A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NO-THOUGHT (WU-NIEN) IN SOME INDIAN

·期刊原文

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF 'NO-THOUGHT' (WU-NIEN) IN SOME INDIAN
AND CHINESE BUDDHIST TEXTS

JAN YUN-HUA

Vol. 16/1989

Pp37-58
·期刊原文

A History of Buddhist Philosophy

by David Kalupahana,

Reviewed by Frank J. Hoffman

Religious Studies, Vol.29 No.3 ( Sept 1993), Pp.408-411

COPYRIGHT Cambridge University Press 1993

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Kalupahana describes his 1992 work as an expansion and completion of

earlier ideas in his successful 1976 work, Buddhist Philosophy, and

the more recent volumes, Nagarjuna and Principles of Buddhist

Psychology. The present work is divided into two main sections:

'Part One: Early Buddhism' and Part Two: Continuities and

Discontinuities'. That Kalupahana has an authentic point of

departure within Sri Lankan tradition for providing a picture of

Buddhism from one sort of insider's perspective is a great merit of

the book. In this way it is distinguished from so much of the

scholarship, especially of Westerners on Buddhism, which is either

so text-specific as to be fragmentary and lacking in holistic vision

or so contrived from an idiosyncratic weaving of several ideas from

different Buddhist cultures as not to be about anything. Scholarly

quibbles aside for the moment, the vitality of the Sri Lankan

tradition of Buddhist exegesis is definitely represented in this

work.

'The middle way' in Buddhism is a systematically ambiguous term and,

as such, is subject to numerous construals. It may be styled,

ethically, as a middle between the extremes of princely pleasures of

Sakyamuni's palace life (hedonism) and the self-mortification of

Jainas and others (asceticism); metaphysically (pace Kalupahana), as

a middle between the eternalist soul theory of afterlife (Hindu

atmavada) and a materialist view denying karma and rebirth

(Carvaka).

In Part One, Kalupahana ends Ch. I therein driving one

interpretation of the middle way as, epistemologically, between the

search for ultimate objectivity in knowledge claims (objectivism)

and the belief that there can be no such objectivity (scepticism)

(2I). In Ch. II as Kalupahana pulls selected Mahayana bits towards

early Buddhism he also stretches bits of early Buddhism to reach

Mahayana. While not calling Buddha a hodhisattva, he does say, in

giving a diachronic account of Buddha's demise, that the Buddha's

strenuous life as a constant guide to thousands of people on matters

moral and spiritual gradually began to take a toll on his health

(rather than emphasizing synchronically the causal role of bad pork

or mushroom according to text and tradition) (29). In Ch. III we

find Buddha's middle way view explained, again epistemologically,

with reference to a pragmatic criterion of truth which avoids the

extremes of both the correspondence and the coherence theories of

truth (52). In Ch. IV on experience and theory one finds a holding

fast to the principle of dependent arising as superior to

substantialist views of nature and of the supposed eternal self in

that this Buddhist principle avoids mystery and explains phenomena

as arising and passing away in a 'verifiable manner'. (Over the

years, Kalupahana has neither sufficiently worked out in detail his

view that Buddhism is a form of empiricism, nor deigned to take his

critics seriously.) By contrast to Buddhist perception of things as

they have come to be (yathbhuta), those who hanker after mystery are

obscurantists courting anxiety and frustration (59). In Ch. V on

language and communication, holding neither to an ontological

one-one correspondence between concept and object nor to a theory

that experience is incommunicable through language, the Buddha's

view of communication as 'skill in means' emerges as an alternative

to the absolutism and nihilism of the other theories respectively

(66-7). In Ch. VI on the human personality there is exploration of

the theme of 'the selfless self' in Buddhism as this idea relates to

the concept of person, world, and others, including a consideration

of socio-political, moral and epistemological concerns (77). Ch. VII

on 'the object' argues that the non-substantiality doctrine applied

both to experiencing subject and object perceived neither denies

individuality nor urges abandonment of all views about the nature of

the object (84)- Objects already known and objects of knowledge

viewed as a generic category are distinguished and the distinction

forms the structure of the chapter. Ch. VIII on the problem of

suffering argues that Buddha views only dispositional phenomena as

unsatisfactory, not all phenomena or things generally (89). On

Kalupahana's interpretation, the realization of impermanence and

non-substantiality just is the attainment of freedom and happiness

(89). As he earlier puts it, the elimination of lust, hatred, and

confusion is the Buddha's distinctive achievement (i.e. the

knowledge of the destruction of defilements) which is constitutive

of his enlightenment (26). In Ch. IX on freedom and happiness he

holds that nirvana is the appeasement of all dispositions (90-1).

Ch. X explains that in early Buddhism there is no sharp distinction

between the moral life and the good life. The position is neither

absolutist nor relativist but pragmatic -- the rightness or

wrongness of an action or rule consists in 'what it does to the

person or the group of people in the particular context or

situation' (102). Here the eight-fold path is discussed in detail.

In Ch. XI on popular religious thought Kalupahana discusses

Redfield's distinction between the elite 'Great Tradition' and the

village 'Little Tradition', but in the course of discussing the

central Buddhist ritual of taking refuge in Buddha, Doctrine, and

Order, he comes to reject Redfield's distinction. If contemporary

Buddhist villagers have lost touch with academic understanding, that

is because of colonization and Western education in Buddhist lands

(i i8). In Part One Kalupahana is clearly on home ground.

In Part Two on continuities and discontinuities with early Buddhist

tradition (Chs. XXI-XXIII) Kalupahana develops his own view of

'common ground' between Theravada and Mahayana. The way in which he

does so is to find in Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, and Dignaga selected

emphases (as was found in Moggaliputta-tissa) which elaborate the

early Buddhist message. It is in Part II that Kalupahana is likely

to sustain the greatest degree of criticism from Mahayana text

specialists, some of whom may find Kalupahana's conclusions

unacceptable. It is worth noticing, however, that his expressed

intention is the mature one of seeking common ground between the

Theravada tradition in which he was reared and the Mahayana (239)-

The author's own self-understanding seems however not that he is

constructing Buddhism for the reader, but objectively uncovering it

in the earliest stratum and finding similarities in later strata.

Whether such a stance can be maintained in the present-day

philosophical world is an interesting issue for debate. The work

concludes with an epilogue on philosophy and history, an appendix on

the Lankavatara, a bibliography, and an index. There are a few

embarrassing misprints, as when sabhava should be svabhava (I33) and

Kathavatthn should be Kathavatthu (I26), to mention but two.

Overall, one finds that 'one major text and three prominent

philosophers generally identified with Mahayana are representative

of the non-substantialist and non-absolutist teachings of the

Buddhist himself' (xiii). This is a controversial claim in a

controversial work, and it will be difficult for specialist readers

not to have strong views about it, pro or contra.

On balance, what can be reasonably said? Perhaps this: that

Kalupahana is a pioneering theoretician and harmonizer in the mould

of Buddhaghosa, whom he often chastises; but also that there is no

good reason to believe that one has the very words of the Buddha in

pristine exactitude -- in the Pali Canon or indeed elsewhere -- just

as one does not have the very words of Jesus (which in relative

chronology would have been more likely). Although it would be fair

to say that Kalupahana could have written a better book than this

one proffered as the 'consolidation of thirty years of research and

reflection' (ix), there are many in the field who are not producing

books this good. Kalupahana's History is his best book since the I 9

76 Buddhist Philosophy.

Kalupahana's 1992 Work reveals a deep philosophical commitment to

Buddhism, and a 'belief "in"' (to borrow H. H. Price's term) the

Buddha. The former emerges throughout the work in the use of

strategies of argument designed to elucidate 'the middle way' as a

invulnerable way free of various difficulties which obtain to

alternative 'extreme' views. The latter, the faith of a Buddhist

theoretician, may be glimpsed here and there, but most notably when

fending off a possible ethical criticism of Buddha with the

flourish: 'The legend about Siddhartha's leaving home while his wife

and new-born baby were asleep, while highlighting the emotional

stress in his renunciation, also symbolizes Yasodhara's acceptance

of her husband's decision. Any other interpretation of his

renunciation would do violence to the character of a person who

propounded an extremely enlightened form of love and compassion for

oneself as well as others' (24).

CCopyright@ 1989 by Dialogue Publishing Company

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P.37

The term and the concept of No-thought (wu-nien) has

been well known to scholars of Buddhism since D.T.

Suzuki(1870-1966) published his Zen Doctrine of No-Mind in

1949. Even then,Hu Shih(a) (1895-1972) already had published

on the subject in the nineteen thirties.(1) 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 Shen-hui(b)

(670-762), which he regarded as a revolution of the Chinese

Mind against what he called Indian Buddhist scholasticism.

This might 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 Ch'an(c) Buddhism. But this might leave the

impression that the doctiine was universally important to all

the thinkers of the Ch'an 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 Ch'an schools,

is obvious.

This paper will focus on three points: First, the usage

of the term wu-nien(d) in pre-Ch'an Buddhist texts,

especially the Chinese translations Of Indian works: this

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 Ch'an

school, noting continuities and differences of understanding

and use among the four leading Ch'an 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

B"d place in the thought of those masters. Third, a

comparison of the

p.38

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 equily.

I

Contrary to most standard references, wu-nien is not a

term exclusive to Ch'an Buddhism. It appeared in the Chinese

translations of Indian Buddhist texts centuries before the

formation of the Ch'an schools, and was also used in other

Chinese Buddhist works. The concept is found, for example, in

the tranlsations of the Fo-shuo hui=yin san-mei ching(f)

(Tathaagatajnaanamudraasamaadhi) , as well as the

Vimalakiirtinirdes'a by the Indo-scythian monk, Chihch'iene

(fi. A.D. 222-229).(2) The former text discusses samaadhi or

concentration; the latter is usually related to the

Perfection of Wisdom literature because of to philosophical

inclinations.

The first text, related to samaadhi, its describes the

process leading to sameness (samata) 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

p.39

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 non-duality. What

is the characteristic of non-duality? The

characteristic is the same- ness 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 technical terms are identifiable from other

works.(4)

The text begins with the statement on 'no-work' (or

wu-tsuo(g)) 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,:the 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 final four states of the practice, once

one has reached no-mind, there will be no thought; and

consequently one attains non-duality 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

non-duality 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-t'ien so-wen ching(h) or

Visesacintbrahmapariprccha, (6) there is a passage which

reads:

No-consciousness 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

p.40

abide in the absolute (chen-chi(i)). 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 (mrsa/hsuu)(j).(7)

The stopping of the four consciousnesses mentioned here is a

translation of "the Four Foundations of Mindfulness" or

Smrtyupasthanna, 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 ching(k) translated by Kumarajiva (344-409). 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 heterodox.

Whatever thoughts abide are all heterodox.

No-recollection and no-thought are named the correct

thought (samyaksmrti).(8)

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 thought.(9)

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. Third, one can rid

oneself of worldly greed and grief through contemplation on

these four items; in this way one

p.41

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 the four Foundations

of Mindfulness.(10)

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 (ditti) and thought (sankappa). 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 to 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 Ch'an thought in China.

In the earliest Chinese translation of the Vimalakirti

Nirdesn by Chih-ch'ien 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."(11) 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

p.42

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., nirvaana), because it wipes out all forms.

Bodhi is unseeing, for it keeps from all causes.(13)

This 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) thinking are a

duality. When disturbance subsides, thinking comes

to an end and the absence of thought leads to

non-discriminating. Reaching this state is

initiation into non-duality.(14)

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

non-discrimination, thus achieving non-duality or the

absolute religious experience. As for the purpose of

No-thought, it is the path leading to the religious goal -

non-duality. When the wisdom of nonduality is entirely free

from all forms, though of external or inner forms will have

been negated. Therefore, the Vimalakiirti Nirdes'a teaches

that Bodhisattvas must "unceasingly search for the

thought-free (wu-nien) Wisdom of reality."(15)

Another usage of No-thought in the Chinese translation of

Indian Buddhist texts is found in the Fa-chi ching(l) or the

Dharmasamgiiti-suutra 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 immaterialworld. The

second refers to thoughts that are not

p.43

"upside down," which means the thought of nirvaana, as

understood by the Hinayana Buddhist. The third is

"No-thought." The text comments:

What is No-thought? That which 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.(17)

This usage is very useful for clarifying which 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 Hinayana 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,which means that this usage is Mahayanistic. The

proclaiming of No-thought as the thought of the Supreme

Buddhas is thus similar to the other passages referred to

previously.

II

The earliest known usage of No-thought in Ch'an Buddhism

is found in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. The

usage is presented in a very dramatic fashion. The sutra

states that the Ch'an school set up "No-thought as the main

doctrine, non-form as the substance, and nonabiding as the

basis."(18) The terms "main doctrine" (tsung(m)), "substance"

(t'ih) and"basis"(pen(o))(19) were, originally metaphysical

terms for the absolute in Neo-Taoism. The Ch'an thinker

borrowed these metaphysical terms and applied them to his own

system, thus making the concept of No-thought an essential

component of Ch'an Buddhism. This is the ftrst 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 Chinese

Buddhism in particular.

What did 'thought' mean? The Platform Sutra teaches that

thought

p.44

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.(20)

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 Platform Sutra explains both the productive process

from thought to passion, passion which in turn conditions

man's 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."(21) 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 to anything.(22)

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.

It is easy to see why and how the idea of No-thought has been

so crucial to the religious philosphy of Ch'an.

p.45

lThe 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 making the

concept the core of Ch'an Buddhism. The monk defined the

concept of No-thought in these words: "Just do not have any

intention, and no arising of the mind, it is the true [state

of] No-thought."(23) 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 means not 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 to think

of bodhi and not taking bodhi as the object of

thought; not to think of nirvaana and not taking

nirvaana as the object of thought. This is

No-thought.(24)

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 nirvaana are the goal of sacred cultivation. Both

are negated in the thought of Shen-hui.

The place of No-thought in Shen-hui's 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-hsiang(p) ) 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

p.46

once thought is free from purpose, "there will be the destiny

of wisdom (chih-ming(q)) within No-thought. This destiny of

wisdom itself is Reality. All Bodhisattvas use No-thought as

the dharma body of liberation."(26)

In another of the Shenhui documents, he was asked by a

disciple whether the doctrine of No-thought was a teaching

for laymen or for holy men. Is it different from Suchness

(chen-ju(r)')? 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. This is 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 remains.(27)

Althought Shen-hui developed the concept of No-thought in his

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 Ch'an 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-hsiang(s)

(684-762), originally a native of the Silla kingdom in the

Korean peninsula and more well-known in China as Monk.

Kim(29), who initiated the development. In the early part of

a document related to his teachings, the monk taught three

concepts, namely, "No recollection is the discipline;

No-thought is the meditation; and No-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

p.47

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 nonexistant.(31)

Monk Kim claimed that this triple entrance is the

Ah-embracing 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 (tathataa/Suchness); the other

is the aspect of Mind in terms of phenomena (samsaara; birth

and death)."(32) The monk then stated that "No-thought is the

aspect of the Absolute, anti thoughts are the aspect of

phenomena."(33)

For the first time in the history of Ch'an 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 Wu-chut (14-774), a

disciple of Monk Kim, No-thought was also the most important

doctrine of the Ch'an monk.(34) Althought Wu-chu is known for

his 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 practices),(35) the concept of No-thought is still the

only theme repeatedly found in his sermons. It is clear from

these sermons, however, that Wuchu's 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

easons responsible for a person being caught in this

situation begins with understanding man's view point. Wu-chu

stated that:

p.48

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 of] women. If no

thought then no [claim of] right; if no thought then

[no claim] of wrong. At the moment when there is no

thought, No thought is not selfexistent.(36)

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 Ch'an 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, Wu-chu taught,

If no thought, then no form; to have thought then

becomes empty and false. No thought, then gone

beyond the triple realms; to have thought then caught

within the triple-realms. If no thought, then no

[claim of] right; if no thought then no [claim of]

wrong. If ho thought then no self; if no thought

then no others. To be free from [the distinction of]

self and others, one accomplishes the wisdom of

Buddhas.(37)

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 profane was also negated. In one of his

sermons, he first contrasted

p.49

bondage and liberation, nirvaana and samsaara, wisdom

and ignorance, selfand others. He then stated:

If no thought, then no Buddhas; if no thought then

no sentient beings. In the great wisdom of praj~naa,

there is no Buddha nor sentient beings. No Buddha

that attained nirvaana, nor nivraana for Buddhas.

Those who understand this clearly are the ones who

truly understand.(38)

If a practitioner of Ch'an is able to transcend

discriminative views through No-thought, to contrast worldly

views with religious 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

Ch'an Buddhism. Wu-chu 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)

III

A

The concept of No-thought was not unique to Ch'an

Buddhism. It had a long tradition of usage in India and often

occurred in Chinese translations of Indian Buddhist texts

from the third cnetury A.D. until the formation of Ch'an

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

p.50

effectively overcome discriminative thought, and thus achieve

non-duality.

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 an Indian context. In the context

of meditation, for example, there are fifteen 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 Vimalakiirtinird'sa

indicates the same tendency. In the chapter "Initiation Into

the Non-dual Dharma," more than thirty Bodhisattvas responded

to the question: How do you understand the non-dual Dharma?

Of the various answers only one was Nq-thought.(40) More

significantly, when the questions and the answers were

completed, Ma~nju'srii, the leading Bodhisattva of the

assembly asked Vimalakirti: "Please tell us what is the

Bodhisattva's initiation into the non-dual Dharma?" The

learned lay wiseman, however, "kept silent without saying a

word." Mannju'srii 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 non-dual

Dharma.(41) In other words, all the understandings of the

Bodhisattvas, including the concept of No-thought, cannot

lead the pratitioner into non-duality 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 Ch'an

Buddhism, in which both secular and religious views are

finally rejected. At the same time, the negation of

these views is identified 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 still remains in the domain of wisdom. The Indian

Mahayana Buddhists usually regarded the six perfections

(paramitas) 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

p.51

clear that the two are not the exclusive means either in

religious understanding or practice; they are only components

of a more complicated system.

B

Although the term wu-nien or No-thought is not Chinese in

origin, its place in Ch'an 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 Ch'an

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 this 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-hui's sermons. The ideas of the original purity of

Buddha-nature in all sentient beings, the Sudden

Enlightenment, the non-duality of meditation and wisdom, and

the precepts of formlessness are good examples.(42)

It was during the 8th century AJ). that the concept of

No-thought reached its climax in the history of Buddhist

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(u)) of the Ch'an school

under his leadership.

Although his disciple Wu-chu taught other doctrines, the

concept of No-thought is actually the core teaching of his

sermons. Wu-chu fol- lowed his teacher, Monk Im, 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 Mahaayaana Buddhism, the

attainment of Buddha-hood. This 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.

p.52

When the structure and content of the concept as found in

the Ch'an documents are compared with those found in the

translations of Indian Buddhist texts, two contradictory

tendencies emerge. On the one hand, the Ch'an 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 Ch'an

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.

C

This comparative study of No-thought in translated Jndian

texts and its Chinese development, can be taken as a case

study in the Chinese assimilation of foreign ideas. The

pattern of this assimilation confirms that of other studies

on the subject. For example, Pure Land Buddhism and

T'ien-t'aiv 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

Ch'an 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 Ch'an's 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. This 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

p.53

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

one's own situation. By concentrating on it and deepening it

in one's experiences, one is able to achieve freedam. This

pattern is clearly seen in both Pure Land Buddhism and the

schools of Ch'an 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 T'ien-t'ai and Hua-yen(w) ,

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 redudionistic

pattern, whereas the schools with philosophical inclination

often follow an expansionistic pattern. The development of

Chinese Buddhism generally followed one of these two

different patterns.

The approach of this paper has been comparative.

Comparisons of Chinese translations of Indian texts were made

in section I; comparisons of four Ch'an masters' concepts of

No-thought were made in the second; the characteristics of

the Indian and Chinese 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 confirms the point made by a Chinese Buddhist

thinker, Tsung-mi(x) (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-

p.54

sibilities with which he is not familiar. These possibilities

might not be useful and effective for one's 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 sticky point still remains. The development of

No-thought in the Ch'an 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 this mean the

comparative approach is useless in terms of the practicality

of religious life? What this 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 salve only certain kinds of problems.

Knowledge without practice is mere empty theory and is

meaningless for religious life. Tsung-mi calls such

intellectuals "wild wiseman" (k'uang-hui(y)). He also calls,

ia the same tone, those who merely practice but do not know

what they are doing, "dull practitioners" (ch 'ih-ch

'an(z)).(45) 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 on" 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.

McMASTER UNIVERSITY

p.55

NOTES

1. Slizuki, 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

(Muunchen, 1957).

Hu Shih(a), Shen-hui ho-shang i-chi(aa) (Shanghai, 1930);

especially his "Ho-tse ta shih shen-hui shen-hui chuan

(ab)published in the same year. The latter is collected

in Hu Shih wen-ts'un(ac) IV, pp. 245--288. See also

J. Gernet, transl. Entretien du Maitre de Dhyana

Chen-houei du Ho-tso (Hdnoi, 1949) and the

"Complement aux Entretiens du Maitre de Dhyana

Chen-houei (668--760), " BEFEO XLIV (1954), pp. 453-66.

2. For Chih-ch'ien's career, see E. Zurcher, The Buddhist

Conquest of China (Leiden, 1959), 48--51.

3. Translated from Taishoo shinshuu daizookyo(ad), vol. IS,

p. 466c. Unless it is noted, all quotations from the

Chinese collection of the Buddhist scriptures are

from the Taisho edition of Ta-tsang-ching(ae), hereafter

referred to as T.

4. The term "no work" is probably a Chinese translation of

its Sanskrit equivalent, akarmaka; 'unobtainable', from

anupalabdhya; 'innumberable', from aksaya; "nowhere to