distinguished three levels of broadening awareness:
1. the Way of the Ancient Masters, based on
reading Buddhist Scripture (and hence
restricted to the limitations of linguistic
expression);
2. Tathaagata Ch'an, Ch'an of the Perfected One
(ju-lai ch'an), or the Ch'an of Emptiness,
resulting from a non-reliance on language and
Scriptures, inclu-
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(32) Cf. Zen Master Hakuun Yasutani's Lectures on
Zen, "10 The Three Essentials of Zen Practice"
in Philip Kapleau's the Three Pillars of Zen:
Practice, and Enlightenment (Boston: Beacon
Press, 1965), pp.58-60
(33) Master Nanyo, Irmgard Schloegl trans., The
Wisdom of the Zen Masters (New York: New
Directions, 1975), as quoted by p.55.
P.362
sive of Bodhidharma;
3. the Ch'an of the Patriarchs (tsu shih ch'an),
or the direct experience of enlightenment
through mind to mind transmission, expressed
not through conventional language, but rather
through either action (body language) or
silence. (34)
Only the thired level of awareness could claim to be
complete and perfect, the other two being mere means
to this ultimate end.
A certain similarity may be discerned here with
the three phases of the teaching/learning process
recognized by the T'ien-t'ai sect:
1. to sow the seed of Buddha's wisdom in the
heart
2. ripening of the seed
3. harvesting of the seed, abandonment of
all.(35)
What distinguishes the Ch'an approach, however, is
the crucial transitional second stage that directly
contradicts the initial stage. In contrast, the
T'ien-t'ai methodology nurtures the seed sown in the