A Brief Glance into the Process of Seon Practice

Let's take a brief look at the practice process of Seon. Even though there may be some slight differences from person to person, the rough outline of the process is the same. You might find some useful advice in this section. 

(1) Being absorbed in enlightenment.

◎Having heard the teachings about Seon and Enlightenment, he thirsts for enlightenment and becomes absorbed in the quest for it.

◎Though one may listen to the teachings of Seon, he feels dark and suffocated because he has no knowledge of Seon.

◎Even though one feels dark and suffocated, he may become more consumed with finding enlightenment because it doesn’t admit any cognition.

◎Without effort, the unresolved work always stays in the heart like a wound.

◎Although one is absorbed in this work, he feels even more dark and suffocated because he does not know how to resolve it.

◎As the problem is of the most serious and urgent nature, he doesn’t care about anything else.

◎At last, he feels frustrated, since there seems to be no way out of the problem, and it is like he is just killing time and doing nothing.

◎It is similar to the situation that when a man has someone he loves in his mind, but feels stifled since she doesn’t accept his proposal.

◎He is said to get stuck in the great iron wall or in the cage of doubt.

(2) All of sudden, he feels released from the shackles of thinking.

◎When stuck in the suffocating deadlock, if he relies on the Seon master and turns his ear to the dharma talk, one day, suddenly, the blockage breaks and doubts disappear.

◎After the doubts fade away, nothing arises in his mind and he just stays in the place of equanimity.

◎He feels relieved as if he was dying but regained his life.
◎Neither does he grasp anything, nor does he notice anything, nor does he summarize his opinion.

◎He feels free and has no hindrance since he doesn’t grasp anything in his mind.

◎He is not hesitant to react to whatever may come to him without the interference of his thinking.

◎Thinking is no hindrance to him since thinking works only if necessary.

◎As the stuffy darkness and uncertain doubt disappear, it is as if he got his life back and he has presence of mind.

◎He feels free, refreshed, and comfortable since he is released from the restraint of his delusion.

◎Yet, on and off, he feels slightly stuck and uneasy while thinking again, and he feels different when depending on Dharma or not, so he still tries to stick to Dharma.

(3) All of sudden, he feels that his mind disappears.

◎His mind seems to vanish suddenly.

◎As the mind disappears, the distinction in and out of the mind also disappears and the whole world is just ONE living mind and so are all the myriad things.

◎Even though everything happens as ever, there happens also nothing.

◎Even though the mind thinks, there is no thought. Even though the mouth speaks, there are no words. Even though the body behaves, there is no behavior.

◎There is no difference between thinking and no-thinking, calmness and loudness, reality and fantasy. So, there is no separate experience such as awakening or enlightenment.

◎The mind doesn’t think that he is practicing.

◎He feels very neat, lighthearted and uniformly clear, so there is no Dharma, no mind, no enlightenment, no Buddha, and no practice.

◎There happens nothing since every glance, every moment of listening, every thought is invariably neither real nor not.

◎He cannot have doubt since it is non-dualistic.

◎It is apparent that there is only non-dualism.

◎He doesn’t need to seek or obtain any more.

◎This is called “Mahaprajnaparamita” in the Heart sutra, or non-dualistic Dharma or the law of the birthlessness of all phenomena in the Holy Teachings of Vimalakirti, or the wisdom or Samadhi of specific mode in the Sixth Patriarch Platform Sutra. Yuanwu Keqin(1063-1135), one of the great monks in the Linji lineage, referred to it as “being unable to deceive you.”

(4) He is getting used to the non-dualistic suchness.

◎There is no practice, no Buddha, and no enlightenment. The whole world is nothing but one single invariable truth.

◎All the experiences and objects of perception are one and the same.

◎As time goes by, past bad habits gradually disappear and the power of the Wisdom-Prajna becomes stronger, more obvious, and more sophisticated.

◎Eventually, he can understand the saying of old monks that practice doesn’t end with an experience of awakening. It is easy to experience awakening, but hard to complete it.

◎He can understand the saying of the Sixth Patriarch, “Awakening is just one moment and practice is just one moment too.” He can also understand the phrase of the Surangama sutra that says “When one awakens, he will complete the principle immediately, but the old habits gradually disappear.”

◎He can understand the saying of Seon Master Dahui Zongao(1088-1163) that the practice after the experience of awakening makes one familiar with an unfamiliar place and also makes one unfamiliar with a familiar place.

◎As time goes by, after the experience of awakening, it becomes more clear that the sayings of the patriarchs and the phrases of the sutra are not theories but an expression of the reality as it is.

◎Whatever sphere you encounter, whatever you experience, whatever you think and feel, everything is only the matter of suchness.