How To Practice ZenAdvanced Zen
Step One - Seeking the Ox
Leaving The Tenth Dharma Realm
In Intermediate Zen, after performing the Beginning Zen step of kinhin, we perform the Eight Form Moving Meditation taught by Dharma Master Sheng Yen, founder of Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association, before sitting in Present Moment Awareness.
When we attend an intensive meditation retreat, known by the Japanese word sesshin, we will begin the day with a fast-paced morning kinhin. Although usually only about ten minutes in length, the pace is too fast for the obese or physically unfit. We will then have a drink of water and go the meditation hall, or zendo, for the first sitting of the day.
So we prepare for the fast kinhin in our daily practice at home. In Advanced Zen, after completing our Beginning Zen kinhin and our Intermediate Zen warm-up exercises, we take a brisk walk. We have a glass of water afterwards and go to our private meditation hall as soon as we finish our morning walk. An invigorating thirty minute walk is recommended.
Zen practice requires vigor. Only a healthy, vibrant body can sit perfectly still. The cultivation of vigor or energy is also the fourth factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.
The energy referred to in the Seven Factors, however, is a different quality of energy. It arises from sustained meditation, and primarily through practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
We therefore walk or jog every morning after warming up using the Eight Form Moving Meditation to help us prepare for the retreats that we will be attending, and to develop and maintain the fitness level we need to enable us to sit motionless during our daily meditation practice.
Physical fitness is an important part of Zen practice. The length and pace of the morning walk is up to us. Thirty minutes is probably an effective minimum. An hour feels even better. The athletic nature of a walk or jog is secondary; the primary purpose is to develop the habit of walking or jogging in the morning after performing the beginning and intermediate zen warm-up practices.
As advanced practitioners who by now have read and studied Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, we know that the first two of the four jhanas are recognized by feelings of intense joy at the first jhana and by feelings of a more stable and serene happiness at the second jhana.
The first step in our morning Advanced Zen routine will not take us into the first and second jhanas because the pleasant feelings we generate fall far short of the intense experience of those two jhana states.
Still, it is instructive to note that as we insulate ourselves from falling into the tenth dharma realm, we are forming a foundation for the experience of the first two jhanas.
In Beginning and Intermediate Zen, we essentially ignored the traditional, classic explanation of the ten stages of the Ox-Herding pictures. At this advanced level, we will point out the traditional explanation which does not interpret the pictures as describing the climbing from one dharma realm to another.
However, it appears that there is a strong correlation between the ten pictures and the four jhanas, the four immaterial attainments, and Nirvana.
The classic explanation of Seeking the Ox refers to the difficulties a beginner experiences if he or she perseveres with the practice. Most beginners never reach this point. They develop pains from sitting and they quit. They never seek the Ox.
To seek the Ox means to persevere when it seems that no progress is being made. Right when we decide to quit, we begin seeking the Ox if we don't.
We have not reached even the first jhana at this point, of course. Instead of being awash in bliss, we are more awash in physical pain that accompanies long hours of sitting. When the going gets tough, the tough persevere and start seeking the Ox.
After our morning kinhin, Eight Form Moving Meditation and walk, we sit in Present Moment Awareness. If we spent 108 days in Beginning Zen in quarter lotus, 108 days in Intermediate Zen in half lotus, we are by now sitting in full lotus.
Step Two - Finding the Footprints
Leaving The Ninth Dharma Realm
Beginning Zen practitioners sit for ten minutes practicing Loving Kindness (metta) meditation after concluding the practice of Present Moment Awareness. Intermediate Zen practitioners do the same for thirty minutes.
There is no time limit to the Advanced Zen morning sitting. Advanced practitioners sit in full lotus but only if they can do so safely.
We just sit in metta for as long as we can. We can enter into the four jhanas and the four immaterial attainments through the portal of Loving Kindness meditation. It can be the only meditation we ever need.
As Jack Kornfield points out in his introduction to Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, there are many practices that lead to awakening, not just the tranquil wisdom meditation taught in the Anapanasati Sutta. He mentions the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Tibetan master the Dalai Lama, Venerable Ajahn Buddhadasa, and Venerable Sunyun Sayadaw who offer "different and equally liberating perspectives."
Many teachers advise against following more than one form of meditation but Loving Kindness is so important that it should be practiced every day.
It is not a Zen practice. In its haste to slim down Buddhism, the creators of Zen tossed out the baby with the bathwater when they declined to incorporate Loving Kindness practice.
Which may explain why some Japanese Zen masters in the late 1930s and the first half of the 1940s applauded the war effort and praised those who beheaded prisoners with "the life giving sword."
And why a Japanese General said of the citizens of Nanking (Nanjing): "We kill them because we love them."
Theravada teachers often instruct students to begin a sitting with samatha (calmness) meditaton, and when the mind is calm, to begin vipassana (insight) practice. Others argue that a practitioner should do either samatha or vipassana but not both.
Some books on Theravada Buddhism announce that samatha practice cannot lead to Buddhahood and that vipassana is the only practice that is valid.
Other books on the same subject hold that the Buddha himself practiced samatha, not vipassana.
Still other books argue that the practices of samatha and vippasana are not really different meditations at all, that deep samatha practice naturally leads to vipassana practice. Ajhan Brahm, in Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, is one of the teachers who argues that the practices are not distinct from one another.
If we have read his book, we already know that Ajahn Brahm, pictured above, provides clear, step-by-step instructions on how to enter the jhanas. If it is true that the Buddha performed only jhana practice, then it is obvious that those who announce that jhana practice cannot lead to enlightenment must be mistaken.
In this course, we recommend jhana practice, even though it is a Theravada practice, not a Zen sect practice. However, keep in mind that Zen simply means meditation. Therefore, jhana practice is a zen practice, but not a Zen Sect practice.
When the founders of the Zen Sect slimmed down Buddhism by throwing out Loving Kindness meditation and jhana meditation, they argued that such meditations were too complex and they wanted something simple.
So they created koan practice, a practice that appears nowhere in the original Buddhist writings. However, many Zen practitioners have attained enlightenment through koan practice and Zen teachers will tell you that koan practice is the most effective meditation technique.
My wife once asked a well-known Zen teacher what he thought of jhana practice. He had never heard of the jhanas.
Jhana, vipassana, and koan practices are all authentic; they are just different and none of them should be ignored.
Zen master Robert Zenrin Lewis, of the Jacksonville Zen Sangha, like Jack Kornfield, also agrees that there are many paths to awakening. "Choose one!" he exhorts.
Ajahn Brahm teaches that the experience of the jhanas can create what he calls "super power mindfulness." Thus, if one follows the Buddha's original instructions, one contemplates impermanence, fading away, cessation and letting go in the final four steps with super power mindfulness.
Alternatively, one contemplates the four focuses or foundations of mindfulness as the final four steps if one has developed super power mindfulness.
If we develop super power mindfulness, we can also use it to work on a teacher-assigned koan.
Loving kindness or metta meditation, Mindfulness of Breathing or Tranquil Wisdom meditation, and koan practice blend together so seamlessly for me that I feel I am following Master Zenrin's advice even though I am technically practicing three different techniques.
As we perform our Loving Kindness meditation each morning, dissolving the second hindrance of ill will and insulating ourselves from falling into the realm of hungry ghosts, the realm of hatred and anger, we can also send to the hell dwellers and the hungry ghosts our wishes that their suffering will soon end so that they, too, can be well, happy, calm and peaceful.
The traditional interpretation of the second stage of the path to enlightenment represented by the ten Ox-herding pictures says that Finding the Footprints (or, to be more accurate, the hoof-prints), is the stage where those few who have persevered and successfully overcome the desire to quit eventually realize that not quitting was the right thing to do.
They have read many suttas and sutras to get to this point. They have mentally or cerebrally accepted the truth of the Buddhadharma and have decided that they will never stop cultivation, even if they are stuck at the starting line and can't seem to get past it.
The physical pain of sitting has subsided somewhat as we become experienced meditators. We leave behind those who gave up at the seeking the Ox stage. We begin to realize that we are all the same person, and thus we understand that we are leaving our old selves behind. Having found the footprints, we are committed to following them until the Ox is caught.
Still, no jhana has yet been experienced. The difference between seeking the Ox and finding the footprints is just a matter of degree. A resolution to keep practicing matures into a firm commitment to practice every day so that the rowboat of practice does not get swept downstream to the lower dharma realms.
Step Three - First Glimpse of the Ox
Leaving The Eighth Dharma Realm
In Advanced Zen, we lengthen our Silent Present Moment Awareness with no particular time limit as we sit in full lotus.
The following two comments by meditators are copied for convenience from the Beginning Zen page of this website:
"All at once everything became sheer brilliance, and I saw and knew that I am the only One in the whole universe! Yes, I am that only one."
And the second comment:
'All at once the roshi, the room, every single thing disappeared in a dazzling stream of illumination and I felt myself bathed in a delicious, unspeakable delight...For a fleeting eternity I was alone--I alone was...Then the roshi swam into view. Our eyes met and flowed into each other, and we burst out laughing..."
These two meditators had caught their first glimpse of the Ox and had experienced the first jhana of intense delight and maybe even the second jhana of the more-settled happiness that follows the intensity of the first jhana.
Thus these two quoted meditators arrived at perhaps the most dangerous part of the path. The Masters, in the traditional explanation of the ten pictures, tell us that when we catch the first glimpse of the Ox, the experience is so overwhelming that the meditator announces he or she is at one with the Universe and has attained a degree of enlightenment that may very well surpass that of the Buddha.
A few of them will even announce that they are now qualified to teach because no one has ever become as enlightened as they have become.
However, with the passage of time, the bliss wears off and we eventually realize that we had merely glimpsed the Ox for the first time. That is why the Ox-herding pictures were painted in the first place - to let people know that the overwhelming, mind-exploding experience of catching the first glimpse is merely the third stage of ten!
When the Ox has been glimpsed for the first time, the meditator has probably experienced the first and second jhanas. The six senses (the usual five, plus the mind), have shut down. A person in the first or second jhana never thinks: "This is blissful but my knees are hurting..."
Step Four - Catching the Ox
Leaving The Seventh Dharma Realm
Stream Entry
In Advanced Zen, we continue the intermediate practice of reciting and following the Ten Cardinal Precepts, and we add recital, study, and understanding of the Six Paramitas (Perfections) as well as the Four Brahma Viharas and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.
The Six Paramitas are:
1. Giving or generosity (a direct counteraction to greed);
2. Precepts (practicing all ten precepts to perfection);
3. Patience (which may work as a forebearance of greed);
4. Joy (emphasizing the importance of Seeking The Ox);
5. Concentration or mindfulness (the foundation of which is Present Moment Awareness, followed by Silent Present Moment Awareness); and
6. Wisdom (Understanding the Four Noble Truths).
The Four Brahma Viharas are:
1. Good will/loving kindness (metta);
2. Compassion (karuna);
3. Altruistic/Sympathetic Joy (mudita); and
4. Equanimity (upekkha).
The seven factors of enlightenment are:
1. Mindfulness (sati)
2. Keen investigation of the dhamma (dhammavicaya)
3. Energy (viriya)
4. Rapture or happiness (piti)
5. Calm (passaddhi)
6. Concentration (samadhi)
7. Equanimity (upekkha)
They are not the seven factors of feeling good. They are the seven factors of anuttara samyak sambodhi, perfect unexcelled Buddhahood, and we will cultivate each of them on a daily basis if wisdom is beginning to arise within us. We will return to them in full force in Step Nine.
As we contemplate and practice the Six Paramitas of the Mahayana school, and the Four Brahma Viharas and the Seven Factors of the Theravada school, our meditation develops smoothly and our confidence in the Buddhadharma grows.
The traditional explanation of this fourth ox-herding picture and how it differs from the third picture is readily apparent. Instead of a single, fleeting glimpse, the glimpses occur more and more frequently and the whole Ox is seen, not just its rear end. However, as the verse says:
I seize him with a terrific struggle.
His great will and power
are inexhaustible.
Thus, the meditator struggles with the practice, experiencing levels of bliss that exceed those of the first glimpse. When the Ox, one's true self, is seen clearly for extended periods of time, we speculate that we have entered the third jhana, characterized by an experience of equanimity.
Zen Masters say that the few people who reach this stage typically become arrogant, insisting that no higher stage of enlightenment is possible. The pictures again remind us that this is merely the fourth stage of ten and that the arrogance must turn into humility.
There are four stages of enlightenment according to the Buddha. Stream Entry (sotapanna), the Once Returner (sakadagamin), the Non-Returner (anagamin), and Buddhahood.
The fourth and final stage of enlightenment in classical or Theravada Buddhism is that of the Arhat/Arahant because the Arhat is considered to be a fully enlightened Buddha.
In order for us to arrive at that stage when we reach the seventh stage in the Zen school, we use the teaching tool of calling the experience of the third jhana the first of the four stages of enlightenment, that of Stream Entry.
However, the Buddha also taught that Stream Entry could be achieved at the first or second jhana. One who realizes Stream Entry has but seven lifetimes before realizing Buddhahood, i.e., only six more after the current lifetime.
What is Stream Entry? It includes the dropping off of sense desire and ill will. The practitioner realizes, for the first time, that the belief in a self that is independent from everything else is a delusion, that the belief in permanance is a delusion, that the belief that independent existence is pleasurable is a delusion, and the belief that revolting things are beautiful is a delusion.
The Stream Enterer holds the Right View of no-self, impermance, suffering, and no longer sees the ugly as beautiful. The first Noble Truth of Right View has been seen.
To be more precise, in the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha declared that Stream Entry was attained when the first three of the ten fetters were overcome (the belief in an independent self -sakkaya ditthi-, doubt, and belief that chanting, rites and rituals alone could lead to Nirvana).
It is not difficult for modern people to agree that chanting, rites and rituals alone cannot lead to enlightenment, nor is it difficult to overcome doubt in the Buddhadharma; practice rather quickly removes such doubt. Sakkaya ditthi is the biggest hurdle for most of us.
Step Five - Taming the Ox
Leaving The Sixth Dharma Realm
The Once-Returner
In the traditional explanation of the ten stages, this stage is obviously explained as being the stage we attain after the prolonged struggle at stage four. Arrogance becomes humility as the practice continues. Taming the Ox practice is often referred to as a "post-enlightenment" practice, meaning that a teacher will have certified the student as having attained enlightenment upon catching the Ox.
This is the second stage of enlightenment, the stage attained by the once-returner, i.e., those who have but one lifetime to go after the current one.
In The Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha defined a once-returner as one who has cut the first three of the ten fetters and loosened the fetters of greed, lust, hatred or aversion, and delusion.
The fact that we must continue practicing even after having seen our true self, and having discovered the emptiness of that true-self, is brought home by this fifth picture. We are merely half-way to Buddhahood.
This may be the stage of the fourth jhana, the stage where equanimity matures into tranquility. As venerable Ajahn Brahm says, this post-bliss state is even better than the bliss that precedes it. He calls it the bliss of no more bliss.
At the advanced level, we continue to chant Master Hakuin's Chant in Praise of Zazen, Affirming Faith In Mind, the Ten Verse Kannnon Sutra, The Dharani to Allay Disasters, and we add a few more.
There is no reason to practice these steps in the same order in which they are presented. In the interest of time, for example, I recite all of the chants during my morning walk.
The following chant is the most difficult memorization in this course. It uses Japanese words. We should be aware that many people, American, Chinese, and other nationalities as well, have memorized the Shurangama Mantra which appears in the Shurangama Sutra in Chinese, so this is a cinch compared to that.
British Buddhists in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Dai Hi Shin Dharani
(Dharani of the Great Compassionate One)
Namu Kara Tan No Tora Ya Ya
Namu Ori Ya Boryo Ki Chi Shifu Ra Ya
Fuji Sato Bo Ya
Moko Sato Bo Ya
Mo Ko Kya Runi Kya Ya En Sa
Hara Ha Ei Shu Tan No Ton Sha
Namu Shiki Ri Toi Mo Ori Ya
Boryo Ki Chi Shifu Ra
Rin To Bo Na Mu No Ra Kin Ji
Ki Ri Mo Ko Ho Do
Sha Mi Sa Bo O To Jo Shu Ben
O Shu In Sa Bo Sa To No Mo
Bo Gya Mo Ha Tei Cho
To Ji To En O Boryo Ki
Ru Gya Chi Kya Ra Chi I
Kiri Mo Ko Fuji Sa To Sa Bo Sa Bo
Mo Ra Mo Ra Mo Ki Mo Ki
Ri To In Ku Ryo Ku Ryo
Ke Mo To Ryo To Ryo
Ho Ja Ya Chi Mo Ko Ho Ja Ya Chi
To Ra To Ra Chiri Ni Shifu Ra Ya
Sha Ro Sha Ro Mo Mo Ha Mo Ra
Ho Chi Ri Yu Ki Yu Ki Shi No Shi No
Ora San Fura Sha Ri
Ha Za Ha Za Fura Sha Ya
Ku Ryo Ku Ryo Mo Ra Ku Ryo Ku Ryo
Ki Ri Sha Ro Sha Ro Shi Ri Shi Ri
Su Ryo Su Ryo Fuji Ya Fuji Ya
Fudo Ya Fudo Ya Mi Chiri Ya Nora Kin Ji
Chiri Shuni No Hoya Mono Somo Ko
Shido Ya Somo Ko
Moko Shido Ya Somo Ko
Shidu Yu Ki Shifu Ra Ya Somo Ko
Nora Kin Ji Somo Ko Mo Ra No Ra
Somo Ko Shira Su Omo Gya Ya
Somo Ko Sobo Moko Shido Ya
Somo Ko Shaki Ra Osho Do Ya
Somo Ko Hodo Mogya Shido Ya
Somo Ko Nora Kin Ji Ha Gyara Ya
Somo Ko Mo Hori Shin Gyara Ya
Somo Ko Namu Kara Tan No Tora Ya Ya
Namu Ori Ya Boryo Ki Chi Shifu Ra Ya
Somo Ko Shite Do Modo Ra Hodo Ya
So Mo Ko.
For those who think memorizing the Dai Hi Shin Dharani is too daunting a task, the Shurangama Mantra is many times longer than this relatively short piece. There are native speakers of English and other non-Chinese languages residing at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in northern California who have not only memorized the Shurangama Mantra in Chinese, they have also learned to read and write it in Chinese. Among them is Dharma Master Heng Sure.
It is standard practice to conclude each chanting session with the Return of Merit:
Return of Merit
(Honzon Eko)
Faith in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha
brings true liberation.
We now return the merit of our chanting to:
Shakyamuni Buddha,
Manjusri Bodhisattva,
Avalokita Bodhisattva,
Bhadra Bodhisattva.
We place our faith in the Great Heart of Perfect Wisdom.
May all beings attain Buddhahood!
Ten Directions, Three Worlds,
All Buddhas, Bodhisattva-mahasattvas,
Maha Prajna Paramita.
In a formal setting, the italicized part is chanted by the chant leader only. Everyone joins in on the final three lines. When practicing alone, we chant the leader's lines as well.
That concludes the daily chanting practice. However, there is one more chant worth knowing. It's chanted at Buddhist funerals. However, I silently chanted it at my parents' funerals, my older brother's funeral, and I chant it for friends and acquaintances. Maybe someday I'll chant it for strangers as well.
Memorial Prayer
O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
abiding in all directions,
endowed with great compassion,
endowed with love,
affording protection to sentient beings,
consent through the power
of your great compassion to come forth.
O Compassionate Ones,
you who possess
the wisdom of understanding,
the power of protecting
in incomprehensible measure,
[____] is passing from
this world to the next.
The light of this world has faded for her/him.
S/he has entered solitude
with her/his karmic forces.
S/he has gone into a vast Silence.
S/he is borne away
by the Great Ocean of birth and death.
O Compassionate Ones,
protect [_____], who is defenseless.
Be to her/him like a father and a mother.
O Compassionate Ones,
Let not the force of your compassion be weak,
but aid her/him.
Forget not your ancient vows.
In the traditional explanation of this sixth stage, this stage is so exalted that the meditator is certain that no further zazen is needed. The battle to catch the Ox was long ago, and the Ox was tamed after a long period of intense post-enlightenment practice.
The pride and arrogance of achievement has melted away into humility as the bliss of no bliss has become even more intense and the emptiness of the self has become even more clear.
By taming the Ox, the practitioner has become a meditation master and can summon the Ox at will. What else could possibly need to be done?
The mind has seen itself, and found that the self is empty. Zazen has become so easy that the temptation to stop it is strong. Yasutani Roshi says this is the stage where the meditator must vow to practice for another thirty years.
The Buddha referred to the four jhanas in the Pali canon but he never spoke of nine jhanas (the four jhanas, the four immaterial attainments, and Nirvana) as some modern students do. Instead, the Buddha referred to the four stages of meditation that follow the four jhanas as the four immaterial attainments.
We can speculate that this sixth stage is the fifth jhana or the first immaterial attainment, known as the experience of Infinite Space.
This is the third of the four stages of enlightenment as explained by the Buddha, i.e., it is the stage of the non-returner, i.e., one who is experiencing their last lifetime in the human dharma realm.
The path that leads from ignorance to Stream Entry is the Eightfold Path and the path that leads from Stream Entry to the Non-Returner is the Noble Eightfold Path according to Venerable Ajahn Brahm, because now it is a noble one who is following it.
In the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha defined a non-returner as one who had cut the five fetters of belief in a self, doubt, belief that chanting, rites and rituals alone can lead to awakening, greed/lust, and hatred.
We work on cutting the fetter of greed/lust by practicing mindfulness/Silent Present Moment Awareness each morning in our first practice and the fetter of hatred with metta/Loving Kindness meditation each morning with our second practice.
Step Six - Riding the Ox Home
Leaving The Fifth Dharma Realm
The Non-Returner
Advanced students perform one hundred eight Buddha Name Recitations every day.
Pure Land practitioners teach that Buddha Name Recitation is the only practice one needs to ensure re-birth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, i.e., the Pure Land. They recommend recitation practice for people who have trouble with meditation.
In the Anapanasati Sutta, (one of the Majjhima Nikaya suttas), Venerable U. Vimalaramsi says that the Buddha said the four jhanas and the four Immaterial Attainments were known to his teachers, all of whom were of course the Brahmans of his day who taught the religion now known as Hinduism.
According to Venerable U. Vimalaramsi, the Buddha said his only discovery was that the fourth immaterial attainment (or the eighth jhana) was not the final awakening, i.e., that Nirvana was the only stage of meditation he had experienced that his teachers had not realized.
Venerable Ajahn Brahm disagrees that the Buddha discovered only the ninth jhana. His argument, in Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, is compelling. However, it makes no difference to our practice whether the Buddha discovered only the ninth jhana or all nine of them.
With daily Buddha Name Recitation, we assure rebirth in The Pure Land, never again to descend into the lower six realms.
We are not reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha Buddha is reciting Amitabha Buddha.
Step Seven - Self Alone, Ox Forgotten
Leaving The Sixth Dharma Realm
The Arhat
We continue the daily Beginning and Intermediate Zen practice of Taking Refuge, coupled with one hundred eight prostrations. Some practitioners combine Buddha Name Recitation with prostration practice, performing one Buddha Name Recitation with each prostration.
One way to count to 108 is to follow the 54 steps of Beginning and Intermediate Zen and to then perform one prostration for each line of the Heart Sutra.
The Heart Sutra is a chant about emptiness, i.e., the absence of an independent self ("none are born or die") and the concomitant interconnectedness of all sentient beings.
The Heart Sutra is a nickname; the Sanskrit title of this chant is Prajna Paramita Hridaya, which translates as The Perfection Of Wisdom Chant. Prajna means wisdom. Paramita means perfect or perfection and Hridaya simply means a long mantra, i.e., a chant. So where does Heart come from? One source tells us that the original Prajna Paramita Sutra from which it is taken is very lengthy and the current verses were condensed from the longer sutra. These current verses are the most important phrases, i.e., the heart of the sutra. Another source says that it is a summary of other sutras such as The Diamond Sutra, The Lotus Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, and so on, i.e., that it contains the heart of those sutras and thus the heart of the Buddha's teachings.
The Bodhisattva of Compassion, mentioned in the opening line of the Heart Sutra, sometimes translated as the Goddess of Mercy, is Guanyin, known in Japanese as Kanzeon or Kannon and sometimes called the Chinese Virgin Mary. Actually, Guanyin came first so Mary is more fairly called the Guanyin of the West. This beautiful lady is called Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit and was a man in India; the Chinese made him into a woman. Perhaps they felt that compassion was more womanly than manly.
The "skandas" are the five aggregates that collectively form an apparent independent self.
The five aggregates are: Form, feeling, thought, choice, and consciousness.
A form or a body must exist before something can be touched to create a feeling and a feeling must exist before a thought can arise. No choice can be made until thoughts arise and there can be no consciousness without form, feeling, thought and choice.
The meaning of The Heart Sutra is not easily understood. It won't make a lot of sense at first. Its meaning sinks in with months or years of repetition; the unconscious mind figures it out.
After completing the fifty four prostrations of Intermediate Zen, we recite "The Bodhisattva of Compassion" with our fifty-fifth prostration, and so on.
Prajna Paramita Hridaya
(Heart Of Perfect Wisdom)
The Bodhisattva of Compassion
from the depths of prajna wisdom
saw the emptiness of all five
skandas and sundered the bonds
that cause all suff'ring.
Know then:
Form here is only emptiness,
emptiness only form.
Form is no other than emptiness,
emptiness no other than form.
Feeling, thought and choice
consciousness itself
are the same as this.
Dharmas here are empty,
all are the primal void.
None are born or die.
Nor are they stained or pure,
nor do they wax or wane.
So in emptiness no form,
no feeling, thought or choice,
nor is there consciousness.
No eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body, mind;
no color, sound, smell,
taste, touch, or what the mind
takes hold of,
nor even act of sensing.
No ignorance or end of it,
nor all that comes of ignorance.
No withering, no death,
no end of them.
Nor is there pain or cause of pain
or cease in pain or
noble path to lead from pain,
not even wisdom to attain,
attainment too is emptiness.
So know that the Bodhisattva,
holding to nothing whatever
but dwelling in prajna wisdom,
is freed of delusive hindrance,
rid of the fear bred by it,
and reaches clearest nirvana.
All buddhas of past and present,
buddhas of future time
through faith in prajna wisdom
come to full enlightenment.
Know then the great dharani,
the radiant, peerless mantra,
the supreme, unfailing mantra,
the Prajna Paramita,
whose words allay all pain.
This is highest wisdom,
true beyond all doubt,
know and proclaim its truth:
That last line is the 54th line and the 108 prostrations are completed. We conclude the prostration practice while standing as we conclude the chant:
Gate, gate (gone, gone)
paragate (gone beyond)
parasamgate (gone completely beyond)
bodhi, svaha! (enlightenment, rejoice!)
We chant the sanskrit words at the end, keeping in mind the translation.
The Heart Sutra is chanted daily in most monasteries and is believed to be chanted worldwide more than any other chant. We did not introduce it in the Taming the Ox/chanting step because it can be recited daily as the second half of the 108 prostrations.
Chinese Pure Land Monks typically perform 500 prostrations per day. And thousands of Buddha Name Recitations.
This is the fourth and final stage of enlightenment in the classical four stages of enlightenment (stream entry, once returner, non-returner, and Arhat).
The Mahayana school demotes the Arhat to the fourth dharma realm so we conclude that the fourth dharma realm includes the first three as well, and that the remaining three dharma realms in the Mahayana school are also realized by the Arhat, not just the Pratyeka Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, and the Buddha because an Arhat is a Buddha.
Mahayana writings argue that an Arhat may attain Nirvana by rising from the fourth dharma realm but he or she is incapable of taking others into Buddhahood. However, the Buddha said there is no stage of realizaton higher than that of the Arhat because the Arhat is a fully realized Buddha.
The Arhat is thus a Pratyeka Buddha of the third dharma realm, a Bodhisattva of the second dharma realm, and a Buddha of the first dharma realm.
In Theravada Buddhism, Nirvana is not considered a dharma realm because it transcends all dharma realms. It is an attainment about which nothing can be said and is something that cannot be explained as being the highest dharma realm.
However, since the fourth immaterial attainment in the words of the Buddha is the dharma realm of neither perception nor non-perception, some Thervavada teachers describe Nirvana as the cessation of neither perception nor non-perception.
Rather than argue that the Mahayana school adds an eighth, ninth and tenth stage not found in the Theravada school, we can conclude that the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth stages of the Zen school are compressed into the seventh stage of the Theravada school because this seventh stage is the stage of the Arhat/Arahant, the fully enlightened Buddha according to the Buddha.In other words, the Arhat who reaches the fourth stage of the four stages of enlightenment has passed through the eighth, ninth, and tenth stages as well. Thus, the Arhat experiences not only the sixth jhana (the second Immaterial Attainment of Infinite Consciousness), the seventh jhana (the third Immaterial Attainment of Nothingness), the eighth jhana (the fourth Immaterial Attainment of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception), but also Nirvana, the stage beyond the fourth Immaterial Attainment but which is not an attainment because there is no self that attains it and no thing that is attained.
The traditional commentaries on the seventh stage represented by the Ox-Herding pictures say that this level is reached only by those who have passed many koans and have attained a certain, but not total, degree of enlightenment. At this point, Master Yasutani says that further koan study is useless. The quest for the Ox has ended because the empty true self has been seen, tamed, ridden home, and the quest has been forgotten.
So this seventh step, we speculate, may be considered the sixth jhana or the second Immaterial Attainment, which is the same thing.
The second Immaterial Attainment is the stage of Infinite Consciousness. To say what that means in words would be to miss the mark. Suffice it to say that the infinite space of the first Immaterial Attainment is augmented by an experience of infinite consciousness. Obviously, this requires "diligent, ardent and resolute" practice, as the Buddha so often says in the suttas.
Step Eight - Both Self and Ox Forgotten
Leaving The Third Dharma Realm
Advanced Zen practitioners study suttas and sutras every night, there being no time limit.
We recommend the Samyutta Nikaya, which contains almost three thousand suttas, and the Anguttara Nikaya which contains about twenty three hundred suttas.
The Khuddaka Nikaya, recommended at the Beginning Zen level, the Majjhima Nikaya and the Digha Nikaya, recommended at the Intermediate Zen level, and the Samyutta and Anguttara Nikayas, recommended at the advanced level, collectively form all five of the Theravada Nikayas. These five Nikayas are the five divisions of the Sutta Pitaka, i.e., the Sutta basket of the Three Baskets.
At this Advanced Zen level, we also recommend the Mahayana Sutras.
Obviously, we will never run out of Theravada suttas and Mahayana sutras to read and re-read.
There are a number of sutras/suttas that mention the Doctrine of Dependent Origination. The Buddha said that to understand the Doctrine of Dependent Origination is to understand the Four Noble Truths.
The hyperlinked article is lengthy but well worthy of our study at the Advanced Zen level. It is also available in book form under the title Dependent Origination: Buddhist Law of Conditionality.
The Buddha also said that an Arhat/Arahant has seen the Doctrine of Dependent Origination. Thus we know that an Arhat is at least a Pratyeka Buddha or pratyekabuddha/paccekabuddha. The Buddha also said that an Arhat is one who has attained Buddhahood. And that seeing dependent origination is Buddhahood.
When we study dependent origination, it is understood that we are merely becoming aquainted with it on an intellectual level. Actually seeing it for ourselves, outside of mental understanding, is full awakening, samyak sambodhi. Our inherent Buddhahood reveals itself when we see dependent origination.
Many Mahayana sutras are of Chinese origin and it takes time to get used to the lofty language. However, even if they seem oddly foreign at first, they become delightful with daily reading.
The average westerner will find the Mahayana sutras to be quite bizarre at first. The soaring descriptions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas arriving to hear a sermon, complete with some pretty far out names, as well as the extraordinarily strange way of delivering the main teaching of the sutra itself will strike most people as unusual indeed. Yet, the experience of reading such sutras is not to be missed. As they are read and re-read, they work their magic.
Here is a website with a comprehensive list of individual sutras. Here is a link to Dwight Goddard's anthology entitled A Buddhist Bible.
We don't put study of the Mahayana sutras in Advanced Zen under a theory that the Theravada suttas of Beginning and Intermediate Zen are inferior in any way. The Theravada suttas have more down-to-earth, practical content than the more abstract, other worldy Mahayana sutras and as such should be studied first and later side-by-side with the Mahayana sutras.
It takes a somewhat advanced practitioner to appreciate the subtle teachings of the Mahayana sutras. The Mahayana sutras presuppose that the reader already knows the fundamentals of Buddhism and has already spent many hours in meditation.
Master Yasutani says: At the eighth stage, we come to realize the fact that this "I" (self), which has been seeking, and the essential self (ox), which has been the object of our search, did not exist at all.
Harada Roshi, teacher of Yasutani Roshi
Such a statement cannot be understood with the critical thinking mind. For us to say that we just don't exist is nonsense to our rational, thinking mind. This stage, we speculate, perhaps corresponds to the seventh jhana, also known as the third immaterial attainment, i.e., the experience or realization of Nothingness.
And thus we begin to understand the Three Characteristics of Existence: Dukkha, Annica, and Anatta. However, one can see the three characteristics of existence without seeing dependent origination but dependent origination cannot be seen until the three characteristics are seen.
Guan Yin on Hainan Island, China
Rather than read works of mental pollution, we should read the sutras instead.
Here's what Dharma Master Hsuan Hua says about the sutras:
People need air to live, and the Buddhist sutras are the true air in the atmosphere. When we study the sutras, we are breathing in fresh air. We are also taking in food for the spirit. When we cultivate according to the sutras, and tell other people about the principles found in the sutras, so that they can develop faith in the Buddhadharma, we are in effect giving fresh air to people.
The sheer volume and length of the sutras and suttas may be one reason the Zen sect has historically de-emphasized sutra study. Many historians have also pointed out that the Samurai warrior class of Japan was attracted to Zen in large part for that very reason; most warriors in those days were illiterate.
However, we modern Buddhist practitioners have no excuse; we can read and to shun the sutras or the suttas is to knowingly reject the teachings of the Buddha.
The Theravada school rejects the Mahayana sutras as being syncretic, i.e., borrowing from non-Buddhist sources such as Chinese Taoism (Daoism). The Hsin Hsin Ming, one of the most prominent of all Zen Sect chants, is a Daoist (Taoist) chant.
The Zen Sect itself, of course, was created when Indian Buddhism, brought to China by Bodhidharma, blended with Chinese Daoism, the indigenous "religion" of China. The Zen Sect was not brought to China from India as so many sloppy writers have announced. There was no Daoism in India so the blend of Buddhism and Daoism could not have occured before Bodhidharma arrived in China.
And some scholars tell us that Bodhidharma was probably a series of Indian monks, not just one.
It may well be that the only suttas uttered by the Buddha are the Theravada suttas; Zen Sect practitioners should not reject them.
Some scholars also point out that the Theravada suttas as they have survived over the centuries may not be the actual words of the Buddha as well; there is evidence of tinkering. For example, many scholars point out that an enlightened being such as the Buddha would not have been so reluctant to admit women into the sangha. Those scholars say that lesser men may have put some small-minded words into the mouth of the Buddha.
All teachers of the Buddhadharma often caution their students that the spoken words of the teachers and the written words of the Buddha are a finger that points to the moon. If you want a cat to look at the moon, you can point at the moon but the cat will look intently at your finger, especially if you wave it around.
Some practitioners become attached to the words of the Buddha and they forget that the words are pointing at the moon and are not the moon itself. The Mahayana sutras evolved from the original suttas, and broke away from the prison of words that some practitioners imposed on themselves. They point at the moon using much loftier speech than the Buddha ever used, but the lofty speech, a product of Chinese culture, is still the Buddhadharma.
Many scholars have pointed out that if the Mahayana had not arisen about a hundred years after the passing away of the Buddha, Buddhism would not have become a world religion. It would have remained a regional religion, the religion of the southeast Asian countries.
The Buddhism taught by the Theravadans is authentic, although we may want to take some of it (such as the anti-women words above-mentioned) with a grain of salt. The Buddha says repeatedly throughout the suttas to test the words, not to just believe what they say. If a teaching leads to increasing wholesomeness, embrace it, said the Buddha. If a teachings leads to decreasing wholesomeness, i.e., to increasing unwholesomeness, reject it, said the Buddha.
Every Buddhist should study the Theravada suttas to learn the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path (which is the Fourth Noble Truth). The Tripitaka (the Three Baskets) of the Vinaya (rules of discipline), the Suttas, and the Abhidharma have been preserved by the Theravadans from the days of the Buddha and they are a treasure. But the whole of Buddhism contains the Mahayana sutras as well.
Although we place no time limit on sutta/sutra study, if it begins to impinge upon our Yaza meditation, then we need to cut back. It is perfectly OK to stay at the thirty minute per day reading practice schedule of Intermediate Zen. The important thing is to devote time every day to the suttas and sutras so that our wisdom may grow as vast as the ocean.
Step Nine - Reaching the Source
Leaving The Second Dharma Realm
Advanced Zen practitioners are encouraged to sit prior to retiring with no time limit. We sit in full lotus if we can do so without injury.
After arriving at the Still Forest Pool, the eighth stage of the Tranquil Wisdom meditation, we sit in absolute tranquility, i.e, our mind is the Still Forest Pool, silent and unmoving. We await the appearance of a nimitta. The arrival of a nimitta is the ninth step and we can advance no further until it arrives.
Its failure to appear means that we have rushed through at least one of the first eight stages, or failed to practice Present Moment Awareness and Silent Present Moment Awareness at the outset.
We will need to go back and practice, with enhanced patience, the stages we rushed through.
Once the nimitta appears, the tenth step is to "polish" it, in the words of Venerable Ajahn Brahm. His book describes how to stop the nimitta from wobbling, i.e., how to strengthen it before moving on to step eleven.
In step eleven, with the nimitta now stable, we sustain it by the techniques taught by Venerable Ajahn Brahm.
According to Venerable Ajahn Brahm, once the nimitta is polished and sustained, the four jhanas and the four immaterial attainments may appear as the twelfth step. Depending upon how well we keep the precepts and how well-developed the nimitta is polished and made stable, we may make it to the first jhana only, to the second jhana only, and so on. No jhana and no immaterial attainment can be skipped, i.e., we cannot experience the third jhana unless we have experienced the first two, and so on.
Just like the joy of the fifth step, the explosion of joy associated with the first jhana usually causes the meditation to end. It takes practice to let the first jhana mature into the second jhana, and so on.
The Buddha said in The Anapanasati Sutta that practice of steps nine, ten, eleven and twelve constitute the practice of the third foundation of mindfulness, i.e., the foundation of consciousness or mind.
The Buddhas also said that the final four steps, i.e., steps thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen are the stages of experiencing infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor nonperception, respectively. These final four steps, he said, also constitute the practice of the fourth foundation of mindfulness, i.e., mindfulness of mind objects.
However, the steps of experiencing infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor nonperception are supplied to The Anapanasati Sutta by
The Buddha in The Anapanasati Sutta used the words "impermanence, fading away, cessation, and relinquishment" as the objects of contemplation of the four final steps. However, in The Anupada Sutta, he used the terms "infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness and neither perception nor nonperception" so those terms are typically used in comentaries on The Anapanasati Sutta.
If we really want to get confused, we can note that there is no direct one-to-one correspondence between the terms "impermanence, fading away, cessation, and relinquishment" as used in The Anapanasati Sutta and the corresponding terms "infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness and neither perception nor nonperception" as used in The Anupada Sutta.
More particularly, Venerable U. Vimalaramsi explains that "impermanence" includes both "infinite space" and "infinite consciousness." The term "fading away" includes "nothingness." The term "cessation" includes "neither perception nor nonperception." The term "relinquishment" thus includes the cessation of all thoughts and feelings, Nirvana.
Venerable U. Vimalaramsi teaches that the final four steps thus correspond to the four immaterial attainments and Venerable Ajahn Brahm says that the four final steps are not the four immaterial attainments because they are experienced after the four jhanas in step twelve and the final four steps are for contemplation after the meditator has emerged from the four jhanas and the four immaterial attainments.
These two understandings of the teachings of the Buddha are easy to reconcile from a Zen Sect perspective. The Buddha used words to point at the moon and it is easy to fall into the quagmire of words and to miss the moon.
It just doesn't matter if all four jhanas and all four immaterial attainments arrive at step twelve as taught by Venerable Ahajn Brahm, or if they are spread out (the first jhana of joy arising at step five, the second jhana of serene happiness arising at step six, the third jhana of tranquility arising at step seven, the fourth jhana of equanimity arising at step eight, and the four immaterial attainments arising at steps thirteen through sixteen) as taught by Venerable. U. Vimalaramsi.
It doesn't matter because one teacher reports his experiences and another teacher reports his. No doubt there are other teachers with still further explanations of the Buddha's sermon as recorded in The Anapanasati Sutta. All we can do is to follow the steps as best we can, and forget about wars of words. We can study both teachers, digest their words, and aim for the moon that both of them, as well as the Buddha, want us to see.
Jerry Seinfeld tells a story about horses talking to one another after a race. One horse says to another: "After crossing the finish line, I noticed it was the same as the starting line. I could've won the race just by staying where I was!"
The traditional commentary on this ninth stage is that when one continues to practice, one breaks through the Zen barrier and realizes that one has returned to the starting line and that one has traveled far just to go nowhere, like Jerry Seinfeld's horse.
It is discouraging at first to read that when one has experienced a full-blown, fully matured enlightenment after years of arduous practice, that one has merely returned to the starting point. Mountains and rivers are again just mountains and rivers.
Buddhist temple on the peak of Wolf Hill
Even the verse that accompanies the ninth picture of the ten ox-herding pictures seems to have been written in anger, an emotion that an awakened master would not be expected to exhibit:
Too many steps have been taken
returning to the root and the source.
Better to have been blind and deaf
from the beginning!
But the end of the verse throws more light:
Dwelling in one's true abode,
unconcerned within and without -
The river flows tranquilly on
and the flowers are red.
(End of verse) This means that the river doesn't need us to perceive it nor do the flowers. There is no self within to observe the river and the flowers, and no river and flowers without. We have here an affirmation that the dichotomy of subjective/objective doesn't exist. To see this, we need to return to the source.
We speculate that this stage is the eighth jhana, the fourth immaterial attainment. Talking about such a state borders upon absurdity. It is called the realm of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. What could possibly be said about that?
Although we may veer off into koan practice after experiencing a jhana, we may also choose to follow the Buddha's original meditation instructions as well. Upon attaining one or more of the jhanas during the twelfth step of the sixteen steps of the mindfulness of the breath meditation taught in The Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha taught us to harness the mindfulness created by the jhana experience (again, this is what Ajahn Brahm calls "super power mindfulness") for the purpose of investigating impermanence, fading away, cessation, and relinquishment.
However, we may also veer off into the Four Foundations of Mindfulness meditation taught by the Buddha in The Satapatthana Sutta after coming out of the jhanas, still in possession of our super power mindfulness. This is where we meet the Seven Factors of Enlightenment in meditation, as distinguished from intellectual study.
While being in that state of super power mindfulness, we contemplate the first of the Four Foundations, i.e., that of the body. While doing so, all seven factors of enlightenment gradually appear, one by one, in the order listed by the Buddha.
Then we contemplate the second Foundation, that of feelings, and the seven factors again arise in sequence. They appear in sequence again as we contemplate the third foundation, that of the mind itself, and the fourth sequence of the seven factors appear at the fourth level, that of contemplation of mind objects.
So investigating/contemplating the Four Foundations of Mindfulness after a jhana exerience will enable us to see each of the seven factors of enlightenment four times each.
Happily, at the end of The Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha explained in detail that if all sixteen steps of the meditation technique taught in that sutta are followed, then the meditator will have practiced the four foundations of mindfulness of the body, feelings, mind and mind objects, and that the seven factors of enlightenment will have arisen as well.
So by following all sixteen steps, we automatically practice the Four Foundations of Enlightenment and we automatically meet the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.
That means that we can then see dependent origination because that is the last level of awakening, the gateless gate that opens into Buddhahood.
Step Ten - Returning to the Marketplace
Arriving At The First Dharma Realm
The Buddha maintained his practice for forty five years, i.e., from his enlightenment at age 35 until his parinirvana at age 80.
I had the good fortune of sitting with Roshi Aitken and other members of the Diamond Sangha at the Palolo Valley Zen Temple near Honolulu on the last Sunday of his life, August 1, 2010. He passed away that Thursday the 5th of August, and was unable to sit at the mid-week Wednesday sitting that week. So the Sunday sitting, my first and last with him, was his last group sitting. He was 93.
He practiced every day. We can do the same.
We practice the first nine steps of Advanced Zen every day until we awaken, and even if we don't. If we do awaken, we continue to practice those nine steps every day, plus one more, the one represented by the tenth ox-herding picture.
This final step is reserved in the Rinzai Zen sect for those who are certified by a master to have completed a lengthy course on koans to the satisfaction of the master. Robert Aitken Roshi was the only American who received full dharma transmission from from Zen master Yasutani, who received his dharma transmission from Zen master Harada.
Some members of the Diamond Sangha advised me that Philip Kapleau Roshi had completed only about one-third to one-half of the koan course provided by masters Harada and Yasutani before he left Japan. However, he received permission to teach in a formal ceremony, a photograph of which appears in The Three Pillars of Zen, so there was no requirement that he demonstrate penetration of all of the Harada-Yasutani koans. He had reached the point where further koan study was worthless.
Teachers in the Soto sect are more common since authority to teach is given after ten years of sustained practice in a Zen community such as the San Francisco Zen Center. However, there are few people who have completed such a rigorous requirement.
So whether you follow the Rinzai or the Soto route, the tenth practice is to teach upon being given the authority to do so.
(Replica temple in Hawaii; the original is in Japan)
The term "teach" in the Zen sect refers to individual instruction of the type that occurs during dokusan (that's the Soto Zen term; in Rinzai Zen it's called daisan). The teacher determines what needs to be done or said at that moment in dokusan or daisan to guide the student toward enlightenment. Sometimes no words are exchanged.
General books or websites about Buddhism are directed to a broad audience for the benefit of all sentient beings and are not the kind of individual, customized teaching that requires certification. For example, we have not discussed how to start a koan practice on this website because a koan should be assigned to a student only by a sanctioned teacher and the student and teacher need to work together in person until the koan is "solved." And that may lead to another koan, or another practice entirely...
The Student Bell
But the rest of us can continue our Beginning Zen practice of referring others to this and other Buddhist websites or blogs and the Intermediate Zen practice of starting sitting groups. At the advanced level, we can buy a house and convert it into a zendo, we can start a Buddhadharma talk show on local radio or TV, we can write articles for our local newspaper, put up a website, write a book, and so on.
We can also enroll in and complete the Dedicated Practitioners Program or the Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit, a Theravada practice center about thirty five miles north of San Francisco.
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(The practitioner on the right is in the Burmese position; note the support under the left knee. It is important that both knees touch the ground or other support such as shown here. The practitioner on the left is in either full or half lotus with hands in the classic Zen position, left hand on top, thumbs touching lightly.)
But the most important teaching we can provide to fulfill this tenth step is to carry Zen into the marketplace every day.
Our classmates, customers, patients, clients, co-workers and everyone else we deal with are our teachers and they are in the dokusan room that we enter every day.
The traditional commentary says that this tenth and final stage is the step of attaining full Buddhahood. We may therefore conclude, without speculation, that it corresponds to whatever it is that lies beyond the four jhanas and the four immaterial attainments, i.e., Nirvana.
The Buddha did not refer to Nirvana as the ninth jhana or the fifth immaterial attainment. He said there were four jhanas, four immaterial attainments, and Nirvana. And that until one experiences dependent origination, both forward and backwards, Nirvana has not been experienced.
This has nothing at all to do with knowledge of the doctrine of dependent origination in the conventional sense. This is the experiencing of dependent origination in the forward direction:
1. The arising of ignorance (avidya);
2. The arising of form (sankhara) from ignorance;
3. The arising of consciousness (vinnana) from form;
4. The arising of mentality-materiality (mind and body) (nama-rupa) from consciousness;
5. The arising of the six senses (salayatana) from mentality-materiality;
6. The arising of contact (phassa)from the six sense base;
7. The arising of feeling (vedana) from contact;
8. The arising of craving (tanha) from feeling;
9. The arising of clinging (upadana) from craving;
10. The arising of being (bhava) from clinging;
11. The arising of birth (jati) from being; and
12. The arising of old age, sickness and death (dukkha) from birth.
It is also the experience of dependent origination in the backward direction:
1. When old age, sickness and death cease, then birth ceases;
2. When birth ceases, then being ceases;
3. When being ceases, then clinging ceases;
4. When clinging ceases. then craving ceases;
5. When craving ceases, then feeling ceases;
6. When feeling ceases, then contact ceases;
7. When contact ceases, then the six sense base ceases;
8. When the six sense bases cease, then mentality-materiality ceases;
9. When mentality-materiality ceases, then consciousness ceases;
10. When consciousness ceases, then form ceases;
11. When form ceases, then ignorance ceases.
12. When ignorance ceases, Buddhahood is realized.
The Buddha said that nothing at all could be said about Nirvana. Except that it was the highest happiness.
An artist's depiction of Nirvana
The concept of ten dharma realms is a Mahayana concept that is not held by the Theravada school; as mentioned earlier, thirty one dharma realms are described in the Pali canon and Nibbana is not considered one of them. Nor does the Theravada school subscribe to the ten ox-herding pictures - the pictures are purely from the Zen sect of the Mahayana school. By the same token, the Mahayana school and the Zen sect ignore the four jhanas and the four immaterial attainments as described by the Buddha so there is no direct correlation between the ten dharma realms and the nine stages of meditation as taught by the Buddha.
The word jhana is the Pali word for the Sanskrit word dhyana that was transliterated into Chinese as Ch'an and into Japanese as Zen. So it is ironic that the jhana sect ignores the Buddha's teachings about the jhanas!
Nor is it traditional to correlate the ten dharma realms and the ten Ox-herding pictures. We have conflated them merely as a teaching tool; it helps us learn about both when we visualize them in matching pairs, i.e., leaving the tenth dharma realm of the sad but impermanent hell worlds by practicing the cultivation of happiness when we begin our search for the Ox, leaving the ninth dharma realm of the hateful hungry ghosts by cultivating Loving Kindness as we find the footprints, and so on.
And then we conflate the four jhanas, the four immaterial attainments and Nirvana with pictures three through ten for the same instructional purposes, i.e., we learn three important facets of Buddhism at the same time, i.e., we see the correlations between the eight stages of meditation of classic Theravada Buddhism, the ten dharma realms of Mahayana Buddhism, and the ten Ox-Herding pictures of Zen Buddhism.
On top of all that, just to provide still another way to learn, we add the Buddha's definition of the four stages of enlightenment from Stream Entry to Buddhahood and when we do so we see the clash of Theravada vs. Mahayana, i.e., we arrive at Theravada Buddhahood, the highest attainment of the Theravada school, while still in the fourth dharma realm under the Zen teaching.
Those who follow the ten practices of Advanced Zen for a long time will experience the First Glimpse of the Ox, the blinding, mind-shattering exhilaration of the first jhana. The other jhanas and Nirvana/Nibbana follow naturally as one practices Advanced Zen daily and becomes free of The Five Hindrances, cultivates the Four Foundations or Focuses of Mindfulness and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, and learns how to relax and go deeper into the successive jhanas and immaterial attainments until dependent origination is experienced, independently of scholarly study.
The jhanas are not indispensable, however. As the Buddha made clear in the Satipatthana Sutta, practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and awareness of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment also lead on a "direct path" to Nibbana, without experiencing the jhanas. This is the "dry insight" mentioned earlier.
And practitioners of Zen koans or shikantaza meditation may also obtain enlightenment while ignoring the sixteen steps of Tranquil Wisdom meditation, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.
The Buddha said flatly and without reservation that true liberation requires experience of dependent origination, both forward and backwards. However, a practitioner who follows the precepts will see dependent origination, forward and backward, upon diligent practice of vipassana/insight meditation, samatha/samadhi or calming meditation such as tranquil wisdom meditation, koan practice, counting the breath, shikantaza, or loving kindness meditation.
None of such practices can be practiced effectively in the absence of holding precepts. The precepts are built upon the foundation of happiness, loving kindness, and generosity. Upon that foundation we can chant the sutras, recite the Buddha's name, and take refuge. Sutra study then completes the foundation and we have created the conditions for awakening to occur. The soil has been watered, the nutrients have been added, and the sun is shining. Conditions are right for our meditation practice, whichever one we choose, to bear fruit.
Having glimpsed the Ox, we are nearing Stream Entry and our liberation is assured. But we can't have that first glimpse until we have incorporated the Ten Cardinal Precepts, the Six Paramitas/Perfections, and the Four Brahma Viharas into our daily lives. A defiled mind that performs defiled actions cannot see the Ox.
Venerable Ajahn Brahm makes the interesting observation that those who experience the rapture of the first jhana and the serene happiness of the second jhana usually stop their spiritual evolution at that point. They insist they have seen God or Jesus or whatever or if they are Buddhist they will declare themselves to be enlightened. These are the people who start religions, not realizing that the first glimpse of the Ox, other worldly as it may be, is merely the third stage of ten.
So if we persist in Advanced Zen and get our first glimpse of the Ox, it is time to go deeper. The good news is that no further effort is required after the Ox has been glimpsed for the first time. Our striving is over because our resistance to practice is over. We want to and will practice Buddhism in all its fullness every day.
We are the happy ones. This earth where we stand is the pure lotus land and this very body the body of Buddha.
We have gone from believing that to be true to knowing and experiencing that it is true. And so we practice all ten practices of Advanced Zen, every day.
Here is a Summary of Advanced Zen practices.