Zen Transcendence

The so-called "one thousand and seven hundred Chan Cases" express Chan's transcendentalism in delicate euphemism. Earning birth in the Middle Tang period, in the wake of a widespread popularity, Chan cases virtually establish themselves as classics to Chan followers. Consequently, they have a direct influence on the creations of many other Chan forms, such as Literary Chan, Meditation Chan, and Phrase Observation Chan, which highly approve of Chan's transcendentalism as their main themes in repeated writings.Transcendentalism is the feature of Chan. It requires a synthetic viewpoint to observe the world, i.e. upholding without confining. In order to obtain Chan Enlightenment, one can take many solutions, such as studying classics, realistic observation, documents comparation, and tutor's instruction. Those methods are the aspect of "upholding." After the Chan Enlightenment, the follower is supposed to comply with the Chan attitude in actual practice, i.e. "[upholding] without confining," which denotes realizing Chan in realistic world.As Chan argues, the origin of recognition starts from the mind whose function resluts in all known phenomena. At the very first, possessing such features as being full and innocent, this mind avails one of taking an authentic viewpoint. Nonetheless, it is polluted and disturbed by improper employment. Knowing phenomena requires discrimination between or among items, based on contradictions as well as discrepancies. Contradiction gives reason to judgments along with favor or dislike, and further develops into obsession on appreciations and animosity on depreciations . Eventually, the innocence of mind is lost. The practice of Chan teaching, to the very opposite, is to regain the innocence of mind through eradicating contradiction and discimination together with their relative phenomena, with the outcome of knowing without judgments.Meanwhile, Chan does not refute viriations among phenomena or refuse to acknowledge contradiction. Rather, it acknowdges positive connoations on contradiction and agrees on knowing via discimination, from which it denies the authenticity of discimination and reveals the the employment of mind. In other words, Chan takes a synthetic attitude from a wholistic scale in knowing rather than simply defaults disciminations. Having a clear comprehension on knowing phenomena with mind takes the half of "[upholding] without confining," while not equalizing phenomena and knowledge on phenomena to mind takes the other half of "upholding." The application of this "upholding without confining" is apparently demonstrated in Chan cases as concentrating on the mind and inexorable denials on the existence of mind. In oreder to convey this sythesis, Chan supposes an imaginaty existence of mind. The synthesis is contained in the following paradigm: the very existence of mind marks the origin of knowing phenomena, and its usage entails knowing via discimination. The mind can be depicted through many of items exemplifying Sacrage, Six Senses, Buddha and devils, sitting Zazan, Buddhist statues, miracles, corporal physics, and varieties, via magnitude ideas including the Great Way, the Way, the Sacred principles, mind, sutras, the heart, and the Bodhi Nature, and all relative literary concerning mind. They involve the mere and possible solutions to know the mind.Realizing that the origin of knowing starts from the mind makes one surpass the concrete theory. However, the mind is no more than a pragmatic entity accoding to Chan's supposition. All aforementioned writings argue Chan's transcendentalism in theory. The understanding of Chan theory is merely the threshold of actual practice. In other words, Chan theory prepares the follower to conduct a serious practice. The proper practice requires followers to realize, detect, and employ his own Boddhi, and have none mistaken belief in the exterior aid, which denotes to take a transcendental viewponit, i.e. upholding whitout confining, on the existence of the mind,To take a totally transcendental attitude engages the ensuing steps: knowing the existence of the mind requires the act of surpassing concrete items and principles, only to assign new content to discimination. Similarly, knowing the essence of various phenomena requires the act of surpassing the existence of the mind. The existence of mind gives birth to Chan, and the refute of Chan returns the mind to reality. Chan only finds its existence in real life, far away from the unrealistic or imaginary world. Chan's attitude towards plain life and practice by following Buddha, precisely speaking, is equally significant and inevitable. This paradigm of Chan can be appropriately illustrated and found in magnitude Chan cases.