The Practice and Experience of Zen (Chan) Meditation
A Journey into Mindfulness, Awakening, and Inner Freedom
Note: This article is excerpted from Master Sheng Yen’s book Conceptual Mind.
The Practice of Chan
What exactly does Chan practice entail? What does one cultivate through it? Simply put, there is nothing to cultivate outside of the Three Disciplines—morality (precepts), concentration (meditation), and wisdom (insight).
1. Keeping the Precepts Is a Prerequisite for Chan Practice
All schools of Buddhism, both exoteric and esoteric, begin with keeping the precepts as the foundational discipline. Without observing moral precepts, it is impossible to truly practice Chan.
Some people, after reading Chan anecdotes and koans, notice that some great masters seemed to act beyond conventional norms—like Master Guizong cutting a snake or Master Nanquan killing a cat—and thus wrongly assume that Chan Buddhism does not require observance of moral precepts. In fact, these masters had already transcended conventional frameworks. Those who are still within the bounds of cause and effect, who have not yet transcended birth and death, must uphold the precepts.
There are two aspects to the definition of “precepts”:
Passive (Negative) Aspect: What should not be done must not be done.
Active (Positive) Aspect: What should be done must not be left undone.
(1) Passive Precept Keeping: What Should Not Be Done Must Not Be Done
This includes two layers:
a. Stopping Wrongdoing That Has Already Occurred
If one has already committed wrongful acts, what can be done? The Tiantai school's “Five Grades of Discipleship” begins with the practice of repentance. This is also true in all exoteric and esoteric traditions. In daily practice, morning and evening repentance rituals are essential. The purpose is to remove external obstacles and clarify internal awareness, thus settling the mind so one may properly cultivate.
b. Preventing Wrongdoing from Arising in the First Place
How do we prevent the arising of evil intentions? By avoiding the Five Desires and transcending the Eight Worldly Winds.
The Five Desires are:
Desire for form – Things seen by the eyes.
Desire for sound – Things heard by the ears.
Desire for scent – Things smelled by the nose.
Desire for taste – Things tasted by the tongue.
Desire for touch – Sensations felt by the body.
These stimulate greed. If one fails to obtain these, anger arises. By distancing ourselves from these desires, greed, hatred, and delusion are reduced, leading to peace of body and mind.
The Eight Worldly Winds are:
Gain – Getting what one desires, seen as beneficial.
Loss – Suffering loss, which one seeks to avoid.
Defamation – Being slandered or criticized behind one’s back.
Praise – Receiving admiration from others behind one’s back.
Commendation – Being praised directly.
Ridicule – Being insulted or mocked to one’s face.
Suffering – Physical or emotional pain and hardship.
Pleasure – Sensations of ease, joy, and satisfaction.
Note: This article is excerpted from Master Sheng Yen’s book Conceptual Mind.
Detailed Explanation:
Gain : For example, if you attend a Dharma talk in hopes of gaining spiritual insight, this is still a form of seeking gain. However, seeking Dharma benefits is wholesome. On the contrary, obsessively pursuing money or material gain until one becomes consumed by greed is being swayed by the wind of gain.
Loss : If you expect to benefit but instead suffer loss and fall into sorrow or resentment, you're being blown by the wind of loss.
Defamation : Being slandered unjustly is painful. To endure it without reacting is extremely difficult. But reacting with anger or grief shows you're swayed by the wind of defamation.
Praise : When people speak well of you behind your back, you may deny caring, but your heart feels pleased—another sign of being moved by the wind.
Commendation : Public recognition or direct praise may leave you feeling proud or validated—again, a wind shaking the mind.
Ridicule : If someone mocks you to your face and you feel wronged or furious, that’s the wind of ridicule.
Suffering : Any experience of discomfort, whether physical or psychological, is suffering. Unless one reaches a purified state of mind, suffering will continue to disturb one’s peace.
Pleasure : Any experience that brings joy, comfort, or satisfaction can give rise to attachment and clinging, leading to more suffering.
If we remain mindfully alert, avoid the Five Desires, and penetrate the illusion of the Five Aggregates, we can remain unmoved by the Eight Winds.
There is a well-known story about Su Dongpo, a great literary figure of the Song Dynasty who loved Buddhist philosophy and often engaged in Chan discussions with his friend, Chan Master Fo Yin of Chengtian Temple.
One day, Su Dongpo proudly composed a verse:
“I bow to the Heaven of heavens,
Its radiance illumines the vast cosmos.
The Eight Winds cannot move me,
Seated upright upon the golden lotus.”
He sent the verse to Fo Yin across the river. After reading it, Fo Yin wrote back just four words: "Fart! Fart!" (i.e., nonsense!). Enraged, Su Dongpo crossed the river to confront him.
Fo Yin, expecting this reaction, laughed and said,
“You said the Eight Winds can’t move you—yet one fart blows you across the river!”
Su Dongpo was deeply ashamed and never again bragged about his spiritual attainment.
This story illustrates the importance of matching realization with actual conduct. Even someone who believed themselves to be spiritually accomplished, like Su Dongpo, was still shaken by the “wind of ridicule.”
(2) Active Precept-Keeping
What must be done cannot be left undone. This also includes two aspects:
1.To increase the good that has already been done.
2.To give rise to the good that has not yet been done.
What should one do? One should practice the six pāramitās (perfections), such as generosity, patience, and diligence. Once we uphold the precepts, our greed naturally lessens, and compassion increases accordingly. Generosity is the first of the six pāramitās and is a means of cultivating compassion and building wholesome karmic connections. Patience serves as a powerful supportive condition for practitioners.
Earlier, when Elder Li introduced me, he mentioned that I was an ascetic monk forged through hardship. In fact, while undergoing hardships, I did not feel that they were particularly painful. It was precisely through difficult circumstances that the motivation to diligently advance in the practice was born.
Those who grow up in comfort often find it harder to develop compassion or sympathy, and they struggle to perceive the suffering of sentient beings and the harshness of the world.
When I encounter criticism or slander, I often regard such critics as bodhisattvas. For example, I was able to study in Japan thanks to the indirect help of a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister. They had published articles criticizing Buddhism, claiming that modern monks lacked education—not only did they not understand Sanskrit or modern languages, but even those who could read Buddhist scriptures in Chinese were few and far between. After reading that, I was deeply disheartened, and I resolved to defend the reputation of Chinese Buddhist monastics through academic excellence. That is what inspired me to go abroad.
Soon after I left the country, I received little support from either the monastic or lay Buddhist communities. Many people even publicly or privately criticized me. Some did so maliciously, while others raised questions out of genuine concern. Even my own master asked me to publicly clarify matters and made a special trip to Tokyo to see me. Under such pressure, I was all the more motivated to study diligently. Eventually, I completed more than six years of coursework in Tokyo, earned both a master’s and doctoral degree, and published my doctoral dissertation. I remain deeply grateful for the Three Jewels’ blessings, which gave me strength and resilience in adversity. This is the power of patience.
2. Meditation (Dhyāna) as the Gateway to Chan Practice
Before the Tang Dynasty, Chinese Chan emphasized meditative concentration—what was referred to as Chan contemplation or Chan teaching. After the Tang Dynasty, early Chinese Chan began emphasizing wisdom as the goal. As for myself, I often tell my disciples: in Chan practice, one must pass through the stage of concentration, but concentration is not the goal—it is the means to enter the Chan realm.
If one cultivates concentration without Chan, one risks falling into the heretical practices of the four dhyānas and eight samādhis. Conversely, if one attempts Chan without concentration, it becomes extremely difficult to access true meditative experience.
Thus, among the patriarchs of Chinese Chan, there are two attitudes toward concentration (samādhi):
(1) The First Attitude: A Negative View of Concentration
This perspective holds that samādhi is unnecessary, and one can directly awaken without entering meditative absorption.
1.In the Buddha's time, some Arhats achieved liberation through wisdom alone, without prior cultivation of samādhi.
2.The Third Patriarch of Chinese Chan, Sengcan, wrote at the start of the Xinxin Ming (Faith in Mind):
“The Supreme Way is not difficult,It only avoids picking and choosing.”
The idea is that seeking the highest truth is not difficult—what’s needed is to let go of dualistic thinking. The Way is natural; if it requires deliberate cultivation, it is no longer the highest truth but a provisional means.
3.Consider the verses from the Platform Sutra by the Sixth Patriarch Huineng:
Shenxiu's verse:
The body is a Bodhi tree,
The mind a mirror bright.
Polish it diligently,
Let no dust alight.
Huineng's verse:
Bodhi is not a tree,
The mind not a mirror bright.
Originally there is not a single thing—
Where can dust alight?
From these verses, it is clear that Shenxiu still operated within dualistic distinctions, focusing on gradual cultivation and purification. Huineng, on the other hand, asserted the fundamental non-duality of mind and nature, expressing the highest Chan view that does not rely on deliberate practice.
4.Mazu Daoyi famously said:“The ordinary mind is the Way.”He taught that walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are all expressions of Chan. Neither ordinary nor sage-like, but the bodhisattva path. No fabrication, no discrimination, no grasping. He declared:“That which is innate is present now.
One need not cultivate or sit in meditation.Not cultivating, not meditating—this is the pure Chan of the Tathāgata.”
5.Dahui Zonggao in the Song Dynasty taught people to meditate directly on the “Mu” (no) koan. He advocated this direct method to suspend discursive thought and allow clear awareness to emerge. After the Song, meditating on huatou (koan “head”) became widespread. Though this is a method of cultivation, it does not involve staged or sequential practices—once you descend into steps and structures, it is no longer true Chan.
(2) The Second Attitude: A Positive View of Concentration
This system holds that wisdom arises from concentration, and insight depends on the development of meditative stillness.
1.In the Sutra of the Last Teaching, the Buddha taught:“Focus the mind on one point, and nothing will be impossible.”He instructed his monks to use meditative contemplation to gather the scattered mind into unity, so it would not be swayed by external conditions. This is the foundation for liberation from affliction and leads to the fruition of Arhatship.
2.In the Treatise on Mind Cultivation (also known as Treatise on the Supreme Vehicle) by Fifth Patriarch Hongren, he wrote:“To practice the essentials of the Dharma, guarding the mind is most important.”That is, once you guard the true, unmoving mind, deluded thoughts subside, the sense of self and ownership vanish, ignorance is extinguished, and wisdom arises—leading eventually to buddhahood. This practice of “guarding the mind” is equivalent to samādhi cultivation.
3.In the Collected Works of Yongjia Xuanjue, in his Verses on Śamatha, he wrote:“Vivid yet silent, silent yet vivid.”"Vivid" refers to awareness of the mind; "silent" refers to calming the scattered mind. When not a single thought arises, but clarity remains, that is the union of śamatha and vipaśyanā—stillness and insight as one. Then awakening naturally arises.
4.In Hanshan Deqing's Verses on Mind Contemplation, he wrote:“Contemplating the mind without form—bright and pure.”When not a single thought arises, one sees the mind directly—pure, empty, luminous, and boundless. His emphasis on contemplating the mind—whether pure or impure, real or deluded—is a method of samādhi cultivation.
5.In Hongzhi Zhengjue’s teaching of “silent illumination” , he describes a supreme state of meditative absorption:“Silently forgetting words, yet radiant and clear.”In this silent, wordless absorption, the mind remains fully illuminated—neither dull nor inert. This union of silence and clarity is total freedom, total vitality. It is the pinnacle of both samādhi and wisdom.
3. Wisdom Is Chan
The Chan school does not believe that true wisdom can be attained merely from scriptures or theoretical study. It refers to scriptures and doctrines as “entangling vines.” Wisdom is not something to be sought externally but arises from direct realization of the mind. Thus, Chan itself is wisdom.
Chan works like a sharp blade that slices through delusion and the web of birth and death. When you break through the emotional attachments of the ego, non-discriminating wisdom naturally arises. All scriptures will then seem like a reflection of your own inner realization. Even if you’ve never studied the texts, your insight will match them.
For example, there was a Chinese woman in the U.S. who participated in one of my seven-day Chan retreats. Afterward, when she read the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, she could predict the content of each next paragraph before reading it. The layman Mr. Shen Jiazheng was amazed and told me about it. I said:“I have no secret teachings—just the method of Chan, which activated her innate wisdom.”Chan Buddhism advocates “not relying on words and letters,” yet it has produced more writings than any other Mahāyāna school in Chinese Buddhism. For instance, although Dahui Zonggao burned his teacher’s Blue Cliff Record, claiming it caused harm by leading students astray, he himself ended up writing extensively.
Words and texts are merely signposts pointing toward awakening. If you meet a true teacher and trust in them, you may attain realization even without reading any scriptures. While I cannot guarantee exactly when or what kind of insight you’ll gain, if you persevere with sincerity, you will surely achieve unexpected results.
The real challenge is this: without knowledge of the Dharma, it is difficult to discern who is a false teacher and who is an authentic master.
Note: This article is excerpted from Master Sheng Yen’s book Conceptual Mind.
We warmly recommend exploring more of his books for deeper insight into Chan (Zen) practice and the Buddhist path.
If this reflection resonates with you, feel free to share this post with others who may also find inspiration and peace in these teachings.
Recommended Reads to Nourish the Soul:
Exercise for Seniors: Daily exercise to build balance and boost confidence, yoga aspect
21 Easy Three-Step Dinner Recipes for Weight Loss: Helping You Lose Weight Effectively
Yoga Healing: 100-Style Yoga Provides Comprehensive Care From Shoulders And Neck To Meridians
Keep exploring more inspiring content to enrich your mind and spark new insights:
90% of Your Worries Never Come True: A Mindful Approach to Anxiety
The Kind of Relationship That Makes Someone Addicted to You Is Never About Sincerity
Therapist’s Perspective: The Healing Code of Nonviolent Communication
True Intimacy Is Not Fusion but Reflection: On Boundaries and the Art of Connection