What are we investigating in Chan?

参禅参什么？

Penetrate the meditation topic and reveal the sign
Smash the black pail and reveal the original source

参破话头露端倪
打碎黑桶现本源

‘Chan’ is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyana. It means “stilling thought” in Chinese. To be still is to be serene. If your mind is busy and active, it is false thinking. The mind that does not move is the true mind, the proper mind. Calming your thoughts and reducing the activity and false thinking is called ‘stilling thought’ and ‘thought cultivation.’ Someone may say, “If thoughts are stilled until they are no more, then how can thought be cultivated?” Actually, you could say that this kind of thought seems to exist and yet doesn't. It does not necessarily exist or not exist. Then what is it? It refers to investigating Chan. And what are we investigating? We investigate thought cultivation.

「禅」梵语叫禅那，中文叫静虑，静就是清静，虑就是思虑；你动念多是妄念，不动就是真念、是正念。把你的思虑都静下来，不动那么多，没有妄想，这叫静虑，又叫思惟修。有人说：「静虑连『想』都没有了，怎么还有『思』呢？」这个「思惟」是似有似无，并不一定有，也不一定没有，就是什么呢？就是参禅的「参」字，参什么呢？就参这个思惟修。