andThe supreme meditation method is not any technique of manipulating thoughts, being "mindful", or "staying in the moment," but rather to turn around and directly recognize the luminous*, boundless nature of one's own mind.
Meido Moore Roshi: The Rinzai Zen Way, p. 17
Since I’m more on the Caodong side of the house I’ll add this early reference to turning around:by jimmi » Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:30 am
There are not two distinct things. There is no benefit in excluding anything from the scope of meditation. Manipulating thoughts may not be the ‘supreme’ meditation but it has its time and place in the process of turning around and arriving at direct recognition.
Shitou Xiqian (700-790): Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage
(from Taigen Dan Leighton with Yi Wu (2000) Cultivating the Empty Field. p. 72)
Theory…
Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guest?
Turn around the light to shine within, then just return.
The vast inconceivable source can't be faced or turned away from. …
I use to think that “to turn around” simply meant introspection: thinking about what I am like, thinking about what I was thinking about, thinking about what the big-self might be like, etc… I thought that of introspection could be used in meditation by noticing when I’m having a thought and then gently letting go of it (ungrasping it).
In his book Cultivating the Empty Field (p. 18) Taigen Dan Leighton says:
But, then later he went on (p. 20) to state:The backward step of turning the light to shine within, directing one's attention to observe closely one's own awareness, is a basic Zen meditation technique, called eko hensho in Japanese.
I was very curious about what he meant by the second statement, but there were no references connecting it to other literature. I read his book Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dōgen and the Lotus Sutra but found no further mention of these ideas there.This turning the light of attentive awareness within to see and feel the nature of one's own thinking process and the vast luminous space around and beneath these thought nodules (i.e. that which doesn't think) is a central technique of Hongzhi's meditation teaching.
Then I read the following & it made me reevaluate what “to turn around” meant:
What’s Going On, Under the Hood?
Chan Master Sheng Yen (2006) Attaining the Way. pp. 157-158
It’s tempting to use the term ‘conscious’ to describe our normal way of thinking, i.e., our direct awareness, & the term ‘unconscious’ for the peripheral, indirect, unintentional kind of awareness described above. The reference to the mother ‘unconsciously’ watching the child reinforces that association. But there are problems with using those terms: (1) If we are able to get a glimpse into the unconscious, it immediately becomes classified as conscious (so nothing appears to have changed). And (2) modern psychology can describe a variety of different kinds of unconscious, which would lead this discussion astray.Whichever method you use—counting the breath, huatou, shikantaza—point your attention inward; the light of awareness needs to reflect back to illuminate the mind. Therefore, while meditating you should know whether you are dull, scattered, or really on the method—this itself is cultivation.
In breath counting, for example, you will naturally be aware that you are counting your breaths. It is not a direct awareness but peripheral, indirect, unintentional. This awareness is illumination. It should be present no matter which method you use. I should make clear that illumination is not concentration. Concentration demands energy, but illumination is effortless. It rises of its own accord as a natural part of the method. It is like a mother who is busy while her child plays nearby. Although not watching the child directly, she is always aware of the child. After you have spent considerable time practicing a method, illumination will be so strong that you will no longer be aware of external stimuli. You will be close to that level beyond awareness of space and time, where thoughts are minimal and the body ceases to be a burden. This is effective practice indeed.
Finding Terms to better describe What’s Going On
Chan Master Sheng-yen & Dr John H. Crook (2002) Illuminating Silence. p. 23
Here’s a classical interpretation of the terms ‘guest’ and ‘host’ which have been widely used in this manner in Chinese Buddhism, and go back as far as the Surangama Sutra which was translated into Chinese no later than 730 CE.The methods used are watching the breath, counting the breath, huatou practice and Silent Illumination. As will be discussed in the talks that follow, the purpose of watching and counting the breath is to focus the mind onto an intentional act so that wandering thoughts are reduced. With practice it becomes possible to shift the attention from the breath itself to the mental ‘space’ within which the experience of breathing happens. This process is sometimes described by the Chinese word t’san, which means, ‘to enter, to go into, to penetrate, to investigate’. In the current context, this means seeing the whole of a process rather than a part. It applies also to huatou practice. The huatou is a short phrase, often in the form of a question, which may be a crucial phrase from a gong’an or koan story. While an attempt to analyze the question ‘Who is dragging this old corpse along?’ may help to exhaust the mind of intellection and hence lead to a non-conceptual insight, the more direct approach is simply to witness the space in which this question moves. In Xuyun’s teaching it is the task of the trainee to shift his attention from that of a ‘guest’ to that of a ‘host’. The guest is a wandering thought, a breath or a huatou. It is the figure standing against a ground that is the host, within which the mind is gradually brought to settle.
from Shakya, J.D., Shakya, C.Y., & Cheung, U.R. (1996). Empty Cloud: The Teachings of Xu Yun. p. 34
The key point here is that the ‘guest’ is our normal, internal sequential expression of thoughts or perceptions (objects-of-thought) while the host is something that we can place our awareness ‘in,’ that watches over the activities of the ‘guest.’ The 'host' is not our train of thoughts, but something (a ‘space’, or an entity) we can shift our awareness to, that allows us to remain continually, yet indirectly aware of our practice. This awareness need not register the thoughts’ content, it just monitors their activity.In the Surangama Sutra, Arya Ajnatakaundinya asks [Buddha], "What is the difference between settled and transient?" He answers by giving the example of a traveler who stops at an inn. The traveler dines and sleeps and then continues on his way. He doesn’t stop and settle there at the inn, he just pays his bill and departs, resuming his journey. But what about the innkeeper? He doesn’t go anywhere. He continues to reside at the inn because that is where he lives. "I say, therefore, that the transient is the guest and the innkeeper is the host," says Arya Ajnatakaundinya.
And so we identify the ego’s myriad thoughts which rise and fall in the stream of consciousness as transients, travelers who come and go and who should not be detained with discursive examinations. Our Buddha Self is the host who lets the travelers pass without hindrance. A good host does not detain his guests with idle chatter when they are ready to depart. Therefore, just as the host does not pack up and leave with his guests, we should not follow our transient thoughts. We should simply let them pass, unobstructed.
It’s important to avoid sitting and trying to look into your unconscious with your conscious mind. That would be trying to get the guest to watch over the host, just the opposite of what Master Sheng-yen & Master Xuyun recommend. That kind of work may belong on the couch, but not the pillow.
Interpretation of ‘To Turn Around’
So, I’ve come to the conclusion (lately) that the most significant meaning of the expression: “to turn around” is to shift one’s awareness from the guest to the host! This allows one to look at the guest’s action (practicing a method) from the host’s vantage point. Thus, all the basic methods of meditation (listed above) are all leading you to “Turn around the light to shine within.” (Granted, I could have expressed it in terms of ‘awareness of thoughts’ & ‘awareness of the space through which thoughts move,’ or any other set of terms that equate to the guest & host.)
Practice
Now given this interpretation of the expression “to turn around” how can we achieve it in an effective manner? This takes us back to the first quote from Chan Master Sheng Yen.
The remainder of this discussion is going to focus on this particular method of practice:
According to Carl Bielefeldt (1988, Manuals of Zen Meditation. p. 181), both Tsung-tse's Ch'an-yüan ch'ing-kuei Tso-ch'an I and Dogen’s Koroku version of the Fukan zazen gi give this same instruction.Whenever a thought occurs, be aware of it; as soon as you aware of it, it will vanish. If you remain for a long period forgetful of objects, you will naturally become unified. This is the essential art of tso-ch'an (& zazen).
Now let’s see how the terms ‘guest’ and ‘host’ can be applied to describe this method. Normally, when having a series of thoughts your awareness stays within the thoughts: aware of each successive thought in turn. Your awareness remains with the guests.
As with naturally becoming aware of counting breaths, once you start practicing the method above, you will ‘naturally’ become aware of when a thought occurs. “It is not a direct awareness but peripheral, indirect, unintentional.” This awareness, outside of thought, is that of the host.
At this stage, the host’s awareness interrupts the guest’s. Since the guest can only be aware of one thing at a time, as soon as the guest becomes aware of the thought’s occurrence, the thought “will vanish.”
It’s common for movement in your peripheral vision to draw your attention away from where you are looking to the region of motion. This is a physically discernable example of the peripheral awareness of the host interrupting the prior attention of the guest.
People who have not practiced this or a similar method might question why the guest wouldn’t always be aware of having a thought, while being aware of the thought itself. But that simply isn’t the case in normal thinking. If it were, and what the method suggested were true, our streams of thought would constantly be cutting themselves off. To follow the method, we must rely on mind to becoming aware of whenever a thought occurs and patiently practice the method.
Completing the Turn: Strengthening Awareness within the Host
Our normal way of learning a skill (e.g., driving a car) that we will eventually perform automatically (with unconscious competence) is to consciously go through all the necessary actions in order to train the unconscious to perform the task. Ultimately, a smoothly flowing yet responsive high-level of performance is only attained through unconscious control. When we drive with unconscious competence our conscious goes along for the ride. It may observe the traffic and give its own directives. It may think about other things, listen to music, etc. But it very rarely works its way into awareness of the unconscious (awareness within the host).
The next step in meditation is to expand one’s awareness within the host, to follow Chan Master Sheng Yen’s guidance give earlier: “After you have spent considerable time practicing a method, illumination will be so strong that you will no longer be aware of external stimuli.” To achieve that kind of a result we have to transition over from just noticing having each thought to settling into watching thoughts arise, pass by, and fade away of their own accord. This allows awareness to stay with the host. Awareness of the host shifts into the foreground while awareness of the guests fades into the background. Eventually you will only have a vague awareness of the contents of the thoughts, when practicing, but you can clearly watch thoughts arise and fall away.
I would describe this approach as following Master Xuyun’s teaching to shift one’s attention from that of a ‘guest’ to the ‘host’, following the Surangama Sutra and clarified by Master Sheng Yen’s insights. In the sense that it offers a single underlying understanding that applies to a variety of Chan meditation techniques, it presents a unified-field theory (or a unified ‘empty field’ theory) for such practice.
I find it strange that the references I’ve found for shifting awareness into the host (or the space in which ‘objects-of-thought’ move) are sprinkled sparsely into the more conventional literature on practice. If anyone can point me to further references that specificially talk about shifting awareness to the host and the consequences of doing so, I would greatly appreciate it.
Shining the Light Within
As awareness works its way into the host, even in this narrow way (concerned only with watching thoughts arise and fall), it gains authority over the guests. In the early stage, the host’s awareness interrupts the guest to recognize that it’s having a thought. In the advanced stage the host can temporarily shut down the guests to produce the open samadhi of Silent Illumination, where the host’s awareness pervades the mind. (Refer to my earlier post entitled ‘Undriven-Mind: letting go of the next thought’, under Buddhism Discussion Forum > Upāya > Meditation).
Here are four more significant references to ‘turning within’:
The Surangama Sutra: translated into Chinese no later than 730 CE.
from Epstein, R., & Rounds, D. (Eds.). (2009). The Surangama Sutra: A New Translation with Excerpts from the Commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. Buddhist Text Translation Society.
Huineng: (638-713) Enlightenment of HuimingTo listen wisely is to listen inside, not outside. You do not allow your mind to chase after sounds. Earlier in the Sutra, the Buddha spoke of not following the six faculties and not being influenced by them. You reverse your hearing to listen to your own true nature. Instead of listening to external sounds, you focus inwardly on your body and mind, you cease to seek outside. yourself, and you turn around the light of your attention so that it will shine within yourself. (V, 133)
from Taigen Dan Leighton with Yi Wu (2000) Cultivating the Empty Field. p. 100
Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157)Miraculously the burly Huiming was unable to budge them. Realizing that he truly wanted the teaching itself and not its trappings, he became Huineng's first disciple. He immediately asked Huineng for instruction, and was told to sit quietly and then without thinking of good or bad to find his original face. Huiming was awakened. He asked Huineng if there was any other essential teaching and Huineng told him to turn the light within and he would find whatever was needed.
from Taigen Dan Leighton with Yi Wu (2000) Cultivating the Empty Field. p. 33
In his Practice Instructions Hongzhi makes a similar suggestion:
Dogen Zenji (1200-1253)… When the stains from old habits are exhausted, the original light appears, blazing through your skull, not admitting any other matters. Vast and spacious, like sky and water merging during autumn, like snow and moon having the same color, this field is without boundary, beyond direction, magnificently one entity without edge or seam. Further, when you turn within and drop off everything completely, realization occurs. Right at the time of entirely dropping off, deliberation and discussion are one thousand or ten thousand miles away.
from Gudo Wafu Nishijima & Chodo Cross (2007) Shōbōgenzō: The True Dharma-Eye
Treasury. Appendix II Fukanzazengi (Universal Guide to the Standard Method of Zazen)
Volume I. p. 364:
"Therefore we should cease the intellectual work of studying sayings and chasing words. We should learn the backward step of turning light and reflecting. Body and mind will naturally fall away, and the original features will manifest themselves before us.”
"… Think about this concrete state beyond thinking.” “How can the state beyond thinking be thought about?” “It is different from thinking.” This is just the pivot of zazen.
“This sitting in zazen is not learning Zen concentration. It is simply the peaceful and joyful gate of Dharma. It is the practice-and-experience which perfectly realizes the state of bodhi. The universe is conspicuously realized, and restrictions and hindrances never reach it.”