The Six Subtle Dharma
Doors Buddhism,
Meditation
The Six Subtle Dharma Doors (Lu Miao Fa
Meng) is a manual attributed to T’ien-t’ai master Chih-i that
explains a meditation method consisting of six steps, each one of
which is said to directly bring about purification of mind and the
transcendence of suffering.
Still well known in Asian, both the text
and the technique are relatively unfamiliar here in the West. One
can find references to the Lu Miao Fa Meng here and there,
for instance, Thich Nhat Hanh in several of his book
mentions “The Six Wonderful Dharma Doors.” He describes them as
“counting the breath, following the breath, concentrating the mind,
observing to throw light on all that exists, returning to the
source of mind, and going beyond the concepts of subject and
object.”
There is an English translation of Chih-i’s
text, titled “The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime,” and it appears
to be a good literal and authoritative, translation, yet I wonder
how familiar the translator is with the teachings of the T’ien-t’ai
school. For one thing, in the title of the work, we find the
Chinese character miao (pronounced “meow”), that this
translator renders as “sublime”, which is certainly acceptable, but
he associates it with the term pranita, rather than the
Sanskrit sad (or sat), which has a more direct
relationship with T’ien-t’ai doctrine and
practice.*
Miao is a key term in Chih-i’s philosophy. In
“Profound Meaning of the Dharma Flower [Lotus Sutra]”, he devotes a
lengthy section discussing the meaning of miao and
miao-fa (saddharma). For Chih-I, miao
meant “subtle”: “beyond conceptual thought.”**
As The Six Subtle Dharma Doors focuses on
the breath, there is another, more literal aspect of “subtle” to
consider. The breath is the perfect object for meditation because
it is so subtle. One of the chief aims of meditation is to let go
of discursive thinking, and we often breathe without thinking about
it at all. It follows, then, that it should be relatively simple to
focus on the breath without attaching a great deal of conceptual
thought to the process.
In Lu Miao Fa Meng, Chih-i tells
that the name “six subtle dharma doors” (or gates) means they are
linked together and mutually inclusive. As progressive steps,
though, the sequence moves from learning to concentrate the mind,
to effortless mindfulness of breath, calming the mind, severing
delusions, returning to original mind (which includes returning to
the original teachings and meditation of the Buddha), and finally,
realization of the emptiness (non-substantiality) of all dharmas,
or things.
The Six Subtle Dharma Doors falls under
“Subtlety of Practice”, the third of Chih-i’s three categories of
Subtlety (Subtlety of Objects, Subtlety of Knowledge, and Subtlety
of Practice), and is actually a rather simple meditation technique,
although the last three steps are not as straightforward as the
first three.
The textural source for this meditation
that has been most helpful to me is from Yin Shih Tzu. His
explanation and instructions from Chapter 6 of his book
Experimental Meditation for the Promotion of Health
appears in Secrets of Chinese Meditation by Charles Luk.
The same material was translated into English some years ago in
Tranquil Sitting.
Evidently, Yin Shih Tzu, was a lay person
who first studied Taoist meditation as a member of the Dragon Door
Sect (Lung Men Tsung) and later went on to master
practices taught in the T’ien-t’ai, Ch’an and Tibetan schools. In
the early 1950’s, when he was in his 80’s, he wrote several books
that are considered classic works on the subject of meditation. In
Luk’s book, the Lu Miao Fa Meng is translated as “The Six
Profound Dharma Doors,” while in “Tranquil Sitting” it is rendered
as “The Six Mystical Steps.”
Here are the opening paragraphs to Yin Shih
Tzu’s instructions in Tranquil Sitting, as translated by
Shi Fu Hwang and Cheney Crow, Ph.D.:
Breath is the origin of life. Anyone who
cannot breathe will soon die. The nervous system cannot sustain its
reflexes and the mind dies. His life is finished. Breath alone
makes it possible for us to connect the body and the mind, and
maintain life. The entry and exit of air through our nostrils
depends on this breath. Although it is usually invisible to our
eyes, breath has both form and weight, since it has both weight and
form, during its passage it is also a material part of our body. We
realize that entry and exit of the breath depend entirely on our
mind, and that is part of the spirit. Since breath can connect the
body and mind, we know that breath itself is part of the body and
mind.
The six mystical steps will teach the
practitioner to manage the technique of breathing. It is a method
of continuous meditation. After learning the principles of Chih
Kuan, the practitioner can go further to study the six mystical
steps. Even without practicing the principles of Chih Kuan, he may
begin the study of the six mystical steps.
The six mystical steps are: counting,
following, resting, visualization, returning, and
clarifying.”
And now, the practice:
The Six Subtle Dharma Doors, taught by
T’ien-t’ai master Chih-i, based on instructions by Yin Shih
Tzu.
The Six Subtle Dharma Doors center on
breath and are a thorough method of meditation.
The method consists of: (1) Counting the
breath (shu), (2) Following the breath (sui), (3)
Stopping (chih), (4) Contemplating/seeing (kuan),
(5) Returning (huan), and (6) Refining
(ching).
1. Counting
(shu)
Regulate the breath so that it is even and
rhythmic. Count slowly, from one to ten, placing the count on
either the inhalation or the exhalation, not letting the mind
wander. If you notice that your mind has strayed, go back to count
one and begin again.
As you become comfortable and proficient
with the counting method, your breathing will become so regular and
subtle, that you will no longer need to count.
2. Following
(sui)
When counting is no longer necessary,
practice the method of following. Just follow the breath going in
and out. As in counting, if the mind wanders simply bring your
attention back to the breath. As practice progresses in this
method, breath and mind become one. It will feel as if the breath
is passing through all the pores of the body, and the mind is
peaceful and still.
3. Stopping
(chih)
Once the method of following has been
mastered, the breath still may not be subtle enough. Stopping,
then, is the next step. Here, the entire practice consists of
simply focusing the mind on the tip of the nose. As this method
proceeds, the practitioner should lose his or her constant
awareness of a physical body and mind, indicating entry into level
of deep quiescence.
4. Seeing
(kuan)
The seeing method is visualization. It is
also called “turning back the light of the mind upon itself.”
Visualize the breath coming in and going out of the body.
Eventually you can mentally observe the breath entering and exiting
through every pore in your body. When the light of the mind is
turned back in this way, the practitioner should see that all
things are empty and without a substantial reality of their
own.
5. Returning
(huan)
After practicing seeing for some time,
follow up with returning. The practice of returning consists of two
steps. First involves visualization. Having already visualized the
breath, the mind is now attuned to the art of intelligent
visualization, which differs from intelligent activity. The aim
here is to dissolve the duality between the mind that contemplates
the breath and the breath that is contemplated. This opens the way
for tracing the origin of one’s thought back to the fundamental,
true mind.
The second step is to understand that like
the breath, the mind also rises and falls. This is likened to water
that rises in waves. Waves, however, are not the water. Thus, the
mind that rises and falls is not the true mind. We look into true
mind and see that it is uncreated, beyond ‘is’ and therefore,
empty. As it is empty, there is no subjective mind that
contemplates, and since there is no contemplating mind, there is
nothing contemplated.
Going back to the true mind in this way is
what is meant by “returning.”***
6. Refining
(ching)
In returning, there may linger some idea of
returning. The first step of refining is to clear the mind of any
vestiges of this thought. The second step of refining is to keep
your mind like still water, with all random thinking and
discrimination stopped. In this way, you can observe your true
mind.
In observing the true mind, one realizes
that it does not exist apart from the random thinking mind that
discriminates. It is like the waves disappearing on the surface of
the water. This is called pure realization.
In The Six Subtle Dharma Doors, counting
(1) and following (2)are the preliminary practice. Stopping (3) and
seeing (4) is the main practice, and returning (5) and refining (6)
are the concluding practice, or the “fruit of the meditation.”
Stopping is the chief training, and seeing is its
support.
Here ends the instructions on The Six
Subtle Dharma Doors.
* Pranita, is “pure, immaculate, beautiful.” Chih-i
understood and used miao in relation to sad (or
sat), as in the saddharma of the Lotus Sutra (a
very important sutra for the T’ien-t’ai school), meaning
“wonderful, beautiful, mystic, profound, subtle, mysterious.” [See
A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, 1994 compiled by William
Edward Soothill, Delhi., pg. 234] Without going into a lengthy
explanation, it is suffice to say that the distinction between
sad and pranita in relation to miao is
important.
** See Hurvitz, Leon Nahu, Chih-i (538-597): An
Introduction to the Life and Ideas of a Chinese Buddhist Monk,
1959, UMI Dissertation Services, and Swanson, Paul, Foundations
of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy, Asian Humanities Press,
1989
*** “Returning” is also to return to the original
meditation of the Buddha, as Chih-i maintained that The Six Subtle
Dharma Doors was the method Shakyamuni used the night of his
awakening beneath the Bodhi Tree. Even though he cites several
ancient text in support of this claim, it must be noted that
Chih-i’s sense of the Buddha was not historical, but more the
Mahayana Shakyamuni, or quite possibly Shakyamuni as the Eternal
Buddha of the Lotus Sutra.