Life and Death

The primary concern of human beings is life and death. If we could not solve the problem of death, all our activities are equivalent of waiting for death. Therefore, the study of life and death should be the top priority of all our life. First of all, we should know ourselves. Since many people treat the body as the self, let’s first approach this issue from our body.
1. Life and death of the body
Facing death, most people are helpless. They have to passively wait for that final inevitable death. Trying all kinds of ways to numb themselves, they hope their fear for the death could be alleviated.
The death of the body could be easily handled by the theory of Buddhist “Interdependent Origination”. “Interdependent Origination”, in modern language, is the theory of conditions, which means that everything in the world is composed of various conditions. If the conditions that compose a thing disappear, the thing no longer exists. Our bodies are like this. Being made up of various conditions, the body will cease to exist if the conditions are destroyed. Heart and lungs are two very important ones. If these two organs do not work, our body will not be able to survive. Therefore, we can control life if we could solve the death of the heart and lungs. According to the theory of “Interdependent Origination”, heart and lungs, as a kind of matter, are also composed of various conditions, flesh composition being the first condition. Besides, when we are suddenly frightened or hear unexpected happy things, our cardiopulmonary activity will become abnormal. This shows that our mindset is a condition of the heart and lungs, and the heart and lungs are supported by a certain state of the mind. In this way, if we start with the mind and adjust our mentality to a state which is different from normal, our heart and lungs will not survive. Through Zazen practice, adjusting our body to Samatha (a state of deep concentration or tranquility), we can easily live and die on our own. In all history, there have been countless examples of this kind.
Some people stubbornly believe that mental activity is a function of the body, just as sharpness is a function of a sword. They apply this analogy to scientific issues and even take it as the basis of argument. When it comes to the issue of life and death, they make the same mistake. Obstinately taking the body as the self, they keep working hard to improve the body. They are surely rewarded in this case. For example, they could get a more advanced body. But however advanced, this body, still a kind of matter, could not evade the law of interdependent origination. Since the law of interdependent origination is always connected with that of impermanence, this very advanced body will ultimately be destroyed, and what these people try will finally lead to nothing.
Therefore, we must have a scientific understanding of our body if we want to basically solve the problem of life and death. Our body is a kind of matter. How does Buddhism understand matter? Buddha decomposed a vellus indefinitely until it could no longer be divided. At this time, is the matter "being" or "nothing"? Obviously, matter in this case is on the interface of birth and death; that is to say, all matter is in the process of moment birth and death. It is just like a rotating fire wheel. We feel it is a circle, but it is actually a fire. We have been cheated by our feelings. The same is true of matter. We are not concentrated enough to know that matter is not real or substantial, or that this material world has not substance, only functions. We could understand this point if we are more deeply concentrated. We could pass through walls and mountains, even walk in the fire or sit in the air. But why do we feel that the unreal Matter functions? The reason is the lack of concentration. With a distracted mind, we feel it a real spinning fire and dare not touch it. Modern science about matter has basically reached the level of Buddhism, which has already had a large number of repeatable verifications. We should be grateful to our ancient masters for their revolutionary and pioneering effort, without which we could be helpless and hopeless. These great men, through empirical practice, give us the truth: The material world is produced by the mind. The universe is the product of our delusive mind. As the saying goes, "All kinds of dharma are born when the mind works, and all kinds of dharma are destroyed when the mind rests". Therefore, in order to solve the problem of life and death, we must work hard on our mind.
2. Life and Death of the Mind
Our world is composed of mind and matter outside mind, which is also called “dharma”. Since all dharmas are not real, mind is us. As the saying goes, “the mind is Buddha”, in modern language, “thought is the thinker himself”. Therefore, when we are studying the mind, we are actually doing researches on life and death. We have discussed the state of mind in detail, and already known that there are two states of mind: delusive and true. Through all our efforts, we could return to our true state of mind and finally solve the problem of life and death.
What will happen when we return to the true mind (or Rulai Zang; Tathāgatagarbha; Buddha-nature)? Is there the next episode? Yes. In the state of true mind, you have a clear awareness of everything existing in the state of delusive mind. That is to say, you could “distinguish all dharma forms”. But you have lost the capacity to love and hate, in other words, you have found the essence of the world and returned to the fundamental state of mind. At this time, you will naturally want to gain the capacity to love and hate, hoping to experience that mentality. This is what is called “Zhijian Lizhi”, which is the basic reason for our departure from Tathāgatagarbha, also the root of Wu-Ming. That's why all our beings came. Originally, we were all in Tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, don't always belittle yourself and dare not admit that you are indeed a Buddha. Coming to the state of delusive mind, we hope to experience both the calmness of the sea and its roughness, which together make the sea magnificent. But being poor swimmers, we are drowned. Luckily, with access to Buddhism, we could not only play on the shore but chase waves in the water. From this we know that it is easy to live on both sides, but difficult to stay away from both sides. From this we also understand why worries are bodhi, which is applied to people on the shore. Don’t behave like a drunkard who says that he’s not drunk when he is.
What follows is much easier once we realize that we are originally Buddha. We originally have sufficient concentration. Now we are not working hard to make us concentrated, but trying to restore this capability, and all our efforts are nothing more than recovering this original feature. But why do we lose this ability? It is because we have been consumed by a delusive mind. To return to the state of concentration, we must work on our mind, or “ contemplate our mind”. Proper contemplation leads to deep concentration, a state in which we never make mistakes. It could have been an easy task, but have been made very difficult by the new practitioners who repeatedly say “It’s my fault”, “I plead guilty”, “I am sorry”, with all their courage and confidence crushed. What is discussed is specially found among the old Buddhists who seem to believe that confession of their crimes is the guarantee of becoming Buddha. As we all know those who live in the heaven also confess their crimes. They are always doing kind deeds, never committing a crime. Buddhism is science. To practice Buddhism, we should not only have sincere attitude, but employ scientific method, none of which could be evaded.
To practice Buddhism, the biggest problem for the beginner is related to the body which could not be completely emptied or reach the level of Samadhi (or subconscious concentration). Buddhism emphasizes the cultivation of mind. We could naturally restore our concentration as long as our mind rests, as we are originally Buddha, and sufficiently equipped with concentration. It follows that we must grasp one principle, that is, working on the mind. As long as we work on the mind, we are recovering concentration.
Make sure we are not training concentration. We get frantic because of strong stimulation, which is only caused by our mind and body. Our concentration could come back if we could remove these stimuli. Most Buddhists are quite aware that mental stimulation are mainly related to emotions such as hate and love. What they always ignore are the stimuli caused by the body. If we could not be emptied of influence of body, we could hardly achieve subconscious concentration, which is actually the most fundamental step for the practice of Zazen. In the novel Journey to the West, the real journey does not start until Monkey King and his Master travel across the Two World Mountains. Only in this moment, Monkey King finds his true mind and gain subconscious concentration.
Buddhists today fail to realize the importance of subconscious concentration. Assuming that they could control their wandering mind easily, they are eager to become concentrated immediately upon practicing Zazen, only to find that it is not an easy task. To achieve concentration quickly we must start with our body. Try to feel about the changes of the body and observe the sensation of pain, numbness, or distension carefully. Based on Buddha’s teaching, we should observe these changes tenderly and intently, experiencing the rising, developing, and disappearing of these sensations. As we are becoming more and more concentrated, these uncomfortable even painful experience are giving way to wonderful feelings. While practicing Zazen, we must keep in mind that our mind could definitely calm down if it is not affected by stimulation from without. In the process of observing the changes of our body, we are restoring our concentration. There isn’t such a thing as is called concentration which needs to be trained. Anything uncomfortable or painful could affect our practice directly. We get a peaceful mind if we remove these disturbing elements. What follows next is much easier. We could easily see the distance between ideas. This awareness means we have restored concentration. Although it is not as deep as the concentration of Rulai Zang (Tathāgatagarbha), there is no doubt that we have restored the basic concentration. We can sit for several, even a dozen, or dozens of hours.
Let us elaborate on the key theory so that the beginners could make a breakthrough in the practice of Zazen. The moment we come out of Rulai Zang (Tathāgatagarbha), our mind is activated and Upādāna (the Sanskrit word for "clinging," "attachment" or "grasping") is produced. Dominated by these attachments, we begin the journey of life and death. This mind is what we call a delusive mind, which is caused by our eagerness to experience emotions (Zhijian Lizhi) and developed by our attachments. From what generates the delusive mind, we could see Zhijian Lizhi, whose meaning can never be understood unless we return to Tathagatagarbha, does not really destroy our practice. What really affects us is the strength of Upādāna, which is the basis of our delusive mind. Only the cessation of these attachments leads to the true mind, a state with full concentration. To kill this delusive mind, we should find its most fragile part. Since there must be an object on which the delusive mind works, we could try to remove the object, without which the delusive mind also disappears.
Therefore, it is very important for the beginners to examine what they are attached to. As is discussed above, our attachments fall into two kinds, those from the body and those from the mind, both of which have the feature of causing stimulation. In other words, they are very attractive. The strong attraction such as physical pain and emotional shock from love and hate could be understood and eliminated easily, but our pursuit of tranquility could hardly be excluded. After meditating for a while, we are about to ask "have I been quiet?" "Why haven't I been quiet yet?" This kind of "seeking" is a kind of attachment which is the enemy of meditation. It is extremely important for beginners to analyze what the mind is clinging to. Many people fail not because they don’t work hard enough, but because they don’t know their problems.
Some people, who are afraid of being possessed, dare not practice meditation. Theoretically, there are two kinds of Zazen practice. In the first kind, we try to take advantage of our attachments. For example, we keep listening to the sound of dripping water, or watching the slow motion of Tai Ji. The common feature of this type of meditation is to concentrate on the objects. Since a delusive mind is like a devil and our attachment is one of the conditions for the generation of delusion, it is easy to go wrong if we could not control this kind of meditation. There is another kind of meditation which is highly emphasized by Buddha and which is impossible for us to be possessed, namely, the destruction of our attachments, or our delusive mind. The key in this practice is to let go all the attachments in the mind. But how to do it? Many beginners have this question. First, as is mentioned above, try to perceive the changes of our body and let go of them. Second, try to observe the mind, perceiving our thoughts and then set them down. In this kind of meditation, "letting go" is the most essential technique. As long as we can persist in doing this, there is absolutely no possibility of being enchanted.
This method can help the beginners make a breakthrough quickly, giving them the impression that the practice of Zazen is not difficult. Since hands are closely connected with the mind, we could more easily become concentrated through the observation of the hand. While standing or sitting, walking or resting, we just observe our hand quietly and intently with a soft heart. Over time, it feels swelling, numb, or hot. Don’t interfere with it. Just watch it quietly, like what Buddha has taught us. In the whole process, we must not antagonize these sensations. Just experience them slowly and let them go. In time, we will find that as these feelings disappear, we will lose the feeling of our hand. Although the hand is there with us, we can no longer control it as we want, and our mind and body begin to be separated. The same goes for the disappearance of the whole body. It is often easier and faster to start from the hand.
To sum up, our concepts determine success or failure in the practice of Buddhism. Right concepts lead to quick progress, while wrong ideas result in great difficulties and problems. So, we should constantly examine what we have done and find our problems so as to develop correct understanding of Zazen practice. Keep doing this, we could easily handle the problem of life and death.