2021.03.12
Chan, the simplicity of living
What is Chan? The Chinese character of “Chan（禅）" consists of two parts: "单 (singleness, simplicity)” and “示 (presenting, signaling)”. Chan is the presentation of simplicity instead of complexity. Do not do sitting meditation with a complicated mindset. Instead, sit with simplicity so the origin of our minds would come forth.
Chan is the primordial awareness, the origin. What is it? Within oneself? Do we have it? Are we “primordial”? When we look at this body, we can’t seem to identify the so-called “origin". However, our Buddha-nature or awareness is primordial. We added lots of delusions through the course of cyclic existence. These delusional ideas are fabricated and absurd. Only when we do sitting meditation then these impurities get purified. Gradually, our conceptions would become purified. Furthermore, we’d enjoy sitting meditation.
What’s there to enjoy? To be with oneself and be with everything. If one genuinely sits properly, it’d be a great enjoyment. It is to be immersed in that authenticity of living, which is Chan.
There are lots of happenings in life. If we study extensively, we’d experience an insightful life. If we have little knowledge, the space of life would be limited. By doing sitting meditation, we can enlarge the space. It would only expand further and further. The mind is the universe and vice versa. Sitting meditation is all about connecting the mind with the universe – to infinity.