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Language: English
Extent: 123 passages, 18,854 words
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Source: pramana-mt · Machine translation by Gemini 3.8 Flash (2026-10-21) of in.bauddha.taisho.2009 · Machine output without human authorship: no copyright is claimed (CC0 1.0). The original text keeps its own…

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Text

1.1

The First Gate: Eulogies on the Heart Sūtra

Wisdom is an ocean of purity; / Its principle is secret, its meaning profound and deep. / Pāramitā means reaching the other shore; / Turning toward the Way comes only from the mind. / Much learning brings a thousand kinds of ideas, / Yet they never leave the thread following the needle. / The sūtra's flowers strung on a single strand / Are revered by the multitude of sages for ten thousand kalpas.

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Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva,

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The Bodhisattva transcends holy wisdom; / The six āyatanas are all alike. / With empty mind, he contemplates at ease; / His great abhijñās are unimpeded. / In the gate of dhyāna, he enters right reception; / In samādhi, he is free to turn west or east. / Traveling all across the ten directions, / One sees no traces of the Buddha's walking.

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when coursing in the deep prajñāpāramitā,

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For six years seeking the Great Way, / Coursing deep, he never departed from the body. / Wisdom's mind is vimokṣa: / A person who has reached the other shore. / The holy Way is empty and still; / Thus have I heard now. / The Buddha walks with an equanimous mind; / When the time arrives, he naturally surpasses the throng.

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clearly saw that the pañca-skandhas are all empty,

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Craving and attachment form the pañca-skandhas; / Brought together provisionally, they make a body: / Blood and flesh connected to sinews and bones, / A heap of dust within the skin. / Deluded folks give rise to joyous clinging; / The wise do not hold them dear. / The four marks all return to an end; / What can one call real?

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and crossed beyond all suffering and distress.

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Deludedly tied to the body, one suffers; / Through self and others, the mind is bewildered of itself. / As for the pure Way of nirvāṇa, / Who is willing to set their mind to rely on it? / From the skandhas and dhātus, the six sense objects arise; / Distress and hardship follow along with karma. / If you wish your mind to be free of suffering, / Realize bodhi early upon hearing this.

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Śāriputra,

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Reaching the Way stems from the mind's source; / When the mind is pure, its benefits are manifold. / Like a lotus flower emerging from the water, / One suddenly awakens to the harmony of the Way's source. / Constantly dwelling in the mark of quiescence and cessation, / Such wisdom is hard for the multitude to surpass. / Solitarily transcending outside the traidhātuka, / One yearns no more for the sahā.

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rūpa is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from rūpa.

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Rūpa and emptiness are one and the same; / Before arriving, one sees them as two. / The two vehicles give rise to discrimination; / Clinging to marks, they deceive their own minds. / Outside of emptiness, there is no separate rūpa; / The meaning of non-rūpa is vast and broad. / The pure nature of non-arising: / One who awakens to it is in nirvāṇa right away.

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Rūpa is itself emptiness; emptiness is itself rūpa.

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Non-emptiness: emptiness is not existent; / Non-rūpa: rūpa has no form. / Rūpa and emptiness together return to one; / In the Pure Land, one finds peace. / Non-emptiness: emptiness is subtle; / Non-rūpa: rūpa is distinct. / Rūpa and emptiness are both non-marks; / Where can a bodily form be established?

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Vedanā, saṃjñā, saṃskāra, and vijñāna are also like this.

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Vedanā and saṃjñā take in all conditions; / Saṃskāra and vijñāna have a vast capacity. / The mind of conceptual imputation must be extinguished, / So the disease of self has nothing to do with it. / Vimokṣa's mind is unhindered; / Breaking attachments, one awakens to the mind's source. / Therefore it says, 'are also like this': / Nature and marks are entirely identical.

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Śāriputra,

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Speaking of Śāri refers to the bodily marks; / Putra speaks of the unified mind. / With the vajra power of a bodhisattva, / Do not allow the four marks to invade. / Reaching the Way, one is free from clinging to personhood; / Seeing the nature, the Dharma has no sound. / All taints are completely exhausted; / The entire body is pure gold.

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all dharmas have the mark of emptiness:

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All buddhas speak of empty dharmas; / The śrāvakas seek them through marks. / Searching sūtras and looking for principles, / On what day will the learning mind cease? / The perfectly accomplished true dharmatā: / Suddenly seeing it, the mind's cultivation stops. / Vastly transcending the dharmadhātu, / At ease, what more is there to worry about?

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They neither arise nor perish,

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Rocana's pure essence / Has no marks and is fundamentally real. / Like space, it pervades everywhere completely; / For ten thousand kalpas, its essence endures. / Unshared, it clings to nothing; / There is neither old nor new. / Harmonizing with the light, untainted by dust, / It is solely revered in the traidhātuka.

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are neither defiled nor pure,

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Tathatā transcends the traidhātuka; / Defilement and purity are fundamentally non-existent. / Śākyamuni raised expedient means, / Speaking of the subtle and stating the coarse. / In the realm of emptiness, there are no dharmas; / This manifests a solitary orb. / Fundamentally, there is not a single thing; / How could calling it two kinds be appropriate?

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neither increase nor decrease.

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The Tathāgata's essence has no marks; / It fills the emptiness of the ten directions. / Upon emptiness, it is hard to establish existence; / Within existence, one does not see emptiness. / Looking at it, it is like the moon in the water; / Hearing it, it is like the wind beside the ear. / How could the dharmakāya increase or decrease? / In the traidhātuka, it is called the true form.

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Therefore, within emptiness,

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Bodhi is not outside; / Seeking it in the middle is also difficult. / Neither mark nor non-mark: / Measuring and calculating loses the pivotal mechanism. / The world is not the world; / The three lights illuminate the four heavens. / Fundamentally, there are no hindrances; / Where is there any barrier?

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there is no rūpa, no vedanā, saṃjñā, saṃskāra, or vijñāna;

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Non-rūpa is fundamentally empty; / Non-vedanā is also the same in meaning. / Saṃskāra and vijñāna are existent within non-existence; / When existence is exhausted, it returns to emptiness. / Clinging to existence, it is truly non-existent; / Relying on emptiness, one falls again into voidness. / When the mind leaves both rūpa and emptiness behind, / Only then does one attain abhijñā.

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no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind;

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The six indriyas have no svabhāva; / They are arranged according to marks: / Rūpa is distinguished due to sounds and echoes; / Self and others engage in the tongue's pleasantries. / The nose may distinguish fragrance and foulness; / The body and mind clash with desires and passions. / When craving and attachment to the six āyatanas are severed, / For ten thousand kalpas, there will be no saṃsāra.

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no rūpa, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas;

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Realized wisdom has neither sound nor rūpa; / Smell, taste, and touch—whom do they belong to? / The six sense objects arise from delusion; / The worldly mind doubts and deludes itself. / End birth and death, cease birth and death; / Bodhi is realized at this very time. / The dharmatā is empty and non-abiding; / One only fears waking to it late.

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no eye dhātu up to no mental consciousness dhātu;

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The six consciousnesses arise from delusion; / Depending on others, their nature unfolds on its own. / Eye, ear, along with body and mind: / Who is willing to measure and regulate them? / Tongue and nose act in inversion; / The mind king, however, sends them back. / Remaining not long in the six consciousnesses, / One suddenly awakens toward the Tathāgata.

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no avidyā and no end of avidyā, up to no jarā-maraṇa and no end of jarā-maraṇa;

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The twelve links of pratītyasamutpāda exist; / Once born, aging follows along. / With a body, avidyā arrives; / The two marks are of equal standing. / When the body is exhausted, avidyā is exhausted; / Receiving retribution, it returns in turn. / The body of wisdom is like a phantom transformation; / Hasten quickly to awaken to the asamyakṛta.

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no duḥkha, samudaya, nirodha, or mārga;

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The four truths flourish in the traidhātuka; / The meaning of the sudden teaching is distinct and clear. / When duḥkha is severed, samudaya is already extinguished; / The holy Way is naturally completed. / Let the śrāvakas rest their delusive thoughts, / And the pratyekabuddhas keep their minds peaceful. / If you wish to know the place of becoming a Buddha, / Do not linger in the mind.

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no wisdom and no attainment;

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Dharmas are fundamentally not non-existent, / Yet wisdom is difficult to measure: / With joyful mind leaving defilement behind, / Emitting light that fills the ten directions. / 'Hard to Conquer' appears before one; / 'Going Far' to the great bodhimanda. / 'Immovable', one transcends to the other shore; / 'Good Wisdom' is the king among dharmas.

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because there is nothing to be attained.

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The essence of quiescence and cessation has nothing to be attained; / True emptiness completely eludes grasp. / Fundamentally it has no features or marks; / Provisionally, the three dānas are established. / The four wisdoms open up dharmas and metaphors; / The six pāramitās are called the primary pass. / The dharmas of the ten bhūmis and the three vehicles / Are difficult for all the sages to fathom.

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The bodhisattva,

1.49

The Buddha Way is truly difficult to know; / The sattva is an ordinary person. / If sentient beings wish to see the nature, / They should revere the Buddha and not feel solitary in mind. / As for the good spiritual friends in the world, / Their discourses on the Dharma are both fine and coarse. / Suddenly awakening, the mind is equanimous, / And marks in between are eradicated.

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relying on prajñāpāramitā,

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Prajñā refers to wisdom; / Pāramitā has nothing on which to rely. / The mind is empty, the nature vast and great; / Inner and outer are entirely unconditioned. / Empty of nature, unhindered in eloquence, / People who reach it are rare in the traidhātuka. / When great insight clarifies the Great Dharma, / All praise it as inconceivable.

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has a mind without hindrance;

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In vimokṣa, the mind is unimpeded; / The mind is like the great empty sky. / In the four quarters there is not a single thing; / Above and below are all the same. / Coming and going, the mind is at ease; / Person and dharmas do not encounter each other. / Seeking the Way, one sees no thing; / Yielding to conditions, one leaves the cage of vexation.

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because there is no hindrance, has no fear,

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With birth and death, the mind has fear; / In non-action, the nature is naturally at peace. / When objects are forgotten, the mind also ceases; / The ocean of nature is tranquil and vast. / The trikāya returns to the Pure Land; / The eight consciousnesses leave causes and conditions behind. / The six abhijñās follow dharmatā, / Restoring the fundamental and returning to the source.

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far leaves behind all inverted dream-thinking,

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Do not establish the two extremes at all; / Do not cultivate the Middle Way with the mind. / Seeing the nature, birth and death are exhausted; / Bodhi has nothing to be sought. / Seeking the true Buddha outside the body, / Inversion brings an end to a whole lifetime. / Sitting quietly, the body is peaceful and happy; / The fruit of non-action is fulfilled of itself.

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and reaches ultimate nirvāṇa.

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Ultimately, it has the nature of non-arising; / Purity is nirvāṇa. / Let ordinary persons not try to measure the sage: / Before arriving, it is bound to be difficult. / Having learning is after all having no learning; / The Buddha's wisdom turns ever deeper and more profound. / If you wish to understand the principle of the no-mind, / Do not cling to quieting the mind's source.

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All buddhas of the three periods of time,

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The past cannot be spoken of as real; / The future is not true reality. / Present son of bodhi: / having no dharma is called the mysterious gate. / The trikāya together returns to one; / The single nature pervades and contains the bodies. / Comprehending the principle does not pertain to the three times; / Attaining the one dharma has no cause.

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Because they rely on prajñāpāramitā, they attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

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The Buddha's wisdom is profound and hard to fathom; / Insight and understanding are broad and boundless. / The supreme mind is correct and all-pervading; / Its compassionate light fills the great thousand[fold world]. / Skilled within the mind of tranquil cessation, / It establishes ten thousand varieties. / The bodhisattva possesses many expedient means, / Universally saving for the sake of humans and devas.

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Therefore know that prajñāpāramitā is the great transcendent spell, is the great bright spell,

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Prajñā is the transcendent spell; / It can remove doubts about the pañca-skandha. / Afflictions are all cut off completely; / Purity separates by itself. / The four wisdoms are endless waves; / The eight consciousnesses possess transcendent majesty. / The lamp of the mind illuminates the dharmadhātu; / Right this is bodhi.

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is the unsurpassed spell,

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Unsurpassed is called the most supreme; / Rescuing and delivering for the sake of the confused multitude. / Mahā, master of the traidhātuka: / Vast vows arouse compassion. / Able to accord with the intentions of sentient beings; / Following the current, it guides and transforms the confused. / Each person rises to the other shore; / It depends on oneself, not on another.

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is the unequalled spell,

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The Buddha path has perfected a thousand sages; / The power of the Dharma has none that surpasses it. / True emptiness extinguishes all existing things; / Its manifestations in transformation bodies are many. / Coming is for the suffering of sentient beings; / Leaving is on account of the māras of the world. / Kalpa rocks all turn to dust; / Only I remain in sahā.

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which can eliminate all suffering, true and not false.

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The Buddha's vows and compassionate mind are vast; / In world after world he delivers sentient beings. / Propagating the Dharma and speaking the true principle, / He universally urges urgent cultivation. / Turning the mind, one sees the dharmatā; / When suffering is exhausted, one sees non-arising. / Ever stopping the three evil destinies, / One is joyful and at ease within.

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Therefore speak the prajñāpāramitā spell,

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Therefore speak the principle of tathatā; / Those not yet awakened, quickly turn the mind back. / The six thieves and ten evil deeds are extinguished; / The mountain of māras is completely shattered to its base. / The transcendent spell removes the three poisons; / The mind-flower opens with five petals. / When the fruit is ripe, the roots intertwine; / Step by step one sees the Tathāgata.

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saying the spell immediately: Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā.

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Gate is the guideline of the fundamental tradition, / Supporting capabilities to erect the Dharma banner. / The Tathāgata is most exalted and supreme; / An ordinary mind cannot measure him. / Without boundaries and without a middle; / Neither short nor long. / Prajñāpāramitā / is constant throughout ten thousand generations, ancient and present.

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Mahāprajñāpāramitā Heart Sūtra.

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The Second Gate: Treatise on Breaking Form

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Question: If there is someone who aspires to seek the Buddha path, what method should they cultivate that is the most concise and essential? Answer: Only the single method of contemplating the mind encompasses all methods and is the most concise and essential.

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Question: How can one single method encompass all methods? Answer: The mind is the root of the myriad dharmas; all dharmas are produced only by the mind. If one can understand the mind, then the myriad dharmas will all be complete, just like a great tree whose branches, flowers, and fruits are all born from the root, and if the tree is chopped down and its root removed, it must die. If one understands the mind and cultivates the path, it takes little effort and is easy to accomplish; if one does not understand the mind and cultivates the path, it wastes effort and brings no benefit. Therefore know that all good and evil come from one's own mind. Seeking separately outside the mind will never be right.

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Question: In what way is contemplating the mind called understanding? Answer: When the bodhisattva mahāsattva practices the deep prajñāpāramitā, they understand that the catur-mahābhūta and pañca-skandha are originally empty and without self. They understand and see that their own mind's arising and functioning has two distinctions. What are the two? The first is the pure mind, and the second is the defiled mind. These two kinds of minds are natural to the dharmadhātu and originally coexist. Although free from provisional conditions, they depend on one another. The pure mind always delights in good causes; the defiled substance constantly contemplates evil deeds. If one is not defiled by it, one is called a sage, and can then leave all suffering far behind and realize the joy of nirvāṇa. If one creates karma following the defiled mind and suffers its entanglement and covering, one is called an ordinary person, sinking in the traidhātuka and enduring various kinds of suffering. Why is this? Because that defiled mind obstructs the substance of tathatā. The Daśabhūmika Sūtra states: 'Within the bodies of sentient beings there is a vajra Buddha-nature, like the disc of the sun whose substantive illumination is complete, vast, and boundless; it is only covered by the heavy clouds of the pañca-skandha, like the light of a lamp inside a jar unable to show itself.' Again, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra states: 'All sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature; because avidyā covers it, they do not attain vimokṣa.' The Buddha-nature is the nature of awakening. When one awakens oneself and awakens others, and the wisdom of awakening is clear, it is called vimokṣa. Therefore know that all good has awakening as its root; through the root of awakening, one can then display the trees of all merits, and the fruit of nirvāṇa is accomplished on account of this. Contemplating the mind in this way may be called understanding.

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Question: It was said above that tathatā and the Buddha-nature, and all merits, have awakening as their root. We do not yet know what the root of the mind of avidyā is. Answer: Although the mind of avidyā has eighty-four thousand afflictions and desires as well as evil deeds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, they all take the three poisons as their root. The three poisons are greed, hatred, and delusion. These three poisons of the mind are able of themselves to possess all evil deeds, just like a great tree: though its root is one, the leaves and branches it produces are boundless in number. From each root of those three poisons are born hundreds, thousands, myriads, and kotis of evil deeds, exceeding the previous by many times beyond metaphor. Such minds of the three poisons manifest within the original substance as the ṣaḍ-indriya, which are also called the six thieves, namely the six consciousnesses. Because these six consciousnesses enter and leave the senses and covetously cling to the myriad objects, they are able to accomplish evil deeds and obstruct the substance of tathatā; therefore they are called the six thieves. Because of these three poisons and six thieves, sentient beings confuse and trouble their bodies and minds, sink into saṃsāra, transmigrate through the six destinies, and suffer various pains and afflictions. It is just like a river: because of a small spring whose trickling flow never ceases, it can spread wide with waves for ten thousand leagues. If there is a person who cuts off its fundamental source, then all streams will cease. Those who seek vimokṣa can transform the three poisons into the three pure precepts and transform the six thieves into the six pāramitās; naturally, they will forever leave behind the ocean of all suffering.

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Question: The six destinies and the traidhātuka are vast and boundless. If one only contemplates the mind, by what means can one escape unending suffering? Answer: Karmic retributions in the traidhātuka are produced only by the mind. If originally there is no mind, then within the traidhātuka one is out of the traidhātuka. The traidhātuka is the three poisons: greed is the kāmadhātu, hatred is the rūpadhātu, and delusion is the ārūpyadhātu; therefore it is called the traidhātuka. Due to these three poisons, the weight of the karma produced and the retributions received differ, dividing into the six places; therefore they are called the six destinies.

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Question: How do the heavy and light divide into six? Answer: Sentient beings do not understand the correct cause and cultivate goodness with confused minds, not escaping the traidhātuka and being born into the three lighter destinies. What are the three lighter destinies? Namely, confusedly cultivating the ten good deeds and falsely seeking pleasure, one does not escape the realm of greed and is born into the destiny of the devas; confusedly maintaining the five precepts and falsely giving rise to love and hatred, one does not escape the realm of hatred and is born into the destiny of humans; confusedly clinging to the conditioned and believing in heterodoxy to seek blessings, one does not escape the realm of delusion and is born into the destiny of asuras. These three kinds are called the three lighter destinies. What are the three heavier destinies? Namely, giving rein to the mind of the three poisons and creating only evil deeds, one falls into the three heavier destinies. If greed-karma is heavy, one falls into the destiny of hungry ghosts; if hatred-karma is heavy, one falls into the destiny of hell; if delusion-karma is heavy, one falls into the destiny of animals. These three heavier together with the former three lighter make up the six destinies. Therefore know that all painful karma is produced from one's own mind; only if one can collect the mind and depart from all evils will the suffering of transmigration in the traidhātuka and six destinies naturally be extinguished, and one will attain vimokṣa.

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Question: As the Buddha said, 'Only after countless hardships over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas did I accomplish the Buddha path.' How can you now say that merely contemplating the mind and restraining the three poisons is called vimokṣa? Answer: The words spoken by the Buddha are not false. The asaṃkhyeya kalpas are the mind of the three poisons. 'Asaṃkhyeya' is the foreign word; in Chinese it means 'innumerable'. Within this mind of the three poisons, there are evil thoughts as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and within each single thought there is a kalpa. Thus they are innumerable as the sands of the Ganges; therefore it is said, 'three great asaṃkhyeyas'. Since the nature of tathatā is covered by the three poisons, if one does not transcend those three great poisonous and evil minds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, how can it be called vimokṣa? Now if one can transform the minds of the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion into the three liberations, this is called crossing over the three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. Sentient beings of the end times are foolish and of dull faculties; not understanding the Tathāgata's esoteric teaching of the three great asaṃkhyeyas, they then say that accomplishing buddhahood takes dust-kalpas. How could this not mistakenly cause practitioners to doubt and retreat from the path of bodhi?

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Question: Bodhisattva mahāsattvas accomplish the Buddha path only by holding the three pure precepts and practicing the six pāramitās. Now you make students only contemplate the mind and not cultivate the practice of precepts; how can they accomplish buddhahood? Answer: The three pure precepts are restraining the mind of the three poisons. Restraining the mind of the three poisons accomplishes the collection of immeasurable goods. 'Collection' (ju) means gathering together. The immeasurable good dharmas are universally gathered in the mind; therefore they are called the three pure precepts. The six pāramitās are purifying the ṣaḍ-indriya. 'Pāramitā' is the foreign word; in Chinese it means 'reaching the other shore'. When the ṣaḍ-indriya are pure and not defiled by the six sense objects, that is crossing the river of afflictions and reaching the shore of bodhi; therefore they are called the six pāramitās.

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Question: As sūtras say, the three pure precepts are vowing to cut off all evil, vowing to cultivate all good, and vowing to deliver all sentient beings. Now you only speak of restraining the mind of the three poisons; does this not contradict the text and meaning? Answer: The sūtras spoken by the Buddha are true words. When bodhisattva mahāsattvas practiced in the causal stage in the past, to counter the three poisons they made three vows: to cut off all evil, so they constantly held the precepts to counter the poison of greed; to cultivate all good, so they constantly practiced samādhi to counter the poison of hatred; to deliver all sentient beings, so they constantly cultivated wisdom to counter the poison of delusion. By upholding these three pure dharmas of morality, concentration, and wisdom, they were able to transcend those three poisons and accomplish the Buddha path. The extinguishing of all evils is called 'cutting off'; the completion of all goods is called 'cultivating'. Because they can cut off evil and cultivate good, the myriad practices are accomplished, benefiting both self and other and universally delivering all sentient beings, which is called 'delivering'. Therefore know that the cultivated practice of precepts does not depart from the mind. If one's own mind is pure, then all Buddha-lands are pure. Thus a sūtra states: 'When the mind is defiled, sentient beings are defiled; when the mind is pure, sentient beings are pure. If you wish to attain a pure land, you should purify your mind; as the mind becomes pure, the Buddha-land becomes pure.' The three pure precepts are naturally accomplished.

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Question: As the sūtras say, the six pāramitās are also called the six crossings, namely dāna, śīla, kṣānti, vīrya, dhyāna, and prajñā. Now you say that the purification of the ṣaḍ-indriya is called pāramitā; how do these correspond? Furthermore, what is the meaning of the six crossings? Answer: If you wish to cultivate the six crossings, you should purify the ṣaḍ-indriya and subdue the six thieves. Being able to abandon the eye-thief and depart from all visible forms is called dāna; being able to restrain the ear-thief from negligence regarding sound-objects is called śīla; being able to subdue the nose-thief, treating pleasant and foul scents equally, being at ease and gentle, is called kṣānti; being able to control the tongue-thief, not craving various tastes, praising and expounding [the Dharma], is called vīrya; being able to subdue the body-thief, remaining serene and unmoved regarding tactile desires, is called dhyāna; being able to tame the mind-thief, not according with avidyā, and constantly cultivating the wisdom of awakening, is called prajñā. 'Crossings' means transport. The six pāramitās are like a boat or raft that can transport sentient beings to the other shore; therefore they are called the six crossings.

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Question: The sūtra says: 'When Śākyamuni Tathāgata was a bodhisattva, he drank three dou and six sheng of milk-gruel, and only then did he accomplish the Buddha Way.' If he first relied on drinking milk and only afterwards realized the fruit of buddhahood, how could contemplating the mind alone bring vimokṣa? Answer: Truly know that what was said is not false; he certainly had to consume milk, and only then did he accomplish buddhahood. Speaking of consuming milk, there are two kinds. That which the Buddha consumed was not worldly, impure milk, but the pure Dharma-milk of tathatā. The three dou are the three pure precepts. The six sheng are the ṣaṭ-pāramitā. When accomplishing the Buddha Way, it was by consuming such pure Dharma-milk that he only then realized the fruit of buddhahood. If one says that the Tathāgata consumed the impure, rancid, and fishy milk of worldly composite cows, would that not be an extreme slander and error? Tathatā itself is diamond-indestructible, the unconditioned dharmakāya, eternally free from all worldly suffering. How could it need such impure milk to satisfy hunger and thirst? As the sūtra says: 'That cow is not on the high plains, nor in the low wetlands. It does not eat grain, wheat, chaff, or bran, and does not herd together with common bulls. That cow's body is of purple-sheen golden colour.' Speaking of this cow, it is Vairocana Buddha. Out of great compassion and pity for all, from within his pure Dharma-essence he produced such subtle Dharma-milk of the three pure precepts and ṣaṭ-pāramitā to nurture all who seek vimokṣa. Not only did the Tathāgata drink the pure milk of such a truly pure cow and accomplish the Way, but if all sentient beings are able to drink it, they will all attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

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Question: It is taught in the sūtras that the Buddha causes sentient beings to build saṃghārāmas, cast and paint images, burn incense and scatter flowers, light ever-burning lamps, circumambulate towers and practice the Way throughout the six intervals of day and night, observe fasts and make prostrations—and through such various merits, they all accomplish the Buddha Way. If contemplating the mind alone subsumes all practices, then speaking of such matters ought to be false. Answer: The sūtras spoken by the Buddha contain measureless skillful means. Because all sentient beings have dull faculties and are narrow and inferior, failing to understand the profound meaning, conditioned things were used as metaphors for the unconditioned. If people again do not cultivate internal practice, but only seek externally hoping to obtain blessings, there is no such possibility. As for 'saṃghārāma', it is a Western word, translated here as 'pure land'. If one eternally eliminates the three poisons and always purifies the ṣaḍ-indriya, so that body and mind are tranquil and clear, and inner and outer are pure, this is called building a saṃghārāma. Casting and painting images refers to all sentient beings seeking the Buddha Way. That is, cultivating all awakened practices to resemble the Tathāgata's true countenance and marvelous marks—how could this be done by casting and painting gold and copper? Therefore, one who seeks vimokṣa takes the body as the furnace, the Dharma as the fire, wisdom as the skillful craftsman, and the three pure precepts and ṣaṭ-pāramitā as the mold. Refining the tathatā Buddha-nature within the body, pouring it everywhere into the molds of all precepts and Vinaya, practicing according to the teachings without a single flaw or omission, one naturally accomplishes an image of the true countenance—namely, the ultimately permanent, subtle physical body, not a conditioned, corruptible phenomenon. If a person seeks the Way without understanding such casting and painting of the true countenance, on what basis can they rashly speak of merit? Furthermore, burning incense is also not worldly incense with form; it is the incense of the unconditioned true Dharma. It perfumes all foul, ignorant evil karmas, causing them all to be eradicated. There are five kinds of true Dharma incense: first, the incense of morality, which is being able to sever all evils and cultivate all goods; second, the incense of concentration, which is deeply believing in the Mahāyāna with a mind that does not retrogress; third, the incense of wisdom, which is constantly observing inwardly within body and mind; fourth, the incense of vimokṣa, which is being able to sever all fetters of avidyā; fifth, the incense of the knowledge and vision of vimokṣa, which is contemplation and illumination being ever-bright, penetrating without hindrance. These five kinds of incense are called the supreme incense, peerless in the world. When the Buddha was in the world, he had his disciples burn such priceless precious incense with the fire of wisdom to make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions. Nowadays sentient beings do not understand the Tathāgata's true meaning; using only external fire, they burn worldly aloeswood, sandalwood, and frankincense—incense that possesses physical obstruction—hoping for retributive blessings. How could they obtain them? Scattering flowers is also like this in meaning. It refers to expounding the true Dharma, scattering the flowers of all merits to benefit sentient beings and moisten all, universally bestowing adornment upon the nature of tathatā. These flowers of merit are praised by the Buddha; they are ultimately permanent and have no time of withering. If someone scatters such flowers, they will obtain measureless blessings. If one says that the Tathāgata caused sentient beings to cut silks and fabrics, or damage plants and trees in order to scatter flowers, there is no such possibility. Why is this? One who keeps pure precepts will not offend against all the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth. If one accidentally offends against them, one still incurs great guilt; how much more so if one now deliberately breaks the pure precepts and harms myriad things while seeking retributive blessings? Wanting benefit but getting harm instead—how could that be? The ever-burning lamp is the mind of correct awakening. The clarity of awakening is compared to a lamp. Therefore, for all who seek vimokṣa, the body is the lampstand, the mind is the wick, increasing all moral practices serves as adding oil, and wisdom being bright and clear is compared to the lamp's flame burning constantly. Such a lamp of true and correct awakening illuminates all darkness of avidyā and delusion. Being able to unfold and explain this wheel of the Dharma in succession is none other than one lamp lighting hundreds of thousands of lamps, lamp to lamp endlessly; hence it is called 'ever-burning'. In the past there was a Buddha named Dīpaṃkara; the meaning is also like this. Foolish sentient beings do not understand the Tathāgata's skillful words; exclusively performing falsehoods and clinging to the conditioned, they then light worldly lamps of ghee and oil to illuminate empty rooms, yet claim to be following the teachings. Is this not an error? Why is this? The Buddha emits light from the single white hair between his eyebrows, able to illuminate eighteen thousand worlds; how could he rely on such lamps of ghee and oil for benefit? Examining this principle carefully, it should not be so. Furthermore, circumambulating and practicing the Way throughout the six intervals means constantly practicing the Buddha Way among the ṣaḍ-indriya at all times, cultivating all awakened practices, subduing the ṣaḍ-indriya, and not abandoning this for a long time; this is called circumambulating and practicing the Way throughout the six intervals. Circumambulating towers and practicing the Way: the tower is the body. One should cultivate awakened practices, circling body and mind without stopping from thought to thought; this is called circumambulating a tower. The sages of the past all practiced this way until reaching nirvāṇa. Nowadays worldly people do not understand this principle; they never practice internally and only cling to external seeking, taking their physically obstructed bodies to circumambulate worldly towers, running day and night, tiring themselves in vain, while having not the slightest benefit for their true nature. Furthermore, in observing fasts, one must understand the meaning. If one does not penetrate this principle, it is merely wasted effort. 'Fast' (zhai) means 'alignment' (qi)—namely, aligning and rectifying body and mind so as not to allow them to be scattered. 'Observing' (chi) means 'protecting'—namely, protecting and maintaining all practices of the precepts in accordance with the Dharma. One must externally restrain the six passions and internally control the three poisons, attentively observing to purify body and mind; understanding this meaning is called observing the fast. There are five kinds of food: first, the food of Dharma joy, which is relying on and upholding the true Dharma, joyfully practicing it; second, the food of dhyāna bliss, which is inner and outer clarity and stillness, with body and mind joyful; third, the food of mindfulness, which is constantly being mindful of the Buddhas, with mind and mouth corresponding; fourth, the food of aspiration, which is constantly seeking good vows whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down; fifth, the food of vimokṣa, which is the mind constantly pure, undefiled by worldly dust. These five kinds of food are called observing the fast. If someone does not eat these five kinds of pure food yet says they are observing the fast, there is no such possibility. If one only cuts off food without avidyā being cut off, and rashly forms interpretations, this is called breaking the fast. If there is also breaking, how could one obtain blessings? In the world there are deluded people who do not awaken to this principle; their body and mind are unrestrained, committing all evils, indulging their desires and passions without giving rise to shame, yet merely cutting off external food, they consider themselves to be observing the fast. There is certainly no such possibility. Furthermore, making prostrations must be done in accordance with the Dharma. One must be internally clear about the essence of the principle, while external matters adapt to expedient changes; understanding this meaning is what is called being in accordance with the Dharma. Now, 'courtesy' (li) is 'respect', and 'prostrating' (bai) is 'subduing'—namely, respecting the true nature and subverting avidyā is called making prostrations. If evil dispositions can be eternally extinguished and good thoughts constantly maintained, even without attending to external forms, it is called making prostrations. That form is the form of Dharma. The World-Honoured One, wishing to cause the worldly to express a humble mind, also made prostrations; therefore, one must subdue the outer body to show inner reverence, awakening externally and illuminating internally, nature and forms corresponding. If one again does not practice the Dharma of the principle, but only clings to seeking externally—internally indulging greed and delusion, constantly committing evil karma, while externally tiring the bodily forms in vain, falsely presenting an imposing deportment—having no shame before the sages and deceiving ordinary people in vain, one will not escape saṃsāra. How could it accomplish merit?

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Question: The sūtras state that by being mindful of the Buddha with the utmost mind, one will certainly attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Through this one gate alone, one should accomplish buddhahood; why rely on contemplating the mind to seek vimokṣa? Answer: When mindful of the Buddha, one must have right mindfulness. Definitive meaning is right; non-definitive meaning is wrong. Right mindfulness will certainly attain rebirth; how could wrong mindfulness reach that place? 'Buddha' means 'awakening'—namely, examining body and mind so as not to allow evil to arise. 'Mindfulness' means 'recollection'—namely, recollecting and upholding the practice of the precepts without forgetting vigorous exertion. Understanding this meaning is called mindfulness. Therefore know that mindfulness is in the mind, not in words. Relying on the trap to seek fish, once the fish is caught, the trap is forgotten; relying on words to seek the meaning, once the meaning is grasped, the words are forgotten. Having spoken the name of mindfulness of the Buddha, one must know the path of mindfulness of the Buddha. If the mind has no reality while the mouth recites an empty name, with the three poisons gathering within and self and other filling the breast, using a mind of avidyā to seek the Buddha externally is merely wasted effort. Furthermore, as between reciting and mindfulness, their meanings are vastly different: what is on the mouth is called reciting; what is in the mind is called mindfulness. Therefore know that mindfulness arises from the mind and is called the gate of awakened practice, while reciting is in the mouth, which is merely the mark of sound. Clinging to the external to seek the principle is in the end without possibility. Therefore know that the mindfulness of the Buddha cultivated by all sages of the past was never about external speech, but only investigated the inner mind. The mind is the source of all good; the mind is the master of myriad virtues. The eternal bliss of nirvāṇa is born from the true mind; transmigration in the traidhātuka also arises from the mind. The mind is the doorway to world-transcendence; the mind is the checkpoint to vimokṣa. For one who knows the doorway, why worry about difficulty in entering? For one who recognizes the checkpoint, why fret over lack of passage?

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Question: As the Wen Shi Jing (Sūtra on the Bathhouse) states, bathing the Saṅgha obtains immeasurable blessings. Here, merit is brought about only by relying on concrete matters. How can this correspond to contemplating the mind?
Answer: Bathing the Saṅgha is not a conditioned, worldly affair. The World-Honoured One once taught the Wen Shi Jing for his disciples, intending them to accept and uphold the method of bathing. The 'bathhouse' is the body itself. Thus, one lights the fire of wisdom, warms the water of the pure precepts, and bathes the tathatā-Buddha-nature within the body, accepting and upholding seven methods to adorn oneself. The monks of that day were endowed with keen faculties and superior wisdom; all awakened to the sage's intent, practiced in accordance with the teaching, accomplished merit, and together attained the holy fruition. Today's sentient beings do not fathom these matters; applying worldly water to wash their physical bodies, they claim to rely on the sūtra—how could this not be an error? Furthermore, the tathatā-Buddha-nature is not a mortal form or the dust and defilement of affliction; originally it is without marks. How could one use physical water to wash the unconditioned body? The matter does not correspond; how could one awaken to the Way? If you wish to purify the body, you must contemplate that this body is originally born from the impurities of greedy desire, filled and packed with stench and filth inside and out. If you wash this body seeking purity, it is like washing a ditch: only when the ditch is exhausted would it be pure. Testing it by this, one clearly knows that washing the exterior is not what the Buddha taught. Therefore, worldly affairs are used as an analogy for the true principle, implicitly speaking of the merits of seven items of offering. There are seven items. What are the seven? First, pure water; second, kindled fire; third, bath-powder; fourth, tooth-sticks; fifth, pure ash; sixth, ghee-ointment; seventh, inner garments. These seven items are presented as metaphors for seven dharmas. Through these seven dharmas, all sentient beings bathe and adorn themselves, able to eliminate the defilement of the poisonous mind and ignorance. The seven dharmas are: first, pure precepts, which wash away offenses, just as pure water washes off all dust and defilement; second, wisdom, which observes inside and out, just as kindled fire warms pure water; third, discernment, which selects and casts away all evils, just as bath-powder cleanses grease and dirt; fourth, truthfulness, which cuts off all false thoughts, just as tooth-sticks eliminate foul breath; fifth, right faith, which is resolute and without doubt, just as pure ash rubbed on the body blocks the wind; sixth, gentleness, which patiently endures and gladly receives, just as ghee-ointment softens the skin; seventh, shame and conscience, which repents of all evil karmas, just as inner garments cover the unsightly body. The seven dharmas above are the secret meaning in the sūtra, spoken entirely for those of the Mahāyāna with keen faculties, not for ordinary people of meager wisdom and low inferiority. Therefore people of today cannot understand or awaken. I observe that those of shallow knowledge today recognize only concrete forms as merit: squandering wealth, harming life on water and land, vainly building statues and stūpas, uselessly toiling laborers, piling wood and stacking mud, painting in blue and green, exhausting mind and effort, harming oneself and deluding others. Having no sense of shame, when could they ever awaken? Seeing the conditioned, they are avidly attached; hearing of the unconditioned, they are blank as if lost. Greedy for the small benevolence of the present world, how could they realize the great suffering of the future? Such cultivation is futile toil. Turning away from the right and returning to the heterodox, who says one obtains blessings? If only one can collect the mind to illuminate within, with insight clearly perceiving outside, permanently putting an end to the three poisons, and closing off the six thieves so that they do not invade, then naturally merits numerous as the sands of the Ganges, various adornments, and countless Dharma-gates will each be accomplished. Transcending the ordinary and realizing the sage is visible right before one's eyes and not distant; awakening is in an instant, why trouble oneself until old age? The true gate is profound and secret; how could it be fully described? I have briefly set forth contemplation of the mind, speaking a small part of it. And so a gāthā is spoken:

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Originally seeking mind, the mind maintains itself; / Seeking mind without obtaining it, one awaits the mind to know. / The Buddha-nature is not obtained outside the mind; / When mind arises is precisely when sin is born. / Originally I sought mind and did not seek Buddha, / Completely knowing that the three realms are empty and without things. / If you wish to seek Buddha, merely seek mind; / Only this mind, mind, mind is Buddha.

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End of the Treatise on the Destruction of Marks.

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Gate Three: The Two Entrances

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Entering the Way has many paths, but in brief they do not go beyond two kinds: the first is entrance by principle, and the second is entrance by practice. Entrance by principle means awakening to the essential through the teachings, deeply believing that all sentient beings share the identical true nature, which is obscured by adventitious defilements and false thoughts so that it cannot be clearly manifested. If one abandons the false and returns to the true, abiding stably in wall-contemplation, where there is neither self nor other, and ordinary and sage are equally one, firmly standing unmoved and no longer following the textual teachings, one quietly accords with the principle, without distinctions, serene and unconditioned; this is called entrance by principle. Entrance by practice refers to the four practices; all other practices are encompassed within these. What are the four? First, the practice of repaying grievances; second, the practice of following conditions; third, the practice of seeking nothing; fourth, the practice of according with the Dharma. What is the practice of repaying grievances? When a practitioner cultivating the Way encounters suffering, they should reflect: 'Throughout countless kalpas in the past, I abandoned the root and pursued the branches, wandering through various realms of existence, giving rise to much grievance and hatred, harming without end. Although I have not offended now, this is all past calamity, the ripening of evil karma, not something given by devas or mortals.' One willingly and patiently endures it, entirely without grievance or complaint. The sūtra states: 'Encountering suffering, one does not grieve. Why? Because of understanding.' When this mind arises, it accords with the principle; because one realizes grievances to advance on the Way, it is called the practice of repaying grievances. Second, the practice of following conditions: Sentient beings have no self; all are turned by conditions and karma. Suffering and joy are received together, all arising from conditions. If one obtains superior recompense, honor, and other matters, it is an effect of past causes, only now obtained. When conditions end, it returns to nothing; what joy is there? Gain and loss follow conditions, while the mind neither increases nor decreases. The wind of delight does not move it, implicitly according with the Way. Therefore it is called the practice of following conditions. Third, the practice of seeking nothing: People of the world are perpetually deluded, greedily attached everywhere; this is called seeking. The wise awaken to the true; principle opposes worldly ways. They ease the mind in the unconditioned, while the physical form follows the turns of fortune. All existence is empty; there is nothing to wish for or delight in. Merit and darkness constantly pursue each other. Dwelling long in the three realms is like a burning house; wherever there is a body, all is suffering—who can find peace? Thoroughly realizing this, one abandons all existences, stopping thoughts and seeking nothing. The sūtra states: 'Whatever is sought is all suffering; seeking nothing is joy.' One definitively knows that seeking nothing is truly the practice of the Way. Therefore it is called the practice of seeking nothing. Fourth, the practice of according with the Dharma: The principle of pure nature is designated as Dharma. Through faith and understanding in this principle, all marks are empty, without defilement and without attachment, without this and without that. The sūtra states: 'The Dharma has no sentient beings, because it is free from the defilement of sentient beings; the Dharma has no self, because it is free from the defilement of self.' If the wise can believe and understand this principle, they should act in accordance with the Dharma. The essence of the Dharma has no stinginess; one practices dāna, giving away body, life, and wealth, with a mind free of parsimony. Thoroughly realizing the three empties, not leaning and not attached, merely for the purpose of removing defilements, one adapts to transforming sentient beings without grasping at marks. This is one's own practice, and it can also benefit others and adorn the path of bodhi. As it is with dāna, so it is with the other five. To remove false thoughts, one cultivates the six pāramitās without anything practiced. This is the practice of according with the Dharma. A gāthā is spoken:

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