最上乘論

One who wishes to advance toward the holy Way and awaken to the True Mind (the Zen school) must discourse clearly upon "cultivating the mind." If one does not preserve the purity of the mind, then none of the practices can be perceived through anything. I hope that good and learned friends who set this down in writing will apply their minds carefully and not let it go astray, lest they mislead those who come after.

In general, one who cultivates must know the fundamental essence: it is precisely this body and mind that have, from the very beginning, been pure, neither arising nor ceasing, without any discrimination. The mind whose self-nature is pure, perfect and complete, is the Original Teacher (Bổn Sư), surpassing the recollection of all the Buddhas of the ten directions.

Question: How do we know that our mind has been pure from the very beginning?

Answer: The Sutra of the Ten Stages (Daśabhūmika) says: "Within the body of sentient beings there is the Vajra Buddha-nature." It is like the sun, full and round, luminous, vast and without bounds. It is only because it is covered over by the dark clouds of the five aggregates, like a lamp placed inside a jar whose light cannot shine forth. It is like the world when mists rise up from all eight directions, so that everywhere is dark.

Has the sun perished? Why is there no light? The light has not, in its origin, been destroyed; it is only obscured by the mists.

The pure mind of all sentient beings is just like this. It is only because it is covered over by the dark clouds of deluded thoughts that cling to afflictions and by the various attachments to views. If one can keep the mind still and quiet so that deluded thoughts do not arise, then the dharma of Nirvāṇa naturally manifests.

Therefore we know that our own mind has been pure from the very beginning.

Question: How do we know that our mind has, from the very beginning, neither arisen nor ceased?

Answer: The Vimalakīrti Sutra says: "As though there were no arising, as though there were no ceasing." "As though" (thusness) is the True Suchness, the Buddha-nature, the self-nature that is pure. Purity is the source of the mind. True Suchness fundamentally does not arise from conditions. It is also said: "All sentient beings are Suchness; all the Sages and Worthies are likewise Suchness." All sentient beings are ourselves. The Sages and Worthies are the Buddhas. Though names and characteristics differ, the True Suchness and the dharma-nature within the body are all the same. Because it neither arises nor ceases, it is said that all are "Suchness." Thus we know that our own mind has, from the very beginning, neither arisen nor ceased.

Question: Why is our own mind called the Original Teacher?

Answer: This True Mind exists naturally; it does not come from outside, and it is not bound within the three times (past, future, present). As for what is most intimate, nothing surpasses keeping watch over this mind oneself. If a person knows how to guard the mind, guarding the mind will surely bring one to the other shore. The person who is deluded about the mind and abandons the mind falls into the three evil paths (the hells, the hungry ghosts, the animals). The Buddhas of the three times all take the mind as their Original Teacher. The treatise says: "When one clearly guards the mind, deluded thoughts do not arise—this is non-arising." Therefore we know that the mind is the Original Teacher.

Question: Why is it said that our own mind surpasses the recollection of the Buddhas?

Answer: Constantly reciting the names of the Buddhas does not free one from birth and death; guarding one's own original mind brings one to the other shore. The Diamond Sutra says: "If anyone sees me through form, or seeks me through sound, that person practices a deviant path and cannot see the Tathāgata." This is why it is said that "guarding this True Mind surpasses the recollection of the Buddhas." "Surpasses" is merely a word aimed at the practice of cultivation and at exhorting people; in truth, the ultimate fruit is not two.

Question: Since sentient beings and the Buddhas are already the same in their true essence, why is it that the Buddhas neither arise nor cease and enjoy immeasurable bliss, sovereign and unobstructed, while we sentient beings fall into birth and death and undergo all manner of suffering?

Answer: The Buddhas of the ten directions have awakened to and penetrated the dharma-nature; they all naturally illumine the source of the mind. Deluded thinking does not arise, right mindfulness is not lost, and the mind of "I" and "mine" is extinguished—therefore they do not undergo birth and death. Because there is no birth and death, they are ultimately tranquil and still, and so the myriad joys are complete.

All sentient beings are deluded about the true nature and do not know the root of the mind; with all manner of deluded conditions, they do not cultivate right mindfulness, and so the mind of love and hate arises. Because of love and hate, the lake of the mind is breached and drained; because the lake of the mind is breached and drained, there is birth and death; and because there is birth and death, all sufferings appear.

The Mind-King Sutra says: "The True Suchness, the Buddha-nature, is submerged in the sea of the six consciousnesses of seeing and knowing, sunk in birth and death, unable to attain liberation." Strive to comprehend this point: guard the True Mind, and deluded thoughts will not arise and the mind of "I" and "mine" will be extinguished; naturally you will be equal to the Buddhas and not two.

Question: The True Suchness and the Buddha-nature are one and the same, not two. If there is delusion, all alike should be deluded; if there is awakening, all alike should be awakened. Why is it that the Buddha is awakened to the original nature while sentient beings are darkened and dim? On what account is it so?

Answer: From this point onward we enter the realm of the inconceivable, which is not a place that ordinary people can reach. Because one knows the mind, one awakens; because one loses the nature, one is deluded. When conditions come together, they come together at once; it cannot be fixed in words.

Only have firm faith and resolutely guard your own mind. The Vimalakīrti Sutra says: "There is no self-nature and no other-nature. Dharmas have not arisen from of old, and now they do not cease.

To awaken to this dharma is at once to depart from the two extremes and enter the wisdom of non-discrimination." If a person can understand this meaning, then only when cultivating does one come to know that the essential dharma of guarding the mind is foremost. Here it is said that guarding the mind is the root of Nirvāṇa, the essential gate of entry into the Way, the cardinal principle of the twelve divisions of the scriptures, and the Patriarch of the Buddhas of the three times.

Question: How do we know that guarding the True Mind is the root of Nirvāṇa?

Answer: The essence of Nirvāṇa is tranquil stillness, unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) peace and bliss. Since our mind is already True Suchness, deluded thinking is cut off; because deluded thinking is cut off, right mindfulness is complete; because right mindfulness is complete, the wisdom of still illumination arises; because the wisdom of still illumination arises, one penetrates to the depths of the dharma-nature; and because one penetrates to the depths of the dharma-nature, one attains Nirvāṇa. Therefore we know that guarding one's own True Mind is the root of Nirvāṇa.

Question: How do we know that guarding the True Mind is the essential gate of entry into the Way?

Answer: Even raising a single hand, or tracing the image of the Buddha with one's fingernail, or creating merit as numerous as the sands of the Ganges—these are only the Buddha's means of teaching and transforming sentient beings who lack wisdom, so that by creating karma they obtain superior recompense in a later life and plant the cause for seeing the Buddha. If a person hopes to attain Buddhahood swiftly, he should guard the True Mind.

Among the three times, the Buddhas are immeasurable and boundless in number; if there were even one of them who attained Buddhahood without guarding the True Mind, that would be utterly without reason. Therefore the scripture says: "Bind the mind to a single place, and there is no task that cannot be accomplished." Thus we know that guarding the True Mind is the essential gate of entry into the Way.

Question: How do we know that guarding the True Mind is the cardinal principle of the twelve divisions of the scriptures?

Answer: Within all the scriptures, the Tathāgata speaks of all sins and blessings, all causes, conditions, and recompenses; he cites all the mountains and rivers, the great earth, the grasses and trees, and so forth, all manner of various things; he sets forth parables immeasurable and boundless in number; and he manifests immeasurable spiritual powers and all kinds of transformations. These are only the Buddha's means of teaching and transforming sentient beings who lack wisdom, whose desires of mind and activities of mind differ in myriad ways.

Thus we know that the Tathāgata, following the gate of each one's mind, leads them into the One Vehicle. Since we have already realized that the Buddha-nature of sentient beings has been pure from the very beginning, like the sun obscured by clouds, we need only clearly guard the True Mind, and when the clouds of deluded thoughts are gone, the sun of wisdom will at once appear. What need is there to study much of those views and knowings that bring the suffering of birth and death, all the meanings and principles and affairs of the three times?

It is like polishing a mirror: when the dust is gone, the light naturally appears. To study now within the mind of ignorance is, in the end, of no use. If one can clearly not lose right mindfulness and study within the unconditioned mind, that is true study.

Yet though it is called true study, in the end there is nothing to study. Why so? Because the self and Nirvāṇa are both empty.

Moreover, they are neither two nor one, and so there is nothing to study. Though the dharma-nature is empty, one must clearly guard the True Mind, so that deluded thoughts do not arise and the mind of "I" and "mine" is extinguished. The Nirvāṇa Sutra says: "One who knows that the Buddha does not speak the Dharma—this is called being fully accomplished in vast learning." Therefore one should know that guarding the True Mind is the cardinal principle of the twelve divisions of the scriptures.

Question: How do we know that guarding the True Mind is the Patriarch of the Buddhas of the three times?

Answer: The Buddhas of the three times all arise from within the mind-nature. First, through guarding the True Mind, deluded thoughts do not arise and the mind of "I" and "mine" is extinguished; only afterward do they attain Buddhahood. Therefore we know that guarding the True Mind is the Patriarch of the Buddhas of the three times.

From the four questions and answers above, were one to expound at length, there would be no end. Now I hope that you may come to know for yourself that the original mind is the Buddha, and so I earnestly exhort you: a thousand scriptures and ten thousand treatises surpass not the guarding of the True Mind—this is the essential dharma. I have striven to point out to you, by means of the Lotus Sutra, the things such as the great cart, the jeweled city, the bright pearl, the wondrous medicine, and so forth; yet if you yourself do not accept them, if you do not drink, then you remain poor and suffering—how can you ever understand?

When deluded thoughts do not arise and the mind of "I" and "mine" is extinguished, then all merits are naturally perfect and complete. Do not rely on seeking outside and thereby enter the sea of suffering of birth and death. In every place, mindfully examine the mind.

Do not delight in present pleasures and so sow suffering for a later life, deceiving yourself and deceiving others and never escaping birth and death. Strive! Strive!

Though all is now impermanent, plant together the cause of attaining Buddhahood in a later life. Do not let the three times pass by emptily and so squander your effort. The scripture says: "Always dwelling in the hells as though strolling in a flower garden; in the evil paths as though in one's own home." We sentient beings are like this today: we do not know to fear and dread the murderer (Impermanence), and we have not the least mind to escape.

Alas! How bitter!

If there is a beginner in seated meditation who, in accordance with the Sutra, contemplates the Buddha of Immeasurable Life (Amitāyus): sit upright with right mindfulness, close the eyes and shut the mouth, with the mind gazing straight ahead, near or far at will; for a whole day keep watch over the True Mind, thought after thought without abiding. Skillfully harmonize the breath—do not let it be now coarse, now fine, for this easily makes a person fall ill.

During the night hours of seated meditation, you may see all manner of realms, good and evil, or enter the various samādhis of blue, yellow, red, white, and so forth; or you may see the body emit a great radiance of light, or see the bodily forms of Buddhas, or see all kinds of transformations. Only know to gather in the mind and do not become attached, for these are all empty and are seen by reason of deluded thinking.

The scripture says: "The lands of the ten directions are all like empty space; the three realms, illusory and false, are made by the one mind alone." If you do not attain concentration and do not see any realms at all, neither should you find this strange. Only, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, always clearly guard the True Mind. When you comprehend this, then deluded thoughts do not arise, the mind of "I" and "mine" is extinguished, and all the myriad dharmas do not go beyond your own mind.

The reason the Buddhas speak so extensively, with so many teachings and parables, is only that the practices of sentient beings are not the same, and so they cause there to be differing gates of teaching. In truth, the eighty-four thousand dharma-gates, the stages of the Three Vehicles' entry into the Way, and the practices of the minds of the seventy-two Worthies—none of these go beyond one's own mind as the root. If a person can come to know his own original mind and, thought after thought, polish and refine it without abiding, then he himself sees the Buddha-nature.

In each thought he constantly makes offerings to Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges throughout the ten directions; in each thought he constantly turns the twelve divisions of the scriptures. If a person comprehends this source of the mind, then all the meanings of the mind appear of themselves, all vows are fulfilled, all practices are perfected, all is accomplished, and he no longer receives a future body.

When you comprehend this, then deluded thoughts do not arise and the mind of "I" and "mine" is extinguished; upon laying down this body, you will surely attain the non-arising that cannot be conceived or discussed. Strive! Nothing is greater than this.

Words so truthful and undeceiving as these are very hard to hear. Among a multitude as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, how rare it is to have even one who hears and is able to practice. Within a number of kalpas of ekas (meaning that one takes a hundred million years as a single kalpa—indicating a very long span of time), it is rare to find even one person who practices to the ultimate end.

Skillfully, skillfully bring yourself to peace and stillness, skillfully harmonize the faculties, see through to the source of the mind, and constantly cause it to shine forth pure and clear; do not let an indeterminate (avyākṛta) mind arise.

Question: What is called the indeterminate mind?

Answer: As for those who gather in the mind: because they do not take outward realms as their objects, the coarse mind temporarily comes to rest a little; inwardly, they refine the True Mind. But the mind has not yet attained purity. In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, they constantly attend to watching the mind, yet they are still unable to be clearly pure and to illumine the source of the mind on its own—this is called the indeterminate mind. It is also a defiled (āsrava) mind, and one still does not escape the great malady of birth and death.

How much more so for one who does not guard the mind at all! Such a person is sunk in the sea of suffering of birth and death—who knows what day he will get out? Truly pitiable!

Strive! Strive! The scripture says: "If sentient beings inwardly do not give rise to a sincere heart, then throughout the three times, even though they encounter Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, nothing can be done for them." The scripture says: "When sentient beings know the mind, they deliver themselves; the Buddha cannot deliver sentient beings." If the Buddha could deliver them, then with the Buddhas of the past as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, why have we not attained Buddhahood?

It is only because inwardly we do not give rise to a sincere heart of our own, and so we must be sunk in the sea of suffering. Strive! Strive!

Urgently seek the original mind; do not let it leak away in delusion.

The past we do not know, and what has gone by we can no longer reach. Now, in this present body, we have been able to hear the wondrous Dharma. Let us exhort one another to understand these words distinctly and clearly, knowing well that guarding the mind is the foremost Way.

Yet if one will not give rise to a heart of utmost sincerity, vowing to attain Buddhahood and to receive immeasurable, sovereign joy, but instead keeps running after the worldly, greedily seeking fame and gain, then in a later life he will fall into the great hells and undergo all kinds of suffering and anguish—with what will he take his place? What then? What then?

Strive! Strive! If one can only wear ragged clothing, eat coarse rice, clearly guard the True Mind, and pretend to be a fool who does not understand speech, expending little energy yet attaining great effect—this is a person of great diligence.

Worldly people are deluded and confused and do not understand this principle; within the mind of ignorance they perform many toilsome deeds and cultivate the marks of goodness, hoping to attain liberation, yet they return again to birth and death. If a person can clearly not lose right mindfulness and thereby deliver and save sentient beings, this is a Bodhisattva who has power. I say to you with earnest devotion: "Guarding the mind is foremost." If one does not diligently guard the mind, one is truly a person of great folly.

Not only will he undergo suffering in this present life, but he will also bear calamity for ten thousand kalpas to come. I do not know what words to enjoin upon you—this: when the eight winds (the eight winds: gain, loss, disgrace, honor, praise, blame, suffering, joy) blow and one is not moved, that is truly a mountain of precious jewels. If a person knows the fruit-essence, then amid the myriad realms he gives rise to functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, discourses like a flowing stream, and gives medicine to suit the illness; and if he can keep deluded thoughts from arising and the mind of "I" and "mine" extinguished, he is truly a great hero who has transcended the world, whom the Tathāgata, while still in the world, would praise without ceasing.

I speak these words with utmost sincerity to exhort you: "Give rise to no deluded thoughts, and extinguish the mind of 'I' and 'mine'"—this is one who has transcended the world.

Question: What is meant by extinguishing the mind of "I" and "mine"?

Answer: It is having even the slightest mind that takes oneself to be superior to others, thinking to oneself, "I am able to do thus"—for this mind of "I" and "mine" is a malady within Nirvāṇa. The Nirvāṇa Sutra says: "It is like empty space, which can contain the myriad things, yet this empty space does not think to itself, 'I am able to contain them thus.'" This simile is given to express the extinction of the mind of "I" and "mine" and the entry into the Vajra Samādhi.

Question: Those who cultivate seek the true, constant, tranquil stillness; they merely delight in the coarse, impermanent good of the world and do not delight in the wondrous good that is the supreme truth, the true and constant—this principle they have not yet seen. They only see that when a person wishes to give rise to the mind and to grasp the meaning, he straightaway worries; the mind of examining and knowing that arises is a defiled mind; if he wishes to forget the mind, he abides in murky ignorance, which again does not accord with principle; and if he wishes neither to halt the mind nor to grasp at meaning, that is the wrong grasping of emptiness (the nihilistic clinging to emptiness)—though he receives a human body, he performs the practices of an animal.

At such a time, lacking the skillful means of concentration and wisdom, he is unable to understand clearly and to see the Buddha-nature; this is precisely where one who cultivates becomes sunk. If, in order to instruct, you would guide us across to the Nirvāṇa-without-remainder, please point out the True Mind.

Answer: When you comprehend, then faith is complete, the resolve and vow are accomplished, and the mind is settled, at peace, and still. Once more I instruct you: skillfully bring your own body and mind to stillness, taking nothing whatever as your object; sit upright with right mindfulness, skillfully harmonize the breath, and examine that this mind is not within, not without, and not in between—settled and "thus as it is" (tathatā).

When you have contemplated this stillness until it is thoroughly ripe, you will then see clearly that this stream of mind-consciousness flows on like a current of water, like the shimmering waves of heat-mirage, continuous and never stopping. When you see this consciousness as only "not within, not without, settled and thus as it is," and have contemplated this stillness until it is thoroughly ripe, then it turns back, dissolves, and settles into a clear, still emptiness, and this flowing consciousness lightly extinguishes itself.

Once you have extinguished this consciousness, you have extinguished the obstructing delusions among the Bodhisattvas of the Tenth Stage. Once this consciousness is extinguished, that mind at once becomes clear, still, pure, bright, and serene—I cannot fully describe its condition. If you wish to know it clearly, take the Nirvāṇa Sutra, the third scroll, the chapter on the Vajra Body, and the Vimalakīrti Sutra, the third scroll, the chapter on Seeing the Buddha Akṣobhya; with a settled mind, unhurriedly and most carefully examine them, and you will see.

If this person, over a long time, truly attains thorough ripeness, and in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and amid the five desires and the eight winds, does not lose that mind, then this person has established the pure practice, his work is done, and ultimately he does not receive a body of birth and death. (The five desires are form, sound, smell, taste, and touch.) This is one who cultivates by polishing and refining the Buddha-nature.

Do not find it strange that this body does not yet attain sovereignty. The scripture says: "In a place in the world where there is no Buddha dwelling, the Bodhisattva cannot exercise his function, whose aim is to escape this recompense-body. Sentient beings of past ages, with faculties keen or dull, cannot be judged: the superior do it within the space of a single thought; the inferior, over immeasurable kalpas.

If, when one has power, one follows the natures of sentient beings to give rise to the wholesome roots of the Bodhisattva, benefiting oneself and benefiting others, and adorning the Buddha-lands, one must clearly understand the four reliances (the four reliances: 1. Rely on the Dharma, not on the person. 2. Rely on the meaning, not on the words. 3.

Rely on wisdom, not on consciousness. 4. Rely on the definitive meaning, not on the non-definitive meaning) in order to reach the very depths of true reality. If one relies on the letter and clings to it, one loses the true cardinal principle.

O monks! You have studied, left the household life, and cultivated. To leave the household life is to come out of the prison of birth and death—this is called leaving the household life.

With right mindfulness complete, cultivation is brought to fulfillment; even to the point of having this body cut piece by piece, when one's life is about to end one still does not lose right mindfulness, and one straightaway attains Buddhahood."

This disciple (the author's reference to himself), in compiling this treatise from the beginning until here, has spoken thus solely through faith, relying on the letter and grasping the meaning; it is truly not from clear realization and direct knowing. If there is anything contrary to the holy principle, I beg to repent and have it expunged. If it accords with the Buddha-Way, I dedicate the merit to all sentient beings, with the vow that all may come to know the original mind and attain Buddhahood in a single instant. May those who hear it strive, that they may attain Buddhahood hereafter; and I vow that, here and now, I may deliver my own disciples.

Question: This treatise, from beginning to end, reveals that one's own mind is the Way. But within the two gates of fruit and practice, to which gate does it belong?

Answer: This treatise reveals the One Vehicle as its cardinal principle, but its essential intent lies in the path of delusion: when one understands, one frees oneself from birth and death and is then able to deliver others. It speaks directly of benefiting oneself and does not speak of benefiting others; thus it belongs to the gate of practice.

If there is a person who relies on the letter and cultivates accordingly, then in this very life he will attain Buddhahood. If I am lying to you, then in a later life I will fall into the eighteen hells; I swear this by Heaven and Earth. If you do not believe me, then life after life you will be devoured by tigers and wolves.