黃檗山斷際禪師傳心法要 1.6

1.6

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.