禪宗=Chan school; 禪=Chan; 《楞嚴經》=SuraΥgama Sutra; 耳根圓通=perfect realization based on the auditory faculty; 五家七宗=Five Houses and Seven Schools; 聖嚴法師=Venerable Sheng Yen
This article is primarily concerned with investigating the similarities between Avalokitƞğvara Bodhisattva’s (Guanyin Pusa 觀音菩薩) method (famen 法門) of “perfect or all-pervading realization (yuan tong 圓通 ) based on the auditory faculty” (er gen 耳根; Skt. ğrotra-indriya), as expounded in scroll six of theĞǍraΥgama SǍtra (Lengyan Jing 楞嚴經), and cases of awakening experiences recorded in the gong'an 公案 literature from the Chinese Chan School 禪宗 that involve sound and hearing. Specifically, it examines how, in the ĞǍraΥgama SǍtra, the auditory sense-object (sheng chen 聲塵; Skt. ğabda-viΙaya) is actualized as a perceptual support (suoyuan jing 所緣境; Skt. Ƙlambana) for attaining realization, and how that realization correlates to the Chan notion of “illumining the mind and seeing one's nature” (ming xin jian xing 明心見性). Examples are provided in which Chan masters of the various lineages explicitly implement this method from the ĞǍraΥgama SǍtra to cause Chan adepts to realize awakening (kai wu 開悟) and see their nature. Chan literature seldom provides concrete instructions for practice, or outlines a graduated course of cultivation (jianxiu 漸修)—most often, it only records claims of sudden awakening (dunwu 頓悟). It is, nonetheless, my contention that awakening is concretely grounded in years of cultivation. What is unique in the Chan school is the particular generation of the doubt sensation. When a practitioner is absorbed in this state, in which the conceptual and thinking mind is brought to a halt, sound is used to shatter this unified state so that the practitioner suddenly realizes the nature of emptiness or selflessness. Comparing the method of “perfect realization based on the auditory faculty” with those Chan cases of awakening that involve hearing, we can appreciate the practical dimensions of Chan practice and the continuous impact that the ĞǍraΥgama SǍtra has had on the development of Chan in the post-Song period.
目次
I. Forward 131 II. What is perfect realization based on the auditory faculty? 132 III. The Process of Cultivating the Practice of Perfect Realization based on the Auditory Faculty 136 IV. Application by the Sixth Patriarch Huineng 140 V. Application by the Five Houses and Seven Schools of the Chan School 141 i. Utilizing Sounds 142 1. Drums 142 2. Bells 146 3. Boards 152 4. Bells, Drums and Boards 154 5. Crow of a rooster 155 6. Donkeys 157 7. Sound of jewelry 158 8. Other sounds 159 ii. Application of “Turning Back the Hearing to Hear SelfNature” 163 iii. “Entering the stream, effacing the object” 167 iv. Examples of Modern Application 172 1. Master Xuyun 173 2. Sheng Yen of Dharma Drum Mountain 174 VII. Conclusion 176
