Buddha Has No Image: Whom Are They Worshipping?

There was a time when my mother and two of her friends were meditating, and two of them saw the deity Chaturbhuja Lokeshvara step out of the painting. On another occasion, an angry deity, Vajrakilaya, appeared to a friend and invited her to dance. Looking back, we’re unsure whether these were deities or something else.

This highlights the significant difference between Chan and traditional Buddhism. While both share similar metaphysical concepts, Buddhism possibly gains insights through meditation and spiritual experiences but remains confined within the realm of metaphysical knowledge.

The universe, and the reality we perceive, is simply a projection and inherently empty. As Diamond Sutra stated, “All appearances are illusory.”

The universe appears real, yet ultimately, it is merely an illusory projection, a dreamstate, a hologram. However, within the dream state, these illusions are real and follow certain laws of cause and effect. We can’t dismiss its realness within the dreamstate or deny the actuality of our feelings or physical sensations. If someone pinches you, you’ll feel the pain.

Bodhidharma, a 5th-6th century Indian monk, traveled to China and laid the foundation for Chán (禪), earning him the title of the First Patriarch of Chan. His teachings were simple and direct, cutting straight to the core of awakening. Chan gained widespread recognition after the teachings of the Sixth Patriarch, Hui-neng, were recorded in the Platform Sutra.

Chan later spread to Japan and was often referred to as “Zen Buddhism.” The Chinese character for 禪 is pronounced as "Zen" in Japanese. From there, Zen made its way to the West, gaining global recognition.

“Without the traditional sense of my physical boundaries, I felt that I was at one with the vastness of the universe.”

“In the absence of the normal functioning of my left orientation association area, my perception of my physical boundaries was no longer limited to where my skin met air. I felt like a genie liberated from its bottle. The energy of my spirit seemed to flow like a great whale gliding through a sea of silent euphoria.”

“I have come to understand how it is that we are capable of having a “mystical” or “metaphysical” experience-relative to our brain anatomy.”

“I’m no authority, but I think the Buddhists would say I entered the mode of existence they call Nirvana.”

“You’re not even you—you have no body, no blood, no bones. You’re just a thought. I don’t even exist—I’m just a dream—your dream, a creation of your imagination. Soon, you’ll understand all of this, and then you’ll cast me out of your illusion. You created me from nothing, and I will return to that nothingness…”

“The Mysterious Stranger” was written in 1898 by Mark Twain and never finished, later edited and published.

"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream— a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!"

"Thousands of rivers reflect thousands of moons; miles of cloudless sky, miles of pristine clarity." and “Thousands of rivers all reflect the same moon.”

Self-nature or pure consciousness is like a projector casting all the shapes and forms and bringing forth everything. 

“self-nature” in Chan, the “Buddha-nature" in Buddhism, “Brahman” in Hinduism, and the “Dao” or Wuji (ultimate reality) in Taoism—all indicate the same pure essence.

Physicists hypothesize as "quantum foam"—formless yet present. “Even if you took an empty container devoid of all matter and cooled it to absolute zero, there is still “something” in the container. That something is called quantum foam, and it represents particles blinking into and out of existence.” 

In other words, this physical world comes from “nothing” or “emptiness,” which resonates with the very idea mentioned in the I Ching, Buddhism, or Tao a thousand years ago. 

Here are some common pitfalls that prevent us from awakening to our true nature and returning to our natural state.

Dualistic thinking | Self-projection beliefs | Ego elimination | Looking outward | Thinking too much, perceiving too little | Mistaken spiritual experience as Enlightenment | Believe must relinquish all desires

Desire, Sex, and Attachments. Awakening is about non-attachment, but not detachment from all desires. The goal isn’t to eliminate desire entirely—life would be dull and lifeless.

Holy business, “You want to be a good man, a nice man, an innocent man, and all that stuff. You want to be something different, but always in the future. That is what all the teachers promise you, and they just promise, a next life or an afterlife.”

Holiness and sacredness are merely contaminants of true purity. Purity is not something you can find in water; it is the natural state of water itself. You don't search for purity in the water—you simply remove the impurities, and the water's inherent purity is revealed.

In the same way, you cannot "find" purity within yourself. There is nothing to seek or attain. By stripping away all false beliefs, you return to your natural state.

“If you shock easily, this may not be for you.”

“Are you ready to be shattered, to have your beliefs stripped away and then not be given anything new to hang on to? Then read this book.”

“I am not in the holy business. I sing my own song. If somebody comes I talk. If nobody comes I go for a walk or look at the birds, look at the trees.”

(This is the translation of Chapter 1 of the book published in Chinese.)

The long, fruitless search left me both mentally and physically exhausted. How much further must I trek before I finally reach the end? How many tears must I shed to cease the crying? Dragging my weary body forward, I questioned what I was searching for in this lonely quest. In a hypnosis session, I felt like a child abandoned in a vast sea of humanity—left forsaken, helpless, and engulfed by waves of sorrow, powerlessness, and loneliness. The tears flowed like an unrelenting fountain.

Intensive self-reflective journaling | Cease the fight with yourself | Mind-Body connection | Listening | Non-attachment and letting go of beliefs | Healing techniques | Honesty, courage, and willingness

Writing doesn’t have to be a lengthy endeavor. Research shows that writing about significant life events for just 20 min over five consecutive days can significantly improve both physical and psychological well-being.

Journaling sharpens self-awareness, guides us into a deeper inner world, explores a full spectrum of emotions, cultivates openness, and teaches self-acceptance. This softens us and leads to compassion and empathy toward others.

We mistakenly take this collection as our identity, calling it the "self" or "framework of self."

We didn’t come into this world as blank slates. The brain and body determine how we operate. Nature or nurture, like personalities, many of our values and beliefs are not entirely our own but learned or inherited.

How much volition do you have? Can you simply flip a switch to turn off depression or become an extrovert or an introvert?

Chan has nothing to do with religion. It broke all doctrine and threw away the talks about reincarnation and karma. It set all rules, beliefs, and doctrines on fire, reducing them to ashes. Chan only has a single query: Are you awake or not? It is about seeing one's true nature.

In the realm of spirituality and healing, the term "ego" is often discussed. The concept provides a convenient framework for exploring and understanding our identity. However, the ego is often labeled as inherently negative—insane, sinful, lustful, selfish, and greedy. Consequently, the ego is treated as a demonic entity that must be crushed and demolished.

Self-autolysis is the water purification process, removing the impurities and dropping the false identifications or beliefs, allowing us to see with great clarity and return to our true nature.