萬法歸心錄

CHAPTER IV

SUDDEN AWAKENING, CULTIVATION, AND REALIZATION

A monk asked: What is the School?

The Master replied: The myriad dharmas all return to the School. The School is Mind itself. This Mind is empty, penetrating, and wondrous; all-embracing and vast; without abiding or position, without cultivation or realization. The sutra says: “The Buddha taught that Mind is the essential principle and that the gateless is the Dharma gate.” From India to China, from ancient times to the present, the Buddhas have handed it down to one another, and the patriarchs have transmitted it to one another, establishing this one Mind alone as the essence of the School.

This inherently pure nature is naturally perfect and luminous. Following the current of worldly life, it is not defiled; turning back against the current, it does not become pure. Among ordinary beings it is not diminished, and among sages it is not increased. Though embodied in different kinds of beings, that Mind is not impaired. When wisdom illuminates it, its radiance appears. When afflictions obscure it, its essential nature is concealed. If one departs from this Mind to cultivate anything else, one will ultimately become only a deviant demon or a follower of an external path.

The monk asked: What is the Teaching?

The Master replied: When the Buddhas expound the Dharma, they provisionally establish the Three Vehicles and the five dispositions. Bodhisattvas compose treatises to elucidate that the myriad dharmas are but the one Mind. Through these explanations, later students attain the essential purport, sever delusion, and return to the truth. Beginners obtain the rabbit and forget the snare, then diligently cultivate in order to realize the principle.

QUESTION: Are the principles of the two gates—the School (Chan) and the Teaching (scriptures)—the same or different?

ANSWER: The School is the wordless Teaching. The Teaching is the School expressed in words.

QUESTION: The principles of the School and the Teaching are originally one. Why, then, is it said that there is “a separate transmission outside the teachings”?

ANSWER: The Teaching relies upon spoken and written words to enable one to understand the wondrous principle. The School (Chan) leaves behind spoken and written words and suddenly awakens to the one Mind; hence it is called “a separate transmission outside the teachings.” It is also called “the supreme purport of the School.”

QUESTION: Why, then, is it said that transmission may be profound or shallow?

ANSWER: Profundity and shallowness depend upon the person; the principle itself is originally nondual.

QUESTION: What does it mean that the principle is nondual?

ANSWER: Upon hearing the Teaching and understanding its principle, one must diligently cultivate and realize it, thereby naturally accord with the unconditioned Way. In the gate of the School, after sudden awakening, one must necessarily rely upon perfect cultivation in order to return to the original Mind of quiescent illumination.

The monk asked: The sutra says: “Expedient means have many gates, but in returning to the source, the nature is nondual.” I do not yet know which gate is the direct gate of liberation.

The Master replied: There are two causes, external and internal, through which one may attain liberation directly.

The monk said: Master, please point out these two causes, external and internal, directly.

ANSWER: The external cause is to put an end to lust, killing, and stealing. The essential internal cause is to “illuminate the Mind and see one’s nature.”

QUESTION: Why must the external cause involve putting an end to sexual desire, killing, and stealing?

ANSWER: Because of thoughts of sexual desire, sentient beings are bound within birth and death. By killing, they must successively repay the lives they have taken, and thus there is samsara. By stealing, they must repay the former benefit they took, and thus they must return to be born again. If these three causes are eliminated, the stream of samsara is forever severed and will no longer continue.

QUESTION: What is the internal cause of “illuminating the Mind and seeing one’s nature”?

ANSWER: Illuminating the Mind means clearly understanding that Mind is originally pure. Seeing one’s nature means seeing that the nature is originally empty.

QUESTION: What does it mean to understand clearly that Mind is originally pure?

ANSWER: The Mind spoken of here is not the heart of flesh and blood within the physical body. Nor is this Mind the deluded mind of arising and ceasing, imagined to reside within a space of a few inches. On the contrary, this Mind pervades the Dharma realm, penetrates the ten directions, transcends all dualities, and puts an end to every conceptual elaboration.

It neither ceases nor arises, neither exists nor does not exist. Yet it is empty, penetrating, wondrous, and never deluded; it responds to things with perfect and skillful completeness. Whether gathered in or released, it is entirely unobstructed; moving freely in every direction, it follows conditions without ever changing.

This is the permanently abiding true Mind. Therefore, all Buddhas of the past realized this Mind. All bodhisattvas of the present study this same Mind.

All students of the future will illuminate this Mind. Sentient beings in delusion are deluded about this Mind. Practitioners who awaken awaken to this Mind.

The entire great treasury of teachings serves only to reveal this Mind. This Mind is so numinous and wondrous that it is difficult to express fully; only one or two aspects are briefly set forth so that those who come later may gain faith and awaken.

QUESTION: What does it mean to see that the nature is originally empty?

ANSWER: The self-nature of suchness has always been empty and quiescent, without shape or form, clear and still like vast space. It neither moves nor comes, but remains serenely and eternally abiding. It is called the “Original Face” and also the “Unconditioned True Person.” All mountains, rivers, and the great earth; trees, forests, and thickets; the myriad phenomena; and all defiled and pure dharmas flow forth from within this nature.

QUESTION: Are the original nature and the true Mind one or two?

ANSWER: They are neither one nor two.

QUESTION: How are they neither one nor two?

ANSWER: The original nature is the essence; the true Mind is its function. The original nature is like a mirror, and the true Mind is like the mirror’s light. The light does not depart from the mirror, and the mirror does not depart from the light. An ancient worthy said: “The nature is luminous and wondrous, settled and transparently still, like the substance of a mirror. Mind arises as luminosity from the wondrous; perfectly interfused, it shines with clear awareness, like the light of a mirror.” Light and mirror can be distinguished as two, and therefore they are not one. Light and mirror are originally one, and therefore they are not two.

QUESTION: You have said that the essence of the mind-nature of Buddhas and sentient beings is one alone. Why, then, do Buddhas dwell in the realm of sages while sentient beings remain on the ground of ordinary beings?

ANSWER: The essential nature of Buddhas and sentient beings is originally empty. Because the mind may be defiled or pure, beings are called sages or ordinary beings.

QUESTION: Why is the mind defiled or pure?

ANSWER: The original nature is like a perfectly luminous mirror, empty and still. Sages respond to things without a discriminating mind; coming and going, they remain undefiled. This is called pure light. Sentient beings respond to things with a discriminating mind, distinguishing, grasping, and rejecting. This is called defiled light. Although defilement and purity differ, their essence is nondual.

QUESTION: Does the fundamental essence of the mind-nature have any limit or measure?

ANSWER: It does.

QUESTION: Is its essence exceedingly vast?

ANSWER: It encompasses all space throughout the ten directions and fills the myriad worlds.

QUESTION: Since the mind-nature is so vast and boundless, why is it within this body of flesh?

ANSWER: Since beginningless time, all sentient beings have been bound and imprisoned within the womb-prison, shackled within the body of flesh. Through rigid deluded attachment, they mistakenly believe that the vast mind-nature is inside the body, thereby taking a thief for their own child. It is as though they were confined in a great prison—on what day could they ever escape? Not only humans and devas are deluded in this way; followers of the Lesser Vehicle are also still like this.

QUESTION: If the mind-nature is not within the body, then what is it within me that can think?

ANSWER: You doubtfully take the illusory consciousness within the body, which is capable of thought, to be your mind. It is merely a shadow produced by conditions involving the six sense objects, and it deludes your true nature. You groundlessly cling rigidly to it as being within, making it difficult to escape the womb-prison.

The Surangama Sutra says: “The Buddha told Ananda: ‘This is merely the false and illusory appearance of conceptual thought arising from the objects before you, which deludes your true nature. Since beginningless time, you have taken a thief for your own child and thereby lost your original constancy; hence you undergo cyclic existence.’” If you can clearly understand this thinking mind here, you will see that it is like an image in a mirror, like illusory flowers in empty space, or like a wheel falsely appearing in the air—fundamentally without any real substance.

QUESTION: The thinking within the body is a shadow produced by conditions involving the six sense objects. What, then, is my luminous and wondrous true nature?

ANSWER: Sentient beings do not awaken to the vastness of mind-nature, which is neither within nor without. Instead, they take the reflections of sense-objects and mistakenly suppose that space contains the physical body, the physical body contains the corporeal mind, and the corporeal mind contains the true nature. Thus they become bound in many layers of fetters and cling rigidly to craving and attachment.

How could they not know that space, the great earth, the myriad things, body, and mind are all reflections manifested from our wondrously luminous true nature? The Surangama Sutra says: “The various conditions, coming together, stir within; racing outward, they become obscured, disturbed, and filled with confused perceptions. All of this is taken to be the mind-nature.

Once this is mistakenly regarded as the mind, it is inevitably also mistaken as residing within the physical body. They do not know that everything outside the physical body—even mountains, rivers, space, the lands, and so forth—is entirely contained within the wondrously luminous true mind.”

Fearing that you have not yet awakened, I shall offer an analogy: The original nature is like a great mirror extending throughout the Dharma realm. The wondrous true mind shines like the light within that mirror. Mountains, rivers, the lands, the teeming multitude of phenomena, and even the physical body and consciousness are all reflections within the mirror. Because sentient beings identify with the reflections, they sink among the nine realms and the four modes of birth. If they recognize the mirror, they return to the true mind in the blink of an eye.

QUESTION: The mind-nature is vast, sustaining all species everywhere. It is not within the body but is thought to be outside it and to envelop the physical body. Is this principle correct?

ANSWER: No!

QUESTION: If it cannot be established as within and is not outside, this principle is most perplexing. Master, please explain it.

ANSWER: The original nature is an all-pervading emptiness, neither within the body nor outside it. The true mind abides alone; it is neither identical with the body nor separate from it. Therefore, in the Surangama Sutra, Ananda clung to baseless delusion and remained bewildered through all seven locations. The Second Patriarch, Huike, awakened to the truth that the real is originally unborn, and with a single utterance accorded with the Way. If you remain dull-witted, I shall explain it to you again through an analogy:

The original nature is like a vast ocean whose waters are clear and still. The true mind is like the radiance of those clear waters. When the wind suddenly stirs, foam forms upon the ocean.

The foam is the physical body; the ocean water is the Dharma-body; the wetness of the foam is consciousness-nature; and the wetness of the ocean water is the original nature. The foam is wet and the ocean water is wet; their wetness is originally one, and therefore it is neither within nor without. Yet the ocean water is wet and the foam is wet, and when their wetness is regarded as belonging separately to each, there appears to be an inside and an outside.

Ordinary beings, deludedly clinging to the sea foam, turn their backs upon the boundless ocean. The Surangama Sutra says: “It is as though one were to cast aside hundreds of thousands of vast, clear oceans and then take a tiny bubble of sea foam to be the entirety of the tidal waters, all gathered within that single bubble. All of you are doubly deluded among the deluded.” If later students awaken to the fact that the water of the ocean and the water of its foam possess one and the same wetness, how could they maintain any fixed attachment to either inside or outside?

Failing to awaken to the original nature is truly lamentable!

QUESTION: The wetness of the ocean water represents the nature of the Dharma realm. The wetness of the sea foam represents consciousness within the body. The nature of wetness is nondual, neither within nor without. But if it is neither within nor without, then when one’s karmic retribution is exhausted and life ends, one departs from here and is born there, plainly exhibiting an exit and an entrance. Since there is exit and entrance, why say that it is neither within nor without?

ANSWER: Despite the instruction I gave above, you have been unable to comprehend and awaken, but instead seek the arising and ceasing of wavering flowers in empty space. You may indeed be called exceedingly foolish.

Because, from the very beginning, beings failed to preserve their own nature and a single deluded thought stirred, they became bound within the prison of the womb. Life after life, they cling rigidly and insist that something within the body exits and enters, comes and goes. Inside and outside, coming and going, are like flowers in empty space.

Although the flowers appear to arise and cease, space itself is originally unmoving. Consciousness seems to exit and enter, but its nature is originally unmoving. Flowers in empty space are illusory, and consciousness within the body is delusive.

I now use the illusory flowers in space to elucidate the deluded consciousness within the body. The principle of the two is not different; you should reflect upon it carefully. If you still do not awaken, I shall cite a sutra by way of analogy:

The Surangama Sutra says: “It is like a person carrying a kalavinka-shaped vase, sealing both its openings, and filling its interior with empty space. He carries the vase a thousand miles away and then presents it as a gift to another country. You should know that the consciousness-skandha is likewise.

Ananda, this empty space did not come from that distant region, nor did it enter from this region. Thus, Ananda, if it had come from that distant region, then since the vase contained empty space that was carried away, a portion of empty space should have been missing from the vase’s native place. If it had entered from this region, then when the stopper was removed and the vase emptied, one should have seen empty space fall out.

Therefore, you should know that the consciousness-skandha is illusory and false, originally neither arising from causes and conditions nor existing spontaneously.”

Explanation: Kalavinka is the name of the vase. Sealing its two openings represents wholesome and unwholesome karma. The vase represents karmic power carrying consciousness along.

The empty space inside the vase represents consciousness following karma. The space within the vase and the space outside it seem to be inside and outside. Yet space does not have two separate substances; inside and outside are only one, and therefore it is neither within nor without.

The empty space within the vase represents the original emptiness of consciousness. Wholesome and unwholesome karma carry consciousness along, just as the vase is carried a thousand miles away. Presenting it as a gift to another country represents relinquishing existence here and receiving existence there.

The sutra says: “Ananda! That empty space did not come from that distant region, nor did it enter from this region.” This represents relinquishing the body as though coming from that distant region, yet the consciousness associated with the former body was never diminished. Receiving a body is like entering from this region, yet the consciousness associated with the later body never arrived.

Therefore, know that when the body dies, consciousness does not go anywhere; even before death, it did not abide solely here. When a body comes to life, consciousness does not arrive; even before birth, it originally pervaded this entire place. The deluded do not understand and suppose it to be within, exiting and entering.

Those who awaken clearly understand that its essence is originally without here or there; how, then, could there be coming or going?

QUESTION: An awakened person clearly knows that its essence originally neither goes nor comes. Yet at present, someone dies here and is born there, so there are indeed appearances of going and coming, are there not?

ANSWER: When conditions converge, there is birth; when conditions disperse, there is cessation. Although the appearances of coming and going manifest, the “originally perfect luminosity” remains unmoving. Because ordinary beings suffer from diseased eyes, they successively mistake flowers in empty space for reality; these appear to arise and cease according to conditions, and thus beings wander in cyclic existence.

The Surangama Sutra says: “Good man! From beginningless time until now, all sentient beings have been inverted in layer upon layer, like a person who becomes confused and mistakes the four directions for having changed places. They mistakenly take the four great elements to be the characteristics of their own bodies, and the conditioned reflections of the six sense-objects to be the characteristics of their own minds.

They are like a person with diseased eyes who sees flowers in empty space. Even when those flowers vanish from empty space, it cannot be said that they have definitely gone to some place of cessation. Why is this?

Because they were never born. All sentient beings, within what is unborn, mistakenly perceive birth and cessation. Therefore, this is called wandering through birth and death.” If later students do not suddenly awaken to the arising and ceasing of illusory consciousness and to the ever-abiding, unmoving essence of the perfectly awakened mind, they remain deluded.

The Patriarch said: “Although the bones may gather and disperse, one wondrous thing remains forever numinous” (although the bones gather and disperse, one thing alone remains wondrously numinous forever). If one fully realizes this mind, what birth and death could there be?

QUESTION: Your instruction is so lucid that it cannot fail to be understood. But I still do not know how, at the very beginning, my body and mind came to exist?

ANSWER: The true source is perfectly pure; the ocean of awakening is tranquil and clear. Originally, there was no beginning to subject and object, so how could there have been any trace of names and characteristics? Yet because there was no awakening at the very beginning, the mind suddenly stirred. From awareness, illumination was established, and from illumination, objects were established. Consequently, differentiation suddenly arose, and names and characteristics spread everywhere. Just as a mirror manifests images, the body with its sense faculties suddenly arose. Then, according to thought, the world became differentiated. Thereafter, because of love and hatred, beings sank into the three realms, falsely undergoing samsara without ever resting.

QUESTION: If it is truly as you say—that at the very beginning there was no awakening, the mind suddenly stirred, and the body with its sense faculties abruptly arose—then when the karmic recompense of this illusory body is exhausted and the four great elements disperse, how does the illusory consciousness within the body enter a womb?

ANSWER: Ordinary beings spend all day pursuing emotional consciousness, thereby forming either wholesome or unwholesome karma; they then experience results according to the causes they have created. When death approaches, the realm of earth becomes utterly dark. At that time, the consciousness encounters a place with which it has an affinity, sees a point of light, and rushes toward it. Seeing the future father and mother engaged in intercourse, it gives rise to thoughts of love and hatred. Concentrating upon these thoughts, it leaps into the two drops, red and white, like a magnet attracting iron. In an instant, those agitations cease. Within the womb, it then successively passes through five stages:

The first seven days are called “mixed impurity.” At that time, the father’s essence and the mother’s blood settle like a thin film of cream and mingle together; hence it is called “mixed.” Because it is unclean, it is called “impurity.” The second seven days are called the arbuda stage, resembling a small bean. The arbuda has the appearance of milk that is nearly congealed, but blood has not yet formed. The third seven days are called “coagulation”; for the first time, it assumes a congealed appearance, as though blood were present.

The fourth seven days are called “thickened coagulation”; it gradually becomes firm, and the five viscera gradually form. The fifth seven days are called the “stage of form.” At that time, an inner wind blows, causing the forms of the faculties to arise: the trunk and four limbs become distinct. By the fifth seven-day period, the five sense faculties are complete.

The sixth seven days are called “the growth of hair, nails, and teeth.” The seventh seven days are called “the complete faculties”; all the internal organs and five sense faculties are fully formed. After ten months, the being emerges from the womb as a human. Bound by discriminating consciousness and divided into the functions of the six faculties, it sees, hears, understands, and knows, creating karma according to conditions.

Birth and death continue in succession, revolving without cease.

QUESTION: Does the consciousness have a form when it first enters the womb?

ANSWER: It does.

QUESTION: What is its form like?

ANSWER: The consciousness at the time of entering a womb is called the intermediate existence (intermediate state), for it lies between the existence of death (the preceding state) and the existence of birth (the succeeding state). The intermediate-existence body of a human being has the form the person had while alive. Its stature does not exceed three Chinese feet, being about the size of a five- or six-year-old child.

The intermediate-existence body of an animal resembles that animal, and the same applies to all other classes of beings. All resemble the forms they had while alive. Although the form of the consciousness is small, it can still perform various karmic actions.

When entering a womb through the parents, it gives rise to inverted thoughts of love and hatred. Ordinary people call this “the returning spirit.”

QUESTION: In this world, some people do not enter a womb but instead “seize an abode.” How does this occur?

ANSWER: In this world, there are practitioners who study the Way, or people endowed with merit. Such persons do not enter the embryo. They wait until they encounter a place with which they have an affinity. Just as the parents give birth and a sound suddenly occurs, the numinous point of the light of consciousness shoots directly through the crown aperture, forcing the embryo’s consciousness aside and seizing its abode to become a human being. This is an inconceivable realm that cannot be understood through the fabrications of conceptual consciousness.

QUESTION: When beings in this world exhaust their karmic recompense and their lives end, they either enter a womb through parents or seize an abode. In that case, I think that undergoing punishment in hell may not necessarily be real.

ANSWER: Hell does not exist apart from causes within the mind. All beings form karma through the ten habitual tendencies. Because these habits become deeply established, they undergo retribution according to their karma.

Hell is manifested by the mind; it is not an external realm. A verse in the Avatamsaka Sutra says: “One should contemplate the nature of the Dharma realm: everything is created by mind alone.” Therefore, you should know that experiencing retribution in hell is a manifestation of one’s own mind. The Surangama Sutra says: “Ananda!

These are called the ten causes and six effects of the hells. They are all produced by the deluded falsehoods of beings.” Later students should be cautious. Do not hear that hell is illusory and consequently treat it lightly, failing to put an end to unwholesome karma.

If one continues to trifle with habitual causes and must then follow one’s karma, the hell of one’s own mind will suddenly appear before one’s eyes. Would it not then be difficult to escape that hellish realm?

When people are born into this world, their wholesome and unwholesome deeds differ in magnitude, and they accordingly undergo results that accord with their causes. Those who sow great goodness are reborn in the heavens through the response of their own minds. Those who commit much evil fall into hell through the response of their own minds.

Those whose good and evil are balanced enter a womb through parents. Those whose offenses and merit are both slight are not immediately reborn but suddenly acquire a form called the intermediate-state body. Because it suddenly comes into being from nonexistence, this is called spontaneous birth.

Its body is about three Chinese feet tall, and its six faculties are keen. It comes and goes swiftly, without obstruction anywhere. Other people see it only as a shadow.

After seven days, it dies and is born again. At most, it lives no longer than forty-nine days; at the shortest, it undergoes rebirth after two or three seven-day periods. Ordinary custom calls it a soul.

QUESTION: The original nature is vast, and its essence pervades the great void. The true mind abides nowhere and is neither within nor without. Yet the consciousness within the body is imprisoned and bound in the dungeon of the womb. May I ask whether the true mind exists within the conscious mind, or whether, apart from the conscious mind, there is another, separate true mind?

ANSWER: There is gold within ore and water within waves. The storehouse consciousness, while still bound by afflictions, conceals true suchness. Beginners must awaken to the principle of the true and the false. By relying on the true mind, one swiftly realizes bodhi; by following the deluded mind, one drifts through birth and death.

QUESTION: I do not yet understand: within the conscious mind in the body, which is true and which is false?

ANSWER: The true mind is numinous knowing; it takes quiescence and illumination as mind. The deluded mind is conditioned knowing; it takes grasping at conditions as mind.

QUESTION: Why is the deluded mind said to be conditioned knowing that takes grasping at conditions as mind?

ANSWER: The deluded mind is fundamentally nonexistent. It comes into being because of subject and object. Following objects, it gives rise to discrimination, love and hatred, grasping and rejection. Thought after thought grasps at conditions, and mind after mind indulges in confused thinking. It ceaselessly pursues the six sense objects and abides without pause in confused thoughts. Heaven and hell revolve throughout the various paths. What is unborn is regarded as born, and what does not die is regarded as dying. Like a monkey leaping among branches or a horse galloping onward, it drifts through the three realms without ever coming to rest.

QUESTION: If the deluded mind possesses knowing, why is it illusory?

ANSWER: The deluded mind is like the moon at the bottom of the water, and its knowing is like flowers seen in empty space. It arises from subject and object and exists because of discrimination. It then activates the functions of consciousness through the coarse sense faculties (10), thereby becoming the deluded knowing that confronts objects.

If separated from the objects presently before it, this mind has no intrinsic essence. Illumination arises because of objects; if the objects disappear, the illumination is also lost. Sense objects arise according to thought; when thought ceases, the sense objects also vanish.

If one takes the reflected image of this activity to be the true essence of Buddha, it may be called a false cause, and it will also result in the fruit of annihilation. Being illusory in this way, how could it be true and real?

QUESTION: What does it mean that the true mind is numinous knowing and takes quiescent illumination as mind?

ANSWER: The true mind is utterly serene, illuminating without following after objects. In accordance with conditions, it encompasses everything universally, yet has never formed an intention. Luminous and undeluded, clearly and constantly aware, when unfolded it leaves no mark, and when gathered up it leaves no trace.

It is like the clear brightness of a tranquil pool, or a bright mirror suspended in empty space, in which the myriad phenomena are suddenly reflected and thoroughly revealed. It neither goes out nor comes in, neither exists nor does not exist. This is the place to which the thousand sages secretly return and in which the Buddhas of the three times eternally abide.

It is also called the “Buddha-nature of devas and humans,” and also the “pure Dharma-body.” If one departs from this and cultivates anything else, one will ultimately become only a deviant demon or an adherent of an outside path.

QUESTION: Why is the numinous awareness of the true mind genuine?

ANSWER: The true mind is silent yet illuminating, limpid and boundless. It cannot be seen anywhere throughout the realms; deviant demons and adherents of outside paths cannot find it. Sharp blades cannot harm it, the conflagration at the end of a kalpa cannot burn it, the encircling iron mountains cannot confine it, and samsara cannot submerge it. Its primordial beauty has always shone brilliantly and, down to the present, has never been deluded. For one who awakens to this genuine mind-nature, the attainment of Buddhahood does not depend upon the passage of kalpas.

QUESTION: How does one put an end to conditioned knowing so that it becomes numinous awareness, and transform the deluded mind so that it becomes the true mind?

ANSWER: Delusion arises when the six faculties are bound; truth is revealed when the six faculties are released.

QUESTION: What does it mean that delusion arises when the six faculties are bound and truth is revealed when the six faculties are released?

ANSWER: Perfectly luminous and quiescent, there were originally neither world nor body and mind. Suddenly the deluded mind arose, manifesting everywhere through faculties and objects; then, following objects, it gave rise to love and hatred, like a moth leaping into a lamp. Racing after feelings of grasping and rejecting, it is like a silkworm binding itself within its own cocoon.

If the faculties and their objects do not adhere to one another, the numinous light naturally shines alone. If objects and self become one suchness, the six faculties naturally function interchangeably. The Surangama Sutra says: “You need only refrain from following movement and stillness, union and separation, insipidity and change, openness and obstruction, arising and cessation, light and darkness—and the twelve conditioned characteristics such as these.

Select any one faculty and uproot it, freeing it from its inward adhesion and inwardly returning to the original truth. At that time, the fundamental wondrous luminosity arises, and the wondrous nature shines forth. The remaining five adhesions will also be completely uprooted and released.

Do not allow cognition and views to arise in response to objects before you. Luminosity does not follow the faculties; rather, by relying upon the faculties, luminosity arises. Therefore, the six faculties function interchangeably.”

It also says: “Ananda! If your faculties are now completely uprooted, the inner luminosity will manifest. Then all such transient defilements (11), the material world (12), and their changing appearances will be like ice melted by hot water, immediately transformed into supreme awareness.”

If you have not yet awakened, I shall explain the true mind and the deluded mind clearly once more. Both the true mind and the deluded mind take awareness as their essence. The deluded mind takes awareness as its essence. Relying upon faculties and objects, the deluded mind knows by means of knowing—‘knowing through conditioned knowledge.’ Apart from faculties and objects, the true mind knows without knowing—‘knowing through non-knowing.’ Beginners who aspire to the Way must awaken clearly to the true and the deluded; then, when they apply themselves to both aspects, they will naturally attain sudden realization.

QUESTION: Although I have gained complete understanding through your instruction above, my karma remains heavy, my mind remains restless and unsettled, and my faculties are inferior and limited, so I cannot attain sudden realization. What should I do?

ANSWER: The nature is originally without awakening; awakening exists because of delusion. The mind is originally without cultivation; cultivation exists because of defilement. Because afflictions vary in depth and habits vary in thickness, expedient means are established. Cultivation may be sudden or gradual: sudden cultivation enables those whose defilements are slight to swiftly attain perfect penetration; gradual cultivation enables those whose obstructions are heavy to cleanse their original nature little by little. I shall now provisionally set forth three grades of faculties so that each may enter according to their capacity.

QUESTION: What are the three grades of faculties?

ANSWER: Those of superior faculties cultivate suddenly; those of middling faculties cultivate gradually; and those of inferior faculties cultivate diligently.

QUESTION: How do those of superior faculties cultivate suddenly?

ANSWER: Those of superior faculties possess keen capacities, having previously perfumed themselves with the seeds of the Way. As soon as a single word is uttered, the ground of their mind opens and penetrates everything. They preserve and sustain it according to circumstances so as to completely eliminate the stream of consciousness.

When a thought moves, they do not continue it; when thought is absent, they do not cling to that absence. The single mind, level and serene, naturally comes to rest. At that time, whatever meets their eyes and whatever conditions they encounter are all wondrous functions.

Master Guishan said: “If only your mind does not lodge in things, what thing could obstruct you?” He also said: “Though every thought engages with conditions, mind after mind remains ever pure. Perfectly interfused throughout the Dharma realm, one suddenly realizes non-arising.” If one’s faculties are dull, expedient means are further established so that one may gradually return.

QUESTION: Why does one who awakens suddenly and cultivates gradually realize the Way so swiftly?

ANSWER: This principle truly exists; it is not a false transmission. Indeed, if one “directly illuminates the mind,” perfectly cultivates in a single thought, and suddenly realizes, one does not pass through asamkhyeya kalpas—what need would there be for innumerable ages? The Mahaparinirvana Sutra says: “It is like a person who boards a boat intending to cross the great ocean.

If the sails and wind are favorable, that person can cross immeasurable distances in only a moment. Conversely, even after remaining there for immeasurable years, the person may not leave the original place. At some point the boat may decay and break apart, and the person may sink into the water and die.

Sentient beings are likewise.” The Surangama Sutra says: “The illusory samadhi can, in the time it takes to snap one’s fingers, surpass those beyond training (13). Therefore, those of the Three Vehicles (14) do not comprehend it, and those of the ten bhumis (15) are afraid. In a single thought one becomes a Buddha, instantly transcending asamkhyeya kalpas.”

QUESTION: How do those of middling faculties cultivate gradually?

ANSWER: The sudden cultivation of those with superior faculties is like wind blowing clouds away, revealing the bright disk of the moon clearly in the sky. The gradual cultivation of those with middling faculties is like polishing a soiled mirror: when the dust is gone, its light appears. A later student may fully awaken to the original mind, yet because former habits remain deeply ingrained, wisdom is weak and the mind restless and unsettled.

Thus, throughout the twelve periods of the day, whether active or still, inwardly let everything go. Do not think of good or evil. As soon as a thought arises, be aware of it; once aware, it immediately becomes empty.

An ancient said: “Do not fear thoughts arising; fear only that awareness comes too late.” Apply the mind in this way. After a long time, no delusion will arise. One must wait until both person and dharmas disappear; then faculties and objects will suddenly fall away, the true mind will shine alone, and whether unfolded or gathered up, it will be unobstructed.

QUESTION: In the practice of gradual cultivation, should one chiefly practice quiet sitting, or can realization also be cultivated through both activity and stillness?

ANSWER: For one who awakens suddenly and cultivates gradually, success is more readily achieved through greater stillness; superior persons, however, practice dhyana in both activity and stillness. Those of middling faculties relinquish phenomena and incline toward principle. When sitting practice has become thoroughly matured in this manner, activity and stillness will naturally both be unobstructed.

QUESTION: How should those of inferior faculties cultivate diligently?

ANSWER: Those of inferior faculties are dull and slow-witted; their minds are sluggish, their torpor is deep and heavy, and their restlessness is rampant, making it difficult to rouse and inspire them. Such people must rely upon instruction and guidance, with subtle and detailed explanations that help their faculties awaken. They must possess faith, never depart from wholehearted devotion, and always follow a spiritual teacher, sincerely listening to instruction.

They must not mistake demonic states for realization. Day after day they must accept discipline; hour after hour they must polish themselves. Before the Buddha, they must repent of their karmic offenses.

Within the Sangha, they must humble themselves. After awakening, they must not leave their teacher. In general, they must forget worldly concerns, deeply nourish and carefully nurture their realization.

Only after cultivating in this way for a long time can they attain accord.

QUESTION: Why must those of inferior faculties expend so much effort in awakening and cultivation?

ANSWER: Those of dull faculties, whose afflictions are deep and heavy, who are beset by torpor and restlessness, whose minds are moreover unsteady and agitated, and who are heavily obscured by ignorance—if they do not practice diligently, it will be difficult for their spiritual potential to unfold. The ancients said: “Even if those of inferior faculties are instructed by means of ten thousand examples, they still cannot comprehend.” Even when such people gain a little understanding, they take it to be thorough awakening, refuse instruction, and arrogantly look down upon others. People of this kind must give rise to shame and remorse; otherwise, they will become deranged and fall onto a deviant path.

QUESTION: When those who have awakened to the principle preserve and nurture it securely, how can they know that the true mind has manifested before them?

ANSWER: When those who have awakened to the principle have not yet exhausted their habitual tendencies, they may still lose mindfulness upon encountering circumstances; therefore, they must continue to nurture it deeply. They are like herders tending an ox: wherever they lead the ox, they keep the whip ready. Only when its mind has become thoroughly trained, its steps are steady, and it no longer trespasses into the rice seedlings may they let go and cease tending it.

If you wish to test whether the true mind has matured, you should bring before you the very things that you ordinarily love or hate and test it through seeing and hearing them. If, just as before, thoughts of love or hatred arise, you should know that the Way has not yet matured. If, on encountering favorable or adverse circumstances, no thoughts of love or hatred arise, you should know that you are near the Way and that the true mind has manifested.

If you wish to test the mind of attachment once more, imagine some desirable object. If this mind of attachment remains entirely still and does not arise, then test the mind of aversion by imagining some object of anger or hatred. If the mind of anger and hatred does not arise at all, only then can you freely accord with conditions and engage with things without obstruction.

QUESTION: Before the true mind has manifested, while one is applying effort to put an end to delusion, one also performs wholesome deeds in order to assist the Way and make its accomplishment easier. Is this principle appropriate?

ANSWER: Putting an end to the deluded mind is the principal practice; performing wholesome deeds is the auxiliary practice. If one performs good deeds with a deliberate mind and becomes attached to goodness, one will certainly fall within the meritorious rewards of the human and heavenly realms. If one accords mindlessly with wholesome deeds, then this may be called a support for cultivation.

The Prajnaparamita Sutra says: “Subhuti, if a bodhisattva practices giving without abiding in appearances, that bodhisattva’s merit is inconceivable and immeasurable.” Nowadays, one sees students who cling one-sidedly and fail to perceive the whole. Upon gaining a little awakening to the principle, they immediately rely upon innate naturalness and cease performing wholesome deeds; consequently, their merit is meager while Mara’s power grows strong.

QUESTION: The myriad conditioned wholesome deeds constitute merit and blessings. Seeing one’s nature, which is unconditioned, constitutes virtue arising from realization. Why, then, should one cultivate conditioned practices as well, mixing them together in this way?

ANSWER: Conditioned action accompanied by attachment to the conditioned brings the karmic rewards of the human and heavenly realms. Conditioned action free from defilement is the practice through which the virtues of the nature are revealed.

QUESTION: Once one has awakened to the mind and realized the principle, one immediately possesses supernatural powers and transformations. In the present age, many people have awakened to the principle, yet very few possess supernatural powers. Why is this so?

ANSWER: The manifestation of supernatural powers and transformations is only the branch; what is essential is to attain the root of the one mind. When the root is established, the Way arises, and supernatural powers then manifest naturally. If one takes the extraordinary signs of supernatural powers and transformations themselves to be the Way, would not heavenly maras, non-Buddhist practitioners, demons, spirits, and dragons all be Buddhas?

For heavenly maras and non-Buddhist practitioners also fully possess supernatural powers. To attain genuine supernatural powers, one must realize the Dharma of the One Vehicle. This Dharma of the One Vehicle can bring forth the wondrous functioning of prajna: attaining perfect awakening amid the defilements of worldly toil and realizing nirvana within birth and death.

In a single kshana, one leaves the ordinary and becomes a sage; in an instant, existence is transformed and returns to nonexistence. Such miraculous transformation is not something illusory arts can accomplish.

An Ancient Worthy said: “There are five kinds of extraordinary powers: first, the power of the Way; second, supernatural power; third, derivative power; fourth, karmic power; and fifth, demonic power. What is demonic power? It consists of transformations wrought by old foxes, manifestations of the essences of trees and stones, and spirits attaching themselves to people who display strange and extraordinary abilities.

This is demonic power. What is karmic power? Ghosts and spirits know things in advance, heavenly beings perform transformations, the intermediate-state body passes freely through obstructions, and spirit-dragons appear and disappear.

This is karmic power. What is derivative power? Through reliance on certain arts one obtains knowledge; through dependence upon the body one exercises abilities; through reliance upon talismans one comes and goes; and through medicinal compounds one produces marvelous transformations.

This is derivative power. What is supernatural power? A purified mind illuminates things; former lives are recalled and retained; and ten thousand kinds of discernment all arise from the power of samadhi.

This is supernatural power. What is the power of the Way? Mindlessly responding to things, one accords with conditions and transforms throughout the myriad existences.

Like the moon in the water, a flower in empty space, or an image without a master—this is the power of the Way.”

Only this power of the Way is genuine; all other powers are false and deviant. What is false is not genuine, and what is deviant is not correct. They cause confusion and delusion to arise in the mind and obscure the fundamental nature. Therefore, true students of the Way do not retain supernatural powers, fearing that they may contravene the true principle.

The Record of Auxiliary Practices says: “Practitioners of samadhi who find supernatural powers arising must swiftly cast them aside, for they are false, conditioned phenomena still subject to the outflows.”

The treatise on cessation and contemplation says: “Supernatural powers can obstruct prajna. Those of inferior faculties deludedly seek supernatural powers and take them to be the true Way. The wise contemplate the true characteristic of the body, and they contemplate the Buddha in the same way. Only bodhisattvas who appear in responsive transformation and sages who have realized the principle may ultimately manifest miraculous transformations, but they certainly do not remain in the world. If someone remains in the world and displays supernatural powers in order to teach others, that person is, if not a demon, then certainly a mara or beguiling spirit.”

QUESTION: Those who have not awakened are deluded about the true principle, follow their deluded emotions, create wholesome and unwholesome causes, and must undergo the resulting fruits of suffering and happiness, taking birth according to their karma. There is no longer any doubt concerning this principle. But practitioners who have awakened to the principle swiftly return to the true mind, transcend all causes and effects, and put an end to all dualities. After this body, where does their numinous point find lodging?

ANSWER: All sentient beings experience fruits according to causes and take conditions as their place of birth; hence, this is called their place of lodging. Practitioners who have awakened to the principle and realized the Way are not like homeless wanderers drifting through the world, nor like masterless ghosts and forsaken spirits, floating about without refuge or abode. If they directly awaken to the fundamental principle manifest before them, then the four directions, above and below, are all the true mind. This entire body is its functioning and enjoyment; there is no other separate place of lodging. An Ancient Worthy said: “The entire earth is the single eye of the śramana.” He also said: “The entire earth is the Sangharama.”

Minister Wen Cao asked Master Guifeng: “When one who has awakened to the principle reaches the end of his lifespan, where must he find lodging?” Guifeng replied: “All sentient beings fully possess the numinously luminous nature of awakening and are no different from the Buddha. If one can awaken to this nature, which is the Dharma-body, then it is fundamentally unborn—what need is there for a place of lodging? This nature is wondrously luminous and never deluded, distinctly and constantly aware, coming from nowhere and returning nowhere.

Simply take empty quiescence as your own essence; do not identify the physical body as yourself. Take numinous awareness as your own mind; do not identify deluded thoughts as yourself. Whenever deluded thoughts arise, do not follow them.

Then, at the time of death, karma will be unable to bind you. Although there may be an intermediate-state body, you will go wherever you please, freely finding lodging in the heavenly or human realms. All subtle currents will be entirely empty, and only the perfect awakening and great wisdom will remain, shining brilliantly.

According to their capacities, you will transform and deliver sentient beings with whom you have affinities, enabling them to awaken to the mind, realize the principle, and together accomplish the Buddha Way.”

QUESTION: In ancient times, there were eminent monks who passed away while seated upright, whose entire bodies remained undecayed for many years, and whose nails and hair continued to grow. What principle underlies this phenomenon?

ANSWER: These are practitioners of the Lesser Vehicle whose bodies abide in the samadhi of cessation. This samadhi extinguishes only the sixth consciousness, while the eighth consciousness sustains the body. It all arises from aversion to existence and delight in emptiness, with the temporary wish to suspend the breath. Nevertheless, though one may remain in this samadhi for a very long time, bodily warmth does not vanish; afterward, consciousness arises again, like a recurrent fever. One must awaken to the samadhi of the intrinsic nature in order to escape samsara.

QUESTION: Venerable Kasyapa attained the samadhi of complete cessation. Is it the same as or different from the Lesser Vehicle's samadhi of cessation?

ANSWER: In the Great Vehicle, cessation is in principle; in the Lesser Vehicle, cessation is in phenomena. The Great Vehicle's complete cessation retains all five skandhas and the seventh and eighth consciousnesses; one can manifest the dignified modes of conduct, and whether in samadhi or out of samadhi, one remains unobstructed, abandoning neither phenomena nor principle. Although Lesser Vehicle practitioners retain the form and formations skandhas, the first six consciousnesses have subsided entirely; thus they wholly lack the dignified modes of conduct, samadhi and non-samadhi are not perfectly integrated, and they abandon phenomena in favor of quiescence. Therefore, the two samadhis are not the same.

CHAPTER V

DISTINCTIONS AMONG THE TEACHINGS AND VEHICLES

QUESTION: Above, you gave extensive instruction on the Dharma gate of sudden awakening, and this latecoming student now sees it with utmost clarity. Yet a few distinctions within the teachings remain; I ask you to instruct me again in detail.

ANSWER: Ask whatever you wish. I shall answer and will not disappoint you.

QUESTION: What is meant by “the myriad dharmas return to mind”?

ANSWER: It is like gold fashioned by a craftsman into many objects. When those objects are placed in a furnace and melted, there is only one substance. The myriad dharmas returning to mind is likewise.

QUESTION: What supreme power does the Dharma gate of sudden awakening possess?

ANSWER: Through right understanding and perfect cultivation, its power transcends incalculable kalpas. Though amid birth and death, one constantly enters nirvana; though always amid the defilements of worldly toil, one perpetually abides in the Pure Land. While possessing fleshly eyes, one opens the eye of wisdom. One transforms the ordinary mind so that it becomes identical with the mind of the Buddha. Know with confidence that the merits of the Dharma gate of sudden awakening surpass all others.

QUESTION: In illuminating the mind and seeing the intrinsic nature, it is like drinking water and personally knowing whether it is cold or hot. Does this mean that words have nothing upon which to rely?

ANSWER: When a student applies the mind with earnest intimacy and investigates the true principle, suddenly body and mind become one, and the light of wisdom bursts forth. One sees matters from before the kalpa of destruction and personally reaches the place of original awakening. At this point, though one has a mouth, it is difficult to speak; though one can write, it is difficult to describe. It is like drinking water and personally knowing whether it is cold or hot. If one wishes to open a skillful means for revealing the original mind, one must borrow the teachings of the vehicles to serve as analogies.

QUESTION: The Chan school teaches people not to read sutras. If one gathers some measure of understanding from them, does one not thereby become merely a learned person of words and letters?

ANSWER: If one wishes to investigate the teachings of the vehicles, one must search within the precious canon. Each teaching must be digested and returned to oneself; every word must tacitly accord with the original mind. The only concern is that one may cling to words and give rise to conceptual understanding, refusing to return and unite with the fundamental essence. Therefore, reading sutras merely to become a sage of words and letters is ridiculed.

QUESTION: What is delusion, and what is awakening?

ANSWER: When non-awakening arises from the true mind of original awakening, it is called delusion. When initial awakening arises from non-awakening and then returns to the true mind, it is called awakening. Thus it is said: “Having fallen because of the ground, one also rises by means of the ground.” Though delusion and awakening differ, the true mind is not two.

QUESTION: Why must one who accords with principle put an end to both truth and delusion?

ANSWER: Truth is spoken of because of delusion, yet truth has no intrinsic characteristic of its own. Since delusion arises from truth, the essence of delusion is originally empty. Since delusion is originally empty, truth also cannot be established. When both truth and delusion are ended, the original mind abides eternally.

QUESTION: The sudden-awakening tradition “enters directly with a single stroke of the sword.” What need is there for extensive verbal discussions of various distinctions?

ANSWER: A person who investigates the profound principle must possess both eyes: first, the eye of oneself, by which Chan is illumined; second, the eye of wisdom, by which delusion and karma are discerned. The Chan school says: “One who illuminates only oneself but does not understand the matter before one's eyes has only one eye. With principle solitary and phenomena impaired, one ultimately fails to attain perfect penetration.” If wisdom were wrong, would Manjusri of Great Wisdom be called a son of the Dharma King?

If putting an end to learning were right, would the bhiksu Sunaksatra have become a denizen of hell? All this is because the barrier of conceptual consciousness is locked; without the key of wisdom, it is difficult to open. One may claim that “thoughts and imaginings alike bind one,” but without the sword of wisdom, they are difficult to sever.

Those who advance in perfectly penetrating cultivation must not cling to the severance of words and refrain from learning.

QUESTION: Do those who cultivate and realize the perfect and sudden teaching still fall within cause and effect?

ANSWER: From the Buddhas above down to sentient beings below, all are encompassed by cause and effect. How, then, could cause and effect be denied? It is only because non-Buddhist practitioners fail to comprehend the principle of dependent arising, cling solely to spontaneity, and deny cause and effect.

The one-eyed practitioners of the Two Vehicles realize only biased emptiness; with wisdom extinguished and the body reduced to ashes, they distance themselves from cause and effect. Ordinary beings, bound by karma and craving the five desires, set fire to the house and burn themselves, clinging to cause and effect. All these become deluded interpretations, blinding oneself to the principle of perfect constancy.

Take only the true characteristic as the cause and the true characteristic as the effect. Do not form the attachment that denies cause and effect and thereby fall into a deviant path. Only thus can one swiftly perfect the cause and swiftly realize the wondrous fruition.

QUESTION: In the world there are practitioners who accord with principle and call themselves “people of the Way who are without mind.” If they are without mind, they are like trees and stones; whence, then, comes the great wisdom of sages and worthies?

ANSWER: A person of the Way who is without mind is not the same as trees and stones. To be without mind means to have no discriminating mind, no mind of love or hatred, no grasping or rejecting, no mind of good or evil, no mind of being or nonbeing, no mind abiding in the center or on either side, no mind of inner or outer, and no attached mind. It does not mean the absence of the true mind whose numinous knowing is quiescent yet illuminating.

QUESTION: An ancient said: “Do not say that no-mind itself is the Way; no-mind is still separated by one barrier.” What does this mean?

ANSWER: The true mind is empty and wondrous, neither existent nor nonexistent. If one abandons existence and abides in nonexistence, this becomes a grave error. An ancient worthy composed this verse:

I urge you, while learning the Way, not to seek with craving;

When the mind is absent from myriad affairs, one arrives at accord.

Only through no-mind does one embody the Way of no-mind;

Having embodied no-mind, let even nonbeing cease.

TRANSLATION:

I urge you, while learning the Way, not to seek with craving;

When the mind is absent from myriad affairs, one arrives at accord.

Through no-mind, enter and embody the Way of no-mind;

Having entered no-mind, let even nonbeing cease.

QUESTION: What is meant by not knowing yet knowing, and knowing yet not knowing?

ANSWER: Not knowing—non-wisdom—is the essence of mind. Knowing is the function of mind. The essence can bring forth wondrous function: not knowing yet knowing. Function does not depart from essence: knowing yet not knowing. If function departs from essence, it is knowing that abides in characteristics. If essence lacks function, it is called inert emptiness.

QUESTION: What is meant by not knowing yet knowing, and knowing yet not knowing?

ANSWER: Not knowing—non-wisdom—is the essence of mind. Knowing is the function of mind. The essence can bring forth wondrous function: not knowing yet knowing. Function does not depart from essence: knowing yet not knowing. If function departs from essence, it is knowing that abides in characteristics. If essence lacks function, it is called inert emptiness.

QUESTION: What is meant by having thoughts and knowing them to be delusive?

ANSWER: When the six faculties encounter their objects, thoughts arise and make distinctions. Since there are thoughts and knowing, this is regarded as delusive.

QUESTION: What is meant by being without mind and knowing this to be true?

ANSWER: The true mind responds to things as a mirror reflects images. It knows without mind and is therefore called true.

QUESTION: What is right view and understanding?

ANSWER: View and understanding that do not depend upon faculties and their objects are right. View and understanding that arise in dependence upon faculties and their objects are deviant.

QUESTION: What are the Three Jewels?

ANSWER: The one mind, empty and quiescent, is the Jewel of the Buddha. Quiescent yet constantly illuminating, it is the Jewel of the Dharma. Illuminating yet undefiled, it is the Jewel of the Sangha.

QUESTION: What is the true way to make offerings to the Buddha?

ANSWER: When the six faculties encounter their objects and the six consciousnesses do not arise, while the true mind alone shines, this is truly hearing the Dharma.

QUESTION: What is true renunciation of the household life?

ANSWER: Not abiding in the house of the five skandhas—this is called a person who has truly gone forth from the household life.

QUESTION: How can one refrain from abiding in the five skandhas?

ANSWER: When seeing rests upon the faculties, the form skandha is empty. When the mind is free of intention in the presence of objects, the feeling skandha is empty. When there is knowing without knowing, the perception skandha is empty. When mind after mind remains undefiled, the formations skandha is empty. When the true mind abides perpetually, the consciousness skandha is empty.

QUESTION: What is meant by “emptiness itself is form; form itself is emptiness”?

ANSWER: To perceive emptiness and then abide in emptiness is “emptiness itself is form.” To perceive form without abiding in form is “form itself is emptiness.”

QUESTION: What is meant by “this very mind is Buddha”?

ANSWER: Mind and Buddha are not two; do not seek outside.

QUESTION: What is meant by “neither mind nor Buddha”?

ANSWER: Break attachment and eliminate conceptual understanding; mind and Buddha are originally empty.

QUESTION: What is meant by “the three minds cannot be obtained”?

ANSWER: Past, future, and present—the three minds have from the beginning been empty and quiescent. Suddenly, delusion arises like flowers in the sky, obscuring true, perfect illumination.

QUESTION: What is called true emptiness?

ANSWER: The essence of the true mind is quiescent, while its wondrous functioning arises and shines forth. Quiescence and illumination are not two; this is called true emptiness.

QUESTION: What is called wondrous existence?

ANSWER: To illuminate both existence and nonexistence equally, discerning them clearly yet not falling into subject and object, is called wondrous existence.

QUESTION: What is meant by “Only attain the root; do not worry about the branches”?

ANSWER: If one awakens to the original emptiness of the true mind, the myriad dharmas naturally vanish.

QUESTION: What is meant by “Afflictions are themselves bodhi”? How is ignorance itself Buddha-nature?

ANSWER: When the preceding thought arises, that is affliction; when the following thought does not abide, that is bodhi. When the preceding thought moves, that is ignorance; when the following thought does not continue it, that is Buddha-nature.

QUESTION: What is meant by “never regressing”?

ANSWER: One who awakens to the original mind encompasses precepts, cultivation, and realization, can bring the matter to completion in a single lifetime, and will never regress or fall back. Those who rely upon texts to interpret their meaning have heavy habitual tendencies and unstable minds; because they do not combine contemplative cultivation with observance of the precepts, they naturally regress when they encounter conditions.

QUESTION: What are the Six Paramitas?

ANSWER: Sudden awakening to the true mind is the complete fulfillment of the Six Paramitas.

QUESTION: How does awakening to the true mind completely fulfill the Six Paramitas?

ANSWER: If one awakens to the true mind, one’s practice of the Six Paramitas has a foundation; if one is deluded about the true mind, practicing the Six Paramitas is like being blind. Why is the true mind said to be the foundation? If one practices generosity without awakening to the true mind, one will enjoy honor and prosperity for a lifetime but afterward suffer calamity.

If one observes the precepts without awakening to the true mind, one will be born in a heaven of the desire realm, but when one’s merit is exhausted, one will fall again into the hell of mud and mire. If one practices patience without awakening to the true mind, one will receive the karmic reward of a dignified and upright appearance but will not realize quiescent cessation. If one practices diligence without awakening to the true mind, one merely increases arising and ceasing, and one’s efforts cannot reach the principle of truth.

If one practices meditative concentration without awakening to the true mind, one merely courses within the heavens of the form realm and cannot return to the Dharma realm. If one possesses wisdom without awakening to the true mind, one may skillfully understand words and meanings, but all of it remains conditioned and defiled. Awakening to this true mind brings the myriad virtues to fulfillment.

Being deluded about this true mind renders all displayed practices empty.

QUESTION: What are the three undefiled trainings of precepts, concentration, and wisdom?

ANSWER: Not seeking existence outwardly and not clinging to emptiness inwardly is called precepts. When not a single thought arises and the myriad conditions are empty and still, this is called concentration. Skillfully discerning without giving rise to love or hatred is called wisdom. These three undefiled trainings are the training of the Mahayana.

QUESTION: What are the three trainings of the Hinayana?

ANSWER: Clinging only to the body and eliminating the maladies of the four abidings is called precepts. Making the bodily form like a withered tree and cutting off every outward display of dignified conduct is called concentration. Realizing only one-sided emptiness and losing the principle of the Middle Way is called wisdom. Therefore, it is called an impoverished Dharma, for it buries concentration and wisdom. Vimalakirti rebuked this as the Dharma of the Hinayana.

QUESTION: Through what means should a beginner who has first aroused the aspiration enter the cultivation of concentration?

ANSWER: Beginners who are learning samadhi “should bind the mind to a single object.” After practicing for a long time and attaining concentration, true wisdom naturally arises.

QUESTION: How many kinds of dhyana are there?

ANSWER: There are five kinds of dhyana.

QUESTION: What are the five kinds?

ANSWER: First, a person who gives rise to heterodox views and cultivates out of fondness for higher realms and aversion to lower realms practices what is called the dhyana of non-Buddhist paths. Second, a person who has right faith in cause and effect but likewise cultivates with a mind of attraction and aversion practices the dhyana of ordinary beings. Third, a person who fully awakens to the principle of the emptiness of persons and cultivates through a one-sided realization of the true Way practices the dhyana of the Hinayana.

Fourth, a person who awakens to the emptiness of both persons and dharmas, constantly abides in the principle of the Middle, and cultivates accordingly practices Mahayana dhyana. Fifth, a person who has transcended heterodox views and realizes the equality of all dharmas practices the Tathagata’s dhyana.

QUESTION: What is meant by Tathagata?

ANSWER: Quiescence and illumination being nondual is called tatha, “thus.” Not abandoning compassionate vows is called agata, “come.” Ordinary beings come but are not thus. Those of the Hinayana are thus but do not come. Only the Buddha Vehicle is thus and can come.

QUESTION: What are the three contemplations of Emptiness, the Provisional, and the Middle?

ANSWER: Turning the light back to illuminate one’s own mind, one sees that it originally has no place from which it arises, and that what arises is originally empty; this is called the contemplation of Emptiness. From where there is no arising, the various dharmas delusively arise; these dharmas are not real, and this is called the contemplation of the Provisional. Emptiness and the Provisional are originally empty; not abiding at either extreme, their entire essence is the true mind, and this is called the contemplation of the Middle.

QUESTION: How are the essence and function of the true mind distinguished?

ANSWER: The essence of the true mind is vast, empty, and still. The function of the true mind is lucid awareness. Vast emptiness and stillness are not the same as inert emptiness; it is still yet constantly illuminating. Lucid awareness is not defiled attachment to sensory objects; it illuminates yet remains constantly still. Stillness and illumination are not two; this is called the true mind.

QUESTION: What is meant by “nowhere, yet nowhere not present”?

ANSWER: The essence of the true mind is empty; therefore, it is said to be nowhere. That empty essence pervades everywhere; therefore, there is nowhere it is not present.

QUESTION: The true mind pervades everywhere, and there is nowhere it is not present. Why, then, does the body know while other places do not know?

ANSWER: The essence of the true mind is empty, and the Dharma realm is of one suchness. It manifests in accordance with conditions, and knowing occurs only where there is a corresponding response.

QUESTION: What are the four inversions of ordinary beings?

ANSWER: The first inversion is regarding the impure body as pure. The second is regarding feeling, which is inherently suffering, as pleasure. The third is regarding the deluded mind, which is impermanent, as permanent. The fourth is regarding what is inherently without self as a self. Through these four inverted perceptions, ordinary beings cling to existence.

QUESTION: What are the four inversions of the Two Vehicles?

ANSWER: First, they regard the empty body, which is originally pure, as impure. Second, they regard feeling, which is originally empty, as suffering. Third, they regard the mind, which is originally true and permanent, as impermanent. Fourth, they regard no-self, which is itself the true self, as no-self. Through these four inverted perceptions, those of the Two Vehicles fall into emptiness.

QUESTION: How does one transcend the eight inversions and attain permanence, bliss, self, and purity?

ANSWER: Amid birth and death, all sentient beings delusively give rise to attachment to the four inversions concerning permanence, bliss, self, and purity. Within nirvana, those of the Two Vehicles delusively seek liberation by severing the other four inversions. All Buddhas, Tathagatas, leave the eight inversions far behind, attain permanence, bliss, self, and purity, and realize the four paramitas.

QUESTION: The true mind is without discrimination. If it is without discrimination, is it not like walking in the dark night, dim and knowing nothing?

ANSWER: Generally speaking, discrimination is of three kinds: first, the discrimination that follows thought when consciousness based on the faculties first arises; second, the discriminative consciousness that distinguishes, calculates, and measures; third, the true mind responding to things, like a mirror reflecting images—luminous and perfectly clear, seemingly as though it discriminated.

QUESTION: The Master has explained that there are three kinds of discrimination. Which are true, and which are deluded?

ANSWER: The discriminations of faculty-based consciousness and mental consciousness are both deluded. The true mind responds to things with clear and constant knowing; although it appears to discriminate, in reality it is without discrimination.

QUESTION: The Buddha’s body is formless, like empty space; how, then, can it possess the characteristics of the six faculties?

ANSWER: Right within appearances, clarify the true; how could this be contrary to the great function? The supreme activity of benefiting others never departs from this gate of teaching and transformation. An ancient worthy wrote in verse: “Empty space has no appearance, yet manifests all appearances; the Dharma-body is likewise, fully endowed with the appearances of the six faculties.”

QUESTION: What is true liberation?

ANSWER: When the six faculties illuminate their objects without being bound by them, and abide nowhere whatsoever, this is called true liberation.

QUESTION: What is the subjugation of demons?

ANSWER: To show compassion, patience, and forbearance toward those below oneself is to subjugate worldly demons. Single-mindedness without duality subdues the demons of the mind. Without employing wondrous arts or efficacious methods, the demons within and without naturally withdraw.

QUESTION: What are the three Tathagata-garbhas?

ANSWER: The true mind is perfectly luminous, and its essence is empty and quiescent; this is called the empty Tathagata-garbha. The empty garbha can give rise to wondrous functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; this is called the nonempty Tathagata-garbha. The essence can give rise to function, while function never departs from the essence; this is called the “empty and nonempty Tathagata-garbha.”

QUESTION: What are the eight consciousnesses?

ANSWER: The eight consciousnesses are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mental, manas, and alaya consciousnesses.

QUESTION: Master, please clearly distinguish the capacities, characteristics, and functions of the eight consciousnesses.

ANSWER: The eighth consciousness is called mind. It gathers the seeds of all dharmas, then relies upon those seeds as causes from which all dharmas arise. The seventh consciousness is called mentation. Mentation takes the storehouse consciousness and the other consciousnesses as its objects, constantly examining and reckoning them to be a self. The remaining six are called the six consciousnesses. These six distinguish coarse and agitated objects; they are intermittent, make clear discriminations, and undergo transformation.

QUESTION: The Lankavatara Sutra clearly speaks of three kinds of consciousness: true consciousness, manifesting consciousness, and discriminating-object consciousness. Please clearly distinguish these three kinds of consciousness.

ANSWER: True consciousness is the ninth consciousness, also called the immaculate consciousness. The eighth consciousness is the storehouse consciousness, which can manifest all dharmas and is therefore called the manifesting consciousness. The remaining seven consciousnesses are all called discriminating-object consciousnesses. Although the seventh consciousness does not take external sensory objects as its objects, it takes the eighth consciousness as its object, and thus discrimination remains.

QUESTION: How are the eight consciousnesses transformed into the four wisdoms?

ANSWER: The first five consciousnesses are transformed into the Wisdom of Accomplishing Activities; the sixth consciousness is transformed into the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation; the seventh consciousness is transformed into the Wisdom of the Equality of Nature; and the eighth consciousness is transformed into the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom.

QUESTION: What is the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom?

ANSWER: The true mind is empty and quiescent, like a mirror that is ever bright.

QUESTION: What is the Wisdom of the Equality of Nature?

ANSWER: It is the ability to engage all dharmas without giving rise to discrimination.

QUESTION: What is the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation?

ANSWER: It is the ability to enter into the discriminations of the faculties without becoming defiled.

QUESTION: What is the Wisdom of Accomplishing Activities?

ANSWER: When the five faculties encounter their objects, at that very moment sensations of suffering and pleasure cannot intrude.

QUESTION: How are the four wisdoms gathered into the three bodies?

ANSWER: The Wisdom of Accomplishing Activities and the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation are gathered into the transformation-body. The Wisdom of the Equality of Nature is gathered into the reward-body. The Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom is gathered into the Dharma-body.

QUESTION: What is the Dharma-body?

ANSWER: Not a single thought arises, and the myriad conditions are all empty and quiescent.

QUESTION: What is the reward-body?

ANSWER: It skillfully engages all dharmas, regarding them all as equal.

QUESTION: What is the transformation-body?

ANSWER: Having accomplished the power of one’s original vows, one then manifests responsively to perform various deeds.

QUESTION: The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment says: “The Great Perfect Mirror is my monastery; body and mind both dwell within the Wisdom of the Equality of Nature.” Why does the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment not reveal the Wisdom of Accomplishing Activities and the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation?

ANSWER: The Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom is quiescent yet illuminating. The Wisdom of the Equality of Nature is illuminating yet quiescent. Wondrous Observation and Accomplishing Activities refer to the Dharma-body functioning amid delusion. Through Wondrous Observation, the eighteen dhatus are gathered in. All defilements are transformed into Accomplishing Activities and then gathered into the Great Perfect Mirror.

The Lankavatara Sutra says: “The Buddha told Mahamati: Throughout the three watches of the night, constantly employ the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation, causing the presently flowing consciousnesses to be completely eliminated. The six faculties are the Wisdom of Accomplishing Activities. It is like turning the hand palm upward; one should not ask where the downward-facing palm has gone.

It is also like ice melting into water: there is no difference between ice and water.” Within the gate of benefiting others, relying upon the power of compassionate vows, one employs Wondrous Observation and Accomplishing Activities to universally benefit all sentient beings. An ancient worthy said: “Because sentient beings do not understand, they cling to the names of the eight consciousnesses. Because the Buddhas have realized them, they can accomplish the functions of the four wisdoms.”

When deluded, the eighth consciousness acquires the name “storehouse of retribution.” The seventh consciousness acquires the name “defiled.” The sixth consciousness gives rise to the deluded attachment of pervasive discrimination. The first five consciousnesses pursue the appearances of the faculties and their objects. When awakened, however, the alaya becomes the essence of the Perfect Mirror, the gate that preserves merit and virtue.

Manas becomes the source of the wondrous equality wherein the natures of self and other are one. The sixth consciousness becomes the wonder of observation, capable of turning the wheel of the true Dharma. The first five consciousnesses bring forth the merit and virtue of accomplished deeds, following the traces of the response-body and transformation-body.

When the One Mind is unmoving, consciousness and wisdom distinguish themselves naturally. The essence of the eight consciousnesses is not altered; only their names are changed.

QUESTION: Those who awaken to the principle transform consciousness into wisdom, while those who remain deluded rise and fall in accordance with consciousness. I do not yet know whether the eight consciousnesses vary in size.

ANSWER: The conscious mind is subtle and wondrous, inconceivable. According to karma, the bodies one receives differ in size. The Sutra on the Manifestation of Consciousness says: “The Buddha told Mahasukha: Wind has neither form nor substance. When confined within a dark cavern or a small opening, it may emerge with tremendous force, even toppling Mount Sumeru and pulverizing it into fine dust. Wind is subtle and wondrous, without form or substance; consciousness is likewise.”

QUESTION: What are the causes of sinking into the four modes of birth?

ANSWER: Sexual essence is the cause of womb birth. Thought is the cause of egg birth. Emotion and thought combined are the cause of birth from moisture. The separation of emotion and thought is the cause of transformation birth. All the foregoing modes of birth arise because mental consciousness creates karma, after which beings rise or sink according to that karma. If mental consciousness is suddenly emptied, samsara is forever ended.

QUESTION: What are the five eyes?

ANSWER: Outwardly not abiding in existence is the fleshly eye. Inwardly not abiding in emptiness is the heavenly eye. When both emptiness and existence cease, that is the Dharma eye. Illuminating both emptiness and existence without defilement is the wisdom eye. Departing from all appearances is the Buddha eye.

QUESTION: What are the six superknowledges?

ANSWER: When the six faculties encounter their objects and come and go without obstruction, these are the six superknowledges.

QUESTION: What is Equal Enlightenment, and what is Wondrous Enlightenment?

ANSWER: Equal Enlightenment is when quiescence and illumination are nondual and all dharmas are equal. Wondrous Enlightenment is when both quiescence and illumination cease, and the true and eternal essence shines alone.

QUESTION: What is transformational birth-and-death, and what is segmented birth-and-death?

ANSWER: Transformational birth-and-death occurs when bodhisattvas fulfill their compassionate vows and benefit sentient beings. Although they remain within birth-and-death, they are unlike ordinary beings, who are permeated by outflow-producing karma. Segmented birth-and-death is created by the deluded minds of ordinary beings. Thought after thought arises from craving and attachment, compounded by the obstruction of afflictions; thus they are swept into the great wheel of suffering without a moment’s rest.

QUESTION: What is meant by: “Atop the hundred-foot pole, one must advance another step; throughout the worlds of the ten directions, the whole body is revealed”?

ANSWER: The mind of the tathagatagarbha, originally a single essence of luminous clarity, flows along with sense-objects, becoming divided into six functions; it then turns in accordance with things and drifts through birth and death. If one knows how to turn back so that the faculties and their objects no longer interact, and reverses the current, all returns to one. When the six functions no longer operate, the mind is utterly still and pure, like a mirror that is always bright.

If one abides in this state of mind, this may be called “falling from the summit” (summit-fall), and is also known as the “deep pit of liberation.” This is a view inclined toward emptiness. One must advance another step; only then will the worlds of the ten directions reveal the whole body. Smash the mirror to pieces, and the mountains, rivers, and great earth will fully display the Dharma-body.

QUESTION: What does it mean to “abide neither in the unconditioned nor exhaust the conditioned”?

ANSWER: Although one realizes the Dharma-body, one does not cling to the ultimate reality, the place of truth. Out of compassionate vows, one engages with beings, benefiting sentient beings according to their kinds. Caoshan said: “Do not travel where the path of mind leads; do not don the robe of the original state.

What then should one do?—Above all, beware of the time before birth” (mo xing xin lu chu, bu gua ben lai yi, he xu zheng ren me?—qie ji wei sheng shi). Mahayana bodhisattvas benefit and guide sentient beings. They do not remain in the unconditioned, but expediently don defiled garments; they do not abandon the conditioned, but walk amid non-paths, associating with beings according to their kinds and liberating all sentient beings.

Thus they reveal defilement, cultivate purity, and penetrate through to the Buddha Way.

QUESTION: What is true repentance?

ANSWER: People in the world may commit all four grave offenses and the ten unwholesome deeds. When their karmic causes reach their extreme, they will fall into the three evil destinies. Yet if they suddenly give rise to shame and remorse, arouse great courage and vigor, draw near to a spiritual friend, and directly awaken to the original mind, then the evil karma of countless past kalpas and the offenses of the present life will dissolve like snow in boiling water or dry firewood consumed by flame.

When karma is exhausted, merit arises and wisdom manifests. They then use what they themselves have realized to point it out directly to those who come after, enabling them to awaken immediately to the nature of mind and together attain perfect awakening. The merit thereby gained is immeasurable, and their virtues exceed the sands of the Ganges.

CHAPTER VI

THE PURE LAND OF MIND-ONLY

A monk asked: The tradition of the school, the Chan school, teaches the investigation of Chan in order to illuminate the mind and see one’s nature. The Pure Land Dharma gate teaches mindfulness of the Buddha and aspiration for rebirth. These two Dharma gates universally liberate all sentient beings. Why, then, do students of the Chan school take refuge in the “Pure Land of Mind-Only”?

ANSWER: The essential purport of the Chan school is “to fully awaken to one’s own mind.” When a single thought of the mind is pure, the Buddha-land is pure. It does not discuss East or West, but only one’s own mind.

QUESTION: How can this teaching mean that there is no Pure Land?

ANSWER: Have you not heard the Surangama Sutra say: “If the minds of sentient beings remember and are mindful of the Buddha, then now or in the future they will certainly see the Buddha. They will not be far from the Buddha, and without relying on expedient means, their minds will open of themselves”? If a practitioner gathers in all six faculties and maintains a single thought of pure truth, the mind becomes pure, luminous, and solitary; this itself is seeing the Buddha in the present. Therefore it is said, “They will not be far from the Buddha.” The sutra says: “Without relying on expedient means, their minds will open of themselves.” These two words, “mind opens,” may be understood as Mind-Only.

QUESTION: When someone who practices mindfulness of the Buddha is approaching death, Amitabha comes to receive and guide that person. Surely this is not false?

ANSWER: One who practices mindfulness of the Buddha with single-mindedness and without distraction, exclusively maintaining the Buddha’s name, becomes purely true and free of delusion. Just as when water settles and becomes clear, the Buddha-moon naturally appears. The moon itself does not come; it is seen to appear because the water is clear. When the Buddha comes to welcome and receive one at the time of death, it is the Buddha manifested by mind.

QUESTION: If the Buddha is manifested by one’s own mind, are Amitabha’s original vows not real?

ANSWER: The Buddha’s body is utterly still, without coming or going. When mindfulness of the Buddha brings a responsive communion, one relies upon the power of the Buddha’s vows; through the transformations of one’s own mind, the Buddha comes to receive and guide one, just as the moon appears in water—neither existent nor nonexistent. Thus one should understand that, in truth, no Buddha comes.

Everything occurs according to the appropriate conditions. When one’s pure karma has matured in perfect accord with the occasion, one’s eyes behold the Buddha’s body. Likewise, when evil fruits in this world are about to ripen, the mind manifests hell so that one undergoes suffering there.

Have you not heard that a person endowed with merit may grasp a brick and turn it into gold, while one who bears the karma of poverty may turn gold into a brick? Thus good and evil exist solely in the mind, while suffering and happiness are transformations of the mind. How can those who harbor doubt understand this purport?

QUESTION: The sutra says: “Beyond a hundred thousand kotis of Buddha-lands to the West, there is a Buddha-world called Ultimate Bliss.” Is this statement false or true?

ANSWER: Although the matter is so, its principle is originally right before one’s eyes. By refraining from the ten evil deeds, one passes beyond a hundred thousand kotis. When the three karmas are pure, Ultimate Bliss is before one’s eyes.

QUESTION: In the sacred realm of the Western Land, gold and silver cover the ground everywhere; towers, pavilions, and balustrades are beautifully adorned with the seven treasures; there are five-colored lotus flowers, water possessing the eight virtues, wondrous birds uttering harmonious sounds, and jeweled trees expounding the Dharma. Food, clothing, and dwellings are manifested at will, and all the inhabitants enjoy great bliss. Surely such sublime and wondrous things truly exist?

ANSWER: When the Buddha was cultivating the causes, practicing the bodhisattva path, he made vast and powerful vows to bring sentient beings to fulfillment. The toil he endured cannot be reckoned, and he brought manifold benefits to all kinds of beings. Throughout distant kalpas, he extensively cultivated merit and wisdom. When his merit and virtue were perfected, he realized Buddhahood. If later practitioners sincerely practice mindfulness of the Buddha, relying upon the Buddha’s compassionate vows, and their tranquil mindfulness accords with the appropriate conditions, their minds manifest the sublime realm; it does not come from outside.

QUESTION: If the sacred realm of the Western Land is originally manifested by one’s own mind, is there truly any principle of rebirth there?

ANSWER: As for birth, there is certainly birth. As for going, originally there is no going.

QUESTION: What does it mean that there is certainly birth, yet originally no going?

ANSWER: Birth means that through mindfulness, birth occurs and the mind manifests the Buddha-land. Going means that there is no going, because the nature is originally unmoving.

QUESTION: I have seen practitioners of mindfulness of the Buddha know beforehand the time of their departure, pass away while seated, die while standing, and fill the house with an extraordinary fragrance. How could these things merely be manifestations of mind?

ANSWER: If Sakra, Lord of the Devas, had not cultivated the karma of the heavens, how could his palace accompany him? If a wheel-turning king had not planted the causes of kingship, how could the seven treasures have been accumulated? When the pure karma of practitioners of mindfulness of the Buddha has matured, they elicit sublime external conditions, which are transformations manifested by mind.

QUESTION: Buddha and mind are not two; outside the mind there is no Buddha. Why, then, establish the Dharma gate of mindfulness of the Buddha?

ANSWER: It is only because sentient beings of middling and inferior capacities do not believe that their own minds are Buddha. Therefore, as an expedient means, they are taught to practice mindfulness of the Buddha and contemplation, binding the mind to a single object. When their mindfulness becomes tranquil, purely true, and free of delusion, the Buddha of their own minds appears and unites with the Buddha’s light. Those of superior wisdom do not seek outwardly, but contemplate the true characteristic of the body; contemplation of the Buddha is likewise so.

QUESTION: Is the Pure Land Dharma gate definitively existent or nonexistent?

ANSWER: If one says it is nonexistent, then what of the Land of Ultimate Bliss, Amitabha expounding the Dharma and gathering in sentient beings? These teachings issued from the golden mouth of Sakyamuni Buddha, and the patriarchs from India to China all propagated them—how could this be? Yet if one says it is existent, then the Dharma-bodies of all Buddhas are in essence like empty space, neither existent nor nonexistent. The minds of sentient beings have from the beginning been empty and quiescent, of one essence with the Buddha, neither deficient nor excessive—how could this be? One must awaken to the perfect interfusion of principle and phenomena before one can distinguish purity from defilement.

QUESTION: There are also monks and laypeople who practice mindfulness of the Buddha throughout their lives, yet when they approach death, no Buddha comes to receive and guide them. Why is this?

ANSWER: The original mind of sentient beings is of the same essence as the Buddha. Although the mouth recites the Buddha’s name, if the mind and thoughts are scattered and confused, it is like turbid, agitated water, in which the moon’s reflection cannot remain still. It is not that the moon does not appear; rather, the water is not calm. If a single thought is pure and true, the Buddha-mind naturally manifests, just as when the water becomes still, the moon appears. Thus one should know that it does not enter from outside. If one awakens to this principle, one will not misunderstand the truth that all is Mind alone.

QUESTION: Since you have revealed the essential teaching of mind in this way, are Chan meditation and Buddha-recitation then not two?

ANSWER: Fundamentally, there are not two principles.

QUESTION: What is the principle of nonduality?

ANSWER: In practicing Chan meditation, it is essential to be like a cat catching a mouse. In reciting the Buddha’s name, one must resolutely attain single-mindedness without distraction. If one is single-minded and undistracted, then even if one sets aside Chan meditation, why worry that one will not awaken?

If one is like a cat catching a mouse, then even if one sets aside Buddha-recitation, the Buddha-mind will naturally manifest. An ancient worthy composed this verse:

Chan meditation and Buddha-recitation are fundamentally the same;

When clearly seen through, all are emptiness.

When the practice reaches fulfillment, the whole essence naturally manifests;

When spring returns, as before, a hundred flowers bloom red.

TRANSLATION:

Chan meditation and Buddha-recitation are in principle the same;

Examined clearly and carefully, all are emptiness.

When the practice reaches fulfillment, the whole essence naturally manifests;

When spring returns, as before, a hundred flowers bloom red.