THE GRADUAL APPROACH AND THE SUDDEN APPROACH
In the gradual approach, the aim of meditation is to attain concentration and contemplation of mind to remove layers of defilement
Question
I understand that some spiritual paths purport that one must spend many life times to attain complete Enlightenment. In practicing Zen is it possible for anyone to attain this in one lifetime? Is it a reasonable/practical expectation? If so what conditions are required?
Ish
Answer
Yes, it is possible for an aspirant to attain complete Enlightenment in one lifetime by practicing Zen. In fact, it is a primary aim of Zen practice to attain complete Enlightenment not just in one lifetime but here and now. It is a reasonable and practical expectation. But this does not mean that if one practices Zen, he will certainly attain complete Enlightenment.
Three conditions are required, not only for attaining complete Enlightenment in Zen training, but also in attaining the purported result in any art. In other words, if you want to break a brick with your bare hand, to become a world-class footballer, or to have internal force to enjoy good health, vitality and longevity, you need three conditions, known as the Three Requirements for Success as follows.
- A right method.
- A competent teacher.
- A good student.
Firstly you must have a right method to attain complete Enlightenment in one lifetime, or to accomplish any result an art is purported to give. Next you must have a competent teacher to guide you towards your goal. But the most important is that you must be a good student.
All the three conditions are required. If you have a right method and you are a good student, you still may not achieve your goal if you do not have a competent teacher.
This, in fact, is the situation in many arts. Today, a great majority of students who practice meditation, chi kung or kungfu have right methods and they themselves are good students, but they still do not have the desired results because they do not have competent teachers.
The students usually do not realize that the problem is their lack of competent teachers. They mistakenly think that if they have the methods, they will have the purported results. But this is not so, as evident by thousands of students who practice meditation, chi kung and kungfu, but their mind is still stressful, they are still weak and sick, and they are unable to defend themselves. If we check their methods, we find that the methods are correct, and they practice diligently.
Why is it that some spiritual paths require a long time, like many lifetimes, to attain Enlightenment whereas in Zen it is possible to attain Enlightenment in an instant? In other words, why spiritual development in some spiritual paths is gradual, whereas spiritual attainment in Zen is sudden?
We are all originally enlightened. But we do not realize our enlightenment because of ignorance. In some religions, this is described as we are all issued from God, but are alienated from God because of sins. In scientific terms, everything is just an undifferentiated spread of universal energy, but conceptualization transforms the transcendental cosmic reality into the phenomenal world.
The practice of many spiritual paths is to tear away the ignorance, sins or conceptualization piece by piece over many lifetimes to realize transcendental Cosmic Reality. The practice of Zen is to aim straight at the transcendental Cosmic Reality by eliminating all thoughts which are the cause of differentiation.
For example, in other spiritual disciplines, one cultivates blessings by doing good and avoiding evil. His good blessings will result in him being born at a higher spiritual level in the next life, in this world or in other worlds such as in heavens. But if his evilness outweighs his goodness, he will be reborn at a lover level in his next life, as a lower human being or as an insect or animal in this world, or as a lower being in other dimensions.
As he goes through countless lives he accumulates countless layers of ignorance, also called defilements or sins in some cultures, which smother his original Buddha nature or divine spark. If he is reborn at a higher spiritual level, he may remove some of these layers. Hopefully, if he has accumulated sufficient blessings, he may be reborn in a life when he can become a monk so that he can cultivate professionally to attain Enlightenment or return to God the Holy Spirit. This is the gradual approach.
Zen uses the sudden approach. We are originally the Buddha, but we do not realize our Buddhahood due to ignorance. This is another way of saying that originally everything is transcendental Cosmic Reality without any differentiation, but we create differentiation which results in the phenomenal realm in this world or in other dimensions because of thoughts. If we eliminate all thoughts, which transform the undifferentiated Cosmic Reality into differentiated phenomenal realms, we return to our original state of transcendental Cosmic Realtiy. This is the Zen approach, attaining Enlightenment in an instant, here and now.
In the sudden approach, the aim of meditation is to attain no mind to realize the Supreme Reality in an instant
For information about the Zen course, please contact Sifu Roland Mastel
The above is reproduced from the thread 10 Questions to the Grandmaster about Zen in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum
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