TURNING TOWARD THE SOURCE:

CHINUL AND KOREAN ZEN

Ozmo Piedmont

Chinul was an innovator and a bit of rebel for Buddhist Zen theory and implementation of meditation techniques. He lived in the 12^th century in Korea, a time of social upheaval, corruption, and unrest.  The Buddhist church at that time was degenerating and corrupt, mingling with commerce and politics.  Chinul abandoned ties with the Buddhist church hierarchy to re-establish spiritual orientation of the clergy, attempting to reform Buddhism from outside the systems court and government.  He was a Son/Zen adherent primarily and ordained in the lineage of Southern Chan of China, but never received formal transmission from a Son master nor did he stay with any master for a long time.  He was never inspired to make a pilgrimage to China, so had to find guidance through the study of Buddhist sutras themselves.  He had a natural eclecticism, borrowing from whatever teaching of scripture he found helpful.  These influences shaped Chinul’s understanding, resulting in reformation and synthesis of all the prevailing schools of Buddhism at that time, which he summarized himself as Sudden Awakening and Gradual cultivation.   The following paper will give a brief description of Chinul’s philosophy and meditation techniques, and his recommendations for ongoing practice.  The final part of the paper will give some personal reflections on how Chinul’s philosophy is echoed in many other Zen teachers both ancient and modern. 

Early Influences        

            Historically, Korean cultural has emphasized present happiness over future salvation, putting its faith in peace, security, and physical well being in this life.  There has also been a tendency, due to its small size and geographical vulnerability, to try to unify the various schools of Buddhism rather than rely on sectarianism.  Most representative of this early tendency is found in works of one of the most famous of Korea’s scholars, Uich’on (1055-1101). He had stayed in China 14 months, thereafter bringing back with him some 3,000 texts. He understood that scriptural study engenders a conceptual understanding of the goal of practice and the path to that goal, while meditation is necessary to produce that goal.  For him, study and practice are complementary, the internal and external pursuits that should be in balance to reach the goal of enlightenment. (Buswell, 1991:1-25)

            There was often a dynamic tension between the Northern Schools of Buddhism and the Southern Schools of Buddhism, representing what often appeared as irreconcilable differences of theory and practice.  The Northern School of Ch’an, founded by Shen-hsiu (606-706) advocated gradual approach to enlightenment where all beings possess a luminous and monistic enlightened nature, but which is obscured by passions and dualistic thought.  Enlightenment is achieved by gradual cleansing of the mind and thoughts of the passions, until one true nature is rediscovered and its inherent qualities are able to manifest. (Buswell, 1991)

            When later the Southern School of Ch’an came into vogue, it criticized the Northern emphasis on the removal of essentially void passions and thoughts, giving reality to conditionally arisen phenomena, rather than seeing that they arise from the absolute mind-ground.  For the Northern School, the defilements must be counteracted, even though there is really nothing to be counteracted and no practice to be performed.  Since such a relative practice sustains the illusion of defilements, enlightenment cannot be achieved.  In the Sudden School of Ch’an, gradual cultivation after sudden awakening clears away the defilements while maintaining the essential calmness of the mind.  (Buswell, 1991:44)

            However, Chinul saw a danger in the sudden awakening/sudden cultivation approach of the Hung-chou School of southern Ch’an.  Since all phenomena is viewed as non-dual Buddha nature, awakening means that all thoughts and discriminative activities are Buddha-Nature itself, and all equally real.  But this can ignore the difference between positive virtue and negative demerit.  In this approach, there is no cultivation of positive qualities or countering of defilements.  There is a problem if this approach does not encourage further spiritual development after awakening. 

            Chinul emphasized that one should not just see that all is void, thereby attaching to that, but one must also move toward the dynamic aspect of that void mind-essence in one’s practice and cultivation.  Chinul combines both approaches in his sudden awakening and gradual cultivation.  He saw that the Northern and Southern Schools are just two aspects of the same teachings.  He saw that in the Southern School of Hung-chou, there were two dangers: 1. Attachment to a non-caring attitude due to idealistic outlook where all is Buddha Nature, so there is no need to cultivate anything.  This may hinder the mental faculty that distinguishes between the wholesome from the unwholesome; 2. The student may grasp at verbal descriptions of Buddha-Nature, blocking their ability to awaken personally to that nature.   Chinul felt it was important to both see that all is void while at the same time not attach to the calmness this reveals, so that one continues to develop the dynamic aspects of that calmness of the mind, cultivating it when defilements still do arise in one’s behavior and thinking habits. 

            Chinul was also influenced by the theoretical suppositions of the Ho-tse School as interpreted by Tsun-mi, which saw the immutable absolute character of all dharmas as a void and calm mind.  Though the ultimate mind is indescribable, but from relative standpoint, it can be described as inherent numinous awareness. This awareness is unchanged whether one is enlightened or deluded.  The Ho-tse School also saw awareness as being undefiled by discrimination or sensation, though it can adapt in an infinite number of ways.  If the person is deluded by sensual pleasures, the awareness adapts displaying ignorance, karmic action, and suffering.  If the person, however, awakens, the awareness manifests as void and calm.  When there is a sudden awakening to the void and calm mind-essence, one is freed of thoughts and relative signs.  One works to maintain this calm thoughtless state in practice, coming to complete fruition through Bodhisattva practice.   Through gradual practice one cultivates the spiritual qualities of the awakened mind to be used for the instruction of others.  But the practice cannot begin until one has awakened suddenly to the mind in both its immutable, unchanging aspect as well as its adaptable functions.  Through awakening, one realizes one is endowed with a nature that is no different from all the Buddhas, and that one is potentially a fully enlightened Buddha already.  With this understanding, one cultivates the full range of wholesome qualities until Buddhahood itself is attained.  The person can now manifest in an infinite number of ways the positive qualities to help all sentient beings of all levels and capacities.  The goal of all Buddhist training then is Buddhahood, gained through sudden awakening which reveals absolute calmness and dynamic responses gained through gradual cultivation. 

Awakening and Confirmation through Scriptural Studies

            Chinul believed that we have an inherent awakened essence already within us, emanating from the luminous core of mind back to its source.  His efforts revolved around restoring the mind to its natural enlightened state through sudden awakening and gradual cultivation.    One first learns about enlightenment and later acts on that enlightenment.  (Buswell, 1991:1-25)

            Chinul had a natural intellect and tendency to solitude with an attitude of self reliance, taking responsibility for his own instruction in Buddhism.  He used the study of scriptures to perfect his own meditation practice.  This simultaneous use of both scriptures and meditation was unusual for his time.  He had three major awakening experiences, all related to periods of study of different Buddhist scriptures.

            His first awakening was related to study of the Platform Sutra which states that suchness is unstained by the senses or thoughts and that one’s True nature is free and self-reliant.  The Platform Sutra parallels the concepts of Samadhi and Prajña with Sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation.  Samadhi means the calm absolute aspect of mind, which is the same as the non-arising of thoughts.  Prajña is the dynamic analytical process of the mind, the constant awareness of this non-arising of thoughts and voidness of all phenomena.  Therefore, Samadhi is the essence of Prajna, and Prajna is the function of Samadhi.  This was his first true initiation to Buddhism, a first awakening, which he felt needed to be supported by the cultivation of Samadhi and Prajna, along with alertness and calmness of mind, resulting in the “Sudden Awakening and Gradual Cultivation” approach he became known for.  (Buswell, 1991:17-34)

            His second awakening was related to his study of the Avatamsaka Sutra which affirms that Mind is Buddha and that one must contemplate the unimpeded interpenetration of all phenomena.  The Avatamsaka Sutra is the sourcebook of Mahayana Buddhism giving the most complete description of the Bodhisattva path to Buddhahood.  It reconciles the sudden awakening and gradual cultivation with Buddhist theory and practice.  It reveals that the sudden awakening to Buddha-mind is the entrance to the bodhisattva path, followed by gradual cultivation until the Buddha-mind is able to act freely, the final attainment of Buddhahood.  He found that one’s awakening and transmission could be confirmed through scripture.  This gave him a syncretistic perspective of Buddhism where faith and understanding incorporated complete and sudden teachings.  (Buswell, 1991:17-34)

            Chinul’s thought was also influenced by the scholar Shen-hui who emphasized an interpretation of the Avatamsaka sutra from a metaphysical perspective using dharmadhatu theory which stated that ultimate realization and enlightenment is understood as the unimpeded interpenetration of all phenomena, the conditioned arising of dharmadhatu.  In the early 8^th century BCE the Chinese scholar Li T’ung-hsuan wrote many works interpreting the Avatamsaka Sutra focusing on the personal realization of Buddhahood in this very life.  Chinul agreed with this interpretation, and felt the teacher should bring out the direct realization in the student, which may require an appropriate catalyst to prompt this recognition of Buddha-mind essence, which he found in the hwadu, which helps the student to have a direct experience of the mind-essence.   (Buswell, 1991:17-34)

            Chinul’s third awakening related to his study of the Records of Ta-hui text in which he found a shortcut method to enlightenment through the development of the hwadu, which became the hallmark of Korean Zen School.  (Buswell, 1991:17-34)

Chinul’s Theory

            Chinul emphasizes that one’s true body is not the physical body and thoughts, but rather the dharma-body of all the Buddhas, and one’s true mind is the void, calm, and numinous awareness. One discovers that one is inherently endowed with Buddha-Nature, which is untainted by defilements and which has all meritorious qualities.  This initial discovery is sudden awakening.  Although one discovers one is essentially a Buddha, one’s actions are still run by habits that involve greed, anger, and delusion.  One must transform these habits through daily practice to develop one’s spiritual qualities.  Although one is countering the defilements, one keeps in mind that there is actually nothing to counter or develop, since all is inherently void and pure.  One’s conduct therefore comes into accordance with one’s understanding, and one becomes therefore a Buddha.  One’s practice is also a process of refinement of skill in one’s faculties of wisdom which expands one’s ability to help others realize Buddhahood and enlightenment themselves.  Gradual cultivation keeps one in touch with humanity through empathy with others’ suffering, being motivated through compassion for them, the basic force of the bodhisattva.  The entire purpose of practice is to ease the suffering of others and lead them to enlightenment. 

            Chinul believed that awakening and enlightenment have two distinct qualities: 1. The initial understanding of awakening and then the subsequent understanding of awakening; 2.  The cultivation of thoughtlessness and then the cultivation which deals with all matters.  One’s initial understanding of awakening occurs on a relative level, before one undertakes cultivation, occurring from a proper understanding of the mind and its characteristics, its essence and function.  This allows one entrance into the preliminary stages in preparation for the bodhisattva path.  In subsequent realization, one awakens after cultivation has matured, which is the ultimate awakening, an understanding which has permeated one’s entire being, leading one deeply into the bodhisattva path and arousing bodhicitta.  In the cultivation of thoughtlessness, one remains unified with the undifferentiated noumenal mind-nature, a passive state of harmony with the essential suchness of self-nature.  Later, in the cultivation of which deals with all matters, there is the relative aspect of practice that develops all expedient means to counter one’s negative habits and nurture one’s positive qualities.  It is dynamic and brings the noumenal calmness of thoughtlessness to one’s reactions to sense-objects, ensuring one’s reactions are positive and beneficial.  It is the direct activation of one’s noumenal nature, not the discriminative mind.  These then are the complementary aspects of mind: calm thoughtlessness and awareness in active cultivation.   

Chinul’s Methods

Chinul was eclectic in his approach to meditation and practice, using different techniques according to the needs and capacities of the practitioner. But all led to the same goal of liberation.  Chinul recommended five styles of meditation:

1. The recollection of the Buddha’s names for those of lowest capacity.

            This is for those that despair of their capacity to practice and realize their true essence in this life, so they can turn to Pure Land teachings, which use the Buddha’s name in the form of Amitabha Buddha, to gain access to the Pure Land in the next life where one is insured the best conditions to attain enlightenment.  Chinul reinterprets this aspiration by beginning with simple verbal recitation, which then leads to recollection of the Buddha in thoughtlessness and then eventually to direct experience of suchness. It can still lead in this lifetime to direct realization. 

 2. Cultivation of Samadhi and Prajña while maintaining alertness and calmness for those of inferior capacity.

            This method incorporates the Buddhist practice of training in ethical restraint, mental absorption, and transcendental wisdom.  It begins with the student restraining physical reactions to stimuli through moral guidelines, the sila or precepts.  This brings the coarser defilements of body actions and speech into control, and diminishes addictions to sense related experiences.  As one develops inner focus of meditation, one learns to be content within oneself. The mental processes are calmed and absorption, or pure mental concentration, is achieved.  Through this concentration, one investigates the world and oneself, and one’s relationships between the two.  This leads to the discovery of one’s true nature, breaking one’s attachment to the senses, eliminating craving, greed, hatred and delusion, and attaining liberation.  Chinul sees that the terms Prajña and Samadhi are abbreviations for the same threefold training of ethical restraint, mental absorption and wisdom.  Chinul sees Samadhi and Prajña from an absolute perspective.  Samadhi and Prajña are both aspects of self-nature, but both with their own differentiated role.   Samadhi is the essence of self-nature and is characterized by calmness.  Prajña is the function of self-nature, and is characterized by alertness.  The are both identified with the unmoving self-nature in the absolute non-dual state.  Defilements are habits that still operate even though one is awakened to one’s calm essential nature, Samadhi.  The defilements disturb this calmness, so one practices to keep release one from attachment to these habitual defilements of thinking, returning continually to the calmness, using the awareness to identify that which is disturbing one, and to reestablish one back on the bodhisattva path liberating all sentient beings, including oneself, from suffering.

3.  The development of faith and understanding for those of average capacity.

            Awakening is also the goal of faith and understanding.  Here one sees that the unmoving wisdom of Buddhahood is the wisdom of universal brightness, which is the source of all dualistic phenomena, including both Buddhas and sentient beings.  Through faith and understanding, one sees that even our deluded discriminative thoughts are aspects of a perfect Buddha.  Knowing this at the beginning of one’s training, one is endowed with the wisdom and compassion of Buddhahood in potential form, which establishes one on the path of the bodhisattva.  The student experiences herself as a Buddha, thus revealing the attainment instantly of the whole of Buddhahood, even though there are still defilements inhibiting the full expression of this Buddhahood.   One still must develop and cultivate practice and vow to stay on the path to the final stages of Buddhahood. Awakening gives one the ability to see through one’s habits so one can apply the appropriate skillful means until the defilements subside.  When this is perfected, full Buddhahood is achieved.  But all along, one is based within the unmoving wisdom of the essence of brightness, which causes the attainment of Buddhahood to come to fruition. 

4. The shortcut approach of the hwadu for those of superior capacity.

            To avoid the pitfalls of becoming attached to scriptural descriptions of one’s essence, one can use the hwadu as a mediator so as to directly experience one’s true essence and enlightenment.  The hwadu means literally “head of speech” and is associated with teaching stories known as koans (kongan in Korean).  The hwadu was simply the primary topic of an entire situation of the koan story.  Chinul was the first teacher in Korea to advocate the hwadu use.  It is the primary technique in Korean monasteries and all teachers there still advocate its use.  The hwadu is the point beyond which speech exhausts itself.  Speech means all the discriminative tendencies of the mind.  The hwadu acts as a purification device sweeping the mind free of all conceptualization and leaves it clear, attentive and calm, the ideal meditative state.  With the cessation of discriminative thought, the mind is stripped of interest in sense-experience of the ordinary world and then opens itself to the unconditioned aspect of mind.  It side steps the conventional supports of scriptural study as well as avoids conceptual understanding.  Therefore, it is an effective tool for the mature student who has been using other techniques or for the student of superior capacity.  The hwadu is a shortcut to realization because it proposes that enlightenment is achieved without the traditional development through moral training, concentration, and wisdom.  By focusing on the one idea of the hwadu, all discriminative tendencies cease.  From this state of thoughtlessness, one only needs one more push from the “doubt,” or questioning, to enter

the unconditioned realm.  In technique, one can either investigate the meaning of the hwadu, or as a more effective tool, one can investigate a word itself, such as “Mu”/No! in order to destroy all defects of conceptualization.  By investigating the word itself, one is prevented from going into intellectual understandings.  There is nothing for the discriminative mind to latch on to.  The rational mind can not fathom or understand its significance.  The perplexity, wonder, or spirit of inquiry or questioning is the aspect of doubt.  This doubt grows in intensity, interrupting one’s dualistic thoughts, until one’s fundamental consciousness is revealed.  As the concentration of the mind intensifies through doubt, any catalyst can break through the activating consciousness, displaying the unconditioned realm, e.g. a shout, blow of a stick, sudden sound, thus bypassing all gradual stages, and going directly to the source. 

5. The practice of thoughtlessness for those of highest capacity. 

            This is the path of no-mind.  The practice entails leaving words behind and severing the thought processes at the moment of realization.  This approach is the culmination of all other approaches to practice.  One must deconstruct all conceptual scaffolding which supports meditation.  However, this does not imply an absence of conscious activity.  Rather, it is the absence of defilements during conscious activity.  This compares to serene reflection meditation and every minute meditation of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, of which I took my householder vows and precepts.   Here one focuses on pure awareness, which frees the mind from defilements and restores the basic suchness of mind.  The objectivity of sense perception returns, the defilements cease, and one has spontaneous interaction with the world.  Chinul recommends either blocking out attention to sense objects or blocking out attention to the activities of thought.

Personal Reflections

            Chinul has opened my awareness to Buddha Mind, the essence of the eternal source within each of us.  His clarity and elegance in description of the practice of meditation has been a tremendous help in the realization of Truth.  I have come to appreciate both the scholastic endeavor that conceptualizes the goal of practice with the direct experience through meditation of that goal.  I have come to understand that all Buddhism and all schools of Zen are aiming at the same thing, the direct and clear realization of the source of all, our Buddha-Nature.  This has led me to a wider appreciation for all forms of Buddhism, seeing each as a vehicle effective for different types of people and differing abilities.  As Joseph Goldstein has reflected in his book One Dharma, all methods are skillful means leading to Truth when we are able to keep an open and receptive mind to all forms of Buddha-Dharma:

            “Don’t-know mind,” a phrase often used by Zen master Seung Sahn, enabled me to embrace a variety of perspectives, seeing the different views and methods as skillful means for liberation, rather than as statements of absolute truth I was taking them to be.  It is this understanding that provides a context for exploring the One Dharma of freedom…For each of us at different times, different traditions, philosophical constructs, and methods may serve us, either because of temperament, background, or capacities.  For some, the language of emptiness may be as dry as the desert, while for others it may reveal the heart-essence of liberation.  Some may quickly recognize the nature of awareness itself, while others emphasize the letting go of those mind states that obscure it.  Some may find that the path of devotion truly empties the self, but for others this way may simply act as a cloud of self-delusion.  We each need great honesty of introspection and wise guidance from teachers to find our own skillful path. (Goldstein, 2002:11).

Chinul has given me the courage to follow my own path, while valuing all paths a ways to find the Truth.  At the same time, he has shown how the following of one path and exploring it deeply, as provided the foundation for further research of comparison and clarity drawing from many paths.  I spent the last 10 years totally committed to the study of Japanese Soto Zen, which has given me great gifts of practice and understanding.  At a certain point, an inner voice invited me to follow my heart’s yearnings, which led me to the Prajña Institute, and there have been awakened to my true essence in a way that is fresh, new, and open.  This valuation of scholarship along with multiple methodologies of mediation techniques and skillful means has been a profound blessing and encouragement for me.  Chinul has become a shining role model for me as a scholar, a committed practitioner, an independent thinker, and a synthetic philosopher in Buddha-Dharma.   I feel deeply committed now to a global understanding of Buddhism, which will more and more manifest into the One Dharma of which Goldstein refers.  This is timely when religious factions and fanaticism threatens the security and wellbeing of many places on the planet.  Not only can we know the One Dharma of Buddhism, we can be open to the Oneness of all religious endeavors, that of discovering the spiritual essence that underlies everything and everyone, which transcends even Buddhism itself:

One Dharma is just this: experiencing the essential point common to all the teachings…Two things help us accomplish this.  First, we need to create a foundation of basic understanding that will support our broader investigation…we need to have some depth of experience and understanding in one practice before we can intelligently look for – and find – what is held in common by many paths.  Rushing this process can simply lead to confusion…The second means of realizing One Dharma…is an attitude of openness to diverse views and a willingness to learn from different perspectives…After we have become established in one tradition, we can then learn from others, understanding that at the heart of them all there is a common ground that supports our journey to freedom.” (Goldstein, Joseph. One Dharma. P. 13)

What is emerging is a synthetic Buddhism that draws from all traditions.  The Theravada tradition is well versed in the preservation of original teachings and texts of the Buddha, as well as the use of recitation and ethical practice and moral considerations.  The Mahayana tradition has brought a clear humanitarian and global emphasis to Buddhism through the concept of the bodhisattva ideal working for the salvation of all sentient beings, not only human, but also as a planetary endeavor for the whole planet.  The Vajrayana tradition has incorporated much to the exploration and mapping of the mind, along with techniques for the transformation in this very life into a full Buddha through ritual and symbolism.  The Dalai Lama himself has been a world symbol for peace, tolerance, patience and most importantly, compassion.  The different schools of Zen practice have given many skillful means for meditation practice leading to direct experience of one’s essence and Buddha-Nature.  And Pure Land teachings have been a source of hope for many that would not otherwise have the courage or fortitude to practice Buddhism at all, providing recitation and patience as skillful means. 

            However, I feel that Chinul’s eclectic nature and synthetic approach are somewhat deceptive as presented in his hierarchy of meditation practices based on practitioners of varying abilities and capacities.  Though this may be true for a teacher selecting the first entry for a student to practice and meditate, I have found that all the aspects of training can be effectively utilized for my own development.  1. I have found the repetition of the Buddha’s name, whether taking refuge in the three treasures or visualizing his image or those of the Bodhisattvas as being a great comfort in times of crisis, sickness, or distress. When all else fails, one can always call on the name of the Buddha in all its infinite forms to bring solace.  2. I have found that the practice of Samadhi and Prajña as they relate to

calmness and alert awareness have been invaluable tools in deepening my practice, since they are simple and elegant terms that point directly to the direct experience of Buddha-Mind, Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual Cultivation. This in itself has given me a great boost of faith and encouragement to continue in my spiritual practice and in my capacity to help others in their search for freedom from suffering, joy and peace.  3. The development of faith and understanding has inspired my in the bodhisattva path to open my mind and efforts more deeply to help others, even to accept that I am fully entering and welcoming the bodhisattva path.  4.  The hwadu technique has been an inspiring challenge, one that I will continue exploring for the future, and which I have had some insights below.  5. I have come to appreciate the practice of Thoughtlessness as the method of shikantaza which has been my primary meditation up to now.  Having followed this path for so many years now, I have a deeper appreciation for it due to the highest valuation Chinul placed on this technique.  I now see that Chinul and Dogen are not adversaries but rather colleagues referring to the same awareness and practice. 

            Dogen is well known in the West for his teachings of Zen meditation based on shikantaza.  According to the contemporary Zen teacher Tenshin Reb Anderson in his article “Just Sitting”, Shikantaza has a special meaning: 

In the term shikantaza, the word shikan is sometimes translated as “just,” or “only.”  Ta means “hit,” and za means “sit.” It literally means “hit sitting,” but the ta really intensifies “sitting.” So it means “sitting.” Shikan means “just,” but it also means “by all means do it,” or “get on with it.” In English, just also means “valid within the law, legitimate, suitable, or fitting.” It means “sound, well-founded.” It means “exact, accurate.” It means “upright before God, righteous, upright before the truth.” (Loori, 2002:157)

Therefore, shikantaza can be understood to mean “really just do it, just sit, and sit in a sound way that leads to the Truth, with integrity and one’s whole being.”  When one sits in this way, one is learning to trace back the radiance, as Chinul would say. Dogen would say stepping back, as found in his famous Fukanzazenji rules for meditation: “…learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate yourself.” (Loori, 2002:21) The Chinese Zen teacher Hongzhi Zhengjue used the term “turning within” to refer to the same thing:  “Further, when you turn within and drop off everything completely, realization occurs.” (Loori, 2002:16.) The modern Korean Son teacher Kusan Sunim refers to the “bright radiance of the mind” to describe Chinul’s calm awareness:

“Do you know what constitutes the brightness of the mind? Have you ever witnessed the radiance that emerges from it? An enlightened person is able to directly see this radiance of the mind.  But even if you are unable to actually see it, you are nevertheless using it right here and now.  This brightness that radiates from the mind is precisely that which is able to see forms and hear sounds.  If it were absent we would be unable to see or hear.” (Sunim, 2009:134)

In the famous Mahayana text known as the Surangama Sutra, the Buddha instructs others to “turn themselves around” in order to overcome birth and death, in other words to find their own true eternal essence:

            “To end death and rebirth is easy.  All you need to do is turn yourself around.  If you go forward, you head right down the path of death and rebirth.  If you turn around and go the other way, you end death and rebirth.  It’s not that difficult, but it’s up to you to do it.  You simply turn around; you turn your head and pivot your body.  That’s all that’s needed.  It is said, ‘The sea of suffering is boundless; a turn of the head is the other shore.’” (Surangama, 2009:46)

            Echoing the teachings of Chinul is a modern day Zen teacher, Jeff Shore, also a professor at Kyoto University, who refers to the “light of awareness that illumines back” as a special kind of meditation common to all schools of Zen:

Whether it's ancient or modern Zen, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or Vietnamese, Rinzai or Soto, koan Zen or the Zen of just-sitting, they all share an essential uniqueness. What is it? An often-used Chinese expression, consisting of only four characters, describes the essence of Zen practice very accurately and very simply: "Turn the light and illuminate back." This expression is found in the records of

Rinzai as well as Dogen, and many other Zen masters from early Zen to the present. It was an important term for Chinul, the father of Korean Son or Zen, and it is a kind of motto today for the university where I teach, a Zen-affiliated institution in Kyoto.

The "light" spoken of here is a metaphor for awareness… (Shore, 2003:4-8)

Shore points out that we are habituated to going toward or away from something based on what we seek and desire, like or dislike.  Through meditation, one comes to see this subtle tendency.  We have the opportunity, through “turning back the light” to actually see directly the source of everything, this present awareness.  When one lets go of delusive seeking, one can instead allow present awareness to “fall back on its source.” This neither means ceasing to use one’s external senses nor going within to focus on some internal emotional state, but simply turning the light of awareness back to the source itself, a way of stepping back or coming to a full stop, ceasing all the activities of ordinary awareness, not by ending mental thoughts and activities through an active will, but rather through allowing ordinary awareness of things to fall away, thereby entering into the source itself. 

It doesn't mean closing your eyes and ears and stopping all consciousness either. It means not following that consciousness or awareness and turning it into something: be it a sound, sight, smell, thought, image, or emotion. Putting a stop to the activities of ordinary consciousness and tracing back to the source. Stop going out into the world - or into the inner world of thoughts and emotions. Stop creating things. See what is right here and right now - before creation, before you have created anything. Before you have turned it into something, before a thought has arisen. (Shore, 2003:4-8)

Then Shore goes on to describe the function of the koan as a way to stop the discriminative thinking process of which we are habituated: 

A koan is designed so that you can't go out to the external world or into an inner world by turning it into something. You can't turn a koan into something. That's what in the beginning is so frustrating about it. You want to turn it into something, into anything; you want to satisfy the teacher or yourself or some such nonsense. But after a while, when the koan starts to take effect, it is no longer something out there or in here; it's actually you yourself. Then the doubt can solidify and reach "critical mass," so to speak. And at some point you actually stumble upon it, you turn back and reveal the source. That's when it really becomes clear. (Shore, 2003:4-8)

Shores description of the koan was quite helpful to me to understand the point that the koan is designed to stop the discriminative thinking process, and that one is not aiming at anything other than seeing one’s own essence, the Buddha-Mind itself.  This coupled with Chinul’s technique of just using the word itself, such as MU as the object of meditation, then instead of trying to find the meaning, one just experiences the reality of Mu as one’s own true essence. The source you come to discover is actually your own true self, which is integrally connected to everything else, and which is pure and radiant, calm and clear, aware and fully present here and now.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Buswell, Robert E. Jr. (1991). Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul’s Korean Way of Zen.     University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu.

Goldstein, Joseph. (2002). One Dharma. Harper One, Harper Collins Publishers: New            York, N.Y.

Loori, John Daido. (Ed.) (2002). The Art of Just Sitting.  Wisdom Publications: Boston.

Shore, Jeff. “Principles of Zen Practice: Illuminating the Source.”

            Revised version of lectures in 2003, in the Netherlands for Zen onder de Dom in

            Utrecht on February 14, for Zendo de Kern in Eersel on February 21, for Zendo 't

            Hool in Eindhoven on February 23; in Belgium for Zen-groep Romaanse Poort at          La Foresta Franciscan Monastery & Retreat Centre in Leuven on February 28; in        Italy for Sangha il monte interiore at Palazolla Retreat Centre of the English    College in Rome on March 8; in Pennsylvania for the Philadelphia Buddhist        Association at Chestnut Hill College on July 25, in Yardley for the Buddhist Sangha of Bucks County at the Yardley Friends Meeting on July 28; in             Washington, DC for the Zen Buddhist Center of Washington, DC at the Friends            Meeting House on August 1; in Rye, New York for the Empty Hand Zendo at The            Meeting House on August 11.  

            <<http://beingwithoutself.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/principios.pdf

Sunim, Kusan. (2009). The Way of Korean Zen. Weatherhill: Boston and London.

The Surangama Sutra. (2009). Buddhist Text Translation Society.

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