黃檗山斷際禪師傳心法要 1

English (machine translation) 1

Language: English

1.2

Compiled, with a preface, by Pei Xiu of Hedong

There is a great Chan master whose dharma name is Xiyun, residing beneath Vulture Peak on Mount Huangbo in Gao'an County, Hongzhou. He is an immediate spiritual descendant of the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi, and a dharma nephew of Xitang and Baizhang. He alone bears the seal of the supreme vehicle that transcends words. He transmits only the One Mind, with no other dharma besides. The mind-essence is also empty, and the myriad conditions are all still. It is like the great disc of the sun rising into empty space, its radiance shining brilliantly, pure without a speck of dust. Those who realize it find no new or old, no shallow or deep. Those who expound it establish no theoretical interpretations and set up no doctrinal school. Not opening doors or windows, right here it is. Stirring a thought is immediately to deviate. After that, one realizes original Buddha. Therefore his words are concise and his principles direct; his way is steep and his conduct solitary. Disciples from the four quarters look toward the mountain and hasten thither; seeing his presence, they awaken. The assembly like the sea, coming and going, is always over a thousand people. In the second year of Huichang [842 CE], while I was inspector at Zhongling, I invited him from the mountain to the prefecture and accommodated him at Longxing Monastery, questioning him about the Way morning and night. In the second year of Dazhong [848 CE], while inspector at Wanling, I again went with courtesy to invite him to my administrative seat, housing him at Kaiyuan Monastery, where I received the Dharma morning and night. After retiring, I recorded it, getting one or two parts out of ten. Bearing it as a mind seal, I did not dare publish it. Now, fearing that its spirit-penetrating, refined meaning might not be heard in the future, I have brought it forth and bestowed it upon the monks of his gate, Dazhou and Fajian, for them to return to the former mountain's Guangtang Monastery, and ask the venerable elders and the assembly of the Dharma how it agrees or differs with what they personally heard from him daily in former times.

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Prefaced on the eighth day of the eleventh month, the eleventh year of Dazhong of the Tang [857 CE].

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The master said to Xiu: All Buddhas and all sentient beings are only this One Mind; there is no other dharma besides. This mind from beginningless time has never been produced and has never been extinguished. It is neither blue nor yellow; it has neither form nor characteristics. It does not belong to existence or non-existence, nor is it reckoned as new or old. It is neither long nor short, neither large nor small. It transcends all limitations, designations, traces, and dualities. Right in its essence, it is just this; stirring a thought is immediately to deviate. It is like empty space, without boundaries and unfathomable. Only this One Mind itself is the Buddha; between the Buddha and sentient beings there is no difference at all. It is only that sentient beings have attachment to characteristics and seek outward. Seeking it, they lose it all the more. It is making a Buddha search for a Buddha, using the mind to catch the mind; though they exhaust kalpas and wear out their bodies, in the end they can never attain it. They do not know that if they cease thoughts and forget deliberations, the Buddha naturally appears before them. This mind itself is the Buddha, and the Buddha is none other than sentient beings. When it is a sentient being, this mind does not diminish; when it is all the Buddhas, this mind does not increase. Even as for the six pāramitās, the ten thousand practices, and guṇas numerous as the sands of the Ganges, they are originally complete in themselves without relying on cultivation or addition. Meeting conditions, it acts; conditions ceasing, it is still. If one does not resolutely believe that this is the Buddha, but desires to cultivate with attachment to characteristics in order to seek efficacy, these are all delusive thinking, at variance with the Way. This mind itself is the Buddha; there is no other Buddha besides, nor is there any other mind. This mind is bright and pure, like empty space without a single characteristic. Raising the mind and stirring a thought is immediately to deviate from the dharma-body; that is attachment to characteristics. From beginningless time, there has never been a Buddha with attachment to characteristics. Cultivating the six pāramitās and ten thousand practices wishing to attain Buddhahood is gradual stages; from beginningless time, there has never been a Buddha of gradual stages. Only awaken to the One Mind, and there is not the slightest dharma to be attained; this is the true Buddha. The Buddha and sentient beings are identical in the One Mind, just like empty space, without mixture and without destruction. It is like the great disc of the sun illuminating the four continents. When the sun rises, light pervades all under heaven, yet empty space has never become bright; when the sun sets, darkness pervades all under heaven, yet empty space has never become dark. The realms of light and darkness encroach upon and usurp each other, but the nature of empty space is vast and unchanging. The mind of the Buddha and sentient beings is also like this. If you view the Buddha as having the characteristics of purity, radiance, and vimukti, and view sentient beings as having the characteristics of defilement, dull darkness, and birth-and-death, one who holds this understanding will pass through kalpas numerous as the sands of the Ganges and never attain bodhi in the end, because of attachment to characteristics. It is only this One Mind, and there is not the slightest dharma to be attained; mind itself is the Buddha. Nowadays, students of the Way do not awaken to this mind-essence, so they give rise to mind on top of mind, seeking the Buddha externally, and practicing with attachment to characteristics. These are all bad dharmas, not the path to bodhi. To make offerings to all the Buddhas of the ten directions is not as good as making offerings to a single person of the Way who has no-mind. Why? One of no-mind is one without any mind. The essence of tathatā is inwardly like wood or stone, unmoved and unshakable; outwardly it is like empty space, unblocked and unobstructed. It has neither subject nor object, neither direction nor place, neither characteristic nor appearance, neither gain nor loss. Those who hasten [on the path] do not dare enter this dharma, for fear of falling into emptiness with no resting place; looking down the cliff, they turn back. They universally seek wide knowledge and views instead; therefore, those who seek knowledge and views are like hairs, while those who awaken to the Way are like horns. Mañjuśrī represents principle; Samantabhadra represents practice. Principle is the principle of true emptiness without obstruction; practice is the endless practice free from characteristics. Avalokiteśvara represents great compassion; Mahāsthāmaprāpta represents great wisdom. Vimalakīrti means 'Pure Name.' Purity is nature; name is characteristics. Nature and characteristics are not different, hence the name 'Pure Name.' That which the great bodhisattvas represent is possessed by all people. It is not separate from the One Mind; awakening to it, that is it. Nowadays, students of the Way do not awaken within their own minds, but become attached to characteristics outside the mind and grasp at objects; all of this runs contrary to the Way. As for the sands of the Ganges, the Buddha called them sand. When all the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, Śakra, Brahmā, and the various devas walk across it, the sand does not rejoice; when oxen, sheep, insects, and ants trample upon it, the sand does not anger. For rare jewels and sweet fragrances, the sand has no greed; for feces, urine, and foul filth, the sand has no aversion. This mind is the mind of no-mind, free from all characteristics; sentient beings and all Buddhas have no difference whatsoever. If one can simply attain no-mind, that is the ultimate. If students of the Way do not directly attain no-mind right here, though they cultivate for repeated kalpas, in the end they will not accomplish the Way, bound by the practices of the triyāna and unable to attain vimukti. However, realization of this mind has slow and swift: there are those who hear the Dharma and in a single thought attain no-mind; there are those who reach the ten faiths, the ten dwellings, the ten practices, and the ten dedications before attaining no-mind. Long or short, it is upon attaining no-mind that they abide; there is no further cultivation and no further realization, and truly nothing to be attained. This is real and not false. To attain it in a single thought or to attain it at the ten bhūmis, the efficacy is precisely equal, without deep or shallow; it is only that one has suffered bitterness and toil in vain through successive kalpas. Creating evil and creating good are both attachment to characteristics: creating evil with attachment to characteristics, one suffers saṃsāra in vain; creating good with attachment to characteristics, one suffers toil and hardship in vain. None of this is as good as immediately recognizing the original dharma upon hearing the words. This dharma is mind; outside of mind there is no dharma. This mind is dharma; outside of dharma there is no mind. Mind is of itself no-mind, nor is there any one of no-mind. If you use the mind to make no-mind, the mind instead turns into existence. It is only silent accord; it cuts off all thought and deliberation. Therefore it is said: 'The path of speech is cut off, and the place of the mind's workings is extinguished.' This mind is the originally pure Buddha, which all people possess. Writhing insects and sentient creatures are of one essence with all Buddhas and bodhisattvas, not different. It is only because of delusive thinking and discrimination that they generate various karmic results. In the original Buddha there is truly not a single thing: it is merely open, unobstructed, tranquil, brilliantly wondrous, peaceful, and joyful. Deeply awaken and enter it yourself; right here it is, complete and fully endowed, lacking nothing. Even if you exert vigorous practice through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas and pass through all the stages and grounds, when you realize it in a single thought, you only realize the original self-Buddha, not adding a single thing above it. Looking back on the efforts of successive kalpas, they were entirely deluded actions in a dream. Therefore the Tathāgata said: 'In anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, I truly had nothing attained. If there had been anything attained, Dīpaṃkara Buddha would not have given me the prediction.' He also said: 'This dharma is equal, without high or low; this is called bodhi.' This originally pure mind, together with sentient beings, all Buddhas, world realms, mountains, and rivers—with characteristics or without characteristics, pervading the realms of the ten directions—is entirely equal, without characteristics of this or that. This originally pure mind is always naturally perfect and bright, shining everywhere. Worldly people do not awaken; they only recognize seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing as mind, and are obscured by seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, so they do not behold the quintessentially luminous original essence. If you only directly attain no-mind, the original essence appears of itself, like the great disc of the sun rising into empty space, illuminating the ten directions without any further obstruction. Therefore, students of the Way only recognize seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing as functioning and moving; when they empty seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, then the path of the mind is cut off with no place of entry. One should simply recognize the original mind at the place of seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. Yet the original mind does not belong to seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, nor is it separate from seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. Only do not give rise to views upon seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, and do not stir a thought upon seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing; nor should you search for the mind apart from seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, nor discard seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing to grasp the dharma. Neither identical nor separate, neither abiding nor attached, free and unimpeded in all directions—there is nothing that is not the bodhimaṇḍa. When worldly people hear that all Buddhas transmit the mind-dharma, they think there is a separate dharma on top of the mind that can be realized and grasped, and so they use the mind to seek the dharma, not knowing that mind itself is dharma and dharma itself is mind. You cannot use the mind to further seek the mind; though you pass through thousands of myriads of kalpas, in the end there will never be a day of attainment. It is not as good as right now being without mind—that is the original dharma. It is like the wrestler who forgot the jewel inside his forehead and sought it outward, traveling all around the ten directions without ever being able to find it; a wise person pointed it out, and at that moment he saw his own jewel just as before. Therefore, students of the Way are deluded about their own original mind, not recognizing it as Buddha, and so seek outward, initiating practices of effort and realizing according to gradual stages; diligently seeking through kalpas, they will never accomplish the Way. It is not as good as right now having no-mind, decisively knowing that all dharmas are originally non-existent and ungraspable, without reliance and without abode, without subject and without object. Not stirring delusive thoughts, one immediately realizes bodhi. And when one realizes the Way, one only realizes the Buddha of the original mind; the efforts of successive kalpas were all empty cultivation. Just as when the wrestler found the jewel, he only found the jewel originally on his forehead, which had nothing to do with the strength of outward seeking. Therefore the Buddha said: 'In anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, I truly had nothing attained.' Fearing that people would not believe, he therefore cited what is seen by the five eyes and spoken by the five speeches: it is real and not false, the paramārthasatya.

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Practitioners of the Way should not suspect that the four great elements constitute the self. The four great elements are without a self, and the self also has no master. Therefore, know that this body has no self and no master. [They take] the five aggregates to be the mind. The five aggregates are without a self and without a master. Therefore, know that this mind has no self and no master. The arising and ceasing through the conjunction of the six sense faculties, the six sense objects, and the six consciousnesses are also just like this. Since the eighteen sensory realms are empty, all things are empty. There is only the original mind, vast and pure. There is food of consciousness and there is food of wisdom. When the body of the four great elements suffers from hunger and sores, providing sustenance in accordance with need without giving rise to greedy attachment is called 'food of wisdom.' Indulging passions, taking flavors, falsely giving rise to discrimination, seeking only to please the palate without giving rise to revulsion is called 'food of consciousness.' Śrāvakas are awakened on account of sounds, and are therefore called śrāvakas. They simply do not comprehend their own minds, but produce understanding based on the spoken teachings, or on account of supernatural powers, or auspicious signs, words, and bodily movements. Hearing that bodhi and nirvāṇa require three asaṃkhyeya kalpas of cultivation to attain the Buddha Way, all belong to the śrāvaka path, and are called 'śrāvaka Buddhas.' Only by directly and頓 comprehending one's own mind, which is originally the Buddha, with not a single dharma to be attained, and not a single practice to be cultivated—this is the unsurpassed Way, this is the Buddha of tathatā. Practitioners of the Way need only fear that a single thought of existence arises, for that immediately separates them from the Way. Thought after thought without characteristics, thought after thought asamskṛta, is itself the Buddha. If practitioners of the Way wish to attain Buddhahood, there is no need to study any of the Buddha's dharmas at all; only learn non-seeking and non-attachment. Non-seeking means the mind does not arise; non-attachment means the mind does not cease. Non-arising and non-ceasing is itself the Buddha. The eighty-four thousand dharma-gates counter the eighty-four thousand afflictions; they are merely gates for teaching and guiding. Originally there are no dharmas whatsoever. Detachment itself is the dharma. The one who knows detachment is the Buddha. Simply detach from all afflictions, and there is no dharma to be attained. If practitioners of the Way wish to know the essential key, merely do not place a single thing upon the mind. When it is said that the Buddha's true dharma-body is like empty space, this is a metaphor: the dharma-body is empty space, and empty space is the dharma-body. Ordinary people say that the dharma-body pervades empty space, and that empty space contains the dharma-body, not knowing that the dharma-body is empty space and empty space is the dharma-body. If you definitively say there is empty space, empty space is not the dharma-body; if you definitively say there is a dharma-body, the dharma-body is not empty space. Simply do not form an intellectual understanding of empty space, and empty space is the dharma-body; do not form an intellectual understanding of the dharma-body, and the dharma-body is empty space. Empty space and the dharma-body have no different characteristics; the Buddha and sentient beings have no different characteristics; birth-and-death and nirvāṇa have no different characteristics; affliction and bodhi have no different characteristics. Detached from all characteristics, that is the Buddha. Worldlings grasp objects; practitioners of the Way grasp the mind. Forgetting both mind and objects is the true dharma. Forgetting objects is still easy; forgetting the mind is extremely difficult. People dare not forget the mind, fearing they will fall into emptiness with nothing to grasp onto, not knowing that emptiness is originally not empty, but is solely the one true dharmadhātu. From beginningless time, this numinous cognitive nature has had the same lifespan as empty space; it has never arisen and never ceased, never existed and never not existed, never been defiled and never been pure, never been clamorous and never been serene, never been young and never been old. It has no spatial location, no inside or outside, no quantity, no form or appearance, no color or shape, and no sound. It cannot be sought, cannot be pursued, cannot be recognized through intellect, cannot be captured through words, cannot be understood through objects, and cannot be reached through effort. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas and all wriggling and living creatures share this same nature of great nirvāṇa. The nature is the mind; the mind is the Buddha; the Buddha is the dharma. A single thought departing from truth is altogether delusive thinking. One cannot further seek the mind with the mind; one cannot further seek the Buddha with the Buddha; one cannot further seek the dharma with the dharma. Therefore, practitioners of the Way should simply be directly without mind, in silent accord and nothing more. The moment you intend [anything in] the mind, you go astray. Transmitting mind by mind: this is right view. Be cautious not to chase after external objects. To take objects to be the mind is to take a thief as your son. Because there are greed, anger, and delusion, morality, concentration, and wisdom are established. Since there are originally no afflictions, how could there be bodhi? Therefore the ancestral master said: 'The Buddha taught all dharmas in order to eliminate all minds; I have no mind at all, so what use have I for all dharmas?' On the pure Buddha of the original source, do not attach another single thing. For example, though empty space were adorned with immeasurable precious jewels, in the end they could not abide. The Buddha-nature is like empty space: though adorned with immeasurable guṇa and wisdom, in the end they cannot abide. It is only that when confused about the original nature, one in turn fails to see it. Regarding the so-called 'mind-ground dharma-gate': the ten thousand dharmas are all established relying on this mind. When encountering objects, it exists; when there are no objects, it does not exist. You must not turn back to form an understanding of objects upon the pure nature. The so-called 'concentration and wisdom,' 'clear mirror-like functioning,' 'tranquil yet alert,' 'seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing' are all understandings formed based on objects. It is acceptable to speak this temporarily for people of medium and lower faculties; but if you wish to personally realize it, you must never hold such views. These are entirely objective dharmas, having a place of submergence, submerged in the ground of existence. Simply do not form views of existence or non-existence regarding all dharmas, and that is seeing the dharma.

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On the first day of the ninth month, the Master said to [Pei] Xiu: 'Since Great Master Bodhidharma arrived in China, he spoke only of One Mind and transmitted only the one dharma, transmitting Buddha by Buddha without speaking of other Buddhas, transmitting dharma by dharma without speaking of other dharmas. The dharma is the dharma that cannot be spoken; the Buddha is the Buddha that cannot be grasped. It is the pure mind of the original source. Only this one thing is real; the other two are not true. Prajñā is wisdom; this wisdom is the characteristic-less original mind. Worldlings do not head towards the Way; indulging only the six passions, they wander in the six destinies. If a practitioner of the Way conceives a single thought of birth-and-death, they fall into the demonic path; if a single thought gives rise to views, they fall into heterodox paths. Seeing that there is arising and heading toward its cessation, one falls into the śrāvaka path. Not seeing that there is arising and only seeing cessation, one falls into the pratyekabuddha path. Dharmas originally do not arise and now also do not cease; do not give rise to the two views, do not be repulsed and do not rejoice. All dharmas are solely One Mind—only then is it the Buddha Vehicle. Worldlings all give rise to mind chasing after objects; the mind then rejoices or is repulsed. If you wish to be without objects, you must forget the mind. When the mind is forgotten, objects are empty; when objects are empty, the mind ceases. If you do not forget the mind and merely eliminate objects, objects cannot be eliminated and it will only add to the confusion. Therefore the ten thousand dharmas are mind-only; mind also cannot be apprehended, so what more is there to seek? Practitioners of prajñā do not see a single dharma to be attained; they cut off all interest in the triyāna. There is only the one real truth, which cannot be realized or attained. Saying "I am able to realize it, I am able to attain it"—all such people possess overweening pride. Those who shook out their robes and departed at the Lotus Assembly were all of this sort. Therefore the Buddha said: "Regarding bodhi, I truly attained nothing; it is simply silent accord." When an ordinary person is about to die, they should merely contemplate that the five aggregates are all empty and the four great elements are without a self. The true mind is without characteristics, neither going nor coming. At birth, nature does not come; at death, nature does not go. Pure, serene, and utterly still, mind and objects are as one. If one can simply be like this, directly and頓 comprehending, unchained by the three periods of time, then one is a person who transcends the world. One must strictly not have the slightest leaning or inclination: if one sees good signs such as Buddhas coming to welcome one, and various manifestations appearing before one, also have no mind to follow along; if one sees evil signs and various manifestations appearing before one, also have no mind to be fearful. Simply forget the mind of oneself, be identical with the dharmadhātu, and you will attain sovereignty. This is the essential crux.'

1.8

On the eighth day of the tenth month, the Master said to Xiu: "As for what is called the 'conjured city': the two vehicles, the ten stages, equal enlightenment, and wondrous enlightenment are all teachings provisionally established to guide [sentient beings]; all of them are conjured cities. As for what is called the 'place of jewels': it is the jewel of the true mind, the original Buddha, the self-nature. This jewel does not belong to emotional reckoning and cannot be established. There is neither Buddha nor sentient beings, neither subject nor object—where could there be a city? If you ask, 'Since this is a conjured city, where is the place of jewels?'—the place of jewels cannot be pointed out. If it is pointed out, there would be a location, and it would not be the true place of jewels. Therefore it is said, 'It is close by, that is all.' It cannot be spoken of by fixed measures; you need only realize and accord with it, and that is it. As for what is called an icchantika: it means faith is incomplete. All sentient beings in the six realms, and even those of the two vehicles, who do not believe there is a Buddha-fruit, are called icchantikas who have severed roots of goodness. As for bodhisattvas: they deeply believe there is the Buddhadharma, and do not see Mahāyāna or Hīnayāna; the Buddha and sentient beings share the same dharma-nature—these are called icchantikas of good roots. Generally, those who awaken by relying on the teaching of sounds are called śrāvakas; those who awaken by contemplating causes and conditions are called pratyekabuddhas. If one does not awaken toward one's own mind, even if one reaches Buddhahood, one is still called a śrāvaka Buddha. Students of the Way mostly awaken through doctrinal teachings and do not awaken through the Dharma of Mind. Even if they cultivate through eons, in the end it is not the original Buddha. If one does not awaken to the mind and instead awakens through doctrinal teachings, one disparages the mind and values teachings, thereby chasing clods of earth and forgetting the original mind. Therefore, simply accord with the original mind without needing to seek the Dharma; the mind itself is the Dharma. Ordinary people are mostly obstructed by objects in their minds and by phenomena in principle; they always wish to flee objects to pacify the mind, or cast off phenomena to preserve principle, not knowing that it is the mind that obstructs objects and principle that obstructs phenomena. Simply make the mind empty, and objects will naturally become empty; simply make principle tranquil, and phenomena will naturally become tranquil. Do not apply the mind contrarily. Ordinary people are mostly unwilling to empty their minds, fearing falling into emptiness, not knowing that their own minds are originally empty. The foolish eliminate phenomena but do not eliminate the mind; the wise eliminate the mind but do not eliminate phenomena. The mind of a bodhisattva is like empty space, renouncing everything entirely, without greedily clinging to any of the merit created. However, renunciation has three grades: renouncing entirely inside and outside, body and mind, just like empty space with nothing grasped or clung to, and then responding to things according to circumstances, forgetting both subject and object—this is great renunciation. If on the one hand one practices the Way and distributes virtue, and on the other hand renounces in turn without any mind of expectation—this is intermediate renunciation. If one extensively cultivates all kinds of good deeds with expectations, but hearing the Dharma knows emptiness and thereupon does not cling—this is lesser renunciation. Great renunciation is like a torch held in front: there is no longer confusion or awakening. Intermediate renunciation is like a torch held at the side: it is sometimes bright and sometimes dark. Lesser renunciation is like a torch held behind: one does not see pits and traps. Therefore, the mind of a bodhisattva is like empty space, renouncing everything entirely. The past mind cannot be found—this is past renunciation. The present mind cannot be found—this is present renunciation. The future mind cannot be found—this is future renunciation. This is what is called renouncing all three times. Ever since the Tathāgata entrusted the Dharma to Kāśyapa, mind has been imprinted with mind; mind and mind are not different. If an imprint is applied to emptiness, the imprint forms no pattern; if an imprint is applied to objects, the imprint forms no dharma. Therefore, mind is imprinted with mind; mind and mind are not different. Both the imprinter and the imprinted are difficult to accord with; hence, those who attain it are few. Yet mind is no-mind, and attainment is no attainment. The Buddha has three bodies: the dharma-body speaks the Dharma of the empty permeability of self-nature; the reward-body speaks the Dharma of all purities; the transformation-body speaks the Dharma of the six pāramitās and ten thousand practices. When the dharma-body speaks the Dharma, it cannot be sought through speech, sounds, physical forms, or written words; there is nothing spoken and nothing realized—it is only the empty permeability of self-nature. Hence it is said: 'That there is no dharma that can be spoken is called speaking the Dharma.' The reward-body and transformation-body both appear in response to capacities; the Dharma spoken also adapts to phenomena in response to faculties in order to gather and transform—none of these is the true Dharma. Hence it is said: 'The reward and transformation are not the true Buddha, nor are they the speaker of the Dharma.' What is said about 'the one subtle brightness dividing into the six unions': the one subtle brightness is the One Mind; the six unions are the six sense faculties. These six sense faculties each unite with sense objects: the eye unites with form, the ear with sound, the nose with scent, the tongue with taste, the body with touch, and the mind with dharmas. In between, the six consciousnesses are born, making the eighteen realms. If you understand that the eighteen realms have no reality, you bind the six unions back into the one subtle brightness. The one subtle brightness is the mind itself. Students of the Way all know this, but they cannot avoid interpreting it as 'one subtle brightness and six unions'; thus they are bound by dharmas and do not accord with the original mind. When the Tathāgata appeared in the world, wishing to speak the true Dharma of the One Vehicle, sentient beings would not believe it and would give rise to slander, drowning in the sea of suffering. If he spoke nothing at all, he would fall into stinginess and not universally bestow the wondrous Way upon sentient beings. Thereupon he devised expedient means and spoke of the three vehicles: the vehicles have large and small, and the attainments have shallow and deep—none of which is the original Dharma. Hence it is said: 'There is only the Way of the One Vehicle; the other two are not real.' Yet in the end he had not yet revealed the Dharma of One Mind; therefore he summoned Kāśyapa to the same Dharma seat and separately entrusted the One Mind, the Dharma apart from speech. He made this one branch of Dharma circulate separately. If one can accord with and awaken to it, one immediately reaches the Buddha stage."

1.9

Someone asked: "What is the Way? How does one cultivate it?" The Master said: "What kind of thing is the Way, that you want to cultivate it?" The questioner asked: "How is it that lineage masters everywhere transmit investigating Chan and studying the Way to one another?" The Master said: "Those are words to guide and receive people of dull faculties; they cannot yet be relied upon." The questioner said: "If these are words to guide and receive people of dull faculties, I wonder what Dharma is spoken to receive people of sharp faculties?" The Master said: "If one is a person of sharp faculties, where would one go to seek it from others? Even oneself cannot be found, let alone having some other dharma facing the mind! Have you not seen it said in the teachings: 'What shape do dharmas have?'" The questioner said: "If so, then one should not seek at all?" The Master said: "If it is like that, it saves mental effort." The questioner said: "If it is like this, it completely becomes an annihilation; it cannot be nothingness!" The Master said: "Who tells it to be nothing? Who is 'it' that you intend to seek?" The questioner said: "Since you do not permit seeking, why do you also say not to annihilate it?" The Master said: "If you do not seek, you simply stop; then who told you to annihilate it? Look at the empty space before your eyes: how could you annihilate it?" The questioner said: "Can this Dharma be identical to empty space?" The Master said: "When has empty space ever told you that it is identical or different? I spoke like that provisionally, and you immediately gave rise to understanding based on it!" The questioner said: "Should one not allow people to give rise to understanding?" The Master said: "I have never obstructed you. In the final analysis, understanding belongs to emotion; when emotion arises, wisdom is blocked." The questioner said: "Should one not give rise to emotion regarding this?" The Master said: "If you do not give rise to emotion, who says it is so?"

1.10

Someone asked: "Just as soon as one speaks before the Upādhyāya, why do you say that one has fallen into words?" The Master said: "You yourself are a person who does not understand words; what falling or defeat is there?"

1.11

Someone asked: "Heretofore, so many words have all been defensive speech; there has never been a real dharma pointed out to people." The Master said: "The real Dharma has no inversion. In the very asking you yourself give rise to inversion; what real Dharma are you seeking?" The questioner said: "Since in the asking I myself give rise to inversion, what about the Upādhyāya's answer?" The Master said: "You just take something to look at your own face; do not mind other people." He also said: "You are just like a foolish dog: seeing something move, it barks, not even distinguishing between the wind blowing the grass and trees." He also said: "In this Chan school of ours, transmitted from of old, we have never taught people to seek knowledge or seek understanding. Merely saying 'study the Way' is already words to guide and receive. Yet the Way cannot be studied; if emotional clinging to study and understanding remains, it turns into delusion about the Way. The Way has no location; it is called the Mahāyāna mind. This mind is not inside, outside, or in between; it truly has no location. Above all, do not produce intellectual understanding! It is only speaking of where your emotional reckoning is right now; if emotional reckoning is exhausted, the mind has no location. This Way is naturally pure and originally has no name. It is only because worldly people do not recognize it and are deluded in emotion that the Buddhas appeared to expose this matter. Fearing that you people would not understand, they provisionally established the name 'Way'. You must not adhere to the name and produce understanding. Hence it is said: 'Catch the fish and forget the trap.' When body and mind naturally reach the Way and know the mind, reaching the original source, one is called a śramaṇa. The fruit of a śramaṇa is accomplished by resting thoughts; it is not obtained through study. Now, you use mind to seek mind, leaning against another's house merely intending to learn—when will you ever attain it? The ancients had sharp minds; as soon as they heard a single word, they abandoned study. Therefore they were called 'leisurely people of the Way, beyond study and without action.' People nowadays only want to gain much knowledge and much understanding, extensively seeking text and meaning, calling it cultivation. They do not know that much knowledge and much understanding on the contrary become obstructions. It is like only knowing to give a child butter and milk to eat, without knowing at all whether it is digested or not. Students of the Way in the three vehicles are all like this; all are called those whose food is not digested. What is called undigested intellectual understanding all becomes poison. They all grasp within arising and ceasing; within tathatā there is no such thing. Hence it is said: 'In my royal storehouse there is no such sword.' All points of understanding from before must be discarded entirely and made empty, with no further discrimination—this is the empty tathāgatagarbha. In the tathāgatagarbha, not even a speck of dust can exist; this is the Dharma King who destroys existence appearing in the world. It is also said: 'In the presence of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, there was not the least dharma that I attained.' These words are only to empty your emotional reckoning and intellectual understanding. Simply dissolve the outside and inside; when emotion is exhausted, having no reliance or clinging at all, one is a person of no affairs. The net of teachings of the three vehicles is merely medicine responding to capacities, spoken according to suitability and provisionally arranged, each being different. If you can only understand this, you will not be deluded. Above all, do not adhere to the letter and fabricate understanding regarding a single capacity or a single teaching. Why is this? There is truly no fixed dharma that the Tathāgata could speak. Our school does not discuss this matter; simply knowing to rest the mind is enough, with no need to deliberate over the past or anticipate the future."

1.12

Someone asked: "From of old it has always been said: 'Mind itself is the Buddha.' I wonder which mind is the Buddha?" The Master said: "How many minds do you have?" The questioner said: "Is it that the ordinary mind is the Buddha, or that the sage mind is the Buddha?" The Master said: "Where do you have an ordinary or sage mind?" The questioner said: "Right now in the three vehicles it is spoken that there are ordinary and sage; how can the Upādhyāya say there are none?" The Master said: "In the three vehicles it is clearly told to you that the ordinary and sage minds are delusion. Now you do not understand and conversely cling to them as existent, taking emptiness as real; is this not delusion? Because it is delusion, it deludes the mind. You need only remove ordinary emotion and sage realms; outside of mind there is no other Buddha. The ancestral master came from the west directly pointing to all people being wholly the Buddha. Now you do not recognize this; clinging to the ordinary and clinging to the sage, you gallop outside and again delude your own mind. Therefore I say to you: 'Mind itself is the Buddha.' As soon as a single thought of emotion arises, one falls into different destinies. From the beginningless past down to today, it is not different; there being no different dharma is therefore called realizing equal and perfect enlightenment." The questioner said: "What principle is the 'itself' spoken of by the Upādhyāya?" The Master said: "What principle are you seeking? As soon as there is a principle, the mind immediately differs." The questioner said: "It was said before that from the beginningless past down to today it is not different; what is the principle of this?" The Master said: "Merely because of seeking, you yourself differ from it. If you do not seek, where would there be difference?" The questioner said: "Since it is not different, why further use the word 'itself'?" The Master said: "If you did not believe in ordinary and sage, who would say 'itself' to you? If 'itself' is not 'itself', the mind is also not mind. If 'itself' and 'mind' are both forgotten, where on earth do you intend to go seeking?"

1.13

A question was asked: "Delusion can obstruct one's own mind. I wonder, what should one use now to dispel delusion?" The Master said: "To give rise to delusion to dispel delusion is also to make delusion. Delusion fundamentally has no root; it exists only because of differentiation. If you only put an end to emotional attachments to both the ordinary and the sacred, there will naturally be no delusion. How could you further intend to dispel it? You must not have the slightest trace of reliance or grasping. This is called 'sacrificing both my arms, I shall certainly attain buddhahood.'" It was asked: "Since there is no reliance or grasping, what should be transmitted?" The Master said: "Transmitting mind by mind." It was asked: "If mind is transmitted to mind, why do you say that mind is also non-existent?" The Master said: "Not obtaining a single dharma is called the transmission of mind. If you understand this mind, that itself is no-mind and no-dharma." It was asked: "If there is no-mind and no-dharma, why is it called transmission?" The Master said: "Hearing the expression 'transmission of mind', you take it to mean that there is something to be obtained. Therefore the ancestral master said: 'When one recognizes the nature of the mind, it can be said to be inconceivable; clearly there is nothing to be obtained, and when it is obtained, one does not speak of knowing.' If this matter could be taught to you so that you could understand it, how could it be sustained?"

1.14

A question was asked: "Just like the empty space right before our eyes, is it not an object? Can one not point to the object to see the mind?" The Master said: "What mind tells you to see it upon an object? Even if you can see it, it is merely a mind that reflects objects. Just as when a person looks at their face in a mirror: even though they can see eyebrows and eyes clearly, originally they are merely reflections. What do they have to do with you?" It was asked: "If not by means of reflecting, when could one see?" The Master said: "If you involve causes, you must always rely on objects; when would there ever be an end? Have you not seen what was said to you: 'Letting go [of everything], like you, not a single thing exists; in vain do people babble in thousands of ways'?" It was asked: "If one has recognized it, is there no object in the reflection either?" The Master said: "If there is no object, what further need is there to reflect? Do not open your eyes and talk in your sleep."

1.15

Entering the hall, he said: "Having a hundred kinds of vast knowledge is not as good as being without seeking; this is foremost. A person of the Way is a person of no affairs. Truly, there are not so many kinds of mind, nor is there any principle to speak of. Having no affairs, disperse!"

1.16

A question was asked: "What is conventional truth?" The Master said: "Why speak of entanglements? Fundamentally pure, what need is there for words, questions, and answers? Simply being without any mind whatsoever is called outflow-free wisdom. In your daily walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and in all your speech, just do not become attached to saṃskṛta dharmas; uttering a word or blinking an eye is then entirely identical with the outflow-free. Nowadays, heading toward the end of the Dharma, most of those who study Chan and the Way are attached to all sounds and sights. Why do you not, along with me, make thought after thought identical to empty space—like dry wood or a cold stone, like cold ashes or a dead fire? Only then will you have a small degree of accord. If you are not like this, on a future day you will all be interrogated and beaten by Old Yama. You need only leave behind all dharmas of being and non-being; then your mind will be like the solar disk constantly in empty space, its brightness naturally shining without having to shine. Is this not an effortless matter? When you reach this point, there is no place to alight; this is to practice the practices of all the Buddhas, which is none other than 'giving rise to this mind without dwelling anywhere.' This is your pure dharma-body, called anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. If you do not understand this meaning, then even if you acquire much knowledge through study, practice with diligence and hardship, wear grass clothes, and eat bark, failing to recognize your own mind is entirely called heterodox practice, and you will certainly become a minion of the heavenly Māra. What benefit could there be in practicing like this? Master Zhi said: 'The Buddha is fundamentally made by one's own mind; how could one seek him in written words?' Even if you study and fully master the minds of the three classes of sages, the four fruits, and the ten bhūmis, you are still only sitting within the realm of the ordinary and the sacred. Have you not seen it said: 'All conditioned things are impermanent; they are dharmas of arising and ceasing. When its momentum is spent, the arrow falls back down, bringing about an unwelcome future rebirth. How can that compare to the gate of the asamskṛta true nature, where with a single leap one directly enters the stage of the Tathāgata?' Because you are not such people, you must go to the provisional teachings established by the ancients to broadly study intellectual understanding. Master Zhi said: 'If you do not meet an enlightened master who has transcended the world, you will vainly take the medicine of the Great Vehicle's Dharma.' Now, in all hours, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, just learn no-mind. Over a long time, you must truly attain it. Because your strength is small, you cannot transcend頓 [immediately]; but after three years, five years, or ten years, you are bound to obtain an entry point, and will naturally understand. Because you cannot be like this, you insist on using the mind to study Chan and study the Way; what connection does that have with the Buddha-Dharma? Therefore it is said: 'All that the Tathāgata spoke was meant to transform people, just like using yellow leaves as gold to stop a child's crying; it is definitely not real.' If there were something real to be attained, one would not be a guest of our school. Moreover, what connection does it have with your original essence? Therefore the sūtra says: 'Truly not having the slightest dharma to be attained is called anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.' If you can understand this meaning, only then will you know that both the Buddha's path and Māra's path are mistaken. Fundamentally pure and gleaming, it has no characteristics of square or round, large or small, long or short; it is outflow-free, asamskṛta, without delusion, and without awakening. Clearly seeing that there is not a single thing, there are neither humans nor Buddhas. The great chiliocosm's worlds of sand are bubbles in the ocean; all the noble sages are like flashes of lightning. Nothing is as real as the mind's true dharma-body. From antiquity to the present, it is identical with the Buddhas and ancestral masters; where is it lacking by even a single hair? Since you understand this meaning, you must strive with great effort throughout this present life. An exhalation does not guarantee an inhalation."

1.17

A question was asked: "The Sixth Patriarch could not understand the scriptures; how did he receive the robe and become the patriarch? Elder Shenxiu was the head monk of five hundred people and acted as their instructor, able to lecture on thirty-two scriptures and treatises; why was the robe not transmitted to him?" The Master said: "Because he had a mind, which is a saṃskṛta dharma; he took what he cultivated and what he realized to be correct. Therefore, the Fifth Patriarch conferred it upon the Sixth Patriarch. At that time, the Sixth Patriarch only had silent accord, secretly receiving the Tathāgata's profound intention; therefore, the Dharma was conferred upon him. Have you not seen it said: 'The fundamental dharma of dharmas is no-dharma; the dharma of no-dharma is also a dharma. Now, when conferring the no-dharma, how could the dharma of dharmas ever be a dharma?' If you understand this meaning, only then are you called a child who has left home, and only then are you fit to practice. If you do not believe this, why did Elder Huiming run to the top of the Dayu Ridge in search of the Sixth Patriarch? The Sixth Patriarch then asked: 'What have you come seeking? Do you come seeking the robe, or do you come seeking the Dharma?' Elder Huiming said: 'I have not come for the robe; I have come only for the Dharma.' The Sixth Patriarch said: 'Quiet your thoughts for a moment, and do not deliberate on good or evil.' Huiming received his words. The Sixth Patriarch said: 'Do not think of good; do not think of evil. At just such a moment, return to me Elder Huiming's original face before your father and mother were born!' Huiming, upon these words, suddenly had silent accord. He then bowed and said: 'Like a person drinking water, naturally knowing whether it is cold or warm. I was in the Fifth Patriarch's assembly and vainly spent thirty years of effort; only today do I awaken to my former errors.' The Sixth Patriarch said: 'It is so.' When reaching this point, only then does one know that the ancestral master's coming from the West, directly pointing to the human mind and seeing its nature to become a Buddha, does not consist in words. Have you not seen: Ānanda asked Kāśyapa, 'Apart from the golden robe, what else did the Bhagavat transmit?' Kāśyapa called, 'Ānanda!' Ānanda replied, 'Yes?' Kāśyapa said: 'Knock down the flagpole in front of the gate.' This is the model of the ancestral masters. What about Ānanda being an attendant for thirty years? Just because of his extensive learning and wisdom, he was scolded by the Buddha: 'Your studying wisdom for a thousand days is not as good as studying the Way for a single day. If you do not study the Way, even a single drop of water is hard to digest.'"

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黃檗山斷際禪師傳心法要 — Classical Chinese