GƯƠM BÁU TRAO TAY _ Handing Down the Precious Sword (Song ngữ)

[trantu]

Once I talked to a monk regarding my question about “beings”, he answered briefly “those who depend on causes and conditions to come into being” and that was all he said. But to me that was enough, that was very clear; after long periods of searching and pondering, my concerns finally resolved. Now I understand why Zen masters used to demand that their disciples pound rice, fetch water and cut wood for many years without any semblance of teachings, until the disciple internalized a sense of maturity. Like in the old days when an apprentice wanted to learn from a master alchemist, the master would examine the disciple from every angle before proceeding to teach him skills on how to cut herbs, shed, pound and cook them… only after five to seven years would the disciple be allowed to check pulses and prescribe remedies because a minor mistake can be fatal! And when he succeeds, the master might even give him his daughter’s hand in marriage! So we can say that the context of “beings” here is not what we typically understand but refer to the causes and conditions linking up with one another and coming together, or coming into ‘being’, that is why we call them “beings”. As the chanced meeting ends, so does the act of ‘being’. In Buddhist studies we cannot rely on words alone, nor can we depart from them…

In the latter parts of the Diamond Sutra, it is said clearly that “the beings are not beings”. We are acquainted now with the “it is no…, therefore it is called…” phrasing in this sutra. This kind of saying, this unconventional, beyond-the-thinking language helps us to refute false tenets and to destroy concepts which have long been frozen in our cortex. To be liberated, a man must first free himself from his extremely solid concepts and perceptions into which, as in a spider’s web, he is entangled, caught up, hampered and unable to move.

[trantu]

Every branch has its own terminology that those within the same specialization can understand completely, unlike non-specialists who may not comprehend fully. For example, a large number of medical terms cannot be translated, and must be pronounced phonetically in their original forms in order to completely express their meaning (subtlety and all). That is why doctors used to add Latin terms when talking to each other, to the great confusion of their patients who don’t have the slightest idea of their meaning and subsequently get them all wrong and entangled in more confusion.

“Arisen from causes and conditions”, sentient beings differ greatly from one another. That is why they are innumerable. We ourselves also are a sentient being, a being constituted by the five aggregates (skandhas) combined together: Aggregate of Matter (or of Form), Aggregate of Feeling or Sensation, Aggregate of Perception, Aggregate of Mental Formations and Aggregate of Consciousness … In other words, our parents were “fated” [i.e when the causes and conditions were complete and linked together] to meet in order to… have us. In the case they were not “fated” to meet, “even face to face they could not see each other” (vô duyên đối diện bất tương phùng), we by no means can be here! And what about our grand-parents? If they did not happen to wonder once “Why did I meet this person? Are we fated to live a lifelong together?” (người đâu gặp gỡ làm chi, trăm năm biết có duyên gì hay không?), our presence here would also be highly improbable! Therefore we have the opportunity to inherit the genes of the entire clan, even those of our character, or those of asthma, of diabetes. The two H and O atoms are “bound to meet” so that different matters come into being, and if we add the C atom, sometime the combination of them would give rise to vinegar, some to alcohol. And if we are “bound to meet” with alcohol, not a few new beings will be “fated” to come to life! Let’s take anger, for example. Because of an offensive comment, we can react in explosive anger! A few harsh words are exchanged and soon a few problems spring into “being”! From words, these “beings” can easily come to blows. The anger, greed, sadness, fear and anxiety or stress are also “beings” which can wreak havoc in our mind and lead to endless flusters, afflictions, sufferings! Even those around us might be very sweet like angels in the morning, but easily turn to demons in the afternoon. And so can we, as the others see us!

[trantu]

“Tea, alcohol and females,

these few trifles are keeping me distracted…”

Một trà một rượu một đàn bà,

ba cái lăng nhăng nó quấy ta (Tú Xương)

Is it true that these “trifles” distract us? Not really! “The wind does not move, the flag does not move. Only the mind does” [said the 6th Zen Patriarch]. When our mind is peaceful, what can “distract” us? Should anger or sadness (or anything else) come into being, we only need to “extinguish” them all, to let go of them entirely and that’s it! The surface of a lake must be motionless for the moon’s reflection to hold. But that takes time. We have to train painfully for a long time, it will not do to rush progress. The word “extinguish” here does not mean to destroy but to put aside, or “not to let it come into being again”, or let it be in an “unborn state”. If we train skillfully, we can “extinguish all the sentient beings”, why not? To “extinguish all the sentient beings” also means that no sentient being has been extinguished, because if they no longer come into being, what is left to be extinguished?

But it seems that even this [explanation] doesn’t entirely make sense!