In the world, our hearing consciousness is at work day and night, night and day, from the womb to the tomb.

Unless deaf, we hear what persons tell us because we have to hear what is being said, like it or not like. Life is like that.

Once we classify the content of what is said we make judgements of what we think is worthwhile and what we think is rubbish.

We hear of good things and sad things, beautiful things and mad things, discouraging things and glad things and make judgements about the person or institution that delivers these things.

About 500 B.C. Confucius wrote in his Anelects that for one word a man is set down as wise, and for one word he is often set down as a fool.

We accept that the same notion is not gender specific and can apply to women.

So often the course of history in the sense of what new course of action is to be followed appears change by one person or group of persons defeating another group in debate.

In our society, the words of politicians instruct and influence the actions of the generals in the conduct of war.

For this reason, we agree with the value judgement of Robert Burton who wrote his "The Anatomy of Melancholy" in 1621 that:

"A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow from a sword".

Debating was the main topic taught as education in ancient times.

Recently, a Buddhist Monk whose education was along ancient methods said: Debating is like a river. It's not just a class, it flows all the time".

He meant that the classes, private studies, memorization of texts, reflection, and other activities of a Monastic scholar all derive from and feed into the debating which is held in the courtyard.

While there is much discussion about the benefits and limitations of this form of study and philosophical investigation, there is no doubt that where the principal goal of the debate is to increase the debater's understanding of ethical or other insights it has a far chance of success.

However, its utility in using time effectively or as a device for mere learning of technical facts is problematic.

However, according to Kenneth Liberman (1998), what may be grasped initially as a slogan or a vague received notion can under the challenge of an intellectual partner acting in dialectical collaboration acquire specificity and profundity it initially may have lacked.

So, on one hand, we might say that having another challenge one's thinking forces one to think more clearly.

But, one the other hand, if you wish to hold your immature views at any cost, it is true that debating can lead the participants to seemingly unnecessary technical elaborations and sophistries.

But when used wisely the form itself can serve as a convivial means of exploring the contours of a philosophical question and extending the limits of one's understanding.

There is a second aspect to debate between like minded persons - it celebrates their cultural unity.

So, there are some forms of common understanding that may come delivered in words which appear as a short form of debate that compare two viewpoints but do not make much sense to opponents who do not understand the historical niceties of their own position in a debate.

When persons lack understanding of the one or more points of factual background on their side of a debate, it is doubtful if there is much point in debate.

As Joseph Addison wrote in the Spectator of 27 June 1712:

"Words, when well chosen, have so great a force in them that a description often gives us more lively ideas than the sight of things themselves."

The debate paradigm of expounding on a topic is well exemplified by the Visesastava, which was originally composed in the Sanskrit language by the Indian scholar Udbhattasiddhasvami. The root text was translated into Tibetan language in the ninth century.

Acarya Sangye T. Naga, who heads the Department of Language and Literature at the LTWA, Dharamsala, translated the Tibetan text into English in 1998.

In order to study the debate of this text in depth, one needs to have a very good background in religion and philosophy of Veda, Purana, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Smrti, Samkhya, Vesesika, Jainism and Buddhism.

The text compares different religious teachings of that time with the teachings of Buddha.

These other religions still exist in some countries and we are not intending to disparage the intellect or faith of the followers of those religions by quoting this ancient text.

Part 3 of the text reads:

People who have faith in
Visnu, Samkara and so forth,
The qualities they proclaim to be positive are
In fact negative qualities in your teachings.

Part 10 of the text reads:

Visnu, in the disguise of a dwarf,
Cheated Bali through the stratagem of deceit.
Whereas you, despite knowing all these stratagems,
Have never deceived others.

Part 17 of the text reads:

It is said that Sages advise
Animal sacrifices for offering.
Whereas you, devoid of negativities
Have not permitted even to harm ants.

Part 25 reads:

Uluka has taught to be generous to superiors,
Rather than to the poor and downtrodden.
Whereas, O lord, you have, out of compassion
Taught to be generous even to dogs.

Part 55 reads:

Skandha, Indra, Upendra, Rudra and so forth
Always hold weapons
For fear of others and to terrorize others.
Whereas you neither fear nor terrorize others.

Part 59 reads:

Certain teachers have asserted
Teachings should not be given to those of low caste.
Whereas you have imparted teachings
Even to those of low caste.

We have selected verses to quote which are fairly comprehensible to ordinary people who are not scholars specialising in religions.

Buddha Dhamma is taught in gradual stages and becomes more and more systematic in debate as a person develops more and more insight each for himself or herself.

By the time a person has arrived at the perfection of eight out of the ten perfections needed, the type of debate changes to a great extent because more and more a student is taught by telepathy which is a method of fast teaching (mind to mind) rather than slow teaching by debate (word to ear).

As the Master of P'ei Hsiu once wrote:

Mind is a mighty ocean, a sea which knows no bounds.
Words are but scarlet lotus to cure the lesser ills.
Though there be times of leisure when my hands both lie at rest,
'Tis not to welcome idlers that I raise them to my breast!
(The Zen Teaching of Huang Po, translated by John Blofeld, 1994)

In 'The Power of Buddhism'(1996), His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Jean-Claude Carriere write:

"As many Zen koans say, in order to attain the supreme truth it is enough to prepare tea correctly or wave a fan when it is hot. In one story, travellers meet an old man making his way through the mighty waters of a torrent with amazing agility. He leaps from rock to rock and slides into the torrents and eddies where no twenty-year-old athlete would venture. When asked his secret, he can't understand the question: he has lived next to the torrent since childhood and pays no attention to it. He has become the slippery rock, the churned-up water. He can no longer tell the difference between it and him".

There are some things which require no words to have meaning. The Bell Puja, which was produced this week by nine Members of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Limited assembled together is one such sound event.

May you be well and happy.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes and Leanne Eames.

The five styles are the foundation of Ch'an.

The only reason for the Chan Academy to exist is to help produce persons who can follow Buddhist culture: not persons who are so shallow they merely seek "self-fulfilment".

{Persons who have managed to arrive at Buddhist culture and are fit to show it to others see the world differently from those brought up in the classical West.

Buddhism stresses balance and harmony through collectivism and maintaining order.

The Western emphasis on the "self-fulfilment" of the individual.

Self control rather than spontaneity is regarded as an important attribute of a mentally healthy person.

We cannot assume that interventions based on Western models of mental health would be appropriate for Chan Teachings.

Economic development of a person to enable them to become rich in worldly material is achieved from a different mind set in Chan to the mind set used for the same purpose in the West.

The three main concepts in the West is that wealth accumulation:

--has become an object of refuge for persons gathering wealth
--is sufficient, of itself, to provide happiness for the producer
--is for prime use for the person who accumulated the wealth

In Chan, these "self-fulfilment" concepts are refuted because, generally, the Western process is based on minds with hate, greed and ignorance.

The Western Art "self-fulfilment" model is based on the "wealth accumulation" model with the word "art" substituted in place of "wealth".

In Western "self-fulfilment" Art, almost without exception, the artists use the same minds of hate, greed and ignorance which are used for wealth accumulation.

In Chan, Western artists who seek "self-fulfilment" are discounted, because "art" practice should DECREASE the mind's hate, greed and ignorance.

True Chan development trains persons to see how there is something better than seeking "self-fulfilment".

John D. Hughes has made it clear there is no place in the Chan Academy for persons seeking to be "spontaneous" in their brush strokes.

Teaching from Chan should not be sought with cruel minds chasing projects designed for "self-fulfilment".

Chan Academy products are to be produced by and give wealth by marketing without increasing hate, greed or ignorance.

If you cannot work this "new" way; make merit the slow way you were taught and have been using in the past.

This is the "best practice" until you are ready to start Chan.

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