China’s Indigenous Esoteric Method: The Heart-Center Dharma

The Heart-Center Dharma is neither learned from Japan nor Tibet; it belongs neither to Tō-Mi nor to Tibetan Vajrayāna. It is a native Chinese esoteric method from the Tang. Since no one transmitted it for ages, even my teacher’s teacher did not know of it until he left home and travelled to Donglin Monastery on Mount Lu (the Pure Land patriarchal seat). There Master Huiyuan established Pure Land practice. There are two samādhis: Buddha-mindfulness samādhi and Pratyutpanna Samādhi. The former is easier: cross-legged, forming the dharmadhātu concentration mudrā, reciting “Amitābha,” one attains Buddha-mindfulness samādhi. The Pratyutpanna is difficult: one walks continuously in a room—no sitting, no lying. When matured, the Buddha appears before you to lay a hand on your crown.

My teacher’s teacher made a great vow to choose the harder path. He walked night and day without sleep; the body could hardly bear it; his legs swelled until he could not walk, yet having vowed, he did not stop—he crawled on the floor; when his palms swelled and crawling failed, he rolled. After such suffering and training, mind died through and great samādhi opened; in samādhi Samantabhadra appeared, placed a hand on his crown, and said: “In this degenerate age, to undertake such austerity is rare and precious; yet within the esoteric corpus there is a Heart-Center method by which you may rely on Buddha-power—no need to suffer so. Cultivate the Heart-Center Dharma; with blessings, you gain twice the result with half the effort. Practise it well; when accomplished, descend the mountain and transmit it widely.”

Today in Japan and Tibet there is also such a method, but it is not easily transmitted. Often after decades of cultivation, it is given. The Tibetan master Nona Rinpoche came to Shanghai and transmitted it to only one person. Others asked; he said: “You lack the qualification; this is signless esotericism—upon first entry one sees nature; this is not easy. You should cultivate generation stage first—winds, channels, bindu.” In Japan likewise it is not lightly given. A Taiwanese novice studied six years at Mount Kōya; he saw the Heart-Center manual and begged for transmission. The teacher said, “You are still a junior; when you attain the rank of ācārya, I will transmit it.” He asked, “Even after six years I cannot learn it?” Denied, he went to Tibet; except for the Red school, other sects had no Heart-Center Dharma. A Red teacher said, “You may learn it—after ten more years. First learn other tantric methods.” Hence Tibet and Japan possess it but do not lightly transmit it; it belongs to the heart-essence of esotericism. Therefore Samantabhadra told my teacher’s teacher: “Cultivate it well, then transmit it broadly to supplement the deficiencies of Chan and Pure Land.” He cultivated eight years on the mountain and then descended to propagate it.

When he prepared to transmit, people were unfamiliar with “Heart-Center Dharma”; none wished to study. He therefore displayed a bit of spiritual power to attract attention. The Dharma is upright; one should not traffic in powers. For this he was criticized by Masters Taixu and Yinguang, who said demonstrations aid “ghost-and-spirit cults” and do not promote the light of Dharma. He replied, “I, too, would prefer not to show powers; but transmission is difficult in China since esotericism has been cut off so long!”

To cultivate the Heart-Center Dharma, one must first arouse ten vows and practices; only then is one qualified. When these are fulfilled, the method accords.

1. Trust in all Buddhas; doubt no Dharma. Regard the pure Saṅgha as your teachers.
2. Keep the precepts intact; the mind steadily concentrated; understand all dharmas as empty—equal, without attachment.
3. Be compassionate to beings; uphold non-killing; regard all beings as oneself; do not bear to eat their flesh.
4. When people ask, give impartially; be gentle and humble; let no arrogance arise.
5. Do not betray your fundamental vows; always benefit self and others; do not self-praise or fault others.
6. Rich or poor, noble or base— their nature is non-dual; let the mouth be soft and pleasing, generating joy; keep the mind upright, far from flattery; accord with human feelings and skillfully turn conventional truth.
7. Revere the Buddha’s teachings; embody and practice them; protect the Dharma as your life; rescue beings without seeking reward; do not retreat even when beings are proud and rude.
8. Do not belittle the true Dharma, nor let others belittle it. Do not slander the Three Jewels, nor let others slander them. When there is belittling, skillfully clarify so that faith arises and none fall into wrong nets.
9. Guard right mindfulness; do not do wrong in secret. Be steadfast in superior practice, unwearied in toil. Make vast vows; collect the mind without retreat; ever abide in the Mahāyāna and shatter wrong views.
10. Whatever method you cultivate, recite and seal each completely. Keep the pure secret mudrās from being tainted. Practise for self-benefit and the benefit of others, not for fame or gain.

The Heart-Center Dharma belongs to the uppermost teachings within the inner secret three vehicles—the pinnacle consonant with the Great Perfection of the Red school. You may wonder: if Great Perfection is the Nyingma’s highest teaching, how can the Heart-Center—which is not Nyingma—accord with it? Explanation: Great Perfection has two aspects: Trekchö (“direct cutting”), where thoughts are cut the moment they arise so the mind-ground appears; and Tögal (“leap-over”), whereby one leaps beyond the three realms and brings birth-and-death to an end. The Heart-Center Dharma cultivates precisely direct cutting and leap-over; as signless esotericism, with one mantra and six mudrās, one directly sees nature without relying on transitional appearances. With appearance-based methods one must first cultivate appearances and then empty them to see nature—many detours. This method cuts directly.

Our nature is signless (without marks)—nothing to see, touch, or smell. Thus people do not know how to enter. Tibetan Vajrayāna, to give a handhold, takes many detours: the four preliminaries and so on; then, in Great Perfection Trekchö one still begins with winds-channels-bindu—three channels and seven wheels—establishing the image and then emptying it; these are the preliminaries of Trekchö. We, with six mudrās and one mantra, do not visualize channels; we focus the deluded mind on the mantra so that mind recites and the ear hears—the mind recites, the ear clearly hears the sound one recites; in this way one seizes the wandering sixth consciousness, so that discursive thought does not arise, and right then one can enter samādhi. This is the Ear-Faculty Perfect Penetration of Avalokiteśvara. Among the six faculties of beings in the Saha world, the ear faculty is the most sensitive. For example, the eyes can see many things and see very far, but put a single sheet of paper in front of them and they see nothing; the ears are not like that—sounds can still be heard even across a great mountain. Again, when someone is asleep, if you hold up a sheet of paper for him to see he still won’t wake, but if you call out, he wakes at once. Therefore the ear faculty is the most sensitive; using the ear faculty in cultivation is best.

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra explains this very clearly. Twenty-five great bodhisattvas each described their method of practice; Avalokiteśvara spoke of entering through the ear faculty. In the end the Buddha asked Mañjuśrī to choose which single faculty is most fitting and swift for beings of the Saha world, and Mañjuśrī chose Avalokiteśvara’s ear-faculty gateway. Because the ear faculty is so keen, we now use the ear to listen to the sound of our own mantra-recitation, seize the mind-root, and make the sixth consciousness cease its stirring. Practising in this way is even more direct, more “cutting on the spot,” than Great Perfection.