As a child in the fifties and early sixties, growing up as television did, I was fondest of the science fiction -- The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits -- their plots, and my fascination, turned often on a simple shift of viewpoint, on an answer to the question, "Seen from a different view, an alien view, what might we look like?" Often the answer was horrific; we looked like food, or like pets, or like the infestation spoiling some greater being's picnic, but sometimes, in more thoughtful work, seen from above we simply looked foolish, childish, unable to handle our own affairs, and dangerous if left unsupervised. 

We looked, in other words, much as we in the United States look now to most of the rest of the world. Today we don't need science fiction to challenge our comfortable views, we need only to pick up a European newspaper: What we see as fact -- the threat of Iraq, for example -- the rest of the world sees as clearly fiction; what we see as inevitable -- the coming war -- the rest of the world sees as quite mad. Different points of view.

Is it the flag moving, or is it the wind? Those monks had different points of view. Fortunately for them, wisdom was present with the answer, "It is the mind that moves," resolving the conflict and revealing the error; wisdom takes the larger view. Unfortunately for us, wisdom is not now present, not in sufficient quantity nor with sufficient authority to step in and resolve the conflicts and reveal the errors. All the actors are stuck in the play, each playing his own part, insisting on his own view.

What would the aliens think? Looking down at our little green planet from the mother ship; what would they think of a species willing to neglect education and health care so that they could spend hundreds of billions of their units of exchange to kill each other in order to avoid some vaguely imagined future threat? And what if they noticed that in some places millions of people were starving, while in others food was rotting, but that humans couldn't manage to deliver the food to the hungry because they were too busy arguing, in their international forums, about when and under what circumstances it was okay to go ahead and start the killing? What would be the aliens view of that?

What would be the Buddha's view?

The Editor

The Four Proper Exertions are really the four proper attitudes to have for those on the Buddhist path. Lacking these proper attitudes, it would be very difficult to succeed in practice, whether one is on the Hinayana path of liberation in nirvana, or the Mahayana path of liberation through helping others. The Four Proper Exertions are an integral part of the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment, which are emphasized in both the Hinayana and Mahayana traditions. Without these four proper attitudes, one can become lax in one's practice, or even give it up entirely. 

Of the seven groups of practices that make up the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness are the first, and the Four Proper Exertions are the second. This is the correct order for progressing through the Thirty-Seven Aids. We practice the Four Foundations to cultivate a calm and stable mind, and then progress to the Four Exertions to maintain diligent effort. After that we can move on to the remaining five categories to complete the practice of liberation.

How do the Four Proper Exertions relate to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness? First, remember that the Four Foundations practice includes the Five Methods for Stilling the Mind. Thus, after one practices the Five Methods of Stilling the Mind, one is capable of calming one's mind. However, at that stage one is at most able to enter samadhi. There is no wisdom at that stage, After practicing the full course of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, wisdom can arise, and one is on the way to liberation.

As a path. Buddhism has three major disciplines: precepts, samadhi, and wisdom. But even if one practices precepts and samadhi, without wisdom there is no entry to nirvana. To seriously practice Buddhism, one should engage all three. To attain wisdom, one should practice contemplation as taught in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. 

The Wisdom of Contemplation 

There are two approaches to the practice of the Four Foundations, that of the Hinayana and that of the Mahayana. In the Hinayana, the emphasis is on the wisdom of contemplation 

In this regard, there are four contemplations: contemplating that the body is impure, contemplating that sensation is actually suffering, contemplating that the mind is impermanent, and contemplating that phenomena are without self.

Opposing the four contemplations are the four inverted or upside-down views. The first inverted view is attaching to the body -- we love it and think it is pure. The second inverted view is thinking of sensual pleasure as bringing happiness, rather than as bringing suffering when we lose it. As a. result we hold on to pleasure, mistaking that for happiness. Third is taking the passing thoughts of the mind as the self, and mistaking this "I" as real. Finally, there is seeing phenomena as real, and relating to things as an owner -- thinking of this or that as belonging to oneself.

Having the inverted views, we experience vexations that become obstructions to liberation. To correct these views, we practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness to reduce vexation and make progress towards wisdom. When we begin to see that the body is really impure, we will not be so attached to it. When we can see that pleasures ultimately bring suffering, we will not be so attached to them. When we see the mind as a collection of passing thoughts, we won't see the self as permanent. When we see that phenomena are without self, we will not be so attached to gain and loss, or be so upset when something doesn't go our way. 

The Wisdom of Emptiness

In contrast to Hinayana emphasis on the wisdom of contemplation, the Mahayana emphasizes the wisdom of emptiness. This idea of realizing wisdom from experiencing emptiness comes from the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which speaks of contemplating body, sensation, mind, and phenomena as empty. Through this contemplation, wisdom is attained.

The Hinayana approach contemplates the impurity of the body, the suffering that arises from sensation, the impermanence of the mind, and the non-self nature of phenomena; the Mahayana approach directly contemplates body, mind, sensation, and phenomena as empty. At first glance, the Mahayana approach may seem easier and more direct, but unless one diligently practices the Four Proper Exertions, it is not easy to realize the wisdom of emptiness. In any case, whether practicing the Mahayana or the Hinayana approach, one needs to practice the Four Proper Exertions to make real progress.

Comtemplating Body and Sensation

How do we directly contemplate emptiness? First, concerning the body, we see that both the nature and the form of our bodies are exactly emptiness. When we can see that, we give rise to wisdom immediately. Sensations result from interactions between our sense organs and sense objects. Without either sense organs or sense objects, there would be no sensations. We should then see that sensation does not reside inside our bodies, which only contain our sense organs. in other words, sense organs by themselves do not give rise to sensation. Neither does sensation reside outside our bodies, because outside our bodies are just the sense objects. Again, sense objects by themselves do not generate sensation. Can we say then that sensation must be somewhere in the middle, where sense organs and sense objects meet? But that's clearly impossible. So, when we are able to see that sensation resides neither inside nor outside our bodies, nor in the middle, when we can directly perceive that sensation is empty, at that instant, we can give rise to wisdom. 

While this may sound like tricky reasoning, we are just explaining how phenomena arise from causes and conditions. Sensations occur when sense organs and sense objects come together. Without these causes and conditions coming together, there would be no sensation, which obviously cannot exist by itself. So, if one can directly contemplate the arising of causes and conditions, and how that brings about phenomena, then one is seeing emptiness.

Contemplating Mind

Now let's consider contemplating the mind. We give names such as greed, hatred, happiness, jealousy, and suspicion to our thoughts and emotions, but these names are not the true nature of the mind itself. How could they be if the mind is constantly changing? If the mind had enduring reality, how can we be happy now and sad later, or vice versa? Or if we say, "I love this," how can we hate "this" later? Precisely because the mind is subject to constant change, we cannot apply any name to it and say that this is the mind. So the third contemplation is seeing that although we give names to the mind, the names are not the mind itself.

We constantly use words to describe the mind. Sometimes we say, "This person's mind is very good," or, "This person's mind is very scattered," as if there were a real mind there. But all the names and adjectives are just labels, not the real mind. When we say that someone's mind is very good, it is a very ambiguous statement because the really good mind is no mind. When one has a mind, that's a bad mind! When there is a mind, it is usually a mind of vexation -- of greed, hatred, happiness, worry -- all minds of vexation. As we said earlier, the only good mind is no mind. If we can really contemplate mind free from all names and labels, and perceive its actual emptiness, we can give rise to wisdom.

Contemplating Phenomena

We come now to contemplating phenomena -- seeing that phenomena are neither good nor bad. First we should distinguish between phenomena in the mind and phenomena in the external world. If we can see that all the names that we give to our minds are actually empty, then we can also see that the names we give to phenomena are actually reflections of our minds. When there is no mind, how can there be good or bad in the phenomena around us? So, the contemplation of phenomena is based on the emptiness of mind, sensation, and body that we just discussed. If body, sensation, and mind are all empty, the phenomena have to be empty as well. When we can see the emptiness of phenomena, we can give rise to wisdom. Does this direct approach to contemplation sound easy to practice? Instead of contemplating the impurity of the body, the suffering of sensation, and all that, we just need to look at phenomena and say, "Oh, this is empty," and "Oh, that's empty." Is that so? [Laughter]

In Taiwan I heard a Chan master lecture on the emptiness of phenomena. The audience seemed to really like it. Afterwards a layperson walked up with a big, bulging red envelope full of money offerings for the lecturer, who seemed happy to be receiving it. At this moment, another Chan master who happened to be in the audience came up and grabbed the red envelope from the layperson. The lecturer was startled, and said, "What are you doing? Those offerings are for me!" The master from the audience said, "You just gave a lecture in which you said everything is empty. So money is empty; you are empty, I am empty. What difference does it make who gets the envelope?" The master who gave the lecture said, "No, those offerings are for me." And with that, he tried to grab the envelope from the master from the audience.

The layperson finally said, "Let me give you each an offering." The master from the audience released the envelope to the lecturer, and told him, "Actually, I was just trying to make a point. Of course, the offerings belong to you. But you talked about emptiness, and I am asking, how do we really practice emptiness, how can we really see that everything is empty?"

It is difficult to see important things like money, love, and relationships as empty. Can you think of your spouse, your boyfriend, or your girl friend as empty? One way to begin to really see things as empty is to be diligent in practicing contemplation, In the meantime, keep reminding yourself not to be greedy, and not to attach to things like love, relationships, and money. Remind yourself that all things are ultimately empty. When I was in Japan, a young scholar gave an excellent lecture on emptiness. After the presentation we all got together for lunch, and this scholar sat at the same table with us. We told him he gave a good talk on emptiness, but that he should not eat lunch because the food was empty anyway. The scholar said, "Well, see. When emptiness meets emptiness, isn't that also emptiness?" We agreed. Then he said, "Well, my stomach is empty, and so is this food. So it should be all right for this empty food to go into my empty stomach. Am I correct?" Everybody agreed, so we let him eat his lunch. What do you think? Is this the correct way to think about emptiness? In half an hour it will be lunch, so are we going to put some empty food into our empty stomachs? [Laughter]

The Four Proper Exertions 

Now we will move to our main topic, the Four Proper Exertions. There are different names for this practice. The first and most commonly used name is the name we are using, and it basically refers to the four proper ways to maintain diligence in the practice. The second name for the practice is the Four Cutting-offs of the Mind. This name refers to the mind as the source of vexations, and to the need to cut off those activities of the mind that relate to attachments. By constantly reminding ourselves that we are practicing, we can make progress in cutting of the activities of  the mind that correspond to vexation. A third name for the practice is the Four Correct Ways of Cutting Off. This name refers to the need to cut off laziness and the idleness of the mind. The fourth name is the Four Kinds of Correct and Proper Splendidness, and it refers to the four proper methods to encourage oneself to practice benevolence, and to stop the bad deeds of body, speech, and mind.

As we said, without practicing the Four Proper Exertions, one may become lax and not succeed in Chan contemplation. When one becomes lax, the five obstructions of desire, anger, sloth, restlessness, and doubt can occur. We need diligence to keep us from falling into the pit of laziness, and succumbing to the five obstructions.

So the practice of the Four Proper Exertions is as follows:

To keep unwholesome states not yet arisen from arising,
To cease unwholesome states already arisen,
To give rise to wholesome states not yet arisen,
To continue wholesome states already arisen.

The practice of Buddhadharma really is about giving rise to wholesome states and stopping unwholesome states. What then are wholesome states and what are the unwholesome states? wholesome states are the ten virtues; the unwholesome states are their opposites, the ten non-virtues. The ten virtues serve as the foundation of those on the Hinayana path of liberation, as well as those on the Mahayana path of compassion. In fact, the ten virtues also reflect the moral standards for people in lay life.

The Ten Virtues

The ten virtues are in three parts, corresponding to bodily actions, speech, and mind. The virtues relating to actions are no killing, no stealing, and no sexual misconduct. The virtues relating to speech are no lying, no slandering, no gossiping, and no divisive speech. The virtues relating to the mind are cutting off greed, cutting off hatred, and cutting off ignorance? These ten virtues are the wholesome states that are cultivated in practicing the Pour Proper Exertions.

By Contrast, the unwholesome states are the opposite of the ten virtues: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, slandering, gossiping, divisive speech, greed, hatred, and ignorance. Dividing the ten virtues into three categories of bodily action, speech, mind is just a coarse definition. To go into more detail, leaving out the body and speech, and just referring to the mind, next time we will talk about the twenty different state of minds of unwholesome, or vexatious, states of mind, and eleven ways in which the mind can be wholesome and virtuous. People are mistaken if they believe that so long as their body does not do unwholesome things, they are wholesome. It is really in the mind that wholesomeness is cultivated, and only when the mind if free from vexation are we truly wholesome.

The Past

Shifu Returns Buddha's Head to Body

On January 9, 2003, the New York Times reported that Chan Master Sheng Yen, president and spiritual leader of Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association, had arranged the return of the head of Akshobhya Buddha to its original torso at the Four Gate Pagoda in Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. The massive head had been stolen in 1997, and had only recently re-surfaced when disciples of Master Sheng Yen had donated it for the future Museum of Buddhist History and Culture at the Dharma Drum Mountain site in Taiwan.

Master Sheng Yen had noticed the sculpture's damaged neck and had immediately contacted Lin Bao Yao at the Taipei National University of Arts, who identified it as being from Shandong during the Sui dynasty (581-618). Experts in Shandong then confirmed that it was indeed the missing Akshobhya Buddha from Four Gate Pagoda.

On December 17, in a ceremony that made the front page on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Buddha head was returned to its torso. Master Sheng Yen accompanied it on its plane trip from Taipei, and then its bus ride to Shandong, (turning down the offer of a limousine), and took the opportunity to also visit the National Religion Bureau in Beijing, where he suggested that the Four Gate Pagoda, largely a tourist site in recent years, should once again become a religious shrine. Asked about the difficult relationship between China and Taiwan, he said that both governments had been supportive of the transfer, and expressed joy that, as a religious leader, he had been able to contribute to dialogue between the two sides.

It is unknown how the stolen artifact made its way to Master Sheng Yen, although authorities speculate that it may have gone from China to Japan to the art markets of Europe before being purchased by a group of businessmen in Taiwan. Prices can vary greatly, but Sui dynasty artifacts in good condition are quite rare, and the value of this one has been estimated as high as $1.5 million.

Dr. Les Cole to Head DDRC

On Sunday, December 29, Master Sheng Yen announced the appointment of Dr. Les Cole, of Atlanta, Georgia, as executive director of the Dharma Drum Retreat Center (DDRC) in Pine Bush, New York. Dr. Cole, a Christian minister and psychotherapist, has been the executive director of The Center for Children and Young Adults in Marietta, Georgia, which operates shelters for abused and neglected children and youth.

Dr. Cole is already well known to many Chan Center members as the director of the Chan Summer Camp at DDRC, during which he led workshops designed to improve communication and understanding between parents and their teenage children, sessions that were very well received.

In his introduction of Dr. Cole, Master Sheng Yen described his responsibilities as including developing the DDRC and its programming, setting up an infrastructure for its operations, "marketing" Shifu and Guo Yuan Fa Shi to the western public, and coordinating construction, legal affairs and public relations at the center. In a characteristic understatement, Shifu referred to the new job as "simple, but not easy.

Dr. Cole then spoke briefly, asking for everyone's help in making the retreat center a place that can offer the medicine of Chan to help heal the many suffering beings in the world.  

2002 DDMBA Convention

The 6th North American Annual Convention of DDMBA was held at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center in Pine Bush, NY, from October 25-27. More than 100 members attended from 15 states and 19 chapters, including those from Vancouver and Toronto, Canada.

Master Sheng Yen opened the convention with an address in which he reaffirmed the mission of DDMBA, that being the promotion of Chinese Chan Buddhism throughout the world. He said that while Tibetan and Theravada Buddhism were well known, Chinese Chan still needed lots of hard work to make an impression in the world. This is the challenge that we all face as DDMBA members.

Shifu went on to explain that the main purpose of his recent pilgrimage trip to China was to give DDMBA members the opportunity to witness the complexity, vastness and profundity of Chinese Chan. Unfortunately, the Chan school has been in decline for six centuries, and without education, it can never revive itself. This is why the programs of DDMBA place so much emphasis on Buddhist education.

On the second day of the convention Shifu further refined his message by emphasizing that all DDMBA activities should contain two main purposes -- care and education. We care for both ourselves and others; we educate ourselves by learning through our activities and from other members.

Recently, DDMBA has started a new campaign: "One teacher, one tradition, one mind and one vow." The one teacher is Shakyamuni Buddha, the one tradition is Chinese Chan, the one mind is a mind of compassion and wisdom and the one vow is to uplift the education of Chinese Chan.

The convention also included sharing experiences and photographs of the recent pilgrimage trip to China, exhibits and workshops by individual chapters, a casual night of entertainment, and the appointment of new chapter presidents.

Marriage of Kevin Hsieh and Wendy Wong

On Tuesday, November 26, Kevin Hsieh and Wendy Wang tied the knot at the Chan Meditation Center. Kevin and his mother, Mrs. Kao Liu-chih are long-time members and volunteers of the center. For many years Kevin worked as the center's official photographer and computer liaison.

Kevin wanted a simple Buddhist wedding at the center to be officiated by Master Sheng Yen. With less than two weeks' notice the date was set to fit into Shifu's busy schedule and arrangements were quickly made. Mrs. Kao hurried back from Taiwan, where she had been visiting.

Closed to a hundred guests, mostly center members, attended this happy occasion. The Chan hall was decorated festively with red ribbons, lanterns and a runner for the bridal party. Shifu offered a short talk to the couple and bestowed blessings on them, and a simple reception followed with food prepared by volunteers.

May Kevin and Wendy be blessed with good health and happiness!

Chanting and Chan Retreat

The Chan Meditation Center inaugurated its first Chanting and Chan Retreat at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center September 27-29. The two-day retreat, sponsored by the Monday night chanting group, which has been meeting for chanting practice for the last six years, was attended by forty participants, mostly regulars of the group. Guo Xiang Fa Shi supervised the retreat and Guo Chen Shi led the chanting.

This unique retreat combined chanting and Chan. Each chanting period consisted of recitation of Amitabha Buddha's name while walking and sitting, followed by a shorter period of sitting meditation, using the method of silently chanting the Buddha's name. The format was similar to that of a regular Chan retreat, with participants remaining silent throughout the retreat and performing daily work assignments. In addition, everyone was encouraged to perform 300 prostrations each day.

Guo Yuan Fa Shi gave short talks, explaining that the practice of chanting, which already existed during Shakyamuni Buddha's time, could lead to the unification of body, mind and environment. He encouraged participants to make good use of the two short days in order to derive the utmost benefit.   

Winter Huatou Retreat

From December 26, 2002-January 5, 2003, Master Sheng Yen held his 100th retreat in the United States. Under a mantle of pristine snow, 57 participants assembling from all over the world-England, Italy, Israel, Poland, Finland, Croatia, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada and all parts of the U.S.-gathered at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center to diligently practice the huatou method under the watchful guidance of Master Sheng Yen: "In the Chan tradition, the huatou is used to shatter one's confusions in order to attain enlightenment. These confusions are the manifestations of all the delusions ordinary sentient beings have. Delusions come from attachments, wandering thoughts and vexations. Therefore, in using the huatou method, one wields the huatou like a diamond sword to shatter these delusions, vexations, wandering thoughts and attachments." (A huatou is an unanswerable question-"Who am I?" and "Who is it dragging this corpse around?" are two famous ones-that one asks oneself repeatedly as a method of meditation. -The editor.)