Relativity and Transcendence in the Platform Sutra of Hui-Neng:
On Polarities and their Philosophical Significances
By Chung-Ying Cheng

Journal of Chinese Philosophy
V. 19 (1992)
pp. 73-80

Copyright 1992 by Dialogue Publishing Company

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    Since much of our understanding of Chinese Ch'an Buddhism and its founding can be derived from the Platform Sutra[a] (abbreviated as PS), the PS as a religious and philosophical work is both important and inspiring. It seems beyond reasonable doubt that the Platform Sutra embodies the life story of the Ch'an Master Hui-neng[b] and his sermon at T'a-fan Temple[c] as recorded by Hui-neng's disciple Fa-hai[d] Thus, the PS can be regarded as a document of religious testimony leading to a  philosophical argument. The link between the historical Sixth Patriarch and the text of the PS cannot be denied by any textual criticism which falls short of producing evidence for the non-existence of Hui-neng. Hence, my philosophical study of this subject is justified and will enrich and strengthen the meaning of the Ch'an Buddhist tradition initiated by Hui-neng in the PS.

    I intend to examine the underlying methodological structure of the metaphysical positions in the PS to show the influence of the I Ching[e] mode of thinking which consists of an implicit construction of a world picture in I Ching paradigms of polarities, an introduction of the I Ching logic of inclusiveness and immanent creativity, and various resolutions of opposite positions and contrasting theses. The outstanding characteristics of Hui-neng's Ch'an thus capture the spirit and the way of thinking of the I ching together with the spirit of the Mahayana tradition of negation and transcendence as exemplified by the Madhyamika[f] School. Any understanding or explanation of Chinese Ch'an as a philosophy or as a religious Practice cannot be complete without a clear acknowledgement of this componential analysis. In fact, this componential analysis should elevate

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our understanding of Ch'an Buddhist philosophy to a higher level.

    I shall discuss my thesis in terms of the following four parts: an onto-cosmological construction of world-paradigms in the PS; an ideo-cosmological reduction of world paradigms in the PS; a methodology of de-delusion by way of understanding, transcending and enlightenment; the Ch'an logic of enlightenment as an integration of the logic of the I Ching and the logic of the Madhyamika, with explanations and illustrations of important categories of Ch'an cultivation and Ch'an philosophy.

I.     Onto-Cosmological Construction of World-Paradigms

    In Section 46 of the PS there are thirty-six polarities (tui[g]) mentioned under three broad categories: 5 polarities from external objects (wai-ching[h]) devoid of senses (wu-ch'ing[i]); 12 polarities from distinctions of forms (fa-hsing[j]) based on language (yu-yen[k]) and perception; 19 polarities from activation (ch'i-yung[l]) of one's self-nature (tzu-hsing[m]). Past scholars have not attended to these polarities so they have continued to elude our understanding. Even the Chinese word tui has been mistranslated by the American translator Philip B. Yampolsky (see his translation The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, Columbia University Press, 1967) as "confrontation". Tui has many meanings which include matching, paring, contrasting, opposing, correlating and harmonizing, but the meaning of confrontation is not among them. A further mistake which reflects scholarly inattention about the thirty-six polarities is the fact that the actual number of polarities is thirty-seven instead of thirty-six.

    What do these thirty-seven polarities in three categories signify? They represent a complex world picture of nature, man and the mind in terms of a polaristic construction conforming to the paradigms of the I Ching. Even though Hui-neng is quoted as recommending these thirty-seven polarities as a way of argument-making in sermonizing, it is obvious that a world picture of polarities is presupposed, without such a world picture, no argument or point can be effectively made.

    In order to clarify the underlying world picture of the PS, it may be noted that the five polarities under wai-ching wu-ch'ing are related to objective and realistic descriptions of cosmological nature. In fact, the polarities of heaven and earth, sun and moon, darkness and brightness,

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yin and yang, and water and fire all come from the I Ching. The twelve yu-yen fa-hsiang polarities can immediately be identified with perceptual and conceptual constructs of subject-object or knower-known epistemology. For example, the polarities of active versus inactive and material versus immaterial, have to do with conceptual distinctions between various types of objects in relation to our experience. Even polarities such as transmigration versus transmigration; movement versus rest, and purity versus impurity, have to do with mental distinctions concerning metaphysical reality. Finally, the tzu-hsing ch'i-yung polarities are clearly subjectivistic and ideationalistic that treat activities or activation of mind and mind's nature (tzu-hsing or self-nature).

    The various polarities under these categories yield the following sub-types:

A. Mentalistic, e.g., joy versus anger;
B. Existential, e.g., birth versus death;
C. Axiological, e.g., good versus evil;
D. Cultivation,e.g., confusion versus samadhi; and
E. Transformational, e.g., substance versus function, nature versus form, constancy versus inconstancy.

    The polarities rupakaya versus dharmakaya and nirmanakaya versus sambhogakaya apparently should belong to type E, for they involve transformations according to karma and merit.

    A world picture emerges from the projection and interaction of the above polarities in three categories: first, the distinction between heaven and earth on the one hand and mind and nature on the other; second, epistemological interactions between the objective and the subjective; and finally, the many types of differentiation within the subjective realm of mind and nature. These three layers of projections and interactions give us a composite picture of the world made of nature, mind and mind's nature. We may represent this world picture in terms of the following diagram:

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    From the point of view of Ch'an Buddhism as based on an ideational metaphysics such as the Yogacara school, the whole world can be regarded as an ideational construction and also as a delusion. In fact, the above world picture exhibits a threefold delusion, the delusion of nature, the delusion of the human life-world and the delusion of will, valuation and transformation, Nevertheless, the world picture is constructed according to symmetric and complementary paradigms of I Ching philosophy, and can thus be regarded as an onto-cosmological construction of the world unconsciously provided by the text of the PS.

II.     Ideo-Cosmological Reduction of World Paradigms

    One cannot deny that Ch'an Buddhism is Buddhistic, even though what is Buddhistic in Ch'an Buddhism has been transformed and modulated by Chinese Neo-Taoism and Confucianism. Thus the above ideo-cosmological reduction of the world picture by Hui-neng is understandable and to be expected. This reduction takes place in a subtle way in Section 45 of PS where the three main categories of polarity are 5 aggregates (yin[n]), 18 realms (chieh[o]), and 12 entrances (ju[p]). Following the traditional doctrine of consciousness-only, Hui-neng mentions five aggregates, six dusts, six gates and six consciousnesses. These three ideational categories do not exactly coincide with the three naturalistic categories of the onto-cosmology of the earlier description, but we can suggest that the six dusts refer roughly to heaven and earth, whereas the five aggregates and six consciousnesses refer to mind's nature. The six gates on the other hand only indicate the interactional processes from mind to nature at large, which constitute the content of the life-world of language and forms. We can represent this ideo-cosmological reduction of world paradigms in the following diagram:

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    The richness of the seventeen polarities in mind and mind's nature is only suggested by the distinction between correct or good decisions and actions on the one hand, and incorrect or evil decisions and actions on the other. Storehouse consciousness, of course, provides the necessary foundation for the ideo-cosmological reduction of world paradigms, but its usefulness or impact on the formation of the distinctive features of Hui-neng's Ch'an Buddhism remains to be assessed. But its philosophical impact seems minimal, because the world as projected from consciousness is not a delusion to be permanently removed, but is a construction to be understood and used for the purpose of enlightenment. More importantly, the introduction and use of the Chinese concepts of mind (hsin[q]) and mind's nature (hsing[r]) against the background of Confucian moral psychology, naturally links and relates mind and mind's nature more closely and intimately than between storehouse consciousness and the other consciousnesses.

    Many passages of the PS evidence the immediacy of the relation of mind to mind's nature, but the most vivid is Section 30 which describes the sudden presentation (tun-hsien[s]) of true and original nature in one's mind. This immediacy of relation of mind to its nature can be said to be the very source and foundation of Hui-neng's doctrine of sudden enlightenment (tun-wu[t]). Of course, Hui-neng has his own authentic experience of enlightenment which testifies to the immediacy of the mind-nature relationship. Perhaps the classical Chinese views of mind and nature, whether in their Confucian or Taoist form reflect a fundamental experience of humanity and life, just as the classical Chinese views of substance and function (as formulated by Wang Pi[u]) reflect a fundamental experience of the cosmos and nature at large. Hui-neng has certainly been influenced by these aspects of his cultural heritage, but this does not lessen the influence of the I Ching way of thinking in terms of polarities.

III.    Methodology of De-delusion and Enlightenment

    Given these world paradigms of polarities and their ideo-cosmological reduction, we can now see how Hui-neng describes and advocates the Process and the procedure for enlightenment. In the first place, enlightenment is an end of life which gives meaning to life, because, according to

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Hui-neng, enlightenment is the understanding and the revelation of one's true nature, namely one's original nature (pen-hsing[v]), which is called self-nature (tzu-hsing). But how can one understand and reveal one's self-nature so that one will not suffer from being misled by one's delusions? To this question Hui-neng's answer is simple and direct: Use the thirty-seven polarities to explain and understand the world and the human situation. Each unity of two polarities describes a state of the world which needs to be transcended, because each polarity in the unity transcends the other so that one can reject one polarity by introducing another correlated with it. Each polarity not only transcends the other, but can also reverse the other so that one need not cling to any one of the polarities. Since the whole world, no matter how complex, can always be conceived and described in terms of polarities (as shown above), one can therefore transcend the whole world by transcending all of the polarities. This thus explains and justifies how and why Hui-neng describes his doctrine for achieving enlightenment as one based on formlessness (wu-hsiang[w]), thoughtlessness (wu-nien[x]), and non-abiding (wu-chu[y]) (see PS Section 17).

    I have four observations on this process and procedure for enlightenment. First, this process and procedure can be regarded as one for removing delusions arising from polaristic constructions. Hence it can be said to be a process and procedure for de-delusion and de-construction.

    Second, as polaristic constructions are conceptually embodied in language or speech, to de-delude or to de-construct is to go beyond language or to drop off language. Hence Ch'an Buddhism can be justified as a teaching of no language and no speech.

    Third, de-delusion and de-construction can take place totalistically because all polarities can be considered interrelated and intertwined. The world picture based upon polarities consequently provides a theoretical foundation for sudden enlightenment as advocated by Hui-neng in the PS.

    Fourth. even if one becomes de-deluded and one's polarities are de-constructed so that one steps out of the world of constructions, one ceases to cling to things (as constructions) and does not produce any other unnecessary constructions. In other words, one is free to enter or to leave constructions. Thus. Hui-neng says, "In exiting and entering, one is apart from both sides. When going out to meet things. one is apart from things;

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when going in to reach sunyata one is apart from sunyata. (see PS Section 46 also PS Section 42). When one is de-deluded, in separating from things one is with things, and in separating from sunyata one is with sunyata. The essential message is not to be deluded or to be de-deluded. Whether one is with things or not with things is not essential. The onto-cosmological presentation of the world is perfectly consistent with the doctrine of de-delusion and enlightenment in the PS.

    When a person becomes de-deluded, his mind still remains as his mind. In this de-deluded state his mind can be called the original mind (pen-hsin). It is clear that the original mind is self-nature (tzu-hsing). Once nature presents itself as free from delusion, we can also say that self-nature is original mind. I find in Hui-neng a converging tendency toward Mencius' philosophy of mind and mind's nature.

IV.    Ch'an Logic of Enlightenment as Logic of I Ching or Logic of the Madhyamika

    In light of the above, we can see that Hui-neng's philosophy and methodology of enlightenment have their own intrinsic logic which is clearly one of inclusion after exclusion as well as one of immanence after transcendence. Hence, this logic can be described as a result of integration of the inclusive -- immanent logic of the I Ching and the exclusive - transcendent logic of the Madhyamika. If we let X stand for either reality or mind's-nature, and let A and~A stand for any correlated polarities, then we can formulate and represent the I Ching logic of inclusion - immanence and the Madhyamika logic of exclusion - transcendence
as follows:

    With these two logics, we can formulate and represent the Ch'an logic of inclusion after exclusion and immanence after transcendence as follows:

Given this Ch'an logic, we can see and explain clearly the

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dialectical and dynamic relationships of various fundamental paradigms of cultivation toward enlightenment as represented in the polaristic languages of the PS, For example, we can see and explain samadhi (ting[z]) and wisdom (hui[aa]), delusion (mi[ab]) and enlightenment (wu[ac]) as each forming a unity of interdependence. We can also see and explain how gradual enlightenment (chien-wu[ad]) and sudden enlightenment (tun-wu) similarly form a unity of interdependence just like the unity of substance (t'i[ae]) and function (yung[af])

Chinese Glossary: