One day the Fifth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism named Hung Jen told all his disciples to express their wisdom in a poem. Whoever had true realization of his original nature (Buddha Nature) would be ordained the Sixth Patriarch. All the monks persuaded the most senior monk named Shen Shiu to compose a poem. They regarded him the most learned and best candidate to take over from the aged Fifth Patriarch. Shen Shiu obliged and wrote the following poem on the temple's wall:
The body is like the wisdom tree,
The mind is like a bright mirror in a stand,
Take care to wipe it all the time,
And allow no dust to cling.
The poem was praised by all the monks. In this poem Shen Shiu expressed his understanding that one must guard the mind all the time and exert great efforts to free it from desires and false thoughts. The Fifth Patriarch read it and knew that Shen Hsiu had not yet found his original nature. Then there was this young monk named Hui Neng who was lowly regarded by many monks because he was young and illiterate. Hui Neng was not aware of the Fifth Patriarch's intention for calling the poem writing contest. Hui Neng couldn't even write, so he requested a layman to help him write down his poem beside Shen Shiu's poem, which read:
Fundamentally no wisdom tree exists,
Nor the stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is empty from the beginning,
Where can the dust alight?
When the Fifth Patriarch read it the next morning, he immediately knew Hui Neng had enlightened to the Buddha's nature but he pretended that he wasn't impressed with this poem either. In the middle of the night he summoned Hui Neng to his room. The Fifth Patriarch gave him the insignia of his office, the Patriarch's robe and bowl. Hui Neng was told to leave for the South and to hide his enlightenment and understanding until the proper time arrives for him to propagate the Buddha Dharma. Hui Neng's poem clearly expressed his deep penetration of the subject matter. Everything is empty in nature. It is the mind that associates meanings and feelings to them hence, we become attached to them. If we can see through this and realized our own true self nature, attachments will cease to exist and so will suffering.
The next time when you feel angry and disturbed, take a moment to reflect on this; does the anger you are feeling right now really exist? Look deeper how does it feels like to be angry? What are the physical sensations that you are experiencing and so on. You will then realized that 'anger' does not exist, it is void and empty without 'self'. Anger is but a combination of many bodily and emotional sensations. It does not exist on its own. As soon as you can step back and look at it, stare at it, it will vanish. Since all is empty from the beginning, where can dust (in this case anger or whatever feelings) alight?
Same principle applies in Tai Chi Chuan push hands. If we do not resist and be empty, no matter how hard and strong our opponent pushes, his force will have no place to land. If we can achieve this, we will not be affected by anything and we will always be in control of ourselves.
Cheers.
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