The Patriarch Lieu Quan used the repetitive use of words in the sentence "Emptiness, emptiness, form, and form are also interpenetrating" with the intention of enlightenment. “Emptiness, emptiness, form” expresses the meaning of the interpenetration of dependent origination, non-nature, and non-nature, dependent origination. This secret meaning is the core content of the wonderful principle of “Dependent Origination” of the Avatamsaka Sutra, the wonderful principle of “Emptiness” of Prajna, represented by the Diamond Sutra, a sutra popularized and respected in Zen. “Emptiness, form” in the false views of sentient beings are two opposite extremes of two entities such as life and death, day and night, existence and non-existence. “Emptiness, form” in Prajna wisdom is not two entities because they do not have self-nature.

When the Buddha explained the wonderful meaning of “Emptiness, form,” he only used it as a medicine to cure the disease of conceptual attachment and cognitive obstruction in the minds of sentient beings. For those who accept existence, he taught to contemplate that all dharmas are without self-nature. For those who accept emptiness, he taught to contemplate that all dharmas come into existence through cause and effect. From the state of abandoning one-sided attachments, he leads us to the Middle Way to show that the true nature of all dharmas is the wonderful emptiness of existence, free from the four statements, and absolutely free from all falsehoods. Transcending the dualistic state of existence and non-existence is entering the true body of reality. There is no boundary between subject and object, this or that, existence and non-existence, birth and death, or cessation and permanence. There is a state of miraculous fusion, a realm of unobstructed interpenetration that the Patriarch calls “Emptiness and form also interpenetrate.”

Reality is inherently the same, neither born nor destroyed, neither interrupted nor permanence, neither coming nor going, neither one nor two. What has birth and death, cessation and permanence, coming and going, one or two is the wandering mind of living beings. If we carry this wandering mind, wherever we go, afflictions and suffering will arise. The more we carry this wandering mind to search for reality, the more we will lose our way. If we know how to stop, the shore is right here. Therefore, the miracle of Zen lies in knowing how to stop the wandering of the wandering mind and smash the block of false knowledge of existence and non-existence to penetrate the final boundary between delusion and enlightenment. Just a blink of an eye, a single moment is enough to shake off all defilements and completely reveal one's "original face". What's strange about that? Listen to the Patriarch say: "If we had known earlier that the lamp is fire, the rice would have been cooked long ago." Because when looking at a lamp, sentient beings only see the lamp but not the fire. They even carry the lamp to look for fire everywhere. In fact, no one knows what fire is, they only hear people say that fire is this or that. Then they start to imagine that fire is this or that. But when they touch real fire and have an enlightened master show them that the lamp is fire, then they realize that they have been dreaming all this time. It turns out that the lamp is the fire, not two, not different. There is nothing strange about seeing the lamp, and there is nothing new about seeing the fire. The inn is also home. So why ask where to go?

The realization of Zen is so transcendent, but that does not mean being unrestrained and unrestrained with the six senses and six objects. That does not mean denying this Dharma door or criticizing that method of practice. That does not mean destroying all forms of practice, which are skillful means to deepen and deepen the path of practice. Therefore, in the Dharma transmission verse, the Patriarch taught:

Practice both Precepts, Concentration, and Wisdom to enter the place of unobstructed, perfect connection of essence and function.

This is the unique point of Zen studies of Patriarch Lieu Quan. Many Zen practitioners often think that Zen is beyond all conventional constraints of precepts and meditation. They forget that the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng personally received and practiced the precepts of a Bhikshu monk according to the spirit of the Vinaya Pitaka of the Hinayana. They also forget that from the Buddha to the Zen masters, they have never neglected to strictly observe the precepts and practice meditation every day to purify the six senses and transcend the six sense objects. When is a Zen practitioner not in a state of calm and peaceful mind, transcending the entanglement of mind and environment?

If that is not strictly practicing precepts and meditation, then what is it? To say that reaching the state of enlightenment of Zen is to be free and liberated means not being entangled by any mental environment, not to indulging in the worldly environment. Free and liberated is also the ultimate nature of precepts and meditation. The essence and function of precepts is free and liberated, of meditation is pure and quiet, of wisdom is bright and clear. Therefore, if one still sees precepts and meditation as binding conventions, one cannot truly enter their ultimate state. These types of people need to start over and seriously practice the basic steps of precepts, meditation, and wisdom.

Zen itself is a method of eliminating idle talk. Therefore, mere interpretation according to the conventional nature of words and delusions has no place in Zen. Zen understanding is not a function of dualistic cognitive reason. Zen understanding is the miraculous function of enlightenment, the ultimate insight into the reality of humans and all things. In this sense, Zen understanding cannot be separated from experience or practice. Understanding is Conduct. Therefore, Patriarch Lieu Quan said in the Dharma transmission verse: “Practice and Understanding are in accord, attaining enlightenment to True Emptiness.” Conduct and Understanding are in accord, mutually inclusive, from there attaining enlightenment to True Emptiness. True Emptiness is also True Suchness, reality, Nirvana, true mind.

The founder Lieu Quan was born and grew up in the historical context of insecurity and division of our country during the Trinh-Nguyen conflict. Both the North and the South were under the rule of the two lords Trinh and Nguyen. Although they did not call themselves kings and both said they supported the Later Le dynasty, both families held all the power in their hands. The lords Trinh and Nguyen both tried to promote their prestige and build their own foundations. Therefore, they did not hesitate to compete with each other for hegemony through many wars, causing the people to suffer and the country to be in ruins. That was the excuse for the Manchu Qing dynasty to invade our country once again in the second half of the 18th century.

In such a social context, how could we avoid the situation of people's hearts being scattered, morality declining, and the nation's future being dark. Faced with the country's dire fate and the deranged consciousness of the times, Patriarch Lieu Quan chose a path to both liberate himself and all living beings. That path is the pure Vietnamese Zen method that has the ability to transform the roots of ignorance, afflictions, insecurity and darkness for people and society. Ironically, he truly chose the right medicine to cure the serious illness of all people.

Isn't that right? The roots of all insecurity and crisis of individuals and society do not come from the outside but are right in the deranged consciousness of each person and of society because of ignorance and afflictions. Ignorance and afflictions cannot be eliminated by violence or worldly power, because violence and worldly power are products of ignorance and afflictions. Only the method of enlightenment through the practice of Zen meditation or studying koan can illuminate and destroy ignorance. An enlightened person is a small fortress of ignorance destroyed, an enlightened country is a large fortress of ignorance destroyed. Wherever ignorance is destroyed, the light of truth, faith, peace, happiness, equality, and justice are present there.

This is the reason why the Nguyen lords repeatedly invited the Patriarch to the palace to discuss, but he resolutely refused to enter. He did not enter because he was afraid of worldly authority, because worldly authority is only a fragile illusion like morning dew, like a dream, but because he did not want to waste time on other useful work for the tens of thousands of innocent people who were in trouble and suffering. During the remaining decades of his life, the Patriarch traveled everywhere from Phu Yen to Thuan Hoa to propagate Buddhism and save lives. He persistently and devotedly ignited each spark in the consciousness of the people of the time with the strong belief that these sparks would combine to form the sun that illuminates the world.

The Patriarch's belief was realized, because after his death, his Lieu Quan Zen lineage spread everywhere, and then following the footsteps of that Zen lineage were countless sparks that lit up the entire Southern region of Vietnam for over two centuries. Among them, there were countless people who, thanks to this light, rebuilt their lives, aiming at the goal of human life towards enlightenment!