So, what should we do? We continue practicing. Over time, our body and mind will gradually become more absorbed in our practice. Some of our fellow practitioners have been cultivating Mere Emptiness and Bodhicitta for many years, and their body and mind have gradually become absorbed in it. At this point, they realize how precious the meditation retreat is and want to use this opportunity to break through and experience the state of "the bottom of the barrel falling away and the void shattering.
Is this Awakening? This is precisely what Chan koans, known as the trigger point, are meant to discern. Those who have cultivated to this extent should begin to engage in koan battles. Our current koan battles focus on technical aspects rather than natural expression of our own realizations. We study how to engage in koan battles technically, how to respond to someone's questions, hoping to arrive at a standard answer. If there were a standard answer, it would no longer be a koan; it would lose its essence and become meaningless.
Koans are used when people have attained realization but refrains from expressing their realization using words from books, as this would imply recitation. Instead, they seek to convey their realization through expressions that can only be grasped by fellow practitioners or those who have reached the same level of realization. Koans do not have a definitive answer, and sometimes even use paradoxical responses. Our current situation is not there yet to engage in koan debates. For most people today, it is more appropriate to focus on solid and consistent cultivation.
Participating in a Chan meditation retreat is an opportunity to engage in deep contemplation and meditative practice. While it is acceptable to engage in casual conversations, make friends, or even enjoy a bowl of spicy noodles or Thai snacks during the retreat, the actual meditation practice during the seven days is intensive and rigorous, allowing little room for such activities. Participants are expected to fully immerse themselves in the practice, dedicating 24 hours a day to meditation, sometimes even meditating while asleep. This rigorous approach is intended for those on the verge of a breakthrough. However, for most of us, such a breakthrough is not imminent. Therefore, our focus should be placed on preliminary practices, which help us accumulate merits and insights. Without this accumulation, progress may not occur.
Our meditation retreat does not strictly adhere to the traditional approach of intensive Chan meditation retreats. Most participants are also not at a stage where an immediate breakthrough is imminent. Instead, our primary focus is on gradual cultivation, a process of accumulating insights that lead to heightened spiritual experiences. Through extensive meditation, these experiences gradually evolve into relatively stable states. These stable states are then dismantled one by one, ultimately leading to no more stage.
Through this continuous process of dismantling attachments to the self and to things other than the self, the grip of these attachments gradually loosens. Without even realizing how far they have gone, eventually, someone may one day suddenly realize that they have reached this stage, thanks to gradual cultivation. Ultimately, one may come to the realization that they have transcended the cycle of birth and death. This entire process can unfold without any sense of euphoria but is full of hardship. In the beginning, there may be no joy, but as one progresses, some of the obvious hardships begin to fade, and a sense of joy derived from practicing Dharma gradually emerges. When this state becomes entirely natural, upon reflection, one realizes that they have attained the states described in Buddhist texts.
However, this process takes a long time and requires dedicating one's entire life to it. In Buddhism, there is a term 'renouncing this life' for such dedication. It's important not to mistake 'renouncing this life' for merely studying Buddhist texts conceptually. If you are still clinging to greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt while claiming to renounce this life, then you are only fooling yourself. So, what should you do? Keep going, no matter what. In the beginning, it is normal to experience pain, discomfort, and unpleasantness. The key is perseverance!"
Excerpted from:Cognition and Expression Part Two
