楞嚴經宗通

E. THE DOMAIN OF THE FORMATION SKANDHA

Sutra: “Ananda, when that good man cultivates samadhi and the perception skandha has come to an end, his ordinary dreamlike thoughts disappear. Waking and sleeping become one; the nature of luminous awareness is empty and still, like a clear, pure sky, and the coarse phenomena of the preceding sense objects no longer remain. He regards the mountains, rivers, and great earth of the world as images in a brightly shining mirror: they come without adhering anywhere and depart without leaving any trace. He receives and responds in empty clarity, distinctly free of all habitual tendencies, with only the single, pure nature of essential truth remaining.

“The source of arising and ceasing is then exposed, and he can perceive all twelve classes of sentient beings throughout the ten directions, clearly discerning every class. Although he has not yet penetrated the individual origins of each sentient being, he already perceives the common basis of their arising and ceasing. It resembles the shimmering haze of a mirage, rushing and flickering in a ceaseless, subtle disturbance, serving as the pivotal mechanism from which the floating sense faculties and their defiling objects arise. This is called the domain of the formation skandha.

“If the source of those rushing, flickering disturbances enters the originally clear and still nature, and the deep-rooted habitual tendencies become a single expanse of lucid stillness—like ripples subsiding and becoming still water—this is called the ending of the formation skandha. That person then transcends the turbidity of sentient beings. Examining its cause, one finds that its root is subtle and hidden false thinking.

“Ananda, you should know that when such good men attain right knowledge in samadhi, their right minds remain lucid, still, and bright. The ten classes of heavenly demons no longer have any opportunity to disturb them, and only then can they investigate to the utmost the root of the classes of beings. At the root of the classes of beings, the source of life becomes manifest. Yet if, while examining that subtle and hidden, simple and all-pervasive source of restless movement within the originally complete nature, they again give rise to a mind of speculative calculation, they will fall into two theories of causelessness.

“First, such a person sees the origin as having no cause. Why is this? Having fully exposed the mechanism of arising and ceasing, he relies upon the eight hundred merits of the eye faculty and sees that, throughout eighty thousand kalpas, all sentient beings revolve according to the current of karmic force, dying here and being born there. He sees only the sentient beings transmigrating within that span; beyond eighty thousand kalpas, all is obscure and nothing can be seen. He then speculates that the sentient beings of the ten directions in this world existed spontaneously, without any cause, before those eighty thousand kalpas. Through such speculation, he loses right and universal knowledge, falls among the adherents of non-Buddhist paths, and becomes confused about the nature of bodhi.

“Second, such a person sees the outcome as having no cause. Why is this? Having perceived the root of arising and ceasing, he knows that humans give birth to humans and clearly sees that birds give birth to birds; that crows have always been black and swans have always been white; that humans and devas stand upright, while animals have horizontal bodies; that whiteness does not result from washing, nor blackness from dyeing. Throughout eighty thousand kalpas these things have never changed. When this present life ends, they will still remain the same. Since he himself has never perceived bodhi, how could there be any such thing as the attainment of bodhi? He therefore claims that all things existing today are fundamentally without cause.

“Through such speculative calculation, he loses right and universal knowledge, falls among the adherents of non-Buddhist paths, and becomes confused about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the first non-Buddhist teaching, which establishes the theory of causelessness.

Commentary: Before the perception skandha has ended, one clings to forms while awake and falls into dreams while asleep; thus one pursues the images of coarse preceding sense objects. Once the perception skandha has ended, one inwardly maintains serenity and solitude; waking and sleeping become one, and luminous awareness is empty and still like a brightly shining mirror. Although no traces of coming or going remain, images of luminosity still persist, and this still belongs to the realm of mental objects.

Previously, preceding sense objects obscured and disturbed one, so one merely drifted along with arising and ceasing without seeing their root and source. Now that one receives and responds in empty clarity, with only the single, pure nature of essential truth remaining, arising and ceasing have subsided; consequently, their fundamental source is revealed. One perceives the common basis of arising and ceasing, continuous and densely interwoven, changing and shifting with extreme subtlety.

These are ripples arising without wind. A mirage is restless dust, while ‘rushing and flickering’ means flashing instantaneously. The subtle formation skandha resembles motes of dust stirring when sunlight shines through a crack in a door.

Since it rushes and flickers instantaneously, it plainly has no abiding characteristic; it suddenly arises and suddenly ceases. Because no heavy image remains, it is called a restless, subtle disturbance. The four great elements and this restless, subtle disturbance are the source of the floating sense faculties and the four defiling objects.

Their substance is originally empty, yet the pivotal mechanism of arising truly lies here. When attachment obscures the clear and still nature and activity arises, the six faculties come into being. From humans and devas down to insects and ants, there is no class that does not possess the four great elements and six faculties.

Therefore, the restless, subtle disturbance of the four great elements is the common basis of arising and ceasing for the twelve classes of sentient beings. This is called the domain of the formation skandha.

If one penetrates their particular characteristics, one can perceive the individual origins of sentient beings: their wisdom and merit are unequal because they manifest from seeds accumulated over many lifetimes. That pertains to the consciousness skandha. Thus, upon reaching the formation skandha, there is no inherent restlessness; hence it is spoken of as the original nature.

That which cannot avoid being disturbed is due to habitual tendencies accumulated over many lifetimes and is therefore called the deep-rooted habitual tendencies. Habitual tendencies cannot still habitual tendencies; only when the nature returns to its source can it become lucid and still. When this lucid and still nature is used to calm the deep-rooted habitual tendencies, all drifting and revolving cease, just as ripples subside when there is no wind and immediately become still water.

When the water remains still until it is lucid and unmoving, this is called the ending of the formation skandha, and that person immediately transcends the turbidity of sentient beings.

The turbidity of sentient beings means that arising and ceasing never stop and the stream of karma constantly flows and shifts. Now that which never stopped has stopped, and that which constantly flowed and shifted no longer flows or shifts. This is almost like entering the samadhi of cessation, and therefore it is called transcendence.

Yet the formation skandha shifts imperceptibly and has never been awakening; it takes subtle and hidden false thinking as its root. Unless one is thoroughly awakened, one cannot eradicate it within that secluded and deeply concealed place. For that person, waking and sleeping are one; this is the attainment of right knowledge.

As explained previously, movement and stillness do not alter it, and remembering and forgetting are one. Abiding precisely there and entering samadhi follow the same course. It is appropriate to use this as a stage from which awakening develops, but it is not appropriate to cling to it as genuine realization.

Therefore, when the perception skandha ends, the right mind becomes still and bright, and deviant thoughts have nowhere to arise. The ten classes of heavenly demons consequently have no opportunity to enter. Heavenly demons have never manifested supernatural transformations apart from deviant perceptions. Now that the perception skandha has been completely exhausted, one examines and perceives the subtle, hidden, simple source of movement; this is already to have entered the Heaven of No Perception. The heavenly demons of the six heavens of the Desire Realm cannot secretly perceive one.

‘Subtle, hidden, and simple’ means that fundamentally there is no place in which movement occurs. ‘Restless and all-pervasive’ means that it moves yet has never moved, and therefore it is called the source of the mechanism of movement. Although this source of the mechanism of movement is all-pervasive, it is not arising and ceasing. Thus, when one speculates at this point, one is in every case using arising and ceasing to speculate about causelessness.

First, one sees the origin as fundamentally having no cause, failing to awaken to the fact that the karmic conditions of good and evil are created by consciousness alone. Relying merely on the temporary absence of the characteristic of birth while the formation skandha continues to flow without cease, one develops the supernormal knowledge of past lives within this samadhi. One sees that throughout eighty thousand kalpas sentient beings transmigrate like a ring with no discernible beginning, and consequently concludes that sentient beings have no cause but arise spontaneously. Beyond eighty thousand kalpas all is obscure and nothing can be seen, so one does not know that bodhi is the true cause.

Second, seeing that the branches have no cause, he fails to realize that the karmic results of good and evil are brought about by the mind. Relying solely on the power of spiritual penetration, he can see only as far as eighty thousand kalpas into the past and future. Observing that the characteristics of long-enduring karmic results have not changed, he concludes that people and things, black and white, vertical and horizontal, have always been thus and are not attained through cultivation. Therefore, he does not know that bodhi is the ultimate fruition.

Being deluded about the nature of bodhi, this cannot be called Right Knowledge. Knowing only what lies within eighty thousand kalpas before and after cannot be called Universal Knowledge. The non-Buddhist Makkhali said that the suffering and happiness of sentient beings are not obtained through their actions but are naturally so.

This is precisely such a view. These two theories of causelessness arise because one sees only that the Seventh Consciousness has no root; thus, when its transmission into the Eighth Consciousness temporarily ceases, such speculation arises. Because inwardly the Seventh Consciousness merely relies upon the Eighth Consciousness and arises without a root, one holds that the root is originally without a cause.

Because outwardly the Seventh Consciousness merely relies upon the Sixth Consciousness, one deems it useless and therefore says that the branches have no cause. Seeing only the uninterrupted flow of the Seventh Consciousness, one concludes that it is naturally so.

Master Jingqing asked Patriarch Lingyun, “What is it like before chaos has divided?”

Patriarch Yun said, “The exposed pillar is pregnant!”

Master Qing asked, “What is it like after it has divided?”

Patriarch Yun said, “Like a speck of cloud in the sky.”

Master Qing asked, “Then is the sky stained?”

Patriarch Yun did not answer.

Master Qing said, “If so, do all sentient beings fail to reach this?”

Patriarch Yun again did not answer.

Master Qing asked, “What is it like when, right here, one attains utter purity without a single speck?”

Patriarch Yun said, “It is still the flowing of true permanence.”

Master Qing asked, “What is the flowing of true permanence like?”

Patriarch Yun said, “It resembles a mirror that is always bright.”

Master Qing asked, “Is there still anything beyond this?”

Patriarch Yun said, “There is.”

Master Qing asked, “What is the matter beyond?”

Patriarch Yun said, “Smash the mirror, and then I shall meet you!”

Tiantong raised this case and said, “Divided and undivided: the jade loom moves in the night. Stained and unstained: the golden shuttle is cast through the darkness. Even if there is a single hue of pure, refined gold, it is still not perfectly secure. Now tell me: after smashing the mirror, where will you meet? Do you understand?

“The jade rabbit vanishes, and the autumn sky is bright;

In clear water, the dragon instantly sheds its bones.”

This subtle and wondrous flowing of true permanence corresponds precisely to the formation skandha. “It resembles a mirror that is always bright” is no different from the scripture’s Brightly Reflecting Mirror. If one smashes the mirror and meets, like a dragon emerging from clear water after shedding its bones, then consciousness is immediately transformed into wisdom. How could this merely be the destruction of the formation skandha?

Sutra: “Ananda, within samadhi, when the minds of these good men are rightly settled and serene, demons can no longer take advantage of them. They investigate to the utmost the origin of all classes of beings and behold that subtle, hidden, rudimentary source whose mechanism is constantly stirring. If, within the nature of perfect permanence, they again give rise to speculation, they fall into four theories of pervasive permanence.

“First, the person investigates the nature of mind and its objects to the utmost and concludes that neither has a cause. Through cultivation, he knows that throughout twenty thousand kalpas, sentient beings in the ten directions undergo birth and death in continuous succession without ever being annihilated. He therefore holds this to be permanent.

“Second, the person investigates the source of the four great elements to the utmost and sees that they permanently abide. Through cultivation, he knows that throughout forty thousand kalpas, all the births and deaths of sentient beings in the ten directions occur within an eternally abiding essence that has never been annihilated. He therefore holds this to be permanent.

“Third, the person investigates to the utmost the six faculties and the mind, thought, and consciousness appropriated by the manas consciousness, and sees that their fundamental source and inherent nature remain permanent. Through cultivation, he knows that throughout eighty thousand kalpas all sentient beings revolve in succession without being lost and have originally always abided. Investigating to the utmost this nature that is never lost, he holds it to be permanent.

“Fourth, the person has already brought the perception skandha to an end, so the principle of arising and ceasing is no longer present and its flowing transformations have become still. The thoughts of arising and ceasing have now been permanently extinguished. Within this principle, there naturally comes to be what neither arises nor ceases. Through mental speculation, he holds this to be permanent.

“Because of these attachments to permanence, he loses Right and Universal Knowledge, falls into non-Buddhist paths, and becomes deluded about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the second non-Buddhist teaching, which establishes theories of pervasive permanence.”

Commentary: The theory of causelessness is established because of the view of annihilation; the theory of pervasive permanence is established because of the view of permanence. By extension, the views that things are both annihilated and permanent, and neither annihilated nor permanent, all remain within the erroneous views of annihilation and permanence. Investigating to the utmost the origin of all classes of beings, as far as the source whose mechanism is constantly stirring, one sees it as empty yet ceaselessly issuing forth, moving without end, and therefore holds it to be permanent.

From broad to narrow, from coarse to subtle, there is generally an order: First, one comprehends that the five skandhas, the four great elements, mind, and objects are all without a cause yet exist of themselves, revolving in cycles without being lost. Second, one sees only the pure nature of the four great elements, which can constitute the form skandha of sentient beings, and holds that its essence is permanent and unchanging.

Third, one sees only that mind-consciousness and the six faculties rely upon the Seventh Consciousness, manas, which appropriates them as mind, appropriates them as thought, and appropriates them as consciousness. The fundamental source of all these is the formation skandha. Although sentient beings revolve in cycles, the formation skandha is not lost; thus, one takes this Seventh Consciousness to be an eternally abiding nature.

It is like looking at rapidly flowing water and taking it to be still. This is precisely the source of birth and death since beginningless time, yet foolish people call it the Original Person.

Fourth, one mistakes the formation skandha for the principle of spontaneity, believing that when the thoughts of arising and ceasing have been completely extinguished, the place of their permanent cessation naturally becomes what neither arises nor ceases. Thus, within arising and ceasing, one clings to non-arising and non-ceasing. It is like seeing empty space and considering it permanent, without knowing that empty space too can be extinguished. Furthermore, if one speculates with the mind and takes something to be permanent, this cannot compare with truly seeing the Permanent.

These four attachments have not yet perceived even the constant flow of the Eighth Consciousness; how much less could they transform consciousness and behold the nature of bodhi?

Master Ruiyan asked Patriarch Yantou, “What is the principle of original permanence?”

Patriarch Yantou said, “Movement.”

Master Ruiyan asked, “What about when it moves?”

Patriarch Yantou said, “You do not see the principle of original permanence!”

Master Ruiyan paused to reflect.

Patriarch Yantou said, “If you assent, you cannot escape the faculties and their objects. If you do not assent, you will forever sink in birth and death.”

Master Ruiyan bowed.

Tiantong chanted:

“The perfect pearl is not bored through;

The solid jade is not polished.

A person of the Way originally treasures freedom from edges and corners.

Cast even assent away, and faculties and objects are empty;

Wholly unfettered and relying on nothing, one is free in the world.”

This is the originally and eternally abiding place, where the ultimate truth is seen. Even the single word “assent” is cast away; how much more should one abandon the speculation that appropriates a spiritual self and causes one to fall into the dark cavern of pervasive permanence, there to sink forever? How could that be permanence?

Sutra: “Furthermore, within samadhi, when the rightly settled minds of these good men are firm and still, demons can no longer take advantage of them. They investigate to the utmost the origin of all classes of beings and behold that subtle, hidden, rudimentary source whose mechanism is constantly stirring. If they again give rise to mental speculation concerning self and what is other than self, they fall into four inverted attachments to views, which are theories that one part is impermanent and one part permanent.

“First, the person investigates and sees that the wondrously luminous mind is still and pervades the realms of the ten directions, and he takes it to be the ultimate spiritual self. From this he reasons: ‘I pervade all ten directions, still, luminous, and unmoving, while all sentient beings arise and die by themselves within my mind. Thus, the nature of my mind is called permanent, whereas all those things subject to arising and ceasing are by nature impermanent.’”

“Second, this person does not examine the mind, but instead examines throughout the lands of the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Seeing places where a kalpa undergoes destruction, he regards them as ultimately belonging to the nature of Impermanence; while places where a kalpa does not undergo destruction, he calls ultimately Permanent.

“Third, this person separately examines his own Mind and sees it as subtle and minute, like a mote of dust, flowing throughout the ten directions while its nature remains unchanged. It can cause this body to be born and to perish from moment to moment. He regards that indestructible nature as his own Permanent nature, while calling all birth and death arising from that nature the nature of Impermanence.

“Fourth, this person knows that the skandha of perception has come to an end and perceives the current of the skandha of formations. He clings to the ceaseless flow and transformation of the skandha of formations as a Permanent nature, while regarding form, feeling, and perception, which have now entirely ceased, as Impermanent.

“Because of such speculation that one part is Impermanent and one part Permanent, he falls among the adherents of non-Buddhist paths and becomes deluded about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the third non-Buddhist teaching, which establishes theories of Partial Permanence.

The commentary explains: This is the view that things are both Permanent and Impermanent. The Mind is originally wondrous and luminous, and there is nowhere throughout the worlds of the ten directions where it is not present; yet as soon as it is grasped as a Spiritual Self, it is no longer so. To grasp it exclusively as the self is precisely the discriminating consciousness appropriating the manas-consciousness.

Although it is said to be tranquil, luminous, and unmoving, in truth a subtle current flows within it: these are the seeds of arising and ceasing, though one remains entirely unaware of them. Having taken the mind-nature’s temporary stillness to be Permanent, and then taken the birth and death of all beings to be the Nature of Impermanence, one thereby turns that which pervades the ten directions into two selves. Is this not inverted?

If one does not discuss the Mind-Nature but discusses only the worlds, then the realms from the Third Dhyana downward are still subject to the Three Calamities and are therefore regarded as Impermanent. The realms from the Fourth Dhyana upward are no longer subject to the Three Calamities and are therefore regarded as ultimately Permanent.

If one does not discuss the worlds but discusses only the Mind-Nature, then its unchanging nature is regarded as one’s own Permanent nature. Dying here and being born there is regarded as the nature of Impermanence.

At first, one combines the self and what is other than the self and speculates about Permanence and Impermanence. Then one separates the self from what is other than the self and regards each respectively as Permanent and Impermanent. Thereafter, one takes the skandha of formations to be the self, and form, feeling, and perception to be what is other than the self.

Because the skandha of formations continually flows and changes, one regards it as the Permanent nature. Because form, feeling, and perception have entirely ceased, one regards them as the nature of Impermanence. To divide Permanence and Impermanence within the One Mind is to make the Mind into two.

Is this not inverted? Compared with the preceding theory of Universal Permanence, there is less rigid attachment here; nevertheless, because the Original Source is not understood, all of this remains erroneous speculation.

National Master Huizhong asked a monk, “From which direction have you come?”

He replied, “I have come from the South.”

The National Master said, “How do the spiritual teachers of the South instruct people?”

The monk replied, “The spiritual teachers there point out to students of the Way that, right here, Mind itself is Buddha. Buddha means awakening. At this very moment, you all assuredly possess in full the nature that sees, hears, perceives, and knows.

This very Nature can truly raise the eyebrows, blink the eyes, and function in coming and going throughout the body. Touch the head and the head knows; touch the foot and the foot perceives. Therefore, it is called Right and Universal Knowledge.

Apart from this, there is no other Buddha. This body undergoes birth and death, whereas the Mind-Nature, from beginningless time until now, has never undergone birth and death. The body’s birth and death are like a dragon changing its bones, a snake shedding its skin, or a person leaving an old house.

Thus, the body is Impermanent, while that Nature is Permanent. Such, in general, is the teaching of the South.”

The National Master said, “If that is so, how does it differ from the non-Buddhist Senika? He said: ‘Within this body of mine there is a Spiritual Nature. This nature can know pain and itching. When the body perishes, the spirit necessarily departs, just as the owner leaves when a house catches fire. The house is impermanent, while the owner of the house is permanent.’

“Examined in this way, right and wrong cannot be distinguished. How could this be correct? I once traveled widely and encountered many of this kind; recently they have become even more prevalent.

They gather congregations of three to five hundred people who see only dimly, yet call this ‘the Essential Doctrine of the Southern School.’ They take that Platform Sutra, alter it, and make confused additions, obliterating the intent of the sages and leading later students into error and confusion. How could this constitute words of instruction? Alas, the essential doctrine of our school has thereby been buried!

If seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing were the Buddha-nature, then the Venerable Vimalakirti should not have said, ‘The Dharma transcends seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. If one practices seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, these are merely seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing; they are not truly the quest for the Dharma.’”

The monk then asked, “The Lotus Sutra, which reveals the definitive meaning, speaks of opening the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. How, then, should that be understood?”

The National Master said, “It speaks of ‘opening the Buddha’s knowledge and vision’; it does not speak of that of bodhisattvas or the Two Vehicles. How, then, could the deluded and inverted condition of sentient beings be regarded as identical to the Buddha’s knowledge and vision?”

Master Xingchang asked the Sixth Patriarch, “This disciple often reads the Nirvana Sutra, but has not yet understood the meaning of Permanence and Impermanence. I beg the Master to explain it for me.”

The Patriarch said, “Impermanence is precisely the Buddha-nature. Permanence is precisely all the good and evil dharmas of the discriminating mind.”

Xingchang said, “What the Venerable Master says greatly contradicts the words of the sutra.”

The Patriarch said, “I transmit the Buddha’s mind-seal; how would I dare contradict the Buddha’s sutra?”

Xingchang said, “The sutra says, ‘The Buddha-nature is Permanent,’ yet the Venerable Master says it is ‘Impermanent.’ It says, ‘All good and evil dharmas, even the bodhi-mind, are Impermanent,’ yet the Venerable Master says they are ‘Permanent.’ These statements contradict each other and cause this student to become even more doubtful and confused.”

The Patriarch said, “I once heard the bhikshuni Wujinzang recite the Nirvana Sutra a single time, whereupon I expounded it for her. Not a single word or meaning failed to accord with the sutra. What I now tell you is likewise no different.”

Xingchang said, “This student’s understanding is shallow and obscure. I beg the Venerable Master to instruct me fully.”

The Patriarch said, “Do you understand? If the Buddha-nature were Permanent, what need would there be to speak further of good and evil dharmas? Even to the end of a kalpa, not a single person would ever give rise to the bodhi-mind.

Therefore, when I call it Impermanent, this is precisely what the Buddha called the Way of True Permanence. Furthermore, if all dharmas were Impermanent, each thing would possess its own self-nature and contain birth and death within itself; thus, there would be places not pervaded by the nature of True Permanence. Therefore, when I call them Permanent, this is precisely what the Buddha called the meaning of True Impermanence.

In former times, the Buddha taught because ordinary beings and non-Buddhists clung to false permanence, while those of the Two Vehicles regarded the Permanent as Impermanent; together these constitute the Eight Inversions. Therefore, in the Nirvana Sutra of Definitive Meaning, he refuted those extreme views and revealed True Permanence, True Bliss, True Self, and True Purity.

“You now misconstrue the sutra’s meaning, understanding the Buddha’s subtle, perfect, and wondrous final teaching in terms of annihilative impermanence and rigid, lifeless permanence. Even if you read it a thousand times, what benefit could there be?”

Master Xingchang suddenly attained great awakening and then recited this verse:

“Because minds cling to Impermanence,

“The Buddha proclaimed the Permanent Nature.

“Not knowing this skillful Dharma,

“One is like gathering pebbles from a springtime pond.

“Now, without exerting effort,

“The Buddha-nature manifests before me.

“It was not bestowed upon me by the Master,

“Nor is there anything I have attained.”

The Patriarch said, “Now that you have thoroughly penetrated it, you should be called Zhiche, Thorough Penetration.”

Master Xingchang bowed in gratitude and withdrew.

The meaning of Permanence and Impermanence is profound to such a degree that adherents of non-Buddhist paths have never glimpsed it even in their dreams.

Sutra: “Furthermore, when those good men in samadhi have their minds rightly settled, still, and firm, Māra no longer has any opportunity. When they investigate to the utmost the root of the categories of beings and behold that obscure, hidden, primal source, which is constantly stirring, they again give rise to speculative calculations concerning positions and limits, and thus fall into four theories of finitude and infinitude.

“First, such a person speculates that the ceaselessly flowing source of arising and ceasing is finite with respect to the past and future, while the continuity of mind is infinite.

“Second, examining within eighty thousand kalpas, he sees living beings; but before eighty thousand kalpas, he sees and hears absolutely nothing. He then calls that where nothing is seen or heard infinite, and that where living beings exist finite.

“Third, such a person supposes that his own all-pervading knowledge has attained an infinite nature, while all those other beings appear within his knowledge, yet he has never known the nature of their awareness. Therefore, he concludes that they have not attained an infinite mind but possess only a finite nature.

“Fourth, investigating the formations skandha until he finds it empty, such a person uses his own knowledge and views to measure and calculate that within the single body of every living being, one half arises and one half ceases. He further maintains that all things appearing in the world are half finite and half infinite.

“Because of these speculative calculations concerning finitude and infinitude, he falls into the doctrines of non-Buddhists and becomes confused about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the fourth non-Buddhist doctrine, which establishes theories of finitude and infinitude.”

Commentary: Here, from theories of permanence and impermanence arise theories of finitude and infinitude. Discussions of permanence and impermanence speak in terms of nature and pertain to the subjective aspect of perception. Discussions of finitude and infinitude speak in terms of positions and limits and pertain to the objective aspect of appearances. The first concerns the positions of the three periods of time. The second concerns the positions of seeing and hearing. The third concerns the positions of self and others. The fourth concerns the positions of arising and ceasing. All are confined within the positions of the formations skandha, from which false speculative calculations arise.

First, because the formations skandha flows on without cease, he regards its flow as the three divisions of past, present, and future and calls them finite. He regards its ceaselessness as a continuity without boundaries and calls it infinite.

Second, he speculates only about the living beings seen and heard within eighty thousand kalpas and calls this finite. Beyond eighty thousand kalpas, nothing is seen or heard, so he calls this infinite.

Third, he supposes that his knowledge pervades all living beings and takes this to be infinite. Yet whether the knowing nature of living beings is all-pervading is known only to those beings themselves; he has never known it. Thus, living beings are confined to their own knowing and cannot communicate with him, so they possess only a finite nature.

Fourth, investigating the formations skandha until he finds it empty, he sees that what previously existed is now nonexistent. He therefore speculates that the primary retribution of living beings is half arising and half ceasing, and that the world—their dependent retribution—is likewise half arising and half ceasing. The half that arises is finite; the half that ceases is infinite.

These four theories of finitude and infinitude do not go beyond the cycle of the arising and ceasing of living beings and the previously discussed views that a kalpa is destroyed or is not destroyed; they merely make particular speculative calculations concerning finitude and infinitude.

A monk asked National Teacher Huizhong (continuing the preceding passage): “A spiritual teacher instructed this student: ‘Simply know your own nature. When you understand impermanence and cast aside this affliction-ridden corpse, the sublime spiritual intelligence of the knowing nature will withdraw into open emptiness; this is called liberation.’ What is your view of this?”

The National Teacher said: “As I said before, this still remains within the limitations of the Two Vehicles and non-Buddhists. Those of the Two Vehicles detest birth and death and delight in nirvana. Non-Buddhists also say, ‘I have great affliction because I have a body,’ and consequently delight in the Primordial Principle.

Stream-enterers are bound for eighty thousand kalpas, while those who have attained the other three fruits are bound for sixty, forty, and twenty thousand kalpas respectively. Pratyekabuddhas abide in the samadhi of emptiness for ten thousand kalpas. Non-Buddhists abide in the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception for eighty thousand kalpas.

When their kalpas have ended, those of the Two Vehicles can still turn their minds toward the Mahayana, whereas non-Buddhists immediately return to samsara.”

He asked: “Is Buddha-nature of one kind or different kinds?”

The National Teacher said: “It cannot be of one kind.”

He asked: “Why is that?”

The National Teacher said: “There is one kind that is entirely neither arising nor ceasing, and another that is half arising and ceasing and half neither arising nor ceasing.”

He asked: “Why do you explain it in this way?”

The National Teacher said: “My Buddha-nature right here is entirely without arising or ceasing. Your southern Buddha-nature is half arising and ceasing and half neither arising nor ceasing.”

He asked: “Where does the distinction lie?”

The National Teacher said: “Here, body and mind are of one suchness, and there is nothing apart from the body; therefore, it is wholly neither arising nor ceasing. In your southern teaching, however, the body is impermanent while the spiritual nature is permanent; therefore, it is half arising and ceasing and half neither arising nor ceasing.”

He asked: “Can the Venerable’s physical body possibly be identical to the Dharma-body, which neither arises nor ceases?”

The National Teacher said: “Why have you entered a heterodox path?”

He replied: “How has this student entered a heterodox path?”

The National Teacher said: “Have you not seen the Diamond Sutra state, ‘Those who see through form or seek through sound are practicing a heterodox path’? Is this not precisely your present view?”

He replied: “I have studied the teachings of both the Mahayana and the Lesser Vehicle. I have also seen it taught that the true nature of the Middle Way neither arises nor ceases, and that when this skandha ceases, another skandha arises; the body undergoes change, but the spiritual nature does not perish. How can all this be rejected as equivalent to the non-Buddhist views of annihilationism and eternalism?”

The National Teacher said: “Are you studying the unsurpassed, world-transcending true Way, or the worldly views of annihilationism and eternalism that belong to birth and death? Have you not seen Patriarch Sengzhao say, ‘To speak according to the ultimate truth is to go against the conventional; to follow the conventional is to go against the ultimate truth’? By going against the ultimate truth, one becomes confused about the nature and does not return. By opposing the conventional, one’s words become bland and flavorless. Those of middling faculties hear them as though remembering and yet forgetting. Those of inferior faculties hear them and clap their hands in laughter. Do you now wish to follow inferior people and laugh at the Great Way?”

He replied: “The Master also says, ‘This very mind is Buddha,’ and the southern spiritual teachers say the same. What difference is there? The Master ought not to regard himself as right and them as wrong.”

The National Teacher said: “In some cases, the names differ while the essence is the same; in other cases, the names are the same while the essences differ. Confusion arises because of this. Bodhi, nirvana, suchness, and Buddha-nature have different names but the same essence. However, the true mind and the deluded mind, Buddha-wisdom and worldly wisdom, may bear similar names while their essences differ. The southern teachers mistakenly take the deluded mind to be the true mind: they mistake a thief for their own son. They cling to worldly wisdom and call it Buddha-wisdom, like mistaking a fish’s eye for a luminous pearl. One cannot simply go along with them; right and wrong must be clearly distinguished.”

He asked: “How can one be free from that error?”

The National Teacher said: “Simply turn back and clearly contemplate the skandhas, dhatus, ayatanas, and sense fields. Investigate each one thoroughly and see whether even the slightest trace of anything can be found.”

He replied: “When they are clearly contemplated, nothing whatsoever can be found.”

The National Teacher said: “Do you destroy the appearances of body and mind?”

He replied: “The nature of body and mind is originally free; what is there to destroy?”

The National Teacher said: “Is there anything apart from the body?”

He replied: “There is nothing outside body and mind; how could there be anything else?”

The National Teacher said: “Do you destroy the appearances of the world?”

He replied: “The appearances of the world are themselves no-appearance; what need is there to destroy them?”

The National Teacher said: “To be thus is to be free from that error. The Avatamsaka Sutra says, ‘In a single thought, contemplate universally immeasurable kalpas—without going, without coming, and without abiding. Thus clearly knowing the events of the three periods of time, one transcends all expedient means and perfects the ten powers.’”

This is what is meant by, “Self and other are not separated by so much as a hair’s breadth; from beginning to end, they never depart from the present thought.” It is not known on what basis the views of finitude and infinity are established.

Sutra: “Furthermore, when those good men in samadhi have their right minds still, firm, and steadfast, the demons can no longer find an opportunity. When such a person investigates to the utmost the root of all classes of beings and observes that obscure, subtle, simple source which is ever in motion, but then, within his knowledge and views, again gives rise to speculative calculations, he falls into four kinds of false theories of pervasive speculation and inverted views—the chaotic equivocations of immortality.

“First, that person contemplates the source of transformation. Where he sees change, he calls it changing; where he sees continuity, he calls it permanent. What he can see, he calls arising; what he cannot see, he calls ceasing.

Where successive causes continue without interruption, he calls it increase; within that very continuity, where there is separation between them, he calls it decrease. Where each thing comes into being, he calls it existence; where each thing disappears, he calls it nonexistence. He applies these principles in contemplating everything, yet his mind perceives each case as different.

When someone seeking the Dharma comes to ask about its meaning, he replies, ‘I now both arise and cease, both exist and do not exist, both increase and decrease.’ At all times he speaks confusedly, causing those who hear him to become mistaken and confused about his words and their meaning.

“Second, that person closely contemplates how the mind changes from one state to another without any fixed location. Taking nonexistence as realization, when someone comes to question him, he answers with only one word, saying only, ‘No.’ Apart from the word ‘No,’ he says nothing at all.

“Third, that person closely contemplates how each state of mind has a location. Taking existence as realization, when someone comes to question him, he answers with only one word, saying only, ‘Yes.’ Apart from the word ‘Yes,’ he says nothing at all.

“Fourth, that person clings to both existence and nonexistence. Since the objects of cognition are divided in this way, his mind also becomes confused. When someone comes to question him, he replies, ‘Both existence is itself also nonexistence, yet within also-nonexistence there is no also-existence.’ Everything he says is chaotic and confused, and cannot be fully expressed.

“Because of such empty speculation and chaotic confusion, he falls into the paths of externalists and becomes deluded about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the fifth externalist teaching, which establishes four false theories of pervasive speculation and inverted views—the chaotic equivocations of immortality.

Explanation: This is still the view that things both exist and do not exist. Above, when speaking of “permanence and impermanence” and “finitude and infinity,” some distinctions could still be made, and matters had not yet become utterly confused. Here, however, it is said, “It is itself permanent and itself impermanent,” and “It is itself finite and itself infinite.” Everything is chaotic and confused, and cannot be explained to its end. This is truly an absurd theory of nihilism, inverted in the extreme.

According to the shifting of what was called finite above, it is termed changing; the continuity of what was called infinite is termed permanent. What is seen within eighty thousand kalpas is termed arising; what is not seen beyond eighty thousand kalpas is termed ceasing. Again, within uninterrupted continuity, one speculates that there is increase, like the moon waxing gradually toward fullness; within separation, one takes there to be decrease, like the moon waning little by little. Again, where each thing comes into being, it is called existence; where it disappears, it is called nonexistence.

Thus, the arising and ceasing of the single formations skandha are divided into eight meanings. When these principles are used to contemplate everything, both sides appear correct, and no clue can be definitively established; therefore, at all times, one speaks confusedly. Submerged in the formations skandha and unable to transcend it, one is swept along in the turning flow of arising and ceasing.

Furthermore, by making distinctions based on existence and nonexistence, one takes the ceasing of thought after thought as realization and says only, “No”; while taking the arising of thought after thought as realization, one says only, “Yes.” Again, combining existence and nonexistence, one says, “Also-existence is itself also-nonexistence, and also-nonexistence is itself also-existence; within also-existence there is no also-nonexistence, and within also-nonexistence there is no also-existence.”

The words may appear similar, but they differ from what came before.

Previously, both sides were fully set forth, so no definite conclusion could be reached. Here, only one side is raised, yet both sides are contained within it. To say, “Also-existence is itself also-nonexistence,” is not to speak solely of nonexistence. To say, “Within also-nonexistence there is no also-existence,” is not to say solely, “Yes.” One’s knowledge and views are confused and cannot arrive at a decision; they are vague and disorderly, and in the end one goes astray.

The externalists maintain that heaven is permanently abiding and call it immortal. They believe that if they can answer without confusion, they will be reborn in that heaven. If they truly do not know but nevertheless answer, they fear that their replies will become chaotic equivocations. The Buddha rebuked them, saying, “This is truly chaotic and confused discourse.” Therefore, it is called the false theory of “pervasive speculation and inverted views—the chaotic equivocations of immortality.”

It is called pervasive speculation because one speculates universally about existence and nonexistence, arising and ceasing, increase and decrease, permanence and change. All of this is utterly useless for cultivation and realization; it is nothing but conceptual proliferation. Nevertheless, one who has truly mastered the Way may speak of existence or may speak of nonexistence; everywhere there is a path of liberation.

A monk asked Patriarch Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have Buddha-nature?”

Zhaozhou said, “Yes.”

The monk asked, “Since it has Buddha-nature, why did it enter that bag of skin?”

Zhaozhou said, “Because it knowingly and deliberately transgressed.”

Another monk asked Patriarch Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have Buddha-nature?”

Zhaozhou said, “No.”

The monk said, “All sentient beings have Buddha-nature. Why, then, does a dog not have it?”

Zhaozhou said, “Because it has karmic consciousness.”

Master Tiantong versified:

“The dog has Buddha-nature;

The dog has no Buddha-nature.

Casting a hook yet seeking to spare the fish’s life;

Following the wind in search of fragrance, a wanderer of clouds and waters.

Clamor and confusion distinguish familiar from strange;

Level and serene, it spreads everywhere, leisurely and vast.

Do not wonder that the farmer knows no anxiety;

He points out the jade’s flaw, then seizes the pearl.

The King of Qin did not recognize Lin Xiangru!”

There is also another verse:

“Zhaozhou says yes; Zhaozhou says no.

The dog and Buddha-nature divide the world.

A reddened face is not as good as speaking plainly;

An upright heart is certain to use coarse words.

That old Chan master with seven hundred disciples—

Horse dung, upon meeting a man, turns into an eyeball-jewel.”

Another monk asked Chan Master Weikuan, “Does a dog have Buddha-nature?”

The master said, “Yes.”

The monk asked, “Does the Venerable Master also have it?”

The master replied, “I do not.”

The monk asked, “All sentient beings have Buddha-nature. Why is it that the Venerable Master alone does not?”

The master said, “I am not all sentient beings!”

The monk asked, “Since you are not a sentient being, you must be a Buddha?”

The master said, “I am not a Buddha.”

The monk asked, “Ultimately, what are you?”

The master said, “I am not a thing either.”

The monk asked, “Can you be seen or conceived?”

The master said, “Thought cannot reach it, and discussion cannot encompass it; therefore, it is called inconceivable.”

Externalists seek to calculate and establish theories about what can be conceived and discussed. How could this not be inverted?

Sutra: “Furthermore, when those good men in samadhi have their right minds still, firm, and steadfast, the demons can no longer find an opportunity. When such a person investigates to the utmost the root of all classes of beings and observes that obscure, subtle, simple source which is ever in motion, but then gives rise to speculation concerning the endless flow of arising and ceasing, he falls into the inverted view that after death there are attributes.

“He may firmly cling to his physical body and declare that form is the self. Or he may perceive the self as complete and all-pervading throughout all lands and declare that the self possesses form. Or he may perceive those external sense objects as turning in accordance with the self and declare that form belongs to the self. Or he may perceive the self as relying upon the formations skandha for its continuity and declare that the self exists within form. Through such speculation, they maintain that after death there are attributes; proceeding in this cycle, they establish as many as sixteen attributes.”

“From this he calculates that ultimate affliction and ultimate bodhi are two natures proceeding side by side, never coming into contact with each other.

“Because of this calculation and attachment that such characteristics exist after death, he falls into the ways of externalists and becomes confused about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the sixth externalist teaching, which establishes inverted theories that characteristics exist after death within the five skandhas.

Explanation: In the preceding five calculations, there is either Existence, Nonexistence, or Both Existence and Nonexistence. They have not gone beyond these three propositions, have not perceived that both are untenable, and remain entangled in the formation skandha. Here, therefore, one calculates whether characteristics exist or do not exist after death, and that both Existence and Nonexistence are untenable. Then, beyond Existence and Nonexistence, one gives rise to two views of annihilative nirvana. This is because the formation skandha has nearly become empty, so one furtively glimpses the consciousness skandha. Since arrival comes first and departure afterward, and consciousness alone is the master, all five skandhas are discussed here.

Venerable Long Thắng said: “Sentient beings in the five destinies, through the causes and conditions of the power of the view of a self, perceive four kinds of self: the composite of form is the self; form is the self; the self is within form; and form is within the self. Stated together: form alone is the self; that which is apart from form alone is the self; the self abides within form; and form abides within the self. When investigated in this way, ultimately none can be apprehended. Feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are likewise so.”

Yet externalists still cling to characteristics as existent. Some consolidate their own bodies, which means that form is the self. Some pervade all lands, which means that form is within the self.

Some turn back from the objects before them, which means that what is apart from form is the self. Some rely on the continuity of the formation skandha, which means that the self is within form. According to these four modes of calculation, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are all likewise.

This extends to: formation is the self; what is apart from formation is the self; the self is within formation; and formation is within the self. That which performs these calculations is the self, namely, the consciousness skandha. They all calculate that existence continues after death, thus producing sixteen characteristics [These four modes of calculation are applied to the four skandhas: form, feeling, perception, and formation].

Afflictions arise from the skandhas, while bodhi is realized by the self. The two natures of bodhi and affliction proceed side by side into future lives and both ultimately exist. Therefore, this is said to establish inverted theories that characteristics exist after death within the five skandhas.

These theories are established by taking each apparent existence and, on account of that existence, regarding it as realization.

Head Seat Bổn Am Đạo Quỳnh once raised the story “A Single Sandal Returning West [The story of Patriarch Bodhidharma after his passing],” and said to the assembly: “Dying while seated, passing away while standing, or departing while upside down are not unheard of. Yet no one has ever passed away and afterward left behind a sandal. Were later generations of descendants inferior to the Patriarch, or did the Patriarch have one sandal to spare?”

He then laughed loudly and said: “Old fox!”

In the winter of the Canh Thân year during the Thiệu Hưng era, he was summoned to the capital but did not go. He left this verse for his Dharma heir Huệ Sơn:

“Your glib mouth does not strike this kindly old man;

You delight in stirring up rights and wrongs in the monasteries.

I charge you, Head Seat of Tuyết Phong:

Revile him for me, and do not let him off!”

Turning to the envoy who had come to summon him, he said: “Please tell the Attendant Minister on my behalf that my departure was so hurried I had no time to repay his kindness!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he passed away.

A monk asked Patriarch Động Sơn: “After a monk passes away, where does he go?”

The Patriarch said: “A single straw has burned away!”

Master Đầu Tử composed this verse:

“When the universal fire consumes all, renewal is added;

Even now its scorching heat admits neither rain nor clouds.

On parched earth, red lotuses cover sun and moon;

Rootless, forever green, the tree casts cooling shade.”

If one knows this “possession of characteristics,” then even speaking of existent characteristics does no harm.

Sutra: “Furthermore, when the minds of those good men within samadhi are correct, still, and firmly established, Māra can no longer find an opportunity. They investigate to the utmost the origin of the categories of beings and contemplate that obscure, hidden, simple source that is perpetually in subtle movement. Regarding the skandhas of form, feeling, and perception, which have already ceased, they give rise to calculations and fall into inverted notions that no characteristics exist after death.

“They see the form skandha cease, and the physical body has nothing upon which to depend. They examine the cessation of the perception skandha, and the mind has nothing to which it is bound. They know that the feeling skandha has ceased, and there is no further involvement. The natures of the skandhas dissolve; although a life principle remains, without feeling and perception one is the same as grass and trees. Even the presently existing material form cannot be apprehended, so how could any characteristics remain after death? Thus they conclude that no characteristics exist after death. Proceeding through such cycles, they establish eight kinds of absence of characteristics.

“From this they calculate that nirvana, cause and effect, and everything else are empty, possessing only empty names, and are ultimately annihilated.

“Because of this calculation and attachment that no characteristics exist after death, they fall into the ways of externalists and become confused about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the seventh externalist teaching, which establishes inverted theories that no characteristics exist after death within the five skandhas.

Explanation: This annihilationist view is based upon the dissolution of the skandhas of form, feeling, and perception, from which one calculates that the life principle of the formation skandha will later be ultimately annihilated. When the formation skandha ceases, it returns to the ocean of storehouse consciousness. What that person calculates has not yet become a view of absolute nonexistence, for storehouse consciousness cannot be extinguished.

He sees only cessation and therefore concludes that nirvana, cause and effect, and everything else are nonexistent and ultimately annihilated, not knowing that this absence of characteristics does not mean the absence of a life principle. Thus, by conjecturing from the vanished causes of the four present skandhas that future effects will be extinguished, he combines them into eight kinds of absence of characteristics and establishes inverted theories that no characteristics exist after death within the five skandhas.

This, too, follows from a mind that changes reciprocally and has no fixed abode; taking Emptiness to be realization, it creates this theory.

When a monk died, Patriarch Trường Sa Cảnh Sầm touched him with his hand and said: “Great assembly! This monk is, in all truth, raising the essential principle for you and deliberating upon it! Do you understand?”

He then recited this verse:

“Before the eyes, not a single dharma;

“Right here, there is no person either.

“Vast and open, the Vajra Body—

“Neither false nor true!”

He further said:

“Not understanding the Vajra Body,

“One calls it conditioned arising.

“In the ten directions is true quiescent cessation;

“Who abides, and who journeys?”

As Patriarch Động Sơn was about to enter final nirvana, he said to the assembly: “I have an empty reputation in the world. Who can remove it for me?”

No one in the assembly could answer.

At that moment, a novice monk stepped forward and said: “Please tell me the Venerable’s Dharma name.”

The Patriarch said: “My empty reputation has already fallen away!”

Patriarch Thạch Sương said: “There is no person there for another to acknowledge.”

Patriarch Vân Cư said: “If there were an empty reputation, he would not be my late master.”

Patriarch Tào Sơn said: “From ancient times until now, no one has discerned it.”

Patriarch Sớ Sơn said: “The dragon has a way of emerging from the water, but no one can discern it.”

Master Đại Dương Minh An asked Patriarch Lương Sơn: “What is the signless bodhimanda?”

The Patriarch pointed to an image of Avalokiteshvara and said: “This is a painting by the layman Ngô.”

As Master An was about to speak, the Patriarch immediately asked: “That is what has characteristics; what is the signless?”

At these words, Master An awakened. He bowed and returned to his place.

The Patriarch said: “Why do you not say a word?”

Master An replied: “I do not decline to speak; I merely fear staining paper and ink!”

The Patriarch laughed loudly and said: “These words are already engraved upon stone!”

Later, they were indeed carved upon a stele.

Master Đầu Tử raised this:

“The Way penetrates past and present;

It is difficult to traverse on foot.

The lofty mountain is precipitously sheer;

In climbing, there is nowhere to depend.

Unless one illuminates the traces before one,

How could one ever set foot upon the path?

Therefore, awakening lies within oneself;

Confirmation depends upon the teacher;

Each in turn bears witness”

Continuing the Buddha’s wisdom-life

Here, at the end of the road, one asks the way, exhausting one’s strength to point it out;

The cliff towers to the sky without a gate; strength is spent, with nowhere to go or return.

The golden dragon has already lost the water; the wondrous wings swiftly take flight!

Passing through the great waves, one returns again to the original position.”

“Worthy ones, precisely at that moment, do you know the place where the ancients relinquished their position? If you know it, it may be said that the ten-thousand-fathom mountain has collapsed and the thousand waves have ceased roaring. The Dragon Palace and the heavenly realm share one roof; palaces and constellations blend their splendor. The crags and pines are interwoven in beauty, and the stream of dew nourishes fragrant grass. Without encroaching upon the gate of transformation, the thousand mountains are fully revealed. But if you do not know the place of return, the vast cavern has no one to inquire, and the dragon grieves in the depths of the great sea.”

The verse says:

“At the cliff, the road exhausted, he asks the mountain elder;

Who then points to the western peak, near the eastern summit.

Poised to advance, as dew falls, the mountain air deepens;

Turning his head, he suddenly sees the crimson sun.”

If one receives the message at this place of Signlessness, then even though one speaks of having no characteristics, there is no harm.

Sutra: “Furthermore, when those good men in samadhi have their right minds still, firm, and steadfast, the demons can no longer find an opportunity. As such a person investigates to the utmost the root of all living beings, he observes that obscure, subtle source, ever in motion. While the formation skandha remains and the feeling and perception skandhas have been extinguished, he speculates further that both existence and nonexistence mutually negate each other in their own substance. He then falls into inverted theories maintaining that after death both existence and nonexistence are untenable.

“He sees existence within form, feeling, and perception, yet it is not existence; and within the transformations of the formation skandha he sees nonexistence, yet it is not nonexistence. By revolving through the skandhas in this way and examining them to the utmost, he arrives at eight characteristics that are all untenable. Whatever condition he encounters, he says that after death there are characteristics and there are no characteristics.

“He further speculates that the nature of the formation skandha shifts and changes, and his mind thereby develops a certain penetration. He maintains that existence and nonexistence are both untenable, and that the false and the real are intermingled. Because of this speculation, he clings to the view that ‘after death, both existence and nonexistence are untenable.’ The future becomes dark and obscure, with no road forward. He falls into the paths of externalists and becomes confused about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the eighth externalist teaching, which establishes the inverted theory that, within the five skandhas, after death both existence and nonexistence are untenable.”

Commentary: This is the view that neither existence nor nonexistence is tenable. It arises from speculating about both existence and nonexistence, whose own substances mutually negate each other. It is not only that, because the form, feeling, and perception skandhas have ceased, existence is held to be not truly existent; the shifting and changing of the formation skandha is also regarded as nonexistence that is not truly nonexistent.

Turning this over and examining it repeatedly, one sees that what has already ceased—form, feeling, and perception—previously existed; thus, although nonexistent, it is not utterly nonexistent. What presently remains—the formation skandha—will ultimately also cease; thus, although existent, it is not truly existent. Through this twofold speculation concerning the four skandhas, eight kinds of untenability are formed.

Whatever condition is raised, it contains both characteristics and the absence of characteristics. This is merely to perceive the existence and nonexistence of characteristics in relation to conditions; it is not yet subtle.

Moreover, amid the shifting arising and cessation of the formation skandha’s nature, he sees that within arising there is cessation, and therefore it is not existent; and that within cessation there is arising, and therefore it is not nonexistent. If his mind had not developed a certain penetration through contemplating the nature of the formation skandha and seeing that both existence and nonexistence are untenable, how could he perceive this? Existence that is not existence is Wondrous Existence. Nonexistence that is not nonexistence is True Emptiness. That alone is the Wondrous True Suchness-Nature of the Truth of the Supreme Meaning.

This person sees that both existence and nonexistence are untenable only within the nature of the formation skandha. Yet the consciousness skandha that lies beyond it remains obscure and unseen; therefore, the false and the real are intermingled, and he does not know the place of return. Since he has nowhere to return and rest, he cannot bring the Way to completion. Even if he wishes to elucidate the neither-arising-nor-ceasing state of the storehouse consciousness, he cannot do so, much less realize the unborn and undying True Principle of True Suchness, the Truth of the Supreme Meaning. His so-called penetration is close to the awakening of a pratyekabuddha, but it cannot yet be called Right Awakening.

This theory that both existence and nonexistence are untenable also arises from the previously mentioned wild and confused assertion: ‘It both exists and does not exist; within its also not existing, it is not also existent.’ By carrying speculation about what occurs after death to its extreme, this theory is established; all such theories are called inverted.

An externalist asked the Buddha, “I do not ask about an assertion of existence, nor do I ask about an assertion of nonexistence.”

The Blessed One remained silent for a long while.

The externalist praised him, saying, “The Blessed One, in his great kindness and great compassion, has swept away the clouds of delusion for me and enabled me to enter!”

After the externalist had departed, Ananda asked the Buddha, “World-Honored One, what did the externalist realize that he said he had gained entry?”

The Buddha said, “Like an excellent horse in the world, he runs upon seeing the shadow of the whip!”

The Blessed One compared the externalist to an excellent horse because his mind, too, had developed a certain penetration.

Master Xuedou’s verse says:

“The pivotal mechanism has never turned;

Once it turns, it surely races toward both ends.

The bright mirror suddenly rests upon its stand;

Right there, beauty and ugliness are distinguished.

Beauty and ugliness distinguished—ah! the clouds of delusion are swept away;

Where within the gate of compassion could dust arise?

Because of this, the excellent horse follows the whip’s shadow,

Gliding upon the wind for a thousand miles, called back home.

Called back home—three snaps of the fingers!”

A monk asked Patriarch Fayan, “What does it mean that when the departed monk is right before one’s eyes, whatever meets the eye is bodhi?”

Fayan said, “That is right before you!”

The monk asked again, “To what place did the departed monk transform and go?”

Fayan said, “When did the departed monk ever transform?”

The monk asked, “Then what about now?”

Fayan said, “You do not know the departed monk.”

Patriarch Fayan cried out with all his might, yet the monk did not know to turn his head. If one awakens here, it may be said: “All four propositions are transcended; the numinous root stands revealed alone.”

Sutra: “Furthermore, when those good men in samadhi have their right minds still, firm, and steadfast, the demons can no longer find an opportunity. As such a person investigates to the utmost the root of all living beings, he observes that obscure, subtle source, ever in motion. He speculates that in the future there will be nothing, and thus he falls into seven theories of annihilation.

“He may hold that this body is annihilated; or that annihilation occurs when desire is exhausted; or when suffering is exhausted; or when utmost bliss is reached; or when relinquishment is brought to its extreme. Revolving through these and examining the seven modes to their utmost, he maintains that what is present is annihilated and, once annihilated, never returns. Because of this speculation that ‘after death there is annihilation,’ he falls into the paths of externalists and becomes confused about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the ninth externalist teaching, which establishes the inverted theory that ‘after death there is annihilation.’”

Commentary: Previously, he saw that the formation skandha existed while feeling and perception did not; here, even the formation skandha does not exist, and so it is said, “In the future there will be nothing.” Previously, the absence of characteristics after death referred only to the single mode of the body’s annihilation. Here, seven modes are examined to their utmost, in which annihilation is followed by no further arising.

The body belongs to the desire realm, encompassing humans and gods. The exhaustion of desire pertains to the first dhyana; the exhaustion of suffering pertains to the second dhyana. Utmost bliss pertains to the third dhyana. The exhaustion of relinquishment pertains to the fourth dhyana and the formless realm. Although five kinds of annihilation are spoken of, they actually encompass seven modes. This is to enter the externalist Heaven of Non-Perception and is generally the same annihilationist view held by the uninstructed bhiksu, who believed he had attained the fruition of no longer receiving a body in a future life, and therefore established the theory that after death there is annihilation.

Chan Master Kaixian Zhao ascended the hall and said, “The rules of the monasteries, the family tradition of the ancient Buddhas: one inquiry and one question, one bowl of gruel and one meal of rice. Speak it out plainly—what is it? As for all of you, mind after mind never ceases; thought after thought never abides. If you can skillfully cease at the place of non-ceasing and be without thought right amid thought, you will naturally accord with the principle of non-arising. To speak this way would make others laugh until their mouths split. Investigate!”

A monk asked Master Yunmen, “If not a single thought arises, is there still any fault?”

Master Yunmen said, “Mount Sumeru!”

Master Baiyun Duan composed this verse:

“Mount Sumeru—ah!—blocks the universe;

The thousand eyes of Great Compassion cannot see beyond it.

Unless one knows how to ride the ox backward,

Throughout one’s life one cannot avoid following behind its tail.”

Master Tiantong composed this verse:

“Not a single thought arises—Mount Sumeru!

Shaoyang bestows the Dharma, retaining nothing.

If you can receive it, he entrusts it to you with both hands;

If you are determined to leave, though you search a thousand fathoms, you cannot grasp it.

The blue sea is vast, the white clouds are at ease;

Do not place even a hair’s breadth within this.

That counterfeit cockcrow can hardly deceive me;

I will not let you pass the barrier in a daze!”

These two verses indeed make a distinction. If one clings to “not a single thought arises” and does not know the message of “riding the ox backward,” then it is merely “a counterfeit cockcrow,” and one cannot avoid “following behind another’s tail.” How could one penetrate the barrier of transcendence?

Sutra: “Furthermore, when the minds of those good men in samadhi are correctly settled, still, and firmly established, Mara can no longer find an opportunity. As they investigate to the utmost the origin of the categories of beings and behold that obscure, hidden, pristine source which is perpetually stirring, they may again speculate that there is existence after death. They then fall into five theories of nirvana.

“They may take the Realm of Desire as the true basis of transformation, because they behold complete and all-pervading clarity and give rise to attachment toward it. Or they may take the First Dhyana as the true basis of transformation, because they see that the nature of this realm is free from distress. Or they may take the Second Dhyana, because its nature is free from suffering.

Or they may take the Third Dhyana, because it is exceedingly blissful. Or they may take the Fourth Dhyana, because both suffering and pleasure have ended and they no longer undergo the birth and death of samsara. Thus, mistaking the heavens subject to outflows for the unconditioned nature, they regard these five peaceful abodes as places of pure and ultimate recompense.

Through such successive reasoning, they establish five ultimate destinations.

“Because of such speculative attachment to these five kinds of presently existing nirvana, they stray into heterodox paths and become confused about the nature of bodhi.

“This is called the tenth heterodox doctrine, which establishes inverted theories that within the five skandhas there are five kinds of presently existing nirvana.

“Ananda, these ten kinds of deluded interpretations arising in dhyana all occur because the activity skandha and the mind’s exertions interact, causing such perceptions to appear. Deluded and ignorant, beings fail to examine and assess themselves. When these states appear, they take delusion for enlightenment and claim that they have attained sagehood. They thereby commit the grave offense of great false speech and fall into the Avici Hell.

“After my nirvana, you must resolutely transmit the words of the Tathagata and teach them during the Dharma-ending Age, universally helping beings clearly understand this meaning. Do not allow the demons of their own minds to cause them to commit grave offenses. Preserve and protect beings so that they may extinguish all wrong views. Teach them to open their bodies and minds to awakening to the True Meaning, so that they do not become entangled in divergent paths within the Unsurpassed Way. Do not let them consider a small attainment sufficient, and proclaim the pure instruction of the Greatly Awakened One.”

Commentary: Having spoken of “nonexistence hereafter,” why does the text return to “existence hereafter”? It is because that clear source which is perpetually stirring cannot be extinguished. Not having attained the true bodhimanda of quiescent cessation, one falsely perceives attainment within cessation; hence this is called “existence hereafter.” Because the activity skandha momentarily pauses for an instant and complete, all-pervading clarity briefly manifests, one then takes this to be unborn and undying, to be nirvana. One further speculates that five places are the fruit of nirvana, thereby making nirvana fivefold. Can this be called nirvana?

Having extinguished the preceding seven modes, one again establishes five kinds of nirvana and becomes attached to complete, all-pervading clarity. These are states shared by humans and gods, where suffering and pleasure have both ended and one no longer undergoes birth and death. The Fourth Dhyana is similar to the Formless Realm heavens.

These five peaceful abodes do not transcend the three realms; the three outflows—the outflow of desire, the outflow of existence, and the outflow of ignorance—remain concealed as before. They are merely attainments brought to maturity through conditioned effort. One has only attained the Samadhi of Non-Perception, yet supposes that one has attained the unconditioned fruit.

Deluded within the realm of outflows without knowing it, when the kalpa ends one falls again into samsara. How could this be regarded as true nirvana?

Master Zhidao sought instruction from the Sixth Patriarch, saying, “Since leaving home, this student has read the Nirvana Sutra for more than ten years, yet I still do not understand its essential meaning. I beg the Venerable Master to instruct me.”

The Patriarch said, “What do you not understand?”

He replied, “All conditioned activities are impermanent. They are phenomena of arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have ceased, quiescent cessation is bliss. I am uncertain about this passage.”

The Patriarch said, “What is the nature of your doubt?”

He replied, “All beings possess two bodies: the form body and the Dharma-body. The form body is impermanent, subject to arising and ceasing. The Dharma-body is permanent, without knowing or awareness.

The sutra says, ‘When arising and ceasing have ceased, quiescent cessation is bliss.’ Yet it is unclear to me which body undergoes quiescent cessation and which body experiences bliss. If it is the form body, then when the form body perishes, the four great elements disperse; this is entirely suffering, and suffering cannot be called bliss. If the Dharma-body undergoes quiescent cessation, then it is the same as grass, trees, tiles, and stones—who then experiences the bliss?

Furthermore, the Dharma-nature is the essence of arising and ceasing, while the five skandhas are the functions of arising and ceasing. There is one essence with five functions, and arising and ceasing are perpetual. Arising means that functions emerge from the essence; ceasing means that the functions are gathered back into the essence.

If renewed arising is admitted, then sentient beings are neither cut off nor extinguished. If renewed arising is not admitted, then they return forever to quiescent cessation and become the same as insentient objects. In that case, all dharmas are restrained by nirvana; even arising is impossible, so how could there be bliss?”

The Patriarch said, “You are a disciple of the Buddha. Why have you become permeated by the heterodox wrong views of annihilationism and eternalism and used them to discuss the Dharma of the Supreme Vehicle? According to what you say, apart from the form body there is a separate Dharma-body, and apart from arising and ceasing you seek quiescent cessation. Moreover, you reject the inherent permanence and bliss of nirvana, claiming that there is a separate body that experiences them. This is to cherish birth and death and remain infatuated with worldly pleasure.

“Now you should understand: for the sake of all deluded people, who take the conjunction of the five skandhas to be the characteristics of their own essential self and further discriminate all dharmas as external objects of sense, then crave life and hate death, drifting and changing from thought to thought without realizing that all is dreamlike, illusory, empty, and false, and thus suffer samsara in vain—taking the eternal bliss of nirvana and misconstruing it as suffering, while seeking and rushing about all day—the Buddha, out of compassion, revealed the true bliss of nirvana.

In no instant does it possess the characteristic of arising, and in no instant does it possess the characteristic of ceasing. Nor is there any arising and ceasing that can be extinguished. This is quiescent cessation manifest in the present.

Yet even in its present manifestation, there is no measure of ‘the present’; only then is it eternal bliss. This bliss has no experiencer, yet there is nothing it does not experience. How could there be any designation such as ‘one essence with five functions’?

Much less could one say, ‘Nirvana eradicates all dharmas, causing them never to arise again.’ To speak this way is to slander the Buddha and destroy the Dharma.

“Listen to my verse:

“Unsurpassed Great Nirvana,

Radiantly full, ever still and illuminating.

Ordinary people regard it as death;

Heterodox practitioners cling to it as annihilation.

Those who seek the Two Vehicles

Regard it as nonactivity.

All these follow conceptual thought,

The root of the sixty-two wrong views.

Falsely establishing empty, illusory names—

What have these to do with the true meaning?

Only those who transcend conceptual reckoning

Penetrate it fully, neither grasping nor rejecting.

They know the dharmas of the five skandhas

And the self within the skandhas;

The various forms that appear externally,

Each and every characteristic, sound, and voice,

Are equally like dreams and illusions.

They do not give rise to views of sage or ordinary person,

Nor form an interpretation of nirvana.

The two extremes and the three periods are severed.

They constantly respond through the functions of the faculties,

Yet do not conceive of functioning.

They discriminate all dharmas,

Yet do not give rise to discriminating thought.

When the kalpa-fire burns to the bottom of the sea,

And winds drive mountains to collide,

The bliss of true permanence and quiescent cessation remains—

Nirvana is thus.”

I now speak only with reluctance,

Causing you to relinquish erroneous views.

Do not understand merely by following these words;

I allow you to know only a small part.”

Upon hearing the verse, Master Zhi Dao attained great awakening, made obeisance, and withdrew.

The exposition of the Sixth Patriarch directly points to the true meaning and truly sets forth the pure instruction of the Great King of Awakening. If one accords with these words, branching attachments to views will not arise, the mind-demons will naturally cease, and one may thereby break through the Formation Skandha and transcend the turbidity of living beings.

F. THE DOMAIN OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS SKANDHA

Sutra: “Ananda, when that good man cultivates samadhi and the Formation Skandha comes to an end, the common hidden, simple, and subtle mechanism whose movement gives rise to all species in the world suddenly disintegrates. The subtle nexus—the hidden current whereby the individual identity of living beings creates karma and undergoes its retribution—ceases in all its responsive operations. That person is on the verge of great illumination and awakening within the sky of nirvana.

It is like the final crowing of the cock, when, looking toward the east, one already sees the luminous color of dawn. The six faculties become empty and pure and no longer race outward. Within and without, all is still, clear, and luminous, and one enters into that which has no place of entry.

Penetrating the causes and grasping the source, one can no longer be drawn in by the various species. One has attained identity throughout the worlds of the ten directions. The luminous color does not sink into obscurity, and the hidden and secret is revealed.

This is called the domain of the Consciousness Skandha.

“If, within the identity already realized among the various species, one dissolves the six faculties, so that their joining and separation are fully mastered, seeing and hearing interpenetrate, and the faculties may be used interchangeably in purity; and if the worlds of the ten directions, together with body and mind, become like crystal, luminous and transparent within and without, this is called the ending of the Consciousness Skandha. That person can transcend the turbidity of lifespan. Examining its cause, one finds its root to be inverted delusion—the empty, illusory semblance.

Commentary: The nature of the world does not extend beyond the nature of the arising and ceasing of the twelve classes of beings. Although the Formation Skandha, hidden and simple in its subtle mechanism and movement, has no coarse marks of arising and ceasing, the movement at its source never stops for even an instant. It is the common mechanism that gives rise to all species.

When the Formation Skandha ends, this mechanism disintegrates. It is called a mechanism because it is too profound to be seen and too subtle to be pointed out, like the main cord of a net or the collar of a robe. This pivotal nexus is the origin of arising and ceasing.

The individual identity of a living being (pudgala) is the intermediate-state body that proceeds toward the various destinies, repaying causes and requiting effects; the responsive connections never deviate by so much as a hair’s breadth. Now that the mechanism of arising has disintegrated, the karmic cause has vanished; what could lead to the effect? Since there is no longer a retribution body, what could requite the cause?

Cause and effect both vanish, responsive operations cease entirely, and thus the profoundly subtle hidden current that transmits the seeds is cut off. The movement of this hidden current is extremely subtle. As long as the hidden current is unbroken, the life faculty is not severed.

Only when the current is cut off and the mechanism disappears can one enter the realm of the Unborn.

Previously, when the first three skandhas had ended, it was like the first crowing of the cock: the luminous color of dawn had not yet become distinct, and darkness still remained. Here, when the Formation Skandha ends, it is like the cock’s final crowing: looking toward the east, one already sees the light of dawn. Upon penetrating this Consciousness Skandha, the six faculties immediately become empty and pure, without the marks of racing outward or stirring into activity; within, all is utterly still, clear, and luminous.

One enters ever further, going more and more deeply, until one enters that which has no place of entry and directly penetrates to the fundamental source. Therefore, previously one did not yet understand the first impulse of each individual life, but saw only the common mechanism of arising. Now one clearly understands the cause of the lifespans of the twelve classes of beings.

This means that one has seen their identity but has not yet seen their arising. Examining the cause and grasping the source, one does not allow it to shift or race outward. Since there is no point of origin here, those beings can no longer draw one in.

Throughout all realms of the ten directions, there is only Mind and only Consciousness. How could there still be anything that is not identical?

Having attained the nature of identity, heaven and earth share one root with us, and the myriad things are one body with us; there is purely one ocean of storehouse consciousness. As one contemplates the luminous color, it does not become dim or sink into torpor. That which can neither be seen nor heard is called the ultimate profundity; that which has neither sound nor scent is called the ultimate depth and secrecy. Here it gradually becomes manifest and revealed. Although it is revealed, one has not yet reached complete transparency and radiant clarity, for one is still screened by the Consciousness Skandha. Therefore, this is called the domain of the Consciousness Skandha.

If, at the source from which the twelve classes of beings undergo birth, one has attained the nature of identity and then uses the power of samadhi and wisdom to dissolve the six faculties, their divisions can be reunited and their obstructions opened. Opening and dividing, closing and joining, one acts freely; luminous purity no longer depends upon the faculties. Seeing and hearing approach perfect penetration, and the six faculties become pure and may be used interchangeably.

This is what was said previously: “Reversing the flow and returning to unity, the six functions no longer operate. At that very moment, the lands of the ten directions become brilliantly pure, like crystal with a bright moon suspended within.” Here, too, it is said: “The worlds of the ten directions, together with body and mind, become like crystal.” This is the golden egg of the garuda, limpid, luminous, and radiant like vajra, indestructible.

When inwardly body and mind and outwardly the world have become limpid and luminous, not only is the luminous color revealed, but the Secret, Perfect, Pure, and Wondrous nature of all Tathagatas also appears therein. That person immediately attains the Patient Acceptance of the Unborn Dharma, which is what is called the Ground of Dry Wisdom. One cannot reach this point before the Consciousness Skandha has ended.

The Consciousness Skandha is subtle and difficult to sever; it is precisely the life faculty, and all causes for undergoing birth begin with it. Now that the Consciousness Skandha has ended, its root and source necessarily end as well. The various species can no longer summon one, and both the summoned and that which cannot be summoned vanish.

All ten directions are identical, and both this identity and that which is identical come to an end. Therefore, one can transcend the turbidity of lifespan.

The ancient masters regarded breath, warmth, and consciousness as the three factors whose conjunction constitutes the life faculty. When birth is undergone, the Consciousness Skandha arrives first. When consciousness has departed, breath and warmth cease along with it. Yet the departure of consciousness at the end of life occurs in all ordinary beings; how could this be called transcending the turbidity of lifespan?

To say that “the Consciousness Skandha has ended” means that there is no longer any consciousness that arrives first and departs last. To say that one has “transcended the turbidity of lifespan” means that one has realized the fruit of arhatship and will undergo no further existence. How could this be discussed vaguely?

Previously, the intermediate-state body proceeded toward the various destinies, each according to its kind. When the Formation Skandha ended, that current was already severed. Yet the vital current of the Consciousness Skandha is even subtler, and therefore it is called an empty, illusory semblance.

“Illusory” means that it seems nonexistent. “Semblance” means that it seems existent. It seems existent and seems nonexistent, yet ultimately it is empty.

The emptiness that neither arises nor ceases is the substance of True Suchness. The illusory semblance is the shadowy appearance of arising and ceasing within the eight consciousnesses. Therefore, when one relies upon True Suchness, it is called right awakening; when one relies upon the Eighth Consciousness, one is immediately bound by deluded awareness.

Turning away from awakening and conforming to sense objects is therefore called inverted delusion. When the Consciousness Skandha is completely ended, consciousness is transformed into wisdom, and arising and ceasing are transformed so that one abides in the unarisen and unceasing. How could it be easy to eliminate this subtle inverted delusion, this empty, illusory semblance?

A monk asked Patriarch Xiangyan, “What is the Way?”

Patriarch Xiangyan said, “A dragon吟s within a withered tree.”

The monk asked, “Who is the person within the Way?”

Patriarch Xiangyan replied, “The pupil of the eye within a dried skull.”

The monk took these questions to Patriarch Shishuang and asked, “What is meant by ‘A dragon吟s within a withered tree’?”

Patriarch Shishuang said, “There is still joy clinging within it.”

The monk asked, “What is meant by ‘the pupil of the eye within a dried skull’?”

Patriarch Shuang said, “It still bears consciousness within it.”

The monk then asked Patriarch Caoshan, “What is ‘the dragon chanting within the withered tree’?”

Patriarch Caoshan said, “The lifeblood has not been severed.”

He asked, “What is the pupil within the dried skull?”

Patriarch Caoshan said, “It has not yet dried up completely!”

He asked, “It is still unclear whether anyone can hear it.”

Patriarch Caoshan said, “Throughout the entire great earth, there is not a single person who does not hear it.”

He asked, “It is still unclear what passage or phrase the dragon’s chant is.”

Patriarch Caoshan said, “There is no need to know what passage or phrase it is; all who hear it die away.”

Patriarch Caoshan further instructed him with this verse:

“The dragon chants in the withered tree—truly seeing the Way;

The dried skull, devoid of consciousness, has eyes bright and clear.

Joy and consciousness exhausted, all tidings cease;

Who remains to distinguish purity from defilement?”

Master Tiantong raised this, saying, “When the king remains within the gate, the ministers do not go outside; thus, when joy and consciousness are both exhausted, the son surely returns to the father.”

To say that it is “completely dried up” means that the consciousness skandha has been exhausted. Without such a passage or phrase, how could this passage or phrase be understood?

Sutra: “Ananda, you should know that this good man has fully penetrated the empty nature of all formations and returned to the source of consciousness. He has extinguished arising and ceasing, but has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of quiescent cessation. He can cause the different faculties of his own body to unite or separate at will and can share the nature of awareness with all species throughout the ten directions. His all-pervading awareness and knowledge become a single expanse of stillness, and he can enter the perfect source.

“If, at this point of return, he establishes a cause of true permanence and gives rise to a notion of supreme understanding, he falls into attachment to a cause and that which is caused. He becomes a companion of those in the school of Kapila, who take refuge in the Primordial Obscurity, thereby confusing the Buddha’s bodhi and losing right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the first class: they establish a mind that has something to attain and bring about a fruition that has somewhere to return. They stray far from the nature of perfect penetration, turn against the path of nirvana, and give rise to the lineage of non-Buddhist paths.

Explanation: The consciousness skandha is inwardly still and lucid, yet it flows and turns because of formations. Once the formations skandha has become empty, the flowing appearance of arising and ceasing has been extinguished; nevertheless, one still relies upon the inwardly still source of consciousness, which does not flow. Thus, within quiescent cessation, the subtle wonder has not yet been perfected.

Quiescent cessation means that arising and ceasing have been extinguished, so that cessation need no longer be used to extinguish arising and ceasing. Here, extinguishing arising and ceasing still belongs to the application of effort, and therefore is not yet wondrous. The source of consciousness still remains, and therefore perfection has not yet been attained.

Yet one has returned to the source of consciousness, dissolved the six faculties, and brought them back into one place; thus one can cause the six faculties of one’s own body, though separated from one another, to function interchangeably, unimpeded in union or division. Borrowing a faculty to manifest lucidity, one may grasp or release with natural freedom. Not only is one’s inner self-awareness brilliantly luminous, but one also shares the nature of awareness with all species throughout the ten directions.

The nature of awareness of all species is precisely my awareness, and my nature of awareness is precisely the awareness of all species. Awareness and knowledge interpenetrate and merge without duality. One can enter the source of awareness, perfectly interfused and unobstructed.

This utterly perfect source is the source of the lifespan of all species and also the source from which their awareness arises. Life is established from it, and awareness arises from it.

Although it proceeds from awareness, no appearance of cognition is perceived; thus one supposes that this awareness is not permanent and that only non-awareness is permanent. Therefore, the return of awareness to non-awareness is held to be true permanence, and returning to the source of consciousness is taken as the cause of true permanence. In this way, the dim and nebulous condition before the eighth consciousness has taken form is adopted as a refuge; this is what non-Buddhist paths call the Primordial Obscurity.

Once there is somewhere to return, there is also that which serves as a cause, yet both the causing subject and that which is caused are false. Establishing a mind that has something to attain in order to bring about a fruition that is attained, both that cause and that fruition fall into the realm of false objects. Where there is an object, there is no perfection; where there is an object, there is no truth.

Hence it is said that one strays far from the nature of perfect penetration, turns against supreme nirvana, and races away from it.

Chan Master Zhiyuan of Yungai Mountain once received a request from a Daoist named Daozheng of Tanzhou, who submitted a memorial asking King Ma to invite the master to debate doctrine.

The king invited the master into the palace. After the audience and tea were concluded, the master asked the king for his sword. Holding the sword, he asked Daozheng, “Your teaching says, ‘Dim and indistinct, within it there is a thing.’ What thing is this? ‘Profound and obscure, within it there is an essence.’ What essence is this? If you can answer, I will not cut you down; if you cannot, I will cut you down!”

Daozheng became bewildered and confused and thereupon bowed in repentance.

The Chan master said to the king, “Does Your Majesty know this man?”

The king replied, “I know him.”

The master said, “Who is he?”

The king said, “Daozheng.”

The master said, “No! If his Dao were truly zheng—upright—he would already have responded in accord with this mountain monk. He is merely a solitary scholar tree without a master.”

Even if that Daoist had not hesitated and had immediately responded with perfect clarity, he still would not have escaped the Primordial Obscurity! He would still have been exceedingly far from unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

Sutra: “Ananda, furthermore, this good man has fully penetrated the empty nature of the formations skandha and has extinguished arising and ceasing, but has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of quiescent cessation. If, at this point of return, he embraces it as his own substance and gives rise to a notion of supreme understanding that all beings of the twelve classes throughout empty space flow forth and arise from within his own body, he falls into the view of being able and not being able. He becomes a companion of the god Maheshvara, who manifests a boundless body, thereby confusing the Buddha’s bodhi and losing right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the second class: they establish a mind of being an active creator and bring about a fruition of creative agency. They stray far from the nature of perfect penetration, turn against the path of nirvana, and give rise to the lineage of the Heaven of Great Arrogance, holding the self to be all-pervading and perfect.

Explanation: The preceding discussion of permanence and impermanence concerned perceiving the wondrously luminous mind as pervading the realms of the ten directions, inwardly still and naturally so, and taking it to be the ultimate divine self. From this, one calculates that the self pervades the ten directions, still and luminous without movement, while all beings are born and die of themselves within one’s mind. This is precisely what is meant here by, “All flow forth and arise from within his own body.” Previously, however, one perceived only the formations skandha and therefore speculated about the active creator.

Although one clings to the belief that one has the ability to produce all classes of beings, in truth one possesses no such ability; therefore, it is called the attachment to being able and not being able.

If the cause of birth of the twelve classes lies within the self, one supposes that they all emerge from oneself and that there is nothing one cannot accomplish. Why, then, is it called “not being able”? Because the three realms are mind-only, and the myriad dharmas are consciousness-only.

Since no characteristic of self can be apprehended, one can therefore be master of the myriad phenomena. But now, at the source of consciousness, one embraces it as one’s own substance and then supposes that the universe lies in one’s hand and that the myriad things are transformed and born from one’s body. This is like furtively seeing that the great ocean produces bubbles while one’s own body has not yet left the bubbles behind; can a bubble produce bubbles?

Once there is attachment to being the active agent, then even though one may manifest vast spiritual powers, they all revert to arrogance, for one who is unable forcibly claims to be able.

Maheshvara, the Great Sovereign God, has three eyes and eight arms, rides a white ox, and holds a white fly whisk. He can manifest boundless bodies of living beings and then declares that living beings flow forth and arise from him. He dwells in the Heaven at the Summit of Form, the highest heaven of the form realm. He has not yet been able to transcend the three realms, yet claims he can produce the three realms. Is this not arrogance? He establishes the mind that he himself can produce them and supposes that he himself can accomplish their affairs. As long as even the slightest trace of the perception of an active agent remains, one is not naturally perfect. Therefore, this is called straying far from the nature of perfect penetration and turning against the path of nirvana.”

Patriarch Xuefeng instructed the assembly, saying: “Gather the entire great earth together into one great grain of rice and cast it directly before your face. If the lacquer bucket [a Chan term for one who has not yet awakened] does not understand, beat the drum and summon everyone to come and see!”

Master Xuedou chanted:

“From the ox’s head, on to the horse’s head;

In Caoxi’s mirror, absolutely no dust.

The drum is beaten—look! Why do you not see?

When spring comes, for whom do the hundred flowers bloom?”

On another day, Patriarch Xuefeng again said: “The entire great earth is the single eye of a śramana. Where will you go to seek it?”

When Patriarch Zhaozhou heard this recounted, he said: “If you return there, let me send along a mattock!”

Master Haiyin Xin chanted:

“The śramana’s single eye admits no thing;

From it emerge the myriad teeming forms.

As for the mattock—who understands Zhaozhou?

This matter of ‘free functioning’ must be handled with utmost care.”

Master Biefeng Yin chanted:

“Where did Xuefeng go seeking,

That Zhaozhou should send a mattock?

The śramana’s single eye—

Only in utter disorder is it thus.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

In the Great Tang realm the drum resounds;

In the land of Silla, the dancing is unrestrained!”

In examining this presentation by Patriarch Xuefeng, the essential point is simply to recognize that which originally pours forth and gives rise to everything, the ultimate place of reality where there is not the slightest shadow, appearance, mark, or trace. If one speaks of “being able to understand,” “being able to awaken,” or “being able to serve as the source of the myriad dharmas,” one is merely babbling nonsense; Zhaozhou’s mattock must be employed.

Sutra: “Furthermore, this good man has exhausted the emptiness of the formation skandha and has extinguished arising and ceasing, but has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of quiescent cessation. If, in regard to that to which he returns, he finds a place of reliance, he comes to suspect that his own body and mind arise from that place, and that even the empty space throughout the ten directions is also born from it.

He then takes that which gives rise to everything to be the truly permanent essence, neither arising nor ceasing. Thus, while still within arising and ceasing, he prematurely grasps it as permanently abiding. Not only does he mistake it for what does not arise, but he also remains deluded about arising and ceasing.

Abiding in profound delusion and regarding it as a supreme understanding, this person falls into the view of the permanent and the impermanent. He becomes a companion of those who hold that Īśvara is the creator, becomes confused about the Buddha’s bodhi, and loses right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the third category: establishing a mind based on a dependent cause and thereby producing the fruit of false conjecture. It strays far from perfect penetration, runs counter to the path of nirvana, and gives rise to the lineage of Inverted Perfection.

Commentary: Previously it was said, ‘If, relying on that to which one returns, one establishes it as the cause of True Permanence.’ Since there is a place to which the return is made, one thereby has a place to return to. That to which I return can truly give birth to me; therefore, one comes to suspect that one’s own body and mind pour forth from that source of consciousness, and that the empty space throughout the ten directions also arises from it.

Since it does not arise by itself, it is said that all things arise from it. Since it does not emanate by itself, it is said to pour forth from it. Before I existed, this consciousness already existed; it not only gave birth to me but also gives birth to everything.

Thus, one vaguely perceives the spirit-self as impermanent and the source of consciousness as permanent. The spirit-self still belongs to the Seventh Consciousness. The source of consciousness is purely the Eighth Consciousness, the original state before movement arose; one then takes the source of consciousness as the truly permanent essence, neither arising nor ceasing.

In this state of clear stillness and immovability, amid subtle arising and ceasing, one prematurely grasps it as permanently abiding. Not only does one fail to perceive the true nature that neither arises nor ceases, but one remains deluded and fails to understand the currently manifest dharmas of arising and ceasing. One abides in profound delusion yet regards it as a supreme understanding.

This is to take what is not permanent as permanent, and thus one falls into the view of the permanent and the impermanent. It is like believing that Īśvara gave birth to oneself and regarding him as permanent, without realizing that Īśvara’s heaven is itself not a permanently abiding heaven.

The Daoist scriptures say: ‘Taiyi is the primordial, unitary qi. At the beginning, above the Great Void, there arose the Heaven of the Jade Capital. In each of the four directions are eight heavens, wherein dwell thirty-two Emperors.

Above the Heaven of the Jade Capital are the three Heavens of the Three Pure Ones: Jade Purity, Highest Purity, and Great Purity. Above the Heavens of the Three Pure Ones are another ten Heavens of the Void Sovereigns, the dwelling place of the Primordial Elders, the Primordial Venerables, and the Nine Celestial Sovereigns.’ These are the heavens at the summit of the form realm and the heavens whose beings dwell in space.

Followers of non-Buddhist paths cannot clearly understand them and therefore regard them as the source that gives birth to heaven and earth. The statement that ‘the Celestial Sovereign sent down the nine qi and formed primordial chaos’ is likewise comparable to those in the Western Regions who regard Mahābrahmā as the ruler of the universe; all such doctrines arise from the view described above. This is establishing a mind based on a dependent cause—depending on the source of consciousness as the cause and regarding it as that which gave birth to oneself—thereby producing the fruit of false conjecture: mistakenly regarding it as permanently abiding and not originating from oneself.

Previously, one speculated that oneself gave birth to all things; here, one believes oneself to have been produced entirely by that other source. Therefore, this is called Inverted Perfection. One wishes to forget the self and forget the perceiving subject, yet cannot completely eliminate the appearance of arising. Hence it is said, ‘It strays far from the nature of perfect penetration and runs counter to the path of nirvana.’

Chan Master Daning Kuan instructed the assembly. Raising his staff, he said: “The life-source of the buddhas of the past and the guiding principle of the buddhas of the future are both wholly contained within this. When brought into use now, it makes clouds and makes rain, produces auspicious signs and fortunate omens, benefits humans and devas, and passes out of birth and into death. Worlds in other directions rise and sink, roll up and unfold. Even if one’s entire body were a mouth, one could not speak of it; even if one’s entire body were eyes, one could not fully illuminate it. One thought corresponding with it—a single instant is ten thousand kalpas!”

Patriarch Ciming instructed the assembly: “When Daowu sounds the drum, all four great continents participate. When the staff is swept crosswise, the universe and the great earth are entirely wrapped in a monk’s robe. When the alms bowl is turned, it covers worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Let me ask all of you: toward what place will you turn to settle your body and establish your life? If you know the place where you may settle your body and establish your life, then in Uttarakuru you eat rice and partake of porridge. If you do not know, you remain forever seated upon your bench, partaking of porridge and eating rice!”

Here, these venerable masters directly reveal that which neither arises nor ceases, the essence of True Permanence. Tell me: is there a return to and reliance upon it, or is there no return and no reliance? Do not hold back—go ahead and doubt!

Sutra: “Furthermore, this good man has exhausted the emptiness of the formation skandha and has extinguished arising and ceasing, but has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of quiescent cessation. If, in regard to that which knows, and based on the universality of this knowing, he establishes the view that all the grasses and trees throughout the ten directions are sentient beings, no different from humans; that grasses and trees become humans; and that after death, humans again become the grasses and trees throughout the ten directions—if, regarding this all-pervasive knowing, he makes no distinctions and regards this as a supreme understanding, this person falls into the view that what knows and what does not know are the same.

He becomes a companion of Vāśiṣṭha, Śreṇika, and others who maintain that everything possesses awareness, becomes confused about the Buddha’s bodhi, and loses right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the fourth category: speculating upon the mind of all-pervasive knowing and thereby producing an erroneous result. It strays far from the nature of perfect penetration, runs counter to the path of nirvana, and gives rise to the lineage of Inverted Knowing.

Commentary: Previously, one returned to the Primordial Principle, obscure and devoid of knowing. Yet knowing itself could not be extinguished, so based on knowing, one established the view that the source of consciousness possesses awareness and that all dharmas arise through transformations of this awareness. Because one holds that the essence of the knowing-nature pervades all dharmas, one goes so far as to say that even insentient beings possess awareness, making no distinctions whatsoever. This is taking what does not know to be that which knows; therefore, it is called Inverted Knowing.”

The Book of Transformations by Master Tan [a Daoist work] says: “An old maple tree transforms into a Daoist adept. A decayed grain of rice transforms into a butterfly. This is the transformation of the insentient into the sentient. A virtuous maiden transforms into a stone stele; a mountain worm transforms into a lily. This is the transformation of the sentient into the insentient. Then what is a person, what is self, what possesses consciousness, and what lacks consciousness? The myriad things are one thing; the myriad spirits are one spirit.”

This is the view that “plants and trees become human beings, and human beings become plants and trees.”

A monk asked National Teacher Huizhong: “An ancient worthy said, ‘The verdant bamboo is wholly the Dharma Body; the radiant yellow flowers are none other than prajna.’ Some reject this and call it a false doctrine. Others believe it and call it inconceivable. I do not know how it truly is.”

The National Teacher said: “This is the realm of Samantabhadra; it is not something that ordinary people of limited capacity can accept in faith. Its purport accords with the definitive meaning of the Mahayana sutras. Thus, the Avatamsaka Sutra says, ‘The Buddha’s Body fills the Dharma Realm and universally appears before all sentient beings.

It manifests everywhere in response to conditions, yet constantly remains upon this seat of bodhi.’ Since the verdant bamboo is not outside the Dharma Realm, how could it not be the Dharma Body? Furthermore, the Prajnaparamita Sutra says, ‘Because form is boundless, prajna is also boundless.’ Since the yellow flowers do not lie beyond form, how could they not be prajna? These words are profound; those who have not awakened will find them difficult to understand.”

Having heard this, the Chan visitor bowed and departed.

There was also a lecturer on the Avatamsaka Sutra who asked Venerable Dazhu: “Why do Chan practitioners reject the saying, ‘The verdant bamboo is wholly the Dharma Body; the radiant yellow flowers are all prajna’?”

Patriarch Dazhu said: “The Dharma Body has no form or appearance, yet it responds through the verdant bamboo and assumes form. Prajna is without knowing, yet in correspondence with the yellow flowers it manifests an appearance. It is not that those yellow flowers and verdant bamboo themselves possess prajna and the Dharma Body. Therefore, the sutra says, ‘The Buddha’s true Dharma Body is like empty space. Responding to things, it manifests forms like the moon in water.’ If the yellow flowers truly were prajna, prajna would be the same as the insentient. If the verdant bamboo truly were the Dharma Body, the Dharma Body would be a utilitarian object. Do you understand, Lecturer?”

He replied: “I do not yet understand this meaning.”

Patriarch Dazhu said: “For one who has seen the Nature, it is permissible to say that it is so, and also permissible to say that it is not so. Such a person speaks according to the situation and is bound neither by affirmation nor negation. But one who has not seen the Nature becomes attached to verdant bamboo when speaking of verdant bamboo, and attached to yellow flowers when speaking of yellow flowers; when speaking of the Dharma Body, one becomes trapped in the Dharma Body, and when speaking of prajna, one does not understand prajna. Thus it all turns into disputation.”

The lecturer bowed in gratitude and departed.

Patriarch Miaoxi said: “When discussing the Way before the assembly, those two venerable masters were both exceedingly earnest. One realized the Essence; the other realized the Function. One who realizes the Function establishes teachings on the basis of phenomena; one who realizes the Essence sweeps everything away on the basis of principle.

This is what is meant by, ‘On the ground of ultimate reality and principle, not a single speck of dust is admitted; within the gate of the Buddha’s work, not a single dharma is abandoned.’ I am the Dharma King, sovereign over the Dharma: at times pressing down, at times raising up, with neither gain nor loss. To call such an understanding that of a dwarf watching a play! You must all also know what Miaoxi sees.

Have you not heard the saying, ‘Smash the donkey’s backbone and climb upon the legs of a bluebottle fly’?”

Again, a monk asked Patriarch Yunmen: “What is the Pure Dharma Body?”

Yunmen said: “A flowering herb hedge.”

The monk asked: “What if one simply takes it to be so?”

Yunmen said: “A golden-haired lion.”

Master Xuedou versified:

“A flowering herb hedge—do not be dazed!

The markings are on the balance beam, not on the scale pan.

Simply taking it to be so—truly there is no clue.

The adept watches the golden-haired lion.”

Master Tiantong raised this case and said: “When a bandit comes, he must be struck; when a guest arrives, he must be received. Yunmen and Xuedou were both accomplished adepts. How could there be any matter of ‘simply taking it to be so’ here? Take great care not to bump your head or strike your brow!”

According to the insight of the venerable masters above, even the Perfect and Wondrous cannot be “simply taken to be so”; how much less could one calculate and compare within it, taking a mind that “knows everything” to constitute an erroneous fruition?

Sutra: “Furthermore, this good man has exhausted the empty nature of the formation skandha and brought arising and ceasing to an end, but has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of quiescent cessation. If, within the perfect interfusion whereby the faculties function interchangeably, he has attained accordant acceptance, he may then seek, amid the transformations arising from that perfectly interfused nature, the radiance of the fire element, delight in the purity of the water element, cherish the pervasive reach of the wind element, and contemplate the accomplishments of the earth element.

Venerating each of these elements as a fundamental cause, he establishes the view that they permanently abide. This person then falls into the view that what arises is unarisen. He becomes a companion of the Kasyapas and the brahmins, devoting his entire body and mind to worshiping water and fire in the hope of escaping birth and death.

He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the fifth category: those who become attached to veneration, whose deluded minds follow external things, who establish a false cause in pursuit of an illusory aim and await a deceptive result. They turn far away from the nature of perfect penetration, go contrary to the path of nirvana, and give rise to the seed of inverted transformation.

Commentary: When the formation skandha has become empty, the six faculties function interchangeably. All the faculties are perfectly interfused, producing transformations; following them without obstruction, one sees that all manner of things can arise from this perfectly interfused and transforming nature. One then supposes that these six faculties arise from the purified four elements, and that the nature of the purified four elements permanently abides in the world and has never ceased or perished.

Since they can bring forth the six faculties, all the objective phenomena before one must also arise from them; therefore, the purified four elements are regarded as the fundamental causes from which all things arise. The earth, water, fire, and wind presently before one undergo change, perish, and are impermanent, whereas the fundamental causal earth is believed to abide forever without alteration. Thus, to seek the radiance of the fire element means to seek the permanently abiding nature of radiance.

To delight in the purity of the water element means to seek the permanently abiding nature of purity. To cherish the pervasive reach of the wind element means to seek the permanently abiding nature of pervasiveness. To grasp the accomplishments of the earth element means to seek the permanently abiding nature of accomplishment.

One venerates each of them in the hope of escaping birth and death. One does not merely venerate their appearances but wishes, through those appearances, to attain their nature. For example, the youth Moonlight first cultivated contemplation of water and only after many kalpas was able to become one with water.

The intention underlying the veneration practiced by adherents of non-Buddhist paths vaguely resembles this: they wish to become one with the nature of the four elements, which they hold to abide permanently in the world and call unarising and unceasing. They seek where nothing is to be sought, and thus it is called an “illusory pursuit.” They wait for what cannot be awaited, and thus it is called “awaiting a deceptive result.”

The arising of the four elements is a conditioned arising. The transformation of the four elements is a conditioned transformation. The four elements are what is produced; in truth, they cannot produce.

The four elements are what is transformed; in truth, they cannot transform. To cling to that which cannot produce and regard it as productive is to invert the principle of transformation; hence it is called inverted transformation. Mind is fundamentally the source of the myriad transformations.

All the myriad things arise from Mind. Yet now, failing to know Mind, one pursues external things, abandons the root, and follows the branches. Wishing to escape birth and death, one instead turns back into birth and death and loses right knowledge and right view.

With delusion reaching such an extreme, how could one not turn far away from the nature of perfect penetration and go contrary to the path of nirvana? Thus, once awareness is forgotten and insight is utterly lost, hoping to attain the unarisen and unceasing is indeed difficult!

In former times, whenever Master Luzu saw a monk approach, he would immediately turn to face the wall.

When Patriarch Nanquan heard this, he said, “I ordinarily tell others: ‘Receive and accept that which was before the empty kalpa; understand that which was before the Buddha appeared in the world,’ yet they have not attained even a fraction of it. If he is like that, then it will be the Donkey New Year before he succeeds!”

Master Baofu asked Patriarch Changqing, “What was deficient in Master Luzu’s conduct that caused Patriarch Nanquan to speak of him in this way?”

Patriarch Qing said, “To withdraw oneself and yield to others—among ten thousand people, not one can do it.”

Master Tiantong composed this verse:

“Within blandness there is flavor;

Wondrously transcending ordinary sentiments.

Continuous, as though enduring—ah!—before forms and images;

Dull, as though foolish—ah!—that Way is truly precious.

Carved jade loses its pure subtlety;

A pearl within the abyss is ever lustrous.

Ten parts pure air—ah!—the autumn sunlight is free of shadows;

A single wisp of idle cloud—ah!—afar, sky and water divide.”

Could those wall-gazing Brahmins possibly have anything to say about this?

Again, Patriarch Xuefeng asked a monk, “Where have you come from?”

He replied, “From Shenguang.”

Patriarch Feng said, “By day it is called sunlight. By night it is called firelight. What is divine light?”

The monk had no reply.

Patriarch Xuefeng answered in his place, “Sunlight, firelight. Once sunlight and firelight have been spoken of, cast aside divine light altogether and be done with it!”

One must see that all characteristics are not characteristics; only then does one accord with the purport of the Unborn!

Sutra: “Furthermore, this good man has thoroughly exhausted the empty nature of the formation skandha and has ended arising and ceasing, but he has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction. If, within perfect illumination, he clings to the emptiness within that perfect illumination, repudiating and annihilating all things subject to transformation, and takes eternal extinction as his refuge, thereby giving rise to a superior understanding, then this person falls into the view of taking non-refuge as refuge. He becomes a companion of those who cling to emptiness in the Heaven of No Thought. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the sixth category: perfecting a nihilistic mind and producing the fruit of empty oblivion. It departs far from the nature of perfect penetration, runs counter to the path of nirvana, and gives rise to the seed of annihilationism.

Commentary: Previously, by falsely clinging to the four elements as neither arising nor ceasing, one fell into the view of eternalism. Here, by destroying all things subject to transformation and taking refuge in eternal extinction, one falls into the view of annihilationism.

Emptiness within illumination and illumination within emptiness seem to reveal the nature of perfect illumination; yet to cling exclusively to the emptiness within that illuminated nature, taking non-refuge as refuge and abiding peacefully in emptiness, is to fall into the fruition of the Heaven of No Thought.

Those who cling to emptiness have no body capable of sensation. Within the Buddha’s radiance, its light enables them to see temporarily. Because they take emptiness as the cause, they also take emptiness as the fruit. Thus they cut off the seed-nature of the Tathagata and are therefore said to have ‘scorched the sprouts and ruined the seeds.’ Non-Buddhists take this to be nirvana, and so they are thousands upon tens of thousands of miles from true nirvana!

A monk asked Patriarch Yunmen, “What is it like when the tree has withered and the leaves have fallen?”

Patriarch Men said, “The golden wind fully reveals the substance!”

Master Xuedou composed this verse:

“The question already contains the essential principle;

The answer also corresponds.

Understand the three phrases clearly [Yunmen had three phrases];

One phrase encompasses boundless space.

Boundless space—ah!—the cool wind rushes;

The sky is high—ah!—distant rain drizzles.

Do you not see?

At Shaolin he sat endlessly, yet the traveler had not returned;

Quietly resting at Bear’s Ear, the monastery bustled with activity.”

Patriarch Xuansha ascended the Dharma hall and said, “The Buddha Way is vast and boundless, without any fixed path. No gate is the gate of liberation; no intention is the intention of a person of the Way. It does not abide in the three times [past, present, and future], and therefore cannot rise or sink.

To establish anything is to oppose the Real, and so it does not belong to fabrication. With movement, the root of birth and death necessarily arises; with stillness, one is deluded in the realm of torpor. If both movement and stillness are lost, one falls into empty oblivion.

If movement and stillness are both gathered in, the Buddha-nature becomes obscure. One must, when facing sensory objects and circumstances, be like cold ashes and a withered tree. When the time comes to respond and function, one must not lose the proper standard.

It is like a mirror reflecting forms without its light becoming confused, or a bird flying through the sky without staining the appearance of space. Therefore, throughout the ten directions there are no images, and in the three realms all traces of activity are cut off. One does not fall into the mechanism of coming and going, nor abide in an idea of the middle.

Within the bell there is no resonance of the drum; within the drum there is no resonance of the bell. Bell and drum do not intermingle; phrase after phrase has neither before nor after. It is like a strong man extending his arm without relying upon another’s strength; why would a roaming lion need companions?

When the cataract in empty space is exhausted, how could this depend upon penetrating insight? One expanse of radiance has never been dim. Arriving within this, the substance is utterly cut off, yet ever brilliantly clear; the sun blazes radiantly, spreading without bounds!

Within the emptiness of perfect enlightenment, there is no movement. It swallows the light of heaven and earth and illuminates everything completely.”

Patriarchs Xuansha and Yunmen thoroughly perceived that the true substance of nirvana is originally without arising or ceasing. Their elucidation of its subtle wonder in this way was enough to make the hair of non-Buddhists stand on end.

Sutra: “Furthermore, this good man has thoroughly exhausted the empty nature of the formation skandha and has ended arising and ceasing, but he has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction. If, within the nature of perfect permanence, he reinforces his body so that it will abide permanently like that nature, never decaying or perishing, and thereby gives rise to a superior understanding, then this person falls into the attachment of craving what should not be craved. He becomes a companion of the followers of Asita, who seek long life. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the seventh category: clinging to the life-faculty, establishing the cause of reinforcing the illusory body, and tending toward the fruit of prolonged toil. It departs far from the nature of perfect penetration, runs counter to the path of nirvana, and gives rise to the seed of prolonging illusion.

Commentary: Upon briefly glimpsing the nature of perfect illumination, one clings to the characteristic of ‘emptiness within illumination.’ Upon briefly glimpsing perfect permanence, one clings to the characteristic of permanence that never decays. Even wise people can scarcely avoid this. Yet the nature of perfect illumination has never been other than empty, though that emptiness cannot be grasped. If one grasps that emptiness, one falls into emptiness. The wholly pure and perfect nature has never been other than permanent, though that permanence cannot be grasped. If one grasps that permanence, one necessarily pursues weary toil.

Zhuangzi said, ‘The Great Clod wearies me with life.’ Cultivation practices such as a bear stretching its shoulders, a bird raising its neck, expelling the stale and drawing in the fresh are also wearisome affairs; hence this is called ‘prolonged toil.’ Moreover, this physical body of the four elements is bound by fixed karma. Segmentary birth and death cannot become transformational birth and death, nor can transformational birth and death become segmentary birth and death.

The body is inherently impermanent and truly cannot be craved; yet one now clings to it and desires longevity. Therefore, this is called the attachment of craving what should not be craved. Although long-lived immortals may possess these arts and realize longevity, this amounts to no more than reinforcing an illusory body.

It is exceedingly far removed from the undecaying nature of true permanence; hence it is called departing far from the nature of perfect penetration and running counter to the path of nirvana.

By clinging to the life-faculty, keeping the essence of consciousness silently still, and making it limpid and unmoving, one may transcend the Heaven of No Thought and be born in the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. This is called the foremost class of non-Buddhists in the Western Regions. They place great importance on reinforcing the body so that it may abide permanently, yet at most, after eighty thousand kalpas, they fall back into samsara. How, then, could this be permanence?

Once, Patriarch Xuansha mistakenly drank some medicine, and his entire body became red and inflamed. A monk asked, “What is the indestructible Dharma-body?”

Patriarch Sha said, “The earth oozes pus, drop after drop!”

Venerable Huai composed this verse:

“Oozing, oozing—the entire body is putrid pus;

Upon the fishing boat, the family style is revealed.

People of the world look only at the fishing line”

Not seeing the orchid blossoms facing the red willows.”

Master Duan said: “Someone once asked Master Fahua, ‘What is the pure Dharma-body?’ He merely replied, ‘Stinking excrement reeks to heaven.’ He also said, ‘Upon a lotus leaf, it transforms into a little child.’ Now tell me: is this the same as or different from the ancient masters?”

Master Fahua also composed this verse:

“Stinking excrement reeking to heaven is also incidental;

How would Fahua dare expound it for you?

If that nose of yours has an aperture reaching heaven,

Just range freely, without being pierced through.”

Here, when the venerable masters heard people discoursing about the solid and enduring Dharma-body, they already wanted to vomit; how much more so when one seeks deceitfully to prolong this coarse physical body?

Yet there are also those who return through the power of their vows, rather than attaining this through cultivation and training.

For example, Master Baozhang of a Thousand Years, a native of Central India, was born in the twelfth year of King Weilie of Zhou. His left hand was clenched shut, and it did not open until, at the age of seven, he underwent the tonsure ceremony. He was therefore named Baozhang [Precious Palm]. Around the Wei and Jin dynasties, he traveled to China and entered Shu to pay homage to Samantabhadra. He ordinarily did not eat, and every day recited more than a thousand fascicles of the Prajnaparamita scriptures. A verse about him says:

“Wearily his jade teeth grow cold,

Like a swiftly pouring stream;

At times he sits throughout the night,

While ghosts and spirits weep before the steps.”

One day, he told the assembly: “I vowed to remain in the world for a thousand years. This year marks six hundred and twenty-six years!”

For this reason, he became known as the Master of a Thousand Years.

Thereafter, he traveled to Mount Wutai, moved to Huayan Monastery, Mount Zhurong, and Mount Shuangfeng in Huangmei; then to Donglin Monastery on Mount Lu, seeking out each place to undertake construction. When Patriarch Bodhidharma entered the Liang realm, he went to inquire about the essential meaning and attained awakening. Emperor Wu, revering his advanced age in the Way, invited him to court. Before long, he entered the region of Wu, where he composed this verse:

“In the city of Liang I met the Master of the Way;

Investigating Chan, I understood the ground of mind.

I roamed through the two regions of Zhe,

Exhausting all the beauty of their mountains and rivers.”

Following the current eastward to the region bordering Tianzhu, he stayed at Mount Maofeng, ascended Mount Taibai, crossed Mount Yandang, and discoursed at Mount Cuifeng, establishing seventy-two hermitages in all. Returning to Chicheng, he rested at Yunmen, Fahua, and other places. He then returned to Mount Feilai, stayed at Mount Shidou, and traveled throughout the four hundred prefectures of China.

In this land, such a person is called a wandering practitioner of the Way. This was in the fifteenth year of the Zhenguan era. Later, at Baoyan Monastery in Pujiang, he formed a virtuous friendship with Chan Master Lang.

Whenever he sent an inquiry, he had a white dog carry the letter; Master Lang likewise dispatched a blue-green ape as his messenger. Thus, on the wall of Master Lang’s quarters appeared the lines: “The white dog comes bearing a letter in its mouth; the blue-green ape returns after washing the bowls.”

On the first day of the New Year in the second year of the Xianqing era, the Master began fashioning an image of himself. When it was finished on the ninth day, he asked his disciple Huiyun: “Whom does this resemble?”

Huiyun replied: “It is no different from the Master.”

He immediately bathed, changed his robes, sat in the full-lotus posture, and told Huiyun: “I have remained in the world for one thousand and seventy-two years. Now I am about to take my leave.

“Hear my verse:

“Originally, there is neither birth nor death;

Now I also display arising and cessation.

I have attained mastery of coming and going;

In another year, I shall return here again.”

A moment later, he further instructed: “Sixty years after my passing, a monk will come to take my remains. Do not obstruct him.”

Having spoken, he departed in liberation.

More than fifty-four years later, Elder Shifu came from Yunmen to the stupa, paid homage, and said: “May the stupa open wide.”

A moment later, the door of the stupa indeed opened wide. The bones were still joined together and were the color of pure gold. Shifu then carried them to Qinwang, where he built a stupa and interred them for veneration.

From the Dingmao year of King Weilie of Zhou to the Dingsi year in the Xianqing era of Emperor Gaozong of Tang was exactly one thousand and seventy-two years! He had spent more than four hundred years in this country. Among non-Buddhists who seek longevity, how many could equal Master Baozhang?

Sutra: “Furthermore, that good man has exhausted the nature of emptiness within the formation skandha and has brought arising and cessation to an end, yet he has not attained perfection in the subtle wonder of tranquil cessation. Examining how the life-faculty intercommunicates, he again wishes to remain amid the defilements of the world, fearing that it will be entirely extinguished. Thus, at this boundary, he sits in a lotus palace, transforms all manner of seven precious substances and many beautiful women, indulges his own mind, and gives rise to a decisive interpretation. That person falls into the attachment to ‘the real which is not real,’ becomes a companion of the followers of Zhizhijialuo, is deluded concerning the Buddha’s bodhi, and loses right knowledge and right view.

“This is called the eighth kind: establishing the cause of deviant thought and producing the result of blazing sense-objects. He departs far from the nature of perfect penetration, turns his back on the path to nirvana, and gives rise to the species of heavenly demons.

“Explanation: The consciousness skandha is the source of the life of the twelve classes of sentient beings. One’s own life communicates with theirs, and their lives communicate with one’s own; therefore, this is called intercommunication. If the consciousness skandha were exhausted, the lives of sentient beings throughout the ten directions would immediately be utterly ended, and one’s own life would also end.

Who, then, would realize the principle of True Permanence? Who would teach and transform sentient beings? There would be only True Permanence, but no one to realize True Permanence.

Therefore, he fears total extinction and wishes to remain amid the defilements of the world in order to liberate sentient beings. At first he sits in a lotus palace and transforms many kinds of the seven precious substances; his intention is not evil. Next, however, he adds many beautiful women and indulges his own mind; deviant thought has thereby entered.

Relying upon this deviant thought, he seeks to realize True Permanence and gives rise to transformative functions without recognizing his error. Therefore, this is called attachment to ‘the real which is not real.’

“Zhizhijialuo refers to the Heaven of Enjoying Transformations by Others at the summit of the desire realm, whose beings can transform objects of desire for their own enjoyment. The beings of the Heaven of Enjoying Transformations by Others are not necessarily all demons, but the miraculous transformations of the Demon King are of the same kind, and therefore they dwell together. Because the objects of desire burn like fire, they are called blazing sense-objects.

The ten kinds of heavenly demons described previously in the section on the perception skandha all secretly engaged in craving and desire. This is where deviant thought arises, impossible to restrain. Without attachment, they are called heavenly beings; with attachment, they are called demons.

The Lotus Sutra says: ‘You should not delight in dwelling within the burning house of the three realms. You should not crave coarse and base forms, sounds, fragrances, flavors, or tangible objects. If craving and attachment give rise to desire, you will immediately be burned.’

“In ancient times, Udraka Ramaputra used mundane wisdom to subdue lower levels of delusion, attained the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception, and possessed the five kinds of supernormal powers. The king of that time revered him and invited him into the palace, where the palace women received him by taking hold of his feet in homage. When Udraka Ramaputra came into contact with a woman’s hands, desire arose in him, and he immediately lost his supernormal powers. After eating, he had to return to the mountain on foot, one step at a time.

“Thus, there is a verse:

“As soon as a single thought of desire arose,

He immediately lost the five supernormal powers.”

“This kind of heavenly demon, delighting in transformations, gains its powers by suppressing the consciousness skandha; therefore, as soon as deviant thought arises, those powers are lost. When the karmic reward of supernormal powers is exhausted, such a being falls into states of submersion. How could this pleasure be permanent? Therefore, it is called ‘the real which is not real.’

“Consider the manifestation of spiritual power by the great being Vimalakirti. At that time, the Buddha Sumeru Lamp King caused thirty-two thousand vast, pure, and splendid lion thrones to enter Vimalakirti’s chamber. The bodhisattvas, great disciples, Shakra, Brahma, and the Four Heavenly Kings beheld what they had never seen before: the chamber became boundlessly vast, containing all thirty-two thousand lion thrones without obstruction.

“Chan Master Baojue said: ‘If one regards the lion thrones as lofty and vast and the chamber at Vaishali as small and narrow, the moment one conceives of the space in which they are contained, obstruction immediately arises. This is the power of genuine spiritual penetration and is therefore inconceivable!’”

Sutra: “Furthermore, that good man has exhausted the emptiness of the Formation Skandha and brought arising and ceasing to an end, but has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of Tranquil Cessation. Within the empty and luminous root of the life faculty, he discriminates the essential from the coarse in order to discern the true from the false. Regarding the recompense of cause and effect, he seeks only stimulus and response.

Contrary to the pure path—which is to perceive suffering, eliminate accumulation, realize cessation, and cultivate the Path—he regards cessation as the end, refuses to advance further, and gives rise to a conviction of supreme understanding. That person falls among the fixed-nature shravakas and becomes a companion of the Unlearned Sangha—those of overweening pride. He mistakes the Buddha’s Bodhi and loses Right Knowledge and Right View.

“This is called the ninth category: striving to perfect the mind of essential response, he accomplishes the fruit of tending toward purity. He departs far from the nature of perfect penetration, turns his back upon the path to nirvana, and gives rise to the kind that is bound by emptiness.

Commentary: Because the Consciousness Skandha has become manifest, it is called the empty and luminous root of the life faculty. Consciousness contains both contaminated and uncontaminated seeds. He now discriminates and selects among them: suffering and accumulation are contaminated and are called coarse and false; the Path and cessation are uncontaminated and are called essential and true.

He rejects the coarse and false suffering and accumulation while retaining the essential and true cessation and Path. Cultivating the Path is the stimulus; realizing cessation is the response. His sole intention is to grasp this and refuse to proceed any further.

This is the Dharma wheel of the Four Truths. Its original cultivation is the perfect contemplation of the equality of the Dharma Realm, free from the defilements of the two extremes, and is called the Pure Path.

Yet he now again gives rise to the Lesser Vehicle’s conceptual understanding of ‘liking and disliking.’ He does not transcend cause and effect, but stops and rests at the Truth of Cessation. This is the defilement on the side of purity, and thus it is called contrary. Turning toward stillness, he becomes bound to emptiness and realizes a partial, one-sided true Dharma; this differs somewhat from the previous annihilationism.

The former was a single-minded orientation toward emptiness and belonged to the Heaven of No Thought. Here there is the Truth of Cessation to be realized, so it pertains to the Four Heavens of Emptiness; alternatively, he is bound to emptiness. Hoping to perfect the mind of stimulus and response, he becomes fettered by stillness and cannot turn toward the Great Vehicle.

Fixed-nature shravakas have attained the Eight Samadhis but have not yet realized the Exhaustion of Outflows. Attached to the teaching of the Four Truths, they are therefore called shravakas by the Buddha and cannot awaken, aspire, and advance toward Unsurpassed Bodhi. When they hear the Buddha proclaim the Dharma gateway of the Sudden Teaching, they abandon the place of retreat; this is called overweening pride. They have not attained, yet believe they have attained, and ultimately belong to the group of Unlearned Bhikshus.

An ancient said, ‘Do not cling to strange grasses greening the cold grotto. Sitting serenely amid white clouds is not wondrous.’ Therefore, the hermitage master Lotus raised his staff and instructed the assembly: ‘When the ancients reached this place, why did they refuse to remain?’

The assembly had no answer.

The patriarch answered on their behalf: ‘Because that path afforded them no strength!’

He further said: ‘What is it ultimately?’

Again answering on their behalf, he said: ‘Carrying the pole crosswise, heedless of others, go straight among the thousand and myriad mountain peaks.’

Master Xuedou composed this verse:

‘In the eyes: sand and dust; in the ears: earth.

Amid a thousand peaks and myriad peaks, where would one consent to remain?

Falling flowers and flowing water alike stretch into the distance;

Raise your eyebrows—where will you go?’

A monk also asked Chan Master Yunju Jian: ‘What is it like to dwell upon the solitary summit?’

Master Ju said: ‘There is no sleeping place in the nine-bay Sangha hall. Who taught you to dwell upon the solitary summit?’

Master Danxia composed this verse:

‘The Dharma is thus: without cultivation, originally complete;

Its ordinary response is exceedingly clear.

Though the road to Chang’an is pointed out directly,

Alas, the wandering traveler will not walk!’

Shravakas turn toward tranquil stillness, yet this still pertains to the work of cultivation. The Dharma is thus, without any cultivation; that is true Tranquil Cessation. Those of dull faculties refuse to understand this point.

Sutra: “Furthermore, that good man has exhausted the emptiness of the Formation Skandha and brought arising and ceasing to an end, but has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of Tranquil Cessation. If, within the pure and perfectly interfused nature of awakened luminosity, he illuminates the profound wonder and then establishes it as nirvana without advancing further, giving rise to a conviction of supreme understanding, that person falls among the fixed-nature pratyekabuddhas. He becomes a companion of those Conditions-Awakened Ones and Solitary-Awakened Ones who do not turn their minds toward the Great Vehicle. He mistakes the Buddha’s Bodhi and loses Right Knowledge and Right View.

“This is called the tenth category: perfecting the still and silent awakened mind, he accomplishes the fruit of profound luminosity. He departs far from the nature of perfect penetration, turns his back upon the path to nirvana, and gives rise to the category whose awakening is perfect and luminous but which cannot interfuse with the perfect nature.

Commentary: Since it is already pure and perfectly interfused, whatever runs contrary to the Path cannot compare with it. It has already drawn close to the four virtues of permanence, bliss, self, and purity; it is merely because of attachment that it has not yet become interfused. He takes awakening to be luminosity: seeing the perfect, he becomes stuck in the perfect; seeing the luminous, he becomes stuck in the luminous.

Because it is luminous, he is not mistaken regarding the stimulus and response of cause and effect. Because it is perfect, he does not confuse cessation with the ultimate end. At this point, he illuminates the profound wonder.

The profound becomes ever more profound, so he does not fall into existence; the wondrous becomes ever more wondrous, so he does not fall into emptiness. At this very point of neither existence nor emptiness, he establishes a nirvana that neither arises nor ceases and then advances no further. This is the fruit of the fixed-nature pratyekabuddha.

There are two kinds of pratyekabuddhas: those born into the world when a Buddha is present are called Conditions-Awakened Ones; those born into the world when no Buddha is present are called Solitary-Awakened Ones. Both awaken to the Path through contemplating causes and conditions, reaching the place of immovability and accord with Perfect Awakening. Yet they cannot eliminate the single word ‘awakening.’ Caught upon the single path of perfect luminosity, they cling stubbornly and cannot become interfused; hence they are said not to turn their minds toward the Great Vehicle. This is what Chan calls, ‘Outside the curtain, the night is bright; it is difficult to turn the body.’

A monk asked Chan Master Jinfeng Zhi: ‘What is it like when the four seas are tranquil and clear?’

Master Feng said: ‘You are still someone below the steps.’

Master Danxia composed this verse:

‘Throughout the four seas, the smoke and dust have settled into stillness;

Across the veranda, the bright moon shines upon the person at leisure.

The general’s great achievement receives no reward;

He suddenly grows weary of beholding the fine horse and golden spear.’

A monk asked Patriarch Caoshan: ‘What is it like when the moon is bright and the sky is empty?’

Master Shan said: ‘You are still someone below the steps.’

The monk said: ‘Master, please receive me upon the steps.’

Master Shan said: ‘After the moon has set, come and meet me; at that very moment, we shall be the same.’

Patriarch Touzi instructed the assembly: ‘If we discuss this matter, it is like the luan and phoenix soaring into the heavens without ever leaving a trace, or the wild goat hanging by its horns—where could its tracks be found? The sun does not remain in the cold marsh, and how could the moon abide in a dark mark? If guest and host are established, one must shake one’s head beyond the paths of King Awesome Voice. Questions, answers, words, and demonstrations are activities that reveal only one side of the mysterious road. Even if one attains this, one is still halfway along the road. Only then can one steady one’s eyes, with no need to meet each other.’

The verse says:

‘The moon is full, the water still—the person of the Way grieves;

Wonders exhausted, with nothing to rely upon, the seed cannot be gathered in.

Beyond the kalpa lies the path of “the Upright and the Inclined carried together”;

Upon the branch where no sprout emerges, discern spring and autumn.’

If one can find a path of thorough penetration through these koans, one can become a teacher of Conditions-Awakened Ones and Solitary-Awakened Ones. Conditions-Awakened Ones and Solitary-Awakened Ones were originally of a single kind; when distinguished earlier, they were not the same.

Sutra: “Ananda, these ten kinds of dhyana, becoming deranged midway, arise because, through delusion, practitioners regard what is still incomplete as complete realization. They are all states produced by the interaction of the consciousness skandha and the mind’s application of effort. Deluded beings do not know how to examine themselves. When such states manifest before them, each, with a confused mind still delighting in old habits, comes to rest in them, regarding them as the ultimate refuge. They claim that they have fulfilled unsurpassed bodhi and thus commit a great falsehood. When the karmic retribution of these deviant demons and adherents of heterodox paths comes to an end, they fall into the Avici Hell. The shravakas and pratyekabuddhas are unable to advance any further.

“You should carefully preserve the Way of the Tathagata. After my nirvana, proclaim this Dharma door throughout the Dharma-ending age, enabling all beings everywhere to understand this meaning clearly, and do not allow demons of deviant views to bring great calamity upon themselves. Protect them with compassionate aid, eliminate all deviant conditions, and enable their bodies and minds to enter the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, so that from the beginning through final accomplishment they do not become caught in divergent paths.

Commentary: Of the ten kinds of dhyana associated with the formation skandha discussed above, the highest culminated in the manifestation of five kinds of nirvana. There was already the potential and opportunity for awakening, but the fruit had not yet been realized. Here, among the ten kinds of dhyana associated with the consciousness skandha, the highest culminates in the nirvana of a pratyekabuddha. Since they have entered a stage of fruition, the text says, “Such states are produced.”

The first eight belong to heterodox paths. They violate the two principles of the Real and the Middle and give rise to deviant views within the Three Realms. When their karmic retribution ends, they reenter samsara.

The last two belong to the practitioners of the Two Vehicles. They violate the Truth of the Middle Way and give rise to deviant views beyond the Three Realms. Once they turn their minds around, they enter the Mahayana and can therefore advance further.

Returning to wisdom and proceeding toward compassion is the bodhisattva path. Earlier, the text spoke of demons of the mind; here, it speaks of demons of views. The mind still moves and flows and includes the sixth consciousness.

Views merely grasp and maintain and include the seventh consciousness. In brief, these do not go beyond the two beginningless habitual tendencies of delusions of views and delusions of craving. Because practitioners follow delusion, they cannot reach the ultimate.

While still incomplete, they conceive that they have attained complete realization. Although they have reached the tranquil and unmoving state of the eighth consciousness, they are not yet able to transform consciousness into wisdom. This is therefore called “being deluded about the nature of bodhi” and losing right knowledge and vision.

This knowledge and vision is the Buddha’s knowledge and vision; it is not something lost through attaining fruition. Deluded within the consciousness skandha, they cannot attain clarity because consciousness obscures them, and thus they stray far from the nature of perfect penetration.

The eighth consciousness is the nature of the Tathagatagarbha. Awaken to it, and consciousness is transformed into the true fruition; be deluded about it, and one is turned about by consciousness and enters samsara. Therefore, if one can “open, reveal, awaken to, and enter” the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, then from the moment one first enters the gate, accomplishment is assured, and one will not be confused by the divergent paths of attachment to views.

Patriarch Yunfeng Yue ascended the Dharma hall and said: “The root of sentient beings relies upon the Ocean of Wisdom as its source. All beings endowed with consciousness take the Dharma Body as their essence. It is only because discriminating emotion arises that wisdom becomes separated; conceptual thought transforms, and the essence appears differentiated.

When the root is penetrated, discriminating emotion vanishes; when the mind is known, the essence is united. Worthy Chan practitioners, do you understand? The ancient Buddha communes with the exposed pillar; the Buddha hall knocks foreheads with the lantern.

If you do not understand, then: Single, Double, Crossing, Broken!” [Single, Double, Crossing, and Broken designate the lines in the hexagrams used for divination in the Book of Changes. Single: a yang line; Double: a moving yang line; Crossing: a moving yin line; Broken: a yin line.]

A monk asked Venerable Bajiao Che: “There is a person who neither relinquishes birth and death nor realizes nirvana. Would you join hands with him?”

He replied: “I would not join hands with him.”

The monk asked: “Why would you not join hands with him?”

He replied: “This old monk also knows a little about what is good and what is bad!”

Master Touzi composed this verse:

“A hundred-year-old infant has gone out through the gate;

People crowd all around, red with exertion, welcoming the dust.

Strolling at leisure amid the flames, in a cool and refreshing place—

How could one who knows dare draw near to support him?”

If one knows “That Person,” one immediately enters the Buddha’s knowledge and vision and does not become caught in divergent paths.

Sutra: “Such is this Dharma door: all the Tathagatas, as numerous as motes of dust throughout Ganges-sands of kalpas in the past, relied upon this illuminating and revealing mind to attain the unsurpassed Way. When the consciousness skandha is completely exhausted, then, at that very moment, all your faculties will be able to function interchangeably. From this interchangeability of the faculties, you will enter the bodhisattva’s Vajra Ground of Dry Wisdom.

Within it, the wondrous, perfectly luminous, essential mind will manifest, like pure vaidurya containing a precious moon within. Thus you will transcend the Ten Faiths, the Ten Abodes, the Ten Practices, the Ten Dedications, the Four Minds of Additional Practice, and the Vajra-like Ten Grounds traversed by bodhisattvas, reaching the perfectly luminous stage of Equal Awakening. You will then merge into the Tathagata’s Ocean of Wondrous Adornments, perfect bodhi, and return to non-attainment.

“These are the subtle demonic events that all Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones of the past, awakened to, examined clearly, and analyzed within the Dharma of shamatha and vipashyana. If, when a demonic state manifests, you clearly recognize it, the defilements of your mind will be cleansed away and you will not fall into deviant views. The demons of the skandhas will be destroyed, the heavenly demons will scatter, the mighty ghosts and spirits will lose their nerve and flee, and li, mei, wang, and liang spirits will no longer arise.

You will proceed directly to bodhi without any deficiency. Even those of inferior capacity will advance and will not become confused or distressed regarding the mind of great nirvana. If deluded beings in the Dharma-ending age do not yet understand dhyana, fail to comprehend the teaching of the Dharma, yet delight in cultivating samadhi, and you fear they may fall into deviant paths, you should single-mindedly exhort them to uphold my Buddha-Crown Dharani Mantra.

If they are not yet able to recite it, they should write it out and place it in the meditation hall or wear it upon their bodies; then none of the demons will be able to disturb them. You should reverently obey this final instruction concerning the ultimate path of cultivation and advancement taught by the Tathagatas of the ten directions.”

Commentary: This passage of the sutra corresponds from beginning to end with the earlier passage in which Ananda earnestly inquired about the initial expedients of shamatha, samapatti, and dhyana by which the Tathagatas of the ten directions accomplish bodhi. These are the subtle demonic events that the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones of the past, awakened to, examined clearly, and analyzed within the Dharma of shamatha and vipashyana; therefore, demons cannot gain entry. By relying upon this illuminating and revealing mind, they attained the unsurpassed Way. What is essential is simply that the consciousness skandha be completely exhausted.

“The Adana consciousness [the consciousness skandha] is extremely subtle; its habitual tendencies form a torrential current. Fearing that people would confuse it with the Real or the unreal, I have generally refrained from expounding it.” Therefore, if one does not understand the consciousness skandha, one becomes deranged midway, and the demons flourish. Once one awakens to it, consciousness is transformed into wisdom, and bodhi manifests before one.

But if each person, with a confused mind still delighting in old habits, comes to rest in them, regarding what has not been attained as attained and what has not been realized as realized, then such attainment and realization belong to demons. If the consciousness skandha is exhausted, both spirit and self dissolve completely; reversing the current, one returns to complete unity, and the faculties function interchangeably.

Through their interchangeability, one penetrates the Vajra Ground of Dry Wisdom. There, true wisdom arises, like pure vaidurya containing a precious moon within. The secret, perfect, pure, and wondrous nature of all Tathagatas manifests therein.

At that very moment, one attains the Patience with the Non-arising of Dharmas and then transcends the Ten Faiths, the Ten Abodes, the Ten Practices, the Ten Dedications, and the Four Minds of Additional Practice, up to the Vajra-like Ten Grounds traversed by bodhisattvas, realizing the stage of Equal Awakening. With Equal Awakening perfectly luminous, one merges into the Tathagata’s Ocean of Wondrous Adornments, which is the stage of Wondrous Awakening.

This is precisely what the earlier passage meant when it said, “There is a samadhi called the Great Buddha-Crown, the Shurangama King, complete with the myriad practices, the wondrously adorned path of the Tathagatas of the ten directions, the single gate of transcendence.”

The Surangama Sutra says, “Perfecting bodhi, one returns to the attainment of nothing whatsoever.” The Diamond Sutra says, “If there had been even a single Dharma for me to attain, Dipankara Buddha would not have bestowed a prediction upon me.” Therefore, attaining that which is unattainable and realizing that which is unrealizable is seeing the Nature. To see the Nature is to become a Buddha. Because the Stage of Dry Wisdom directly realizes bodhi, it is called Transcendence.

Because it transcends, it is Sudden. From the Stage of Dry Wisdom, the noble stages are established up to the perfection of bodhi; thus it is both Sudden and Perfect. This is the Perfect and Sudden Dharma-gate, which immediately transforms consciousness into wisdom.

The demonic events are rooted in the consciousness skandha; from where could they arise? Therefore it is said, “If one does not grasp, there is nothing that is non-illusory. When even the non-illusory does not arise, upon what could illusory dharmas be established?” If even illusion does not exist, how could there be demonic events?

Thus, if ordinary beings understand this, they proceed directly to bodhi, lacking nothing. If those of the Two Vehicles understand this point, they turn their minds toward the Great Vehicle, advance, and attain Great Nirvana. Therefore, this subtle and wondrous Dharma of shamatha, samapatti, and dhyana is both the initial expedient and the final instruction.

It can only be suddenly awakened to within oneself; it cannot be obtained from another, nor can it be attained through ordinary contemplative practices of cultivation and realization. This is an inconceivable realm. If one cultivates samadhi while upholding the mantra, none of the demons can disturb one.

This too is inconceivable. Therefore, the text concludes here with the upholding of the mantra, corresponding to the Great Buddha’s Crown taught earlier, in order to reveal this foremost, supremely honored, and supremely precious Dharma-gate.

Chan Master Qingyuan Xingsi asked the Sixth Patriarch, “What should one do so as not to fall into the stages and ranks?”

The Patriarch said, “What have you ever done?”

Xingsi replied, “I do not even practice the Noble Truths.”

The Patriarch said, “Into what stage or rank have you fallen?”

Xingsi replied, “Since I do not even practice the Noble Truths, what stages or ranks could there be?”

The Patriarch approved of him, appointed him head of the assembly, and later instructed him to go elsewhere to teach and transform beings.

A verse says:

“The mind-ground contains every seed;

When universal rain falls, sprouts surely arise.

Suddenly awakening to the flower of sentience,

Bodhi’s fruit naturally ripens.”

Master Touzi chanted:

“The path to the Invisible Crown is bared as clouds swiftly part;

The numinous branch beyond the kalpa bears no breath of spring.

Not sitting on that side in the Palace of the King of Emptiness,

How could one consent to plow toward the crimson sun?”

Master Danxia chanted:

“Lofty and surpassing, it is hard to behold with the true eye;

Transcending past and present, it has no equal.

In the moss-covered ancient hall, no attendants remain;

Moonlight mantles the old tree, where even the phoenix does not alight.”

A monk asked Patriarch Ruiyan, “How should this be discussed so as not to fall into stages and ranks?”

Patriarch Yan said, “It cannot be presented!” [Alternatively: “It cannot be driven out.”]

The monk asked, “Why can it not be presented?”

He replied, “It has never had stages or ranks.”

The monk asked, “It is still unclear to me: in what position does it abide?”

He replied, “It does not sit in the Palace of Universal Light.”

The monk asked, “Then does it undertake the work of teaching and transformation?”

Patriarch Yan said, “Its renown fills the three realms; what place does not turn toward it in homage?”

The Ocean of Wondrous Adornment is replete with merit and wisdom, and all myriad practices are inherently complete; it is truly inconceivable. Even the ultimate truth is insufficient to express it—how much less the conventional truth?

CHAPTER V: DISTINGUISHING THE KARMIC RESULTS THAT FORM THE THREE REALMS; CLEARLY REVEALING THE REALMS OF CULTIVATION AND REALIZATION AND THEIR OBSTACLES

VIII. BIRTH AND DEATH ARISE FROM THE DELUSIVE THOUGHTS OF THE FIVE SKANDHAS; ALTHOUGH THE PRINCIPLE IS SUDDENLY AWAKENED TO, PHENOMENAL HABITS MUST BE GRADUALLY ELIMINATED

Sutra: Ananda then rose from his seat. Having heard the Buddha’s instruction, he bowed his head in reverence, respectfully accepted it, and retained it without omission. Before the great assembly, he again addressed the Buddha: “As the Buddha has taught, within the characteristics of the five skandhas are five kinds of falseness that constitute the root of the thinking mind.

Ordinarily, we have not yet had the benefit of the Tathagata’s detailed revelation. Moreover, are these five skandhas eliminated all at once, or do they come to an end in sequence? What are the boundaries of these five layers?

I pray that the Tathagata will extend his great compassion, causing the mind’s eye of this assembly to become clear and bright, so that this may serve as the eye of the Way for all beings in the future Dharma-ending age.”

The Buddha told Ananda, “The Nature of True Suchness is wondrously luminous, and the nature of fundamental awakening is perfectly pure. It bears no trace of birth and death or of defilement by sensory objects. Even empty space arises entirely because of delusive thought.

All these originally arise from the false activity of the wondrous luminosity and true essence of fundamental awakening, producing the material worlds, just as Yajnadatta became confused about his own head and took the reflection in the mirror to be his head. Delusion is fundamentally without a cause, yet within delusive thought a nature of causes and conditions is established. When causes and conditions are misunderstood, this is called spontaneity.

The nature of empty space itself is truly born of illusion and transformation; how much more, then, are causes and conditions and spontaneity merely calculations of beings’ deluded minds?

“Ananda, only when one knows that falseness has arisen can one speak of the causes and conditions of that falseness. If falseness is fundamentally nonexistent, then the causes and conditions of that falseness have no place to exist. How much less could one, through lack of understanding, speculate that it arises spontaneously?

Commentary: Ananda’s question, “Are they eliminated all at once, or do they come to an end in sequence?” decisively distinguishes between the two Dharma-gates of Sudden and Gradual cultivation, thereby providing the eye of the Way for devas and humans of the future. The World-Honored One first revealed the supreme path, on which, through awakening, everything is eliminated at once. The essential point lies solely in awakening and embodying the wondrously luminous Nature of True Suchness within the perfectly pure fundamental awakening.

This Seeing accommodates none of the deluded karma of birth and death, nor any delusive conditions or defilement by sensory objects. Even empty space itself is neither karma nor a condition. Its essential nature, like the great ocean that does not harbor corpses, provides no place where the characteristics of empty space, birth and death, or sensory defilement can adhere.

Clearly seeing that the wondrously luminous Nature is originally true and pure in itself, what delusion could remain? The nature of fundamental awakening is eternally whole and pure in itself; where could there be any stain or defilement?

Therefore, the world’s wandering in birth and death belongs to the skandhas of feeling, perception, and formations, while turbidity and defilement by sensory objects belong to the form skandha. What arises and is established in dependence upon empty space belongs to the consciousness skandha. All of these arise from delusive thought. Since fundamental awakening is wondrously luminous and truly pure, through what cause could delusion arise and produce the material worlds, the aspect of seeing, the aspect of appearances, and so forth? Delusion is fundamentally without a cause, as previously explained through “Yajnadatta becoming confused about his own head and taking the reflection to be his head.” Everyone knows this to be delusion, but from where does that delusion arise?

If it is said to arise from causes and conditions, it is not truly caused and conditioned; if it is said to arise spontaneously, it is not truly spontaneous. If it is neither caused and conditioned nor spontaneous, then is it not the nature of empty space? Yet neither is it the nature of empty space.

The nature of empty space is like a single bubble arising in the ocean. Viewed from within the Nature of Great Awakening, it is plainly an illusion. How much more, then, must the various forms of birth, death, and sensory defilement established in dependence upon empty space be illusions within an illusion?

Therefore, to speak of a nature of causes and conditions or a nature of spontaneity is merely calculation by the deluded mind; neither has ever truly existed. Since they are neither caused and conditioned nor spontaneous, the delusion of the five skandhas originally has no self-nature. Since it has no self-nature, it has never arisen.

Since delusion has never arisen, where could delusion be sought? Thus, only by knowing where delusion arises can one speak of delusion’s causes and conditions. How does this delusion arise, and how must it then be extinguished?

Only by thinking in this way does the matter of the five skandhas being eliminated in sequence arise. But if delusion is fundamentally nonexistent, from where could it be called caused and conditioned, and from where could one speculate that it is spontaneous? It is like eyes free from cataracts, which see only one moon. Since there has never been a second moon, where could one seek a second moon in order to discuss its causes and conditions or its spontaneity?”

This place of reliance upon awakening, wherein all is eliminated at once, is the Supreme Perfect and Sudden Dharma-gate. Therefore, no matter how elimination is undertaken, there has never been a time when all was not eliminated at once! One need only awaken to and enter the fundamentally awakened, quintessentially true, wondrously luminous, perfect, and pure nature; then there is nothing else whatsoever.

A monk asked Patriarch Changsha Jingcen, “Are human beings originally Buddhas?”

Master Sha said, “Would you say that the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang returns to cutting grass and thatch?”

Master Touzi versified:

“Layer upon layer, purple vapors deepen around the mossy hall;

How could the ranks be divided to govern Heaven and Earth?

The Golden-Wheel [Buddha] does not reign over the realm of Jambudvipa;

How could he honor the seals of the feudal lords?”

Another monk asked Chan Master Jiufeng Man, “Everyone says, ‘Please teach us the meaning.’ It is not yet clear whether the Master offers aid.”

Master Man said, “Would you say that this great mountain lacks even an inch of earth?”

The monk asked, “Why then search throughout the four seas?”

Master Man said, “Yajnadatta, deluded about his head, drove his own mind mad.”

The monk asked, “Is there anyone who is not mad?”

Master Man said, “There is.”

The monk asked, “What is a person who is not mad like?”

Master Man said, “Suddenly understanding midway along the road, his eyes do not open.”

This is to create a fault within awakened luminosity and then to sever oneself from the root of delusion. Therefore, from where could Yajnadatta’s deluded madness ever have arisen? Unless one has truly seen the Original Face, how could one easily penetrate this point?

Sutra: “Therefore, the Tathagata has revealed to you that the fundamental cause common to the five skandhas is deluded thought. Your body was first born because of the thoughts of your parents. If your mind were not itself thought, how could it enter into their thoughts and entrust its life there? As I said before, when the mind thinks of something sour, saliva flows in the mouth; when the mind imagines climbing to a great height, the soles of the feet feel uneasy. The precipice is not present, and the sour thing has not arrived. If your body were not of the same kind as delusion, why would merely hearing sourness mentioned cause your saliva to flow?

“Therefore, you should know that your present physical body is precisely the first kind, the deluded thought of solidity.

Penetrating Commentary: Where does thought arise? It arises within consciousness. The very first stirring of consciousness is the source of thought.

Consciousness is the life-root, transmitted by relying upon thought. When consciousness stirs, thought necessarily arises; when thought arises, life is established; when life is established, the four great elements are complete. This is what is meant by the statement, “The three things—life, thought, and consciousness—combine harmoniously to form a person.” Therefore, when one’s own thought joins with the thoughts of one’s parents, then, according to the aspiration and whether one’s merit is wholesome or unwholesome, a solid physical body manifests there.

Before birth there is only thought. Before thought exists, there is only consciousness. The conscious spirit that does not perish is called the life-root.

Because the life-root desires solidity and permanence, once it has manifested a physical body, it fears only that the body will perish. This is clear evidence of the deluded thought of solidity.

If one maintains that this body truly exists by relying upon the yin and yang energies of heaven and earth and was not established through delusion, then hearing mention of tamarind would surely not produce saliva, nor would hearing mention of a precipice cause uneasiness; one could not follow delusion and revolve in cyclic existence. Yet saliva flows in the mouth and the feet tremble with dread. Although the actual object is not necessarily present, these responses arise solely through thought.

It is therefore evident that this body belongs to the same category as deluded thought and thus corresponds with deluded afflictions. Why, then, should it be strange that this body is born from the thoughts of one’s parents? It is merely thought following thought, just as thinking of tamarind produces saliva and thinking of a precipice makes the feet recoil.

This presently existing physical body is clearly a solidified deluded thought. Therefore, it is said that the root of the form skandha is the deluded thought of solidity. If one clearly knows that this thought is born neither from causes and conditions nor spontaneously, that it is entirely delusive and is quiescent extinction right where it stands, and that fundamentally there is no form, then what could be interwoven to produce the turbidity of the kalpa?

In this way, the turbidity of the kalpa is rendered empty.

National Master Huizhong ascended the hall and said, “The green climbing vine clings for support to the crown of the withered pine. White clouds drift leisurely, gathering and dispersing in the great void. The myriad dharmas are fundamentally at ease, but people themselves make a commotion!”

Patriarch Yunmen ascended the hall and said, “Venerable ones, do not indulge in deluded thoughts! Heaven is heaven, earth is earth, mountains are mountains, waters are waters, monastics are monastics, and laypeople are laypeople!”

After remaining silent for a moment, he said, “Bring that mountain here and set it firmly in place for me!”

A monk then asked, “What of the student who sees mountains as mountains and waters as waters?”

Master Yunmen said, “What are the three gates for, that you should ride the Buddha hall through them?”

The monk said, “If so, then one should not indulge in deluded thoughts.”

Master Yunmen said, “Give me back my initial phrase!”

When students clearly know that the myriad dharmas are fundamentally at ease and that the form skandha does not exist, and clearly know deluded thought to be illusory and utterly unrelated to themselves, how could they fail to render the form skandha empty? It is only because they have not yet understood Yunmen’s initial phrase. Investigate it!

Sutra: “The very thought of climbing to a height just mentioned can cause your body actually to experience dread. Because various sensations arise, they can set the physical body in motion.

“Therefore, the two kinds of sensation presently coursing through you—favorable benefit and adverse harm—are precisely the second kind, the deluded thought of illusory luminosity.

Penetrating Commentary: Thought occurs in the mind, yet the body feels dread; therefore, sensation must arise first and then set the physical body in motion. Where there is thought, there is sensation; where there is sensation, there is active manifestation. Thus, pleasant sensation is favorable and beneficial, while painful sensation is adverse and harmful.

These two kinds of active manifestation therefore alternate and course onward without cease. What is sensation? Because it is illusory, it can experience; because it is luminous, it receives and apprehends.

This deluded thought of illusory luminosity belongs to the first five consciousnesses and is precisely the perceiving aspect. Because the perceiving aspect and the perceived aspect become confused with one another, this is called the turbidity of views. If one knows that this sensation is born neither from causes and conditions nor spontaneously, and therefore is delusive, then although it is illusory and luminous, it fundamentally has no intrinsic essence.

Since it has no intrinsic essence, it fundamentally does not arise. Since it fundamentally does not arise, what is sensation, and what is the perceiving aspect? Thus, one can shatter the turbidity of views.

Patriarch Zhaozhou ascended the hall and said, “Bodhi, nirvana, true suchness, and Buddha-nature are all garments clinging to the body; they are also called afflictions. In the ground of ultimate reality, what is there to cling to? When not a single thought arises, the myriad dharmas are without fault.

You need only investigate this thoroughly and sit examining it for twenty or thirty years. If you still do not understand, then cut off this old monk’s head. Dreams, illusions, and flowers in empty space are grasped at in vain!

When the mind is undivided, the myriad dharmas are one suchness. Since nothing can be obtained from outside, what is there still to retain? It is like a goat indiscriminately seizing whatever it finds and putting it into its mouth.

This old monk heard Master Yaoshan say, ‘If someone asks about this, simply tell him: “Shut your dog’s mouth!”’ This old monk also teaches, ‘Shut your dog’s mouth!’ Holding to a self is defilement; not holding to a self is purity. You are truly like a hunting dog intent solely upon finding something to eat. Where is the Buddhadharma?

Among thousands and tens of thousands of people, all are fellows searching for Buddha; among them, not a single person of the Way can be found. If you would be a disciple of the King of Emptiness, do not say that the sickness of mind is incurable!”

Another monk asked Patriarch Dongshan, “‘Constantly and diligently wipe it clean’ [a line from Shenxiu’s verse]—why did he not receive the robe and bowl?”

Master Dongshan said, “Even if he had said, ‘Originally there is not a single thing,’ he still would not have received that robe and bowl!”

The monk asked, “It is not yet clear who would receive them.”

Master Dongshan said, “One who does not enter through the gate.”

The monk asked, “As for one who does not enter through the gate, does he attain anything?”

Master Dongshan said, “Even so, if he did not attain it, it would not be transmitted to him.”

He continued: “Even saying, ‘Originally, there is not a single thing,’ still does not merit receiving the robe and bowl. Tell me, what kind of person would be worthy of receiving them? Here, offer a turning phrase; tell me, what words would you offer?”

A senior monk offered ninety-six turning phrases, but none accorded. Finally, he said: “Even if they were brought to him, he still would not accept them.”

Master Tushan greatly approved.

Master Xuedou said: “If he does not acknowledge that he has eyes, then when they are brought to him, he must surely be blind.”

Master Tiantong raised this case and said: “I, Changlu [his self-designation], would not have it so! They must be brought; if they are not brought, how can one know that he will not accept them? He must not accept them; if there is no nonacceptance, how can bringing them be avoided? Bringing them is certainly having eyes; not accepting them is truly being blind. Do you understand?

“Shining everywhere, the essence depends on nothing;

The whole body accords with the Great Way.”

This teaching derives from the two points at which the long-nailed bhikshu fell short [He was Sariputra’s uncle, named Kausthila. He said to the Buddha: “Master Gautama, I accept no dharmas...”] and was given for the instruction of future generations. One must not accept even this “nonacceptance”; only then can one transcend the Turbidity of Views.

Sutra: “Your thoughts and deliberations command your physical body. If the physical body were not of the same kind as thought, why would your body follow thought and be driven by it, taking on images one after another, while the mind arises and grasps images corresponding to thought? Consciousness is the mind that imagines; in sleep, it becomes dreams.

“Thus, your agitated deluded feelings and conceptual thoughts are precisely the third kind of interfusing deluded thinking.

Commentary: Thoughts and deliberations have no form, while the body possesses material form. When thought moves, the body follows; why is it so driven? It is because of the interfusing nature of conceptualization. The mind gives rise to deluded concepts, while the body grasps actual objects, responding to them one by one in correspondence with thought. Because conceptualization interfuses, it causes the mind to follow objects and objects to follow the mind. These agitated deluded feelings continue without interruption, whether awake or asleep. They belong to the root of deluded thinking, whose power can interfuse without obstruction. This is the function of the sixth consciousness and the lair of afflictions.

If one understands that this conceptualization is born neither from causes and conditions nor spontaneously, but is deluded in its very essence, then in its very essence it is empty and quiescent. Since conceptualization is fundamentally unborn, what can afflictions possibly amount to?

In former times, while Master Yangshan was abiding in samadhi in the Sangha hall, at midnight he no longer perceived mountains, rivers, the earth, monasteries, people, or things; he even lost all awareness of his own body and became wholly identical with empty space.

The next morning, he related this to Master Guishan.

Master Guishan said: “When I was with Master Baizhang, I also attained this state. It is the function of dissolving and clarifying interfusing deluded thinking. Later, when you expound the Dharma, no one will surpass you.”

Master Tiantong cited the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment: “At all times, does one refrain from giving rise to deluded thoughts? In relation to the deluded mind, does one also refrain from extinguishing it? While abiding in the state of perfect interpenetration, does one refrain from adding discriminative knowledge? Amid nonknowledge, does one refrain from discerning what is real?” (Here, the master added interrogative particles to turn the statements into questions.)

The verse says:

“Majestic and imposing, open and untrammeled;

In bustling places, lower your head; in secure places, set down your feet.

The cord beneath your feet is severed—how free you are!

The mud has left the tip of your nose—you need not scrape it away!

Do not stir;

The thousand-year-old scrap of paper is indeed medicine!”

Master Langya Jiao once asked a monk who lectured on sutras: “What does it mean to refrain from giving rise to deluded thoughts at all times?”

He replied: “To give rise is itself the illness.”

The master further asked: “What does it mean not to extinguish the deluded mind?”

He replied: “To extinguish is itself the illness.”

The master further asked: “What does it mean to abide in the realm of deluded thinking without adding discriminative knowledge?”

He replied: “To know is itself the illness.”

The master further asked: “What does it mean not to discern what is real amid nonknowledge?”

He replied: “To discern is itself the illness.”

Master Jiao laughed and said: “You know the medicine, but you do not yet know what is contraindicated in the medicine.”

Master Baojue composed this verse:

“Golden flowers cluster thickly; green bamboo stands in ranks.

South of the Yangtze, the earth is warm; beyond the northern passes, spring is cold.

The traveling guest has departed without any word;

Only cloud-veiled mountains remain to be gazed upon into old age!”

The venerable masters here may be said to have “the cord beneath their feet severed,” roaming freely in every direction. They are fully capable of serving as exemplars for breaking through the skandha of conceptualization.

Sutra: “Transformation never ceases, turning and shifting imperceptibly: the nails grow long, the hair grows, strength declines, and the face wrinkles. Day and night alternate, yet you are entirely unaware of it. Ananda, if this were not you, why would your body change? Yet if it truly were you, why would you not be aware of it?

“Thus, your samskara skandha, which never ceases from thought to thought, is precisely the fourth kind of subtle and hidden deluded thinking.

Commentary: Solid deluded thinking does not depart from the objects of form. Vacuously luminous deluded thinking still stands in opposition to the objects of form. Interfusing deluded thinking belongs to inner objects: there are images to grasp and realms to attain.

But when one comes to subtle and hidden deluded thinking, there are no longer any images to be seen and no realm to cling to. It changes without ceasing, turning and shifting imperceptibly. In terms of arising, the nails grow and the hair lengthens; in terms of ceasing, strength declines and the face wrinkles.

Day and night alternate, and change occurs before our very eyes without our being aware of it. If one says that it is not oneself, then one’s body nevertheless changes with each passing day. If one says that it is oneself, then one remains unaware of it!

Because this deluded thinking is exceedingly subtle and hidden, flowing and turning from thought to thought without anything fixed, those who do not understand merely attribute it to transformation.

The samskara skandha belongs to the seventh consciousness. Having already departed from all conceptualization, it cannot be known, while its flowing transformations of arising and ceasing are extremely subtle. Yet none of this transcends the cycle of the three realms, and so it is called the Turbidity of Living Beings. If, within that which “never ceases from thought to thought,” there is a place of cessation, then one no longer undergoes the cyclic existence of living beings.

A monk asked Chan Master Longya Dun: “What happens when the two mice gnaw through the vine?”

Master Longya said: “There must be a place to conceal the body.”

The monk asked: “What is the place where the body may be concealed?”

Master Longya said: “Can you still see my house?”

Master Danxia versified:

“Above the distant peak, the cold moon glimmers dimly;

The vast level lake shines with boundless light.

A fisherman’s song awakens the egrets on the riverbank;

They fly beyond the reed blossoms, leaving no trace.”

Thus, one knows that even ghosts and spirits cannot perceive that place where the body is concealed; how, then, could the samskara skandha continue to delude one? Subtle arising and ceasing are simply the two states of light and darkness, day and night succeeding one another as the physical form changes and shifts, like two mice gnawing through a vine, consuming it more each day. This belongs to subtle and hidden deluded thinking, but the traceless place where the body is concealed is sufficient to break through it.

Sutra: “Furthermore, if you call the still, unmoving state of lucid awareness within you permanent, then within your body it does not go beyond seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing. If it were truly the essential nature of pure reality, it would not contain accumulated falsity. Why is it that, years ago, you once saw an unusual object and then passed through many years without ever thinking of it, yet afterward, upon suddenly seeing that unusual object again, you remembered it clearly without the slightest detail being lost? Thus, within this lucid awareness that is still and unmoving, you undergo habituating influence from thought to thought beyond all calculation.”

“Ananda, you should know that this state of limpid stillness is not genuine. It is like a swiftly flowing current that appears to be standing still: because it flows so rapidly, its movement cannot be seen, yet this does not mean that it is not flowing. If it were not the source of perception, how could it receive false habitual tendencies? If your six faculties have not yet been separated and united so that they may function interchangeably, this false perception can never be extinguished. Therefore, the habitual tendencies that now gather together and thread through your seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing constitute the subtle and wondrous essence of perception—the fifth kind of inverted, empty, illusory conception—within your limpid and penetrating nature.

“Ananda, those five aggregates of clinging are formed by the five kinds of false perception.”

Commentary: The arising and ceasing of the aggregate of formations continues from thought to thought without pause, but it is hidden and cannot be seen. When one reaches the state of limpid stillness without movement, arising and ceasing have already been extinguished; why, then, is it still called false perception? Because the luminous essence of consciousness still remains.

Within this luminous essence of consciousness, good and evil do not stir, conceptual consciousness has entirely vanished, and limpid stillness remains constantly congealed. It resembles and is of the same kind as the essential, true fundamental enlightenment, yet in reality it is not the essential, true fundamental enlightenment. The essential, true fundamental enlightenment does not fall within seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, and therefore does not undergo perfuming.

In the present state of limpid stillness without movement, knowing has ceased, and one has fallen into an indeterminate state. The nature of the indeterminate state is connected with direct perception and does not go beyond the sphere of the seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing of the first five consciousnesses. Although this seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing does not deliberate or calculate, it can receive impressions and undergo perfuming.

Thus, when one sees an unusual object, even without thinking about it, upon seeing it once again one remembers it clearly. This is truly like a fish pressed beneath ice: when it encounters suitable conditions, it leaps forth. Thus, arising and ceasing have never been completely eliminated.

Therefore, know that this limpid stillness is not genuine: from thought to thought it undergoes perfuming, threading together and gathering all habitual tendencies; subtle and wondrous, it is continually perfumed without pause, like beads strung together.

Where this luminous essence exists, seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing also exist. Where this seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing exist, there is no separation from faculties and objects; thus, one may disturb the objects of perception and undergo perfuming, harboring and accumulating deluded karma. Therefore, this is not the nature of genuine limpid stillness.

One must turn back the current and return entirely to unity, dissolve the six gates, thoroughly transcend faculties and objects, and enable the six faculties to function interchangeably. There is only the single true essence, which shines forth through the faculties; opening and closing freely, false habitual tendencies have nowhere to rely. Thus, the mouth is like the nostrils, and the eyes resemble the eyebrows!

Using the ears to see forms, forms do not stir. Using the eyes to hear sounds, sounds cannot entangle. Only this is the wondrously abiding dharani, into which false perceptions have no means of entering.

Before the first five consciousnesses are joined with thought, their essence is close to the eighth consciousness. Therefore, only when the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are transformed at the causal stage can the eighth consciousness and the first five consciousnesses be perfected at the fruition stage. Without subsequently attained wisdom, the first five consciousnesses cannot be transformed.

Only when consciousness has been transformed into wisdom and genuine limpid stillness has been attained does one come to believe that the eighth consciousness consists of subtle seeds undergoing arising and ceasing. They flow so swiftly that the movement cannot be seen, but this does not mean that they do not flow. Although it appears still, it cannot be called genuine limpid stillness.

Within the penetrating nature of limpid stillness, subtle and wondrous perception—the empty, illusory conception—seems to exist and seems not to exist, yet perception has never been absent. Therefore, it too is called false perception. The eighth consciousness is formed by the union of the non-arising and non-ceasing with arising and ceasing.

If one turns away from objects and accords with enlightenment, relying upon the non-arising and non-ceasing, it is called right wisdom. If one turns away from enlightenment and accords with objects, relying upon arising and ceasing, it is called inversion. The source of perception is the place of the initial movement of consciousness; all five kinds of false perception arise from it.

Because of a single deluded and false thought, one grasps it, clings to it, and thereby obscures oneself. Hence, the five aggregates of clinging, also called the five grasping aggregates, are all rooted in false perception.

Chan Master Yongjia said: “Clearly know that within a single thought all five aggregates are present: its distinct and lucid discernment is the aggregate of consciousness. Its reception within the mind is the aggregate of feeling. The mind’s taking that principle as its object is the aggregate of perception. Its application of that principle is the aggregate of formations. Its defilement of the true nature is the aggregate of form. These five aggregates are wholly embodied in a single thought. When a single thought arises, it is wholly the five aggregates. Clearly seeing that within a single thought there is no sovereign self is the wisdom of the emptiness of persons. Seeing it as an illusory transformation is the wisdom of the emptiness of dharmas.”

Indeed, as Patriarch Yongjia said: “Only when both persons and dharmas are empty does the aggregate of consciousness come to an end; only thereafter can one transcend the turbidity of lifespan.”

Master Zhaozhou asked Patriarch Touzi: “What about when a dead person returns to life?”

Patriarch Touzi said: “One must not travel by night; arrive while it is light.”

Master Xuedou versified:

“Within the ‘living,’ having eyes, yet still like the ‘dead’;

When the medicine is contraindicated, no need to examine an ‘adept.’

The ancient Buddha still said, ‘I have never arrived’;

Who knows who here has escaped the dust and sand?”

Master Tiantong versified:

“The mustard-seed kalpa and stone kalpa—the wondrous utmost of the beginning;

The ‘living’ eye ‘within emptiness’ illumines empty space.

One must not travel by night; return in the brightness of day;

The letter from home has not yet been entrusted to bird or shellfish.”

This wondrous state utterly transcends the “source of perception” and harbors no false habitual tendencies. It is the ground of ultimate reality: one arrives without taking a step, clearly revealing how consciousness is transformed into wisdom.

Sutra: “You now wish to know their causes and the limits of their relative depth. Form and emptiness constitute the boundary of the aggregate of form; contact and separation constitute the boundary of the aggregate of feeling; remembering and forgetting constitute the boundary of the aggregate of perception; ceasing and arising constitute the boundary of the aggregate of formations; and limpid stillness entering and merging with limpid stillness constitutes the boundary of the aggregate of consciousness.”

Commentary: Earlier, Ananda asked, “Where are the limits of these five layers?” Here the answer is given clearly: they have causes and boundaries extending from the shallow to the profound. Form is not form in itself; it is through emptiness that form becomes manifest. The boundary between form and emptiness is therefore the realm of form.

Feeling is not feeling in itself; feeling arises because of contact. Thus, the boundary between contact and separation is the realm of feeling. Perception is not perception in itself; it is called perception because of remembering.

Thus, the boundary between remembering and forgetting is the realm of perception. Formation is not formation in itself; it is called formation because arising and ceasing continue without pause. This boundary of arising and ceasing is the realm of formations.

Consciousness is called penetrating limpid stillness, for arising and ceasing have been extinguished and its nature enters the unmoving source of nature and merges with limpid stillness. Yet where there is entering and merging, there is a boundary; this is the realm of consciousness. For the “limpid stillness that enters” is the aggregate of consciousness, whereas the nature of “genuine, constant limpid stillness” is the nature of luminous knowing consciousness.

Luminous knowing is wisdom. There remains a boundary between consciousness and wisdom.