Chan – A Way of Tangible
Religious Practices
Hong Lin
Department of Computer Science and
Engineering Technology
University of Houston-Downtown
1
Introduction to Chan
• Chan (or Ch’an in
Chinese)
• Zen (in Japanese)
• Dhyāna (in Sanskrit)
• Wikipedia Definition:
Zen is a school of
Mahāyāna Buddhism,
referred to in Chinese as
Chan. Chan is itself
derived from the Sanskrit
Dhyāna, which means
"meditation"
2
Wikipedia Definition (Cont’d)
Zen emphasizes dharma practice and
experiential wisdom—particularly as
realized in the form of meditation known
as zazen—in the attainment of awakening.
As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical
knowledge and the study of religious texts
in favor of direct, experiential realization.
3
Origin
• Flower Sermon, in which Śākyamuni Buddha (Siddhartha
Gautama) transmitted direct prajñā (wisdom) to the disciple
Mahākāśyapa. In the original Sino-Japanese, this story is called
nengemishō (拈花微笑, literally "pick up flower, subtle smile").
• Gautama Buddha gathered his disciples one day for a dharma talk.
When they gathered together, the Buddha was completely silent and
some speculated that perhaps the Buddha was tired or ill. The
Buddha silently held up and twirled a flower and twinkled his eyes;
several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though
none of them were correct. One of the Buddha's disciples,
Mahākāśyapa, silently gazed at the flower and broke into a broad
smile. The Buddha then acknowledged Mahākāśyapa's insight by
saying the following:
• I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the
true form of the formless, the subtle Dharma Gate that does not rest
on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the
scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.
4
Lineage and Spread-out
• Indian prince turned monk Bodhidharma (early
5th century): the 28th patriarch in India and the
1st patriarch in China
• "special transmission outside scriptures" which
"did not stand upon words".
• From China, Zen spread south to Vietnam, and
east to Korea and Japan.
• In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zen
also began to establish a notable presence in
North America and Europe.
5
Chan Methodology
• The Flower Sermon was wordless, encapsulating
ineffable tathātā: it comprised the purity of direct
communication between Śākyamuni and Mahākāśyapa,
who smiled. The smile signified Mahākāśyapa's direct
cognition.
• Zen emphasizes experiential prajñā in the attainment of
enlightenment. As such, it de-emphasizes theoretical
knowledge in favor of direct realization through
meditation and dharma practice.
• through Zen there developed a way which concentrated
on direct experience rather than on rational creeds or
revealed scriptures.
6
Jesus’ Teaching
• Johns 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.
• Mathew 11:25: … Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these
things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to
little children. …”
• Mathew 18:3: And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless
you change and become like little children, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven. …”
• Johns 4:24: God is spirit, and his worshippers must
worship in spirit and in truth.
• Johns 4:14: but whoever drinks the water I give him will
never thirst. Indeed, the water I gave him will become in
him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
7
The Middle Way of Religions --- Anti-idolatry
• Zen asserts, as do other schools in Mahāyāna
Buddhism, that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature
(Skt. Buddhadhātu, Tathāgatagarbha), the universal
nature of transcendent wisdom (Skt. prajñā), and
emphasizes that Buddha-nature is nothing other than the
essential nature of the mind itself.
• The aim of Zen practice is to discover this Buddhanature within each person, through meditation and
practice of the Buddha's teachings. The ultimate goal of
this is to become a Completely Enlightened Buddha.
• The cognition of this complete enlightenment is without
the desire to become a Buddha, as said by Chan
patriarchs.
• Therefore, Buddha is not an idol.
8
Meditation
• Sitting meditation: core
aspect of Zen practice,
during which practitioners
usually assume a position
such as the lotus position.
• To regulate the mind,
awareness is directed
towards counting or
watching the breath or put
in the energy center below
the navel.
9
Essence of Meditation
• Bodhidharma Chan: Meditation with no objects,
anchors, or content, is the primary form of
practice. The meditator strives to be aware of
the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise
and pass away without interference.
• The awakening is carried not in meditation, but
in every moment of life. Therefore, sitting
meditation is simply a form of practice, not the
essence.
10
Buddhism and Christianity on practice
• Meditation and Prayer
– Bodhidharma: “The Dharma way of watching
minds embraces all Dharma ways.” (“On
Breaking Forms”, Tang Dynasty)
– Pure Land School (净土宗): Amitābha Buddha
– Original Oath School (本愿门): Meditation –
no salvation
– Christianity: built on faith
– Prayer the only communication to God
11
The Way
• Pure land is in the “heart”: “Ascending to the pure land is
real, while not leaving the present world.”
• John 17:15: “My prayer is not that you take them out of
the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”
• John 14:20: “… you will realize that I am in my Father,
and you are in me, and I am in you.”
• John 17:21: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as
you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us
…”
• Luke 17:20, 21: “The kingdom of God does not come
with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it
is.’ Or ‘There it is.’ Because the kingdom of God is within
you.”
12
Meditation and Religious Truth
• Winston L. King (Theologist at Vanderbilt
University)
“Meditation is a scientific way to reach religious
truth.”
• 3 Books:
– Buddhism and Christianity
– In the Hope of Nibbana
– A Thousand Lives Away
13
Effects of Chan --- Proactive Therapy
• Chinese saying: Illness comes from heart
(mind).
• Cause of illness: obsess (desires) in mind,
which causes greed, anger, and
dumbness, which further cause physical
anomaly.
• Desires in mind is caused by separating
self from its environment.
14
Words in Bible
• Genesis 2:25: The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt
no shame.
• Mathew 16: 2-3: He (Jesus) replied, “When evening comes, you say,
‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ and in the morning, ‘Today
it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to
interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the
signs of the times. …”
• Mark 8:34: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. …”
• Luke 6:37: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not
condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be
forgiven. …”
• Luke 12: 22, 25, 26: Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I
tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your
body, what you will wear. … Who of you by worrying can add a
single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why
do you worry about the rest? …”
15
Science on Chan
• James 2:17: … faith by itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is dead.
• Can faith be measured by its physical
manifestations?
• Since Chan is a practice of self control in an
every-thought level, and its effect is clearly felt,
is there a way to measure the effects by
scientific means?
• Summarized measurement can help regulate
Chan practice.
• The starting point is measuring meditation.
16
Chan Medicine
• Health indicators: heart pulse rate, blood
pressure, regularity in breath, electrocardiogram,
electroencephalogram, …
• Statistical Model:
– Comparisons in temporal progress
– Comparisons among groups
• Micro Model:
– Five Element Theory
– Channels (Jing-luo) Theory
17
Five Element Model
• Categorization of Zang, Fu, Flavours and Senses according to
the Five Elements
Elements
Wood
Fire
Earth
Metal
Water
Flavors
sour
bitter
sweet
pungent
salty
Zang
liver
heart
spleen
lung
kidney
Fu
Gall, bladder
s. intestine
stomach
l. intestine
urinary
Senses
eye
tongue
mouth
nose
ear
Tissue
tendon
vessel
muscle
hair/skin
bone
http://www.tcmbasics.com/basics_5elements.htm
Lessons at: http://www.herbTVonline.com
18
Modeling Functionalities of Organs
http://ardisbiz.com/maintaining-your-health-with-tiens-health-products/
http://www.5elementvet.com/Alternative_Veterinary_Medicine/5_element_Theory.html
Five Element Testing
• An example: testing done by Terrapin Therapy
http://terrapintherapy.com/5-Element_Testing.html
Five Element Psychology
• Emotion-Organ relationship
http://www.drstandley.com/readingRoom_4.shtml
Five Element Astrology
• Categorization of Objects, Nature and Phenomena according to
the Five Elements
Elements
Wood
Fire
Earth
Metal
Water
Directions
east
south
center
west
north
Changes
germinate grow
transform reap
store
Color
green
yellow
black
red
white
• A science of harmony between life (perceptions) and the
environment
• Chan’s goal: No separation between one’s self and the
surroundings (物我一如)
Channel (Jing-luo) Model
• Jing Luo (Channels and
Collaterals I Meridians and
Sub-Meridians)
• classification based on the
main location of the Channel
and its terminal point
Yin Channels
(Organ)
Yang Channels
(Organ)
Hand Meridians
Foot Meridians
Lung (LU)
Large Intestine (LI)
Lung (LU)
Stomach (ST)
Spleen (SP)
Stomach (ST)
Large Intestine
(LI)
Spleen (SP)
Heart (HT)
Small Intestine (SI)
Heart (HT)
Bladder (BL)
Kidneys (KI)
Bladder (BL)
Small Intestine
(SI)
Kidneys (KI)
Pericardium
(PC)
San Jiao (SJ)
Pericardium
(PC)
Gall Bladder (GB)
Liver (LV)
Gall Bladder (GB)
San Jiao (SJ)
Liver (LV)
http://www.sacredlotus.com/acupuncture/channel_theory.cfm
23
Energy Pathways
• Basis of Acupuncture
Abbrevia
tions
Pathway
3 Yin Meridians of
the Hand
(LU, HT,
PC)
Chest to
Hand
3 Yang Meridians of
the Hand
(LI, Sl,
SJ)
Hand to
Face
3 Yang Meridians of
the Foot
(ST, BL,
GB)
Face to
Foot
3 Yin Meridians of
the Foot
(SP, KI,
LV)
Foot to
Chest
A Time-Space System
• Circulation of Energy Through
the Primary Meridians
Lungs
3 AM to 5 AM
Large Intestine
5 AM to 7 AM
Stomach
7 AM to 9 AM
Spleen
9 AM to 11 AM
Heart
11 AM to 1 PM
Small Intestine
1 PM to 3 PM
Bladder
3 PM to 5 PM
Kidney
5 PM to 7 PM
Pericardium
7 PM to 9 PM
San Jiao
9 PM to 11 PM
Gall Bladder
11 PM to 1 AM
Liver
1 AM to 3 AM
Chan Psychology
• Behavioral Model: Analyzing mental health indicators – Lust, Anger,
Fear, Self-control, …
• eg. using Five Element Model)
• Suzuki Teitaro Daisetz (铃木大拙), E. Fromm, Zen and
Psychoanalysis.
26
Progression Model
• Four-Level Chan (catvari-dhyanani) Theory
Four Dhyanas
1) First Dhyana: Bliss Born of Separation
2) Second Dhyana: Bliss Born of Samadhi (proper concentration and proper
reception)
3) Third Dhyana: Wonderful Happiness of Being Apart from Bliss
4) Fourth Dhyana: Clear Purity of Casting Away Thought
http://www.bhaisajyaguru.com/buddhist-ayurveda-encylopedia/four_dhyanas_sz-chan_sz-jing-chu_catvari-dhyanani_jhana.htm
• Methods for entering four dhyanas
Zhi Kai (智凯, AC 523-597), Essentials of Concentration and
Reception (止观) Meditation.
Bodily Manifestations
• In the First Dhyana (The Ground of Bliss Born of Separation), one's
pulse stops, but this doesn't mean one is dead. This brings a
particular happiness which is unknown to those in the world.
• The Second Dhyana is called the Ground of Bliss Born of Samadhi. .
. . In the Second Dhyana, one's breath stops. There is no detectible
breathing in and out, but at that time an inner breathing takes over.
• The Third Dhyana is the Ground of the Wonderful Happiness of
Being Apart from Bliss. One renounces the dhyana-bliss as food and
the happiness of the Dharma that occurs in initial samadhi. One
goes beyond that kind of happiness and reaches a sense of
wonderful joy. It is something that one has never known before, that
is inexpressible in its subtlety, and that is inconceivable.
• The Fourth Dhyana is called the Ground of the Clear Purity of
Casting Away Thought. In the Third Dhyana thoughts were stopped-held at bay--but they still had not been renounced altogether. In the
heavens of the Fourth Dhyana, not only are thoughts stopped,
they are done away with completely. There basically are no more
cognitive considerations. This state is extremely pure, subtly
wonderful, and particularly blissful.
Possibilities for Testing
• No fear
– Patriarch BaiZhang: Coming back from and going forth to death
is like door’s opening
– Chinese idiom: No eye winking when Mount Tai falling in front
– Mathew 8: 24-26: Without warning, a furious storm came up on
the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was
sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save
us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are
you so afraid?”
– Mathew 14: 29-30: Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked
on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the
wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save
me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
“You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Easy Test?
• Roller Coaster
Chan Fitness
• Focus on mental-physical correlation
• Shaolin Martial Arts
– Origin: Bodhidharma and Shaolin Temple
– Training of Mentality:
• Stand like Pine
• Sit like Bell
• Sleep like Bow
31
Chan Arts
• Chan Arts
– Chan Poems
– Chan Drawings
– Chan Music
– Tao of Tea
• Scientific Scrutiny of Chan Arts?
– Why Nobel prize winners committed suicide?
• Ernest Hemingway
• Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)
– Superior or Obsessing?
32
Writers Should Learn Chan
• Master Geng Yun: “Writers Should Learn Chan.”
Chan in Modern Society
• Features of Modern Society
– Instantaneous Information Propagation
– Short Span of Attentions
– Exposure and Vulnerabilities
• Mesh of Mouni Pearls
– Individuals are not isolable from the group
– All-inclusive perception of the surroundings is
by separating from thoughts
– Dong, Zizhu, Eastern Interpretation of Bible.
34
A Program for Brain State Analysis
Using Electroencephalographic Data
Example EEG peripheral device
Nodes AF3 through AF4
(read counterclockwise)
Methodology
Example of visualization rendered from
test data on one node
Beyongsang Oh’s Work
37
Spiritual Consciousness Studies
2010
Energy distribution profile of the navel, heart, throat and third eye of
female subjects
Current in microamperes
110
100
y = 15.353x + 40.957
R2 = 0.9564
90
80
70
60
50
Navel
Heart
Throat
3rd eye
Frontal Sagittal Axis
• According to the Physical System theory generalized for Spiritual
System Modelling (P S. Satsangi , 2008)*** the energy points lie
beyond the pupils along the sagittal axis from the pupils to the
forehead and from the forehead to the apex of the head in the white
matter as ganglions or focal points that are resistant to anesthetics
like chloroform. This is a distinguishing feature of the focal points as
the cell bodies can all be inactivated by chloroform but the neurons
(cell bodies in the forehead and nerve centers in the white matter)
related to the focal points can never be anesthetized as they are the
highest points of consciousness for a particular region and domain
they cover. The domain still needs to be determined definitely by
neuroimaging technology.
• ***On Systems Modelling of Macrocosm and Microcosm in the
Domain of Spiritual Consciousness. Vision Talk at the Inaugural
Function of International Seminar on Spiritual Awakening: A
Systems Approach to adress the Civilizational Crisis (SPAWSYS
2008), January 12-13, 2008.
Medical Imaging: Towards a science of
Consciousness, April 9-14, 2012
• 1) Correlation Measured: Energy distribution
profiling, MEAD and level of consciousness in
the upper 4 chakras
– disciplined prayer schedule and focused
cognitive tasks
– consciousness and energy distribution
between diff energy profiles of the human
body
– Electrical energy profile inverse of
temperature profile
Toward Science of Consciousness 2013, March 3-9, 2013, Dayalbagh University, Agra,
India
Pioneering Consciousness through Forehead analysis of CHCL3 resistant focal points along Frontal Sagittal
Axis
Symmetry of the face.
Sixty degree
angle
symmetry
Landmark of the face
Imaging by
Polycontrast
Interference
Photography (PIP)
and/or Heat maps
using IR/FIR
technology
Validation of face-landmark as
basis for measurement
Meditation vs. Talking
42
Meditation vs. Talking (cont’d)
43
Meditation vs. Talking (cont’d)
44
Concluding Remarks
• Chan is a superior mental training
methodology
• Meditation is the primary way of Chan
• Effect of Chan is measurable
• Chan science: various models can be built
• Benefits to life and modern society
45
Questions and Suggestions?
Hong Lin (linh@uhd.edu)