Ch'an Men Jih Sung

Ch'an Gate Daily Breviary

by Ven. Shih Shen-Lung

The "Ch'an men jih sung" is described by Professor Holmes Welch in his monumental book, "The Practice Of Chinese Buddhism 1900-1950, (Harvard, 1967) [TPCB]" as a "Large breviary." It is indeed that, and quite a bit more.

Before my reading of Professor Welch's book, I had never heard that such a book even existed. My belief was that while there was certainly a tradition of Chinese Buddhist practice, most of this practice was not ever written down in liturgical terms. What notes and knowledge were widely known in the West were generally of a scholastic nature and had little to do with the day to day practice of the many generations of Chinese monks and their lay followers.

Likewise, the writings of many of the Japanese experts had, quite wrongly, led me to the presumption that a living Buddhist tradition could only be found in Japan. In fact, the "rumor" was that Chinese Buddhism was not practiced with any substance as far back as the 1930's. You can then, perhaps, imagine my shock at learning of the traditional and quite lively practice that Professor Welch outlined in his book.

When I had finished my fifth reading of TPCB, I took what for me was a great risk, and I dared to contact Professor Welch. There were many questions that I felt that he was in a position to answer that had bothered me for some years; questions relating to the historical practice of meditation and the monastic life as opposed to the modern version. Our resulting letters led to a phone call, which in turn created even lengthier letters.

From this beginning was created a relationship of friendship and trust that was to last until his untimely death. It was he who first suggested that many of the real questions that I had might be answered by my study of the Ch'an Gate and it was also he who persuaded me that I should formalize my notes and style into a complete translation of the work. In several areas of style and format, we had our only serious disagreement, and my complete revision of the footnotes and format of the text after his death are proof that I eventually came to think that he was correct in this also.

I obtained three distinct editions of the Ch'an Gate, as it is more easily called in English. Two are photocopies and one is a hardbound edition. The first edition that I acquired was a gift from a Ch'an Master in Taiwan. It is hardbound and was printed in 1963 CE. He sent it to me in the hope that it might be useful and I believe that he might be pleased with the use to which I have put his gift. This edition is in some respects different from the other two texts, but is particularly valuable for its several appendices. My second edition is a photocopy of the 1915 CE edition that was published in the Peking. It is more complete than the newer version and it is also much easier to read as the type and printing process used were superior to that used on the Taiwanese version. The original of my photocopy is in the hands of the Library of the Institute For the Study of World Religions at the State of New York University at Stoney Brook, Long Island. My third edition, and the one which is the primary source for this translation is a photocopy of the 1893 edition. This version of the text is, to the best of my knowledge, the oldest in existence anywhere in the world today. This opinion is based on many inquiries and many confused answered the most common of which was "the WHAT? ...never heard of it." This copy sat for years on the shelves of the man who started the whole chain of events, yet, he was one of the last to realize that he possessed such a prize. To be more precise, the oldest copy of this text was the property of Professor Welch. It is also of some major interest to both myself and the reader of this text as to how that text became Professor Welch's property.

When Professor Welch was doing his major research for TPCB, he met in Hong Kong a monk of great character and ability who was named T'ai Tsang. This Venerable Ch'an Master was the last Abbot of the most important, traditional (and strict!) monastery in China which was called "Chin Shan" and was located in Szechwan in the very 'heart of Buddhism' in China. To be a full graduate of Chin Shan was the Chinese Buddhist equivalent to being called to serve as a clerk at law to a member of the Supreme Court. This monk had been the leader of this renowned establishment for over twenty years. Because this was an elected office, this was, indeed, the highest sort of professional praise. On one of the last visits between Professor Welch and this Great Monk, as the professor was leaving, the monk called to him and presented him with a copy of the Ch'an Gate saying, "I want you to have this, I will not be needing it any more." It should also be noted here, both for the sake of accuracy and for a real understanding of how karma can work, that one of the last things that they spoke about was the possibility of Master Tai Tsang coming to America, where he felt that if he were given to opportunity to operate a monastery, he could help to plant the seeds of the Dharma in this soil where he was certain that it would soon flourish. While both the Master and the Professor have left us, the Master's wish for his legacy to continue and the Professor's wish for his work to create a meaningful appreciation of the traditional practice of Chinese style Buddhism are both partially met with this work before you. By the very book that they both used and honored.

An interesting fact about the Tai Tsang edition is that in several places in the text he had made notations for slight alterations in the method of reciting several of the passages. These changes involved changing the clearly spoken text into a "chant" in what I choose to call "Plainsong" after the Anglican Hymn singing style more familiar to Westerners. These alterations were made by adding to the symbols for the use of the various types of Dharma Instruments which indicate that they should be used at places that previously did not have these marks. It is my studied opinion and that of Professor Welch that these additions to the standard printing of the text were made by Master Tai Tsang himself. We also believed that these additions represent the manner in which these passages were to be recited or sung at Chin Shan. These beliefs were based on two premises that may or may not stand the test of academic scrutiny. The first is that the Abbot of Chin Shan would be the leading authority on the actual delivery of these passages and that if there was a mark indicating the use of a gong in his text that this was a reflection of the actual daily practice of this passage. The second premise is that the first premise is true, as well as the assumptions made from it, because no-one would DARE to write in the Abbot's own copy unless, of course, it was the Abbot himself! To this date, I have not been able to make a mark on my photocopy for much the same reason, even though I have often made a note in either or both of my other two texts.

In this English language version, I have kept intact these marks and I must confess that I have used the same sort of reasoning throughout this version. I did not dare to remove anything from the Tai Tsang text and only added those sections that were in the other two versions that helped to make the text more useful to someone not fully versed in either Buddhist traditions, Chinese culture or both. So, in this sense, I have remained faithful to the 1893 CE version, which is of some small scholastic merit.

Some will be quite astonished, then, to see the section of prayers for the Emperor, which is quite naturally included in the 1893 version. They would, however, be even more surprised to note that the same prayers are also contained in the 1963 Taiwanese version! Professor Welch and I felt that this was not a lapse on the part of the editors of the "new" edition, but instead was the pragmatic Chinese way of recognizing that we shall always have our Emperors with us, regardless of how they chose to call themselves. Some Emperors win by combat of arms, some by trial at ballot box, but the essential character of the "Imperial House" has little changed, either in China or anywhere else for that matter. Presidents, Prime Ministers or First Citizens: Emperors are still Emperors and quite often need our prayers.

It will also immediately be noted by "purists" that this text is not, as the title implies, limited to the "Ch'an Sect" (or Zen Sect, if you prefer) but that in fact a great deal of the text deals with Pure Land rituals and also rituals and rites from several other Buddhist Sects, including the esoteric ones. In many ways, this might be expected, since the profound nature of a "real" Ch'an "ritual" might best be exemplified by making note of the nine years that the Patriarch Ta Mo (Bodhidharma) spent facing the wall at the Shao Lin Temple. Since there is not the slightest trace of dialogue or form in this, it often leaves us in awe, so much so that some 'modern scholars' have even questioned whether either Bodhidharma or the Shao Lin Temple ever existed. One of these continued to doubt about the temple until I was forced to show him a photo of the place. Thereafter he only expressed doubts about Bodhidharma. But to return to the subject of the working content of this text, one must remember that the real secret of the success of the Ch'an Sect was the knowledge and use of 'expedient methods' by the Great Masters so that our eyes might be opened. For a large portion of the world of living beings, such expedient methods are necessary and quite proper, and history shows that they are also in many cases quite effective. Thus, the Ch'an Masters borrowed the ceremonies that in their eyes must have fulfilled the twin prerequisites of being correct on the "common level" and also containing real traces of the "higher teaching of the Mind Sect." This is perhaps the great legacy of the Kuei-Yang Sect Dharma which emphasized that the fundamental principle must be revealed and found in both "form" and "function." Thus, the "purist" would be asked to consider that there were reasons to include the ceremonies of the T'ien-tai and perhaps added sects as well into the text of the original and that perhaps if he were to find the reason that the Great Masters included them, he two would have a firm grasp of the fundamental point. I must now confess that at the beginning of this project, I was more of a "purist" of this sort than I am at the moment, and that I find myself now convinced that the "hidden message" of many parts of this text is quite like a great Kung-An" (or koan in Japanese) where the answer is very plain; if one learns how to look for it.

This brings me to the final point that I wish to make prior to my allowing you to get to the real purpose of this book. And that is in making clear to one and all what I believe to be the real purpose of this book: using it.

This book was written with the primary aim of being used.

It is for this reason that the contrasting colors and styles of type were used in its printing.

It was not written to fill the wall of books on scholastic Buddhism, even though there is a real gap there that it fills. As I began to work on the text to improve my own Buddhist Practice, so the results are offered so that other may also improve their own personal practice. As a monk who was ordained in the Japanese tradition, my original knowledge of the liturgy was in Japanese. Likewise, I have met American monks of Chinese ordination who know the liturgy quite well, in Chinese. But if we had been asked (as I often was) to explain exactly what was being said in the words or Sutras that we recited, we would be at a loss

I have since discovered that many of the monks of China and Japan have similar problems because most of the texts were and are written in a very peculiar idiom that was unique to Chinese Buddhists: who translated from Sanskrit. In this idiom certain Chinese characters are used to substitute for Sanskrit concepts quite foreign to the original meaning of the Chinese. Likewise, - certain characters were invented for the purpose of transliterating prayers in Sanskrit to Chinese- . Some portions of these, which are found mostly in mantras or dharanis are beyond any attempt to return them to their original form and are therefore forever lost except as sounds which are spoken in certain places. Because of the condensed nature of the Chinese Buddhist terminology, this translation uses the device of "expansion" so that certain Chinese phrases that would have two meanings to a Chinese reader are rendered here separately. For example, the Chinese characters "Kuan Yin" (or perhaps Kuan Shih Yin) are correctly translated "Regarder of Sounds or Cries" or in the second case as "Regarder of the Sounds/Cries of the World." Likewise, many Buddhists will recognize the name Kuan Yin (or Kwannon in Japanese) as the name of a Great Bodhisattva, while some others will just recognize the name Kuan Yin. In order that no one be 'left out', I have often expanded the two Chinese characters that mean all of the above as "The Great Bodhisattva That Hears the Cries of the World, Kuan Yin." This makes the entire passage clear to everyone and therefore was thought to be the best way in a book that was designed to be used by everyone. It was for that purpose, daily use, that the Tai Tsang edition was sent to the West, it was for that great purpose that Professor Holmes Welch gave so freely of his time and knowledge and it was for that purpose that the Great Bodhisattva that is the Guardian of the Dharma, Wei-T'o has provided me with energy and ability to now present to you this first English language edition to The Ch'an Gate.

May all those who enter therein find what ever it is that their hearts most seek.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 This translation is not a work of my accomplishment, but is rather a reflection of the real work that was performed by others on my behalf. These pivotal figures and authors of "co-operating causes" are the means, and without them no "primary cause", no matter how conceived can ever come to fruition.

In addition to the debt I owe to my biological and foster parents who nurtured my existence by their sacrifices, I must now also acknowledge the debt that I owe to some of the more personally prominent beings, living or dead, perhaps, who in the Ten Directions and Three Realms have worked to make this present edition of the venerable Chinese manuscript a reality.

• To Our Original Teacher Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha,
• To The First Ancestor of the Order and Founder of the Shao Lin Monastery, Bodhidharma Ta Mo;
• To the Principle Sage of the Way, Venerable Master Lao-tze;
• To the Sixth Ancestor of the Ch'an sect, the Venerable Patriarch Hui Neng;
• To the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Kuan Yin;
• To the Original Compilers of this Great Work;
• To the Bodhisattva Mahasattva P'u Hsien;
• To my first teacher of the Middle Path, Mr. James Arwood;
• To the Ancestor of my lineage, Great Master Dogen Zenji;
• To the Upasaka Bodhisattva D.T. Suzuki;
• To the Living Buddha who shaved my head, Reverend Matsuoka;
• To the Ancient Buddha Ch'an Master Shunryu Suzuki;
• To the Upasaka Lu Kuan Yu;
• To the Honored Professor Joseph Elder, Ph.D
• To my Honored Mother Barbara B. King, who embodied the Bodhisattva Vow in daily life and her life partner, Dr. Herschell King, a modern day Great Physician

and perhaps more than all the rest,

• To my late spiritual father, the Upasaka Bodhisattva Mahasattva Professor Holmes Hickley Welch, who, together with the Guardian of the Dharma, the Bodhisattva Wei T'o, saw to it that all the many answers that I needed were supplied to me as I needed them. Today, I wear his robe and carry his bowl.

It is in harmony with the great work that was and is and will be done by those named above for the benefit and salvation of all living beings in the Ten Directions and Three Realms of Existence who can be saved by the Triple Jewel Within that this poor work is humbly and sincerely dedicated.

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