiden, 1959), 48-51. Translated from Taisha shinshU daiz5kyZad, vol. 1 5 , p. 466c. Unless it is noted, all quotations from the Chinese collection of the Buddhist scriptures are from the Taisho edition of Ta-tsangchingae, hereafter referred to as T. The term no work is probably a Chinese translation of its Sanskrit equivalent, akarmaku; unobtainable, from anupulabdhya; innumbetable, from aksnya; nowhere to stay from asthunri; immovable from acala; ncmind from aciftu; non-duality from advaya; and sameness, from sumafa: Cf. Ku-han-yii Ch angyung-tzu tzu-tiena (Peking, Shang-wu yinshukuan, 1979),p. 342. This work was translated into Chinese by Chu Fa-hua9 or Dharmaraksa, whose career as a translator is discussed by Zurcherpp. eft., pp. 65-70. Translated from T. Vol. 15, p. 7a. Translated from T. Vol. 1 4 , p. 661c.

2. 3.

4.

5.

7. 8. 9. 10.
11 12.
I

Ibid.
From The Foundations of Mindfulness, translated by Nyanasatta Thera, (Kandy, 1968), p. 27. Translated from T. Vol. 14, p. 527 a.

Ibld.
From the translation of Charles Luk, The VimalakirtiNirdesa Surra (Berkeley, 1972), 37. Ibid.. 93. Ibid., 116. For the career of this translator, see P. C. Bagchi, Le canon bouddhique en Chine, Vol. 1 (Calcutta, 1927),p. 252 f f . Trans. from the Chinese text in T . 17, p . 614 c. From the translation by P. B. Yampolsky, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Putriarch (New York, 1967),pp. 137-38. Chan has discussed these Neo-Taoist terminologies in the Introdmtion of Commentary on the Lao Tzu by Wang

13.

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

A, transl. by A. Rump with col-

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YUN-HUA J A N laboration of W.T. Chan (Honolulu, 1979), esp. xiii-ff.

20. 21. 22. 23.

Yampolsky, op. cir.. p. 139. Ibid., p. 138. Ibid. Translated from Hu S h i h , o p . c i t . , Shen-hui ho-shang i-chi, p. 246. This sermon has been translated by W. Liebenthal, The Sermon of Shen-hui, Asia

major, n. III:2 (1953), pp. 132-155. The quoted passage OCCUTS on p. 151, which he has rendered loosely as A consciousness l n which no thoughts
24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. arise which are reactions. Trans. from ibid.. p. 308. Trans. from ibid., p. 123. Comp. J . Gernet, (1949), op. cit. p. 43. Trans. from ibid., p. 101; Gernet, ibid., p. 13. Trans. from ibid., p. 308-9. Ihid.. pp. 49-51, 321-328. About the life of this monk, see Jan, Mu-sang and His Philosophy of No Thought, in the Proceedings of the Vfh International Symposium, National 1977), pp. 55-86; and Jan, Academy of Sciences, Republic of Korea (Seoul, Tung-hai ta-shih WuhsIang chuan yen-chiu (A Biographical Study of Musang (694-762), the Great Master of Chhn Buddhism from Silk Kingdom), 30.

31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36.

Studieson Tun-huang I V (1979), pp. 47-60. Trans, from Li-tai fa-pao c h r h in the edition of Yanagida SeizanaiShoki no ZenshPj II (Tokyo, 1976), p. 143. See also Yanagida, The Litai fa-pa0 chi and the Chan Doctrine of Sudden Enlightenment, transl. Into English by Carl Beilefeldt, in Early Chan in China and Tibet, ed. by L. Lancaster, etal. (Berkeley, 1983), pp. 1 3 - 4 9 . Trans. from Li-tai fa-pa0 chi, o p , cit., p. 143. From the translation of Y. S. Hakeda, The Awikening of Faith (New York,
1967), p. 31. Trans. from Li-tai fa-pa0 chi, op. cit., p. 143. See Jan, Tsung-mi and his analysis of Chan Buddhism, TP LVIII (1972), pp. 4 3 - 4 5 .

Li-tai fa-pa0 chi. op. cit., p. 200. Trans. fromibid., p. 213. 37. Trans. from ibid.. p. 239. 38. Trans. from ibid., p. 248. 39. Trans. from ibid., p. 245. 40. Charles Luk,op. cif., pp. 92 ff. 41. Ibid., p. 100. 42. Hu Shih, op. cit., pp. 37-59. 43. See S . Yanagida, Bukky5 no shisho 7 (Tokyo, 1970), pp. 106-7.

- Mu no tangu

(Chugoku Zen? k

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF 'NO-THOUGHT'

44.

57

Jan, "K'anhui or t h e 'Comparative Investigation': The Key Concept in Tsung-mi's Thought," in t h e Korean and Asian Religious Tradition, ed. b y C. S.Yu (Toronto, 1977), pp. 12-24. See Tsung-mi, Ch 'on-yuan chu-ch 'uun-chi tu-hsiia' ed. by S.Kamada in Zen no goroku 9 (Tokyo, 1971), p. 30. Jan, "K'an-hui", p. 19.

45.

46.

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CHlNESE GLOSSARY