The Six Subtle Dharma Gates of the Sublime.

Master Zhiyi and Norman Fischer.

(Maintain a light touch. Never harsh. Six compassionate helpers).

 1.      Counting. Count exhales up to ten. Until the numbers seem a little crude and bothersome to the subtlety of the breath. (Shu: Quietly counting the breath from one to ten to stabilize a restless, wandering mind).

2.      Following.  Be with the breath in the belly. Which results in stopping. (Sui: Dropping the numbers to closely trace the physical sensation of the breath moving inside and outside the body).

 3.      Stopping.   The mind is very quiet, peaceful, deep. (Zhi: Moving from active focus to complete stillness (Samadhi), where the mind rests calmly in a state of tranquil concentration).

 4.      Contemplating.  Recognize that the mind has become too tranquilized. Enquire with a koan, or a phrase. Or investigate every part of the breath. Or investigate the body very carefully in detail.  Is there any such thing as this body at all. Is there any experience that remains. Is the body separate from the rest of the environment or not. How long does the experience of the body last. Enquiring with deep curiosity. Notice finally that the body is not you, is not  a discreet object, but is a flow of impermanence. You then let go of that practice and then take up the next practice which is called returning. (Guan: Observing the breath and mind to realize that everything is impermanent, conditioned, and empty of a permanent self).

 5.      Returning.  It’s a little more subtle because when you are contemplating you have something to contemplate - the phrase, the breath, the body. But now you stop looking at any object and instead you turn the mind around and Look at the mind that is looking: Take the backward step, turn the mind around, follow the stream back to the source. So really, you are trying to see directly what is mind, what is consciousness itself, who is sitting here doing this practice. Everything that we think and understand and suffer in our lives are all based on a completely unexamined set of assumptions, about who we think we are and what we think the world is. The point of this subtle dharma gate is to directly, experientially, confront all those assumptions.  Remember as a kind of understanding point, that we are making these assumptions and that all our suffering is built on these assumptions and that these assumptions may be untrue.  There is literally  no way to do it and nothing to do. There is no mind. The essence of this practice is illustrated in the story of Bodhidharma and his disciple Huike. (Huan: Turning the awareness backward to inspect the mind that is doing the contemplating, moving beyond the illusion of a separate observer).

6.      Purity. This is like the 3^rd  (stopping) in that it’s not a practice that we do, it’s a marker for the fruition of the 5^th subtle dharma gate and it’s called purification. It’s not something we do, it’s just something that arises when we make the effort to practice investigation of the nature of mind. The mind is purified, the mind is healed, the mind is pure. Our life is okay, at least for a moment. (Jing: The ultimate dissolution of all concepts, entering a state of unconditioned awareness or Nirvana (which master Zhiyi defines as "the sublime").

 

The text outlines six progressive steps or "gates" centred around breath awareness (anapanasati) and calming-and-insight (samatha-vipasyana):

• Counting (數 Shu): Using the breath as an anchor by counting inhalations and exhalations to quiet the scattered mind. Counting the breath to anchor the busy mind.
• Following (隨 Sui): Letting go of numbers and simply tracking the natural flow of the breath as it enters and leaves the body. Following the breath naturally without counting it.
• Stopping (止 Zhi): Reaching a state of mental stillness, settling the mind and letting distractions drop away. Stopping discursive thoughts and resting in deep concentration.
• Observing (觀 Guan): Developing clear insight into the impermanent, conditioned nature of thoughts, body, and phenomena. Analysing the breath and mind to realize impermanence.
• Turning Around (還 Huan): Turning awareness back upon itself, recognizing that the observer and the observed are not separate. Turning the mind away from the object of contemplation and toward subjective wisdom.
• Purifying/Reaching the Absolute (淨 Jing): Ultimate liberation, freedom from defilements, and resting in sublime awakening. Pure awareness free of defilements, realizing inherent Buddha-nature.

 Zhiyi outlines the sequential progression of the six gates as follows:

1. Counting (Gaṇanā / 數):
• Regulating and harmonizing the breath.
• Quietly counting the inhalations and exhalations from one to ten to anchor the wandering mind and prevent scattering.
2. Following (Anugamaḥ / 隨):
• Dropping the mental effort of counting once the mind settles.
• Single-mindedly tracking the natural flow of the breath entering and leaving the body without interruption.
3. Stabilization (Sthānam / 止):
• Allowing the mind and breath to come to a rest (śamatha / stopping).
• Reaching a state of calm absorption (dhyāna) where the mind no longer fluctuates or chases external distractions.

4.    Contemplation (Upalakṣaṇā / 觀):

o    Applying active wisdom (vipaśyanā / insight) to examine the breath and the mind.

o    Seeing through the impermanent, conditioned nature of physical and mental phenomena.

5.    Turning (Vivartanā / 還):

o    Utilizing insight to turn back toward the root source of the mind rather than looking outward at objects.

o    Generating realizations of emptiness, signlessness, and the Middle Way.

6.    Purification (Pariśuddhiḥ / 淨):

o    Reaching a clear, unhindered, and luminous state of mind free of mental defilements.

o    Achieving direct entry into liberation and the path of the Three Vehicles.

 

 

What the Text Is About

 Core Practice: It provides a progressive framework for traditional breath-focused meditation (ānāpāna-smṛti) combined with calming and insight (śamatha-vippaśyanā).

• Goal: When properly cultivated, these six practices lead the practitioner from basic concentration through the dhyānas and formless absorptions all the way to the realization of cessation (nirodha), the third/fourth of the Four Noble Truths.
• Mind-Centric Framework: Zhiyi emphasizes that all six gates can ultimately be condensed into "Contemplating the Mind," asserting that all phenomena arise directly from the mind.

 

 

The Six Dharma Gates To the Sublime by Sramana Zhiyi (Chih-i) (538-597CE).

https://everydayzen.org/teachings/invitation-of-the-patriarch-book-of-serenity-case-3/

 

                   Soft spring rain-

                   since when

                   have I been called a monk

                           Soen Nakagawa

 

Huang Po

The pure Mind, the source of everything, shines forever and on all with the brilliance of its own perfection. But the people of the world do not awake to it, regarding only that which sees, hears, feels, and knows as mind. Blinded by their own sight, hearing, feeling, and knowing, they do not perceive the spiritual brilliance of the source-substance.

If they would only eliminate all conceptual thought in a flash, that source-substance would manifest itself like the sun ascending through the void and illuminating the whole universe without hindrance or bounds. 

-The Zen Teachings of Huang Po. Translated by John Blofeld

 

Blue Cliff Record, Case 86

Yun-men’s Bright Light

Yunmen gave instruction, saying, “Everyone has his own light. If you want to see it, you can’t. The darkness is dark, dark.  Now, what is your light?”

He himself answered, “The storeroom. The gate.”

Again he said, “It would be better to have nothing than something good.”

“If you want to see it, you can’t. The darkness is dark, dark.”

Eka stood in the snow, cut off his arm and said to Bodhidharma, “My mind has no peace as yet. I beg you master, please put it to rest.” Bodhidharma said, “Bring me your mind and I will put it to rest.” Eka said, “I have searched for my mind, but I cannot find it.”

“Now, what is your light?” He himself answered, “The storeroom. The gate.”

Can you paraphrase Unmon’s words? – Put yourself in the position of Unmon here now. What is your light?

The bird sound.

What else?

The candle, the cup.

Yes, That is your light.

“It would be better to have nothing than something good.”  What is that?  What’s he talking about?

I don’t know!

Achaan Cha said: Don't try to get anywhere in the practise. Desire to be free or enlightened will be the very desire that prevents your freedom. Try as hard as you wish, practise ardently, night and day, but if it is still with the desire to achieve in mind, you will never find peace. The energy from this desire will be the cause for doubt and restlessness. No matter how long and hard you practise, wisdom will not arise from desire. So, simply let go. Watch the mind and body mindfully? But don't try to achieve anything. Stop. What's the mind and body mindfully, but don't try to achieve anything. Don't cling even to the practise or to enlightenment.

THE EVENING MESSAGE
(Called out from just outside the do-jo- during the ceremony at the end of each day of Sesshin.)

I beg to urge you everyone:
life and death is a grave matter;
all things pass quickly away.
Each of you must be completely alert;
never neglectful, never indulgent.

 

 Hafez

"I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew. The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me that I can no longer call myself a man, a woman, an angel, or even a pure Soul. Love has befriended me so completely it has turned to ash and freed me of every concept and image my mind has ever known."

Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī  (1325-1389). Known by his pen name Hafez.

Philip Kapleau Roshi

Question yourself day and night with the yearning to know and the conviction that you can know. Learn to live the way a fish swims or a bird flies – unself-consciously. Be aware and responsive. In whatever your right hand finds to do involve also your left. Avoid unnecessary judgments. Be modest and unassuming; offer your opinion only when it is asked for. Forget your good deeds and confess your bad ones. And never fail to relate every effect to the cause that produced it.

From  Zen: Merging of East and West  by Philip Kapleau Roshi

   Brother Lawrence

‘The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd of August, 1666. He told me that God had done him a singular favour in his conversion at the age of eighteen.

During that winter, upon seeing a tree stripped of its leaves and considering that within a little time the leaves would be renewed and after that the flowers and fruit appear, Brother Lawrence received a high view of the Providence and Power of God which has never since been effaced from his soul.

This view had perfectly set him loose from the world and kindled in him such a love for God, that he could not tell whether it had increased in the forty years that he had lived since.’

(Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, 1693, p1)

St. Romuald's Brief Rule For Camaldolese Monks

Sit in your cell as in paradise.
Put the whole world behind you and forget it.
Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish,
The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.

If you have just come to the monastery,
and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want,
take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart
and to understand them with your mind.

And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up;
hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.

Realize above all that you are in God's presence,
and stand there with the attitude of one who stands
before the emperor.

Empty yourself completely and sit waiting,
content with the grace of God,
like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing
but what his mother brings him.

Ryokan

Too lazy to be ambitious, I let the world take care of itself. Ten days' worth of rice in my bag; a bundle of twigs by the fireplace. Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment? Listening to the night rain on my roof, I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.

From "The Zen Poems of Ryokan."

 THOMAS MERTON ON WHAT ZEN IS NOT:

“Zen is not a systematic explanation of life, it is not an ideology, it is not a world view, it is not a theology of revelation and salvation, it is not a mystique, it is not a way of ascetic perfection, it is not mysticism as it is understood in the West; in fact it fits no convenient category of ours. Hence all our attempts to tag it and dispose of it with labels like pantheism, quietism, illuminism, Pelagianism, must be completely incongruous....But the chief characteristic of Zen is that it rejects all systematic elaborations in order to get back as far as possible to the pure, unarticulated and unexplained ground of direct experience. The direct experience of what? Life itself.”