Hua Tou

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Hua Tou (話頭, Korean , hwadu , Japanese , wato ) is a form of Buddhist meditation in the teachings of Chan , Korean Seon and Japanese Rinzai-shū . Hua Tou can be roughly translated as 'word main', 'head of speech' or more precisely translated as "point behind which speaking exhausts itself". A hua tou can be a short sentence or a single word used in meditation as a subject to help focus the mind .

origin

Hua Tou are often based on dialogues and kōans of master and student. However, they are greatly shortened. The Hua Tou method was invented by the Chan master Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163), a follower of the Linji Zong (Linji school). Dahui also taught lay people, especially educated officials (士大夫). The support of this "Shi Da Fu" was essential for the survival of the individual schools, because the appointments as abbots of important monasteries were determined by them. Dahui therefore looked for workable methods for laypeople to achieve meditation success. For the meditation with Hua Tou no regular meetings and conversations between student and master (dokusan) are necessary. Hua Tou can also be practiced by laypeople during their daily work.

Dahui was an opponent of intellectualism and literary commentary, who penetrated meditation practice with the Biyan Lu (Record of the Blue-Green Rock) of his teacher Yuanwu Keqin (圜悟 克勤). Because of this, he even burned his own copy of the Blue-Green Rock Records .

The Hua Tou practice was widely spread in Korea through Master Chinul . Robert Buswell writes:

Hwadu is the predominant technique cultivated in the Korean meditation halls and almost all masters recommend it for their students at all levels.

Professor Bhikkhu Analayo finds comparable meditation methods in the Atthakatha ( Pali commentaries), which deal with the mindful handling of different postures. Analayo refers to the Papañcasudani when he writes: "The difference between simply running and walking as meditation as Sathipatthana is that a meditator holds onto the question: Who is going? Who is that who is going?"

application

Dahui emphasized that basic insight is essential for Zen training. In this way, even lay people should be able to achieve enlightenment. Chinul described "Hwadu" in his Dharma Collection and Special Practice Record ( 법집 별항 녹 절요 사기 , 法 集 別 行 錄 節 要 私 記 解, Beopjip byeolhaeng nok jeolyo byeongip sagi) as a practice that leads to the limits of language and is used for cleaning. Therefore, Chinul also recommended a more in-depth practice for advanced students.

To practice Hua Tou , one focuses on the phrase and initially repeats it in silence with a questioning and open mind, thinking about the "who" or "what" is what the Hua Tou brings up to "great doubt" produce. Hua Tou can also be practiced during seated meditation after the mind has come to rest after breathing meditation.

Hsu Yun taught on the practice of Hua Tou:

It is important to practice the Hua Tou at all times : running, lying down, or standing. Meditate the Hua Tou vividly and clearly from morning to evening until it sticks in the mind like the autumn moon is clearly reflected in clear water. When you meditate in this way, you can be sure of achieving enlightenment.

In meditation, when you feel tired, open your eyes wide and straighten your back, you will feel fresher and more alert.

When working on Hua Tou , you should never be too relaxed about it and never be too relaxed about it. If you are too relaxed, you may feel serious and comfortable, but you may lose the hua tou . As a consequence, you could fall into the 'death void'. But especially in a state of serenity, if you don't lose the Hua Tou , then you may be able to get further than the top hundred-foot post that you have already climbed. If you are too loose, too many wandering thoughts will attack you. You will find it difficult to suppress them. In short, the Zen practitioner should always be well adjusted, never too tight and never too loose, firmness should be found in looseness and looseness in firmness.

Master Sheng Yen distinguishes three levels of Hua Tou application: recitation of the Hua Tou , questions of the Hua Tou and examination of the Hua Tou . In the course of these stages it is crucial not to answer the Hua Tou intellectually, but to persistently ask the question spiritually with a genuine interest and sincere desire to know. The constant practice initially creates great doubts and this leads to insight.

Examples

  • "What is it?"
  • "What's this?"
  • "Who repeats the Buddha's name?"
  • "Who is carrying this corpse around?" (made famous by Hsu Yun )
  • "Who am I?"
  • "What was my Original Face before my father and mother were born?"
  • "What is Mu ?"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Salmon 2012: 2.
  2. ↑ Schlütter 2008.
  3. ↑ Salmon 2012: 1st onmark production.
  4. ↑ Schlütter 2008.
  5. ↑ Schlütter 2008.
  6. ↑ Salmon 2012: 3
  7. ↑ "can be carried out by laymen in the midst of their daily activities." Dahui - Salmon 2012: 4th
  8. ^ A b Robert E. Buswell: Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen (Classics in East Asian Buddhism) . University of Hawaii Press, 1991, ISBN 0824814274 , pp. 68-69. "Hwadu is the predominant technique cultivated in [Korean] meditation halls, and almost all masters advocate its use for students at all levels."
  9. ↑ "the difference between simple walking and walking meditation as a Satipatthana is that a meditator keeps in mind the question: Who goes? Whose is this going?" (Paps I 251). Analayo, Satipatthana: the direct path to realization : 139.
  10. ↑ Schlütter 2008: 107
  11. ↑ Salmon 2012: 10
  12. ↑ Yen 2009.
  13. ↑ The important thing is to stick to Hua Tou at all times when walking, lying, or standing. From morning to night observing Hua Tou vividly and clearly, until it appears in your mind like the autumn moon reflected limpidly in quiet water. If you practice this way, you can be assured of reaching the state of enlightenment. In meditation, if you feel sleepy, you may open your eyes widely and straighten your back; you will then feel fresher and more alert than before. When working on the Hua Tou , you should be neither too subtle nor too loose. If you are too subtle you may feel very serene and comfortable, but you are apt to lose the Hua Tou . The consequence will then be that you will fall into the 'dead emptiness'. Right in the state of serenity, if you do not lose the Hua Tou , you may then be able to progress further than the top of the hundred-foot pole you have already ascended. If you are too loose, too many errant thoughts will attack you. You will then find it difficult to subdue them. In short, the Zen practitioner should be well adjusted, neither too tight nor too loose; in the looseness there should be tightness, and in the tightness there should be looseness. Yun 1970.
  14. ↑ Yen 2009: 13.
  15. ↑ Yen 2009: 16.
  16. ↑ Preferred by Sheng Yen , Yen 2009.

literature

  • Stuart Lachs: Hua-t'ou: A Method of Zen Meditation [1] 2012.
  • Morten Schlütter: How Zen became Zen. The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China. Honolulu, University of Hawai'i Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-8248-3508-8
  • Hsu Yun: Practice of Zen translated by Garma CC Chang 1970.
  • Sheng Yen: Shattering the Great Doubt: The Chan Practice of Huatou. Translated from Dharma Drum publications 2009.
  • JC. Cleary: Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui. Shambhala 1977.
  • Charles Luk: Empty Cloud. The Autobiography of a Chinese Zen Master. Element 1988.

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