景德傳燈錄 9.45
English (machine translation) 9.45
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9.45.1
All Buddhas and all sentient beings are only the One Mind; there is no other dharma besides. From the beginningless past, this mind has never been born and has never perished. It is neither blue nor yellow, without form and without characteristic. It does not belong to being or non-being; it cannot be reckoned as new or old; it is neither long nor short, neither large nor small. It transcends all limitations, designations, traces, and dualities. Its very essence is just it; to stir a thought is immediately to err. It is like empty space, having no boundaries and being immeasurable. Only this One Mind is itself the Buddha; between Buddha and sentient beings there is no difference whatsoever. Yet sentient beings cling to characteristics and seek externally, drifting ever further away, causing a Buddha to search for a Buddha, using the mind to grasp the mind; even exhausting kalpas and their lives to the end, they can never attain it. They do not know that if they cease thought and forget deliberation, the Buddha will spontaneously appear before them. 〇 This mind is itself the Buddha; the Buddha is itself sentient beings. Sentient beings are themselves the Buddha; the Buddha is itself the mind. When functioning as sentient beings, this mind does not diminish; when functioning as the Buddhas, this mind does not increase. Even as for the six perfections, myriad practices, and merits as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, they are originally complete within oneself, needing no cultivation or addition. Meeting conditions, it manifests; when conditions cease, it is quiescent. If one does not resolve to have faith in this, but wishes to cultivate by clinging to characteristics in order to seek efficacy, these are all delusions, contrary to the Way. This mind is itself the Buddha; there is no other Buddha, nor is there any other mind. This mind is pure and bright, like empty space, without the slightest appearance. To raise the mind and stir a thought immediately deviates from the essence of Dharma; that is clinging to characteristics. From beginningless time, there has never been a Buddha who clings to characteristics. Cultivating the six perfections and myriad practices wishing to attain Buddhahood is just gradual stages; from beginningless time, there has never been a Buddha of gradual stages. Only awakening to the One Mind, with not the least dharma to be attained, this is the true Buddha. The Buddha and sentient beings are identical in the One Mind, like empty space, unmixed and indestructible. It is like the great sun shining upon the four continents: when the sun shines, brightness pervades the world, yet empty space has never become bright; when the sun sets, darkness pervades the world, yet empty space has never become dark. The phenomena of light and dark alternately displace one another, but the nature of empty space remains vast and unchanging. The mind of Buddhas and sentient beings is also like this. If one views the Buddha as having the characteristics of purity, radiance, and liberation, and views sentient beings as having the characteristics of defilement, darkness, birth, and death, one who forms such an understanding will, even through kalpas numerous as the sands of the Ganges, never attain bodhi; this is because of clinging to characteristics. Only this One Mind, with not the slightest dharma as tiny as a mote of dust to be attained, is itself the Buddha. Nowadays, students of the Way do not awaken to this mind essence; instead, they generate mind upon mind, seeking the Buddha externally and cultivating while clinging to characteristics—all of these are bad dharmas, not the path to bodhi. 〇 Making offerings to all Buddhas of the ten directions is not as good as making offerings to one person without mind; yet such a one cannot be found. One without mind is one without any mind at all. The essence of suchness is internally and externally like wood and stone, unmoving and unturning; internally and externally like empty space, unobjectionable and unhindered. It is without subject and object, without location, without characteristics, and without gain or loss. Those who approach do not dare enter this Dharma, fearing to fall into emptiness with nowhere to alight; hence they gaze at the precipice and retreat. Mañjuśrī represents principle; Samantabhadra represents practice. Principle is the principle of true emptiness without hindrance; practice is the endless practice free from characteristics. Avalokiteśvara represents great compassion; Mahāsthāmaprāpta represents great wisdom. Vimalakīrti means 'pure name': purity is the nature, name is the characteristic; the nature and characteristics not being different is called 'pure name'. What all the great bodhisattvas represent is possessed by everyone, not departing from the One Mind. To awaken to it is just it. Nowadays, students of the Way do not awaken within their own minds, but seek outside the mind, clinging to characteristics and grasping at objects; all of this runs counter to the Way. As for the sands of the Ganges River, the Buddha spoke of this sand: over this sand, Buddhas, bodhisattvas, Indra, Brahmā, and all devas walk and pass, yet the sand does not rejoice; cattle, sheep, worms, and ants tread upon it, yet the sand does not get angry; precious jewels and fragrant scents do not make the sand greedy; feces, urine, and foul filth do not make the sand disgusted. 〇 This mind is the mind of no-mind, free from all characteristics; sentient beings and Buddhas have no distinction. If one can simply be without mind, that is the ultimate. If a student of the Way does not directly become without mind, then even cultivating for countless kalpas, they will never accomplish the Way, being bound by the meritorious practices of the three vehicles and unable to attain liberation. However, realization of this mind may be slow or swift: there are those who, hearing the Dharma, attain no-mind in a single thought; there are those who attain no-mind only upon reaching the ten faiths, the ten abodes, the ten practices, and the ten dedications; there are those who attain no-mind only upon reaching the ten stages. Whether long or short, once no-mind is attained, one abides; there is nothing more to cultivate and nothing more to realize. In reality, there is nothing attained, truly and genuinely so. Attaining it in a single thought and attaining it at the ten stages are exactly equal in efficacy, with no shallow or deep; it is merely that through kalpas one vainly endured hardship. Creating evil and creating good are both clinging to characteristics. Clinging to characteristics and creating evil, one vainly suffers transmigration; clinging to characteristics and creating good, one vainly suffers toil. None of this is as good as directly recognizing the original Dharma upon hearing these words. This Dharma is the mind; outside the mind there is no dharma. This mind is the Dharma; within the Dharma there is no mind. The mind is naturally without mind, and there is also no one who is without mind. If one uses the mind to be without mind, the mind immediately becomes existent. Just silently accord with it, cutting off all deliberation. Therefore it is said: 'The path of words is cut off, the place of mind's activity is extinguished.' This mind is the originally pure Buddha, possessed by everyone. Wriggling insects and animals are of one essence and no different from the Buddhas and bodhisattvas; it is only because of delusional thinking and discrimination that they create various karmas. As a result, upon the original Buddha there is truly not a single thing: only void and unobstructed, quiescent and peaceful, luminous, marvelous, tranquil, and blissful. Awaken and recognize it deeply yourself: directly here and now it is completely round and full, lacking nothing. Even if through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas of energetic cultivation one passes through all the stages, when realized in a single thought, one realizes only the Buddha originally within oneself; above this, not a single thing is added. Looking back upon the efficacy of countless kalpas, it was all delusional action in a dream. Therefore the Tathāgata said, 'In anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, I truly had nothing attained.' If he had delusionally had anything attained, Dīpaṃkara would not have bestowed the prediction upon him. He also said, 'This Dharma is equal, without high or low; this is called bodhi.' This originally pure mind is equal with sentient beings, Buddhas, worlds, mountains and rivers, with form and without form, throughout the ten directions of space; all is equal without characteristics of self and other. This originally pure mind is constantly round, luminous, and shining everywhere. Worldly people do not awaken; they only recognize seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing as the mind, and being covered by seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, they do not behold the pure, luminous original essence. But if directly here and now one is without mind, the original essence manifests of itself, like the great orb of the sun rising into empty space, illuminating the ten directions without any obstruction.
9.45.2
Therefore, students of the Way only recognise seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing as functioning. If they empty seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, then the path of the mind is cut off and there is no entry point. Just recognise the original mind in the midst of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing; however, the original mind does not belong to seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, nor is it apart from seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing. Simply do not give rise to views and understandings based on seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing; do not stir up thoughts on seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing; nor seek the mind apart from seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing; nor cast away seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing to grasp phenomena. Neither conforming nor departing, neither abiding nor clinging—freely unrestrained in all directions, nowhere is not the bodhimanda.
Worldly people hear it said that all Buddhas transmit the Dharma of the mind, and they suppose there is a separate Dharma upon the mind that can be realized and grasped. Thereupon they use the mind to seek the Dharma, not knowing that the mind is the Dharma and the Dharma is the mind. One cannot use the mind to further seek the mind; even after thousands of myriads of kalpas, the day of attainment will never arrive. It is better right now to be without mind—that is the original Dharma. It is like the strongman whose forehead jewel was hidden inside his forehead: seeking it outside, he travelled throughout the ten directions, but in the end could not find it. A wise person pointed it out, and at that very moment he saw his original jewel just as before. Students of the Way, deluded about their own original mind, do not recognise it as the Buddha; they then seek externally, generating efforts and practices, realizing stages of fruition according to the gradual sequence, yet diligently seeking through kalpas, they fundamentally never achieve the Way. It is better right now to be without mind, decisively knowing that all phenomena originally do not exist and are unobtainable, without abiding, without reliance, without subject, and without object. Not stirring delusive thoughts, one immediately realizes bodhi. When one realizes the Way, one only realizes the Buddha of the original mind; efforts across kalpas were entirely empty practices. Just as when the strongman obtained the jewel, he only got the original jewel on his forehead, which had nothing to do with the effort of seeking outside. Thus the Buddha said: 'I truly had nothing obtained in anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi.' Fearing people would not believe, he cited what was seen by the five eyes and the five kinds of speech: what he spoke is true and not empty—it is the supreme ultimate truth.
Students of the Way must not doubt. The four great elements constitute the body; the four great elements have no self, and the self also has no master. Therefore know that this body has no self and no master. The five aggregates have no self and no master. Therefore know that this mind has no self and no master. The conjunction, arising, and ceasing of the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses are likewise like this. Since the eighteen realms are empty, all things are empty; there is only the original mind, vast and pure.
There is feeding on consciousness and feeding on wisdom. When the body of the four great elements suffers from hunger and sores, sustaining it according to need without giving rise to greed and attachment is called feeding on wisdom. Giving rein to desires to indulge in flavours, giving rise to false distinctions, seeking only to please the palate without giving rise to revulsion is called feeding on consciousness.
Śrāvakas: because of sound they attain awakening, hence they are called śrāvakas. Merely failing to understand their own mind, they give rise to interpretations upon the spoken teachings; or by virtue of supernormal powers, or auspicious signs, words, and actions, hearing that there are bodhi and nirvāṇa to be cultivated into the Buddha Way through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas—these all belong to the way of śrāvakas and are called 'śrāvaka Buddhas'. Only directly and suddenly realizing that one's own mind is originally Buddha, with not a single Dharma to be obtained and not a single practice to be cultivated—this is the unsurpassed Way; this is the Buddha of suchness. Students of the Way need only fear that if a single thought arises, they are separated from the Way. Thought after thought signless, thought after thought unconditioned—that is the Buddha. If students of the Way wish to attain Buddhahood, they do not need to study any of the Buddha's teachings at all; they need only study being without seeking and without clinging. Without seeking, the mind does not arise; without clinging, the mind is not defiled. Not arising and not defiled—that is the Buddha. The eighty-four thousand Dharma-gates correspond to the eighty-four thousand afflictions; they are gates for teaching, transforming, and guiding. Originally there is not a single Dharma; transcendence is itself the Dharma. One who knows transcendence is a Buddha. Simply transcending all afflictions, there is no Dharma to be obtained.
If students of the Way wish to know the essential secret, they must not attach a single thing onto the mind. It is said that the Buddha's dharmakāya is like empty space; this is an analogy that the dharmakāya is empty space, and empty space is the dharmakāya. Ordinary people suppose that the dharmakāya pervades the extent of empty space, or that empty space contains the dharmakāya, not knowing that empty space is the dharmakāya and the dharmakāya is empty space. If one definitively says there is empty space, then empty space is not the dharmakāya; if one definitively says there is a dharmakāya, then the dharmakāya is not empty space. Just do not form an interpretation of empty space, and empty space is the dharmakāya; do not form an interpretation of dharmakāya, and the dharmakāya is empty space. Empty space and the dharmakāya have no distinct marks; Buddhas and sentient beings have no distinct marks; saṃsāra and nirvāṇa have no distinct marks; afflictions and bodhi have no distinct marks. Transcending all marks is the Buddha. Ordinary people grasp at objects; people of the Way grasp at 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 fundamentally not empty, but is only the one true realm.
This numinous awareness-nature has shared the same lifespan with emptiness since beginningless time. It has never been born and never ceased; it has never existed and never not existed; it has never been defiled and never pure; it has never been clamorous and never quiet; it has never been young and never old. It has no location, no inside or outside, no quantity, no form or appearance, no visual characteristics, and no sounds. It cannot be sought, cannot be searched for, cannot be understood through intellect, cannot be grasped through words, cannot be met through external scenes, and cannot be reached through effort. All Buddhas and bodhisattvas, together with all crawling, wriggling sentient beings, share the same great nirvāṇa-nature. The nature is the mind; the mind is the Buddha; the Buddha is the Dharma. A single thought departing from the truth is all delusion. One cannot use the mind to further seek the mind; one cannot use the Buddha to further seek the Buddha; one cannot use the Dharma to further seek the Dharma. Therefore practitioners of the Way directly realize mindlessness and tally in silence. Conceiving a thought, one errs. Transmitting the mind with the mind is correct view. Take care not to chase external objects as the mind—that is taking a thief for one's son. Because there are greed, anger, and delusion, morality, meditation, and wisdom are established. When there are fundamentally 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 minds at all; / what use have I for any Dharmas?' Upon the pure Buddha of the original source, not a single thing may be attached. For example, empty space, though adorned with immeasurable precious jewels, can never retain them. The Buddha-nature is identical to empty space; though adorned with immeasurable wisdom and merit, it can never retain them. It is only that when one is deluded about one's original nature, it turns out that one cannot see it.
As for the so-called mind-ground Dharma-gate: all phenomena are established relying on this mind. When encountering objects, they exist; when there are no objects, they do not exist. One must not, regarding the pure nature, exclusively make an interpretation of objects.
9.45.3
What is called 'meditation and wisdom illuminating and functioning distinctly, tranquilly, and alertly,' seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, are all interpretations made on objects. It is acceptable to speak this way temporarily for people of middling and lower capacities. If one wishes to realize it personally, one must not make such an interpretation at all. They are entirely bondages to objects. Where the Dharma sinks, it sinks into the realm of existence. If one merely does not form a view of existence regarding all phenomena, one then sees the Dharma. Ever since the Great Master Bodhidharma came to China, he spoke only of the one nature and transmitted only the one Dharma. Using Buddha to transmit Buddha, he spoke of no other Buddha; using Dharma to transmit Dharma, he spoke of no other Dharma. The Dharma is the ineffable Dharma; the Buddha is the ungraspable Buddha. It is simply the fundamentally pure mind. Only this one matter is true; the other two are not real. Prajñā is wisdom; this wisdom is the very basis of signlessness. Ordinary beings do not incline toward the Way; they merely indulge the six passions and thus travel through the six destinies. Even after studying the Way, if in a single thought one conceptualizes birth and death, one immediately falls into the paths of the māras. If in a single thought one gives rise to views, one immediately falls into the paths of non-Buddhists. If seeing that there is arising, one tends toward its cessation, one immediately falls into the śrāvaka path. If not seeing arising, one sees only cessation, that is the pratyekabuddha path. Phenomena originally do not arise and now do not cease. One gives rise to no dualistic views, neither disliking nor delighting. All phenomena are solely the one mind; only then is it the Buddha Vehicle. Ordinary people all give rise to mind by chasing after objects, the mind following delights and dislikes. If you wish to be without objects, you should forget the mind. When the mind is forgotten, objects are empty; when objects are empty, the mind is extinguished. If without forgetting the mind you try to eliminate objects, objects cannot be eliminated, and you will only increase confusion and disturbance. Therefore, the ten thousand phenomena are mind alone, and the mind also cannot be apprehended. What else then should you seek? Those who study the Dharma of prajñā do not see a single phenomenon to be apprehended, and sever thoughts of the three vehicles. There is only the one reality, which cannot be attained or realized. Those who say, 'I am able to realize it, I am able to attain it,' are all arrogant people of overweening pride. Those at the assembly of the Lotus Sūtra who shook their garments and walked away were all of this sort. Thus the Buddha said, 'Regarding bodhi, I in truth attained nothing.' It is just silent communion. If ordinary people wish to cultivate and realize, they need only observe that the five aggregates are all empty and the four great elements are without a self. The true mind is without marks, neither going nor coming. At birth, nature also does not come; at death, nature also does not go. Tranquil and completely quiescent, mind and objects are as one. If one can directly and suddenly understand in this way, unconstrained by the three times, one is then a person who has transcended the world. Under no circumstances may there be the slightest inclination [toward anything]. If one sees good manifestations, with Buddhas coming to welcome one, and various [signs] appearing, have no mind to follow them. If one sees bad manifestations of various kinds appearing, have no mind of fear either. Simply forget the mind by oneself to be identical with the dharmadhātu, and you will attain autonomy. What is spoken of as the 'conjured city' refers to the two vehicles, the ten stages, and up to equal enlightenment and wondrous enlightenment; all are teachings provisionally established to guide [beings], and all are conjured cities. What is spoken of as the 'place of jewels' is the jewel of the true mind, the original Buddha, one's own nature. This jewel does not belong to emotional reckonings and cannot be established. There is no Buddha and no sentient beings, no agent and no object. Where could there be a city? If it is asked: 'Since this is a conjured city, where is the place of jewels?' The place of jewels cannot be pointed to. If pointed to, it would be an objective place of jewels and not the true place. Hence it is said: 'It is simply near.' That 'it is near' cannot be expressed in fixed terms; one must simply directly realize and commune with it, and that is it. An icchantika is one whose faith is incomplete. All sentient beings of the six destinies, and even the two vehicles who do not believe in the fruit of Buddhahood, are all called icchantikas who have severed good roots. Bodhisattvas who deeply believe in the Buddhadharma and see neither a Great Vehicle nor a Small Vehicle, but that Buddhas and sentient beings share the identical Dharma-nature, are called icchantikas of good roots. In general, those who awaken through spoken teachings are called śrāvakas; those who awaken through observing causes and conditions are called pratyekabuddhas. If one does not awaken within one's own mind, even if one reaches Buddhahood, it is also called a śrāvaka Buddha. Students of the Way who awaken upon phenomena and do not awaken upon the mind, though they cultivate for kalpas, will ultimately not be the original Buddha. If one does not awaken in mind but awakens upon phenomena, this is to disdain the mind and value phenomena, thereby chasing after clods and forgetting the original mind. Therefore, simply accord with the original mind and do not seek phenomena; mind is phenomena. Ordinary people often say that objects obstruct the mind and that facts obstruct principle, constantly desiring to flee objects to pacify the mind, and set aside facts to preserve principle. They do not know that it is mind that obstructs objects and principle that obstructs facts. Only make the mind empty, and objects become empty of themselves; only make principle quiescent, and facts become quiescent of themselves. Do not apply the mind topsy-turvy. 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 facts but do not eliminate the mind; the wise eliminate the mind but do not eliminate facts. The bodhisattva's mind is like space: everything is entirely relinquished, and with regard to the merits and virtues created, there is no greedy attachment. However, relinquishment has three grades: relinquishing entirely the internal and external, body and mind, like empty space with nothing grasped or attached to, and thereafter responding to things according to circumstances, forgetting both subject and object—this is called the great relinquishment. If on the one hand one practices the Way and bestows virtue, and on the other hand relinquishes in turn without expecting reward in mind—this is called the middling relinquishment. If one extensively cultivates various good deeds with expectations, but upon hearing the Dharma understands emptiness and consequently does not cling—this is called the lesser relinquishment. The great relinquishment is like a torch held in front: there is no longer delusion or awakening. The middling relinquishment is like a torch held at the side: it is sometimes bright and sometimes dark. The lesser relinquishment is like a torch held behind: one does not see pits and traps. Therefore, the bodhisattva's mind is like empty space, completely relinquishing everything. The past mind cannot be apprehended: this is relinquishing the past. The present mind cannot be apprehended: this is relinquishing the present. The future mind cannot be apprehended: this is relinquishing the future. This is what is meant by 'completely relinquishing the three times.' Ever since the Tathāgata entrusted the Dharma to Kāśyapa, mind has been sealed with mind, mind and mind not differing. If the seal is applied to space, the seal does not form an inscription; if the seal is applied to objects, the seal does not form the Dharma. Therefore, with mind sealing mind, mind and mind do not differ. Both the one that can seal and that which is sealed are difficult to accord with; hence, those who attain it are few. Yet mind is no-mind, and attainment is non-attainment. The Buddha has three bodies. The Dharma body speaks the Dharma of one's own nature's spiritual efficacy. The reward body speaks all pure Dharmas. The transformation body speaks the Dharma of the six perfections and the myriad practices. When the Dharma body expounds the Dharma, it is not by means of spoken language, sounds, physical forms, or written words; there is nothing expounded and nothing realized—it is simply the spiritual efficacy of one's own nature. Thus it is said: 'That there is no Dharma to expound is called expounding the Dharma.' The reward body and transformation body both manifest according to capacities and conditions; the Dharmas they expound also respond to conditions and accord with faculties to gather and transform beings. None of these is the true Dharma. Hence it is said: 'The reward and transformation are not the true Buddha, nor are they the expounder of the Dharma.' What is referred to as 'the same single pure brightness divided into the six harmonies':
9.45.4
The 'single pure brightness' is the one mind. The 'six harmonies' are the six faculties harmonizing respectively with the dust-objects: the eye harmonizes with form, the ear harmonizes with sound, the nose harmonizes with smell, the tongue harmonizes with taste, the body harmonizes with touch, and the mental faculty harmonizes with dharmas. In between, the six consciousnesses are produced, forming the eighteen realms. If one completely knows that the eighteen realms are empty and nonexistent, binding the six harmonies into the single pure brightness—the single pure brightness is simply the mind. Students of the Way all know this, but they cannot avoid making an interpretation of 'one pure brightness and six harmonies.' Consequently, they are bound by the Dharma and do not accord with the original mind. When the Tathāgata appeared in the world, he wished to preach the true Dharma of the One Vehicle; but sentient beings would not believe, would raise slanders, and sink into the ocean of suffering. If he did not preach at all, the Buddha would fall into stinginess, not universally giving the wondrous Way to sentient beings. He therefore skillfully preached the three vehicles. Vehicles have greater and lesser, attainments have deeper and shallower; none are the original Dharma. Hence it is said: 'Only this One Vehicle path is true; the other two are not real.' Yet in the end he could not reveal the Dharma of the one mind; therefore, he summoned Kāśyapa to share his seat of the Dharma, separately entrusting the Dharma of the one mind that is free from verbal expression. This one branch of the Dharma is now transmitted separately. If one is able to accord with and awaken to it, one directly reaches the Buddha stage.
Linked texts (1)
- 景德傳燈錄 — Classical Chinese