Non-attachment for written texts[edit]
According to the accounts, Huángbò avoided clinging on written texts. This is exemplified by the following story:
- Pei Xiu presented Huángbò with a text he had written on his understanding of Chan.
- Huángbò placed the text down without looking at and after a long pause asked, “Do you understand?”
- replied, “I don’t understand.”
- Huángbò said, “If it can be understood in this manner, then it isn’t the true teaching. If it can be seen in paper and ink, then it’s not the essence of our order.” [14]
What Huángbò knew was that students of Chan often became attached to “seeking” enlightenment and he constantly warned against this (and all attachment) as an obstruction to enlightenment:
If you students of the Way wish to become Buddhas, you need study no doctrines whatever, but learn only how to avoid seeking for and attaching yourselves to anything.[15]
But although Huángbò often told students against dependence on textual practices, pointing to the necessity of direct experience over sutra study, his record shows that he was familiar with a wide selection of Buddhist doctrines and texts, including the Diamond Sutra, the Vimalakīrti Sutra and the Lotus Sutra.
