楞嚴經宗通

F. THE SIX ENTRANCES

Sutra: “Furthermore, Ananda, how is it that the Six Entrances are fundamentally the Wondrous True Suchness-Nature of the Tathagata-garbha?

Commentary: The Six Entrances are also called the Six Bases, the places through which objects enter. Here, only the faculties are taken as the entrances. How can the Six Faculties be the Wondrous True Suchness-Nature? Is it not said, “When one faculty has returned to the source, all six faculties attain liberation”? Therefore, the Six Faculties are themselves the Buddha-nature.

King Dị Kiến asked the Venerable Ba La Đề, “What is Buddha?”

The Patriarch replied, “Seeing the Nature is Buddha.”

The king asked, “Do you see the Nature, Master?”

The Patriarch replied, “I see the Buddha-nature.”

The king asked, “Where is that Nature?”

The Patriarch said, “The Nature is in its functioning.”

The king asked, “What functioning is that, which I do not see?”

The Patriarch said, “Its functioning is now manifest, but Your Majesty does not see it.”

The king asked, “Is it presently within me?”

The Patriarch said, “When Your Majesty functions, there is nothing that is not it; when Your Majesty does not employ it, that Essence is difficult to see.”

The king asked, “When it is functioning, in how many places does it appear?”

The Patriarch replied, “When it appears, it is manifest in eight places.”

The king said, “Please explain to me those eight places in which it appears.”

Patriarch Ba La Đề spoke this verse:

“In the womb, it is the Body;

In the world, it is the Person;

In the eyes, it is Seeing;

In the ears, it is Hearing;

In the nose, it smells fragrances;

In the mouth, it converses;

In the hands, it grasps and holds;

In the feet, it walks and runs.

It manifests everywhere equally throughout the dharma realm,

Yet, gathered in, it is contained within a single mote of dust.

Those who clearly understand know it as Buddha-nature;

Those who do not understand call it the spirit-soul.”

Upon hearing the verse, the king’s mind immediately awakened.

When Master Trình Minh Đạo read the line in the Doctrine of the Mean, “The hawk flies to the utmost heavens; the fish leaps in the abyss,” he said, “Above and below, all is plainly manifest.” Here, Master Tử Tư truly exerted himself for the sake of others. If one realizes this, life becomes exceedingly free. If one does not, it is merely “playing with the spirit-soul.” Students often hear such words. Why, then, did King Dị Kiến awaken upon hearing them?

Chan Master Phật Nhật Tài ascended the Dharma seat and said, “The bleak wind and rain completely block your Ears! The falling leaves come again and completely block your Eyes! Fragrances and odors in confusion completely block your Nose! Cold and heat, sweetness and savor completely block your Tongue! Brocade garments, warmth and coolness completely block your Body! Inverted deluded thoughts swiftly block your Mind! Worthy Chan practitioners, even if you could overturn all this, you would still be no more than a heap of bones upon level ground! Investigate!”

Here, one cannot do without investigation!

Sutra: “Ananda, consider the pupils of your eyes: when you stare fixedly, fatigue and distorted vision arise. Both the eye and the distorted vision are appearances of fatigue arising from staring within the enlightenment of bodhi.

“Because of the two kinds of false objects, light and darkness, seeing is produced within; it receives those objective appearances and is called the faculty of sight. Apart from the two objects of light and darkness, this seeing ultimately has no self-existent substance.

“Indeed, Ananda, you should know that this seeing does not come from light or darkness, does not emerge from the eye faculty, and is not born from space. Why is this? If it came from light, then when darkness appeared it would perish along with the light and should therefore be unable to see darkness.

If it came from darkness, then when light appeared it would perish along with the darkness and should therefore be unable to see light. If it were born from the eye faculty, then in the absence of both light and darkness, this seeing would fundamentally have no self-nature. If it emerged from space, then when looking forward it should see objective appearances, and when turning back it should see the eye itself!

Moreover, if space itself could see, what connection would it have with your faculty of reception?

“Therefore, you should know that the Entrance of the Eye is false and illusory. Fundamentally, it is neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: When one stares fixedly for a long time, the eyes become fatigued and distorted vision arises, causing one to see flowers in the air appearing chaotically. The discriminating eye faculty is likewise an appearance of distorted vision within the enlightened nature of bodhi. Hence it is said, “Both the eye and the distorted vision are appearances of fatigue arising from staring within bodhi.” The fatigued eye that produces the form-skandha is borrowed as an analogy to show that the Entrance of the Eye is false and illusory.

If the eyes were not fatigued, the appearance of distorted vision would itself be absent. In the original singular luminous awareness, whence could delusion arise? Apart from the two objects of light and darkness, this seeing ultimately has no self-existent substance.

This clearly reveals True Seeing, which is unborn: it does not exist because it sees light and darkness, nor does it cease to exist when apart from light and darkness. True Seeing is real, whereas this seeing is false and illusory; the distinction can be clearly discerned.

The preceding passage said, “Flowers in the air are not born from space, nor do they arise from the eyes,” directly indicating that the form-skandha is fundamentally empty. In this passage, it says, “The Nature of Seeing is not born from space, nor does it arise from the eyes,” in order to reveal that the Entrance of the Eye is false and illusory. Delusion fundamentally has no self-nature; in its very essence, it is the True. Therefore, it is said to be “the Wondrous True Suchness-Nature of the Tathagata-garbha.”

Patriarch Triệu Châu said, “Firmly grasp the Eye of Heaven and Earth, so lucid that not even a hair slips through. I hope you penetrate and understand it—but then what will you do?”

Master Thiên Đồng raised this and said, “Have you returned to the pivotal source yet? Even if you understand seven apertures and eight caverns within it, I still know that you have not escaped Patriarch Triệu Châu’s cloud-woven swaddling bands!”

A monk also asked Patriarch Cửu Phong Kiền, “What is the Eye of Heaven and Earth?”

Patriarch Phong said, “Heaven and Earth are within it!”

The monk asked, “Where is the Eye of Heaven and Earth?”

Patriarch Phong said, “That itself is the Eye of Heaven and Earth.”

The monk asked, “Does it also shine?”

Patriarch Phong said, “It does not rely upon the power of the three kinds of light.”

The monk asked, “Since it does not rely upon the power of the three kinds of light, upon what does it depend to shine, so that it is called the Eye of Heaven and Earth?”

Patriarch Phong said, “If it were not so, you would see countless ghosts and demons before a dry skull!”

Examine these two cases together. If there is anything upon which one relies, that itself is the place of leakage. Even if one understands, one is merely seeing ghosts before one’s eyes. Only if, at the single question, “Where is the Eye of Heaven and Earth?” one can secretly see through it completely, can one firmly grasp it. From where, then, does the appearance of fatigue-produced distorted vision arise?

Sutra: “Ananda, suppose a person tightly plugs his ears with two fingers. Because the ear faculty becomes fatigued, a sound seems to arise within his head. Both the ear opening and the fatigue are appearances of ringing and weariness produced by prolonged strain within bodhi.

“Because of the two kinds of false objects, movement and stillness, hearing is produced within; it receives those objective appearances and is called the faculty of hearing. Apart from the two objects of movement and stillness, this hearing ultimately has no self-existent substance.

“Indeed, Ananda, you should know that this hearing does not come from movement or stillness, does not emerge from the ear opening, and is not born from space. Why is this? If this hearing came from stillness, then when movement arose it would perish along with stillness and should therefore be unable to hear movement.

If it came from movement, then when stillness arose it would perish along with movement and should therefore be unable to hear stillness. If it were born from the ear opening, then in the absence of both movement and stillness, this hearing would fundamentally have no self-nature. If it emerged from space, then since it possessed the nature of hearing, it would certainly no longer be space.

Moreover, if space itself could hear, what connection would it have with your faculty of reception?

“Therefore, you should know that the Entrance of the Ear is false and illusory. Fundamentally, it is neither the nature of spontaneity nor the nature of causes and conditions.”

Commentary: From the Eye Entrance through the Mind Entrance, all are like flowers in empty space; hence it is said, “All are signs of weariness arising from bodhi.” When the ear faculty becomes fatigued and rings, sounds arise within the head. When the enlightened nature of bodhi gives rise to fatigue, hearing consequently appears within the ear. This hearing arises falsely, just like flowers in empty space.

Apart from the two false sense-objects of movement and stillness, this hearing ultimately has no intrinsic substance. When a sense-object comes, it exists; when the sense-object departs, it does not. Because this hearing originally has no foundation, it is called false.

Since hearing can distinguish movement from stillness, it does not arise from the sense-object. Hearing is truly keen and responsive, whereas empty space is inert; therefore, it does not emerge from empty space. Since the hearing essence of the ear faculty is present in each case, why is it said to have no self-nature?

Because, apart from the sense-objects before it, there is necessarily no discrimination. If discrimination existed, it ought to be possible to indicate it. Since it cannot now be indicated, we know that it has no self-nature.

Upon examining hearing in relation to the sense-object, the faculty, and empty space, no fixed substance can be found. Thus, this illusory hearing is originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity; rather, illusion itself is truth. If causes and conditions or spontaneity could be established, this hearing would then be a conditioned dharma subject to arising and ceasing.

How could it be called the Wondrous Nature of True Suchness?

A monk asked Master Xuansha, “The Venerable Master teaches that ‘the nature of hearing pervades the Dharma realm.’ Why, then, can the drum struck by Master Xuefeng within it not be heard?”

Master Sha said, “Who knows that it is not heard?”

Another monk asked Master Caoshan, “What Dharma companion should one draw near so that one may constantly hear at the place where nothing has yet been heard?”

Master Shan said, “Together sharing a single covering that envelops everything.”

The monk asked, “This is also what the Venerable Master hears. What does it mean to constantly hear at the place where nothing has yet been heard?”

Master Shan said, “It is not the same as wood and stone.”

The monk asked, “Which comes first, and which comes afterward?”

Master Shan said, “Did you not hear it said, ‘Constantly hear at the place where nothing has yet been heard’?”

Thus we know that, when one constantly hears at the place where nothing has yet been heard, this hearing pervades everywhere.

Sutra: “Ananda, suppose a person suddenly plugs both nostrils. After they have been plugged for a long time, fatigue arises, and within the nose there is a sensation of coldness. Through such sensations, one distinguishes openness from obstruction, emptiness from solidity, and even fragrant from foul odors. Both smelling and fatigue are signs of the weariness of bodhi arising from prolonged obstruction.

“Because of the two false sense-objects of openness and obstruction, smelling is aroused within. It receives these sense-objects and is called the faculty of smell. Apart from the two sense-objects of openness and obstruction, this smelling ultimately has no intrinsic substance.

Therefore, you should know that smelling does not come from openness or obstruction, does not emerge from the faculty, and does not arise from empty space. Why is this? If it came from openness, then when there was obstruction, smelling would already have vanished; how, then, could the obstruction be known?

If it existed because of obstruction, then when there was openness, smelling would no longer remain; how, then, could fragrant and foul odors be known? If it arose from the nostrils, there would certainly be neither openness nor obstruction, and this smelling would originally have no self-nature. If it came from empty space, the smelling should turn back and smell your nostrils!

Moreover, if empty space could smell by itself, what connection would it have with your faculty of reception?

“Therefore, you should know that the Nose Entrance is false, originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: To plug the nose is to stop the breath so that air cannot enter or leave. The sensation of coldness exists because the breath is held; when it is not held, that sensation does not exist. By holding the breath, one knows openness, obstruction, emptiness, and solidity.

Through openness and obstruction, one distinguishes fragrant from foul odors. Clearly, this smelling exists because of falsity. If there were no openness or obstruction, where would this apparent smelling presently be?

In the ear, it is called auditory perception; in the nose, it is called olfactory perception. The greater or lesser scope of their functions can be seen. Hearing pervades everywhere, whereas smelling arises through contact with the sense-objects before it.

Nevertheless, the nose faculty is false and originally has no location that can be indicated. How much more difficult, then, is it to grasp the matter beyond, which lies directly upon one’s own nose!

A monk asked Chan Master Haiyan of Chengmi Monastery, “What is the single incense burner in the ancient monastery?”

The Master said, “Throughout many generations, no one has smelled it.”

The monk asked, “What is the person who smells it like?”

The Master said, “None of the six faculties reaches it.”

Master Baling Jian [Master Haojian of Baling in Yuezhou, a Dharma successor of Master Yunmen] first went to meet Master Yunmen.

Master Yunmen said, “Venerable Xuefeng said, ‘When the door is opened, Bodhidharma arrives.’ I ask you: what would you do?”

Master Jian said, “He is right above the Venerable Master’s nostrils!”

Master Yunmen said, “The Earth Spirit flies into a rage, seizes Mount Sumeru and strikes with it once, leaps straight up to the Brahma Heaven, and tears apart Indra’s nostrils. Why do you hide yourself away in Japan?”

Master Jian said, “It would be well if the Venerable Master did not deceive people.”

Master Yunmen said, “He is above this old monk’s nostrils—now what?”

Master Jian had no reply. Master Yunmen said, “You should know that you are merely one of those who imitate the words of others.”

If one can penetrate Master Yunmen’s words, it is truly like touching one’s nose in the middle of the night: from the very beginning, it has been right there on one’s face!

Sutra: “Ananda, suppose a person uses the tongue to lick the lips. After licking for a long time, fatigue arises. If that person is ill, there is a bitter taste; if the person is not ill, there is a slightly sweet taste. Through the sensations of sweetness and bitterness, the tongue faculty becomes manifest, while in the absence of movement there remains the nature of blandness. Both tasting and fatigue are signs of the weariness of bodhi arising from prolonged activity.

“Because of the two kinds of false sense-objects—blandness and sweet or bitter flavors—the faculty of taste is aroused within. It receives those sense-objects and is called taste-awareness. Apart from those two false sense-objects of blandness and sweet or bitter flavors, this taste-awareness ultimately has no intrinsic substance.

“Indeed, Ananda, you should know that this taste-awareness, which knows bitterness and blandness, does not come from sweet or bitter flavors, does not exist because of the nature of blandness, does not emerge from the tongue faculty, and does not arise from empty space. Why is this?

“If it came from sweet or bitter flavors, then when there was blandness, taste-awareness would already have ceased; how, then, could blandness be known? If it emerged from blandness, then when there was sweetness, taste-awareness would already have vanished; how, then, could sweet and bitter flavors be known? If it arose from the tongue, there would certainly be no sweet, bitter, or bland flavors, and that faculty which knows flavors would clearly and originally have no self-nature. If it came from empty space, then empty space itself would taste and know, and it would not be your tongue that knew the flavor. Moreover, if empty space itself knew, what connection would it have with your faculty of reception?

“Therefore, you should know that the Tongue Entrance is false, originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: This faculty that knows flavor knows sweetness, bitterness, and blandness. Sweet, bitter, and bland flavors do not remain constant; therefore, the faculty of taste-awareness changes accordingly. It is easy enough to understand that this flavor-awareness does not come from sweetness, bitterness, or blandness, nor does it emerge from empty space.

But why does it not arise from the tongue? The tongue itself has no flavor; therefore, no self-nature can be established for it. Taste-awareness arises only through contact with flavors, and when the flavors cease, it must cease as well; all of it is originally false.

If one clings to it as existent, one does not know whence it comes! If one clings to it as nonexistent, it nevertheless appears distinctly! Therefore, it is called wondrous.

If one does not know what flavor is here, one does not have sufficient strength to enter into discussion.

Master Sam Sơn was gathering bracken when Patriarch Nanquan picked up a stalk and said, “This one is very good to use.”

Master Sơn said, “Not only this—even delicacies of a hundred flavors would not merit his slightest regard.”

Patriarch Quan said, “Even so, each one must first be tasted.”

Master Xuánjué said, “Are these words spoken upon meeting, or are they not words spoken upon meeting?”

Master Tiantong said, “Ask the venerable teacher Nanquan: everyone eats only a single stalk of greens.”

This may indeed be called knowing the flavor.

Sutra: “Ananda, suppose someone touches a warm hand with a cold hand. If the cold is predominant, the warm hand becomes cold; if the warmth is predominant, the cold hand becomes warm. Thus, through the awareness of sensation at the time of contact, the awareness that occurs upon separation is made clear. The disparity between warmth and cold gives rise to sensation through wearisome strain. Both the body’s awareness of sensation and the weariness are characteristics of weariness arising from fixation within bodhi.

“Because of the two delusive objects of separation and contact, the capacity for awareness arises within, receives those objective appearances, and is called the awareness of sensation. Yet such awareness, apart from the two objects of separation and contact, opposition and conformity, ultimately has no inherent substance.

“Indeed, Ananda, you should know that this sensation does not come from separation or contact, does not exist because of opposition or conformity, does not arise from the bodily faculty, and is not born from space. Why is this so?

“If it came from contact, then upon separation the awareness would already have vanished; how could separation be known? The same applies to the two characteristics of opposition and conformity. If it arose from the bodily faculty, then in the absence of the characteristics of separation, contact, opposition, and conformity, the body’s awareness of sensation would inherently have no self-nature. If it arose from space, then space itself would possess awareness; what would that have to do with your sphere of reception?

“Therefore, you should know that the bodily entrance is illusory. It is fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

“Explanation: If awareness exists because of contact, then upon separation it ceases to exist. Yet only after separation does one know whether the sensation was agreeable or disagreeable. The awareness arising through contact with this body differs somewhat from the awareness of the tongue.

Superiority and inferiority occur according to their relative strengths. For example, when heat contacts cold, if the heat is stronger, the cold becomes warm, and vice versa. Cold and heat affect one another, and the two characteristics arise; without the weary strain of sensation, there would be no such occurrence of heat and cold.

An agreeable sensation is called conformity; a sensation contrary to the body is called opposition. If the four characteristics—separation, contact, conformity, and opposition—were absent and only the body remained, where would this awareness of sensation reside? Therefore, it is said to be fundamentally without self-nature.

That is, this awareness of the body is neither born from an object nor produced by the bodily faculty; it certainly is not discriminative knowing. Since it is not born from space, it certainly is not spontaneous. Being neither causes and conditions nor spontaneity, it is called the Wondrous Nature of True Suchness.

The seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing discussed above are the five external consciousnesses, which know in relation to objects; they are not the knowing of discriminating mental consciousness. All of them are manifestations of the nature of the Tathagatagarbha.

A monk asked Patriarch Dongshan, “When cold and heat arrive, how can one avoid them?”

Patriarch Dongshan said, “Why not go to the place where there is neither cold nor heat?”

The monk asked, “What is the place where there is neither cold nor heat?”

Patriarch Shan said, “When it is cold, the acharya freezes to death; when it is hot, the acharya burns to death!”

On another occasion, Patriarch Caoshan asked a monk, “In heat such as this, where will you go to escape it?”

The monk replied, “I shall escape into a cauldron of boiling water, into a blazing furnace!”

The Patriarch asked, “How can you escape inside a cauldron of boiling water and a blazing furnace?”

The monk replied, “The various sufferings cannot reach me!”

These are words from within the house, as though issuing from a single mouth.

Master Xuedou chanted:

“Letting go his hands, he is again like a cliff ten thousand fathoms high;

Why must the straight and the inclined depend upon arrangement?

In the ancient crystal palace, the moon shines brightly;

How laughable—the mighty soldier sets up a ladder into empty space!”

(Thùy thủ hoàn đồng vạn nhận nhai

Chánh Thiên hà tất tại an bài

Lưu ly cổ điện chiếu minh nguyệt

Nhẫn tuấn hàn lư không thượng giai).

If one understands this meaning, then entering the marketplace with open hands is identical to the solitary mountain standing alone [freedom and liberation]. Returning to the source and realizing the Nature is no different from Discriminating Wisdom. Without profound accord with the Caodong School, it is not easy to speak of this place.

Sutra: “Suppose a person becomes weary and falls asleep. Having slept enough, he awakens. When he encounters sensory objects, he remembers them; when remembrance ceases, he forgets them. These various inverted states of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing absorb accumulated habits and draw them inward, each continuing successively; this is called the mental faculty. Both the mind and the weariness are characteristics of weariness arising from fixation within bodhi.

“Because of the two delusive objects of arising and ceasing, knowing accumulates within, gathers internal objects, and causes seeing and hearing to flow inward in reverse. Since this flow has nowhere to arrive, it is called the mind’s capacity for awareness. Yet this mind’s capacity for awareness, apart from the two objects of waking and sleeping, arising and ceasing, ultimately has no inherent substance.

“Indeed, Ananda, you should know that this faculty of awareness does not come from waking or sleeping, does not exist because of arising and ceasing, does not arise from the mental faculty, and is not born from space. Why is this so?

“If it came from waking, then during sleep it would have perished along with wakefulness; what, then, would constitute deep sleep? If it truly existed only when arising occurred, then when ceasing occurred it would no longer remain; who, then, would experience cessation? If it existed because of cessation, then when arising occurred, cessation would be absent; who would know that arising?

If it arose from the faculty, then the two characteristics of waking and sleeping would follow the body’s opening and closing. Apart from these two characteristics of waking and sleeping, the mind’s capacity for awareness would resemble flowers in empty space and ultimately have no self-nature. If it arose from space, then space itself would possess awareness; what would that have to do with your sphere of reception?

“Therefore, you should know that the mental entrance is illusory. It is fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

“Explanation: The appearance of scenes in a dream occurs because of sleep; the body, though it feels relaxed and at ease, is illusory and false. After awakening, one fails to recognize their falsity, accepts and remembers them, and regards them as real; this is inversion. The various conditioned appearances are likewise. When the mind moves, objects arise. Although already illusory, they are taken as truly existing because the discriminating consciousness remembers and retains them; all of this is inversion. Through remembrance they arise, and through forgetting they cease. Thus the four characteristics of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing are clearly evident, flowing onward separately without pause, continuing in succession from moment to moment; this is the mental faculty.

“When the mind does not engage with conditions, waking and sleeping are one. Even the characteristics of waking and sleeping cannot then be found, much less the characteristics of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. The very moment the mind follows the characteristics of dharmas and engages with conditions, drawing accumulated habits inward, the characteristic of weariness is immediately formed. Therefore, when bodhi, through non-awakening, begins to stir and becomes the mind, it falls into the weariness of worldly objects.

“The Records of the Mirror of the School [by Chan Master Yongming Yanshou] states: ‘The sense faculties grasp external objects, and thought after thought flows into the realm of the mind.’”

Because it is brought inward from outside, it is called flowing upstream. When the mind has an object as its condition—that is, “When consciousness observes sense objects, it remembers”—this is called arising. As for the phrase “The flow has nowhere to arrive,” it means that during deep sleep, when the faculties do not engage with sense objects, no external object flows into the mind-ground, and the mind itself encounters no object as its condition. Therefore, the sutra says, “During sleep, remembrance ceases and is forgotten.” This is cessation.

Such a division seems somewhat forced, because dreams also occur during sleep, and forgetfulness also occurs while awake. This means that both waking and sleeping have the two characteristics of arising and cessation. How, then, can waking alone be assigned to arising and sleeping alone to cessation?

According to my humble understanding, the seeing and hearing of the ears and eyes proceed outward in their natural direction, whereas the seeing and hearing of the mental faculty flow inward in the reverse direction. When the mental faculty receives internal objects, the eyes seem to see and the ears seem to hear; these appearances arise and vanish as though leaving no trace. They flow into a place beyond the reach of seeing and hearing, which the mental faculty alone can know and which the ears and eyes cannot reach.

Thus, each of the five faculties has its own location, whereas the mental faculty is formless and depends only upon the characteristics of waking, sleeping, arising, and cessation. Apart from waking and sleeping, arising and cessation, there is nothing by which the mind can be perceived. Therefore, the sutra does not say, “If it arose from the faculty, there would certainly be no waking, sleeping, arising, or cessation.” Instead, it says, “If it arose from the faculty, the two characteristics of waking and sleeping would open and close according to the mind.” If the mind were apart from these two characteristics, then although this knowing mind underwent arising and cessation, it would be like a flower in empty space: upon what could it rely to manifest the mind?

The mind would be apart from characteristics, and characteristics would likewise be apart from the mind. Ultimately, without the characteristics of waking, sleeping, arising, and cessation, how could it possess a self-nature? Therefore, it is said that arising from the faculty is incorrect.

The two words opening and closing describe the two characteristics of waking and sleeping with extraordinary subtlety. In waking, the form opens; in sleeping, the form closes. This waking and sleeping, arising and cessation, constitute the dwelling place of the mind.

Therefore, the sutra asks, “What would produce deep sleep?” and “Who would undergo cessation?” It is certainly not cognition itself. Thus, this knowing mind neither arises from causes and conditions nor arises spontaneously. It is precisely the fundamental essence of non-abiding.

If this is not called the Wondrous True Suchness-Nature, what else could it be called?

At first, Patriarch Yangshan asked Patriarch Guishan, “What is the Buddha’s True Abiding Place?”

Patriarch Guishan said, “Contemplate the wondrous point of that which fundamentally does not contemplate; turn back and contemplate the infinitely numinous. When thought is exhausted, that itself is the Source. Nature and characteristics ever abide; phenomena and principle are nondual—this is the True Buddha of Suchness.”

Upon hearing these words, Master Yangshan suddenly awakened.

Later, a monk named Siyi asked Patriarch Yangshan, “In the sudden awakening of the Chan school, what is ultimately the meaning of entering the gate?”

Patriarch Yangshan said, “This meaning is exceedingly difficult. If one is truly a disciple of the Patriarchal School, possessing superior faculties and supreme wisdom, then upon hearing one thing one awakens to a thousand and attains the Great Dharma Treasury. But one of lesser faculties and inferior wisdom, if not abiding in meditative concentration, will surely become bewildered upon entering therein!”

He asked, “Apart from that one path, is there any other place through which to enter?”

Patriarch Yangshan replied, “There is.”

He asked, “What is it?”

The Patriarch said, “Where are you from?”

He replied, “I am from Youzhou.”

The Patriarch asked, “Do you still think of that place?”

He replied, “I constantly remember and think of it.”

Patriarch Yangshan said, “That which thinks is the mind; the place thought of is the object. That place is filled with houses, gardens and groves, horses and carriages, and so forth. Now turn your thought back to contemplate that mind: does it truly contain all those many things?”

He replied, “When I enter therein, I see absolutely nothing!”

Patriarch Yangshan said, “That is correct at the stage of faith, but not yet correct at the causal stage.”

He asked, “Apart from this, is there some separate meaning?”

The Patriarch said, “To say that there separately is or separately is not will not do.”

He asked, “Upon reaching that place, what should one do?”

Patriarch Yangshan said, “According to your present understanding, you have attained only one mystery. For now, peacefully put on your robes; later, see for yourself.”

Master Tiantong composed this verse:

“Nothing outside, therefore all-embracing;

No obstruction, therefore peaceful and harmonious.

Walls rise towering high;

Gates are locked layer upon layer.

Wine of perpetual joy, yet the guests are dismissed;

Rice may fill the belly, yet no field is plowed.

Suddenly emerging from empty space—ah!—wondrous wings gathering the wind;

Treading the vast ocean upside down—ah!—thunderbolts, while dragons sport.”

This verse means that from the top of a hundred-foot pole, one must take another step. One must not cling to the state of awakening and consider it sufficient. If one merely sees that absolutely not a single word exists and only empties the mental faculty, then one remains exceedingly far from the True Buddha of Suchness.

G. GATHERING IN THE TWELVE AYATANAS

Sutra: “Furthermore, Ananda, how are the twelve ayatanas fundamentally the Wondrous True Suchness-Nature of the Tathagata-garbha?

Commentary: At first, in discussing the five skandhas, analogies were used to break through emotional attachment, for the five skandhas are fundamentally empty, yet this is difficult to reveal without comparison. Next, in discussing the six entrances, provisional phenomena were pointed out to reveal their illusory characteristics. Since the six entrances are fundamentally illusory, illusion was used to lead through illusion, enabling one to infer and comprehend. This passage discusses the Twelve Ayatanas, and the subsequent passage extends through the Seven Elements. It takes the very objects of seeing and hearing presently before one and reveals their Tathagata-garbha Nature. Truly, in every Buddha-land and every mote of dust, it stands manifest, without the slightest omission.

The Third Patriarch Sengcan said, “Do not despise the six sense objects, and you immediately accord with Perfect Awakening.” He had profoundly perceived this point.

Chan Master Jinshan Shanming ascended the Dharma hall and addressed the assembly, saying, “The ancients said: At the eyes, it is seeing; at the ears, it is hearing; at the nose, it is smelling fragrances; at the tongue, it is discourse; at the body, it is sensation; and at the mind, it is grasping. Although this is so, it sees only the pointed end of the awl and does not see the square end of the chisel!

“Were it left to me, Jinshan, it would certainly not be so: having eyes, yet looking without seeing; having ears, yet listening without hearing; having a nose, yet not knowing odors; having a tongue, yet never engaging in discourse; having a body, yet not knowing sensation; having a mind, yet not grasping. When a single thought accords, the six faculties are immediately liberated. I venture to ask you Chan worthies: tell me, is this the same as the preceding words or different?

If anyone possesses the discerning eye, please step forward and clearly convey the message. If no one does, I shall expound layer upon layer of meaning for you. Released and opened, there is a separate thoroughfare for carts and horses; seized and gathered up, not even a hair remains.

Only a great master of Chan can bear all affirmations and negations, distinctions and divisions.”

This passage of instruction truly provides layer upon layer of explanation corresponding to the foregoing sutra passage.

Sutra: “Ananda, look at the Jeta Grove and its streams and ponds. What do you think? Do visible objects give rise to seeing, or does seeing give rise to visible appearances?

“Ananda, if the eye faculty gave rise to visible appearances, then when seeing empty space, where there are no visible appearances, the nature of form should cease to exist. Once it had ceased, it would be evident that everything was nonexistent. With visible appearances nonexistent, by what could the appearance of empty space be discerned? The same reasoning applies to empty space.

“Again, if visible objects gave rise to seeing, then when seeing empty space, where there is no form, seeing itself should cease to exist. Once it had ceased, everything would be nonexistent; by what, then, could empty space and visible appearances be discerned?

“Therefore, you should know that seeing, visible form, and emptiness have no location. Thus, visible objects and seeing—the two ayatanas—are both false and illusory. Fundamentally, they are neither of the nature of causes and conditions nor of the nature of spontaneity.”

Commentary: In the preceding passage, the six entrances were used as the basis for refuting the six faculties. Although the six sense objects were employed in the analysis, the principal intent still concerned the faculties. Here, in discussing the Twelve Ayatanas, both faculties and objects are refuted, but the principal concern is the objects. Later, in discussing the Eighteen Dhatus, only consciousness is specifically refuted. In the preceding passage on the six entrances, there repeatedly appeared the sentence, “All are signs of weariness arising from the concentrated attention of bodhi”; this was spoken from the standpoint of the faculties. This passage says, “Look at the Jeta Grove and its streams and ponds”; thus it begins from the standpoint of form.

If it is said that form gives rise to seeing, then surely empty space does not give rise to seeing. What, then, enables one to see form and also clearly see empty space? If it is said that the eye gives rise to visible forms, then surely it cannot give rise to the appearance of empty space.

What, then, enables both form and empty space to be revealed? Therefore it is said: The eye cannot give rise to form; the eye is originally quiescent and extinct—how could it have anything to do with form? Form cannot give rise to the eye; form is originally quiescent and extinct—how could it have anything to do with the eye?

Merely use empty space to delineate form, and the object of form refutes itself. Seeing and form alike have no location. Form is emptiness, and seeing is also emptiness.

Since form and seeing are both empty, what can be regarded as cause and condition, and what can be regarded as spontaneity? Is this not called the Nature of True Suchness?

Long ago, Patriarch Yangshan pointed to a lion in the snow and said, “Can one go beyond this form?”

Patriarch Yunmen said, “Right now, we should all push it down and be done with it.”

Master Xuedou said, “You know only how to push it down, but not how to help it up.”

Master Fojue chanted:

“One form cannot be passed beyond—it is shown to people;

Within the silvery-white world, lamentations are in vain.

Transcending both ‘pushing down’ and ‘helping up,’

It is like the east wind welcoming the bright spring.”

(Yi se wu guo zhi shi ren

Bai yin shi jie li pin shen

Chao ran tui dao huan fu qi

Zheng si dong feng xu ri xin.)

Master Tiantong chanted: “One falls and one rises—the lion in the snow. Skillfully touching nothing, yet harboring a benevolent heart. Vigorous in action, one beholds righteousness. Its translucent radiance shines before the eyes, yet one seems deluded. Clearly, in changing the body, one falls into a position. As a monk, lucidly relying on nothing, together dying and together living—what is this, what is that? Tidings of warmth split open the plum tree—ah, spring comes to the cold branches. Wind and rain shake down the leaves—ah, autumn is still, the rain everywhere.”

Patriarch Wansong said, “Once it is called form, it necessarily stands in opposition to the eye. The form that surpasses whiteness is simply formlessness, and therefore it does not stand opposed to the eye.”

Patriarch Yunmen said, “The reason for saying, ‘Right now, we should all push it down,’ is that if one apprehends it in terms of whiteness or non-whiteness, one has truly fallen into the Formless Realm. The reason Master Xuedou separately pointed out a path back to life was that, precisely where it was pushed down, he taught one to help it up.”

Patriarch Foyan said, “If, within this, one assists it and raises it to its feet, gradations immediately arise.”

If the venerable masters needed to shatter even the slightest visible form completely, how much more so all the various things seen before one’s eyes?

Sutra: “Ananda, listen again within this Jeta Grove. When the meal has been prepared, the drum is struck; when the assembly is to gather, the bell is rung. The sounds of the bell and drum follow one another in succession. What do you think? Does the sound come to the hearing, or does the hearing go to the place of the sound?

“Ananda, if the sound came to the hearing, it would be like when I go into the city of Shravasti to beg for food: I would then no longer be present in the Jeta Grove. If that sound had come exclusively to the hearing of you, Ananda, then Maudgalyayana and Kashyapa should not be able to hear it at the same time. How much less could the one thousand two hundred and fifty shramanas here all hear the bell and come together to the place of the meal.

“Again, if your hearing went to the place of the sound, it would be like when I have returned to the Jeta Grove: I would then no longer be present in the city of Shravasti. Thus, when you hear the sound of the drum, if your hearing has already gone to the place of the drum’s sound, then when the bell subsequently sounds, you should not be able to hear it as well. How much less could you also hear the sounds of elephants, horses, cattle, goats, and many other sounds. But if hearing and sound do not go toward one another, then there would be no hearing at all.

“Therefore, you should know that hearing and sound both have no location. Thus, the two ayatanas of hearing and the object of sound are both false and illusory, originally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: The sentence, “It would be like when I go into the city of Shravasti to beg for food: I would then no longer be present in the Jeta Grove,” illustrates the proposition that sound comes to hearing. If so, no sound would remain in other places; how, then, could the one thousand two hundred and fifty shramanas still hear it together? The sentence, “It would be like when I have returned to the Jeta Grove: I would then no longer be present in the city of Shravasti,” illustrates the proposition that hearing goes to the place of the sound.

If so, hearing should no longer remain in other places; how, then, could one hear the sounds of elephants, horses, cattle, goats, and many other sounds as well? The phrase “if they do not go toward one another” means falling into inert emptiness. If the meaning of hearing cannot be established, then both sound and hearing leave no trace.

Moving freely and pervading everywhere, unobstructed wherever they encounter anything—where could there be any fixed location? If regarded as causes and conditions, there is no place for conditions. If regarded as spontaneity, there is likewise no place for anything to exist of itself.

Right there, they are false and illusory, yet there is nothing that is not the True Essence; therefore, this is called the Wondrous Nature of True Suchness.

Once, while someone was studying under Patriarch Xuansha, Xuansha heard the cry of a swallow and said, “Profoundly discoursing upon the True Mark, skillfully expounding the essential Dharma!”

He then descended from the Dharma seat.

At that time, a monk asked further, “Master, I do not understand.”

Master Sha said, “Go away! Who could believe you?”

On another occasion, Patriarch Baoci ascended the Dharma seat. Hearing a cuckoo cry, he asked a monk, “What sound is that?”

The monk replied, “The sound of a cuckoo.”

Patriarch Ci said, “If you wish not to incur the karma of the Avici Hell, do not slander the Tathagata’s Wheel of the True Dharma.”

He then descended from the Dharma seat.

All sounds are the Buddha’s voice. This much can still be understood.

Yet Patriarch Xuansha said, “Within the bell there is no sound of the drum; within the drum there is no sound of the bell. Bell and drum do not intermingle; each is without before or after.”

How is this to be understood? This is the essential meaning of unborn dependent arising. Awaken to it, and the meaning of what is called the True Mark and the essential Dharma can be seen.

Sutra: “Ananda, smell the fragrance of sandalwood in this censer. If as little as one shu of this incense is burned, everyone throughout the city of Shravasti within a radius of forty li will smell its fragrance at the same time. What do you think? Does this fragrance arise from the sandalwood, from your nose, or from empty space?”

“Ananda, if that fragrance were produced from your nose, then, since it is said to arise from the nose, it would necessarily have to issue from the nostrils. Yet the nostrils are not sandalwood; how could the fragrance of sandalwood exist within them? Moreover, since it is said that you smell the fragrance, the fragrance should enter your nostrils.

To say instead that the fragrance emanates from within the nostrils is contrary to the meaning. If it were produced from empty space, then, since the nature of empty space is permanent, the fragrance should also be ever-present. Why would it be necessary to burn dry sandalwood in a censer before the fragrance appeared?

If the fragrance arose from the sandalwood, then that fragrant substance would become smoke through burning, and your nose would smell it only when the smoke reached your nose. Why, then, before that smoke has risen very far into the air, can everyone within forty li already smell it?

“Therefore, you should know that the object of fragrance and the faculty of smelling have no location. Thus, both the faculty of smelling and fragrance—these two ayatanas—are false and illusory, fundamentally neither of the nature of causes and conditions nor of the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: This faculty of smelling together with fragrance is neither the nose, nor empty space, nor sandalwood; thus, the fragrance-ayatana has no true existence. That it can be smelled simultaneously within forty li shows that the extraordinary power of fragrance is also inconceivable.

The Zaobai Treatise says: “The sandalwood tree of Ulaka: Ulaka is the name of a snake, and sandalwood is a fragrant tree. This snake is extremely venomous. Fearing the torment of heat, it habitually coils itself around this fragrant tree, whereupon its poisonous vapors disappear. This means that if sentient beings hear it taught that, with regard to fragrance, both mind and objects are empty, fundamentally without perceptible characteristics, without location, and without a single dharma that can be attained, and if they believe and awaken to this, then all afflictions and poisonous vapors will naturally become purified.”

Chan Master Xiangyan Zhixian [Of the Tang dynasty, he lived on Mount Xiangyan in Dengzhou and awakened while studying under Patriarch Lingyou at Mount Gui. He was posthumously bestowed the title Great Master Xideng.] composed this verse:

“There is a single saying, wholly conforming to the rule;

Set on calculating and measuring, one follows the wicked crowd.

Step upon it without going astray, and at once awaken to the place;

A lifetime spent in study, yet the matter remains unaccomplished—

Earnestly embrace the root of sandalwood.”

This verse derives from the passage above.

Patriarch Zhigong [A patriarch during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang. The emperor often asked him about the future peace or peril of the nation. The patriarch said nothing but pointed with his hand to his throat, thereby indicating Hou Jing. The emperor did not understand. Later he was indeed besieged by the rebellious minister Hou Jing. Only then did the emperor awaken to the meaning, but by that time his former karma had already run its course.] said: “All day long, one takes up incense and selects the fire, unaware that this very body is the bodhimanda.”

Master Tiantong raised this and said: “Where are the bounds of one who toys with the vital spirit?”

Master Xuansha said: “All day long, one takes up incense and selects the fire, unaware of the True Bodhimanda.”

Master Tiantong raised this and said: “Truly strange! When an eighty-year-old man enters the examination hall, is this not a child at play? Tell me, where lie the benefit and the harm? Whether possessed of wisdom or devoid of wisdom, when compared, throughout thirty li all perform the same function of the Unborn; only then is there the slightest discernment here.”

Let those with wisdom discern it.

Sutra: “Ananda, twice each day you regularly carry your alms bowl among the assembly to seek food. On such occasions, you may encounter curds, cream, or clarified butter, which are regarded as precious flavors. What do you think? Does such flavor arise within empty space, from the tongue, or from the food?

“Ananda, if that flavor arose from your tongue, there is only one tongue in your mouth. Once the tongue had become the flavor of cream, then upon encountering a lump of rock sugar, the flavor should not change. If it did not change, it could not be said to know flavors. But if it did change, the tongue does not possess multiple essential natures; how, then, could a single tongue know many distinct kinds of flavor?

“If that flavor arose from the food, food has no awareness, so how could it know its own flavor? Moreover, if the food itself knew, that would be like someone else eating. What would it have to do with you, such that it could be said that you knew the flavor?

“If that flavor arose from empty space, then taste empty space and see what flavor it has. If empty space had a salty flavor and made your tongue salty, it should also make your face and everyone in this realm salty. You would then be like fish in the sea: having constantly experienced saltiness, you would no longer know what a bland flavor was. Yet if you did not know blandness, you would likewise not know saltiness. Since there would be nothing known, how could this be called knowing flavor?

“Therefore, you should know that flavors and the tongue’s faculty of tasting have no location. Thus, both the faculty of tasting and flavors—these two ayatanas—are false and illusory, fundamentally neither of the nature of causes and conditions nor of the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: This passage demonstrates that the nature of flavor does not arise from empty space or from the tongue, which is still easy to understand. But why does it say that flavor does not arise from food? Because food has no consciousness; it does not say of itself, ‘My flavor is delicious,’ or ‘My flavor is unpleasant.’ The discrimination of deliciousness and unpleasantness belongs to the tongue faculty.

Yet the tongue faculty has no fixed substance, but changes in accordance with flavors. It can therefore be understood that flavor is simply flavor, and the tongue is simply the tongue. Both are quiescent.

Knowing that tongue and flavor are both utterly quiescent, one truly believes that they are neither causes and conditions nor spontaneity, but are precisely the wondrous true suchness-nature of the Tathagata-garbha.

Chan Master Shending Ren once traveled with a group of monks to the Xiang-Mian region. One monk began discoursing on Chan with great fluency. At an inn on Mount Yefan, the meal had already been laid out, yet the monk’s discourse was still unfinished.

Patriarch Ding said: “The three realms are only Mind; the myriad dharmas are only Consciousness. ‘Only Consciousness, only Mind; the eye is sound, the ear is form’—whose words are these?”

The monk said: “They are the words of Patriarch Fayan.”

Patriarch Ding asked: “What is their meaning?”

The monk replied: “Because there is only Mind, faculty and object do not reach one another. Because there is only Consciousness, sound and form strike and resound.”

Patriarch Ding said: “Are the tongue and flavor faculty and object?”

The monk replied: “They are.”

Patriarch Ding picked up some vegetables with his chopsticks, put them into his mouth, and jestingly said: “What, then, would you call their entering into one another?”

All those seated around them were startled. The monk could not answer.

Patriarch Ding said: “The pleasure found along the road is, after all, not yet arriving home. However subtle the understanding may be, it still cannot be called seeing the Way. If you investigate, you must truly investigate. If you awaken, you must truly awaken. King Yama is not intimidated by much talking.”

The monk bowed and took his leave.

Patriarch Xuansha was once eating a lychee and asked the assembly: “Should this lychee be regarded as pink? Should it be regarded as red? What will you do? If you say it has one color, that is vague and confused; if you say it has many colors, that merely becomes annihilationism and eternalism [That is, the Two Views of Annihilationism and Eternalism. The second of the five wrong views is called the extreme view. The extreme view is of two kinds: first, the view of annihilationism; second, the view of eternalism]. What will you do?”

Master Yantao said: “That is only because the Venerable discriminates.”

Patriarch Sha said: “What relevance has such foolish confusion?”

Master Chongji said: “From beginning to end, everything is only one color.”

Patriarch Sha said: “All of that is confusion. When will you ever understand?”

He then turned and asked Master Jiaoran: “What do you say?”

Master Jiaoran said: “One cannot fail to know that it is a lychee.”

Patriarch Sha said: “Truly, it is simply a lychee.”

He further said: “You have long remained within my teaching of the Principle—the Mind Dharma—yet whatever you say, you cannot distinguish black from white and do not know good from bad. I have always told you: at the point of functioning, do not exchange the pivotal activity. Why, then, are you concerned only with giving replies? What relevance does that have?”

The ancients, in every morsel of food and every drink, were intent upon illuminating the matter that transcends all. Each and every instance was like this; how could it have depended upon fluent exchanges? One must truly awaken before one can meet face-to-face with those whose eyes are open.

Scripture: “Ananda, every morning you usually rub your head with your hand. What do you think? In the awareness of that rubbing, what is it that constitutes the awareness of touch? Is that awareness in the hand or in the head?

“If it is in the hand, while the head is unaware, how could touch come about? If you say it is in the head, while the hand serves no function, how could it be called touch? If the head and the hand each possess awareness, would you, Ananda, then have two bodies? If the head and the hand both arise from a single touch, then the hand and the head must be one and the same substance. But if there is only one substance, touch cannot be established. If they are two substances, on which side does the touch reside? If it is on the side of the perceiver, it is not on the side of the perceived; if it is on the side of the perceived, it is not on the side of the perceiver. Surely empty space does not produce the sensation of touch for you?

“Therefore, you should know: touch and the body faculty have no location. Both the body that is aware of touch and the touch itself are false and illusory, fundamentally neither of the nature of causes and conditions nor of the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: Here it is clearly shown that the nature of touch is false and illusory: if it is in the perceiver, it is not in the perceived; if it is in the perceived, it is not in the perceiver. When neither perceiver nor perceived applies, touch itself is the nature of True Suchness.

The Avatamsaka Sutra says: “Thus, their intrinsic nature is like an illusion, a dream, or a shadow, and ultimately cannot be established. Within the nature of True Suchness, all dharmas accord with conditions. Although they accord with conditions, all dharmas return to their nature.

When they accord with conditions, they seem to manifest. It is like watching an illusionist’s performance: though nonexistent, it appears to exist. It is like beholding a dreamscape: though unseen, it appears to be seen.

It is like viewing a reflection in water: it is neither born nor does it enter. It is like looking at an image in a mirror: it is neither within nor without. Because there is no intrinsic nature and yet there is accordance with conditions, principle cannot be established.

Because there is accordance with conditions and yet no intrinsic nature, phenomena cannot be established. When neither principle nor phenomena can be established, none of the myriad dharmas can be established. It is also like dreaming that one is fighting with another person: there is indeed a sensation of contact, but ultimately, who is striking, and who feels struck?

Therefore, all dharmas are just like this.”

Patriarch Baofu saw a monk approaching. He struck an exposed pillar with his staff and then struck the monk on the head.

The monk cried out in pain.

Patriarch Baofu said, “Why does that not hurt?”

The monk could not answer.

Patriarch Xuanjue answered on his behalf, “If you are eager to travel, lean upon a staff.”

On another occasion, Patriarch Baojue asked Xia Yi, the Transport Commissioner and Administrative Judge, “You say that sentient and insentient beings are all of one substance, do you not?”

At the time, a dog was lying beneath the incense table. Baojue struck the incense table with a ruler and then struck the dog, saying, “The sentient dog runs away, while the insentient incense table remains where it is. How can they be one substance?”

Xia Yi was unable to answer.

Patriarch Baojue said, “The moment deliberation arises, it becomes an extraneous dharma!”

The understanding transmitted among the sages of former generations was invariably this very purport.

Scripture: “Ananda, within the mind, you constantly condition the three natures—wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate—and thereby the various objects of mind arise. Do those objects of mind arise within the mind itself, or do they have a separate location apart from the mind?

“Ananda, if they are within the mind itself, then these dharmas are not objective phenomena. In that case, they are not what the mind takes as its objects; how, then, could they constitute a domain?

“If they have a separate location apart from the mind, is the fundamental nature of these objects of mind aware or unaware? If it is aware, it should be called mind. But if it is different from you and is not an objective phenomenon, it would be like the mind of another person. If it is identical with you and is also mind, how could your mind become two within you?

“If it is unaware, then since that object of mind is neither form, sound, smell, taste, separation, union, cold, heat, nor the characteristic of empty space, where does it manifest? At present, it cannot be pointed out anywhere among form and emptiness. Could there possibly be, within the human realm, something outside empty space? Without an objective condition, how could the mind faculty be established as a domain?

“Therefore, you should know: objects of mind and the mind faculty have no location. Both the mind faculty and objects of mind are false and illusory domains, fundamentally neither of the nature of causes and conditions nor of the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: When the three categories—wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate—stand in relation to a faculty, all of them are actual; hence they are called actual objects. When they do not stand in relation to an external object and are conditioned solely by mental consciousness, they are merely images of actual objects and are therefore called internal objects. Internal objects do not go beyond the three natures—wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate—which condition form, emptiness, and all dharmas; hence they are also called objects of mind. Since beginningless time, the internal and external have mutually perfumed one another; therefore, they are said to be “produced and formed.”

If one says, “Dharmas are within the mind itself,” then the mind is the conditioning subject and dharmas are the conditioned objects; how could they be identical? This is easy to discern. If one says, “Dharmas are apart from the mind,” then where do these dharmas actually reside?

If dharmas are regarded as aware, then they are identical with mind; but being identical with mind, they are not objective phenomena. If they are not objective phenomena, yet are different from you and must still be called mind, then they are like the mind of another person. If they are not objective phenomena and are not different from you, how could your mind become two within you, with one of them called an object of mind?

Therefore, awareness cannot serve as the location. If they are regarded as unaware, by what could those objects of mind be made manifest?

Objects of mind are neither the characteristics of form and emptiness, nor do they have a separate place of establishment apart from form and emptiness. Beyond form there is empty space, and beyond empty space there is nothing. If objects of mind had a domain in which the mind could condition them, then empty space would surely have something outside it. But since empty space has nothing outside it, what could the mind condition?

The mind’s conditioning of dharmas means that form and emptiness are insentient and are revealed through awareness. Awareness makes distinctions, and these are then called dharmas. Now, if dharmas are unaware and also have no location, then although the mind possesses awareness, what does it know? Therefore, unawareness likewise cannot serve as the location of objects of mind. If they are neither aware nor unaware, how could a domain be established? There are no dharmas within the mind itself, nor are there dharmas apart from the mind; therefore, objects of mind have no intrinsic nature. How, then, could they not be false and illusory? When dharmas have no location, the mind faculty is empty. Therefore, this is called the wondrous nature of True Suchness.

Chan Master Qingzhou Faben ascended the Dharma hall and said, “One raises a sound and wishes to extinguish the echo, not realizing that the sound is the source of the echo. One plays with a shadow and wishes to escape the form, not realizing that the form is the source of the shadow. Using dharmas to question dharmas, one does not know that dharmas are fundamentally not dharmas.

Using mind to transmit mind, one does not know that mind is fundamentally no-mind. Mind is fundamentally no-mind; know that mind is like an illusion. Awaken to dharmas as not being dharmas; know that dharmas are wholly like a dream.

Mind and dharmas are unreal; do not pursue them deceitfully. Why labor to grasp dreams, illusions, and flowers in empty space? Upon reaching this point, the Buddhas of the three times, the entire Great Canon of Teachings, and the words of patriarchs and venerable masters throughout the world are all revealed as tangling vines and clinging creepers, and no attachment to them remains whatsoever.

Why is this? ‘Peace is what the general has always longed for; yet do not let the general behold peace.’”

A verse in the Avatamsaka Sutra says:

“Eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body,

Mind, mentation, and all sentient faculties”

Because of this, they ceaselessly revolve,

Yet in truth there is no one who revolves.

The Dharma-nature is originally unborn,

Yet manifests as though there were birth.

Within it there is no agent that manifests,

Nor any object that is manifested.

Eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body,

Mind, mentation, and all the faculties of sentience—

All are empty and without inherent nature;

The deluded mind discriminates them as existent.

Contemplating in this way,

One sees that all are without inherent nature.”

The essential meaning of this passage truly accords with and elucidates the sutra.

H. THE EIGHTEEN DHATUS

Sutra: “Furthermore, Ananda, how are the Eighteen Dhatus fundamentally the wondrous true suchness-nature of the Tathagata-garbha?

Commentary: In relation to objects, they are called faculties, for the faculties are within. In relation to the faculties, they are called objects, for objects are without. Between them, that which discriminates each one is consciousness. The three—faculty, object, and consciousness—are established in mutual dependence, like bundles of reeds leaning against one another; hence they are called the Eighteen Dhatus. These three exist together or cease to exist together and are fundamentally devoid of self-nature. Since they are devoid of self-nature, they are fundamentally the wondrous true suchness-nature of the Tathagata-garbha.

Chan Master Benxian of Chuilu ascended the Dharma hall and said, “The place from which all dharmas arise is the place where the mind manifests.” These words are indeed an entrance gate. Let me ask you: the eyes see all forms; the ears hear all sounds; the nose smells all odors; the tongue tastes all flavors; the body contacts all manner of softness and smoothness; and the mind discriminates all dharmas. Are the objects confronting the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind solely your mind, or are they not your mind?

If you say they are solely your mind, why do they not simply unite with your body into a single mass? Why do these corresponding objects remain outside your faculties? If you say that the objects confronting the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and so forth are not your mind, then why has the saying, ‘The place from which all dharmas arise is the place where the mind manifests,’ been transmitted throughout the world and cited by everyone?

Having heard these essential words and principles, do you understand? If you do not understand, apply your minds and carefully investigate so that you may receive instruction and come to understand. Do not be lazy in your inquiry into this matter.

There is nothing further; withdraw.”

A monk asked Patriarch Yunju, “What is it like when the six gates are not clear?”

Master Yunju said, “One does not become involved with conditions.”

The monk asked, “What is the matter beyond?”

Master Yunju said, “A careful person does not guard anything.”

Master Touzi composed this verse:

“Spring arrives; the stone man gazes at distant mountains.

Orioles sing; wooden flowers rest upon blue waves.

Know that beyond the clouds, pines and mountains are beautiful;

For a thousand ages they greet the wind, regardless of the year’s cold.”

The first two lines versify “not becoming involved with conditions.” The final two lines versify “the matter beyond.” One must understand the matter beyond before one can believe that the Eighteen Dhatus are fundamentally the nature of true suchness.

Sutra: “Ananda, as you have stated, the eye faculty and visible objects serve as conditions that produce eye-consciousness. Is this consciousness produced because of the eye faculty, taking the eye faculty as its dhatu, or is it produced because of visible objects, taking visible objects as its dhatu?

“Ananda, if it were produced because of the eye faculty, then in the absence of form and emptiness, there would be nothing to discriminate. Even if your consciousness existed, it would have no function. If your seeing had no blue, yellow, white, or red, it could not manifest. On what basis, then, could its dhatu be established?

“If it were produced because of visible objects, then when only empty space was present and there were no forms, your consciousness should cease to exist. How, then, could it know that there was empty space? If, when visible objects change, you also know that their appearances have changed while your consciousness remains unchanged, then how could visible objects be established as its dhatu? If consciousness changed along with visible objects, the dhatu could not be established. If it did not change, it would be permanent; and since consciousness was produced from form, it should not know where empty space was.

“If it were jointly produced by both the eye faculty and visible objects, then when they united, there would necessarily be a point of separation between them; and if they were separate, the two would still have to be capable of uniting. Their essential natures would thus become intermingled; how could a dhatu be established?

“Therefore, you should know: when the eye faculty and visible objects serve as conditions that produce the dhatu of eye-consciousness, all three locations are empty. Thus, the three—the eye dhatu, the form dhatu, and the eye-consciousness dhatu—are fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: In this treatment of the Eighteen Dhatus, only the six consciousnesses are refuted. It is said that this consciousness is not produced from the eye, taking the eye as its dhatu, because consciousness discriminates, but if neither form nor emptiness were present, what use could discrimination have?

This consciousness is not produced from form, taking form as its dhatu, because form undergoes change and cessation whereas consciousness remains unchanged. If consciousness arose solely from form, how could it discern emptiness?

Nor is this consciousness produced by the conjunction of the eye and form to constitute a dhatu. Since one side possesses awareness—the eye faculty—while the other side lacks awareness—the visible object—they would necessarily oppose each other. How could they interpenetrate? Therefore, the sutra says, “There would necessarily be a point of separation between them.”

Could one say that it arises apart from the eye and form? To be apart from the faculty is to unite with the object; to be apart from the object is to unite with the faculty. To which side, then, would consciousness belong? Therefore, the sutra speaks of their becoming “intermingled.”

Since none of the three locations is valid, where could the dhatu exist?

Patriarch Fayan pointed to a bamboo tree and asked a monk, “Do you see it?”

The monk replied, “Yes, I see it.”

Master Fayan said, “Does the bamboo enter the eye, or does the eye go to the bamboo?”

The monk said, “Neither is the case.”

Later, Patriarch Fadeng offered an alternative response: “At that moment, he should merely have split his eyes open and stared at the Master.”

Patriarch Guizong Rou offered another response: “The Venerable Master simply does not believe that my two turning words carry the breath of a Chan monk.”

Another monk asked Patriarch Tiantong Qi, “What is the eye whose functioning is never deficient?”

Master Tiantong said, “It is exactly like being blind!”

Master Danxia composed this verse:

“Blind, stammering, deaf, and mute—far from innate truth;

When the eyes resemble the eyebrows, the Way is near.

The Lord of Spring secretly issued his command last night;

Where golden orioles sing, the green willows proclaim spring.”

If one can thoroughly realize this point, one may function freely and without deficiency.

Sutra: “Ananda, again, as you have stated, the ear faculty and sounds serve as conditions that produce ear-consciousness. Is this consciousness produced because of the ear faculty, taking the ear faculty as its dhatu, or is it produced because of sounds, taking sounds as its dhatu?

“Ananda, if it were produced because of the ear faculty, then in the absence of the two characteristics of movement and stillness, the faculty’s awareness could not be established. If there were no awareness at all, then awareness itself could not be established, much less could the discriminating consciousness possess any defining characteristic.

“If hearing arose from the physical ear, then without movement and stillness, hearing itself could not be established. How could one take the physical form of the ear—which is mixed with visible objects—and call it the dhatu of ear-consciousness? On what basis could that dhatu of ear-consciousness be established?

“If it were produced because of sounds, then ear-consciousness would exist because of sounds and would have no connection with hearing. Yet without hearing, one would not even know where the characteristics of sound were. Suppose ear-consciousness were produced from sound and that sound acquired its characteristics through hearing; then hearing should be able to hear ear-consciousness. If it could not hear ear-consciousness, sound would not be the dhatu of ear-consciousness. If it could hear it, ear-consciousness would be the same as sound. Once ear-consciousness became something heard, what would be aware of the hearing that heard that ear-consciousness? If there were no one aware of it, one would ultimately be no different from grass and trees.

“Surely sound and hearing cannot intermingle to form the dhatu between them. If there is no dhatu in between, on what basis could the characteristics of the internal faculty and external object be established?”

“Therefore, you should know: the ear faculty and the sound-object serve as conditions that give rise to the realm of ear-consciousness, yet all three loci are empty. Thus, the three realms of the ear faculty, sound, and ear-consciousness are fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: The Lesser Vehicle holds that “causes and conditions give rise to dharmas,” regarding them as truly existent. Because it does not understand that they are “immediately empty,” the Buddha uses the ordinary experiences of hearing and seeing to refute this view.

If ear-consciousness arises from the ear faculty, then the ear faculty comprises the supreme faculty and the supporting physical faculty. The supreme faculty can discern, but without contact with a sound-object, even cognition would not exist, much less any form or appearance. As for the supporting physical faculty, although it is intermingled with the form-object, without the two characteristics of movement and stillness, even hearing would not exist, much less the realm of consciousness! Therefore, to say that “ear-consciousness arises from the ear faculty” is erroneous.

If it arises from the sound-object, then the sound-object would already possess ear-consciousness in itself; what need would there be for the ear to hear? If there were no hearer, who could distinguish the various sound-objects? If one says that they arise in dependence upon each other, holding that the sound-object acquires its characteristics through hearing, then one must also hold that hearing, by means of the sound-object, hears ear-consciousness.

If ear-consciousness were something heard, it would itself be merely a sound-object; what, then, would serve as the knowing subject that knows it has heard ear-consciousness? If there were also a cognition, there would be two consciousnesses! If there were no cognition, it would be the same as grass and trees.

Thus, to say that “consciousness arises from the sound-object” is erroneous.

If one says that “the sound-object and hearing unite and give rise to ear-consciousness,” then one side possesses cognition while the other does not. Between cognition and non-cognition, how could they intermingle to form a realm? Since the realm between them does not exist, consciousness has nowhere to depend. On what basis, then, could the inner faculty and outer object be established? Thus, to say that “the sound-object and hearing unite and give rise to it” is erroneous.

Since all three loci are empty, ear-consciousness is unborn. One should therefore know that this unborn ear-consciousness is itself the nature of True Suchness.

On one occasion, while the Blessed One was sitting beneath a Ni Câu Luật tree, a merchant asked, “Did you see a cart pass by?”

He said, “I did not see it.”

The merchant asked again, “Did you hear it, then?”

He replied, “I did not hear it.”

The two merchants asked, “Were you not in meditative concentration?”

He replied, “I was not in meditative concentration.”

They asked, “Were you not asleep?”

He replied, “I was not asleep.”

The merchants praised him, saying, “Excellent! Excellent! The Blessed One is constantly aware, yet does not see!” They then offered him two lengths of white cloth.

A monk once asked Chan Master Heze Shenhui, “When seeing and hearing illuminate sounds and forms, do they do so simultaneously, or is there a before and an after?”

Patriarch Hui said, “Set aside for now whether they are simultaneous or occur before and after. Ultimately, what do you take to be sound and form?”

The monk said, “According to the Master’s instruction, there is no sound or form that can be apprehended.”

He then bowed and departed that very day. Later, the monk lived in seclusion on Mount Meng.

A Tripitaka Master from India named Qingming came to the land of Min. The King of Min invited Master Xuansha to examine him in debate.

Patriarch Sha took an iron fire-tong, struck a bronze censer with it, and asked, “What sound is that?”

The Tripitaka Master replied, “The sound of bronze and iron.”

Patriarch Sha said, “Your Majesty, do not let a foreigner deceive you!”

The Tripitaka Master was unable to reply.

Master Tiantong commented: “When accordant with principle, it is spirit: a poor man finds the jewel in his robe. When enclosed by discriminating feelings, it is a thing: a strong man loses the jewel on his forehead! The Tripitaka Master knew only how to look forward. Master Xuansha, for his part, could not look back. Do you understand? To fabricate an accusation against another only makes one’s own offense greater.”

The venerable masters have said much about this case.

When the Tripitaka Master said, “The sound of bronze and iron,” he was plainly pursuing the sound-object.

Patriarch Fayan said separately, “Please, Great Master, become the Great King.”

Patriarch Fadeng said separately, “Listen to the Venerable’s question!”

Patriarch Xuedou said, “It would be better not to deceive the foreigner.”

At the point where the Tripitaka Master was unable to reply, Master Fayan answered in his place, “Great Master, you have long enjoyed the Great King’s offerings.”

Patriarch Fadeng answered in his place, “It is the Venerable who is deceiving the Great King!” This statement is deeply meaningful. It is precisely what Master Tiantong meant by, “To fabricate an accusation against another only makes one’s own offense greater.”

According to Patriarch Xuansha’s meaning, what could be called the sound of bronze and iron? According to the Tripitaka Master’s meaning, what could not be called the sound of bronze and iron? These two statements can very easily deceive people. One must see through each of them completely in order not to be deceived.

Sutra: “Ananda, it is again as you have stated: the nose faculty and the odor-object serve as conditions that give rise to nasal consciousness. Does this consciousness arise from the nose faculty, taking the nose faculty as its realm, or does it arise from the odor-object, taking the odor-object as its realm?

“Ananda, if it arises from the nose faculty, then what, in your mind, do you take to be the nose faculty? Do you take it to be the form of the fleshy nose, shaped like two fingernails, or do you take the stirring awareness of smelling to be the nose faculty?

“If you take the form of the fleshy nose to be the faculty, then the flesh belongs to the body, and the body’s awareness is tactile sensation. Since it is called the body, it is not the nose; and since it is called tactile sensation, it belongs to the object-realm. There would then be nothing left that could be called the nose faculty, so how could its realm be established?

“If you take the awareness of smelling to be the nose faculty, then what, in your mind, do you take to be that awareness? If you take the fleshy nose to be the awareness, then the awareness of flesh is a tactile object, not the nose faculty. If you take emptiness to be the awareness, then emptiness would itself be aware, while the flesh should be unaware. In that case, emptiness would have to be you! If your body were unaware, then the present Ananda would no longer exist anywhere.

“If you take the odor to be the awareness, then that awareness would belong to the odor-object; what would it have to do with you?

“If fragrant and foul odors are produced by your nose faculty, then those two odors of fragrance and foulness would not arise from the ylang-ylang tree and the sandalwood tree. When those two things are absent, smell your own nose: is it fragrant or foul? What is foul is not fragrant, and what is fragrant is not foul. If you can smell both fragrance and foulness together, then you, a single person, must have two nose faculties. Standing before me to inquire about the Way, there would also have to be two Anandas; which one, then, would be your essential identity? If the nose faculty is one, then fragrance and foulness would not be two. Foulness would become fragrance, and fragrance would become foulness. Since their two natures would not exist, on what basis could the realm be established?

“Again, if nasal consciousness arises from the odor-object, then, since it exists because of the odor-object, it would be like seeing, which exists because of the eye and therefore cannot see the eye: nasal consciousness, existing because of odor, should be unable to know the odor-object. If it knows the odor-object, it does not arise from the odor-object; but if it does not know the odor-object, it is not nasal consciousness. If the odor-object is not known to exist, the realm of odor cannot be established. If nasal consciousness does not know the odor-object, its realm is not established through the odor-object. Since there is no consciousness in between, the inner faculty and outer object also cannot be established. Thus, all such awareness of smelling is ultimately false and illusory.

“Therefore, you should know: the nose faculty and the odor-object serve as conditions that give rise to the realm of nasal consciousness, yet all three loci are empty. Thus, the three realms of the nose faculty, odor, and nasal consciousness are fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.”

Commentary: The nose is the faculty; odors are the objects; and between these two is consciousness. Whenever the term “realm” is used, it refers specifically to consciousness. This consciousness is not born from the faculty, nor is it born from odors. The general meaning is similar to what was explained above, though the wording is somewhat more intricate.

When the faculty is refuted by reference to the object, consciousness is shown not to arise from empty space as something situated between them. When the faculty is refuted directly in relation to the object, consciousness is shown not to arise from their conjunction; this too is readily apparent. First, the coarse physical faculty is refuted: the fleshly nose is not that which knows.

Then the faculty in the ultimate sense is refuted: neither is empty space that which knows. If awareness resided in the odor, what involvement would the nostrils have? And if it arose in the nostrils, what need would there be for an object?

If the same thing could smell both fragrance and stench, there would have to be two noses; thus the faculty provides no adequate basis. Yet since there is only one nose, how could there be two noses? Thus the object also provides no adequate evidence.

Therefore, the assertion that “nasal consciousness arises from the faculty” is erroneous.

If it is said that “nasal consciousness arises from the odor-object,” then it ought not to know the odor, just as seeing, which arises from the eye, cannot turn back and see the eye itself. If it is said that the odor does know, then the odor-object itself possesses consciousness; why would one still need to say that consciousness arises from it? If it is said that it does not know, then it cannot be called consciousness; on what basis, then, could its realm be established? Therefore, the assertion that “consciousness arises from the odor-object” is erroneous.

Since an odor-object cannot itself know its own scent, the faculty and its object remain separate and cannot be conjoined. If consciousness arose from the odor-object, it could not know that odor-object. If it can know the odor-object, then it certainly does not arise from the odor. Thus faculty and object are separate and fundamentally do not depend upon each other. Therefore, the assertion that “nasal consciousness arises from the conjunction of faculty and object” is erroneous.

Since the realm of odors cannot be established, consciousness cannot exist between faculty and object. Since there is no middle, how could there be an inside or an outside? It is clear that nasal consciousness is illusory and fundamentally has no location. One then understands that the nature of smelling awareness is empty and that no nature of causes and conditions or spontaneity can be found.

In the Dharma Realm Chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra, the elder Utpalapuspa, the Incense Merchant, skillfully discerned and knew every fragrance. He also knew how to compound every Dharma-incense, even the places from which the King of Incenses emanated. Moreover, he skillfully knew how to cure the ailments caused by incenses, eliminate foul odors, and produce the Incense of Joy, increase the Incense of Wisdom, and extinguish the Incense of Afflictions.

He caused the Incense of Loving Delight to arise toward the unconditioned, the Incense of Renunciation to arise toward the conditioned, and the Incense of Abandoning Pride and Indulgence to arise; he inspired the mind of the Incense of Mindfulness of the Buddha and realized the Incense of the Dharma Gate of Liberation, the Incense Enjoyed by the Noble Ones, the Incenses of the Distinctive Qualities of All Bodhisattvas, and the Incenses of All Bodhisattva Stages.

He taught: “I know only this Dharma gate of compounding incenses. Bodhisattvas, however, utterly abandon all evil habitual tendencies. They are unstained by worldly desires and seek to sever the net of afflictions cast by the hosts of Mara and to transcend all paths of samsara. They adorn themselves with the Incense of Wisdom and remain undefiled and unattached throughout all worlds. They fully perfect the precepts of ‘Having No Place of Attachment,’ purify the wisdom of ‘Nonattachment,’ and practice ‘Nonattachment to Objects.’ In every place they have nothing to which they cling; their minds remain impartial, neither attaching nor depending upon anything.”

Long ago, a venerable monk passed by a lotus pond. The lotus spirit reproached him, saying: “You must not steal my fragrance.”

The venerable monk then asked: “People of the world pass to and fro, and who among them does not smell this fragrance? Why accuse only me of stealing it?”

The spirit replied: “The minds of worldly people are distracted, so their smelling is not called stealing. But the venerable one’s mind is pure, and therefore even the slightest attachment is impermissible!”

Nasal consciousness is indeed not easily subdued! Therefore, if one protects the unattached mind while roaming throughout the world, this is to “skillfully discern and know every fragrance,” and there is nothing one cannot accomplish.

Sutra: “Ananda, as you have further explained: the faculty of the tongue and the object of flavor serve as conditions that give rise to tongue-consciousness. Does this consciousness arise from the faculty of the tongue, taking that faculty as its realm, or does it arise from the object of flavor, taking flavor as its realm?

“Ananda, if it arises from the faculty of the tongue, then even if the sweetness of sugarcane, the sourness of plums, the bitterness of coptis, the saltiness of salt, and all such things as wild ginger, ginger, and cinnamon did not exist in the world, you could still taste. Taste your own tongue: is it sweet or bitter? If the tongue is bitter, then what is it that tastes the tongue? The tongue cannot taste itself, so how could there be awareness? If the tongue is not bitter, flavor does not arise by itself; how, then, could its realm be established?

“If it arises from the object of flavor, then tongue-consciousness would itself already be flavor. Like the faculty of the tongue, it could not taste itself; how, then, could it know whether something was a flavor or not? Moreover, all flavors do not arise from a single substance.

Since flavors arise from many substances, if tongue-consciousness arose from the object of flavor, it too would have to possess many individual substances. If tongue-consciousness were a single substance and that substance arose from flavor, then the differing characteristics of saltiness, blandness, sourness, and pungency would all have to be a single flavor and could not be distinguished. Without distinction there would be no consciousness; how, then, could it still be called the realm of tongue-consciousness?

Could empty space possibly produce your discriminating consciousness?

“Thus, if the consciousness in between were produced through the conjunction of the faculty of the tongue and the object of flavor, it would fundamentally have no intrinsic nature. How, then, could its realm exist?

“Therefore, you should know: when the faculty of the tongue and the object of flavor serve as conditions that give rise to tongue-consciousness, all three loci are empty. Thus the realm of the tongue faculty, the realm of flavor, and the realm of tongue-consciousness are fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: First, rejecting that it “arises from the faculty of the tongue” refutes the doctrine of self-production. Second, rejecting that it “arises from the object of flavor” refutes the doctrine of production by another. Third, rejecting that it “arises from empty space” refutes the doctrine of production without a cause.

Fourth, rejecting that it “arises from the conjunction of tongue and flavor” refutes the doctrine of joint production. Within all these, there is fundamentally no intrinsic nature: the faculty of the tongue cannot taste flavor by itself, and flavor cannot taste or know itself. From where, then, could consciousness arise?

This directly reveals the purport of non-arising. To know that tongue-consciousness is fundamentally unborn and that the tongue faculty is originally pure is precisely the wondrous nature of True Suchness.

Long ago, there was a Chan master who ate indiscriminately without choosing among foods, and many disciples imitated him. One day, he arranged an offering at a cremation ground, took the unconsumed flesh remaining from a cremated corpse, mixed it with the food, and ate it. All the disciples vomited and fled.

The master then said: “Because I have been pure for many lifetimes, I make no distinctions. Only if you can eat this food together with me should you maintain the practice of eating without discrimination.”

From then on, the entire assembly was awestruck and took care to observe the Vinaya precepts.

Patriarch Caoshan was also fond of wine.

A monk asked: “What is it like when one does not don the spiritual robe?”

He replied: “This Caoshan is perfectly filial! [Here, this means being in accord with the nature.]”

The monk asked: “What is it like after one has become perfectly filial?”

The Patriarch replied: “Caoshan delights in wine poured from the crown of the head.”

A disciple named Shui Qing asked: “This disciple is orphaned and destitute; I beg the Master to rescue me.”

Patriarch Shan called loudly: “Acarya Shui!”

Master Shui responded: “Yes!”

Patriarch Shan said: “The clear white wine of Qingyuan [the Caodong school originated with Master Qingyuan Xingsi]—you have already drunk three cups, so why do you still say it has not touched your lips?”

Patriarch Xuánjué said: “Where can it be said that there was any drinking?”

These three cases show that the nature of flavor is fundamentally empty and that tongue-consciousness is also fundamentally empty. Only one who has completely realized this may be said to “know flavor.”

Sutra: “Ananda, as you have further explained: the faculty of the body and the object of touch serve as conditions that give rise to body-consciousness. Does this body-consciousness arise from the faculty of the body, taking that faculty as its realm, or does it arise from the object of touch, taking touch as its realm?”

“Ananda, if it arises from the body faculty, then without the two sensations of contact and separation, what could the body faculty still know? If it arises from the object of touch, then without your body faculty, who could be without a body and yet know contact and separation?

“Ananda, objects do not know sensation; only when the body faculty has awareness is there sensation. Through sensation, the body is known; through the body faculty, sensation is known. Yet sensation is not the body, and the body is not sensation. The two characteristics of body and touch are fundamentally without any location. If touch unites with the body, it becomes the essential nature of the body. Apart from the body, it has no essential nature of its own and is merely like the characteristic of empty space. Since the inner faculty and the external object cannot be established, how can the consciousness between them be established? When the middle cannot be established and both inside and outside are the Nature of Emptiness, from what could your body-consciousness establish its realm?

“Therefore, you should know: the body faculty and the object of touch serve as conditions that give rise to body-consciousness, yet all three locations are empty. Thus, the three realms of the body faculty, the object of touch, and body-consciousness are fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: The statement, ‘Objects do not know sensation,’ means that objects are capable of being touched and known. Objects are substantial, while knowing is insubstantial. The substantial and the insubstantial do not come into contact with each other. Therefore, an object only comes into contact with another object; it cannot come into contact with knowing. This single word ‘knowing’ clearly reveals the pure Dharma-body, which cannot be reached by contact.

That the body knows sensation is due to discriminative knowing through the physical body, taking contact and separation as its two conditions. Sensation is not apart from the body faculty, nor is the body faculty apart from sensation. Yet when sensation is spoken of, it is not the body faculty; and when the body faculty is spoken of, it is not sensation.

These two truly cannot be definitively established. Therefore, if they unite, there is only one body—where, then, is sensation? If they separate, touch no longer exists and becomes the same as empty space.

Neither has any location, and neither inside nor outside can be established. If body and touch are both without a location, from what can body-consciousness be established? Since there is no consciousness in between, faculty and object are ultimately empty.

Therefore, it should be known that the realm of body-consciousness is merely illusory.

Chan Master Nanyue Huisi had attained the knowledge of past lives, yet suddenly karmic obstructions arose again, leaving his hands and feet limp and paralyzed so that he could neither walk nor stand. He reflected: ‘Illness arises from karma, and karma arises from mind. The source of mind fundamentally does not arise; what form, then, could external objects possess? Illness, karma, and body are all like shadows of clouds!’ Contemplating in this way, the inverted appearances vanished, and he became light, peaceful, and well as before. Only one such as he could be said to have clearly penetrated the illusory nature of body-consciousness.

Chan Master Xingyang Pou lay ill.

Master Dayang came to visit him and asked: ‘This body is like an illusory bubble, yet only within this illusory bubble can discernment be accomplished. Without this illusory bubble, there would be no means of examining the great matter. If one wishes to examine the great matter, consciousness again grasps this illusory bubble. What is to be done?’

Patriarch Pou said: ‘That is still a matter on this side.’

Dayang asked: ‘Then what of the matter on the other side?’

Patriarch Pou said: ‘Across the earth, the crimson orb shines beautifully; at the bottom of the sea, flowers are not planted’ [‘Táp địa hồng luân tú, hải để bất tài hoa’].

Dayang laughed and said: ‘Are you still lucid?’

Patriarch Pou shouted: ‘Were you about to say that I had forgotten?’

He then immediately entered quiescence.

One such as Patriarch Xingyang Pou could be said to have thoroughly penetrated the matter beyond the Dharma-body.

A monk asked Master Dalong: ‘The physical body decays; what is the indestructible Dharma-body?’

Patriarch Long said: ‘Mountain flowers bloom like brocade. The stream water is clear as indigo.’

Master Xuedou composed this verse:

‘The questioner has never known;

The answerer likewise does not understand.

The moon is cold, the wind is high; the ancient summit is open and chill.

How delightful!

Midway along the road, he encounters one who has attained the Way.

They do not confront one another through speech or silence.

Holding a white-jade whip, he strikes the Li Pearl to pieces.

Yet the more he strikes, the less it breaks, and the more marks appear!

The nation has its statutes, adding three thousand articles of punishment!’

According to this verse, even the Indestructible Dharma-body must still be smashed to pieces—how much more so the physical body?

Sutra: “Again, as you have stated: the mind faculty and mental objects serve as conditions that give rise to mind-consciousness. Does this consciousness arise from the mind faculty, taking the mind faculty as its realm, or does it arise from mental objects, taking mental objects as its realm?

“Ananda, if it arises from the mind faculty, then within your mind there must certainly be something thought about that reveals your faculty of mind. Without mental objects, the mind would have nowhere from which to arise. Apart from objective conditions, the mind faculty has no form or appearance; what use, then, could be made of consciousness?

“Moreover, are your conscious mind, its various thoughts, and its various cognitions the same or different? If consciousness is the same as the mind faculty, then it is the mind faculty itself; how could it arise from the mind faculty? If it is different and not the same as the mind faculty, then it should have no awareness. If it has no awareness, how could it arise from the mind faculty? But if it does have awareness, how could it know the mind faculty? Since neither sameness nor difference can be established, from what could the realm be established?

“If mind-consciousness arises from mental objects, then the phenomena of the world do not extend beyond the five objects. Consider the phenomena of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch: in relation to the five faculties, each has a clearly discernible appearance and does not fall within the scope of the mind faculty. If your mind-consciousness definitely arises in dependence upon mental objects, then examine closely: what appearance does each mental object possess?

Apart from form and emptiness, movement and stillness, openness and obstruction, contact and separation, and arising and cessation—beyond these characteristics, ultimately nothing can be apprehended. When they arise, all phenomena of form and emptiness arise; when they cease, all phenomena of form and emptiness cease. Since their causes do not exist, what appearance could the consciousness supposedly arising from them possess?

Since it can have no appearance, from what could its realm arise?

“Therefore, you should know: the mind faculty and mental objects serve as conditions that give rise to mind-consciousness, yet all three locations are empty. Thus, the three realms of the mind faculty, mental objects, and mind-consciousness are fundamentally neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity.

Commentary: This realm of mind-consciousness is the discriminative, cognitive nature of the sixth consciousness. Since it takes knowing through discrimination as its nature, apart from mental objects it certainly has no conditions, and the mind therefore does not arise. Apart from conditions, it is formless; what use, then, could mind-consciousness serve?

Thus, this consciousness that takes mental objects as its conditions clearly does not arise from the mind faculty. If it is said that the mind faculty can discriminate and thereby gives rise to mind-consciousness, then are the seventh consciousness, which serves as the basis for defilement and purity, and the eighth consciousness—the mind-consciousness that serves as the fundamental basis of all consciousnesses—the same as or different from the sixth consciousness, whose nature is discriminative cognition?

The Lankavatara Sutra says: Mind, the eighth consciousness, accumulates; manas, the seventh consciousness, expands the accumulation; discriminative cognition is called consciousness; and in relation to manifest objects, there are the five consciousnesses.

The Treatise on Consciousness-Only says: That which gathers and gives rise is called mind; that which considers and measures is called manas; that which cognizes objects is called consciousness. It is only one dharma bearing different names.

Since it is only one dharma, all may be called mind, all may be called manas, and all may be called consciousness. Yet their subtleties can be distinguished, and because there are many kinds, different names are assigned.

In the eighth consciousness, manas and consciousness are both absent; therefore, it can only be called mind.

In the seventh consciousness, it is neither mind nor consciousness; therefore, it can only be called manas.

In the sixth consciousness, both mind and manas engage with objects; therefore, it is called the consciousness that discriminates things.”

In truth, they are but one. It is like waves arising upon the sea: they are neither different nor not different. The Sixth Consciousness pursues sense-objects and gives rise to the wind of perceptual states; it then sets in motion the waves of deliberation belonging to the Seventh Consciousness, yet in truth these never depart from the tranquil, all-containing sea of the Eighth Consciousness. These three consciousnesses are neither the same nor different; for now, let the matter rest.

We shall now discuss the arising of consciousness from the mind-faculty. If consciousness were said to be identical with the mind-faculty, then consciousness would itself be the mind-faculty; how could the mind-faculty be called that which produces, and consciousness that which is produced? Thus, it cannot be said that they are identical.

If consciousness were said to differ from the mind-faculty and to have absolutely nothing in common with it, then one would belong to sentient existence and the other to the insentient, and there should be no knowing whatsoever. Thus, neither can they be said to be different. If there were no knowing whatsoever, consciousness certainly could not be produced from the mind-faculty.

If the mind-faculty can distinguish the place where consciousness is produced, there must be consciousness within it. If there is something that can be known, then when the mind-faculty arises without any dharma to serve as its object, there is only the mind-faculty itself; how could it know itself? If it is said to know the mind-faculty, then the mind-faculty would in turn become an object and could no longer be a faculty.

If it does not know the mind-faculty, that would be the same as having no consciousness; how, then, could one say that the mind-faculty produces consciousness?

It is exceedingly difficult to conceive of consciousness apart from dharmas. If it were said to be identical with the mind-faculty, it could no longer be called produced; if it were said to be different, it could no longer be called consciousness. Thus, neither identity nor difference can be established. Since consciousness has no fixed locus, how could the realm of consciousness be established? Therefore, to say that consciousness is produced from the faculty is false and illusory.

If it is said that consciousness appears by taking dharma-objects as its conditions and is produced because of dharmas, then there must first be some conceivable dharma before it can serve as a cause. Yet the dharmas of the world cannot lie outside the five sense-objects, which correspond to the five faculties and serve as the causes of the five consciousnesses. Apart from these five sense-objects, can the mind-faculty possess some distinct characteristic of dharmas to serve as its cause?

Although the inner objects upon which the mind-faculty itself takes as conditions do not depend upon the five external faculties, ultimately they cannot transcend the reflected images of such dharmas as form and emptiness, arising and ceasing. Even when it takes supramundane dharmas—neither form nor emptiness, neither arising nor ceasing—as its conditions, that which is neither form nor emptiness is nevertheless revealed through form and emptiness, and that which neither arises nor ceases is displayed through arising and ceasing.

Ultimately, apart from form and emptiness, arising and ceasing, there can be no distinct dharma-object serving as a cause for the production of consciousness. If one seeks dharmas among the five sense-objects, those objects are the causes of the five faculties, not the cause of the mind-faculty. But if one seeks dharmas apart from the five sense-objects, no dharma whatsoever can be obtained.

Since nothing can be obtained, there is no cause. If there is no cause, what could produce consciousness? If, without a cause, it is said that consciousness is produced, this consciousness could not distinguish dharmas.

Yet if it could distinguish dharmas, what characteristics could it produce? Since there are no characteristics, consciousness in truth is not produced. Therefore, to say that consciousness is produced because of dharmas is erroneous.

Since it is produced neither from the mind-faculty nor from dharmas, where does mind-consciousness abide? To have no abiding place is precisely the place of Reality.

Long ago, Elder Guoqing Jing asked Patriarch Changsha, “As the sutra teaches, ‘The Supreme Knowledge and Vision of the Tathagata cannot be fathomed by a mind that has something it knows.’ What, then, does this mean?”

Patriarch Sha said, “Tell me: when investigated to its very end, can this mind that has something it knows itself be fathomed? Enter into faith through this.”

Later, a monk asked, “Every night when this disciple sits in meditation, his thoughts scatter in confusion, and he does not yet know how to gather and subdue them. I beg the Master for instruction.”

Guoqing Jing replied, “If, while sitting in stillness at night, thought after thought is restless and confused, then use that very restless mind to investigate the place of its restlessness. When you see that it has no location, where could that restless, thinking mind remain? Then turn back and investigate the mind itself: where does that investigating mind abide?

The wisdom that illuminates is originally empty, and the object taken as its condition is also quiescent. It illuminates without illuminating; there is utterly no object to be illuminated. Object and wisdom are both quiescent and extinct, and the measure of mind rests in peace.

Outwardly, do not seek to grasp distraction; inwardly, do not abide in meditative stillness. When both paths are cut off, the one Nature stands wholly revealed. This is the essential path of returning to the source.”

Patriarch Yaoshan was sitting when a monk asked, “In this level and even place, what are you thinking about?”

Patriarch Shan said, “I am thinking of that which is truly beyond thought.”

The monk asked, “How does one think of that which is beyond thought?”

Patriarch Yaoshan said, “By utterly not thinking!”

A monk asked Chan Master Xishu of Shuzhou, “What is the place beyond deliberation?”

The Master replied, “Who sees a single speck in the darkness of night, amid empty space?”

Master Danxia composed this verse:

“One point of numinous brightness the six cannot contain;

How clearly it shines—why fix the eyes upon it again?

The tidings within it are difficult for people to discern;

Only empty space bears a single darkened speck.”

(Nhất điểm linh minh lục bất thâu

Chiêu nhiên hà dụng cánh ngưng mâu

Cái trung tiên tức nhân nan ủy

Độc hữu hư không ám điểm đầu).

Therefore, when one understands the place that mind and consciousness cannot reach, one penetrates the source of consciousness.

II. GATHERING IN THE SEVEN GREAT ELEMENTS

Sutra: Ananda said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, the Tathagata often speaks of the causes and conditions of combination, saying that all transformations appearing in the world arise through the combination of the four great elements. Why, then, does the Tathagata now refute both causes and conditions and spontaneity? I do not now understand the meaning of this. I pray that the Buddha, out of compassion, will reveal to beings the ultimate meaning of the Middle Way, free from all frivolous theories concerning dharmas.”

At that time, the World-Honored One said to Ananda, “Previously, you grew weary of and renounced the Lesser Vehicle teachings of the sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, and resolved to seek Supreme Bodhi. Therefore, I shall now reveal to you the Truth of the Supreme Meaning. Why do you still bind yourself with the worldly false thinking and frivolous theories of causes and conditions? Although you have heard much, you are like someone who can recite the names of medicines but, when the actual medicine is placed before him, cannot distinguish it at all. The Tathagata says that this is truly pitiable! Listen carefully now, and I shall distinguish and reveal this matter for you, so that those who cultivate the Great Vehicle in the future may also comprehend the True Characteristic.”

Ananda remained silent and reverently accepted the Buddha’s sacred instruction.

Commentary: Ananda hoped that the World-Honored One would reveal the Middle Way. If the causes and conditions of worldly combination were regarded as truly existent, one would become attached to existence. If both causes and conditions and spontaneity were refuted, one would sink into emptiness. Only that which is neither existence nor emptiness is the Middle Way. He did not understand that Supreme Bodhi itself—the Middle Way to which there is no attachment—is the Truth of the Supreme Meaning. This Truth of the Supreme Meaning transcends all skandhas, entrances, ayatanas, and dhatus; it is neither the nature of causes and conditions nor the nature of spontaneity. To see that all characteristics are not characteristics is itself the True Characteristic of the Great Vehicle.

Ananda wished to abandon the Lesser Vehicle and seek Supreme Bodhi. Yet when it was now pointed out to him that this is the Nature of Wondrous True Suchness, he became bewildered and did not understand, like someone who can utter the names of medicines but fails to recognize the true medicine directly before his eyes. Truly pitiable! Alas, how could medicine be so easily recognized?

One day, Bodhisattva Manjusri instructed the youth Sudhana to gather medicinal herbs.

He said, “Bring back whatever is medicine.”

Sudhana surveyed the entire earth and found nothing that was not medicine. He returned and reported, “There is nothing that is not medicine.”

Manjushri said, “What is the medicinal herb you have gathered and brought back here?”

Sudhana immediately plucked a blade of grass from the ground and handed it to Manjushri. Manjushri took it, raised it for the assembly to see, and then said, “This medicine can kill a person, and it can also save a person.”

Patriarch Yunmen said, “Medicine and illness exist in relation to each other. The whole earth is medicine; what is the self?”

Xuedou’s verse says:

“The whole earth is medicine;

From ancient times to now, how greatly mistaken!

Shut the gate, yet do not build a cart for use;

The thoroughfare is naturally empty and broad.

Mistaken, mistaken!

Even nostrils far as the heavens are pierced through!”

According to the meaning of this verse, even the true medicine presently before one must be vomited out completely, how much more Ananda’s inability to distinguish the matter!

Sutra: “Ananda, as you have said, the four great elements combine and reveal the various transformations within the world. Ananda, if the nature of these elements were not a combination, they could not intermingle with the other elements, just as space cannot combine with forms. If the nature of the elements were combination, then they would be like the various transformations, mutually transforming into one another in succession, with arising and ceasing following one another: arising and then ceasing, ceasing and then arising, arising and ceasing without end, like a revolving wheel of fire that never comes to rest. Ananda, it is like water becoming ice and ice returning again to water.

Commentary: If it is said that the four great elements are not combined, this does not accord with the meaning of True Suchness conforming to conditions, and would be no more than insensate emptiness. If it is said that the four great elements must necessarily be combined, this does not accord with the meaning of the immutability of True Suchness, and would merely resemble transformation. Just as water becomes ice and ice returns again to water, the four great elements are originally the nature of the Tathagata-garbha; ice does not exist apart from water. With what does water combine to become ice? With what does ice combine to become water?

Originally there is only one thing, with nothing else intermingling with it. When the marks of combination are sought, it is evident that they cannot be found. Therefore, it is truly neither combination nor non-combination. It is only because of delusion that True Suchness appears as the four great elements, just as water is seen to have become ice. Upon awakening, the four great elements are True Suchness, just as ice is originally water. Water is originally one and nothing more.

A monk asked Patriarch Linji, “What are the four formless states?”

Patriarch Linji said, “When you give rise to a single thought of doubt, you are obstructed by earth. When you give rise to a single thought of craving, you are submerged by water. When you give rise to a single thought of anger, you are scorched by fire.

When you have a single thought of joy, you are blown away by wind. If you can clearly understand this, what state could bind you? Everywhere you can make use of states: emerging in the east and sinking in the west, emerging in the south and sinking in the west, rising in the center and sinking at the side, rising at the side and sinking in the center.

You walk upon water as upon land and enter the earth as though it were water. Why is this so? Because you have penetrated the four great elements as being like dreams and illusions.

Followers of the Way! The one presently listening to the Dharma is you; it is not your four great elements, yet it can make use of your four great elements. If you can see in this way, then whether going or remaining, you are free.”

Judging from Patriarch Linji’s words, wherever one goes there is only water; where could there be any ice?

On one occasion, a donor presented Patriarch Yaoshan with a set of ordinary clothing. Bringing it before the assembly, the Patriarch said, “Does the Dharma-body possess the four great elements or not? If anyone can answer, I shall give him a robe of leaves.”

Daowu said, “The nature of earth is not emptiness. Emptiness is not the nature of earth. This is the great element of earth. The other three great elements are likewise.”

The Patriarch said, “I give you a robe of leaves.”

How could Daowu’s realization be contrary to this sutra? Investigate it!

Sutra: “Consider the nature of the great element earth: in its coarse and extensive form it constitutes the land, while in its minute form it constitutes motes of dust, down to the finest mote bordering upon emptiness, which is produced by dividing the most minute particle of form into seven parts. If this mote bordering upon emptiness is divided further, it is truly the nature of space.

“Ananda, if that mote bordering upon emptiness can be divided into space, then you should know that space gives rise to the marks of form. You now ask whether combination gives rise to the various transforming appearances in the world. Then consider: how much space must combine to produce one mote bordering upon emptiness? Surely motes bordering upon emptiness do not combine to form a mote bordering upon emptiness. Moreover, since a mote bordering upon emptiness can be divided into space, how many forms must combine to produce space? If forms combine, the combination of forms cannot become space. If spaces combine, how could the combination of spaces become form? Form can be divided, but how could space be combined?

“You have never understood that within the Tathagata-garbha, the nature of form is true emptiness and the nature of emptiness is true form. Originally pure, it perfectly pervades the Dharma-realm, manifesting according to the understanding of beings’ minds and appearing in accordance with their karma. People of the world do not know this and mistakenly regard it as causes and conditions or as spontaneity. These are all discriminations and calculations of the consciousness-mind; they are mere words and names, entirely devoid of true meaning.

Commentary: The Verse on the Dharma-realm says:

“Whoever wishes to know the principle of true emptiness:

True Suchness within its nature manifests everywhere without.

Sentient and insentient share one single essence;

Everywhere is equally the true Dharma-realm!”

This is the essential purport of the seven great elements.

True emptiness is the essence of One Suchness. The seven great elements are its function, conforming to conditions in accordance with karma. Essence and function are nondual, each revealing the other.

Since they never depart from the wondrous nature, each and every one is itself nature. There is only this one nature. Emptiness is the nature of emptiness, and form is the nature of form; it is precisely emptiness and precisely form.

This is wondrous existence; this is the wondrous nature of True Suchness. Since it does not fall into existence or nonexistence, it is called pure; yet since it has never been apart from existence and nonexistence, it is called originally so. Being pure means that causes and conditions cannot defile it.

Being originally so means that it is not formed through combination. Whatever arises from causes and conditions or combination is merely an appearance and has a location; how could it pervade the Dharma-realm? Only that which does not arise from causes and conditions or combination has neither appearance nor location and thus wholly pervades the Dharma-realm.

If the nature wholly pervades the Dharma-realm, what is not one of the seven great elements? If the seven great elements wholly pervade the Dharma-realm, what is not the nature?

The mind of the Tathagata is solely of the one flavor of purity, solely of the one flavor of being originally so, and solely of the one flavor of all-pervasiveness; therefore, it cannot be known or measured. Yet within that purity, the minds of beings experience periods of defilement. Within that original suchness, they experience periods of not being thus.

Within that all-pervasiveness, they experience periods of restriction. According to the mind that knows, the measure of what is known corresponds to it. Extensive knowing accumulates into karma, and accumulated karma produces its fruits; these are wholesome or unwholesome, transforming and creating the dependent and direct retributions of the ten realms.

The minds of beings are scattered and boundless, and therefore the karma of beings is also boundlessly abundant. If this mind did not have as its essence the nature that wholly pervades the Dharma-realm, how could it manifest in accordance with karma, becoming ever more inexhaustible as it manifests?

The karmic powers of beings are each different. Yet all are alike within the original purity, to which not even a hair’s breadth has ever been added and from which not even a hair’s breadth has ever been diminished. Therefore, it is said that all moving and sentient beings possess Buddha-nature.

The deluded people of the world do not awaken to the truth that the three realms are mind-only and that the myriad dharmas are consciousness-only. Therefore, regarding phenomena that manifest in accordance with karma, when they see that something arises from causes and conditions, they take it to have the nature of causes and conditions; and when they see that something arises without causes and conditions, they mistakenly take it to have the nature of spontaneity.

They do not understand that within the original purity, both existence and nonexistence are transcended, and neither causes and conditions nor spontaneity have anywhere upon which to take hold.”

Is it said to arise through causes and conditions? Then with what does the finest particle conjoin as a condition to produce emptiness, and with what does emptiness conjoin as a condition to produce the finest particle? Only emptiness can condition emptiness, and only form can condition form. Even if the finest particle were divided into emptiness, how much emptiness would be required to manifest as a finest particle? Since the finest particle does not arise from emptiness, neither does emptiness arise from the division of the finest particle. Since form and emptiness cannot produce one another, the arising of the great earth is devoid of self-nature.

Therefore, to say that it arises through the conjunction of causes and conditions is erroneous.

Is it said to arise spontaneously? How could emptiness exist as emptiness without cause, and how could form exist as form without cause? Without the division of the finest particle, how could emptiness be perceived? Without the gathering together of the finest particles, how could the great earth be formed? How, then, could the great earth arise suddenly and spontaneously without a cause?

Therefore, to say that it arises spontaneously is erroneous.

Both theories arise from the discriminating calculations of the consciousness-mind. What is not causes and conditions is forcibly called causes and conditions; what is not spontaneity is forcibly regarded as spontaneity. These are mere words, entirely groundless conceptual fabrications. How could one know that the nature of the Tathagata-garbha neither arises in relation to seeing nor clings to appearances? Because it does not arise in relation to seeing, calculation cannot reach it. Because it does not cling to appearances, words cannot penetrate it. It is where the activity of the mind ceases [all traces are lost] and where language reaches the end of its road. That alone is the True Mark; that alone is the Ultimate Truth.

Chan Master Qin Bátuó asked Dharma Master Sheng, “Which sutras and treatises do you lecture upon?”

Master Sheng replied, “The Great Prajnaparamita Sutra.”

Master Bátuó said, “How do you explain the meaning of form and emptiness?”

Master Sheng replied, “The aggregation of minute particles is form; the absence of self-nature in those minute particles is emptiness.”

Master Bátuó said, “Before the minute particles aggregate, what is it called?”

Master Sheng was unable to explain.

Chan Master Bátuó asked again, “What other sutras do you lecture upon?”

Master Sheng replied, “The Great Nirvana Sutra.”

Master Bátuó said, “How do you explain the meaning of nirvana?”

Master Sheng replied, “Nir means not arising, and vana means not ceasing; therefore, it is called nirvana.”

Master Bátuó said, “That is the Tathagata’s nirvana. What is the Dharma Master’s nirvana?”

Master Sheng replied, “Could the meaning of nirvana possibly be twofold? This is all I know. I do not yet understand how the Chan Master explains nirvana.”

Master Bátuó raised his ruyi scepter and said, “Do you see it?”

He replied, “I see it.”

Master Bátuó said, “What do you see?”

He replied, “I see the ruyi scepter in the Chan Master’s hand.”

Master Bátuó threw the ruyi scepter to the ground and asked, “Do you see it?”

He replied, “I see it.”

Master Bátuó said, “What do you see?”

He replied, “I see the scepter that was in the Chan Master’s hand fall to the ground.”

The Chan Master reproached him, saying, “Judging from your seeing and understanding, you have not yet emerged from the ranks of ordinary people. How could this be called making a commotion throughout the universe?” [Lecturing on sutras].

Then he flicked his sleeve and departed.

The Dharma Master’s disciples still harbored doubts, so they ran after Chan Master Bátuó and detained him, asking, “Our teacher’s explanations of form and emptiness and of nirvana were not in accord with the truth. We do not yet understand how the Chan Master explains the meaning of form and emptiness.”

Chan Master Bátuó said, “I do not say that your teacher’s exposition was incorrect. But your teacher spoke only of form and emptiness at the stage of fruition and did not know how to explain form and emptiness at the very point of causation.”

The disciples asked, “What are form and emptiness at the very point of causation?”

Chan Master Bátuó said, “Because one minute particle is empty, all minute particles are empty; because all minute particles are empty, one minute particle is empty. Within the emptiness of all minute particles, there is not a single minute particle.”

These were not words devised by Chan Master Bátuó, for the sutra says: Because one sense faculty is purified, all sense faculties are purified. Because all sense faculties are purified, one sense faculty is purified. Within the purification of one sense faculty, there are no other sense faculties. Within the purification of all sense faculties, there is not one sense faculty.

If one elucidates the matter from this point, it is not difficult to understand. It immediately indicates the path of entry together with the teaching, “The nature of form is true emptiness; the nature of emptiness is true form.”

The Sutra says: “Ananda, the nature of fire has no self; it manifests by relying upon various conditions. Consider the households in the city that have not yet prepared their meals. When they wish to cook, they hold a sun-crystal in their hands, raise it toward the sun, and seek fire.

“Ananda, whenever something is said to be a conjunction, it is like you, I, and the one thousand two hundred and fifty bhiksus who have now come together to form one assembly. Although the assembly is one, when its fundamentals are examined, each person has his own nature, birthplace, name, and family lineage. Thus, Sariputra is of the Brahmin lineage; Uruvilva is of the Kasyapa lineage; and you, Ananda, are of the Gautama lineage.

“Ananda, if the nature of fire comes into being through conjunction, then when that person holds up the crystal to obtain fire from the sunlight, does the fire emerge from within the crystal, arise from the tinder, or come from the sun?

“Ananda, if it comes from the sun, since that fire can burn the tinder in your hand, all the forests through which the sunlight passes should also be burned. If it emerges from within the crystal, since it can emerge from the crystal and burn the tinder, why does the crystal itself not melt? Even the hand holding the crystal does not feel hot, so how could the crystal melt?

If it arises from the tinder, why must the sunlight and the crystal come into contact before fire is produced? Examine this carefully: the crystal is held by the hand, the sunlight descends from above, and the tinder comes from the earth. From which direction, then, does the fire arrive here?

The sun and the crystal are far apart and neither conjoin nor combine. Could that fire possibly exist spontaneously without any source?

“You still do not know that within the Tathagata-garbha, the nature of fire is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true fire. Primordially pure, it pervades the Dharma realm and manifests in accord with the minds of sentient beings, corresponding to the extent of their knowing.

“Ananda, you should know that when someone in the world holds up a crystal in one place, fire arises in that one place. If crystals were held up throughout the Dharma realm, fire would arise throughout the Dharma realm. Fire pervades the entire world; how could it have any fixed location? It manifests solely in accordance with karma. People of the world do not understand and mistakenly regard it as having the nature of causes and conditions or the nature of spontaneity. All such views are discriminations and calculations of the consciousness-mind. They are only words and names, entirely devoid of true meaning.”

The Commentary says: Nagarjuna said, “If dharmas truly existed, there would be no need to use the mind-consciousness in order to know that they possess characteristics. If they are known to exist only through the mind-consciousness, then they do not truly exist. For example, the earth element’s characteristic of hardness must be known through the body faculty and body-consciousness. Without the body faculty and body-consciousness, no characteristic of hardness is perceived.”

It is asked, “The body faculty and body-consciousness sometimes perceive and sometimes do not perceive, but does not earth always possess the characteristic of hardness?”

The answer is, “One may previously have personally experienced and known the characteristic of hardness, or one may know it exists only after hearing someone speak of it. If one had neither previously experienced and known it nor heard anyone speak of it, how could there be any characteristic of hardness? Furthermore, if earth truly and invariably possessed the characteristic of hardness, it could never relinquish that characteristic.

Yet when butter, curds, honey, and tree resin are heated, they must relinquish the characteristic of hardness and become liquid. Gold, silver, copper, iron, and all such things are the same. Water, meanwhile, exists in a liquid state, but when cooled, it changes into the hard form of ice.

Thus, all things of every kind can change their characteristics and forms.”

He further said: “If fire truly possessed a fixed nature of heat, how could anyone enter fire without being burned? There is also hot fire within the body; why does it not consume the body? Fire is present within clouds, yet water cannot extinguish it. Therefore, fire has no fixed nature of heat. Through the power of spiritual mastery, fire cannot burn the body. Through karmic causes and conditions, the five viscera are not scorched. Through the power of lightning within clouds, water cannot extinguish it. If the nature of heat and fire were different, fire would certainly not be hot. If the nature of heat and fire were one, why would it still be called heat? The nature of fire is thus, and the other Elements are likewise.”

Thus, both the common nature and the particular nature are empty, and so this is called the Nature of Emptiness. By reasoning from this principle, the natures of Earth, Water, and Fire are likewise understood, just as by following a stream one penetrates to its source: all are empty.

What the Blessed One reveals is this: from Nature, Appearances arise; this is called manifestation according to karma, corresponding to the measure of what is cognized. What Nagarjuna discusses is this: from Appearances, one penetrates fully to Nature, especially revealing that form and mind are nondual.

The Yangsui mirror is also called the Five-Direction Zhu. The Lun Heng records: “On the bingwu day of the fifth month, at the wu hour, make the Five-Direction stone round like a mirror, concave in the center. When it reflects an object, the image is inverted; when it is directed toward the sun, fire appears.”

People of the world know only that tinder, the mirror, and the sun—the conjunction of these three causes and conditions—produce fire. They do not know that the mirror, the tinder, and the sun are all separated from one another and are not combined; therefore, this is not a matter of causes and conditions. If it were said that fire suddenly came into being by itself, there should be no need to direct the mirror toward the sun; therefore, it is not spontaneous either.

If it were said that all three each possessed the nature of fire, then the tinder ought to ignite by itself, the mirror ought to melt by itself, and wherever sunlight reached, such as a forest, it ought to be burned up! None of the three possesses the nature of fire; thus it is clear that the Nature of Fire is originally empty. Yet through the karmic power of the three, fire manifests according to karma.

From this it is known that fire pervades the world as the Nature of Emptiness and has no fixed location. Thus, rubbing pieces of wood produces fire, and striking stones produces fire. All these manifestations arise according to karma; they are not confined to the single Yangsui mirror, but all arise from within the Pure Nature.

Nature itself is fire—why rely upon causes and conditions? Fire itself is Nature—how can it be called spontaneous? Therefore, the Fire Element is originally neither caused and conditioned nor spontaneous.

That Nature of Fire is precisely the True Appearance.

After lighting a fire, Patriarch Xuefeng pointed directly to the flame and instructed the assembly: “The Buddhas of the three times are now turning the Great Dharma Wheel within the flame.”

Patriarch Yunmen said: “The flame is the Buddhas of the three times expounding the Dharma. The Buddhas of the three times immediately listen.”

Patriarch Xuansha said: “Recently, the imperial decree has been rather strict!”

Patriarch Xuefeng said: “How so?”

Patriarch Sha said: “It does not permit thieves to mingle with the crowd and steal goods in the marketplace!”

Patriarch Xuefeng then stuck out his tongue.

One day, Patriarch Caoshan entered the Sangha hall to warm himself by the fire.

A monk said: “It is truly cold today.”

Patriarch Shan said: “You should know that there is that which is not cold!”

The monk asked: “Who is the one who is not cold?”

Patriarch Shan picked up a burning ember and pointed to it.

The monk said: “Do not say there is no one.”

Patriarch Shan threw down the ember.

The monk said: “I do not understand at this point.”

Patriarch Shan said: “The sun shines upon the cold marsh, radiant and ever more radiant.”

When the ancients encountered phenomena, they disclosed the single path leading upward. This is the Nature of Fire as True Emptiness and the Nature of Emptiness as real fire; therein lies the place of genuine liberation.

Sutra: “Ananda, the nature of Water is not fixed: sometimes it flows and sometimes it stops, without constancy. In the city of Shravasti, when the seers Kapila and Chakrala, and the great illusionists Padma, Hasata, and others, wish to obtain the essence of the Lunar Luminary to compound their magical medicines, then, under the light of the full moon, they hold in their hands a Fangzhu pearl to collect water from the moonlight. Does this water come forth from within the pearl, arise by itself from space, or come from the moon?

“Ananda, if it came from the moon, then since the moon at such a great distance could still cause water to issue from the pearl, wherever its light passed through forests, water should flow from them all. If water did flow from them, why would there be any need to wait for the Fangzhu pearl? If no water flows from them, then it is known that the water does not descend from the moon.

If it came forth from the pearl, then water should constantly flow from within the pearl; why would it be necessary to wait until midnight when the moon shines brightly? If it arose from space, then since space is boundless, the water too would be without limit; the realms of humans and gods alike should therefore be completely submerged—how then could the various species still exist? Examine this carefully: the moon shines down from the sky, the pearl is held in the hand, and the basin that catches the water is arranged by a person.

From which direction, then, does that water flow here? The moon and the pearl are far apart; they neither blend nor unite. Could that water arise by itself from nowhere?

“You still do not know that within the Tathagata-garbha, the Nature of Water is True Emptiness, and the Nature of Emptiness is True Water. It is fundamentally pure and naturally so, entirely pervading the dharmadhatu, manifesting according to the minds of sentient beings in correspondence with the measure of what they can know.

“When a pearl is held in one place, water flows forth in that place. If pearls were held throughout the dharmadhatu, water would arise throughout the dharmadhatu. Water pervades the world, yet has no fixed location; it merely manifests according to karma. People of the world do not know this and mistakenly regard it as the nature of causes and conditions or the nature of spontaneity. All such notions are merely the discriminations and calculations of consciousness; they are only words and names, wholly devoid of true meaning.

Commentary: The Fangzhu pearl is also called the Yinsui, and its shape resembles a clam. Rub it until it becomes warm, then place it beneath the moonlight, and water will be produced. Fang means stone, and zhu means jade. It is made by smelting stone, and is fashioned in the first month (the eleventh month), on a renzi day, at the zi hour.

The water produced by the Fangzhu is originally neither due to combination nor spontaneous, just as with the Yangsui mirror. Yet does the statement, “If it arose from space, then since space is boundless, the water too would be without limit... how then could the various species still exist?” not contradict the teaching that the Nature of Emptiness is True Water? When discussed in terms of Appearance, water has form, so if it filled space, everything would be submerged.

But when discussed in terms of Nature, it is formless; thus, as space is inexhaustible, the water that manifests is also inexhaustible. The phrase “the Nature of Water is True Emptiness” refers to the pure nature of the Four Elements. Nature is originally empty; emptiness and emptiness interpenetrate, and emptiness and emptiness are nondual—how could there be any mutual encroachment?

In the passage that follows, Purna’s doubt concerns whether there can be mutual encroachment within Nature; he does not doubt it with regard to Appearance. Appearances do not interpenetrate; the Blessed One has already explained this, so what doubt could remain?

Patriarch Yaoshan asked a monk: “Where have you come from?”

He replied: “I have returned from Hunan.”

Patriarch Shan asked: “Is the water of Dongting Lake full yet?”

He replied: “No, it is not.”

Patriarch Shan said: “It has been raining for a long time; why is it not full?”

The monk could not answer.

Patriarch Daowu answered in his place: “It is full already!”

Patriarch Yunyan said: “How profound!”

Patriarch Dongshan said: “In what kalpa has there ever been increase or decrease?”

Patriarch Yunmen said: “It is right within this!”

Patriarch Xuefeng said: “Sitting beside a basket of rice, countless people starve to death. Sitting beside an ocean of water, countless people die of thirst!”

Patriarch Xuansha said: “Sitting inside a basket of rice, countless people starve to death. Submerged over their heads in an ocean of water, countless people die of thirst!”

Master Yunmen said: “The whole body is rice; the whole body is water.”

Master Tiantong raised this and said: “For my part, it is not so. Sitting in the rice basket, satiety kills countless people. Submerged over one’s head in an ocean of water, drowning kills countless people!”

The former is the calamity of being unable to swallow; the latter is the calamity of being unable to vomit. Yet when Master Yunmen said, “The whole body is rice; the whole body is water,” within this there is no longer any place for swallowing or vomiting. The ancients proclaimed that the real nature of the ocean is like wave upon wave, layer after layer, inexhaustible. Only when Master Yunmen said, “The whole body is water,” was the statement brought to completion. It truly accords with: “The nature of water is True Emptiness; the nature of Emptiness is real water, originally pure and pervading the entire Dharma-realm.” From this we know that to use consciousness to measure the Nature of Emptiness and the Nature of Water is to cry out without ever reaching the end.

Sutra: “Ananda, the nature of Wind has no self-substance; it is sometimes in motion and sometimes still, without constancy. When you ordinarily adjust your robe before entering the assembly, if the hem of your sanghati moves against someone nearby, a slight wind brushes across that person’s face. Does that wind issue from the hem of the kasaya, arise from empty space, or originate from that person’s face?

“Ananda, if that wind issues from the hem of the kasaya, then you are wearing the wind itself, and the robe should fly away from your body. I am now teaching the Dharma with My robe hanging down here in this assembly. Look at My robe: where is the wind? Surely there is no place within the robe where wind is stored.

“If that wind is born from empty space, why does it not blow when your robe is not moving? The nature of empty space is ever-present, so wind should constantly arise. And when there is no wind, empty space should perish! The cessation of wind can be perceived, but what could the cessation of empty space mean? If it has arising and cessation, how could it be called empty space? And since it is called empty space, from where could wind emerge?

“If that wind is born from the face of the person it brushes, then, since it arises from that person’s face, it ought to blow upon you. Why is it that when you yourself adjust your robe, it instead blows back upon the other person?

“Examine this carefully: the adjusting of the robe is done by you; the face belongs to the other person; and empty space remains still and has never moved. From which direction, then, does the wind arise and come here? The natures of wind and empty space are distinct; there is neither blending nor union between them. Could that wind arise spontaneously from nowhere?

“You truly do not understand that within the Tathagata-garbha, the Nature of Wind is True Emptiness and the Nature of Emptiness is real Wind—originally pure and pervading the entire Dharma-realm, manifesting for sentient beings in accordance with the measure of their capacity to know.

“Ananda, when you alone move your robe slightly, a little wind issues forth. If there is movement throughout the Dharma-realm, winds arise throughout all lands. The Wind Element exists everywhere throughout the world yet has no fixed location; it manifests only in accordance with karma. Those in the world do not know this and mistakenly regard it as the nature of causes and conditions or as the nature of spontaneity. All such notions are merely discriminations and measurements of the conscious mind; they are nothing but words and names, entirely devoid of true meaning.

Commentary: “You yourself adjust the robe, yet the robe does not fly away. The face belongs to the other person, yet the wind does not blow back toward you. Empty space remains still and does not arise or cease along with the wind.” Since these three have nothing to do with the wind’s nature of movement, what could be regarded as blending or union? Could the wind arise from nowhere, and thus be called spontaneous? This is because Wind itself is Nature, and Nature itself is Wind. It manifests only in accordance with karma, just as wind arises when the robe moves. Since its Nature pervades the Dharma-realm, wind also pervades the Dharma-realm; therefore it too is called an Element, a “Great.”

Confucian scholars say that Kun is Earth, Kan is Water, Li is Fire, and Xun is Wind. None of these lies outside yin and yang. From where do yin and yang arise? They arise from the movement and stillness of the Supreme Ultimate. Each thing fully possesses one Supreme Ultimate, and the ten thousand things all penetrate a single substance of the Supreme Ultimate. It has never been otherwise than that Principle itself is phenomena and phenomena themselves are Principle. Yet how rare are those who awaken to Mind as the Supreme Ultimate! Once one has awakened to Mind as the Supreme Ultimate, how could there be anything under heaven outside Mind?

Master Magu was fanning himself when a monk asked: “The nature of wind abides permanently, and there is nowhere it does not pervade. Why, Venerable Master, do you still move the fan?”

Master Magu said: “You know only that ‘the nature of wind abides permanently,’ but you do not understand the principle that there is nowhere it does not pervade.”

The monk asked: “What is the principle that there is nowhere it does not pervade?”

Master Magu waved the fan again.

The monk bowed.

Master Magu said: “A monk who is of no use—even if there were a thousand like you, what benefit would there be?”

On another occasion, Master Nanquan asked a monk: “The wind was strong last night, was it not?”

The monk replied: “The wind was strong last night.”

Master Nanquan said: “It broke a pine branch before the gate!”

The monk said: “It broke a pine branch before the gate.”

Master Nanquan then asked another monk: “The wind was strong last night, was it not?”

The monk said: “Which wind was it?”

Master Nanquan said: “It broke a pine branch before the gate!”

The monk said: “Which pine tree was it?”

Master Nanquan said: “One gained, one lost.”

Judging by the replies of these two monks, both possessed the air of Chan monks. Why, then, did Master Nanquan say that one gained and one lost? Only if you can determine this immediately can it be said that you have seen Nanquan for yourself.

Sutra: “Ananda, empty space has no form and is revealed because of form. For example, in the city of Shravasti, which is far from the river, people of the Kshatriya caste, the Brahmin caste, the Vaishya caste, the Shudra caste, the Bharadvaja clan, the Chandala caste, and others dig wells for water when building new houses. When one foot of earth is removed, one foot of empty space appears there. In this way, when ten feet are excavated, ten feet of empty space appear there. The depth or shallowness of empty space follows the greater or lesser amount excavated. Does this empty space issue from the earth, come into being because of the digging, or arise spontaneously without any cause?

“Ananda, if this empty space arose spontaneously without any cause, then before the earth was excavated, why was that place not empty? Why was only earth seen there, without anything open or unobstructed? If it issued from the earth, then when the earth was removed, you should see empty space entering.

If the earth came out first but no empty space was seen entering, how can it be said that empty space issued from the earth? Moreover, if there is neither coming out nor entering, then empty space and earth fundamentally do not differ in cause. If they do not differ, they are the same; then when the earth comes out, why does empty space not come out as well?

If empty space arises because of the digging, then the digging should bring out empty space, not earth. If it does not arise because of the digging, then when the digging itself brings out earth, why is empty space seen?

“Consider this closely; examine it carefully and look intently: the digging is carried out by a person’s hands moving in various directions, while the earth is displaced from the ground. From what, then, does empty space arise? Digging and empty space—one is substantial and the other insubstantial—have no effect upon each other; they neither blend nor unite. Could empty space arise spontaneously from nowhere?

“If the intrinsic nature of this empty space is perfect, complete, and all-pervading, and has never moved, then you should know that the Empty Space, Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind presently before you are all called the five Elements. Their intrinsic nature is originally true and perfectly interfused; all are the Tathagata-garbha and are fundamentally without arising or cessation.

“Ananda, your mind is deluded, and you have not awakened to the fact that the four Elements are fundamentally the Tathagata-garbha. You should examine whether empty space comes out, enters, or neither comes out nor enters. You are entirely unaware that within the Tathagata-garbha, the Nature of Awareness is True Emptiness and the Nature of Emptiness is True Awareness—originally pure and pervading the entire Dharma-realm, responding to the minds of sentient beings in accordance with the measure of their capacity to know.”

“Ananda, just as with an empty well, space is present within that one well, so too is space throughout the ten directions. The Great Element of Space completely pervades the ten directions, truly abiding nowhere, and manifests according to karma. People in the world do not know this and mistakenly regard it as the nature of causes and conditions or the nature of spontaneity. These are all discriminations and calculations of the conscious mind—mere words and names entirely devoid of true meaning.

Commentary: Space has no form, so how could it enter or depart? It is only through the manifestation of form that space is known to exist: where there is form, that is not space; where there is no form, that is space. Form comes and goes, but space never arises or ceases.

When the four great elements cease, space does not only then come into existence. The four great elements come and go, but space has never entered or departed. That the nature of space pervades everywhere is also easy to understand; the True Emptiness of the four great elements is likewise.

Before manifesting according to karma, it is originally pure and pervades the entire Dharma-realm; it has never been nonexistent. After it manifests according to karma and, responding to whatever is felt, fills the world, it does not only then come into existence. Appearances arise and cease, but the Nature neither arises nor ceases.

That which arises and ceases cannot be all-pervasive. That which is all-pervasive is itself without arising or cessation. It is called the Tathagata-garbha: it comes from nowhere and goes nowhere.

How, then, could birth and death exist within it?

As for obstinate emptiness [the irrational emptiness of the Lesser Vehicle and non-Buddhist paths], although it has no entering or departing, it is nevertheless subject to arising and cessation. As stated later: “Space arises within Great Awakening like a bubble arising in the vast ocean.... The space throughout the ten directions is also entirely extinguished; only True Emptiness, which is True Awakening, originally neither arises nor ceases.”

In discussing the preceding four great elements, the terms True Form, True Fire, True Water, and True Wind all employ the word “True.” Later, the phrase “the four pure great elements” likewise speaks of them within the Nature. Not grasping at appearances, they are “the True Nature, perfectly interfused, all the Tathagata-garbha, originally neither arising nor ceasing.” This plainly speaks of the True Nature itself. If these were conditioned appearances, how could they be perfectly interfused without obstruction?

To say they are interfused means that “form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form”; not the slightest trace of the five great elements is seen, and there is only the single purity of Emptiness. To say they are perfect means that “emptiness does not obstruct form, and form does not obstruct emptiness”; the five great elements mutually alternate, manifesting without end yet never departing from the One True Reality.

Previously, the four great elements were used to converge with True Emptiness. Here, True Emptiness dissolves back into True Awakening. Clearly, what is called True Emptiness is itself True Awakening; how could obstinate emptiness possibly compare with it?

Chan Master Huanglong Zuxin ascended the Dharma hall and said: “The mind is identical with the realm of space and equal to the Nature of Emptiness. Upon realizing the Nature of Emptiness, there is no dharma that is right or wrong. Simply rest in this way. Cease rowing, drop anchor, and return to the boat’s mooring. Yet according to this old monk’s lineage, heaven and earth stand distinctly apart without touching. Tell me, where lies the extraordinary feature of this old monk’s lineage?

“Carrying the rake crosswise, he heeds no one;

Straight into myriad mountain peaks he goes.”

There was also Hu Dingjiao, who went to pay homage to Patriarch Baoshou.

The Patriarch asked: “Are you not Hu Dingjiao [Dingjiao means ‘to drive in nails’]?”

Hu replied: “I dare not claim it.”

Patriarch Shou said: “Can you nail down empty space?”

Hu said: “I ask the Venerable Master to shatter it for me!”

Patriarch Shou then struck him.

Hu was unable to grasp the purport.

Patriarch Shou said: “Later, there will be a talkative teacher who will point this place out to you.”

Afterward, Hu went to study under Master Zhaozhou.

The Patriarch asked: “Are you not Hu Dingjiao?”

Hu said: “I dare not claim it.”

Patriarch Zhaozhou asked: “Can you nail down empty space?”

Hu replied: “I ask the Venerable Master to shatter it for me!”

Patriarch Zhaozhou said: “Drive the nail into that single seam!”

Hu then related the story of being struck by Patriarch Baoshou.

He then asked: “I do not understand where my error lay.”

Patriarch Zhaozhou said: “You do not even know what to do with that single seam, yet you ask someone to shatter empty space!”

On that occasion, the Patriarch spoke on his behalf: “Drive the nail into that single seam!”

Patriarch Zhaozhou further said: “What I have said is truly a thousand or ten thousand miles apart from that Baoshou.”

Hu then experienced an awakening.

Examining these two cases together, realizing empty space is also incorrect, and shattering empty space is also incorrect. Then how can one free oneself? Investigate!

Sutra: “Ananda, the knowing of the Great Element of Seeing exists because of form and emptiness; apart from them, there is no knowing. As you now dwell in the Jeta Grove, it is bright at dawn, and at evening you see darkness. At midnight, it is bright when there is a moon and dark when there is no moon. Those appearances of brightness and darkness are discerned by seeing. Is this seeing of one substance with the appearances of brightness and darkness and with space, or is it not of one substance with them? Or is it both the same and not the same, both different and not different?

“Ananda, if this seeing were originally of one substance with brightness, darkness, and space, then brightness and darkness, which eliminate one another, would present a problem: when it is dark, there is no brightness; when it is bright, there is no darkness. If seeing were of one substance with darkness, then when brightness came, seeing would have to disappear. If it were of one substance with brightness, then when darkness came, seeing would have to cease. How, then, could it still see brightness and see darkness? Since brightness and darkness differ from each other while seeing neither arises nor ceases, how could they be of one substance?

“If this seeing were not of one substance with brightness and darkness, then apart from brightness, darkness, and space, analyze what form or appearance seeing possesses. Apart from brightness, darkness, and space, this seeing would be just like a turtle’s hair or a rabbit’s horn. If brightness, darkness, and space were all entirely different from it, then from where could seeing be established?

“Brightness and darkness oppose each other, so how could they be the same? Apart from brightness, darkness, and space, seeing has no existence of its own, so how could it be different? Neither the domain of space nor the domain of seeing has any boundary, so how could they not be the same? When seeing darkness and seeing brightness, the nature of seeing does not shift or change, so how could they not be different?

“You should examine this carefully, investigate it subtly, look closely, and discern it thoroughly: brightness comes from the sun; darkness comes from the dark night; openness belongs to space; and obstruction belongs to the earth. From what cause, then, does seeing arise? Seeing possesses awareness, whereas space is unknowing; they neither combine nor unite. Could seeing possibly arise without any cause?

“Since the natures of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are complete and all-pervasive and originally unmoving, you should know that the Great Element of Seeing, together with boundless and unmoving space and the four originally moving great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—are called the six great elements. Their fundamental Nature is True, Perfectly Interfused, and all are the Tathagata-garbha, originally neither arising nor ceasing.

“Ananda, your nature is submerged and adrift, and you have not awakened to the fact that your seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are originally the Tathagata-garbha. Examine this seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing: do they arise or cease, are they the same or different, do they neither arise nor cease, or are they neither the same nor different?

“You do not yet know that within the Tathagata-garbha, seeing is the Nature of Luminous Awakening, and the Nature of Luminous Awakening manifests as seeing. Originally pure, it pervades the entire Dharma-realm and, in accordance with the minds of sentient beings, responds to their capacity for knowing.”

“Just as the single faculty of seeing sees throughout the Dharma Realm, so too the awareness of hearing, smelling, tasting, touch, and dharmas is the wondrous virtue, luminous and all-pervasive throughout the Dharma Realm, completely filling the empty space of the ten directions. How could it have any particular location? It merely manifests according to karma, yet people of the world, unaware of this, mistakenly regard it as having the nature of causes and conditions or the nature of spontaneity. All such notions are merely the discriminations and calculations of the conscious mind; they are only names and words, entirely devoid of true meaning.

Commentary: The five Great Elements discussed previously—earth, water, fire, wind, and space—encompass all six sense-objects: sights, sounds, odors, flavors, tangible objects, and dharmas; these are called the Appearance-Division. Now the six faculties of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are likewise formed through the conjunction of the four purified Great Elements. When ordinary beings have form and emptiness before their eyes, awareness arises upon encountering an object, before entering into the discriminations of the first five consciousnesses; this is called the Seeing-Division. Therefore, the Great Element of Seeing is used to encompass them all.

Just as the single faculty of seeing sees throughout the Dharma Realm, so too the awareness of hearing, smelling, tasting, touch, and dharmas pervades the entire Dharma Realm; such is the luminous Wondrous Virtue. Why are they all called wondrous? Where there is form, there is seeing; where there is sound, there is hearing. Without haste, they are swift; without going, they arrive. They do not depend upon deliberation or arrangement, and therefore are called wondrous.

This Great Element of Seeing has no self-existent substance; it exists only in dependence upon objects. If no object were present, seeing would not arise. How could it possess one substance or many substances that join with or separate from objects, so that it could be discussed as identical or different according to the four propositions? The arguments of the four propositions—existence, nonexistence, both existence and nonexistence, and neither existence nor nonexistence—are all frivolous theories.

Therefore, light, darkness, openness, and obstruction alternate before the eyes, just as earth, water, fire, and wind alternate within empty space. Objects undergo arising and cessation, but seeing neither arises nor ceases. Objects move and stir, but seeing has never moved.

It pervades the Dharma Realm and is not two with empty space. Yet seeing possesses awareness, whereas insensate emptiness is unknowing; thus, they cannot be blended or combined. Awareness itself is emptiness and is called True Emptiness.

Insensate emptiness undergoes arising and cessation, but how could True Emptiness arise or cease? The arising and cessation of insensate emptiness within the Nature of True Awareness is like the arising and cessation of the four Great Elements within empty space. Empty space and the four Great Elements cannot be discussed in terms of arising and cessation, identity and difference.

How, then, could the Great Element of Seeing in relation to form and emptiness be perceived in terms of arising and cessation, identity and difference?

Whatever is spoken of as arising and cessation, identity and difference belongs to delusive sense-objects. Whatever is spoken of as neither arising nor ceasing, neither identical nor different belongs to delusive conceptualization. To discriminate only with respect to objects and not clearly discern the Nature is frivolous theorizing. If one discriminates with respect to the Nature, then this seeing conditions the Essential Object, like a second moon that is not separate from the true moon.

The Nature issues forth and becomes seeing; that is, True Awareness issues forth and becomes illumination. Awareness is the perpetually luminous Essence of seeing. Illumination is the Function of seeing. It is like a lamp and its light: the lamp is the Essence of illumination, while the light is the Function of illumination. Seeing itself is Awareness, and Awareness itself is Emptiness. It is originally undefiled and is therefore called Pure. It is originally uncreated and is therefore called Primordially So. It is originally without location and is therefore called All-Pervading.

Discussed in terms of the Three Bodies, Purity is the Dharma Body; Being Primordially So is the Reward Body; and All-Pervasiveness is the Transformation Body. Discussed in terms of the Three Virtues, Purity is Principle, Being Primordially So is Wisdom, and All-Pervasiveness is Practice. When all three are united and mutually contained, bringing forth one brings forth all three, and bringing forth all three is itself bringing forth one.

Before there is a responsive manifestation, it is pure, primordially so, and all-pervasive throughout the Dharma Realm; this seeing cannot be said not to exist. When there is a responsive manifestation, its Wondrous Virtue shines luminously and pervades the Dharma Realm; this seeing is not bound to existence. When the six faculties are purified and completely fill the empty space of the ten directions, one sees a hundred Buddha-lands, a thousand Buddha-lands, and the entire Dharma Realm; only then is the measure of purity complete.

If this is not yet so, one merely responds according to the narrow limits of what one can see and manifests only in accordance with karma.

Later it is said: “When you bring forth understanding according to emptiness, empty space appears. When earth, water, fire, and wind are each brought forth through understanding, each of them appears. All these are the various responses that manifest according to the measure of what is known.” Abandoning Awareness and conforming to sense-objects gives rise to the defilements of sensory experience. Turning away from sense-objects and uniting with Awareness reveals True Suchness. This, too, is manifestation according to karma. The luminous Nature of Awareness neither acts nor creates, and there is no one who undergoes retribution; both wholesome and unwholesome karma are utterly extinguished. That is the Tathagata-garbha.

The court official Hao Yue asked Chan Master Changsha Cen: “When an earthworm is cut into two sections, both ends continue to move. I do not yet understand: in which end is the Buddha-Nature?”

Master Changsha said: “Movement and nonmovement—what realm is that?”

Hao Yue said: “Words unrelated to the scriptures are not a subject for discussion among the wise. The Master said, ‘Movement and nonmovement—what realm is that?’ From which sutra did you draw this?”

Master Changsha said: “Indeed, words without scriptural basis are not a subject for discussion among the wise. Have you not seen it stated in the Surangama Sutra: ‘You should know that the boundless, unmoving empty space throughout the ten directions, together with the four moving and stirring Great Elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, are all called the six Great Elements. Their Nature is originally True and perfectly interpenetrating; all are the Tathagata-garbha, originally neither arising nor ceasing’?”

He then offered a verse of instruction:

“Profound indeed, profound indeed!

The Dharma Realm and this very body are Mind.

In delusion, the deluded mind becomes the many forms;

Upon awakening, each and every object is the True Mind itself.

Body and objects, these two kinds of dust, have no true characteristics;

To penetrate this point is to be called one who truly understands.”

Master Changsha skillfully expounded the Surangama. When he said that the two kinds of dust—the faculty-body and the world—have no true characteristics, inwardly no faculty capable of seeing can be found, and outwardly there is no object that is seen. Both subject and object are empty; ultimately, seeing itself cannot be found. What place, then, remains to speak of arising and cessation, identity and difference?

Sutra: “Ananda, the nature of consciousness has no source; it falsely manifests in dependence upon the six kinds of faculties and sense-objects. Now look throughout the assembly of sages gathered here, letting your eyes sweep over them. As your eyes survey them all, they are merely like a mirror, making no separate distinctions. Yet your consciousness distinguishes among them in succession, indicating: this is Manjusri, this is Purna, this is Maudgalyayana, this is Subhuti, and this is Sariputra. Does this discriminating consciousness arise from seeing, arise from the various appearances, arise from empty space, or does it suddenly manifest without any cause?”

“Ananda, if your consciousness arises from seeing, then if there were no appearances of light, darkness, form, and emptiness, your seeing would not exist. If even seeing did not exist, from what could consciousness arise? If your consciousness arose from appearances rather than from seeing, then you would neither see light nor see darkness.

If light and darkness were not seen, there would also be no form or emptiness. If even those appearances did not exist, from what could consciousness arise? If that consciousness arose from space, rather than from appearances or seeing, then apart from seeing it could not discriminate and could not itself know the appearances of light, darkness, form, and emptiness.

Apart from appearances, no conditions would remain; then from what could seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing be established? If both seeing and the objects of form were absent, then if it were emptiness, it would be the same as having nothing at all; and if it existed, it still would not be the same as an object. Even if your consciousness were to arise, what would it discriminate?

“If consciousness suddenly arose without any cause, why would you not, at midday, distinctly perceive a bright moon?

“You should examine this carefully and consider it thoroughly: seeing resides in your eyes, while appearances belong to objective phenomena. Whatever can be given shape constitutes existence, while whatever has no form constitutes emptiness. From what, then, does consciousness such as this arise? Consciousness is active, while seeing is still; they are neither blended nor combined. The same is true even of hearing, smelling, awareness, and knowing. Could consciousness possibly exist by itself without arising from anything?

“If that consciousness fundamentally arises from nowhere, then you should know that the consciousness-element and the seeing-element—seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing—are perfect, all-pervading, quiescent, and fundamentally without any source. Together with space and earth, water, fire, and wind, they are called the seven elements. Their true nature, perfectly interfused, is entirely the Tathagata-garbha and is fundamentally neither born nor extinguished.

“Ananda, your mind is coarse and superficial, and you have not awakened to the fact that the consciousness which knows what is seen and heard is fundamentally the Tathagata-garbha. Examine the six consciousnesses and determine whether they are the same or different, empty or existent, neither the same nor different, or neither empty nor existent. You fundamentally do not know that within the Tathagata-garbha, consciousness is the nature of luminous awareness.

The nature of luminous awareness is true consciousness; it is the wondrous, quiescent knowing that pervades the entire dharma realm, containing and issuing forth the empty space of the ten directions. How could it have any fixed location? It merely manifests according to karma.

The people of the world, unaware of this, mistakenly regard it as arising from causes and conditions or as existing spontaneously. These are all discriminations and calculations of the conscious mind—mere words and names, utterly devoid of true meaning.

Commentary: The statement that earth, water, fire, and wind depend upon space refers to the nature of the five elements of the world, called the Objective Aspect. The statement that seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing depend upon consciousness refers to the nature of the five elements of the sense faculties and body, called the Perceiving Aspect. Both the Perceiving Aspect and the Objective Aspect arise from the Eighth Consciousness. Therefore, when the Eighth Consciousness is quiescent and thusness-like, it is called Wondrous Awareness, the Tathagata-garbha.

Here the first five consciousnesses are taken as the seeing-element; this is what is called the realm of intrinsic nature belonging to direct perception. The Sixth Consciousness is taken as the consciousness-element; this is what is called the consciousness that discriminates phenomena, belonging to inference or erroneous cognition. Because followers of the Two Vehicles do not know of the Seventh and Eighth Consciousnesses, they take this consciousness to be the master and regard it as that which produces wholesome karma, unwholesome karma, and undefiled karma.

Thus, the first five consciousnesses do not discriminate; only with the Sixth Consciousness does discrimination become possible. Therefore, this passage of the sutra says, “Consciousness is active, while seeing is still.” This consciousness does not arise from seeing, from appearances, or from space; it is not born of causes and conditions, does not suddenly exist by itself without a cause, and is not spontaneously produced.

This Sixth Consciousness possesses all three natures—wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate—while the seeing-element of the six faculties discussed previously has, in each case, both seeds and present activity. Fundamentally they are neither blended nor combined, and all three alternatives are equally untenable; ultimately, there is no basis upon which it depends. From where, then, does this consciousness come?

If it arose from seeing, appearances, or space, it would have a place from which it came. If it had a place from which it came, it would have a location and therefore could not be all-pervading. It merely comes from nowhere: it comes neither from emptiness nor from existence.

This is precisely the nature that has no place of origin—fundamentally without boundaries, inherently perfect and all-pervading. Therefore, this consciousness that discriminates phenomena, together with the Perceiving Aspect and the Objective Aspect, constitutes what are called the seven elements. When this consciousness is ultimately quiescent, it coincides with the Eighth Consciousness and is called the Tathagata-garbha.

If the Sixth Consciousness unites with sense objects, that is sameness and existence. If it separates from sense objects, that is difference and emptiness. Only when it neither unites nor separates, and not the slightest trace can be found, may it be called quiescent and thusness-like. Why is this quiescent, thusness-like consciousness called the nature of consciousness, or true consciousness? Because it knows through luminosity and does not arise from emotional cognition. This consciousness flows forth from true nature and true awareness; consciousness is therefore nature, and consciousness is therefore awareness. This is called transforming the Eighth Consciousness into the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom.

The luminous knowing of this nature of consciousness is the true consciousness of the nature of luminous awareness. As stated later, it is wondrous luminosity and luminous wondrousness; it is also called Wondrous Awareness, quiescent and thusness-like, pervading the entire dharma realm. The preceding six elements are called fundamentally pure by nature; only this element is called Wondrous Awareness, utterly still.

When examined in relation to Equal Awareness and Wondrous Awareness, there are subtle distinctions. Of the preceding six elements it is said that they “perfectly fill the ten directions,” expressing the meaning of accordance with the nature. Of this consciousness-element, however, it is said that it “contains and issues forth the empty space of the ten directions,” expressing the meaning of origination.

The nature of consciousness has no source, yet it can serve as the source of the myriad dharmas. Everything previously described as the Tathagata-garbha ultimately returns here.

Regarding the space-element, the sutra says, “Your mind is deluded,” because one is confused into regarding the four elements and space as different, fundamentally unaware that the nature of space is awareness.

Regarding the seeing-element, it says, “Your nature is submerged,” because one flows along with sense objects and does not turn back, unaware that the seeing-element is awareness and is unmoving.

Regarding the consciousness-element, it says, “Your mind is coarse and superficial.” “Coarse” means failing to reach the source of consciousness, while “superficial” means recognizing only the superficial sense faculties, although consciousness lies hidden within.

The five skandhas belong to the eighteen dhatus. Here, only consciousness is discussed because within the Tathagata-garbha, that which is fundamentally neither born nor extinguished combines with birth and extinction to form the alaya-consciousness. If one ultimately returns to that which is neither born nor extinguished, it is called the Ninth Consciousness; then consciousness itself is nature. If one cannot return completely and the slightest degree of birth and extinction remains, then although the mind may be clear and still, without waves, it is still only consciousness and not nature. Those who see their nature are not deluded by consciousness and therefore abide wondrously in the awakened mind.

Patriarch Baoshu ascended the Dharma hall and said: “The three realms are mind-only; the myriad dharmas are consciousness-only. Beyond the veranda, clouds arise; before the curtain, raindrops fall. The mountain stream is clear as indigo; flowers in the fields bloom like brocade. If you do not investigate the source right now, in your tardiness you may ask Maitreya in days to come. Do you understand? Do not stand there so long that you become weary.”

Patriarch Danxia recited this verse:

“Spiritually radiant, untouched by ancient or present,

The three realms all abide within one point of Mind.

Beyond the veranda, peach blossoms; spring butterflies dance.

Before the gate, bright willows; orioles sing.”

The Essential Resolve of Mind-Only says: “Each and every tree on the hillside before the courtyard reveals the wondrous appearance of the Boundless. The cries of apes and the songs of birds together give voice to the perfect sound of Nonduality.”

Only upon awakening to this point can one believe that throughout the great earth there is nowhere that is not medicine; how could it be confined merely to the Seven Great Elements? If one does not attain this, then even penetrating the Principle and discoursing upon its profundities will turn into poison! How could Dependent Causation and Spontaneity alone be idle theories?

A monk asked Master Yaoshan: “I have not yet understood my own matter. I beg the Venerable Master to instruct me.”

Master Shan said: “It would not be difficult for me to speak a single sentence for you now. If, upon hearing the words, you can see, there may still be a little clarity. But if you fall into deliberation and conjecture, it will become my transgression. Better that each of us keep silent, so that we do not burden one another.”

Thus it is known that the discriminating consciousness that measures and gropes about strays ever farther from the Way. Reliance upon words alone is not the True Meaning.

III. SUDDEN AWAKENING TO THE DHARMA BODY AND THE MAKING OF VOWS

Sutra: At that time, Ananda and the entire assembly, having received the Tathagata Buddha’s subtle and wondrous instruction, found their bodies and minds open and unimpeded. Everyone in that assembly personally knew that the Mind pervaded the ten directions. They saw the emptiness of the ten directions as one might see a leaf held in the palm of one’s hand.

Everything throughout all worlds was the Wondrously Luminous Original Mind of Bodhi. The Mind-Nature perfectly pervaded and embraced all lands throughout the ten directions. Looking back upon the body born of their parents, they saw it as a mote of dust within the emptiness of the ten directions, seeming now to exist, now to disappear; or as a single bubble drifting upon a vast, still, limpid ocean, its arising and ceasing of no concern.

They clearly knew for themselves that they had entered the wondrous Mind, primordial and ever-abiding, neither arising nor perishing.

Having attained what they had never attained before, they joined their palms, bowed to the Buddha, and before the Tathagata spoke verses praising the Awakened One.

Commentary: The Mind-Nature perfectly pervades, embracing all the ten directions within it. The measure of Mind is vast and boundless, naturally so in itself. Even seeing the emptiness of the ten directions as an object in the palm, together with the body of direct karmic recompense and all motes of dust therein, is still only the convergence of the deluded into the true, and seems still to retain a dualistic view. Compared with the vision that “body and mind are of one suchness, and outside the body there is nothing,” there yet remains an act of relinquishment [that is, what is there to relinquish?].

The high official Lu asked Master Nanquan: “Dharma Master Sengzhao was truly extraordinary. He said: ‘Heaven, earth, and I share the same source; the myriad things and I are one body.’”

Master Nanquan pointed to a peony in the courtyard and said: “Official! And yet people of the world see this flowering plant as though it were a dream or illusion!”

Lu was left disconcerted.

Xuedou composed this verse:

“Seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing—none is it;

Why then behold mountains and rivers within a mirror?

A frosty sky, the moon descending, the night nearly half spent—

Who, together with the limpid pool, reflects the cold image?”

(Wen jian jue zhi fei yi yi

Shan he bu zai jing zhong guan

Shuang tian yue luo ye jiang ban

Shui gong cheng tan zhao ying han.)

Tiantong composed this verse:

“Seeing all the way through, beyond the minute lies the source;

Amid the clamor of arising and ceasing, behold the Wondrous Gate.

The spirit roams beyond the kalpas—what can be called Existence?

Cast forth your gaze and know the Wondrous Presence.

The tiger’s roar thunders through the empty mountain valley;

The dragon’s chant in myriad forms stirs the clouded darkness.

Nanquan pierced through the dreams of worldly people;

Know this majestic Honored One, the Buddha’s Successor.”

An ancient virtuous master said: “Every place is Maitreya. Every doorway has a Sudhana.” This means that each and every thing throughout all worlds is the Wondrously Luminous Original Mind of Bodhi. If one realizes it there, one personally knows that which Ever Abides and Never Perishes, and understands with confidence that each and every bubble is the entire ocean. Nowhere does one perceive any appearance of arising or ceasing; therefore it is said, “its arising and ceasing of no concern.”

Emperor Shunzong of the Tang dynasty asked Master Foguang Man: “From where does the Buddha come, and to where does he withdraw in quiescent extinction? Since it is said that he perpetually abides in the world, where is the Buddha now?”

Master Man replied: “The Buddha comes from the unconditioned and withdraws in quiescent extinction into the unconditioned. The Dharma Body is identical with empty space and perpetually abides in no-mind. Having thought is itself no-thought; having an abiding place is itself nonabiding. He comes for the sake of sentient beings and departs for the sake of sentient beings. The ocean of True Suchness is pure; its essence perpetually abides, quiescent and naturally so. Let the wise contemplate this well and give rise to no anxious thoughts.”

The emperor asked further: “The Buddha was born in a royal palace and entered quiescent extinction between the twin sal trees. He dwelt in the world for forty-nine years, yet it is also said that there was no Dharma for him to teach. Mountains, rivers, the great oceans, heaven and earth, even the sun and moon—all are utterly destroyed when their time comes. Who can say that there is no birth and death? Such are the doubts in my mind; I beg the wise one to distinguish this clearly for me.”

The master replied: “The Buddha’s essence is originally unconditioned, but deluded feelings falsely discriminate. The Dharma Body is identical with empty space and has never undergone birth or death. When conditions are present, the Buddha appears in the world. When conditions are absent, the Buddha enters nirvana. Everywhere he teaches and transforms sentient beings, like the moon reflected in water. It is neither eternalism nor annihilationism, neither birth nor extinction. Birth has never truly been birth; extinction has never truly been extinction. Clearly see the place of no-mind, and naturally there is no Dharma that can be spoken.”

The emperor was greatly pleased.

One day, Chancellor Pei Xiu entered Kaiyuan Monastery. Seeing a painting on the wall, he asked the abbot: “What does that depict?”

The abbot said: “It depicts an eminent monk.”

Chancellor Pei said: “The image is there, but where is the eminent monk?”

The abbot could not answer.

Pei Xiu said: “Is there no Chan master here?”

The abbot said: “There is one.”

He then invited Master Huangbo to meet him, recounted the preceding exchange, and asked him about it.

Master Huangbo called out loudly: “Pei Xiu!”

Pei responded: “Yes!”

Master Huangbo said: “Where is he?”

Upon hearing this, Pei Xiu awakened.

This episode can serve as testimony to that which Ever Abides and Never Perishes, and so it is recorded here.

Sutra:

Wondrously Profound, All-Embracing, Unmoving Honored One,

The Kingly Shurangama, rarely encountered in the world.

Commentary: Dinglin said: “The essence of consciousness is water. When water does not move, it is called profound, still, and limpid. To call it ‘Perfectly Profound’ means that, pure in its original nature and wholly pervading the Dharma-realm without being divided into six—the six consciousnesses—it is Complete Profundity. It is called ‘Wondrously Profound’ because it is the wondrous, unmoving power that comprehensively embraces all things; it is thus Wondrous Profundity.”

To speak of “the profoundly luminous Nature of Awareness” means that awareness accords with the essence of consciousness, just as sunlight meets water and gives rise to the quality of luminous clarity. To speak of “profound essence, perfect and eternal” means the essence of consciousness in its Complete Profundity.

When birth and cessation have been completely ended, this is called Permanence. Yet this Limpidity is not truly without flowing; it is only because it flows so swiftly that it appears to stand still. The sutra says, “Consciousness moves, while Seeing remains still,” meaning that consciousness has the nature of movement and is called the source of all thoughts.

Consciousness itself is not the Wondrously Limpid All-Embracing Dharani, and so, thought after thought, it undergoes perfuming and produces a powerfully flowing stream of habitual energies, thereby forming the formations. In the sutra, the formations are likened to a current of water; this is precisely the meaning here. Yet when consciousness is compared with the formations, it seems to stand still.

Therefore, later it is said, “Stillness enters into stillness,” just as when waves subside, the water becomes still; this is called the exhaustion of the formation skandha. Deep within, inwardly still and luminously clear, entering where there is nowhere to enter—this is the domain of the consciousness skandha. Thus, when it speaks of Limpid Entry, that into which the inner stillness enters is the consciousness skandha.

Since Limpid Entry is the consciousness skandha, Limpidity is the luminous knowing of the nature of consciousness. Luminous knowing is wisdom. Consciousness lies within the bounds of wisdom.

Therefore, when the five skandhas are discussed, it is said, “Stillness enters into stillness,” meaning that they are brought back within the bounds of consciousness. The nature of consciousness, however, is not called Limpid Entry; it pervades the entire Dharma-realm, without departure or entry.

What is called “Inwardly, ever more inwardly, limpid and luminous, entering where there is nowhere to enter” means that when Limpidity flows outward, it becomes the formation skandha, whose activity resembles flowing water. Limpid Entry is consciousness; when consciousness has completely extinguished the formation skandha, it becomes “deeper and ever deeper, still and luminously clear,” reaching the very source of all thoughts, where ultimately there is nowhere to enter.

What is called the Essence of Consciousness is the Adana Consciousness. What is called “binding and obscuring the Limpidity” means binding and obscuring this Essence of Consciousness. This Essence of Consciousness is like pure water, originally without any adhesive nature. Only because false discrimination arises does it unite with form, just as water mixes with earth and becomes adhesive. If one knows that this Essence of Consciousness is like pure water, originally without any adhesive nature, then it will not unite with form and will be freed from adhesion.

There are Perfect Limpidity, Wondrous Limpidity, Awakened Limpidity, and Essential Limpidity; there are also Limpid Entry and Binding the Limpidity, as explained above. Their meanings differ only slightly, and all are analogies.

Master Ashvaghosha said, “Through reliance upon non-awakening, the mind moves and karma arises. The nature of awakening is unmoving.” The nature of awakening is unmoving; this is precisely the “Wondrously Limpid All-Embracing Dharani.” Movement is karma, which flows and turns, becoming the formations. It is called the King Shurangama because bodhisattvas of the Ten Grounds constantly abide within the Shurangama Samadhi; therefore, the Buddha is the king.

One day, while Mahasattva Fu was lecturing on a sutra, the king arrived. Everyone in the assembly rose, but the Master alone remained seated, still and unmoving.

A court attendant said, “His Majesty has arrived. Why do you not rise?”

The Master replied, “If the Dharma-ground moves, nothing will be at peace!”

A Mahasattva such as he had indeed truly attained the Shurangama Samadhi.

A monk asked Chan Master Fang of Jiangshan, “What is the Unmoving Honored One?”

Patriarch Fang said, “Wearing only a single padded cloth robe, walk through the marketplace.”

The monk said, “This student does not yet understand.”

Patriarch Fang said, “Riding a donkey, trample Dongting Lake to pieces.”

The monk said, “Passing through three tiers of waves, one hears only a single peal of thunder.”

Patriarch Fang said, “Stretch out your hand, yet you cannot see your palm.”

The monk asked, “Will you permit this student to advance or not?”

Patriarch Fang said, “Standing upon the earth, proclaim it to empty space.”

The monk said, “Beneath the gate of thunder, why beat a drum to make a sound?”

Patriarch Fang said, “Enter the embroidered ball without using the five-colored banners.”

The monk said, “Thirty years from now, these words will flourish.”

Patriarch Fang then struck him.

Patriarch Jiangshan was himself a man within that realm; he had no hindrance in following the current and attaining the Wondrous. That monk mistook the direction, and so it was difficult for them to speak together.

Sutra:

Dispel the inverted thoughts of a hundred million kalpas;

Without passing through asamkhyeya kalpas, attain the Dharma-body.

The Comprehensive Explanation states: A hundred million kalpas is still a number that can be indicated, whereas an asamkhyeya is three incalculable kalpas. Since beginningless time, delusion has obscured the True and caused beings to grasp the false; all of this is inverted seeing. Now, bringing the false back to the True, one attains the wondrous Fundamental Mind, which eternally abides and never perishes. The Tathagatagarbha spoken of previously is precisely the Dharma-body.

A monk asked Master Huangbo, “The sutra teaches, ‘Dispel the inverted thoughts of a hundred million kalpas; without passing through asamkhyeya kalpas, attain the Dharma-body.’ What does this mean?”

Patriarch Huangbo said, “If through cultivation over three incalculable kalpas you seek something to realize, you will not attain it even after as many kalpas as there are grains of sand in the Ganges. But if, in a single instant, you attain the Dharma-body, you immediately see your nature. This is also the ultimate teaching of the Three Vehicles. Why is this so? Because seeing a Dharma-body that can be attained still belongs to teachings that do not reveal the complete meaning.”

When Patriarch Huangbo spoke and let forth his vital energy, he truly displayed the capacity of the Mahayana.

Since Ananda had already attained the Dharma-body, why did he still say, “I hope that my subtle errors may be examined and dispelled”? It was because he still saw a Dharma-body that could be attained.

In the beginning, Senior Monk Taiyuan Fu lectured on the Nirvana Sutra at Guangxiao Monastery in Yangzhou. One snowy day, a Chan practitioner came there because of the weather and listened to the sutra. When the lecture reached “the three causes of Buddha-nature and the three virtues of the Dharma-body,” the Senior Monk was extensively expounding the wondrous principle of the Dharma-body, and the Chan practitioner burst out laughing.

After the lecture, the Senior Monk invited the Chan practitioner to drink tea and said, “My resolve and understanding are narrow and shallow, so I explain the meaning by relying upon the text. Suddenly I was graced by hearing your laughter; I beg to receive your instruction.”

The Chan practitioner said, “Indeed, I laughed because the Lecturer does not know the Dharma-body.”

Master Fu said, “In my exposition, what was incorrect?”

He replied, “Please state it once more, Lecturer!”

Master Fu said, “The principle of the Dharma-body is like great empty space: vertically it penetrates the three times; horizontally it pervades the ten directions; it harmonizes the eight extremities, encompasses yin and yang, and responds according to conditions, being nowhere absent.”

The Chan practitioner said, “I do not say that the Lecturer’s exposition is incorrect. But this merely describes a small measure of the Dharma-body; in truth, you still do not know where the Dharma-body is.”

Master Fu said, “If that is so, I ask the virtuous Chan practitioner to explain it for me.”

The Chan practitioner asked, “Will the Lecturer believe me?”

Master Fu said, “How would I dare not believe you?”

The Chan practitioner said, “If so, then for the time being cease lecturing for several days. Rest at ease in a quiet room, gather in the mind and collect your thoughts, and for once let go completely of all conditions, wholesome and unwholesome.”

Master Fu followed his instruction exactly. From early evening until the fifth watch, he remained thus; then, upon hearing the sound of the wooden fish, he suddenly awakened in accord with the truth. He immediately ran over and knocked on the door.

The Chan practitioner asked, “Who is it?”

Master Fu replied, “It is I.”

The Chan practitioner shouted, “I instructed you to preserve the great teaching and expound the Dharma on behalf of the Buddha. Why are you drunk and lying in the street at midnight?”

Master Fu said, “Virtuous Chan practitioner, come and lecture on the sutras yourself! You have taken the nostrils given me by my father and mother and twisted them. From this day onward, I dare not commit such an error again.”

The Chan practitioner said, “Go, go! We shall meet again another day.”

Master Fu truly “attained the Dharma-body without passing through asamkhyeya kalpas.”

A monk asked Venerable Lishan, “Without passing through asamkhyeya kalpas, one attains the Dharma-body. Master, please point directly to it.”

Patriarch Shan said, “The son continues his father’s vocation.”

The monk asked, “How should this be understood?”

Patriarch Shan said, “If he rejects it, there will be no kindness.”

The monk asked, “If so, then the great assembly has already received the benefit?”

Patriarch Shan said, “Set the great assembly aside for now. What is the Dharma-body?”

The monk could not answer.

Patriarch Shan said, “You ask, and I will tell you.”

The monk said, “What is the Dharma-body?”

Master Shan said: “Flowers in the sky, shimmering heat-haze [‘empty flowers, solar mirages’].”

Now say: how near or far is the place from which Master Lishan spoke of the Dharma-body compared with Ananda’s?

Sutra:

I vow that now, attaining the fruit, I shall become the Jeweled King,

And return to liberate beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

Commentary: “Attaining the Dharma-body without passing through asamkhyeya kalpas” is correct with respect to the Stage of Faith, but not yet so with respect to the Causal Stage. Therefore, only when practice is complete and the fruit fulfilled, and True Wisdom is actually realized—like pure lapis lazuli containing the precious moon within—does one attain the rank of Jeweled King. At that time, seeing everywhere that all sentient beings possess the virtuous attributes and wisdom of the Tathagata, I shall liberate each and every one of them. Sentient beings are inexhaustible, and this vow is inexhaustible. Compassion is perfect and complete, and within it no self remains. This is Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—the three precious embodiments—and the ford and bridge for sentient beings.

When Master Dongshan Chu first went to meet Patriarch Yunmen, the Patriarch asked:

“Where have you just come from?”

He replied: “Chadu.”

Patriarch Yunmen said: “Where did you spend the summer retreat?”

He replied: “At Bao’en Monastery in Hunan.”

Patriarch Yunmen said: “When did you leave there?”

He replied: “On the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month.”

Patriarch Yunmen said: “I spare you thirty blows.”

The next morning, Master Dongshan came again and asked: “Yesterday, the Venerable Master graciously spared me thirty blows. I do not understand what fault I committed.”

Patriarch Yunmen said: “You rice-bag! And so you wander through Jiangxi and Hunan!”

At these words, Master Dongshan attained great awakening and said: “From now on, I shall go to a place utterly devoid of people and smoke, keep not a single grain of rice, plant not a single stalk of vegetables, yet receive all who come and go from throughout the ten directions. For their sake, I shall pull out the nails and remove the pegs, strip off their oil-smeared caps, and take off their stinking undershirts, teaching them to become forever mendicants with nothing to do. Would that not be delightful?”

Patriarch Yunmen said: “Your body is only as big as a coconut; how can you open your mouth so wide?”

Master Dongshan then bowed.

Sutra:

I vow to offer this entire profound mind

In service to lands as numerous as motes of dust;

This alone is called repaying the Buddha’s kindness.

Commentary: These two words, “profound mind,” possess a savor that those of shallow understanding cannot fathom. Lands as numerous as motes of dust have no boundary; wisdom and compassion are immeasurable. Only by sharing the Buddha’s mind of loving-kindness can one be said to repay his kindness.

Master Linji took leave of Patriarch Huangbo.

The Patriarch asked: “Where are you going?”

Master Linji replied: “If not Henan, then Hebei!”

Patriarch Huangbo immediately struck him. The Master seized him and punched him once.

Patriarch Huangbo laughed loudly and called to the attendant: “Bring me the meditation board of my late master Baizhang from the altar.”

Master Linji said: “Attendant, bring fire!”