六祖大師法寶壇經 1.76

1.76

"Good friends! Having repented, I will now make the four great vows together with you, good friends. Each of you must listen attentively with a sincere mind: I vow to deliver the sentient beings of my own mind without limit; I vow to sever the afflictions of my own mind without limit; I vow to learn the Dharma gates of the svabhāva without end; I vow to accomplish the unsurpassed Buddha Way of the svabhāva. Good friends! Do not all of you say: 'I vow to deliver sentient beings without limit'? Saying it like that, it is not Huineng who delivers them. Good friends! The sentient beings in the mind—namely the deluded mind, deceitful mind, unwholesome mind, jealous mind, malevolent mind—such minds as these are all sentient beings. Each must deliver themselves through their svabhāva; this is called true deliverance. What is called delivering oneself through the svabhāva? It means using right view to deliver the sentient beings of wrong views, afflictions, and ignorance within one's own mind. Once there is right view, one uses prajñā-wisdom to shatter the sentient beings of ignorance, delusion, and falsehood, so that each delivers itself: when wrong comes, deliver it with right; when delusion comes, deliver it with awakening; when ignorance comes, deliver it with wisdom; when evil comes, deliver it with good. Delivering in this way is called true deliverance. Furthermore, 'I vow to sever the afflictions without limit' means using the prajñā-wisdom of the svabhāva to eliminate the mind of vain thoughts and fabrications. Furthermore, 'I vow to learn the Dharma gates without end' means that one must see one's nature for oneself and constantly practice the correct Dharma; this is called true learning. Furthermore, 'I vow to accomplish the unsurpassed Buddha Way': once one can constantly humble one's mind, practice in correctness and truth, be free of delusion and free of awakening, and constantly generate prajñā, then eliminating both the real and the false, one immediately sees the Buddha-nature, and immediately at these words the Buddha Way is accomplished. Constantly being mindful of cultivation is the practice of the power of the vows.