No-Method in Indian Buddhism

Haklenayaas (Gal na yas), the 23rd patriarch of Chan:

There are many gates to meditation in the Mahyna. The ultimate among them is the instantaneous approach to the Madhyamaka. The instantaneous approach has no method. One cultivates the nature of reality in this way: phenomena are mind, and mind is uncreated. In that it is uncreated, it is emptiness. Since it is like the sky, it is not a field of activity for the six sense-faculties. This emptiness is what we call vivid awareness. Yet within that vivid awareness there is no such thing as vivid awareness. Therefore without remaining in the insights gained from studying, cultivate the essential sameness of all phenomena.

The Origins of Majur Sutra (cited by Nagarjuna in the commentary on the perfection of wisdom sutra):All dharmas, even if they are marked by sensual desire, marked by hatefulness, or marked by delusionthe marks of all of these dharmas are identical to the true character of dharmas. There is nothing therein which should serve to hang one up or obstruct one. ---Ones sensual desires identical with the Path.And so it is with hate and delusion.In just this way, amidst these three,One finds the Path of innumerable buddhas.So if a man discriminatesTwixt lust and hate, delusion and Path,This man strays far away from Buddha,Just as heavens far from earth.The Path, lust, hatred, and delusionAre all one dharma, all the same.Should one who hears this cringe in fear,Hes far away from Buddhas Path.The dharma of lusts not born or destroyed,And cannot cause the mind affliction,But if one has a view of self,This lust leads forth to the wretched destinies.Seeing dharmas of existence and nonexistence as different,One cant leave existence or nonexistence.But knowing existence and nonexistence as same,Transcending supremely, one achieves Buddhas Path.

Nagarjuna:Furthermore, the bodhisattva acquires the Prajpramit without practicing any dharma and without acquiring any dharma. Why? All practices (cary) are erroneous and futile: from near or far, they present faults. In fact, bad dharmas (akualadharma) are faulty from close up; as for good dharmas, they are transformed and modified from far away; those who become attached to them will end up by experiencing pain and sorrow; thus they show defects from far off. [Good and bad practices] are like an appetizing food and a disgusting food both of which have been poisoned. As soon as one eats the disgusting food, one feels dissatisfied. When one eats the appetizing food, one feels pleasant satisfaction for the moment, but later it takes ones life. Therefore both kinds of food should be avoided, and it is the same for good and bad practices.

Question. If that is so, why did the Buddha preach the three practices, namely, the brhmanic practice (brahmacarya), the godly practice (divyacarya) and the noble practice (ryacarya)?

Answer. The noble practice consists of practicing the absence of all practice. Why? Because during all noble practice, one never departs from the three gates of liberation (vimokamukha). The brhmanic and the divine practices arise insofar as they grasp the characteristics of beings (sattvanimittodgrahaa); although they do not show defects at the time they are being practiced, they will show them later on and the realities they actually pursue will all appear to be false. However, the saint (rya) who practices these two kinds of practice with a detached mind (asaktacitta) does not commit any fault.

For the person who practices the absence of practice thus, nothing exists any longer: errors (viparysa), deceptions (vacana) and the afflictions (klea) no longer arise for they are purified like space (kauddha). He acquires the true nature of dharmas by holding his non-acquisition (anupalabdhi) as an acquisition. It is said in the non-acquired Praj: Dharmas, form (rpa), etc., are not empty as a result of emptiness; they are originally and eternally empty in themselves; dharmas, form, etc., are not nonperceptible because wisdom does not reach them: they are originally and eternally non-perceptible in themselves. This is [197b] why we should not ask how many virtues must be practiced to obtain Prajpramit. Out of loving-kindness and compassion to beings, the Buddhas teach the practices in order to be in harmony with common usage (savti), but there is nothing absolute (paramrtha) there.

Question. If Prajpramit can be neither acquired nor practiced, why does the ascetic seek it?

Answer. There are two kinds of things that cannot be acquired:

i) Worldly pleasures, which can be sought but which do not respond to the attempt, cannot be acquired; ii)The true nature of dharmas, the definite notice (niyattanimitta) of which escapes perception, cannot beacquired. Not being non-existent, they include merit (puya) and increase the roots of good (kualamla).Worldly people (pthagjana) who speculate about worldly affairs (lokadharma) have profit (lbdha), etc.; and it is the same for all the good qualities. But it is according to the mind of the world that we speak about acquisition, in the mind of the Buddha, nothing in acquired.