sermon
Classification of Chan Schools
Chan Preface
Text
The various Chan schools may be classified according to their depth of understanding. The lowest teaches that all dharmas are illusory and that one should cut off all entanglements—but this falls into nihilism. The next teaches that all dharmas are like dreams, neither real nor unreal—but this can lead to indifference. The next teaches that the mind-ground is originally pure and that defilements have never truly existed—but this can lead to quietism. The highest teaches that the true mind is the source of both delusion and enlightenment, that it is not empty and not existent, that it neither arises nor ceases. This is the teaching that directly reveals the nature of mind, and it encompasses all the others.
Attribution
Sources
Chan Preface: Classification of Chan Schools