六祖大師法寶壇經 1.75

1.75

monastery to hear the Dharma, ascended the dais and announced to the assem-

bly, “Good friends, all of your coming here must have arisen out of your

own identities. At all times and in every moment of thought, you should

purify your own minds. Cultivate for yourself, practice for yourself, and see

your own dharmakāya, see the buddha within your own mind. This is only

attained through being saved by one’s own self, by [taking the] precepts

one’s own self—it does not depend on coming here. Hence in coming from

afar and gathering together here, you all share in [the same karmic] con-

nection. Now everyone should kneel upright, and I will first transmit for

you the five dharmakāya incenses of the self-natures; then I will bestow the

formless repentances.”

The assembly all knelt upright and the master said, “First is the incense

of the precepts, which is to have no error, no evil, no jealousy, no greed and

anger, and no injury within one’s own mind. This is called the incense of the

precepts.

“Second is the incense of meditation, which is to look on the realms and

characteristics of the various types of good and evil with one’s mind undis-

turbed. This is called the incense of meditation.

“Third is the incense of wisdom, which is for one’s mind to be without

hindrance, but always illuminating the self-nature with wisdom and never

creating the various types of evil. Although one cultivates the myriad types

of good, one’s mind does not become attached. One is respectful of superiors and mindful of inferiors, taking pity on those poor and alone. This is called the incense of wisdom.

“Fourth is the incense of emancipation, which is for one’s mind to be without equivocation. Not thinking of good and not thinking of evil, one is autonomous and without hindrance. This is called the incense of emancipation.

“Fifth is the incense of emancipated perceptual understanding, which is for one’s mind to be without equivocation regarding good and evil. One must not become immersed in emptiness, protecting one’s tranquility. One should study extensively and become learned [in the scriptures], recognizing one’s own fundamental mind and attaining the various principles of Buddhism. When the softened refulgence touches things there is no self, no person. Just proceed to bodhi, the true nature of which is unchanging. This is called the incense of emancipated perceptual understanding.

“Good friends, these incenses will influence each of you internally. Do not seek outside of yourselves.

“Now I will bequeath to you the formless repentances, so that you may extinguish your transgressions in the three periods of time and render pure your three types of karmic activity (i.e., those of body, speech, and mind).

“Good friends, you should say the following in unison after me: ‘From our past thoughts to our present thoughts to our future thoughts, [so that] in every moment of thought we are not subject to the defilement of stupidity, we disciples repent all our transgressions of stupidity and evil actions from the past. We beseech that [our transgressions] all be instantly eliminated, never to arise again.

“‘From our past thoughts to our present thoughts to our future thoughts, [so that] in every moment of thought we are not subject to the defilement of deceitfulness, we disciples repent all our transgressions of deceitfulness and evil actions from the past.We beseech that [our transgressions] all be instantly eliminated, never to arise again.

“‘From our past thoughts to our present thoughts to our future thoughts, [so that] in every moment of thought we are not subject to the defilement of