六祖大師法寶壇經 1.78

1.78

cal path of the false demons, but be constantly in realization yourselves using the three treasures of the self-nature.

“I exhort you, good friends, to take refuge in the three treasures of the self-nature. [The word] ‘Buddha’ means enlightenment. ‘Dharma’ means correct. ‘Sangha’ means pure. In your own minds, take refuge in enlightenment, so that the deluded and false is not generated. Know the sufficiency of decreased desires, and be able to transcend wealth and sensual pleasures: this is called the Two-legged Honored One (i.e., a buddha in human form). In your own minds, take refuge in the correct, being without false views in every moment of thought. If you are without false thoughts, then there is no self to become proud, lustful, or attached: this is called the Honored One Who Has Transcended Desire. In your own minds, take refuge in purity, [realizing] your self-nature to be completely unattached and undefiled by all the realms of the defiled laborings and the desires: this is called the Honored One within the Pure Assembly.

“If you cultivate this practice, this is to take refuge oneself. Ordinary people do not understand and from morning to night accept the three refuges, saying they are taking refuge in the Buddha. Where is the Buddha? If you do not see the Buddha, how will your entreaties for refuge reach him? Such words only create false [thoughts]!

“Good friends, you should each examine this for yourselves—do not go about this incorrectly. The sutras clearly say one should take refuge in the Buddha oneself, but they do not say to take refuge in some ‘other-buddha’ (tafo, i.e., a buddha other than oneself). If you do not take refuge in the ‘selfbuddha,’ you will have no place of refuge [at all]. Today you are to become enlightened yourselves, and each of you should take refuge in the three treasures of your own minds. Internally regulating the mind-nature, externally one pays reverence to other people: this is to take self-refuge.

“Good friends, now that we have finished taking refuge in the three treasures of our own [minds], you should all concentrate your minds, and I will explain for you the buddha of the self-nature in one essence and three bodies. I will make you see the three bodies and become comprehensively enlightened yourselves to the self-nature.

“Everyone should say after me: ‘Within my own physical body (literally, “form-body”), I take refuge in the pure dharmakāya buddha. In my own physical body I take refuge in the perfect and complete saṃbhogakāya buddha. In my own physical body I take refuge in the thousand billion nirmāṇakāya buddhas.’

“Good friends, the physical body is a house, but you can’t take refuge in it. The three bodies of the Buddha just mentioned exist within the selfnatures, and all the people of this world have them. It is only because one is deluded as to one’s own mind that one does not see the inner nature, but seeks externally for the Tathāgata in three bodies. Thus one does not see that the three bodies of the Buddha exist within one’s own body. You should all listen to this explanation, and I will make you see the three bodies of the Buddha that exist within the self-natures in your own bodies. These three bodies of the Buddha are generated from the self-natures, they are not attained from any external [source].

“What is the pure dharmakāya buddha? The [self]-natures of the people of this world are fundamentally pure. The myriad dharmas are generated from

the self-natures. To think of all the evil things is to generate evil practices; to think of all the good things is to generate good practices. Thus it is that the dharmas occur within the self-natures. Just as heaven is always clear and the sun and moon always bright—it may be that [the sky] above is bright and [the world] below is dark through being blocked by the floating clouds, but all at once a wind will rise up and blow the clouds away, so that above and below are both bright, and the myriad forms are all visible. The natures of the people of this world are constantly floating, just like the clouds in the sky.

“Good friends, sagacity is like the sun, and wisdom is like the moon. Sagacity and wisdom are always bright, but through being attached externally to sensory realms, the floating clouds of false thoughts block the selfnature, rendering it obscure. If you meet a spiritual compatriot and listen to the true and correct Dharma, you can eradicate the deluded and false within