“Fear” is one of the most common and constant manifestations in the consciousness of all humans and all living beings in daily life regardless of age, gender, strength, wealth, poverty, nobility, etc. “Fear” is also often a negative psychological and physiological reaction, a feeling in the body and mind, a natural reflex of normal people when encountering dangers, bad things, threats to stability, peace, normal operation in life... There are many fears that are constantly present in the mind and manifest outwardly in the human body, causing the face to turn pale, limbs to become stiff, the heart to beat erratically, and difficulty breathing... Fears appear when we have to endure, feel disasters, accidents, unfortunate circumstances, harmful to life, health, illness, property... to ourselves, our families, relatives, neighbors, loved ones, respected people... right from birth and continuously maintained for a long time. until we pass away.

In terms of causes, dangers can come from two main sources. The first main source is from nature: such as natural disasters of fire (such as volcanoes, forest fires, fire disasters...), of water (such as floods, tsunamis, inundation, whirlpools, water disasters...), of wind (such as storms, tornadoes, wind disasters...), of earth (earthquakes, landslides, landslides, mudslides, geo-disasters...), of wild animals (such as tigers, leopards, snakes, centipedes...), of epidemics (such as diseases caused by weather and climate, bacteria or toxic super bacteria...), of "natural disasters, water disasters" (such as droughts, floods causing crop failures, famine, comets, solar eclipses, lunar eclipses...). Nowadays, thanks to the development of science, these natural dangers have been increasingly understood and gradually controlled and reduced. The second main source is from humans, including disasters of war, murder, Robbery, theft, disputes, recklessness, cursing... Due to deep karma, human ambition, anger, ignorance, attachment... are growing bigger and bigger; now, following the development of science and technology, along with the increasing population on earth without proper guidance, at the right level from the moral and spiritual foundations; in addition to the lack of understanding and sympathy between people, countries, ethnic groups, religions, political opinions...; the cause of fear today has largely originated from this second source.

Considering the types, nature, and nuances of fear, we can distinguish many or we can say that there are countless types of fear related to the level of the ability to harm the body and mind, circumstances and living environment of the person suffering from fear. There are fears related to space (such as fear of empty spaces, fear of darkness, fear of light, fear of heights, fear of abysses...); there are Fears related to time (such as fear of remembering the past, fear of thinking about the future, fear of being tied to the present...); fears related to people (ferocious people, evil people, dangerous people...); to living beings (wild animals, insects, germs, viruses... causing dangers and harm); to objects that can easily cause harm (weapons, swords, guns, explosives...), and even to the worries in each person's mind (sadness, loneliness, anger, frustration...) in daily life... In addition, there are countless other fears from crazy, illusory, and unreal delusions.

The level of harm caused by fear depends on two factors: one is depending on the scene, situation... that contains dangers; and two is depending on the basis, the consciousness of ego (attachment to the self, body, mind) and ego-possession (attachment to clinging to things that belong to me, things that I consider to belong to me such as property, fame, family, friends,...) much-little, strong-weak, deep-shallow... In general, the inevitable rule here is that the stronger, larger, and more the ability to cling to the ego and the more possessions, the more terrible and constant the fear is everywhere, at all times in the person who suffers from fear. Therefore, fear does not only exist in the poor, the powerless, the lonely; but the rich, the powerful, the high-ranking, the powerful, the powerful, the fierce... So we can see "Fear" as the common denominator, the wonderful expression of the nature of Equality in all people and all living beings. The most common serious harm is the fear of survival, survival, life of oneself, family, clan, friends, village, society, country... Less serious harm is Fears of illness, injury, physical and mental decline in oneself, family, relatives... Less harmful are the fears of loss, loss, lack of property (money, house, fields, vehicles, means of livelihood...) and fame, reputation, prestige, power... But no matter how severe, in the end it is all "Fear", fear everywhere, fear at all times, fear outside, fear inside, fear near, fear far, fear close, fear strangers... Common Vietnamese language is perceived to generally distinguish two main fears: "fear" and "fear" depending on the correlation to the severity, heavy or light of the above-mentioned fears affecting the consciousness of the person suffering from fear: fear is fear to the point of terror, the consciousness is so scattered that there is no longer consciousness, reason to distinguish, so it is no longer possible to weigh, calculate right-wrong, good-bad, loss-gain, heavy-light, familiar-strange, good-bad...; fear is fear but still has the ability to distinguish, still has enough strength to be cautious, to hesitate, to hesitate, to consider... because there is still enough consciousness, reason to judge right-wrong, good-bad... From these two main fears (fear, dread), we can also mention many other intermediate fears such as dread, panic, fear, horror, fear, awe, respect, fear...

According to Duy Thuc School, the countless fears mentioned above are all felt to originate from the Ego (I, the Self) of all types of sentient beings in the three realms (Desire Realm, Form Realm, and Formless Realm). This Ego originates from the Manas consciousness and is nurtured, developed strongly, and solidified in the Six Previous Consciousnesses (Six Previous Consciousnesses); especially in the Mind Consciousness. Manas consciousness is the second Transforming Consciousness (after Alaya consciousness), also the seventh consciousness of the "Eight Consciousnesses Mind King". The Manas consciousness is also the first of the seven consciousnesses. These seven consciousnesses, also called the Seven Pre-consciousnesses ("Seven Before Consciousnesses"), include: 1. Manas consciousness, 2. Mind consciousness, 3. Eye consciousness, 4. Ear consciousness, 5. Nose consciousness, 6. Tongue consciousness, 7. Body consciousness. The following six consciousnesses are the Sixth Pre-consciousness, also called the Third Transforming Consciousness (after Alaya consciousness and Manas consciousness). The following five consciousnesses are also collectively called the Five Pre-consciousnesses (Five Before Consciousnesses). The Manas consciousness is also called "Mind Root" because it is considered the root, the main link in the birth of consciousness. Because it does not originate directly from Alaya consciousness but only originates from the mental reactions that protect and develop the false ego from the Manas consciousness and the Six Pre-consciousnesses, "Fear" is not considered a type of mental factor like the 51 mental factors of the Eight Consciousnesses. Because mental factors in the Consciousness-Only School are considered to be characteristics. always arises from the Eight Consciousness King, and corresponds to the Eight Consciousness King, and is related to the Eight Consciousness King ("always arising from the mind, corresponding to the mind, dependent on the mind", with the word "mind" here being the Eight Consciousness King).

Manas Consciousness is the intermediate Consciousness between the two sides, the Alaya Consciousness (called "Original" because the Alaya Consciousness is also called the Root Consciousness) and the Six Consciousnesses (called "Emotion" because the Six Consciousnesses are the origin of all sentient beings' emotions). Manas Consciousness relies on the Alaya Consciousness and then takes the View Part of the Alaya Consciousness as the self (initial Self-Image, core Self-Image), so Manas Consciousness can be seen as having two main natures: (1) the nature of Being Rich and Unconditioned ("Hungry" = having a place to rely on and cling to the Alaya Consciousness) ("Unconditioned" = does not distinguish between Good-Evil, Right-Wrong, True-Wrong) and (2) the nature Ego-grasping Consciousness (Ego-grasping = necessary material for thinking function, Ego-grasping = all thinking is directed towards, focused on the core of Ego-grasping). Ego-image has no real nature, but Mano-consciousness clings to Ego-image, so the scene of Mano-consciousness is only the "Substance" scene and belongs to "Non-quantity". But this also increases the number of mental factors and develops the quality of mental factors in Mano-consciousness when compared with Alaya-consciousness: while Alaya-consciousness only has 5 Variable mental factors (1. Contact, 2. Intention, 3. Feeling, 4. Perception, 5. Thought) with a vast, gentle nature; now coming to Mano-consciousness, the number of mental factors is increased to 18 mental factors. So if compared with Alaya-consciousness, Mano-consciousness has 13 more mental factors as follows: 1 Separate-Realm mental factor (Wisdom), 4 Fundamental Affliction mental factors (1. 1. Greed, 2. Delusion, 3. Pride, 4. Self-view), and 8 Great Afflictions (1. Restlessness, 2. Drowsiness, 3. Disbelief, 4. Laziness, 5. Indulgence, 6. Forgetfulness, 7. Distraction, 8. Misunderstanding). The 4 Fundamental Afflictions of the Manas Consciousness, also known as the 4 Mental Afflictions, are all deep afflictions, deep within our consciousness. They are like whispering voices that constantly echo at the bottom of the consciousness; but they are also just products, shadows born from the ego-grasping intention of the Manas Consciousness. This makes these 4 mental afflictions all have names associated with "Self". For example, the mental affliction of Greed is also called "Self-love", Delusion is also called "Self-delusion", Pride is also called "Self-conceit", etc. The special thing is that the mental factors (Fundamental Afflictions) “Ego View” is only found in the Manas Consciousness and not in the other Mind King Consciousnesses. The reason is that when it comes to the Six Consciousnesses, the Ego View has been developed and transformed into Views of Delusions with 5 different types which are classified as: 1. Body View, 2. Border View, 3. View of Attachment, 4. Attachment to Precepts and Prohibitions, 5. Wrong View. This has caused an increase in the number of mental factors in the Six Consciousnesses. With a total of 18 mental factors, of which 12 (2/3 of the total) belong to the afflictive mental factors; Manas Consciousness, the root of ego-grasping, is truly also the root of all suffering, fear, constant and essential fear of all humans and all living beings. As summarized concisely and concisely in the first 2 verses about Manas Consciousness of the Eight Consciousnesses Recitation (Author: Tripitaka Master Tang Xuanzang (602-664)):

Poem 1:
"Bearing the nature, relying on Alaya, understanding both sides of Love and Original
... suppressed, comatose
The Four Fundamental Afflictions and the eight corresponding Great Afflictions arise
Called the place of support for the Six Transforming Consciousnesses, the Self and the intention to grasp the Self (arising from the Manas Consciousness) have been enriched, complicated and concretized, so they are expressed more clearly and strongly. This is because the Sixth Consciousness has two more elements, Scene and Quantity. These two elements always have three Natures: Good, Evil, and Indeterminate (neither Good nor Evil); they are no longer just Indeterminate as in the Alaya Consciousness and Manas Consciousness. This also causes the false Self-Image from the Manas Consciousness to have more distinctions on both sides (two sides) in the Sixth Consciousness, leading to more detailed distinctions about Energy and Object, subject and object, Consciousness and Scene, Mind and Matter, Self and Person... which develop the Four Images: Self-Image, Human Image, Living Being Image, Feeling False Appearance. The attainment and development of the Four Appearances is felt to be closely related to the profound meaning of “Subduing the Mind” in the Diamond Sutra and of “Imperfection of Living Beings” in the Shurangama Sutra. This is also related to the nature and characteristics of the Six Senses: the number of mental factors is increased to 34 in the Five Senses (an increase of 16 mental factors compared to the Manas Consciousness), and up to a maximum of 51 mental factors in the Mind Consciousness (an increase of 33 mental factors compared to the Manas Consciousness, making the total number of mental factors in the Mind Consciousness almost 3 times higher than the Manas Consciousness).

The Five Senses only have the Nature of the Scene: meaning that no matter what the Scene is like (Good, Evil, or Neutral), the 5 senses (Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue, Body) only receive and record it like that, with all 3 Natures, objectively, passively, without adding, without subtracting... Therefore, the quality of perception of the Five Senses is called "Manifest Quantity", the quality of the Nature of the Scene. In practicing Meditation, the Five Consciousnesses only have the full functions and functions of the five senses (Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue, Body) in the Desire Realm, but when reaching the Second Ground of the Form Realm (the Land of Concentration and Joy), the Five Consciousnesses only have the functions of the three senses: Eyes, Ears and Body. (This clearly states that the higher the level of Meditation, the more the functions of the Six Consciousnesses clinging to the six sense objects are reduced). The number of 16 mental factors increased in the Five Consciousnesses compared to the Manas consciousness are named and calculated as follows: adding 4 mental factors of Distinctive Scenes (1. Desire, 2. Victory, 3. Mindfulness, 4. Concentration) (the 5th mental factor of Distinctive Scene is Wisdom which is already present in the Manas consciousness); Add 11 wholesome mental factors (1. Faith, 2. Shame, 3. Respect, 4. Non-greed, 5. Non-anger, 6. Non-delusion, 7. Diligence, 8. Peace, 9. Non-indulgence, 10. Equanimity, 11. Non-harming) (Manas consciousness does not have any wholesome mental factors); add 2 intermediate afflictions (1. Shamelessness, 2. Non-esteem) (Manas consciousness also does not have any intermediate afflictions); remove 2 fundamental afflictions, which are Pride and Self-view, but add the mental factor Anger (thus the Five Preconsciousnesses only have 3 fundamental afflictions, which are 1. Greed, 2. Anger, and 3. Delusion). The above are condensed through the verse about the Five Preconsciousnesses of the Eight Consciousnesses as follows:

"The Nature of the Scene, the Present Quantity, communicates with the Three Natures
Eye, Ear, Body, the Three Second Grounds reside
Transformation, Distinct Scene, Eleven Good Factors
Middle and Two, Great Eight, Greed, Anger, and Delusion"

Temporary translation:
"The Nature of the Scene, the Present Quantity communicates with the Three Natures
Up to the Second Ground, the three roots of the eyes, ears, and body are still used
There are enough 5 Transformation, 5 Distinct Scene, 11 Good Mental Factors
Middle and Eight Great Eight, 3 Fundamentals (Greed, Anger, and Delusion), Afflictions"

The Nature of the Scene and the Present Quantity of the Five Preconsciousnesses when brought to the Mind Consciousness (Sixth Consciousness, 6th Consciousness) have become richer, more complex, and stronger, expressed through the 3 Scenes and 3 Quantity of the Mind Consciousness. The 3 realms are the Nature Realm (mentioned in the section on the Five Consciousnesses), the Material Realm (mentioned in the section on the Mano Consciousness), and now there is the Single Image Realm. The Single Image Realm is a realm that exists only in the Consciousness, and they are just unreal shadows and images, created only by the Consciousness's discrimination, comparison, calculation, and vague imagination. The number of 33 mental factors increased in the Consciousness compared to the Manas consciousness is listed as follows: adding 4 mental factors of Distinctive Scenes (as mentioned in the section on the Five Preconsciousnesses), adding 11 good mental factors (as mentioned in the section on the Five Preconsciousnesses), adding 1 Fundamental Affliction which is Doubt (thus the Consciousness has all 5 Fundamental Afflictions which are 1. Greed, 2. Anger, 3. Delusion, 4. Pride, and 5. Doubt), adding 10 Minor Associated Afflictions (1. Anger, 2. Hatred, 3. Wealth, 4. Anger, 5. Jealousy, 6. Greed, 7. Anger, 8. Flattery, 9. Harm, 10. Pride), adding 2 Middle Associated Afflictions (as mentioned in the section on the Five Preconsciousnesses), adding 4 Indeterminate mental factors (1. Regret, 2. Sleep, 3. Investigation, 4. Thought). These are summarized through the verse about the Sixth Consciousness of the Eight Consciousnesses as follows:

"The three natures, three quantities, and the three realms
The three realms revolve and can be easily known
Corresponding to the fifty-one mental factors
When the time comes to be separate, good and evil will dominate."

Here, the Consciousness-Only School helps to answer the question: "When will we be less afraid and no longer afraid?". The general answer that can be felt and concluded is: Because "Fear" is a mental state that mistakenly clings to the Ego in each of us, it is a product born from the Mano Consciousness, then cultivated in the Five Preconsciousnesses, and nurtured and developed to the maximum in the Consciousness in our mind; so if we want to "Reduce Fear", we need to clearly recognize the state of the Ego and then try to erode the tendency to cling to the Ego in the Consciousness; and if you want to "Be Free of Fear", you need to completely let go of the Ego in the Manas consciousness by breaking through and overcoming the Manas consciousness and by letting go of all the seeds of Karma consciousness of the Ego in the Alaya consciousness.

According to the Treatise on the Middle Way (Bodhisattva Maitreya preached the verses, Bodhisattva Vasubandhu (316-396) commented, An Hue (475-555) commented, Chan De (499-569) translated Sanskrit into Chinese, Quang Minh translated Chinese into Vietnamese), the state of the Ego in the Manas consciousness is felt to be gradually eroded and then eliminated when we make an effort to meditate, contemplate, and practice the 37 Bodhipakṣa-pakṣa through 5 steps, tentatively named and briefly outlined as follows:

Step 1: practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (contemplation of the Body - contemplation of Feelings - contemplation of the Mind - contemplation of Dharmas). That is to generate and strengthen the ability to contemplate the four objects that express the Self and Self-possession most clearly, most closely, and most specifically: Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dharma. It can be simply said that this is the step of Taming Consciousness, not allowing the Consciousness to run wildly into the six sense objects (Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch, Dharma) but making the Consciousness become gentle, turning towards the inner self (Manas and Alaya).

Step 2: practice the Four Right Efforts, the four upright dharmas, making efforts to protect and develop the mind to reduce and eliminate Evil and to increase Good for Consciousness, including: 1. Prevent Evil from arising, 2. Eliminate Evil that has arisen, 3. Generate Good that has not yet arisen, 4. Develop Good that has arisen. It can be roughly said that this is the step of Perfecting Consciousness.

Step 3: practice the Four Bases of Aspect (1. Desire Base of Aspect, 2. Effort Base of Aspect, 3. Mind Base of Aspect, and 4. Contemplation Base of Aspect) to bring the Consciousness (which has been purified) back into the Manovijnana, no longer interested in following the external world (the word "Y" in "Aspect" is the Mind Root of Aspect, the Manovijnana, the origin of Consciousness). By diligently practicing the Four Bases of Aspect, the practitioner completes the Favorable Liberation part of the Provisions, the first of the five levels of practice of the Vijñāptimātratā. It can be roughly said that this is the initial stage of Consciousness Purification (=Initial Consciousness Purification).

Step 4: practice the Five Roots (1. Faith Root, 2. Diligence Root, 3. Mindfulness Root, 4. Concentration Root, 5. Wisdom Root): is to initiate and fully form the 5 solid bases for the career of progressing in liberation, including: 1. Faith = is the increase in Desire as Desire, 2. Diligence = is the increase in practice, Diligence as Desire, 3. Mindfulness = is the increase in Right Mindfulness, 4. Concentration = is the increase in Right Concentration, 5. Wisdom = is the increase in thinking and contemplation. The success in practicing the Five Roots will help the practitioner reach the Warmth and the Summit, the first 2 stages of the Four Stages of Practice. It can be said that this is the step of Purifying Consciousness in the intermediate stage (= Middle Purification of Consciousness).

Step 5: Practicing the Five Powers (1. Faith Power, 2. Energy Power, 3. Mindfulness Power, 4. Concentration Power, 5. Wisdom Power) is to develop and strengthen the strength to practice liberation in the 5 Roots, so that the practice of the 5 Roots has more good results and can achieve the 2 later stages of the Four Stages of Practice, which are Patience and Worldly First Stage. At this point, the Bodhisattva is no longer subject to degradation in practice because he has clearly realized that worldly dharmas are all conditioned and mind-only, so the Bodhisattva attains the state of Uninterrupted Consciousness, attains the state of unconditioned wisdom and enters the stage of Insight into the Path. It can be said that this is the step of Purifying Consciousness in the final stage (= Extreme Purification of Consciousness). Steps 4 and 5 here correspond to Gia Hanh Vi, the second of the five levels of practice of Duy Thuc Hanh.

Kien Dao is fully called "Kien Dao So Doan Deo", also called "Kien Nhat Xu Dan Phien Nao", "Kien Chuong", "Kien Phien Nao", Kien Chi, Kien Dac... The Kien Dao stage is considered to have begun the Saintly position, because it is already the Tu Da Hoan fruit of the Thanh Van vehicle or the Bodhisattva fruit of the First Ground (Hoan Hy Ground) of the Ten Grounds Bodhisattva of the Bodhisattva vehicle. At this stage, the Bodhisattva clearly sees the path that needs to be worked on further through practicing the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (7 branches of Enlightenment), including: 1. Mindfulness, 2. Investigation, 3. Energy, 4. Joy, 5. Tranquility, 6. Concentration, 7. Equanimity), clearly seeing the 88 types of afflictions (eighty-eight afflictions), the basic afflictions that the Path-Seeker needs and will work hard to completely eliminate in the Path-Cultivation stage, the next stage of practice after the Path-Seeker. This is often called "THE PATH-SEEKING BEGINNING CULTIVATION". Because they have clearly seen the afflictions that need to be worked at to eliminate, the stage of Kien Dao is also perceived as the stage that has clearly recognized the illusory state of the Self in the Manas, the source of all fears, and then strives to make the Consciousness (which has been tamed, refined, and purified) reduce its delusions and clinging to the Self, so that all fears begin to be reduced. The stage of Kien Dao practice is considered equivalent to Thong Dat Vi, the third stage of the five stages of practice of Duy Thuc Hanh.

However, from the stage of Kien Dao, they still need to go through and complete the stage of Tu Dao, then the Self will be completely eliminated. This stage of practice corresponds to the three stages of Sakrdagamin, Anagami, and Arhat (in the Sravaka vehicle) or corresponds to the seven stages of Bodhisattva Enlightenment, from the Second to the Eighth Ground, respectively named as Separation from Cau (Second) Ground, Phat Quang (Third) Ground, Diem Hue (Fourth) Ground, Difficulty Winning (Fifth) Ground, Hien Tien (Sixth) Ground, Far-Traveling (Seventh) Ground, Bat Dong (Eighth) Ground (in the Bodhisattva vehicle). During the stage of practice, Bodhisattvas with Prajna wisdom further practice the Noble Eightfold Path (1. Right View, 2. Right Thought, 3. Right Speech, 4. Right Action, 5. Right Livelihood, 6. Right Effort, 7. Right Mindfulness, 8. Right Concentration), that is, they complete the practice of the 37 Bodhipakṣa Factors. In addition, they also deeply practiced the Six Paramitas (1. Generosity, 2. Precepts, 3. Patience, 4. Diligence, 5. Meditation, 6. Wisdom, in the Bodhisattva vehicle) or the Ten Paramitas (in the Sravaka vehicle, including: 1. Generosity, 2. Precepts, 3. Renunciation, 4. Wisdom, 5. Diligence, 6. Patience, 7. Truthfulness, 8. Determination, 9. Charity, 10. Equanimity). The result of practicing in the Path stage is that they attained the Arhat stage (Sravaka vehicle), corresponding to the Immovable (Eighth) Stage of the Bodhisattva vehicle and were considered to have seen the nature with the meaning often mentioned: "SEEING THE NATURE TO BECOME A BUDDHA". The practice stage of the Path is considered corresponding to the Practice Stage, the fourth stage in the five stages of practice of the Vijñāptimātratā-siddhi. At this stage, they have completely abandoned all the seeds of habit and karma in the Alaya-vijnana treasury, perfectly achieved the Unborn Dharma-Endurance (the realm of Nirvana of the Truth of the Path in the Four Noble Truths of the Sravaka vehicle), attained Emptiness of Birth and Death, transcended the cycle of birth and death in the Three Realms (Desire Realm, Form Realm, Formless Realm), and also overcome Ego-Clinging, so the "Fear" no longer exists in them. Because of the absence, the "Fear", their minds are always at ease because they always have 2 Self-Relying Self-Reliance, which are Non-Discriminating Self-Reliance and Pure Land Self-Reliance, as the Heart Sutra clearly states: "... Bodhisattvas rely on the Prajna Paramita, their minds are fearless, fearless, far away from crazy dreams, reaching Nirvana". This passage of scripture can be roughly translated as follows: “The Bodhisattva (who has attained Enlightenment) practices the wisdom of Prajnaparamita and reaches the Other Shore, and his mind will no longer be hindered by delusions. Because he is no longer entangled by these hindrances, the Bodhisattva (who has now attained Enlightenment) no longer has any fears, is far away from crazy dreams, and enters the ultimate Nirvana”).

In the Zen house, there is a story: "During the Trinh Quan period of the Tang Dynasty, the Fourth Patriarch Dao Tin looked at the weather conditions of Nguu Dau mountain, U The temple, and knew that there was a strange person there, so he went to look for him. He saw Phap Dung sitting stiffly, as if he had never turned his head back.

The Patriarch asked, "What are you doing here?"

The Master replied, "Observing the mind."

The Patriarch: "Who is the person who is observing? What is the mind?"< br>
The Master did not answer, stood up, bowed and asked: "I wonder where the Venerable One's relics are?"< br>
Patriarch: "I do not stay anywhere, neither in the East nor in the West."< br>
Master: "Do you know Zen Master Dao Xin?"< br>
Patriarch: "Why are you asking him?"< br>
Master: "Because I have admired his virtue for a long time, I have long wished to pay homage."< br>
Patriarch: "Dao Xin is the poor monk."< br>
Master: "Why have I come here?"< br>
Patriarch: "I came to visit you. Is there a place to rest?"

The Master pointed behind and said, "There is a separate cup."

So he took the Patriarch to that hermitage. Looking around the hermitage, he saw traces of tigers and wolves. The Patriarch spread out his arms, looking scared.

The Master asked, "Is there still that?"

The Patriarch said, "Do you see anything else?"

The Master did not answer.

Later, the Patriarch wrote the word "Buddha" on the rock where the Master sat in meditation every day; The Master saw it and looked annoyed.

The Patriarch asked: "Is there still that?".

The Master did not understand the Patriarch's deep meaning, so he bowed and asked to listen to the essential words of the heart..."

Through this Zen story, we can draw a few conclusions:

Regarding the first question: "Who is the Contemplator?": The Patriarch hit straight into the depths of the Master's ego-grasping Manas;

Regarding the second question: "What is the mind?": There was another hammer blow to the Dharma-grasping Consciousness. These two questions were not easy to answer smoothly, so the Master remained silent and did not respond.

Then the Patriarch spread his arms, showing a frightened expression like a tiger or wolf: like a gentle gesture like a floating cloud, simple, familiar and easy for everyone to understand, to provoke a statement from the audience, making the Master unable to help but ask: "Is there still that?" "Why?"

To remove the nail and unscrew the bolt for this question, the Patriarch wrote the word Buddha on the rock where the Master sat in meditation every day. Then, as soon as he saw the Master showing signs of discomfort, the Patriarch gave the final hammer blow: "Is there still that thing?" This hammer blow initially went from the Master to the Patriarch, now the Patriarch skillfully and skillfully turned it back to the Master.

The Master and the Patriarch talked about "That Thing". This "That Thing" was expressed through the Patriarch's gesture of spreading his arms as if to show fear and the Master's uncomfortable, hesitant attitude... And also in "That Thing", through the depths of his consciousness, the meaning of the answer to the two questions the Patriarch asked when he first met the Master was revealed: "Who is the Contemplator? What is the mind?" and also for the last question of the Patriarch: "Do you see anything else?".