Real Mark Buddha Remembrance

In Chinese Pure Land you find the four types of buddha-remembrance (四種念佛), and among them the real-mark (i.e. ultimate) buddha-remembrance (實相念佛). See a brief explanation here.

The Zen explanation of that practice is from Daoxin, the fourth patriarch, in his "Fundamental Expedient Teachings for Calming the Mind Which Attains Enlightenment" (T85n2837p1286c19), who sums up the definition of yixin sanmei as "the mind which is aware of the Buddha is the Buddha, whereas [the mind which] does false thinking is the ordinary person" (tr. David W. Chappell), based on the Manjusri PP Sutra. After that he quotes the Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue (T09n0277p0393b10-11): "The ocean of impediment of all karmas / Is produced from one's false imagination. / Should one wish to repent of it / Let him sit upright and meditate on the true aspect [of reality]." (tr. Bunno Kato) And here meditation on the true aspect is "念實相", i.e. (using the translation above) remembering/thinking real-mark. Further on repentance, or rather formless repentance, there is the 6th chapter of the Platform Sutra. Then Daoxin (tr. Chappell) continues:

"The Dapinjing [couldn't find what it actually refers to, but an almost identical teaching is found in the first volume of the Fozangjing T15n0653p785a25] says: "No object of thought (wu-suo-nian) means to be thinking on Buddha (nianfo)."
Why is it called wu-suo-nian? It means the mind which is "thinking on Buddha" is called thinking on no object (wu-suo-nien). Apart from mind there is no Buddha at all. Apart from Buddha there is no mind at all. Thinking on Buddha is identical to the thinking mind. To seek the mind means to seek for the Buddha.
Why is this? Consciousness is without form. The Buddha lacks any outer appearance. When you understand this truth, it is identical to calming the mind (anxin). If you always are thinking on Buddha, grasping [onto externals] does not arise, [and everything] disappears and is without form, and thinking is impartial without [false] discrimination. To enter into this state, the mind which is thinking on Buddha disappears, and further it is not even necessary to indicate [the mind as Buddha]. When you see this, your mind is none other than the body of the real and true nature of the Tathagata."

Uchiyama's zazen is letting go of thoughts, what Dogen calls hishiryo, what the Platform Sutra calls no-thought (wunian). It is the same as real-mark nianfo. Not anything complicated. But whether one manages to abide by not abiding anywhere is another question.

Zero, One, Two, Six

Wisdom and samadhi cannot be separated, just as wisdom and compassion cannot be separated. The wisdom that is without samadhi and/or compassion is not the wisdom of the buddhas, but rather some ideology, emptiness grasped incorrectly.

I don't mean ultimately. It is more a matter of how those words are defined. On the one hand, there is the path of sila-samadhi-prajna. On the other hand, there is the unity of samadhi-prajna in the Platform Sutra, or Keizan's statement "Zazen is also not based upon discipline, practice, or wisdom. These three are all contained within it." And even the PP8000 (3.4) says, "The five perfections are in this manner contained in the perfection of wisdom, and the term ‘perfection of wisdom’ is just a synonym for the fulfillment of the six perfections. In consequence, when the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed, all the six perfections are proclaimed." At the same time, Dazhu Huihai writes, "People who are confused or deluded do not understand that the other five paramitas all evolve from the dana-paramita. Therefore, in practicing the dana-paramita, one also fulfills the practice of the other five paramitas." How does all this work? Nagarjuna explained it in the MPPU (p 41-45) that one can cultivate any one of the six that includes all the others, or can focus on one or two paramitas and thus cultivate the rest, or it is also possible to cultivate none and thus realise all.

In the case of the immediate enlightenment of Zen, there are no stages or levels, everything is included in the single realisation of no-mind. Talking of the general teachings for bodhisattvas is another matter.

As Dogen said, zazen is dropping body and mind. It means that, as you can always see for yourself, that all physical and mental experiences are impermanent, they don't last even for a second. Dropping them is not creating an issue, not taking a position. On the other hand, if one takes up a gradual training, instead of practising enlightenment, then I think it should be done properly, following the well established tradition, like the instructions found in Zhiyi's Smaller Samatha-Vipasyana treatise or some others. It is better to be clear about the methods being used, otherwise they bear no fruit.

With Superpowers to Enlightenment

What may seem mystical and supernatural in Buddhism are generally about the inner world. Just consider how the various heavens are connected to different levels of absorption (see here). The various visions of the world can be summed up in what is called the five eyes, where the first one is our ordinary eye, and the second one is where all the supernatural things can be seen, while the other three are actually different levels of wisdom. Karma also is something that operates within one's inner world, defining one's perception of things and what could be called one's personality.

With a materialist ideology the entire inner world of one's mind is disregarded as if it had never existed. But we all experience thoughts, emotions, dreams, visions and various mental states. In fact, the concepts of materialism are also mental creations. Every experience one can have is within the mind, otherwise there is no consciousness of the experience and as such it cannot be called an experience. Since suffering/dissatisfaction exist within experience, it is within the realm of experience where one needs to look for solutions. Similarly, dreams and visions are also experiences, no different from ordinary events, like drinking a cup of tea. The difference is that while common people rarely encounter anything beyond the everyday worldly experiences, those who engage in spiritual cultivation - like meditation - can and often do have so called other-worldly experiences. Those other-worldly events are then reflected in the teachings and numerous stories that modern people easily and unthinkingly disregard as myths.

It is actually not particularly difficult to get in touch with the mystical side of our world. What it takes is to move our attention from the outside world of ordinary experiences to the inner realm. Normally the path to do that in Buddhism is to gain a firm foothold within the basic levels of absorption, that is, to be capable of maintaining a stable, calm and attentive mind at your will. There are other ways as well, generally not used by Buddhists, because those are not really conducive to liberation. Once one has a fairly good command of one's mind, it is then a matter of directing one's attention toward a particular topic or area of investigation. It can be used for the cultivation of the six supernormal powers (e.g. AN 5.28), while in Mahayana it is applied to so called visualisation practices, where one can visit buddhas and buddha-lands (e.g. Pratyutpanna-samadhi Sutra). Used properly, one can gain the benefits of both concentration and insight.