The Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices (Chinese: 二入四行; Pinyin: ''èrrú sìxíng''; Wade–Giles: ''Erh-ju ssu-hsing''; Japanese: ''Ninyū shigyō ron'') is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

text attributed to Bodhidharma, the traditional founder of Chan (Japanese:

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

) Buddhism.

History

The text, sometimes referred to simply as ''The Two Entrances'', was first used in 6th century CE by a group of wandering monks in Northern China specializing in meditation who looked to Bodhidharma as their spiritual forebearer. Though this text was originally attributed to Bodhidharma, a great deal of material was added to it, probably around the 8th century, by the monks or perhaps other anonymous groups. The work, along with T'an Lun's biography of Bodhidharma and other newly discovered manuscripts, was recompiled by a renowned Japanese Zen practitioner,

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki , self-rendered in 1894 as "Daisetz", was a Japanese-American Buddhist monk, essayist, philosopher, religious scholar, translator, and writer. He was a scholar and author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in s ...

, in 1935.

Teachings

The two entrances referred to in the title are the entrance of principle (理入 lǐrù) and the entrance of practice (行入 xíngrù). * "Entrance of principle" refers to seeing through the obscurations of our daily mind and manifesting our true nature, that is,

Buddha nature Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone ...

; it is referred to in one short passage: * "Entrance of practice" deals with practicing a "detached perspective on the varying circumstances of one's own life," through different daily practices. In the section on the latter, the four practices are listed as being at the core of Bodhidharma's teaching. These are: ** Practice of the retribution of enmity: to accept all suffering as the fruition of past transgressions, without enmity or complaint. **Practice of the acceptance of circumstances: to remain unmoved even by good fortune, recognizing it as evanescent. **Practice of the absence of craving: to be without craving, which is the source of all suffering. **Practice of accordance with the Dharma: to eradicate wrong thoughts and practice the

six perfections 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid Peop ...

, without having any “practice” According to John R. Mcrae, "the “entrance of principle” refers to interior cultivation, mental practice undertaken deep within the individual's psyche, and the “entrance of practice” refers to practice undertaken actively and in interaction with the world." Yet, McRae also notes that it's not clear what exactly the "entrance of principle" entailed. The phrase "wall contemplation," ''biguan'', is not directly explicated, though it is commonly used in Buddhist and Taoist literature to refer to both physically facing a wall and metaphorically cultivating non differentiation between all things through internal stillness. Later tradition graphically depicted it as practicing '' dhyana'' while facing a wall, but it may be a metaphor, referring to the four walls of a room which prevent the winds from entering the room.

Structure

The format of the text is that of a collection of the master's teaching as collected by his students. There are two entrances listed, one abstract and one concrete. In other words, the text list two different ways of achieving enlightenment, one based on inward reflection (the entrance of principle) and one based on outward action (the entrance of practice). The bimodal structure of this treatise was frequently copied and became typical in early Chan Buddhism.

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{refend

External links

''The Earliest Teachings of Ch’an. Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices''
Daily Zen Journal, Issue #6 * Sheng-Yen

Zen texts Chinese Buddhist texts Treatises