Turning the light around

Turning the light around (Ch. fǎn zhào 返照, J. henshō; K. panjo), also translated as “tracing back the radiance,” or “counter-illumination,” is a Zen Buddhist expression referring to turning attention from outward phenomena to awareness itself. In Mahayana Buddhism, the true nature of awareness is related to concepts such as luminous mind, Buddha-nature, and emptiness (śūnyatā).

Etymology

The term fǎn zhào is derived from the following Chinese characters:

• 返 fǎn, return, reverse, in an opposite direction^{[web 1]}
• 照 zhào, illuminate, light up, shine, reflect, to mirror^{[web 2]}
  • 返照, fǎn zhào, "to shine in the opposite direction," "to light up the source" [of light].

A longer variation of the phrase in Chinese is 回光返照 (pinyin: huí guāng fǎn zhào, Japanese: ekō henshō), "turning the light around and shining back." The additional characters, huí guāng, mean:

• 回 huí, return, go back^{[web 3]}
• 光 guāng, light, ray, beam^{[web 4]}
  • 回光, huí guāng, "returning light."

The phrase huí guāng fǎn zhào can also mean "final radiance of setting sun,"^{[web 5][1]} as when the sun sets but still lights up the clouds from beneath;^{[2][note 1]} and "dying flash (of lucidity or activity, prior to demise),"^{[web 5]} the moment shortly before dying when the life-force is fully expressed and one glows.^{[2][note 2]}

Origins and meaning

The idea that the mind is "luminous" and "shines" goes back to a famous passage in an early Buddhist scriptural collection called the Aṅguttara-nikāya, in which the Buddha declares, "Luminous, monks, is the mind."^[3] In Chan Buddhism, this idea is related to the concept of numinous awareness^[4] (Ch. lingzhi 靈知) which refers to the ground of sentience, or the mind-ground.^[5] As Buswell observes, numinous awareness, as the fundamental quality of sentience, "not so figuratively, 'shines' on sense-objects, illuminating them and allowing them to be cognized."^[6] As one turns the mind away from attachment to sense-objects and back toward its fundamental source,^[7] one "traces back the radiance" or "turns the light around", as the Korean Sŏn adept Yŏndam Yuil (1720–1799) says:

To “trace back the radiance” means to use one’s own mind to trace the radiance back to the numinous awareness of one’s own mind; for this reason, it is called “trace back the radiance.” It is like seeing the radiance of the sun’s rays and following it back until you see the orb of the sun itself.^[8]

By tracing back the radiance, one uncovers one's fundamental nature as numinous awareness, which, as the inherent capacity for enlightenment, is both the fundamental quality of mind realized in meditation, as well as the faculty which makes meditation through tracing back the radiance possible.^[6] What's more, Buswell says this natural luminosity doesn't merely shine on sense-objects, but with meditation, "it comes virtually to shine through sense-objects, rendering them transparent and exposing their inherent voidness (śūnyatā)."^[6]

Usage and examples

Turning one's light around is mentioned in many Chan sources. The Xinxin Ming, attributed to the third Chan patriarch Sengcan, says:

One moment of reversing the light
Is greater than the previous emptiness.
The previous emptiness is transformed;
It was all a product of deluded views.^[9]

The Platform Sutra, a key Zen scripture attributed to the semi-legendary Huineng (638–713), connects it with seeing one's "original face".^[10] The Chan master Shitou Xiqian (700–790) also says:

Turning my own light in upon myself 迴光返照, I return
And penetrate into the spiritual source, neither front nor back.^[11]

In his sermons, Mazu Daoyi (709–788) says, "When within a single thought one reflects and illuminates within (若能一念返照), then everything is the Holy Mind."^[12]

The phrase "turning the luminosity [of the mind] towards the mind's source" (fanzhao xinyuan) appears in the Dunhuang text, the Dunwu dacheng zhenglijue [Ratification of the True Principle of the Mahayana Teaching of Sudden Enlightenment], a text said to record the teachings of Heshang Moheyan (Hva shang Mahāyāna), a Chinese Chan master active in Tibet during the late 8th century. According to Carmen Meinert, "this method is meant to be an immediate return to mind's source itself and might even be seen as a face-to-face recognition of the nature of mind." Meinert points out that the term fan yuan, "return to the source," also appears in the Dunwu dacheng zhenglijue, in a quotation from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.^[13]

The term 返照 (fǎn zhào) occurs in Zongmi's (780–841) Sub-commentary to the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, where it refers to recognizing original enlightenment.^[14]

Linji Yixuan (died 866 CE), a key figure in the Linji school of Zen, states that all that is needed to obtain the Dharma is to "turn your own light in upon yourselves and never seek elsewhere."^[15] Linji further connects this "turning one's light around" (fǎn zhào 返照) with non-doing. When one stops seeking and turns one's own light in upon oneself, Linji tells us, on that very instant one will have "nothing to do" (wú shì, 無事).^{[15][note 3]} However, "turning one's light around" does not necessarily imply anything like staring at the mind or concentrating within. Linji quotes Shenhui's well-known criticism of such things as arresting the mind, staring at silence, summoning the mind to focus it on externals, controlling the mind to make it clear within, and concentrating the mind to enter into meditation.^[17] Moreover, Linji says that looking for something within is just as wrong as seeking externally, since there's nothing within that can be grasped. He says: "Outside the mind there is no Dharma, and even inside the mind it can't be grasped. So what is there to seek for?"^[18]

Yuanwu Keqin (1063-1135) said: "The most important thing is for people of great faculties and sharp wisdom to turn the light of mind around and shine back and clearly awaken to this mind before a single thought is born."^[19]

Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157), the famous master of the Caodong school, well known for his practice of silent illumination (Ch. mòzhào), says, "...you must take the backward step and directly reach the middle of the circle from where light issues forth."^[20]

Chinul's (1158–1210) Secrets of Cultivating the Mind states:

"There are many points at which to enter the noumenon. I will indicate one approach which will allow you to return to the source.

Chinul: Do you hear the sounds of that crow cawing and that magpie calling?

Student: Yes.

Chinul: Trace them back and listen to your hearing-nature. Do you hear any sounds?

Student: At that place, sounds and discriminations do not obtain.

Chinul: Marvelous! Marvelous! This is Avalokiteśvara's method for entering the noumenon. Let me ask you again. You said that sounds and discriminations do not obtain at that place. But since they do not obtain, isn't the hearing-nature just empty space at such a time?

Student: Originally it is not empty. It is always bright and never obscured.

Chinul: What is this essence which is not empty?

Student: As it has no former shape, words cannot describe it.

This is the life force of all the Buddhas and patriarchs—have no further doubts about that."^[21]

The Japanese Zen master Dōgen (1200–1253) describes it as follows: “You should stop the intellectual practice of pursuing words and learn the ‘stepping back’ of ‘turning the light around and shining back’ (Jp: ekō henshō); mind and body will naturally ‘drop off,’ and the ‘original face’ will appear.”^[22] According to Joseph Markowski, quoting Davis 2016, for Dōgen, directing our awareness upon “awareness” itself reveals a “mirroring” of phenomena "which reflects things as they show themselves without distortion" (Davis 2016, 223). Thus, the practice of mirroring via non-thinking is to be "totally engaged in the vicissitudes of life with all its ups and downs [...] on the basis of impartial compassion, rather than on the basis of egoistic craving and loathing" (Davis 2016, 223).^[23]

Lanxi Daolong (1213-1279) says: "The knowing mind is the light, errant thoughts are shadows; the light illumining things is called shining, and when the mind and thoughts do not range over things but are turned toward the original nature, this is called 'turning the light around to shine back.' It is also called 'panoramic illumination'; illumining the whole of the immediate substance, it is where neither delusion nor enlightenment have ever appeared."^[24]

Bassui Tokushō (1327–1387) said: "When you turn the light directly within and see clearly, the pure magnificent Dharma body of the self will manifest, and there will be nothing other than you."^[25]

According to contemporary teacher Jeff Shore, the phrase "describes the essence of Zen practice."^{[web 6]} According to Shore, it "jump[s] directly into the heart of the matter [...] short circuit[ing], in one fell swoop, the endless regression of ordinary consciousness."^{[web 6]}

Regarding the meaning of biguan, or "wall contemplation," a practice famously attributed to Bodhidharma, Yanagida Seizan writes, "At the same time, 'wall contemplation' includes the idea of 'turning back the brilliance in counter illumination' (ekō henshō 廻向返照, or huixiang fanzhao in Chinese), the wonderfully bright radiance of the setting sun. Or the inconceivable function of the mirror, which illuminates each and every thing in existence."^[26] Jeffrey Broughton also points out that where Bodhidharma's teachings appear in Tibetan translation among the Dunhuang manuscripts, the Chinese phrase "in a coagulated state abides in wall-examining" (ning chu pi-kuan) is replaced in Tibetan with "rejects discrimination and abides in brightness" (rtogs pa spangs te | lham mer gnas na).^{[27][note 4]}

See also

• Who is hearing this sound?
• Original face
• Self-inquiry
• Āśrayaparāvṛtti

Notes

1. Okumura (2022, p. 389): "A more literal translation would be 'turning light, returning illumination'—that is, a description of the sky after sunset. The sun has already set below the horizon, but its light 'returns' and illuminates the entire sky, making it glow. This is the time of transition between day (when people think and act) and night (when people rest and sleep). Zazen is like evening twilight; the time of thinking is already gone, but we do not have the complete darkness of nonthinking either. Evening twilight in late autumn expresses the beauty of zazen. Settling down in this quiet tranquility and illuminating the self is the way to avoid wasting time."
2. Kempton (2024): "My vision was blurred by the tears, but I wiped my eyes just in time to see the huge golden orb of the sun settle behind the mountains in the west. The sky was still a deep blue, carrying the remains of the day on the wings of wide clouds lit from below by the flare. This phenomenon, when the sun disappears but its light still illuminates the sky at twilight, is known as ekō henshō (回光返照), a term also used to describe the moment right before someone dies, when the life force is fully expressed and they glow.
   Ekō henshō is also a familiar term in Zen. Dōgen used it in his instructions for meditation, where it is often translated as turning the light inward and illuminating the self, although more literally it means 'turning the light and returning the illumination'.³"
3. Compare with the Xinxin Ming:
   
   "In self-illumination, vast and clear,
   The mind’s power exerts itself no more."^[16]
4. Broughton sees this as a curious divergence, as Tibetan translations of Chinese Chan texts are usually quite literal. He concludes that in early Tibet, "wall examining" did not refer to the literal practice of sitting cross-legged facing a wall.^[28]

References

1. Swanson 2018, p. 242.
2. Kempton (2024).
3. "Pabhassara Sutta: Luminous".
4. Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (2016). Numinous Awareness is Never Dark, page 31. University of Hawaii Press
5. See Peter Gregory, Tsung-Mi and the Single Word "Awareness" (chih), Philosophy East and West , Jul., 1985, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Jul., 1985), pp. 249-269, Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
6. Buswell, Jr. (2016), p. 31.
7. Buswell, Jr. & Lopez, Jr. (2014), p. 295.
8. Buswell, Jr. (2016), p. 33.
9. Chan Master Sheng Yen, The Poetry of Enlightenment: Poems by Ancient Chan Masters, page 26, Shambhala Publications, 2006
10. McRae 2008, p. 25.
11. Sasaki (2008), p. 266.
12. Sun-Face Buddha, The Teachings of Ma-tsu and the Hung-chou School of Ch'an, Introduced and Translated by Cheng Chien Bhikshu (Mario Poceski), page 64, Asian Humanities Press, 1992
13. Carmen Meinert. 2002. "Chinese Chan and Tibetan Rdzogs Chen: Preliminary Remarks on Two Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscripts," in: Religion and Secular Culture in Tibet, pages 293-294. Tibetan Studies II (PIATS 2000), edited by Henk Blezer, Brill: Leiden
14. Sasaki (2008), p. 174-175.
15. Sasaki (2008), p. 28.
16. Three Chan Classics, page 126, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1999
17. The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi, page 43, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press
18. The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi, page 43, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press
19. Zen Letters: Teachings of Yuanwu, translated by J.C. Cleary and Thomas Cleary, pages 85-86, Shambhala Publications, 1994
20. Taigen Dan Leighton, Cultivating the Empty Field: the Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi, page 40, Tuttle Publishing, 2000
21. Buswell, Jr. (1983), p. 146.
22. Cleary, Thomas. Shōbōgenzo: Zen Essays by Dōgenp, p. 9. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1986.
23. Markowski (2021), p. 205.
24. The Original Face: An Anthology of Rinzai Zen, translated and edited by Thomas Cleary, pages 30-31, Grove Press Inc., 1978
25. Bassui (2002), Mud & Water: The Collected Teachings of Zen Master Bassui, translated by Arthur Braverman, page 211, Wisdom Publications
26. Paul Swanson, In Search of Clarity: Essays on Translation and Tiantai Buddhism, page 242, Chisokudō Publications, 2018
27. Jeffrey Broughton, The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, page 67, University of California Press, 1999
28. Jeffrey Broughton, The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, pages 67-68, University of California Press, 1999

Sources

Printed sources

• Bassui (2002). Mud and water. Wisdom Publications.
• Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (1983). The Korean Approach to Zen: The Collected Works of Chinul. University of Hawaii Press.
• Buswell, Jr., Robert E.; Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (2014). "fanzhao". The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.
• Buswell, Jr., Robert E. (2016). Numinous Awareness is Never Dark. University of Hawaii Press.
• Davis, Bret W. (2016), "Dōgen", in LaFollette, Hugh (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Ethics, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Publishing
• Kempton, Beth (2024). Kokoro: Japanese Wisdom for a Life Well Lived. Hachette UK.
• Markowski, Jospeh Daniel (2021). Dogen's Practice of Non-thinking. VU Research Portal.
• McRae, John (2008), THE PLATFORM SUTRA OF THE SIXTH PATRIARCH. Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao (Taishō Volume 48, Number 2008) by John R. McRae (PDF)
• Okumura, Shohaku (2022). Dogen's Shobogenzo Zuimonki. Wisdom Publications.
• Sasaki, Ruth Fuller (2008). The Record of Linji. University of Hawaii Press.
• Swanson, Paul (2018). Bodhidharma, Wall Contemplation, and Mixed Binomes. Chisokudō Publications.

Web-sources

1. hanbook.com, fǎn
2. hanbook.com, zhào
3. hanbook.com hui
4. hanbook.com, guāng
5. hanbook.com, huí guāng fǎn zhào
6. Jeff Shore, Principles of Zen Practice: Illuminating the Source

Further reading

• Buswell Jr., Robert E. (1991), Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul's Korean Way of Zen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press
• Buswell, Numinous Awareness and Tracing Back the Radiance
• Jeff Shore, Principles of Zen Practice: Illuminating the Source

External links

• Turning the Light Around and Shining Back 回光返照, Terebess
• Turning the Light Around and Shining Back, from the introduction to “Shobogenzo: Zen Essays,” by Thomas Cleary, 1986 (pages 8–14)]