Chan has two famous Masters named Han Shan: a 9th Century recluse whose name means Cold Mountain and a l6th Century teacher whose name means Silly Mountain. Cold Mountain is Chan Buddhism's greatest poet. Silly Mountain was a pretty good poet, too. He's probably Chan's second best poet.
Cold Mountain appealed to nature to lead him to peace and understanding. In finding beauty in the natural world he found beauty in himself. That's the way hermits operate. They look; they ponder; they convert loneliness into solitude.
Silly Mountain transcended himself by working for others. He strove to help ordinary folks gain enlightenment. That's a little harder than surviving frost and hunger.
Han Shan, Cold mountain, said:
High on the mountain's peak Infinity in all directions! The solitary moon looks down From its midnight loft Admires its reflection in the icy pond. Shivering, I serenade the moon.
No Chan in the verse. Plenty in the melody.
Han Shan, Silly Mountain, tried to put what couldn't be said into words everybody could understand:
Put a fish on land and he will remember the ocean until he dies. Put a bird in a cage, yet he will not forget the sky. Each remains homesick for his true home, the place where his nature has decreed that he should be.
Man is born in the state of innocence. His original nature is love and grace and purity. Yet he emigrates so casually, without even a thought of his old home.
Is this not sadder than the fishes and the birds?
We would all like to reflect the Moon of Enlightenment. We would all like to get home to Innocence. How do we accomplish this? We follow the Dharma.
The Buddha saw the unenlightened life's ignorance as a diseased condition. His Four Noble Truths have a medical connotation:
One, life in Samsara is bitter and painful. Two, craving is the cause of this bitterness and pain. Three, there is a cure for this malady. Four, the cure is to follow the Eightfold Path.
First, we need to recognize that we are ill. Second, we need a diagnosis. Third, we need to be assured that what's wrong with us will respond to treatment. Fourth, we require a therapeutic regimen.
Samsara is the world seen through the ego. It is a troubled and sick world because of the ego's unceasing cravings.
Trying to satisfy the demands of the ego is like trying to name the highest number. No matter how large a number we can think of, one more can always be added to it to make an even higher number. There is no way to attain the ultimate.
Dear friends, is it not true that no matter how much money a person has, he always thinks he needs a little more, that no matter how comfortable a person's home is, he always wants a place that's a little more palatial, that no matter how many admirers he has, he always needs to hear a little more applause?
Constant striving results in constant strife.
So what are we to do? First we must understand that the problems which the ego creates cannot be solved in Samsara's world of ever changing illusions. Why? Because the ego is itself an ever changing, fictional character that merely acts and reacts in response to life's fluctuating conditions - conditions which it can never quite comprehend.
It's like trying to play football when the length of the field keeps changing; and instead of one ball in play, there are twenty; and the players are either running on and off the field or sleeping on the grass. Nobody is really sure which game is being played and everybody plays by different rules. Now, anyone who was expected to be both player and referee could never find pleasure in such a game. He'd find his life on the field to be an endless exercise in fear, confusion, frustration and exhaustion.
The Eightfold Path guides, delimits, and establishes rules which are clear. Everyone can follow them.
The first step is Right Understanding.
The second step is Right Thought.
The third step is Right Speech.
The fourth step is Right Action.
The fifth step is Right Livelihood.
The sixth step is Right Effort.
The seventh step is Right Mindfulness.
The eighth step is Right Meditation.
Copyright ©1996 Nan Hua Zen Buddhist Society