Master Hanshan: Do Not Pursue All Manner of Enjoyments for This Physical Body

For monastics, the first essential point to understand is that the fundamental purpose of leaving home, cutting off worldly attachments, and parting from one's family is to transcend birth and death. If you are resolved to attend to the great matter of birth and death, you must know that all worldly dharmas are the root of suffering, and the body itself is an aggregate of suffering. You must arouse the aspiration for practice, and seek the path to liberation from suffering.

First, you must see through your present state of body and mind. Contemplate that this body is merely a provisional aggregate formed from the four great elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. When each of these four elements eventually separates, where will this present deluded body remain? Once you see through this truth, you will no longer pursue all manner of enjoyments for this physical body.

Next, you must see through the perception, hearing, cognition, and awareness that arise in your immediate experience: they are wholly the activity of deluded thought, and not the true mind at all. It is through this deluded mind that you create all kinds of karma; every arising thought, every mental stirring, is nothing but karma, nothing but transgression. Even this single thought is the root of the suffering of birth and death. You absolutely must not be swept away by these deluded thoughts, letting them carry you along in their drift. In your daily life, observe with continuous, careful attention: whenever a deluded thought arises, see through it instantly and extinguish it on the spot. Do not follow it, letting it continue to cling to objects and wander far astray, never to return.

If you find your observation practice unsteady and have no clear method, simply take a single recitation of "Amitabha Buddha" as your hua tou (key Chan meditative phrase), hold fast to it tightly, and never let it slip from your mind for even a moment. With this hua tou as your anchor, whenever you see a deluded thought arise, immediately turn your mind to Amitabha Buddha: this is right mindfulness taking hold. Deluded thoughts will then vanish of their own accord, with no need for you to push them away. In this way, throughout all 24 hours of the day, apply yourself with continuous, focused attention: hold fast only to this single thought as your master, and treat all other deluded thoughts as guests. Once you can clearly distinguish host from guest, and sustain this practice over time until it grows fully natural and effortless, deluded thoughts will vanish of their own accord, and your true mind will reveal itself naturally.

If you, as practitioners, are truly resolved to attend to the great matter of birth and death, hold fast only to this single thought as what is real. All other worldly skills and arts — composing poetry, practicing calligraphy, even seeking social connections, socializing, and indulging in idle wandering — are all deluded, confused activities. If you do not aspire to authentic practice, but instead devote yourself to superficial, empty pursuits, letting your six senses run wild, engaging in idle chatter with no grounding in reality, you will only waste your time in vain. Not only will you live a hollow, aimless life and die a wasted, meaningless death, but you may also find yourself unable to escape the karmic consequences of your unwholesome deeds, trapped for thousands of lifetimes and hundreds of eons with no hope of liberation.

——Collected Dream Wanderings of the Venerable Hanshan, Volume 10: Admonition to the Unenlightened Chan Practitioner Jian