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Translation of 顯密圓通成佛心要集
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Contents
Text
1.1
Preface to the Collection on the Essentials for Attaining Buddhahood through the Perfect Interpenetration of Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings
1.2
(Composed by Chen Jue, Scholar of Xuanzheng Hall, Grand Master of the Golden and Purple Fish Bag with Glorious Happiness, Acting Supervising Secretary, Military Commissioner of the Wuding Army, Senior Commandant of Cavalry, Founding Duke of Yingchuan Commandery with a Fief of Three Thousand Households, and Joint Compiler of the National History)
1.3
In the past, the Tathāgata dwelt as the venerable one transcendent of the world and set forth the path for transforming humanity, propagating the great teaching and guiding the host of the deluded. He opened diverse gates, so that although expedients are deployed across the myriad dharmas, all intentions and aims return to the Ekayāna upon entering the perfectly round ocean. Yet the exoteric teaching and the esoteric school encompass nature and comprehend characteristics: the purport of the exoteric branches out into five teachings, collectively called sūtra; the division of the esoteric embraces the three baskets, uniquely designated dhāraṇī. Those who practice the exoteric teaching, being self-contradictory over emptiness, existence, meditation, and vinaya, do not exhaust the ultimate, perfect principle; those who study the esoteric divisions merely take mandalas, mudrās, syllables, and sounds as the Dharma, not yet knowing the mysterious tradition of the esoteric secrets. This has led the exoteric teaching and the esoteric teaching to come into conflict and attack one another, and the Dharmatā school and Lakṣaṇa school to become like mortise and tenon that fail to fit together. Falsely defaming each other, minds bent on censure and dispute have arisen; persistently clinging to one side, they are ignorant of the nature of perfect interpenetration. Had there not been supreme wisdom, who could harmonize divergent traditions? An endeavor must reach completion, for humans are capable of making the Way great. Now, the Master of the Dharma of the Perfect Interpenetration of Exoteric and Esoteric Teachings was acclaimed in his time for his brilliant understanding, endowed by nature with eloquence and intelligence. In his youth he paid homage to famous teachers, and at age fifteen he made his way through academic quarters, practicing meditation and seeking the Way, becoming broad, accomplished, and widely learned. Internally, he refined the tenets of the five teachings; externally, he was adept in the profundities of the hundred philosophical schools. Unstained by gain and fame, unaffected by love and hate, he subsequently grew weary of dwelling in the imperial capital and gave free rein to his aspiration amid crags and ravines. Accumulating years of diligent toil, he plumbed the depths of the Great Canon. Grasping the essential pivots, he held their recitation sincerely in his heart; dissecting doctrinal principles, it was as if he were pointing to his own palm. He considered that all the teachings of the greater and lesser vehicles he had examined do not go beyond the two paths of the exoteric and the esoteric: both are essential fords to realizing sageliness, wondrous ways to entering the real. Examining their textual forms, they differ like plates and bowls, each displaying roundness or squareness; yet returning to the correct principle, they are identical like empty vessels and rooms, all relying on voidness. Nevertheless, scholars have errantly given rise to divergent disputes, blind to this accommodating path. On this account, he interwove spiritual texts, compiled the essentials of the mind, and composed a text in one fascicle, which exhausts the myriad paths in principle. He synthesized the four teachings to return collectively to the perfect school, and gathered the five esoteric divisions to enter entirely into the single category; the flavors of milk and curd are all transformed into ghee, and the moisture of clouds and mist become amṛta together. Truly, this is the essential compilation of all the Buddhas, a compass for later generations. It enables those who read it to be as though obtaining a wish-fulfilling jewel, having all that they seek fulfilled; those who rely upon it are like one who eats the fruit of good sight, having no illness left uncured. My own learning is shamefully vacant and shallow, and my words lack eloquence. Yet on a day of leisure I had the opportunity to visit my master; regularly being present at his talks with the deer-tail whisk, my limited view of the leopard through a tube was broadened considerably. As this work is due to be transmitted to the world, he entrusted me with composing this text; always ashamed of my ability to expound principle, I have merely written this introduction to head the scroll.
1.4
Compiled by the Śramaṇa Daochen of Jinhe Temple on Mount Wutai
1.5
Now, the ocean of the Tathāgata's teachings of a lifetime, though vast in phrasing and words, and deep and profound in doctrinal intent, is comprehensively exhausted without remainder by the exoteric and the esoteric: the exoteric refers to the sūtras, vinayas, and treatises of the various vehicles; the esoteric refers to the dhāraṇīs of the various divisions. From the time Kāśyapa Mātanga entered the Han, the Tripiṭaka gradually spread across China; when Śubhakarasiṃha came to the Tang, the five esoteric divisions flourished greatly in the land of Xia. The nine schools together revered it, and the seven assemblies conformed to it alike; regarding the Dharma, there were no words of right and wrong, and people distinguished the path of cultivation and realization. But with the passage of many years, mistaken views have grown ever more prevalent: some practice the exoteric teaching and slightingly slander the lineage of the esoteric division; some concentrate on esoteric words and remain willfully blind to the purport of the exoteric teaching; some labor over technical terms and rarely know the gate of entering the Way; some study syllables and sounds and seldom recognize the standard of the vidyādhara. This has caused profound contemplation and practice to turn into mere terms and words, and the esoteric, divine lineage to revert to sheer rhyme and meter. Now, without estimating my own meager talent, I rely equally upon the two lineages of the exoteric and the esoteric, summarily taking the essentials for attaining Buddhahood as the core, hoping that in the future all may attain perfect interpenetration. Therefore, relying on doctrine and principle, I briefly open four gates: first, the essentials of the exoteric teaching; second, the essentials of the esoteric teaching; third, the joint clarification of the exoteric and esoteric; fourth, celebrating this encounter and expressing my reflections. (In the four sections below, in order to avoid prolixity, I either implicitly employ the sacred teachings or cite the meaning of sūtra passages, as readers should know.)
1.6
First, regarding the essentials of the exoteric teaching: Xianshou and Qingliang jointly classified the Tathāgata's lifelong teachings into five kinds: First is the Hīnayāna teaching, referring to over six hundred fascicles of sūtras such as the *Āgama*s and over six hundred fascicles of treatises such as the *Vibhāṣā*, which teach that all dharmas arise from causes and conditions, clarify that the three realms are unstable, realize the true principle of the emptiness of the person, cultivate practices for one's own benefit, and aspire to the fruits of the Hīnayāna. Second is the initial Mahāyāna teaching, which has two [aspects]: First, the Dharmalakṣaṇa school, referring to several dozen sūtras such as the *Sandhinirmocana* and *Buddhabhūmi*, and several hundred fascicles of treatises such as the *Yogācārabhūmi* and *Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi*, which teach that all dharmas are consciousness-only, realize the true principle of the two emptinesses, cultivate the six perfections and myriad practices, and head toward the Mahāyāna fruit of Buddhahood, among which the meaning of dharmalakṣaṇa is mostly discussed; second, the Signless school, referring to over a thousand fascicles of sūtras such as the various divisions of the *Prajñāpāramitā*, and several treatises such as the *Madhyamaka-śāstra*, *Śata-śāstra*, and *Dvādaśamukha-śāstra*, which teach that all dharmas are fundamentally empty, that beginningless deluded feelings falsely grasp them as existent, and that desiring to realize bodhi as something to be attained, one cultivates the myriad practices, among which the signless meaning of emptiness is mostly discussed. Both of these two schools are the entry gate to the Mahāyāna, and hence are called "initial"; "initial" means the beginning. Third is the final Ekayāna teaching, referring to over forty sūtras such as the *Lotus Sūtra* and *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*, and over ten treatises such as the *Ratnagotravibhāga* and *Buddhadhātu-śāstra*, which teach that all sentient beings possess the buddhadhātu, which from the beginning has been spiritually luminous and unobscured, clearly and constantly aware, but through beginningless delusion and inversion they do not realize it themselves; if one wishes to attain the fruit of Buddhahood, one must first realize one's own buddhadhātu, and only then, in accordance with [this] nature, cultivate the fundamentally possessed, immeasurable, wondrous practices. It discusses dharmatā extensively and is the teaching of the Mahāyāna that exhausts the principle; hence it is called "final"; "final" means exhausting. Fourth is the sudden Ekayāna teaching, referring to the texts of sūtras such as the *Laṅkāvatāra* and *Viśeṣacintibrahma-paripṛcchā*, and the Chan school transmitted by Bodhidharma, which teaches that all false marks are fundamentally empty and the true mind is fundamentally pure, originally without afflictions and fundamentally bodhi, and speaks solely of the true nature without relying on stages to attain Buddhahood; hence it is called "sudden." Fifth is the perfect teaching of the inconceivable vehicle, referring to the single sūtra of the *Avataṃsaka* and the single treatise of the *Daśabhūmika*, which fully speak of the Vairocana dharmadhātu and the ocean of Samantabhadra's practices, wherein all things, whether phenomenon or principle, cause or effect, the one contains all in endless layers upon layers; it completely subsumes all teachings, leaving no dharma unincluded, autonomous in accord with the nature without hindrance or obstruction, far surpassing partial expositions; hence it is called "perfect." Among these five teachings, the former are shallow and provisional, while the latter are deep and ultimate; if one views the preceding four in light of the perfect teaching, they are all provisional establishments made in response to capacities. (Here, discussing them provisionally in terms of relative opposition, it is said that the preceding four are provisional and the perfect teaching is ultimate. If one rigidly clings to the perfect teaching as ultimate while lacking the preceding four teachings, it would also not be complete and unimpeded. Only when all five teachings are transmitted together and both partial and perfect are praised in common is it sufficient to adapt to capacities. Below, because the practices of the preceding teachings are fully contained within the perfect teaching, they are not explained separately.) Now, relying on the perfect teaching for cultivation, it is briefly divided into two: first, awakening to the Vairocana dharmadhātu; second, cultivating the ocean of Samantabhadra's practices. First, regarding awakening to the Vairocana dharmadhātu: this refers to the one true unhindered dharmadhātu spoken of in the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, also called the one mind, within which are fundamentally contained the three realms of the world—(1. the vessel world, which refers to all lands; 2. the world of sentient beings, which refers to all sentient beings; 3. the world of enlightened wisdom, which refers to all noble ones)—and the four dharmadhātus—(1. the dharmadhātu of phenomena; 2. the dharmadhātu of principle; 3. the dharmadhātu of unhindered phenomenon and principle; 4. the dharmadhātu of unhindered phenomenon and phenomenon)—and all defiled and pure dharmas; not a single dharma exists outside this dharmadhātu. This is the fundamental true mind of all ordinary beings and noble ones. (It is also the fundamental true body.) Generally speaking, there are two kinds of true mind: first, the true mind of the shared teaching; second, the true mind of the distinct teaching. Within the shared teaching, there are again two kinds: first, the true mind of the final teaching; second, the true mind of the sudden teaching. First, regarding the true mind of the final teaching, the *Śūraṅgama Sūtra* says: "You should know that empty space is produced within your mind like a patch of cloud dotting the great pure sky, how much more so all the worlds within space!" (One's own true mind is like the great pure sky, and the empty space of the ten directions is compared to a single patch of cloud; thus one knows that the true mind is exceedingly vast and empty space is exceedingly small. If empty space is already so small compared to the true mind, how much more so all the worlds within empty space!) It also says: "Space arises within the Great Awakening / like a bubble emerging on the sea; / the defiled worlds, like specks of dust, / all arise relying upon space." (The Great Awakening is an alternative name for the true mind. The true mind is vast like the great ocean; empty space is minuscule like a floating bubble; how much more so all the lands that arise relying upon empty space! When compared to the true mind, they are the smallest of the small.) It also says: "The true mind is pervasive and perfect, encompassing the ten directions; looking back at the body born of parents, it is like a speck of dust blown within the empty space of the ten directions, existing or not existing." It also says: "You do not know that the physical body, and outside it extending to the mountains, rivers, empty space, and the great earth, are all things within the wondrously luminous true mind." It also says: "All things existing in all worlds are just the wondrously luminous true mind of bodhi." (Since it says they are "just the wondrously luminous true mind of bodhi," worldly dharmas do not possess an essence separate from the true mind; thus one knows that all empty space, the great earth, the sentient and the insentient throughout the entire dharmadhātu are entirely of one flavor, the wondrously luminous true mind, serenely pure, neither increasing nor decreasing.) All sentient beings from beginningless time have lost sight of this mind, falsely taking the four elements to be the body and conditions of conceptual thought to be the mind. This is like ignoring hundreds of thousands of clear great oceans and acknowledging only a single small floating bubble. (If one realizes that the body of the four elements and the mind of conceptual thought are conditioned arisings without nature and are entirely the true mind, it is like realizing that the floating bubble is conditionally arisen without an essence and is entirely sea water. Recently, Confucian scholars who seldom read Buddhist scriptures have heard of this vast true mind and remained utterly confused and incredulous. I promptly gave an analogy, saying: "This was personally spoken by the Tathāgata; it is merely that your own mind is deluded and upside down and does not see it—how can you not believe it? For instance, the secular book *Zhuangzi* says: 'In the Northern Ocean there is a fish named the kun; the size of the kun is unknown, several thousand li. It transforms into a bird named the peng; the back of the peng is unknown, several thousand li. When it rouses and takes flight, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. When it is about to migrate to the Southern Ocean, the water is struck for three thousand li, and it spirals up upon the whirlwind for ninety thousand li.' *Liezi* says: 'How could the world know of the existence of such a creature? Great Yu traveled and saw it, Boyi knew and named it, and Yijian heard of and recorded it. Can one, because one's own eyes have not personally witnessed it, not believe that such a creature exists?' If secular books describe tangible creatures in such a manner, how much more so the formless true mind spoken of by the Tathāgata? The *Ratnagotravibhāga* says: 'Those who dwell in caves do not know the vast openness of the universe'—this is precisely the meaning.") Next, regarding the one mind of the sudden teaching: this refers to the non-dual one mind, completely filled with purity and admitting no other; all false marks are fundamentally nonexistent, and the non-dual true mind is fundamentally pure. The *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* says: "The dharma-nature is fundamentally empty and tranquil, / without grasping and without viewing; / the emptiness of nature is just the Buddha, / and cannot be conceptualized." The *Awakening of Faith* says: "All dharmas from the beginning are free from marks of speech, free from marks of names, and free from marks of mental conditioning; they are ultimately equal, without alteration, indestructible, and are only the one mind; hence it is called tathatā." In the preceding final teaching, following the delusions of sentient beings, it spoke of having physical bodies, mountains, rivers, empty space, the great earth, and worldly dharmas, in order to make sentient beings turn away from falsehood and return to truth, realizing that the physical body, mountains, rivers, empty space, the great earth, and worldly dharmas are entirely of one flavor, the wondrously luminous true mind. Now in the sudden teaching, there are fundamentally no physical body, mountains, rivers, empty space, the great earth, or worldly dharmas; fundamentally there is only the one flavor of the non-dual true mind. Therefore Qingliang said: "It does not speak of dharmalakṣaṇa at all, but only clarifies the true nature; thus one knows that pervading the dharmadhātu, it is fundamentally of one flavor, the non-dual true mind, quiescent and pure, neither arising nor ceasing, neither increasing nor decreasing." If one wishes to easily understand this pervading the dharmadhātu, it is compared to a single brilliantly clear, perfectly round jewel, radiantly pure, without shadow or image, without inside or outside. Qingliang said: "The body of illumination stands independently; object and self are as one." Bodhidharma said: "My Dharma uses mind to transmit mind, not establishing words; it is precisely this mind that is transmitted." Caoxi said: "The bright mirror is fundamentally pure; how could it depend on wiping away dust?" It is also this mind. All sentient beings, from beginningless time, not understanding this mind, falsely see various marks, like a diseased eye mistakenly seeing flowers in the sky. The *Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment* says: "Falsely grasping the four elements as the marks of one's own body, and the conditioned shadows of the six sense objects as the marks of one's own mind, is like a diseased eye seeing flowers in the sky." (If one realizes that the true mind fundamentally lacks all marks, it is like empty space fundamentally lacking flowers. The *Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment* says: "When the Tathāgata was on the causal ground cultivating complete enlightenment, knowing that these are flowers in the sky, there was no transmigration, nor was there a body or mind undergoing birth and death; they are not nonexistent because they were made so, but because their fundamental nature is nonexistent." Now, in the sudden teaching, the analogy of flowers in the sky is extremely pertinent. In our time, monastics and laypeople who follow Chan are extremely numerous, but when it comes to disclosing this mind, most do not grasp its spirit; it is like Lord Ye who loved dragons—when a real dragon appeared before him, he was terrified and would not look at it. If one has not awakened to this mind, it is not true Chan; therefore, if one wishes to cultivate Chan practice, one must first realize this one mind.) Second, regarding the one mind of the distinct teaching: this refers to the one true unhindered great dharmadhātu mind, which contains the three realms of the world and possesses the four dharmadhātus; completely this and completely that without obstruction, one knows that it encompasses the dharmadhātu and perfectly enfolds the ten directions, being entirely the one true great dharmadhātu mind. Within this one true great dharmadhātu, all that exists, whether ordinary or noble, principle or phenomenon, whatever single dharma one brings up is entirely the great dharmadhātu mind, up to bringing up merely a single speck of dust, it is entirely the great dharmadhātu mind. The *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* says: "In all the dust of the Lotus Store World, / within each and every speck of dust the dharmadhātu is seen." Furthermore, since a single speck of dust is already the great dharmadhātu mind, within the great dharmadhātu of this single speck of dust, if one again brings up a single speck of dust, it is also entirely the great dharmadhātu mind; whether horizontally or vertically, bringing it up in layers upon layers, every layer is the great dharmadhātu mind. Therefore Great Master Qingliang, in his commentary on the "Daśabhūmika Chapter" of the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, spoke of the one mind of Indra's net without end. All sentient beings, from beginningless time, in delusion and falsehood do not know that the endless dharmadhātu is their own body and mind, within which are fundamentally possessed the merits of forms and mind of Indra's net without end, which are equal to the body and mind of Vairocana; instead, they invert their own unhindered Buddha's body and mind, grasping them as a defiled sentient being. This is like a gold-wheel-turning sage king ruling over the four continents, endowed with body and wisdom and peerlessly rich and joyful, who suddenly falls asleep and dreams that he is an ant; in the state of the dream, he only acknowledges himself as an ant, unaware that he is originally a wheel-turning king. (The Buddha of the endless dharmadhātu is difficult to illustrate by worldly analogies; here it merely illustrates the meaning of being deluded about the true and grasping the false, as the wise should know.) Therefore, if one seeks to achieve the ultimate fruit of Buddhahood, one must emphatically awaken to this Vairocana dharmadhātu. If one has not awakened to this dharmadhātu, even if one cultivates the myriad practices for many kalpas, it will be in vain and toil for oneself; one cannot be called a genuine bodhisattva, nor can one be born into the family of the Tathāgata. Thus the *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* says: "If one does not understand one's own mind, / how can one know the right path? / Through inverted wisdom, / one increases all evils." Qingliang said: "If one does not rely on this awakening, what one does is not real. While considering it cultivation, it has all along been compounding karma." (This one mind of the endless dharmadhātu is rarely known by people; of those who know it, few believe; of those who believe, few understand; and of those who understand, it is difficult to reach this realm. For this reason, bodhisattvas of many kalpas do not believe and do not understand, and senior śrāvakas are like the blind and the deaf. Those who possess long-cultivated perfect faculties should fix their attention here; if one can hold faith and awakening in one's bosom, on that very day one will be born into the Buddha's family. Fearing that people may find it hard to believe, I now cite a comparable example: as the *Fayuan zhulin* says, "A magician was walking on a road and saw a porter carrying a load, upon which was a basket capable of holding a little over a sheng. He said to the porter, 'I am exhausted from walking and wish to lodge inside your basket, if you would kindly permit it.' Suspecting he was a madman, the porter replied, 'You may enter as you wish.' The magician then jumped into the basket. The basket was not large, nor was the magician small, yet carrying him along, the porter did not feel him heavy. After traveling several tens of li, the porter stopped under a tree to eat, and invited the magician to eat with him. The magician said, 'I have my own food and drink.' The porter looked and saw various utensils, food, and drink in the basket. The magician told the porter, 'I wish to eat with my wife.' From his mouth he then spat out a woman of exceedingly beautiful appearance, and the two ate together. Having eaten, the husband fell asleep. The woman told the porter, 'I have another lover who wants to come and eat with me; if my husband wakes up, please do not tell him.' The woman then brought a man out of her mouth to eat with her; the three in the basket were not cramped at all. After a long while, the husband moved his body, about to wake up. The lover told the porter, 'I am leaving now.' The woman then put the lover into her mouth, and the utensils, food, and drink into her mouth as well. When the husband woke up, he again put the woman into his mouth, and so on." If even worldly petty arts are so capable of containing layer upon layer without hindrance, how much more so the unhindered dharmadhātu of Vairocana! One must carefully believe it and reflectively understand it, and not push the noble realm up too high and waste one's life in vain.) Next, regarding cultivating the ocean of Samantabhadra's practices: having attained awakening to the unhindered dharmadhātu within one's fundamental mind, within which are fundamentally possessed the marks and hallmarks numbering as many as the dust motes of ten Lotus Store Worlds, and the endless spiritual powers and merits of Indra's net, which are not at all different from those of the Buddhas of the ten directions. However, due to beginningless rigid attachments and false passions, habituation has formed a nature that is hard to exhaust suddenly, with the result that one cannot fully obtain the autonomous enjoyment of one's own spiritual powers and merits. Therefore, one must conform to one's own Vairocana dharmadhātu and cultivate the fundamentally possessed ocean of Samantabhadra's practices, so that the endless functions quickly become manifest. The *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* says: "Those who cultivate this Dharma expend little effort and quickly attain bodhi." Although the ocean of Samantabhadra's practices is vast and boundless—(the gates of practice spoken of throughout the entire canon are all the practices of the *Avataṃsaka* Samantabhadra, merely flowing forth in adaptation to provisional and shallow capacities)—now, regarding contemplative practice, five gates are briefly shown: 1. the contemplation of all dharmas as like dreams and illusions; 2. the contemplation of tathatā beyond marks; 3. the contemplation of unhindered phenomenon and principle; 4. the contemplation of Indra's net without end; 5. the contemplation of the unhindered dharmadhātu.
1.7
First, as for the contemplation of all dharmas as like a dream and an illusion (which corresponds to the contemplation of the dharmadhātu of phenomena): it means constantly contemplating that all defiled and pure dharmas in their entirety are unreal and are all like a dream and an illusion; and this contemplating wisdom is also like a dream and an illusion. The *Avataṃsaka Sūtra* says: "Just as in a dream one sees / various different signs, / so too is the world: / it has no difference from a dream." It also says: "To deliver sentient beings, / cause them to know that dharmas are like illusions; / sentient beings are not different from illusions; / realizing illusion, there are no sentient beings." Furthermore, the *Diamond Sūtra* says: "All conditioned dharmas / are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, / like dew and like lightning; / one should contemplate them thus." Master Zhao said: "Empty and false, the three realms are unreal; / like dreams and illusions, the six destinies contain no thing." All sentient beings, from beginningless time, have grasped all dharmas as real existences, thereby generating delusion, creating karma, and cycling through the six destinies. If one constantly reflects that all fame, gain, enemies, loved ones, the three realms, and the six destinies in their entirety are unreal and all like a dream and an illusion, then love and aversion will naturally diminish, and compassion and wisdom will naturally grow brighter. (This contemplation of dreams and illusions is called in the *Commentary on the Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra* "the contemplation of arising as illusion to extinguish dust [defilements]"; Tiantai calls it the "contemplation of the provisional" and also "the calming that accommodates conditions as an expedient." Distinctly illuminating is called "contemplation" [vipaśyanā], and resting serene without disturbance is called "calming" [śamatha]; thus within contemplation there is calming, and within calming there is contemplation: this is the joint practice of calming and contemplation. All other calming-and-contemplations are to be understood accordingly. If someone, though having faith and understanding in the perfect teaching, has afflictions so thick and heavy that they cannot cultivate this contemplation of dreams and illusions, they should practice the contemplation of impurity. That is, contemplating the five kinds of impurity of the body: First, impurity of seed: it is formed from the union of the father's semen and the mother's blood, red and white. The *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra* says: "The seed of this body is impure; / it is not other wonderful jewels. / It does not arise from what is pure and white, / but only emerges from a foul pathway." Second, impurity of dwelling place: it dwells within the mother's womb, below the stomach of raw food and above the stomach of digested food, where impurities overflow and filth abounds. Also, Haishan said: "Impurities serve as clothing, and filth becomes food and drink." Third, impurity of its own substance: the thirty-six substances are all mutually combined impurities. The thirty-six are: outwardly there are twelve—hair of head, hair of body, nails, teeth, grime, dirt, the two excretions (feces and urine), rheum, tears, nasal mucus, and saliva; next there are twelve—skin, flesh, blood, fat, grease, brain, membrane, bones, marrow, sinews, and vessels; inwardly there are twelve—heart, liver, gall bladder, bowels, spleen, kidneys, intestines, stomach, organ of raw food, organ of digested food, red phlegm, and white phlegm. Thus one knows that from head to foot, all is impure. Master Yongjia said: "A leather bag holding feces, a gathering of pus and blood, an overflowing of impurities, an abode for maggots; even fishmongers' shops and privy-holes cannot compare to it." Fourth, impurity of its individual marks: the nine apertures constantly discharge various foul abominations. As for the nine apertures: the two ears discharge wax, the two eyes discharge rheum and tears, the two nostrils discharge thick mucus, the mouth discharges saliva, the anus discharges feces, and the urethra discharges urine. The *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra* says: "Various impure things / fill the body; / constantly they flow out impurities, / like things kept in a leaky bag." Fifth, ultimate impurity: when life ends, the body disintegrates, bloats, stinks, and becomes pus, blood, and maggots, unfit to approach. Tiantai says: "From feet to head, and from head to feet, observing the body all over, one sees only bloating and rotting, with worms and pus flowing from the excretory passages, stinking worse than a dead dog." The *Sūtra of the Contemplation of the Mind-Ground* says: "One should contemplate one's own body as foul, putrid, and impure, just like a dead dog." The *Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra* says: "For long I relied on this body, / stinking, putrid, and flowing with pus, not to be loved. / Though constantly sustained, it harbors malice; / in the end it abandons me without gratitude." Having finished contemplating one's own body, one again contemplates others: whether male or female, all their bodies possess these five kinds of impurity; and so on up to contemplating the bodies of all sentient beings in the world as impure. Thus the *Awakening of Faith* says: "One should contemplate that all who have bodies in the world are impure, with various foul defilements, having nothing delightful." Since one contemplates all as impure, thoughts of greedy desire naturally do not arise. The *Āgama Sūtras* relate: "Long ago there was a king whose desires were insatiable. A monk admonished him with a verse, saying: 'The eyes are a den of rheum and tears, / the nose is a bag of foul snot, / the mouth is a vessel of saliva, / the belly is a granary of feces and urine. / But the king lacks the eye of wisdom / and is infatuated with sensual form. / This poor monk sees it as abominable, / and has left home to cultivate the bodhimanda.'" Tiantai says: "Though contemplating impurity, one can accomplish the great matter—just as one can cross the sea by relying on a corpse." Alternatively, one may practice the contemplation of the skeleton. One should first visualize on one's own forehead the skin and flesh rotting and falling away, seeing only white bone. Gradually from narrow to broad, visualize the skin and flesh of the entire head rotting and falling away to reveal white bone, and so on until the whole body is seen as white bone. Having clearly seen a single skeleton of one's own body appear, one again contemplates other persons rotting and falling away in the same manner. Having contemplated a second skeleton, one gradually contemplates an entire room, a monastery, a city, a country, and even the whole earth, bounded by the oceans, filled with skeletons. In order to cause the mind of contemplation to expand, one then returns from broad to narrow, gradually reducing the contemplation: seeing only a single country as all skeletons, gradually seeing a city, a monastery, a room, a single skeleton, and within that single skeleton, gradually seeing only a small amount of white bone between the eyebrows. Having seen the space between the eyebrows, one focuses on that single object and abides serenely; cultivating like this, one attains samādhi. When this contemplation is accomplished, all greedy desire naturally dissolves away. Alternatively, one may practice the contemplation of counting the breath. One should advance in cultivation step by step from shallow to deep. First, one must harmonize one's own breath so that it is neither rough nor slippery, and with single-minded focus count the inhalation and exhalation: first counting the inhalation and then the exhalation, from one to ten, starting over again at the end, keeping the mind on the count without distraction. When one's mind relaxes effortlessly and spontaneously moves from one to ten, resting in counting the breath, then one further follows the breath in and out with single-mindedness. When the breath enters, the mind follows it from the nose to the throat, from the throat to the heart, navel, hips, thighs, shins, down to the toes. When the breath exits, the mind also follows it: as the breath exits the body to a span [vitasti], a fathom [vyāma], and so on, the mind constantly and single-mindedly follows the breath's going in and out. If one feels that mind and breath rely on each other effortlessly, one then ties mindfulness solely between the eyebrows, or fixes the mind at the tip of the nose. One contemplates the breath residing in the body like a thread in a pearl, noting whether it is cold or warm, harmful or beneficial. If one feels the body serene and joyful, one then further examines the subtle breath closely, and contemplates the internal and external thirty-six impure substances of the whole body. One also contemplates the mind-consciousness as not remaining for a single kṣaṇa. Cultivating in this way, one feels the breath entering and exiting through all pores; the mind's eye opens with clarity, penetratingly seeing the thirty-six substances inside the body and the hosts of worms, and then one turns to further cultivation." As for other practices, there are further explanations, but fearing prolixity, we pause here. As the sūtras say, contemplating inhalation and exhalation is the initial gateway for all Buddhas of the three periods of time to enter the Way. Alternatively, one may practice the contemplation of the emptiness of the self. One must deliberately investigate: this present body is originally without a self; it is merely the united appearance of the two dharmas of form and mind. Form has four categories—earth, water, fire, and wind: hair of head and body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, brain, and bodily filth are all its earth; nasal mucus, saliva, pus, blood, humors, spit, phlegm, tears, semen, vitality, feces, and urine are all its water; warmth is its fire; movement is wind. Mind has four categories—feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness: experiencing is feeling, apprehending signs is perception, performing actions is volitional formation, and discerning is consciousness. Among these eight categories, which one is the self? If all are the self, there would be eight selves. Moreover, within form there are further three hundred and sixty bones, each distinct; skin, hair, sinews, flesh, liver, heart, spleen, and kidneys are each different; the various mental associates and so on are also each different—seeing is not hearing, joy is not anger. Since there are so many things, who knows which one should definitely be taken as the self? If all are the self, there would be hundreds of thousands of selves, producing immense confusion within a single body. Apart from these there are no other dharmas; investigating the self back and forth, none can be found. Thus one knows that this body is merely a provisional combined appearance of multiple conditions, and is originally without a self. It is wonderful for a practitioner constantly to maintain this contemplation day and night. Because all sentient beings from beginningless time have grasped the body as the self, cherishing this self, they greedily seek fame and gain desiring to enrich and benefit 'me', feel anger at adverse conditions fearing they will violate and harm 'me', and in their foolish delusions make unprincipled calculations. Now, since one constantly contemplates that this body is originally without a self, the three poisons will naturally be extinguished; and once the three poisons are extinguished, one naturally transcends the three realms. Alternatively, one may practice the contemplation of the emptiness of other dharmas. One must attentively contemplate the two dharmas of form and mind of this body: form has earth, water, fire, and wind; mind has feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness. Attentively contemplating each of these eight dharmas, all arise from conditions and are entirely devoid of inherent nature; the eight dharmas in their very essence are all empty. Beginning practitioners should train in such contemplation practices, cultivating one or two, or even all five kinds according to what they delight in. The contemplation methods of the mind only value actual cultivation and refinement; when refined, they are full of flavor, but when spoken of, words are bland.)
1.8
Second is the contemplation of tathatā free of signs (which corresponds to the contemplation of the dharmadhātu of principle). Within this, settling the mind again has three approaches: First, one constantly contemplates that throughout the entire dharmadhātu there is only the single flavor of pure tathatā, originally without any differentiated phenomenal characteristics; this contemplative wisdom itself is also the single flavor of tathatā. The *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* says: "All dharmas are unborn; / all dharmas do not perish. / If one can understand in this way, / the buddhas will constantly appear before one." Furthermore, the Seventh Patriarch Dhyāna Master said: "To be mindful of no-thought is precisely to be mindful of tathatā." The Sixth Patriarch explained no-thought, saying: "'No' means being without any signs; 'thought' means being mindful of tathatā." This refers to conceiving of all dharmas as entirely tathatā. Although one conceives [of them], fundamentally there is no sign of conceiving. Therefore the *Treatise on the Awakening of Faith* says: "Although one is mindful, there is neither a subject that is mindful nor an object of mindfulness." (The tathatā conceived here is precisely the absolute true mind explained earlier in the sudden teaching. Practitioners of this approach constantly conceive of all dharmas as only the single flavor of pure tathatā, fundamentally without arising or ceasing; this is called the tathatā samādhi, also called the one-practice samādhi, and also called the unborn samādhi.) Second, when a thought arises, one simply arouses an aware mind. Therefore the Seventh Patriarch said: "As soon as a thought arises, become aware of it; upon being aware of it, it is gone. The marvelous gateway of practice lies solely in this." This very aware mind is then called contemplation. Here, too, although an aware mind is aroused, fundamentally there is no sign of arousing awareness. (For practitioners of this approach, at all times, whenever a mental thought arises, merely arousing the aware mind is the essential, marvelous gateway of practice.) Third, to frame a thought is already to err; to stir a thought is at once to go astray. Simply resting the mind with nowhere to alight, the principle will spontaneously and profoundly accord. Therefore the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* says: "Dharma-nature is fundamentally empty and tranquil, / without grasping and without viewing. / The emptiness of nature is itself the Buddha; / it cannot be conceived." Moreover, an ancient virtuous one said: "The true mark cuts off speech and thought; / tathatā transcends seeing and hearing. / This is the place to settle the mind; / divergent schools talk in vain." This is simply leaving its original nature to illuminate itself, without arousing any newly generated intellectual understanding. The *Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment* says: "Only when bodhisattvas and sentient beings of the final age at all times do not arouse delusive thoughts, nor extinguish delusive minds, abide in realms of delusive thoughts without applying discerning knowledge, and regarding the absence of discerning knowledge do not distinguish what is true and real." Furthermore, Xianshou said: "If one arouses the mind to perform ordinary practices or sacred practices, these are not true practices. Performing no practice at all, with the practicing mind having nowhere to alight—this is called the great practice." This approach takes the self-illumination of original nature as contemplation. (For practitioners of this approach, having the mind alight nowhere at all times is called true cultivation; although fully cultivating the ten thousand practices, within the ten thousand practices the mind has nowhere to alight. Furthermore, the essential mind transmitted by the seven generations of Chan patriarchs in the Eastern Land has three approaches, which encompass everything without remainder: 1. The approach of seeing the nature: one must first understand and awaken to the absolute true mind—that all delusive signs are fundamentally absent, the true mind is fundamentally pure, this mind itself is the Buddha, and one need not seek externally; this is the one mind of the sudden teaching mentioned earlier. 2. The approach of settling the mind: as explained above, the three approaches of conceiving tathatā and so forth are this. 3. The approach of initiating practice: one must fully cultivate the bodhisattva's six perfections and ten thousand practices. Fully relying on these three approaches is genuine Chan; lacking any one of them turns into a biased view. Bodhidharma said: 'My Dharma is a transmission from mind to mind, not established upon words and letters.' This mind is the pure, original enlightenment of all sentient beings, also called the buddhadhātu. Wishing to seek the Buddha-path, one must awaken to this mind; this is the approach of seeing the nature. He also said: 'Settle the mind in this way, which is called wall-contemplation.' This leads practitioners of the Path to abide their minds in the true principle, tranquil and non-active, analogous to a wall, not giving rise to discrimination; this is the approach of settling the mind. He also said: 'Initiate practice in this way, which is called the four practices: 1. The practice of requiting enmity: when practitioners of the Path suffer pain, they should reflect: "Throughout countless kalpas in the past, I abandoned the root to pursue the branches, wandering through various destinies, arousing much enmity and hatred and causing boundless harm. Although I commit no offense now, this is the ripening of the bad karma from my past enmities; it is not bestowed by gods or humans." One accepts it willingly and patiently, entirely without grievance. A sūtra says: "Encountering suffering, one does not sorrow. Why? Because one's awareness is thorough." 2. The practice of according with conditions: when practitioners of the Path receive excellent rewards, honor, and such things, they should reflect: "All dharmas are born from conditions. They were induced by the causes I cultivated in the past. Only now do I obtain them; when the conditions are exhausted, they will be gone again. What joy is there in this?" Accord with conditions in gain and loss, with no increase or decrease in the mind; the wind of joy does not move it, and the wind of anger does not arise. 3. The practice of seeking nothing: worldly people are perpetually deluded, clinging with greed everywhere, which is called seeking. The wise awaken to the true principle and turn against the mundane; the three realms and nine abodes are like a burning house. Wherever there is a body, all is suffering; who could attain peace? Within the three realms, they have no desires or pleasures. A sūtra says: "Wherever there is seeking, all is suffering; seeking nothing is bliss." 4. The practice of according with the Dharma: the true principle of nature's purity is termed Dharma. Since this rational principle is fundamentally free from all ten thousand evils such as stinginess, one should accord with the rational principle to cultivate all ten thousand virtues such as giving.' These four practices are the approach of initiating practice. In addition, in Dhyāna Master Caotang's *Commentary on the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment*, there are also three approaches, broadly similar to this: 1. First awaken to the nature of perfect enlightenment, which is the single flavor of the pure true mind; 2. next arouse the bodhicitta, which is great compassion, great wisdom, and great vows; 3. afterward cultivate bodhisattva practices, which are dharmas such as the six perfections and ten thousand practices. These three approaches are extremely crucial for students of Chan. If one does not cultivate the three approaches perfectly, there is no way to be free of various wrong views. That is to say, recorded sayings of various Chan houses since ancient times mostly only addressed the capacities and inclinations of their times: some only spoke of seeing the nature, some only talked about settling the mind, or some merely spoke of initiating practice; furthermore, within settling the mind and initiating practice there are multiple paths, or they only clarified a single path, and so forth. If one thoroughly penetrates these approaches in one's mind now, and afterward peruses the Chan teachings of the various houses, one will then understand where each of them aims.)
1.9
Third is the contemplation of unhindered phenomenon and principle (which corresponds to the contemplation of the dharmadhātu of unhindered phenomenon and principle). It means constantly contemplating that all defiled and pure phenomena, being born from conditions, lack intrinsic nature and are entirely the true principle; and the true principle is entirely all defiled and pure phenomena. This is like contemplating that the waves are entirely wetness, and wetness is entirely the waves. Therefore the *Treatise on the Awakening of Faith* says: "Although one is mindful that the intrinsic nature of all dharmas is unborn, one is yet simultaneously mindful that through the conjunction of causes and conditions, karmas of good and evil and retributions of suffering and pleasure are neither lost nor destroyed. (Principle does not obstruct phenomena, just as although the nature of wetness is one, it does not obstruct the waves from becoming many.) Although one is mindful of causes and conditions and the karmic retributions of good and evil, one is also simultaneously mindful that intrinsic nature cannot be grasped." (Phenomena do not obstruct principle, just as although the waves are many, it does not obstruct them from being entirely the nature of wetness. If one practices the three contemplations of emptiness, the provisional, and the middle: conceiving of all dharmas as born of conditions and lacking intrinsic nature, their entire substance being completely empty, is the contemplation of emptiness, like contemplating an image in a mirror as completely lacking real substance; conceiving of all dharmas as, though existing, unreal and all like dreams and illusions, is the provisional contemplation, like contemplating an image in a mirror as existing but unreal; conceiving of all dharmas as entirely the single flavor of the wondrous, luminous true mind—as explained in the final teaching earlier regarding the vast true mind—is the middle contemplation, like contemplating the bright mirror itself. As for these three contemplations, one may cultivate a single approach alone, or cultivate them all gradually, or cultivate them all simultaneously at once, choosing and adopting according to one's capacity.)
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