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Entries Tagged with "Buddha"

Buddha

Published on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006

Profound truth, so difficult to perceive, difficult to understand, tranquilizing and sublime, is not to be gained by mere reasoning and is perceived only by the wise. -Buddha

Tags: Truth, Buddha

Arhat

Published on Sunday, August 6th, 2006

Arhat Dictionary: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Arhat

Arhat (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root arh to be worthy, merit, be able)

Worthy, deserving; also enemy slayer (from ari enemy + the verbal root han to slay, smite), an arhat being a slayer of the foe of craving, the entire range of passions and desires, mental, emotional, and physical. Buddhists in the Orient generally define arhat in this manner, while modern scholars derive the word from the verbal root arh. Both definitions are equally appropriate (Buddhist Catachysm 93).

As a noun, originally one who had fully attained his spiritual ideals. In Buddhism arhat (Pali arahant) is the title generally given to those of Gautama Buddha’s disciples who had progressed the farthest during his lifetime and immediately thereafter; more specifically to those who had attained nirvana, emancipation from earthly fetters and the attainment of full enlightenment. Arhat is broadly equivalent to the Egyptian heirophant, the Chaldean magus, and Hindu rishi, as well as being generally applicable to ascetics. On occasion it is used for the loftiest beings in a hierarchy: “The Arhats of the ‘fire-mist’ of the 7th run are but one remove from the Root-base of their Hierarchy — the highest on Earth, and our Terrestrial chain” (SD 1:207).

Arhat is the highest of the four degrees of arhatship or the fourfold path to nirvana, of which the first three are srotapatti (he who has entered the stream), sakridagamin (he who returns to birth once more), and anagamin (the never returner who will have no further births on earth).

Arhat is both the way and the waygoer; and while the term is close philosophically to anagamin, the distinction between the two lies in their mystical connotations rather than in their etymological definitions. Arhat has a wider significance inasmuch as it applies to those noblest of the Buddha’s disciples who were “worthy” of receiving, because comprehending, the Tathagata’s heart doctrine, the more esoteric and mystical portions of his message.

As early as one hundred years after the Buddha died and had entered his parinirvana, differences in the doctrines and discipline of the Order become manifest. In the course of the centuries two basic trends developed into what has become popular to call the Hinayana (the lesser vehicle or path) or Theravada (doctrine of the elders), and Mahayana (the greater vehicle or path). The Theravada emphasized the fourfold path leading to nirvana, total liberation of the arhat from material concerns. The Mahayana held the bodhisattvayana as the ideal, the way of compassion for all sentient beings, culminating in renunciation of nirvana in order to return and inspire others “to awake and follow the dhamma.” It is this fundamental difference in goal that characterizes the Old Wisdom School (arhatship) from the New Wisdom School (bodhsattvahood).

Tags: Gautama Buddha, Arhat, Buddha, Buddhism

Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do

Published on Saturday, May 13th, 2006

Jesus spoke of ignorance when he was being crucified by a culture that didn’t understand or have the ability to grasp what he was teaching. How could they? The level of world consciousness during those times was at a level of barbarism. Peace, love, and God were foreign to most of humanity at that time.

Nothing has changed very much from those times. Ignorance still believes it’s right based on falsehoods. Ignorance leads to wars, the slaughter of hundreds of millions, and ego-based emotions run amok.

The Buddha similarly said it when he spoke of ignorance. He taught enlightenment because it takes one out of ignorance. A translation from The Bhagavad-Gita says, “Out of compassion for them, I, who dwell within their own beings, destroy the darkness born of ignorance, with the shining lamp of knowledge.” The knowledge spoken of here is the Knowledge of Divinity.

Most religions and spiritual practices have had their say about ignorance. It does not help, however, when the majority of humanity is still below the level of integrity (Map of Consciousness, Power vs. Force).

So what do you do when faced with ignorance? Avoid is the key word here. All enlightened wisdom teaches not to oppose negativity, but to avoid it. It is difficult to avoid unpleasantness and people who calibrate at the lower levels of the Map* on a highly negative planet such as Earth, but it can be done. Compassion plays an important role in dealing with the negative aspects of life. We cannot always be amongst happy, serene, highly spiritual people, and life throws us all sorts of scenarios (seemingly from hell.) Even those of higher consciousness are still human and prey to sudden ego tantrums.

It’s always better to be nice and back away than to fight on a lower level. (Fighting in this instance would be non-integrous.) If you are fighting for integrity (higher cause), however, and it’s your life, or the lives of your loved ones, then higher wisdom is in order. This is about enlightenment, not ignorance, or naïveté. When you are truly enlightened, you may not feel the need to fight, but speaking softly and carrying a ‘big stick’ (in the form of discernment) goes a long way. It is the attention to the intention of that which you aspire to be.

Dr. David Hawkins teaches that we develop an etheric brain above consciousness level 200. Although the road is sometimes long, we are also able to begin the process of ascending toward the level of love (500) and the entry into the experiential, nonlinear world of spirit. (It is possible for huge transformations to happen instantaneously based on propensities.)

Those below integrity are still living with an animal brain. It may function quite intelligently from all outward appearances and even be amusing and successful in worldly terms, but any level below 200 is more capable of crime, chronic lying, cheating, anger, blame, false pride, immorality, artificiality, or shallowness, etc. They fall into a group karma category. (Four Phases of Karma.) Those below level 200 are “nothing like you” as Dr. Hawkins stresses. This does not mean that above certain levels is better, or below is worse, and this is not about physical phenomena such as money or appearances. It just is what it is, without the involvement of spiritual ego. Everyone gets to go wherever it is their spiritual will and intention will take them…or not. Unencumbered will is in play here.

Naiveté often describes new as well as ‘seasoned’ spiritual aspirants. Once bitten by the spiritual ‘bug,’ they get misty-eyed in their search for the “warm and fuzzy” feeling that accompanies the spiritual path. It is quite a common occurrence in long workshops, where like-minded aspirants get together. Full of the Kundalini energy these workshops often invoke, the newly fueled spirit goes out into the world only to find itself being treated unkindly. The rent is due and the spouse wants a divorce. This is very common. Whoosh, Calgon take me away!

So here we are, back to “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” With compassion, kindness, and our practice of devotion to Divinity (God), all may not always be peachy, but we’re staying the course, sticking to the path, wasting no time, swimming upstream to God. When we all meet on “the other side,” we can keep ascending with The Eternal Knowledge that we are on the path within The All Loving Field of The Creator.

“We change the world not by what we say or do, but as a consequence of what we have become.”___Dr. David R. Hawkins, M.D.,PhD.

* Map of Consciousness

Tags: God, Consciousness, Love, Enlightenment, Bhagavad Gita, Divinity, Religion, Four Phases of Karma, Jesus, Buddha, The All Loving Field of The Creator, Map of Consciousness

Anatta

Published on Monday, April 3rd, 2006

The Buddhist term Anātman (Sanskrit) or Anatta (Pali) is an adjective that specifies the absence of a supposedly permanent and unchanging self or soul in any one of the psycho-physical (namo-rupa) constituents of empirical existence; eg. “none of these khandhas are my Soul, are anatta (non-Self)”. What is normally thought of as the “Self” is in fact an agglomeration of constantly changing physical and mental constituents (”skandhas”) which give rise to unhappiness if clung to as though this temporary assemblage formed some kind of immutable and enduring Soul (”atman”). The non-doctrinal commentarial “anatta” doctrine attempts to encourage the Buddhist practitioner to detach him/herself from this misplaced clinging to what is mistakenly regarded as his or her Self, and from such detachment (aided by moral living and meditation) the way to Nirvana is able successfully to be traversed. All occurrences of anatta in Sutra contextually appear as: “A is anatta (not-Self), B is anatta, etc.”

A variant understanding of the doctrine (as enunciated by the Buddha in the Mahayana “Tathagatagarbha” scriptures) insists that the five “skandhas” (impermanent constituent elements of the mundane body and mind of each being) are indeed “not the Self” (”anatta”/”anatman”), since they are doomed to mutation and dissolution, but that in contrast to this ephemeral “mundane self”, the eternal Buddha-Principle (”Buddha-dhatu”) deep within each being is the supramundane True Self - although this realisation is only fully gained on reaching Awakening (”bodhi”).

Anatta is one of the Three Seals of Buddhist doctrines and is an important element of wisdom through the apophatic technique used to experience Nirvana, the other two being Dukkha and Anicca.

Summary
Buddhist teaching tells us that all in life is impermanent and in a constant state of flux, and that any entity that exists does so only in dependence on the conditions of its arising, which are non-eternal. Therefore, any sense one might have of an abiding self or a soul is regarded as a misapprehension.

Buddhists hold that the notion of an abiding self is one of the main causes of human conflict, and that by realizing the nonexistence of our perceived self, ‘we’ may go beyond ‘our’ mundane desires. (Reference to ‘oneself’ or ‘I’ or ‘me’ for Buddhists is used merely conventionally.)

The Buddha in many later sutras, provided no confirmation the existence of a self or Atman a concept that was claimed central to many philosophers of his time, however in the oldest texts that exist in Buddhism, the Nikayas, the Buddha did at length affirm to his disciples (aryasavaka) that the “Soul was the only refuge, was the light within” [DN 2.100], and said the “Soul was that which was most beloved” (atta’ paramo piya). Rather than directing his listeners to discover Atman, he taught that all clinging to concepts and ideas of a self are faulty and based on ignorance. The Buddha’s teaching was apophatic and was not aimed at any concept of self created by birth, imagination, speculation, metaphysical study or through self-ideation. The five aggregates of form, feelings, perceptions, mental fabrications and consciousness were described as especially misleading, since they form the basis for an individual’s clinging or aversion. He taught that once a monk renounces his clinging for all the five aggregates, through meditative insight, he realizes the bliss of non-clinging, and abides in wisdom. The Buddha clearly stated that all five aggregates are impermanent, just as the burning flame is inconstant in one sense, and that knowledge or wisdom is all that remains, just as the only thing constant about a flame is its fuel, or purpose.

Controversially, there has been and continues to be a minority of Mahayana Buddhists who understand the Buddhist doctrine of “non-Self” (”anatta”/”anatman”) as relating solely to the ephemeral elements (the five “skandhas”) of the being and not to the hidden and undying “Buddha-Principle” (”Buddha-nature”) taught by the Mahayana Buddha to exist within the deeps of each person’s mind (see section on “Anatman and the Tathagatagarbha Sutras” below).

Presecular position on anatta as presented in the Nikayas
The Buddhist term Anatman (Sanskrit), or Anatta (Pali) is an adjective in sutra used to refer to the nature of phenomena as being devoid of the Soul, the ontological and subjective Self (atman) which is the “light (dipam), and only refuge” [DN 2.100]. Of the 662 occurrences of the term Anatta in the Nikayas, its usage is restricted to referring to 22 nouns (forms, feelings, perception, experiences, consciousness, the eye, eye-consciousness, desires, mentation, mental formations, ear, nose, tongue, body, lusts, things unreal, etc.), all phenomenal, as being Selfless (anatta). Contrary to some popular books written outside the scope of Buddhist doctrine, there is no “Doctrine of anatta/anatman” mentioned anywhere in the sutras, rather anatta is used only to refer to impermanent things as other than the Soul, to be anatta.

Specifically in sutra, anatta is used to describe the nature of any and all composite, consubstantial, phenomenal, and temporal things, from the macrocosmic, to microcosmic, be it matter as pertains the physical body or the cosmos at large, including any and all mental machinations which are of the nature of arising and passing. Anatta in sutra is synonymous and interchangeable with the terms dukkha (suffering) and anicca (impermanent), and all three terms are often used in triplet in making a blanket statement as regards any and all phenomena. “All these aggregates are anicca, dukkha, and anatta.”

Anatta refers only to the absence of the permanent soul as pertains any one of the psycho-physical (namo-rupa) attributes, or Khandhas (skandhas, aggregates). Anatta/Anatman in the earliest Buddhist texts, the Nikayas, is an adjective, (A is anatta, B is anatta, C is anatta). The commonly held belief to wit that: “Anatta means no-soul, therefore Buddhism taught that there was no soul” is a concept, which cannot be found or doctrinally substantiated by means of the Nikayas, the sutras, of Buddhism.

The Pali term and noun for “no soul” is natthatta (literally “there is not/no[nattha]+atta’[Soul]), not the term anatta, and is mentioned at Samyutta Nikaya 4.400, where when Gotama was asked if there “was no soul (natthatta)”, equated this question to be equivalent to Nihilism (ucchedavada). Common throughout Buddhist sutra is the denial of psycho-physical attributes of the mere empirical self to be the Soul, or confused with same. The Buddhist paradigm as regards phenomena is “Na me so atta” (this/these are not my soul), nearly so the most common utterance of Gotama Buddha in the Nikayas, where “na me so atta” = Anatta/Anatman. In sutra, to hold the view that there is “no-Soul” (natthatta) is = to ucchedavada (SN 4.400) [Annihilationism] = natthika (nihilist).

Logically so, according to the philosophical premise of Gotama, the initiate to Buddhism who is to be “shown the way to Immortality (amata)” [MN 2.265, SN 5.9], wherein liberation of the mind (cittavimutta) is effectuated through the expansion of wisdom and the meditative practices of sati and samadhi, must first be educated away from his former ignorance-based (avijja) materialistic proclivities in that he “saw any of these forms, feelings, or this body, to be my Self, to be that which I am by nature”. Teaching the subject of anatta in sutra pertains solely to things phenomenal, which were: “subject to perpetual change; therefore unfit to declare of such things ‘these are mine, these are what I am, that these are my Soul’” [MN 1.232]

The one scriptural passage where Gotama is asked by a layperson what the meaning of anatta is as follows: [Samyutta Nikaya 3.196] At one time in Savatthi, the venerable Radha seated himself and asked of the Blessed Lord Buddha: “Anatta, anatta I hear said venerable. What pray tell does Anatta mean?” “Just this Radha, form is not the Soul (anatta), sensations are not the Soul (anatta), perceptions are not the Soul (anatta), assemblages are not the Soul (anatta), consciousness is not the Soul (anatta). Seeing thusly, this is the end of birth, the Brahman life has been fulfilled, what must be done has been done.”

The anatta taught in the Nikayas has merely relative value; it is not an absolute one. It does not say simply that the Soul (atta, Atman) has no reality at all, but that certain things (5 aggregates), with which the unlearned man identifies himself, are not the Soul (anatta) and that is why one should grow disgusted with them, become detached from them and be liberated. Since this kind of anatta does not negate the Soul as such, but denies Selfhood to those things that constitute the non-self (anatta), showing them thereby to be empty of any ultimate value and to be repudiated, instead of nullifying the Atman (Soul) doctrine, it in fact compliments it.

What has Buddhism to say of the Self? “That’s not my Self” (na me so atta); this, and the term “non Self-ishness” (anatta) predicated of the world and all “things” (sabbe dhamma anatta; Identical with the Brahmanical “of those who are mortal, there is no Self/Soul”, (anatma hi martyah, [SB., II. 2. 2. 3]). [KN J-1441] “The Soul is the refuge that I have gone unto”. For anatta is not said of the Self/Soul but what it is not. There is never a ‘doctrine of no-Soul’, but a doctrine of what the Soul is not (form is anatta, feelings are anatta, etc.).

It is of course true that the Buddha denied the existence of the mere empirical “self” in the very meaning of “my-self” (this person so-and-so, namo-rupa, an-atta), one might say in accordance with the command ‘denegat seipsum, [Mark VII.34]; but this is not what modern writers mean to say, or are understood by their readers to say; what they mean to say is that the Buddha denied the immortal (amata), the unborn (ajata) and Supreme-Self (mahatta’) of the Upanishads. And that is palpably false, for he frequently speaks of this Self, or Spirit (mahapurisha), and nowhere more clearly than in the too often repeated formula ‘na me so atta’, “This/these are not my Soul” (na me so atta’= anatta/anatman), excluding body (rupa) and the components of empirical consciousness (vinnana/ nama), a statement to which the words of Sankhara are peculiarly apposite, “Whenever we deny something unreal, is it in reference to something real”[Br. Sutra III.2.22]. It was not for the Buddha but for the nihilist (natthika) to deny the Soul.

Outside of going into the doctrines of later schisms of Buddhism, Sarvastivada, Theravada, Vajrayana, Madhyamika, and lastly Zen, the oldest existing texts (Nikayas) of Buddhism which predate all these later schools of Buddhism, anatta is never used pejoratively in any sense in the Nikayas by Gotama the Buddha, who himself has said: [MN 1.140] “Both formerly and now, I’ve never been a nihilist (vinayika), never been one who teaches the annihilation of a being, rather taught only the source of suffering, and its ending” Further investigation into Negative theology is the source which should be referenced in further understanding the methodology which the term anatta illuminates.

Due to secular propagation, a general acceptance of the concept of “A Doctrine of Anatta” exists as status quo, however there exists no substantiation in sutra for Buddhism’s denial of soul, or in using the term anatta in anything but a positive sense in denying Self-Nature, the Soul, to any one of a conglomeration of corporeal and empirical phenomena which were by their very transitory nature, “impermanent (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and Selfless (anatta)”. The only noun in sutra which is referred to as “permanent (nicca)” is the Soul, such as Samyutta Nikaya 1.169.

In fact the phrase “Doctrine of anatta”, or “Anatmavada” is a concept utterly foreign to Buddhist Sutra, existing in only non-doctrinal Theravada and Madhyamika commentaries. As the saying goes, a “lie repeated often enough over time becomes the truth”. Those interested parties to Buddhism incapable of pouring through endless piles of Buddhist doctrine have defacto accepted the notion of a “Doctrine of anatta” as key to Buddhism itself, when in fact there exists not one citation of this concept in either the Digha, Majjhima, Samyutta, Anguttara, or Khuddaka Nikayas. Unless evoking a fallacy, we must stick strictly to sutra as reference, wherein the usage of anatta never falls outside of the parameter of merely denying Self or Soul to the profane and transitory phenomena of temporal and samsaric life which is “subject to arising and passing”, and which is most certain not (AN) our Soul (ATTA). Certainly the most simple philosophical logic would lead anyone to conclude that no part of this frail body is “my Self, is That which I am”, is “not my Soul”, of which Gotama the Buddha was wholeheartedly in agreement that no part of it was the Soul, i.e. was in fact anatta.

The perfect contextual usage of anatta is: “Whatever form, feelings, perceptions, experiences, or consciousness there is (the five aggregates), these he sees to be without permanence, as suffering, as ill, as a plague, a boil, a sting, a pain, an affliction, as foreign, as otherness, as empty (suññato), as Selfless (anattato). So he turns his mind away from these and gathers his mind/will within the realm of Immortality (amataya dhatuya). This is tranquility; this is that which is most excellent!” [MN 1.436]

The term anatman is found not only in Buddhist sutras, but also in the Upanishads and lavishly so in the writings of Samkara, the founder of Advaita Vedanta. Anatman is a common via negativa (neti neti, not this, not that) teaching method common to Vedanta, Neoplatonism, early Christian mystics, and others, wherein nothing affirmative can be said of what is “beyond speculation, beyond words, and concepts” thereby eliminating all positive characteristics that might be thought to apply to the Soul, or be attributed to it; to wit that the Subjective ontological Self-Nature (svabhava) can never be known objectively, but only thru “the denial of all things which it (the Soul) is not”- Meister Eckhart. This doctrine is also called by the Greeks Apophasis.

Interpretive problems
Students of Buddhism often encounter an intellectual quandary with the teaching in that the concept of anatta and the doctrine of rebirth seem to be mutually exclusive. If there is no-self, no abiding essence of the person, it is unclear what it is that is reborn. The Buddha discussed this in a conversation with a Brahmin named Kutadanta.

There have been a number of attempts by various schools of Buddhism to make explicit how it is that rebirth occurs. The more orthodox schools claim that certain of the dispositions or psychological constituents have repercussions that extend beyond an individual life to the next. More innovative solutions include the introduction of a Pudgala, a “person”, which functions comparably to the ātman in the rebirth process and in karmic agency, but is regarded by its advocates as not falling prey to the metaphysical substantialism of the ātman.

Others seek a proxy not for the ātman but for Brahman, the Indian monistic ideal that functions as an ātman for the whole of creation, and is in itself thus rejected by anatta. Such a solution is the Consciousness-only teaching of the Yogacara school attempt to explain the seeming paradox: at death the body & mind disintegrates, but if the disintegrating mind contains any remaining traces of karma, it will cause the continuity of the consciousness to bounce back an arising mind to an awaiting being (i.e. a fetus developing the ability to harbor consciousness).

Some Buddhists take the position that the basic problem of explaining how “I” can die and be reborn is, philosophically speaking, no more problematic than how “I” can be the “same” person I was a few moments ago. There is no more or less ultimacy, for Buddhists, between the identity I have with my self of two minutes ago and the identity I have with the self of two lives ago.

A further difficulty with the anatta doctrine is that it contradicts the notion of a path of practise. Anatta followed to its logical extremities rejects the reality of a Buddhist practitioner able to detach him/herself from clinging.

Anatman (anatta) in the Tathagatagarbha Sutras
The understanding of “non-Self” (”anatta”/”anatman”) in the Mahayana scriptures known as the “Tathagatagarbha” sutras is distinctive and remarkable: the doctrine presented by the Buddha in these texts claims to clarify that it is only the impermanent elements of the sentient being - the “five skandhas” (constituent elements of mind and body) - which are “not the Self” (”anatman”), whereas the truly real, immanent essence (”svabhava”) of the being is no less than the Buddha or the Buddha-Principle (”Buddha-dhatu” - “Buddha-Principle” or “Buddha-nature”), and is inviolate and deathless. In the “Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra”, this immortal Buddhic element within the being is termed the “True Self”. It is unaffected by rebirth and always remains intrinsically immaculate and uniquely radiant, only awaiting discovery from within the depths of the contaminated mundane mind of each being. In the “Tathagatagarbha Sutra” the Buddha tells of how, with his Buddha-eye, he can actually see this hidden Buddhic “jewel” within each and every being: “hidden within the klesas [mental contaminants] of greed, desire, anger, and stupidity there is seated augustly and unmovingly the tathagata’s [Buddha’s] wisdom, the tathagata’s vision, and the tathagata’s body. … all beings, though they find themselves with all sorts of klesas, have a tathagatagarbha [Buddhic essence, embryonic Buddha] that is eternally unsullied, and that is replete with virtues no different from my own” (Lopez, 1995, p.96). Thus the “non-Self” doctrine receives a controversial presentation in the Tathagatagarbha sutras as merely partial truth rather than as absolute verity.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Anatta”.

Tags: Anatta, Buddha, Buddhism, Anatta, Buddha, Buddhism

Anatta

Published on Monday, April 3rd, 2006

Anatta is one of the Three Seals of Buddhist doctrines and is an important element of wisdom through the apophatic technique used to experience Nirvana, the other two being Dukkha and Anicca.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Anatta”.

Tags: Anatta, Buddha, Buddhism, Anatta, Buddha, Buddhism

Bodhi

Published on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006

Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit. Lit. awakening) is a title given in Buddhism to the specific awakening experience attained by the Indian spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha and his disciples. It is sometimes described as complete and perfect sanity, or awareness of the true nature of the universe. After attainment, it is believed one is freed from the cycle of Samsāra: birth, suffering, death and rebirth. Bodhi is most commonly translated into English as enlightenment, though this translation is problematic, since enlightenment (the soul being “lit” by a higher power) is originally a concept from Christian mysticism or conversely evokes notions of the 18th century European Age of Enlightenment that are not identical with the Buddhist concept of Bodhi. There is no image of “light” contained in the term, “Bodhi” - rather, it expresses the notion of awakening from a dream and of being aware and Knowing (Reality). It is thus preferable to think of Bodhi as spiritual “Awake-ness” or “Awakening”, rather than “enlightenment” (although it is true that imagery of light is extraordinarily prevalent in many of the Buddhist scriptures).

Bodhi is attained only by the accomplishment of the Paramitas (perfections), when the Four Noble Truths are fully grasped, and when all karma has reached cessation. At this moment, all greed (lobha), aversion (dosa), delusion (moha), ignorance (avijjā), craving (tanha) and ego-centered consciousness (attā) are extinguished. Bodhi thus includes anattā, the absence of ego-centeredness.

Certain Mahayana Buddhist sutras stress that Bodhi is always present and perfect, and simply needs to be “uncovered” or disclosed to purified vision. Thus the “Sutra of Perfect Awakening” has the Buddha teach that, like gold within its ore, Bodhi is always there within the being’s mind but requires the obscuring mundane ore (the surrounding defilements of samsara and of impaired, unawakened perception) to be removed. The Buddha declares:

“Good sons, it is like smelting gold ore. The gold does not come into being because of smelting … Even though it passes through endless time, the nature of the gold is never corrupted. It is wrong to say that it is not originally perfect. The Perfect Enlightenment of the Tathagata [Buddha] is also like this.”

Similar doctrines are encountered in the Tathagatagarbha sutras, which tell of the immanent presence of the Buddha Principle (Buddha-dhatu/ Buddha-nature) within all beings. Here, the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha-Matrix) is tantamount to the indwelling transformative and liberational power of Bodhi, which bestows an infinitude of unifying vision. The Buddha of the Shurangama Sutra states:

“My uncreated and unending profound Enlightenment accords with the Tathagatagarbha, which is absolute Bodhi, and ensures my perfect insight into the Dharma realm [realm of Ultimate Truth], where the one is infinite and the infinite is one.”

Queen Maya holding the branch of a Bodhi tree, during the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, Gandhara, 2-3rd century CE.

The Bodhi tree is a specimen of the Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa) in what is now the town of Bodhgaya. It was while sitting in meditation under this tree that Siddhartha Gautama became enlightened. In the legends of Mahayana Buddhism, it was said that Queen Maya held a branch of one of these trees while resting in Lumbini Garden and her son, Siddhartha, was born.

Modes of Enlightenment

Sāvaka-Bodhi (Arhat)
Those who study the teaching of a samma-sambuddha and then attain enlightenment in this world are known as Arhats. Such beings are skilled at helping others to reach enlightenment as they may draw on personal experience.

Pacceka-Bodhi (Pratyeka)
Those who obtain enlightenment through self-realisation, without the aid of spiritual guides and teachers, are known as pratyekabuddhas. According to the Tripitaka, such beings only arise in ages where the dharma has been lost. Their skill in helping others to obtain enlightenment is inferior to that of the arhats, but one need to accumulate paramis in a much long time to become a pratyekabuddha than an Arhat. Many pratyekas may arise at a single time.

Sammā-Sambodhi (supreme Buddha)
These are perfect, most developed, most compassionate, most loving, all knowing beings who fully comprehend the dhamma by their own efforts and wisdom and teach it skillfully to others, freeing them from Samsāra. One that develops Sammā-Sambodhi is known as samma-sambuddha, and it is needed much more time of parami accumulation here than to become a pratyekabuddha

Quotes
When you get to this, then thoughts become still without being stilled, calmness and insight arise without being produced, the mind of the buddhas appears without being revealed. To try to liken it to the body of cosmic space or the light of a thousand suns would be to be further away than the sky is from the earth.
— Wei-tse
To be a living being is not the ultimate state; there is something beyond, much more wonderful, which is neither being nor non-being, neither living nor not-living. It is a state of pure awareness, beyond the limitations of space and time. Once the illusion that the body-mind is oneself is abandoned, death loses its terror, it becomes a part of living.
— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Tags: Bodhi, Buddha Principle, Buddha, Four Noble Truths, Enlightenment, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Gautama Buddha

The Eightfold Path

Published on Monday, January 30th, 2006

The Eightfold Path

The Buddha-Dharma is the realization within one’s deepest consciousness of the Oneness of all life. For the attainment of this purpose, Buddha taught the Eightfold Path.

1. Right Views means to keep ourselves free from prejudice, superstition and delusion… and to see aright the true nature of life.

2. Right Thoughts means to turn away from the hypocrisies of this world and to direct our minds toward Truth and Positive Attitudes and Action.

3. Right Speech means to refrain from pointless and harmful talk… to speak kindly and courteously to all.

4. Right Conduct means to see that our deeds are peaceable, benevolent, compassionate and pure… and to live the Teachings daily.

5. Right Livelihood means to earn our living in such a way as to entail no evil consequences. To seek that employment to which can give our complete enthusiasm and devotion.

6. Right Effort means to direct our efforts continually to the overcoming of ignorance and craving desires.

7. Right Mindfulness means to cherish good and pure thoughts, for all that we say and do arises from our thoughts.

8. Right Meditation means to concentrate on the Oneness of all life and the Buddhahood that exists within all beings.

In keeping with the language of Nonduality, one can substitute “Integrous” for “Right.” Myswizard

Tags: The Eightfold Path, Buddha, Buddhism

Madame Blavatsky, Theosophy and The Great White Brotherhood

Published on Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Madame Blavatsky

Helena Petrovna Hahn (also Hélène) (July 31, 1831 (O.S.) (August 12, 1831 (N.S.)) - May 8, 1891 London), better known as Helena Blavatsky or Madame Blavatsky was the founder of the Theosophical Society.

Biography

She was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk), Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire), the daughter of Col. Peter Alexeivich von Hahn and Elena Fadeev. Her mother, also known as Helena Andreyvna Fadeyev, was a novelist, known as the “Russian George Sand”, and died when Helena was eleven. Her father being in the armed forces, she was sent with her brother to live with her maternal grandmother, Helena Pavlovna de Fadeev, a princess of the Dolgorukov family and a famous botanist. Both her mother and grandmother were strong role models that allowed her to mature into a nonconformist. She was cared for by servants who believed in the many superstitions of Old Russia and apparently encouraged her to believe she had supernatural powers at a very early age.

She married when she was seventeen, on July 7, 1849, to the forty-year old Nikifor (also Nicephor) Vassilievitch Blavatsky. According to her account, they never consummated their marriage, and within a few months, she abandoned her husband. Other sources say that she had several extramarital affairs, became pregnant, and bore a deformed child, Yuri, whom she loved dearly. She wrote that Yuri was a child of her friends the Metrovitches (C.W.I p. xlvi-ii, HPB TO APS p. 147). He died at the age of five, and Helena said that she ceased to believe in the Russian Orthodox God at this point. According to her own story as told to a later biographer, she spent the years 1848 to 1858 traveling the world, claiming to have entered Tibet to study for two years with the men she called Brothers. She returned to Russia for a short stay in 1858 to soon leave with Italian opera singer Agardi Metrovich. In 1871, on a boat bound for Cairo an explosion claimed Agardi’s life, but H.P. Blavatsky continued on to Cairo herself. It was in Cairo that she formed the Societe Spirite for occult phenomena with Emma Cutting (later Emma Coulomb), which closed after dissatisfied customers complained of fraudulent activities.

It was in 1873 that she emigrated to New York City. Impressing people with her psychic abilities she was spurred on to continue her mediumship. Throughout her career she was able to perform physical and mental psychic feats which included levitation, clairvoyance, out-of-body projection, telepathy, and clairaudience. One new feat of hers was materialization, that is, producing physical objects out of nothing. Though she was apparently quite adept at these feats, her interests were more in the area of theory and laws of how they work rather than performing them herself.

In 1874, Helena met Henry Steel Olcott, a lawyer, agricultural expert, and journalist who covered the Spiritualist phenomena. Soon they were living together in the “Lamasery” (alternate spelling: “Lamastery”) where her work Isis Unveiled was created.

She married her second husband, Michael C. Betanelly on April 3, 1875 in New York City. She maintained that this marriage was not consummated either. She separated from Betanelly after a few months, and their divorce was legalized on May 25, 1878. On July 8, 1878, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

While living in New York City, she founded the Theosophical Society in September 1875, with Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others. The Society was a modern day Gnostic movement of the late nineteenth century that took its inspiration from Hinduism and Buddhism. Madame Blavatsky claimed that all religions were both true in their inner teachings and false or imperfect in their external conventional manifestations. Imperfect men attempting to translate the divine knowledge had corrupted it in the translation. Her claim that esoteric spiritual knowledge is consistent with new science may be considered to be the first instance of what is now called New Age thinking. In fact, many researchers feel that much of New Age thought started with Blavatsky.

By 1882 the Theosophical Society became an international organization, and it was at this time that she moved the headquarters to Adyar near Madras, India.

Her last words in regard to her work were: “Keep the link unbroken! Do not let my last incarnation be a failure.”

Suffering from heart disease, rheumatism, Bright’s disease of the kidneys, and complications from influenza, Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky died at her home May 8, 1891. Her body was then cremated; one third of her ashes were sent to Europe, one third with William Quan Judge to the United States, and one third to India where her ashes were scattered in the Ganges River. May 8 is celebrated by Theosophists, and it is called White Lotus Day.

She was succeeded as head of one branch of the Theosophical Society, by her protege, Annie Besant. Her friend, WQ Judge, headed the other branch.

Influences

Blavatsky was influenced by the following authors:

William Blake
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Blavatsky influenced the following authors, artists and musicians:

Annie Besant
C.W. Leadbeater
Raghavan Iyer
Sir Edwin Arnold
Col. James Churchward
Aleister Crowley
Charles Johnston
James Joyce
Wassily Kandinsky
Max Theon
Piet Mondrian
Boris Pasternak
Nicholas Roerich
George W. Russell
Alexander Scriabin
William Butler Yeats

Works

Her books included

Isis Unveiled, a master key to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology (1877)[1]
The Secret Doctrine, the synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy (1888)[2]
The Voice of the Silence (1889) [3]
The Key to Theosophy (1889) [4]
Her many articles have been collected in the H.P. Blavatsky Collected Writings. This series has 15 numbered volumes including the index.

Books about her

The Esoteric World of Madame Blavatsky by Daniel Caldwell [5]
HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky by Sylvia Cranston
Theosophy: History of a pseudo-religion, by René Guénon [6]
H. P. Blavatsky and the SPR by Vernon Harrison [7]
H.P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement by Charles Ryan [8]
Blavatsky and The Secret Doctrine by Max Heindel (1933; from Max Heindel writings & with introduction by Manly Palmer Hall), [9]
Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon by Peter Washington Rebuttal/Review
“Madame Blavatsky: The Woman Behind the Myth” by Marion Meade

Quotations

There is no religion higher than truth.

“There is often greater martyrdom to live for the love of, whether man or an ideal, than to die” is a motto of the Mahatmas. (C.W. IV, p. 603)

Nothing of that which is conducive to help man, collectively or individually, to live—not “happily”—but less unhappily in this world, ought to be indifferent to the Theosophist-Occultist. It is no concern of his whether his help benefits a man in his worldly or spiritual progress; his first duty is to be ever ready to help if he can, without stopping to philosophize. (Collected Writings VOLUME XI, p. 465, October, 1889)

I speak “with absolute certainty” only so far as my own personal belief is concerned. Those who have not the same warrant for their belief as I have, would be very credulous and foolish to accept it on blind faith. Nor does the writer believe any more than her correspondent and his friends in any “authority” let alone “divine revelation”! (Collected Writings VOLUME XI, p. 466, October, 1889)

I am an old Buddhist pilgrim, wandering about the world to teach the only true religion, which is truth.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Madame Blavatsky”.

White Brotherhood

The Great White Brotherhood is a Spiritual Organization composed of those Ascended Masters who have Arisen from our Earth into Immortality, and yet have said: “We are not going on into Cosmic Heights and leaving our brothers and sisters on Earth behind. We will stay and assist.” At this moment in Cosmic History, the Door is wide open. The Great White Brotherhood has been sponsoring the Release of the Spoken Word through conclaves, seminars, writings, books, and through personal discipleship and training. They are releasing the full Teachings that the Dispensations of Cosmic Law allow at the dawning of the Great Golden Age of Saint Germain.

The Great White Brotherhood is a Spiritual Order of Hierarchy, an organization of Ascended Masters united for the highest purposes of God in man as set forth by the Christ, Gautama Buddha, and other World Teachers. The Great White Brotherhood also includes Members of the Heavenly Host, the Spiritual Hierarchy directly concerned with the evolution of our world, Beneficent Members from other planets that are interested in our welfare, as well as certain unascended chelas. The word “white” refers not to race, but to the aura (halo) of the White Light of the Christ that surrounds the saints and sages of all ages who have risen from every nation to be counted among the Immortals. 6

The Great White Brotherhood is a Spiritual Order from every culture and race - Western saints, Eastern adepts, and so on - who have reunited with the Spirit of the Living God and who comprise the Heavenly Hosts. They have transcended the cycles of karma and rebirth and Ascended (accelerated) into that Higher Reality which is the eternal abode of the soul. The Ascended Masters of the Great White Brotherhood, united for the highest purposes of the brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood of God, have risen in every age from every culture and religion to inspire creative achievement in education, the arts and sciences, God-government and the abundant Life through the economies of the nations.

The Brotherhood also includes in Its ranks certain unascended chelas of the Ascended Masters. Jesus the Christ describes this Heavenly Order of Saints as being ‘robed in white’ 1 to his servant John in Revelation.” 5

The Theosophical Society
Blavatsky Net - Theosophy
Theosophy.org

Tags: The White Brotherhood, Christ, Gautama Buddha, Theosophy, The Theosophical Society, Madame Blavatsky

Adi Shankara

Published on Monday, January 23rd, 2006

Adi Shankara

Adi Shankara with the Four DisciplesAdi Shankara (Śaṅkara, Shri Shankaracharya, Adhi Shankaracharya, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya; ‘the first Shankara’ in his lineage), reverentially called Bhagavatpada Acharya (the teacher at the feet of the Lord) (approximately 8th century, but see below) was the most famous advaita philosopher, who had a profound influence on the growth of Hinduism through his non-dualistic philosophy. He advocated the greatness and importance of the important Hindu scriptures, the Veda (most particularly on the Upanishads), spoke to a spirituality founded on reason and without dogma or ritualism, and gave new life to Hinduism at a time when Buddhism and Jainism were gaining popularity. He is considered the founder of the Dasanami sannyasin.

Life

Shankara was born in Kalady, a small village in Kerala, India, to a Namboothiri brahmin couple, Shivaguru and Aryamba. The traditional source for accounts of his life is the Shankara Vijayams, which are essentially hagiographies. The most important among them are the MadhavIya Shankaravijaya, the AnandagirIya Shankaravijaya, cidvilAsIya Shankaravijaya, and keralIya Shankaravijaya. What follows is the standard story of Shankara’s life; some of it is clearly mythical, but a substantial portion is historical, according to most scholars. In fact some of them are blatantly misleading. For example it is mentioned in Madhaviya Sankaravijaya that Adi Sankara had an encounter with a great tantric Abhinavagupta of Kamarupa. In fact the great scholar Abhinavagupta, who wrote Tantraloka and Tantrasara among his many books, was a contemporary of Abhinava Sankara and was from Kashmir and not Kamarupa.

Birth

Shankara’s parents were childless for many years, and prayed at the Vadakkumnathan (vRashAcala) temple in Thrissur, Kerala, for the birth of a child. Legend has it that Shiva appeared to both husband and wife in their dreams, and offered them a choice: a mediocre son who would live a long life, or an extraordinary son who would not live long. Both Shivaguru and Aryamba chose the latter. The son was named Shankara, in honour of Shiva.

Formal education

Shivaguru died while Shankara was very young. The child showed remarkable scholarship, and is said to have mastered the four Vedas by the age of eight. Following the common practice of that era, Shankara lived and studied at the home of his teacher. It was customary for students and men of learning to receive Bhiksha or alms from the laity; on one occasion, while accepting Bhiksha, Shankara came upon a woman who had nothing to eat in her house except a single dried amlaka fruit. Rather than consume this last bit of food herself, the pious lady gave away the fruit to Sankara as Bhiksha. Moved by her piety, Shankara composed the Kanakadhara Stotram on the spot. Legend has it that on completion of the stotram, golden amlaka fruits were showered upon the woman by the goddess Lakshmi.

Renunciation

From a young age, Shankara was attracted to asceticism and to the life of a renunciate. However, his mother, Aryamba, was entirely against his becoming a sannyasi, and consistently refused him her formal permission, which was required before he could take Sannyasam. Once when Shankara was bathing in the river, a crocodile gripped him by the leg and began to drag him into the water. Only his mother was nearby, and it proved impossible for her to get him away from the grip of the crocodile. Shankara then told his mother that he was on the verge of death; if she would give him her formal permission verbally, he would at this moment renounce the world and die a Sannyasi or ascetic. At the end of her wits, his mother agreed; Shankara immediately recited the words that made a renunciate of him, entered Sannyasa, and awaited death. But inexplicably, the crocodile released him from its very jaws and swam away. Shankara emerged unscathed from the river, now a Sannyasi.

Seeing in this incident the hand of God, Aryamba put no further obstacles in the path of her son. Shankara then left Kerala and travelled thoroughout India. When he reached the banks of the river Narmada, he met Govinda Bhagavatpada, the disciple of the Advaitin Gaudapada. Shankara was initiated as his disciple.

Travels

Shankara travelled extensively, while writing commentaries on the Upanishads, Vishnu sahasranama, Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita. He engaged in a series of debates with Buddhist scholars, and with scholars of the Purva Mimamsa school, which helped in cementing his spiritual ascendancy. One of the most famous of these debates was with the famed ritualist Mandana Mishra.

His most famous encounter was however with an untouchable. On his way to the Vishwanath temple in Kashi, he came upon an untouchable and his dog. When asked to move aside by Shankara’s disciples, the untouchable asked: “Do you wish that I move my soul, the Ātman and ever lasting, or this body made of clay?” Seeing the untouchable as none other than the Lord Shiva, Shankara prostrated himself before Ishwara, composing five shlokas (Manisha Panchakam). It was from Benaras (Kashi) that he started his Vishwa Vijaya Yatra (journey to conquor the world).

Once he was saved by Sri Narasimha from being sacrificed to goddess Kali by a Kapalika. He then composed the Laksmi-Nrsimha stotra. Another famous composition of Sri Adi Shankara is his Bhaja Govindam, in praise of Vishnu.

It is a traditional belief that Adi Sankara installed at Srirangam a yantra called janakarshana to attract pilgrims to this sacred temple, just as at Tirupati he installed the dhanakarshana yantra. Indeed, Srirangam is the most visited Hindu temple in the world, and Tirupati is the richest.

Shankara is believed to have visited the Sarvajnapitha (lit., the Throne of Omniscience) in Kanchi, where he attained samadhi. A later day famous Abhinava Sankarachaya is known to have visited the Sarvajnapitha in Kashmir before he withdrew to Kedarnath and attained samadhi. The Kamakshi Amman temple at Kanchipuram also has a vrindavanam where he is believed to have attained siddhi. He died at Kanchi when only thirty-two years of age. (A variant tradition expounded by keraliya Shankaravijaya places his place of death as Vadakkumnathan (vRashAcala) temple in Thrissur, Kerala.)

Shankara’s dates

Modern scholarship is agreed on dates in the 8th century, though it has proved impossible to reach agreement on Shankara’s precise dates of birth or death. Some religious institutions dedicated to Shankara, such as Shankara mathams, however, ascribe much earlier dates to him. If these dates were true, they would require moving back the date of Buddha (which serves as an anchor for modern academic history of India).

Of the major Shankara Mathams active today, the Kanchi, Dwaraka, and Puri ascribe the dates 509–477 BCE to Shankara. The Sringeri Peetham, on the other hand, accepts the 788–820 CE dates. (See also below.)

According to Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati’s biography of Shankara, published in his book Sannyasa Darshan, Shankara was born in Kalady, Kerala, in 686, and attained mahasamadhi at Kedarnath, Uttaranchal, in 718.

Philosophy and religious thought

At the time of Shankara’s life, Hinduism had lost some of its appeal because of the influence of Buddhism and Jainism. Shankara stressed the importance of the Vedas, and his work helped Hinduism regain strength and popularity. Although he did not live long, he had travelled on foot to various parts of India to restore the study of the Vedas. His philosophy is known as Advaita Vedanta.

Shankara’s theology maintains that spiritual ignorance (avidya) is caused by seeing the self (Ātman) where self is not. Discrimination needs to be developed in order to distinguish true from false and knowledge (jnana) from ignorance (avidya). Shankara proposed that, while the phenomenal universe, our consciousness and bodily being are certainly experienced, they are not true reality, but are rather maya. He considered that the ultimate truth was Brahman, the single divine foundation, which is beyond time, space, and causation. Brahman is immanent and transcendent, but not merely a pantheistic concept. Indeed, while Brahman is the efficient and material cause for the cosmos, Brahman itself is not limited by self-projection, and transcends all binary opposites or dualities, especially such individuated aspects as form and being.

We must pierce through a hazy lens to understand our true being and nature, which is not change and mortality, but unmitigated bliss for eternity. If we are to understand the true motive behind our actions and thoughts, we must become aware of the fundamental unity of being. How, he asks, can a limited mind comprehend the limitless Ātman? It cannot, he argues, and therefore we must transcend even the mind and become one with Soul-consciousness.

Shankara denounced caste and meaningless ritual as foolish, and in his own charismatic manner exhorted the true devotee to meditate on god’s love and to apprehend truth. His treatises on the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Vedanta Sutras are testaments to a keen and intuitive mind that did not want to admit dogma but advocated reason. His greatest lesson was that reason and abstract philosophising alone would not lead to moksha (liberation). It was only through selflessness and love governed by viveka (discrimination) that a devotee would realise his inner self. Charges that his philosophical views were influenced by Buddhism are unfounded, as both Buddha and Sankara’s views were based on the ancient shastras. Buddhas shunyata is misconstrued by many as negation of being. Nagarjuna in Mulamadhyamakakaika clearly states that shunyata of Buddhism is neither nothingness nor no-nothingness. It is like the Nisadiya sutra of the Rig veda telling that the ultimate reality is neither existence nor non-existence. Sankara believed that the unmanifest Brahman manifested itself as Ishwara, the loving, perfect being on high who is seen by many as being Vishnu or Shiva or whatever their hearts dictate. Shankara is said to have travelled throughout India, from the South to Kashmir, preaching to the local populaces and debating philosophy (apparently successfully, though no documentation exists) with other Hindu and Buddhist scholars and monks along the way.

His beliefs form the basis of the Smarta tradition, or Smartism and influenced Sant Matha lineages such as Advait Matha. [1]

Even though he lived for only thirty-two years, his impact on India and on Hinduism cannot be stressed enough, as he countered the increasing sacerdotalism (the belief that priests can mediate between humans and god) of the masses, and reintroduced a purer form of Vedic thought. He presented a face of Hinduism that could reasonably contend with Buddhist ideas and spread it, as well as reformist measures, across the land, travelling from as far up as Kashmir from areas in South India. His Hindu revival movement paved the way for the strict theistic movements of Ramanuja and Madhva. The historians like Vincent Smith suggested that it was due to Adi Sankaracharya there was decline of Buddhism in India. Other argue that it was due to the Muslim invasion (of Bakhtyar) that Nalanda was routed and the library there was burned and thousands of Buddha viharas were destroyed subsequently.

Works

Adi Shankara has authored many works of stotras, and bhashyas, many of these are debated and questioned but below are a list of Books certainly written by Adi Shankara:

The “Crest-Jewel of Discrimination” or Viveka Chudamani, one of his most famous works, which summarises his ideas of non-dual Vedanta
The commentary Bhashya on the Brahma Sutra
The commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
The commentary on the Taittiriya Upanishad
The Thousand Teachings or Upadesasahasri
A hymn to Krishna as the Herder of Cows, known as Bhaja Govindam
Benedictory invocation to Shiva and Shakti, namely Shivanandalahari and Saundaryalahari respectively
Commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama
Books he probably wrote are:

The commentary on Gaudapada’s Karika to the Mandukya Upanishad

The commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, though there is no scholarly agreement on this.

Mathas (monasteries)

Shankara is said to have founded four maṭhas (a matha is a monastery or religious order), which are important to this day, to guide the Hindu religion in the future. These are at Sringeri in Karnataka, in the south; Dwaraka in Gujarat in the west; Puri in Orissa in the east; and Jyotirmath (Joshimath) in Uttaranchal in the north. He put in charge of these mathas his four main disciples: Sureshwaracharya, Hastamalaka, Padmapada, and Trotakacharya respectively; the heads of the mathas trace their authority back to them. Each matha was assigned one Veda. The Jyothir Math near Badrinath in northern India is assigned with Atharva Veda; Sharada Math at Shringeri in southern India with Yajur Veda; Govardhan Math at Jagannath Puri in eastern India with Rig Veda and Kalikā Math at Dwarka in western India with Sama Veda. Each of the abbots of these four mathas also have the title of Jagadguru Shankaracharya — and are regarded as Patriarchs of Hinduism by many Hindus. However, some claim that there is no concrete evidence for the existence of these mathas before the 14th century.

The matha at Kanchipuram or Kanchi in Tamil Nadu claims that it was also founded by Shankara. According to this matha, it was where he settled in his last days and attained mahāsamādhi (i.e. left his body), but there are other, accounts which claim that he attained mahāsamādhi at Kedarnath.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Adi_Shankara”.

Tags: Adi Shankara, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Buddha, Rig veda, Vedanta Sutras, God, Vishnu, Advaita Vedanta

Dogen (1200-1253)

Published on Sunday, January 22nd, 2006

Dogen (1200-1253)

There is a simple way to become a buddha When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate to all sentient beings…not excluding or desiring anything…you will be called a buddha. Do not seek anything else. (from Moon in a Dewdrop edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi)
So wrote Eihei Dogen, one of Zen Buddhism’s most prominent figures.

He was born in 1200 near Kyoto which was, at that time, the capital of Japan. When he was fourteen he was formally ordained as a monk and entered a monastery at the foot of Mt Hiei to begin his training. In 1217 he moved to Kennin Monastery - also in Kyoto - and studied there until 1223. He then accompanied his abbot, Myozen, to China. The purpose of this journey was to engage more fully with Ch’an Buddhism, the Chinese precursor of Japanese Zen.

Dropping Away Body and Mind

His experience of the Chinese monasteries was ultimately disappointing. He felt that the practice of koans, for example, which was a key feature of many of these monasteries, was narrow and limiting. After two years, he contemplated returning to Japan. But a crucial meeting with a renowned priest, Rujung, changed his mind. Rujung taught that practice was all about ‘dropping away body and mind’ and emphasized sitting meditation, rather than, koans, chanting or rituals.

Having studied under Rujung, in 1227 Dogen returned to Japan and began to expound his new understanding through his writing. Indeed, Dogen was a prolific writer and his writings are available in translation. In 1233 he also opened Kannondori Temple in Fukakusa and appointed Ejo has head monk. In 1243 the monastery was relocated to Echizen Province northeast of Kyoto and was renamed Daibutsu Monastery and subsequently, in 1246, renamed again as Eihei-Ji Monastery.

In 1252, however, Dogen became ill and in 1253 he died in Kyoto.

More on Dogen
Great Awakenings

Dogen’s teaching, as expounded through his writing, encourages the practice of a type of meditation known as zazen or ‘just-sitting’. He explains, ‘Zazen is not thinking of good, not thinking of bad. It is not conscious endeavor….Do not desire to become a buddha’.

In ‘Eight Awakenings of Great Beings’ Dogen focuses on the practices that lead to Nirvana. These are 1. to have few desires 2. knowing how much is enough 3. serenity (to be found in seclusion) 4. diligent effort 5. mindfulness 6. practicing meditation 7. cultivating wisdom 8. avoiding ‘hollow’ discussions. He wrote: ‘We can learn and practice these awakenings because of the merit of our wholesome conditions from the past. By practicing and nurturing these awakenings you can certainly arrive at unsurpassable enlightenment’.(from Enlightenment Unfolds edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi)

DOGEN ZENJI

After training for nine years under the Rinzai teacher Myozen, Dogen Zenji made the difficult journey to China, where he studied with and became the Dharma successor (14th Patriarch in lineage to Dong Shan Liang Chieh (Tozan)); 24th in lineage in Transmission of the Light to Master Tendo Nyojo (Ju-Ching, 13th Patriarch) in the Soto Zen lineage. Considered the founder of the Japanese Soto School, Dogen Zenji established Eiheiji, the principal Soto training monastery, and is best known for his collection of Dharma essays, Shobogenzo.

Dogen was the founder of the Soto (T’sao Dong Ch’an) Lineage of Buddhism in Japan. He came from a noble family, but his life was unhappy and difficult, because his parents died when he was a very young boy. Their deaths lead him to contemplate the impermanence of life, and at the age of thirteen, he became a Buddhist monk.

Dogen didn’t realize the truth of Zen for a long time. The difficulty of Zen meditation is not the training, but the letting go of preconceived ideas. The experience of the true self is a state of awareness that cannot be defined; words cannot express living reality. In the experience of the true self, there is no “I” no reference point whatsoever.

Dogen was troubled by one particular question: if all human beings are born with Buddha Nature, why is it so difficult to realize it? Dogen finally studied with Eisai, a Rinzai master, who told him it was a delusion to think in such dualistic terms as Buddha. With this answer Dogen experienced Satori. Eisai lived for a few more months; Dogen became his disciple and stayed with him. After Eisai’s death, Dogen remained with Myozen, Eisai’s successor, for eight years, and received the seal of a master.

Despite his profound insights, Dogen felt he didn’t have complete understanding, and therefore, went with Myozen to China to study more. He practiced Chinese Zen (Ch’an) with Master Ju-Ching in China, but mistakenly sat in a quietest way, which merely lead to notional emptiness condemned by H.H. The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng. One day Master Ju-Ching was scolding another monk for sleeping, and said, “The practice of Zazen (Sitting Meditation) is the dropping away of body and mind. What do you think dozing will accomplish?” Upon hearing these words, Dogen became fully Enlightened. He suddenly understood that Zazen is not just sitting still, but it is the “I” opening up to its own Reality. When preconceived ideas are abandoned, one experience the true nature of mind; life is experienced directly, non-dualistically, without ego interfering. He made the following comments about his experience:

“Mind and body dropped off; dropped off mind and body! This state should be experienced by everyone; it is like piling fruit into a basket without a bottom, like pouring water into a bowl with a pierced hole; however much you may pile or pour you cannot fill it up. When this is realized the pail bottom is broken through. But while there is still a trace of conceptualism which makes you say ‘I have this understanding’ or ‘I have that realization’, you are still playing with unrealities.”

Four years later, when Dogen returned to Japan, he said, “I have come back empty-handed. I have realized only that the eyes are horizontal and the nose is vertical.” From this empty clarity came the great Soto sect of Japan. Dogen taught a way of sitting called Shikantaza, “shikan” means nothing but, “ta” means to hit, “za” means to sit. Shikantaza has remained the basis of Soto Zen up to the present; it unites the means can end of sitting meditation. There is no means to an end, because the end is now. The act of sitting itself is the actualization of Buddha Nature or Being. The meditation does not strive for Satori, but has faith on the teacher and teachings, and trusts that realization will come as a result of sitting practice. Dogen gave the following meditation instructions:

In doing Zazen it is desirable to have a quiet room. You should be temperate in eating and drinking, forsaking all delusive relationships. Setting everything aside, think of neither good nor evil, right nor wrong. Thus, having stopped the various functions of your mind, give up even the idea of becoming a Buddha. This holds true not only for zazen but for all your daily actions.

Usually a thick square mat is put on the floor where you sit and a round cushion on top of that. You may sit in either the full or half lotus position. In the former first put your right foot on your left thigh and then your left foot on your right thigh. In the latter, only put your left foot on your right thigh. Your clothing should be worn loosely but neatly. Nest, put your right hand on your left foot and your left palm on the right palm, the tips of the thumbs lightly touching. Sit upright, leaning to neither left nor right, front nor back. Your ears should be on the same plane your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel. Your tongue should be placed against the roof of your mouth and your lips and teeth closed firmly. With your eyes kept continuously open, breathe quietly through your nostrils. Finally, having regulated your body and mind in this way, take a deep breath, sway your body to left and right, then sit firmly as a rock. Think of non-thinking. How is this done? By thinking beyond non-thinking and thinking. This is the very basis of Zazen.

Zazen is not a ’step-by-step’ meditation. Rather it is simply the easy and pleasant practice of a Buddha, the realization of the Buddha’s wisdom. The truth appears, there being no delusion. If you understand this you are completely free, supreme law will then appear of itself, and you will be free of weariness and confusion. At the completion of Zazen move your body slowly and stand up calmly. Do not move violently.”

In this meditation posture, the full lotus position provides a wide, solid physical base; both knees touch the mat to provide body stability. The rock-like, immobile body posture calms down the mind and brings tranquillity. Meditators are given a breathing technique to focus the mind. Beginners count the inbreaths and outbreaths, the count goes from one to ten, and then starts all over again. In this technique, the mind has nothing to feed on, play with, analyze, or hold on to. Thoughts will naturally come and go, and Dogen’s advice was to place each thought in the palm of your hand. In the more advanced Shikantaza, the counting of breaths is left behind, and the tamed mind abides in effortless concentrated awareness. The awareness is the unmoving center of all movement: “Abandoning thinking and doing, is nothing other than every form of doing and acting,” Dogen said.

Dogen’s Soto school taught that sitting in Zazen was entering the flow of each moment by dropping from the mind the concepts of past, present, and future. Life is one and its flow of movements and events should not be held to or dominated to create illusions of permanence. All moments and all actions, whether they are important, insignificant, fascinating, or boring. — are seen as the actual realization of Buddhahood. The Soto school’s Shikantaza helps one realize this moment now. In the Shobogenzo, Dogen said that it was useless to fix one’s hopes on a goal.

“When a fish swims, it swims on and on, and there is no end to the water. When a bird flies, it flies on and on, and there is no end to the sky. There was never a fish that swam out of the water or a bird that flew out of the sky. When they need just a little water or sky, they use just a little; when they need a lot, they use a lot. Thus, they use all of it in every moment, and in every place they have perfect freedom.

Yet if there were a bird that first wanted to examine the size of the sky, or a fish that first wanted to examine the extent of the water, and then tried to fly or swim, it would never find its way. When we find where we are at this moment, then practice follows, and this is the realization of the truth. For the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither self nor other. It has never existed before, and it is not coming into existence now. It simply is as it is.”

Dogen’s Reflecting Pool
Explaining the path to Enlightenment is the mission of every Buddhist teacher since the time of the historical Buddha. From the San-lun school, to the teaching of Dogen Zenji, great thinkers attempt to relate their understanding of the Two-fold Truth and illuminate the most efficient path to Enlightenment. Dogen, the eminent Soto Zen philosopher, takes the general understanding of the twofold truth:
The existence of a discursive, dual world of form.

A world of non-dual emptiness and sheds new light on the relationship between form and emptiness. He proposes that emptiness is manifested through the acceptance of distinctions and the discursive world. For Dogen, distinctions illuminate the fundamental emptiness. When one understands that one lives in a discursive world, then one can feel the basic emptiness. Awakening to the realization that the ultimate underlies and encompasses everything–being and non-being, delusion and Enlightenment–allows one to truly see the distinctions and to accept reality as it is. Once this understanding is reached, one experiences the compassion that flows from the pervasive emptiness. The following passage from Dogen’s “Genjokoan” fascicle of his major work, the Shobogenzo, expresses this understanding in a succinct manner:

When all dharmas are the Buddha Dharma, there is illusion and Enlightenment, practice, birth, death, buddhas, and sentient beings. When myriad dharmas are without self, there is no illusion or Enlightenment, no buddhas or sentient beings, no generation or extinction. The Buddha Way is originally beyond fullness and lack and for this reason there is generation and extinction, illusion and Enlightenment, sentient beings and buddhas. In spite of this, flowers fall always amid our grudging, and weeds flourish in our chagrin.1
The traditional Mahayana belief of the twofold truth, one that Dogen does not refute but uses as a stepping stone into his theory, states that there exists a world of form AND a world of emptiness.2 The world of form is based on discursive, dualistic thinking that explains conventional truth and understanding. The world of emptiness contains the highest truth, the belief in interdependence and no fixed reality, based in non-dual awareness and thinking. Ultimately, the world of form is empty. Residing in non-dual awareness, one realizes that all form is constantly changing. Since all things have this impermanent characteristic, then everything possesses the same essence and is one.3 This understanding places a follower in the world of emptiness and highest reality. In this realization, “all dharmas are without self, there is no illusion or Enlightenment, no buddhas or sentient being, no generation or extinction.” 4 All form is the same and empty, with no fixed reality.

Often one becomes attached to form and cannot realize the ultimate reality of emptiness. One loathes to see a flower wilt because one is attached to the idea that the flower should be beautiful and eternal. One separates the flower from the ultimate reality of impermanence and interconnectedness. This separation and attachment to “what ought to be,” causes suffering and blindness to the true reality. The reality is that the flower, like all else, grows and dies.

The beautiful mountains are praised a great deal for their remarkable appearance, but they are actually created from the shifting of the earth.

A nice vase is still breakable.
In the same vein, as british author William Somerset Maugham writes in The Razor’s Edge in conversation with the novel’s main character Larry Darrell in search of the Truth as Darrell says:

“It may be that there is no solution or it may be that I’m not clever enough to find it. Ramakrishna looked upon the world as the sport of God. “It is like a game,” he said. “In this game there are joy and sorrow, virtue and vice, knowledge and ignorance, good and evil., The game cannot continue if sin and suffering are altogether eliminated from the creation.” I would reject that with all my strength. The best I can suggest is that when the Absolute manifested itself in the world evil was the natural correlation of good. You could never have had the stupendous beauty of the Himalayas without the unimaginable horror of a convulsion of the earth’s crust. The Chinese craftsman who makes a vase in what they call eggshell porcelain can give it a lovely shape, ornament it with a beautiful design, stain it a ravishing colour, and give it a perfect glaze, but from its very nature he can’t make it anything but fragile. If you drop it on the floor it will break into a dozen fragments. Isn’t it possible in the same way that the values we cherish in the world can only exist in combination with evil?” (source)

Dogen does not deny this fact, but he takes it one step further and attempts to frame distinctions not as hindrances, but as paths and indications of an underlying emptiness to everything. The realization of emptiness occurs when one who has felt this sense of oneness separates from that feeling and enters a world of dichotomies and attachments.5 Only by looking through these “attachment-colored” eyeglasses, one understands the emptiness that encompasses and extends beyond all distinctions. Distinctions must exist to make emptiness apparent. Emptiness and duality are contingent upon one another. They are the same things.

A tree and a leaf are one; that is, they depend on and define one another. A leaf exists because a tree exists and vice versa. To the non-dual mind and to themselves, the tree and the leaf transcend distinction. As autumn approaches, the leaf begins to quiver, darken and eventually falls to the ground, separating from the tree. This detachment resembles entering the dual world where the tree and leaf exist as two separate entities, no longer defining one another. According to Dogen, precisely at this moment when the distinctions are realized, the tree and leaf understand the pervasive emptiness that encompasses them both. Only by falling into the realm of duality can they feel the sense of oneness they once manifested. The leaf does not fear the world of distinctions because it falls into the net of oneness that catches and sustains all things. In the Shape of the Universe the dichotomies of the tree, leaf and all entities, illuminate the underlying and consuming emptiness that engulfs all form.

Dogen believes that all illuminating distinctions depend on two facets, such as light and dark, being and non-being, and trees and leaves. The underlying emptiness that absorbs all dichotomies makes possible the realization of these distinctions. As Dogen writes, “The Buddha Way is originally beyond fullness and lack, and for this reason there is generation and extinction, illusion and Enlightenment, sentient beings and buddhas.”6 These distinctions must be understood and accepted in the light of the idea that they are all one. Only through truly seeing and embracing the dual nature of all, can one feel and experience the sense of a fundamental ultimate. As Shunryu Suzuki explains, “each existence depends on something else. Strictly speaking, there are no separate individual existences. There are just many names for one existence.”7 The leaf “recognizes” its oneness with the tree through its attachment to the past non-duality and belief that this sense encompasses all. One may believe that diversity obstructs the recognition of emptiness, but Dogen teaches that ignoring the dual differences leads to one-sided understanding based on the attachment to a firm existence.8 Suzuki, clarifying this teaching, says, “oneness and variety, like Dark Luminosity, are the same thing, so oneness should be appreciated in each existence. We should find the reality in each moment, and in each phenomenon.”9 The acceptance of distinctions and of the underlying emptiness found in each moment and all things, constitutes the actualization of the ultimate reality. One can only realize non-attachment though attachment to worldly distinctions.10

Recognizing the pervasive emptiness through the attachments constitutes Dogen’s idea of Awakening. This underlying emptiness liberates the practitioner and allows one to see things as they are–to see the dual facets of all things in the discursive world. Awakening culminates in wanting “to know things as they are. If we know things as they are, there is nothing to point at; there is no way to grasp anything; there is no thing to grasp.”11 Knowing things as they are entails observing the different sides of an entity and realizing the facets are fundamentally rooted in emptiness. One awakens to different sides of the same reality. Like the moon reflecting in a pool of water, one must see the whole reflection and realize that another side exists, a side not reflecting. This recognition of a dark side of the moon, completely illuminates the object and one knows it fully. In the Buddha way, understanding the dual sides of all things awakens one to the complete reality of the entity and the deeper, ultimate reality of emptiness.

The Awakening to the true reality of an object through realizing the underlying emptiness, liberates one from denying human reality. As Dogen says, even though one understands that the Buddha Way encompasses all distinctions, “flowers fall always amid our grudging, and weeds flourish in our chagrin.”12 One still prefers flowers instead of weeds, which is human reality. Suppressing this urge will create further suffering and perpetuate the distinction between flowers and weeds. Suzuki writes, “that we are attached to some beauty is itself Buddha’s activity. That we do not care for weeds is also Buddha’s activity. If you know that, it is all right to attach to something. If it is Buddha’s attachment, that is non-attachment.”13 Buddha’s attachment realizes that emptiness underlies all desires and all distinctions are ultimately the same. Love is hate and hate is love. One exists if and only if the other exists. One can dislike the weeds because the feelings are ultimately the same as love for the flower. Attempting to transcend distinctions between dislike and like, or create a superficial unity, promotes further suffering because one is caught in the idea of what one believes is unity and ignores the fundamental emptiness encompassing both passion and disgust.14 This awakening to the perpetuation of suffering liberates one from fighting against human reality and, through the recognition of distinctions, one understands the ultimate.

From acceptance of things as they are and basic emptiness, compassion, called Karuna, the Golden Purifier in the texts, arises.15 Compassion comes as a feeling with reality, flowing from the underlying emptiness. Accepting things as they are, with the form of distinctions, is a feeling that comes through the ultimate emptiness. One embraces hate and love because they are ultimately the same. One generates a sense of compassion for all weeds and flowers because these distinctions manifest emptiness. All beings command compassion because their dual natures illuminate the ultimate. One cannot emphasize a “oneness” because the Buddha Way is infinite and beyond even a sense of one. Compassion, like the Buddha doctrine of emptiness, encompasses every entity and transcends even a point of “oneness.” Compassion and distinctions derive their definition and form from the pervasive, fundamental emptiness.

Dogen teaches that compassion, Enlightenment and deeper understanding of the twofold truth stem from realizing the pervasive emptiness that encompasses all distinctions and dichotomies. The acceptance and awareness of the true, interdependent world of dualities illuminates the ultimate. One can realize the true nature of the discursive world because of the infinite emptiness that sustains and embraces all duality. Dogen’s idea of emptiness acts as reflecting pool that envelopes and creates the reflection. Without the pool, there would be no reflection. Without duality, the ultimate remains hidden.

Portions of this article contain excerpts from the Wanderling.
This article is informational only and not intended for profit.

Tags: Dogen, Buddhism, meditation, Zazen, koans, Zen Buddhism, Japanese Zen, Buddha, Buddha

The Upanishad

Published on Sunday, January 22nd, 2006

The Upanishad
The Upanishad (उपनिषद्, Upaniṣad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism.

A note: When -a a- come together at the join in a Sanskrit compound word, they run together to form -ā-, e.g. Vedānta is from Veda-anta = “Veda end”. See sandhi.
The Upanishad are commentaries on the Veda, their putative end and essence, and thus known as Vedānta = “End of the Veda”. The term Upanishad derives from the Sanskrit words upa (near), ni (down) and ṣad (to sit) = “sitting down near” a spiritual teacher to receive instruction in the Guru-shishya tradition or parampara. The teachers and students appear in a variety of settings (husband answering questions about immortality, a teenage boy being taught by Yama, or Death personified, etc.). Sometimes the sages are women and at times the instructions (or rather inspiration) are sought by kings.

Different Upanishad serve as commentaries or extensions of each of the four Veda (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda and Atharvaveda). The longest Upanishad are the Bŗhadāraṇyaka and the Chhāndogya.

According to tradition they were transmitted orally and at the end of Dvapara Yuga written down by Vyasa. Scholars’ opinions vary on when they first were written and estimates range between the 16th to 7th century BCE. Most scholars agree that many of the early Upanishads were written before the time of Buddha. Initially there were over two hundred Upanishads, but the philosopher Shankara only considered fifteen or so to be primary. Of the 123 books considered to be part of the Upanishad, 12 are accepted by all Hindus as primary. The Upanishad were not fully recorded until 1656, at the order of Dara Shikoh.

These philosophical and meditative tracts form the backbone of Hindu thought. Of the early Upanishads, the Aitareya and Kauṣītāki belong to the Rig Veda, Kena and Chhāndogya to the Samaveda, Īṣa and Taittirīya and Bŗhadāraṇyaka to the Yajurveda, and Praṣna and Muṇd.aka to the Atharvaveda. (Associated Upanishad and Vedic book information taken from Radhakrishnan Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1.) In addition, the Māṇd.ukya, Katha, Ṣvetāṣvatara are very important. Others also include Mahānārāyaṇa and Maitreyi Upanishads as key.

Origins
Scholarly breakdowns of the Vedic books see the four Vedas as poetic liturgy, collectively called mantra or sam.hitā-, adoration and supplication to a sort of melded monist and henotheist notion of the Gods/Goddesses and an overarching Order (Ŗta) that transcended even the Gods and stemmed from One Ultimate Source.

The Brāhmaṇa were a collection of ritual instructions, books detailing the priestly functions (which first were available to all men, and so concretized into strictly Brahmin privilege). These came after the Mantra.

Then we have the Upanishad, which consist of the Aranyaka and Upanishad. The `Araṇyaka’ (”of the forest”) detail meditative yogic practices, contemplations of the mystic one and the manifold manifested principles. The Upanishad basically realized all the monist and universal mystical ideas that started in earlier Vedic hymns, and have exerted an influence unprecedented on the rest of Hindu and Indian philosophy. However, by adherents they are not considered philosophy alone, and form meditations and practical teachings for those advanced enough to benefit from their wisdom.

The Upanishad give no clue as to when and who composed these texts. This anonymity emphasizes the eternal nature of the truths within. Often, critics of the Hindu/Vedic tradition will use the term Brahminical to imply a karma-kanda, or ritual-based mode of worship, a priests’ word that loses sight of deeper spirituality. However, it is widely acknowledged that those who wrote the mystic verse of the Upanishads were in all likelihood Brahmins as well.

Contents
The Taittiriya Upanishad says this in the Ninth Chapter:
“He who knows the Bliss of Brahman, whence words together with the mind turn away, unable to reach It? He is not afraid of anything whatsoever. He does not distress himself with the thought: “Why did I not do what is good? Why did I do what is evil?”. Whosoever knows this regards both these as Atman; indeed he cherishes both these as Atman. Such, indeed, is the Upanishad, the secret knowledge of Brahman.”

The Upanishad hold information on basic Hindu beliefs, including belief in a world soul, a universal spirit, Brahman, and an individual soul, Atman (Smith 10). A variety of lesser gods are seen as aspects of this one divine ground, Brahman (different from Brahma). Brahman is the ultimate, both transcendent and immanent, the absolute infinite existence, the sum total of all that ever is, was, or ever shall be. For Advaita philosophers Brahman is not a God in the monotheistic sense, as they do not ascribe to it any limiting characteristics, not even those of being and non-being, and this is reflected in the fact that in Sanskrit, the word brahman is of neuter (as opposed to masculine or feminine) gender. Dvaita philosophy holds that Brahman is ultimately a personal God, Vishnu, or Krishna (brahmano hi pratisthaham, Bhagavad Gita 14.27).

“Who is the Knower” “What makes my mind think?” “Does life have a purpose, or is it governed by chance?” “What is the cause of the Cosmos?” The sages of the Upanishad try to solve these mysteries and seek knowledge of a Reality beyond ordinary knowing. They also show a preoccupation with states of consciousness, and observed and analysed dreams as well as dreamless sleep.

The philosophy of the Upanishad
Due to their mystic nature and intense philosophical bent that does away with all ritual and completely embraces principals of One Brahman and the inner Atman, the Upanishad have a universal feel that has led to their explication in numerous manners, giving birth to the three schools of Vedanta.

Monist philosopher Adi Shankara summed up all the Upanishad in one phrase “Tat Twam Asi” (Thou Art That) and said that in the end, the ultimate, formless, inconceivable Brahman is the same as our soul, Atman. We only have to realize it through discrimination and piercing through Maya.

A distinctive quotation that is indicative of the call to self-realization, one that inspired Somerset Maugham in titling a book he wrote on Christopher Isherwood, is as follows:

Get up! Wake up! Seek the guidance of an
Illumined teacher and realize the Self.
Sharp like a razor’s edge is the path,
The sages say, difficult to traverse.
— Death Instructing Nachiketa in the Katha (Word) Upanishad

The Upanishads also contain the first and most definitive explications of aum as the divine word, the cosmic vibration that underlies all existence and contains multiple trinities of being and principles subsumed into its One Self. The Isha says of the Self (Verses 6, 7 & 8 of Ishopanishad):

Whoever sees all beings in the soul
and the soul in all beings
does not shrink away from this.
In whom all beings have become one with the knowing soul
what delusion or sorrow is there for the one who sees unity?
It has filled all.
It is radiant, incorporeal, invulnerable,
without tendons, pure, untouched by evil.
Wise, intelligent, encompassing, self-existent,
it organizes objects throughout eternity.
“Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti” This, too, is found first in the Upanishads, the call for tranquility, for divine stillness, for Peace everlasting.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “The Upanishad”.

Tags: The Upanishad, Rig Veda, Ultimate Source, Buddha, manifested, Mantra, Krishna, God, Self, Brahman, Vedanta, soul, Atman

Avatars

Published on Monday, December 26th, 2005

Avatars
In Hinduism, an avatar or avatara (Sanskrit अवतार), is the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of an Immortal Being, or of the Ultimate Supreme Being. It derives from the Sanskrit word avatāra which means “descent” and usually implies a deliberate descent into mortal realms for special purposes. The term is used primarily in Hinduism, for incarnations of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God. The Dasavatara (see below) are ten particular “great” incarnations of Vishnu.

Unlike Christianity, and Shaivism, Vaishnavism believes that God takes a special (including human) form whenever there is a decline of righteousness (dharma) and rise of evil. Lord Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, according to Vaishnavism that is espoused by Ramanuja and Madhva, and God in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, said in the Gita: “For the protection of the good, for destruction of evil, and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being from age to age.” (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, verse 8.) In any event, all Hindus believe that there is no difference between worship of Vishnu and His avatars as it all leads to Him.

The word has also been used by extension by non-Hindus to refer to the incarnations of God in other religions, notably Christianity, for example Jesus.

Teachings and significance
The philosophy reflected in the Hindu epics is the doctrine of the avatar (incarnation of Vishnu or God as an animal or a human form). The two main avatars of Vishnu that appear in the epics are Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, and Krishna, the friend of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata. Unlike the superhuman devas (gods) of the Vedic Samhitas and the abstract Upanishadic concept of the all-pervading Brahman, the avatars in these epics are intermediaries between the Supreme Being represented as either Saguna Brahman or Nirguna Brahman and mere mortals.

This doctrine has had a great impact on Hindu religious life, for to many it means that God has manifested Himself in a form that could be appreciated even by the least sophisticated. Rama and Krishna have remained prominent as beloved and adored manifestations of the Divine for thousands of years among Hindus. The Upanishadic concept of the underlying unity of Brahman is revered by many to be the pinnacle of Hindu thought, and the concept of the avatars has purveyed this concept to the average Hindu as an expression of the manifestation of the Hindu’s highest single divinity as an aid to humanity in difficult times. The Hindu cycle of creation and destruction contains the essence of the idea of “avatars” and indeed relies on a final avatar of Vishnu, that of Kalki, as the final destructive force at the end of the world.

Aside from Rama and Krishna there are many other human or animal forms which appeared on earth or elsewhere in the universe. Scriptures do not describe any appearance as an avatar by Brahma or Shiva (they are themselves listed as guna avatars) of nirguna Brahman, but emanations of Vishnu have appeared a number of times. Some Hindus, based on the Ramayana, aver that Shiva incarnated once as the monkey-god Hanuman. Hanuman is more well-known as the son of Vayu, the deva of wind or his emanation. (Hanuman lived in a jungle and is called vanara, which means people having characteristics of monkey, and was one of the greatest devotees of Vishnu).

The ten Avatars, or Dasavatara
The Maha Avatara (Great Avatars) of Vishnu are usually said to be ten and this is popularly known as the Dasavatara (dasa (dasha) in Sanskrit means ten). The first four of the ten avatars have appeared in the Krita Yuga (the first of the four Yugas or Ages that comprise one Mahayuga - for more details please read the section above on Lord Brahma). The next three avatars appeared in the Treta Yuga, the eighth incarnation in the Dwapar Yuga and the ninth in the Kali Yuga. The tenth is expected to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga.

Matsya, the fish, appeared in the Satya Yuga.
Kurma, the tortoise, appeared in the Satya Yuga.
Varaha, the boar, appeared in the Satya Yuga.
Narasimha, the Man-Lion (Nara = man, simha = lion), appeared in the Satya Yuga.
Vamana, the Dwarf, appeared in the Treta Yuga.
Parashurama, Rama with the axe, appeared in the Treta Yuga.
Rama, Sri Ramachandra, the prince and king of Ayodhya, appeared in the Treta Yuga.
Krishna (meaning dark or black; see also other meanings in the article about him.), appeared in the Dwapar Yuga.
Balarama (meaning one who holds a plough). Balarama is said to have appeared in the Dwaper Yuga (along with Krishna).
Kalki (”Eternity”, or “time”, or “The Destroyer of foulness”), who is expected to appear at the end of Kali Yuga, the time period in which we currently exist, which will end in the year 428899 CE.

The 24 Avatars of the Puranas
Puranas list twenty-five avataras of Vishnu. A description of these is found in the Bhagavata Purana, Canto 1.

1) Catursana 2) Narada 3) Varaha 4) Matsya 5) Yajna 6) Nara-Narayana 7) Kapila 8. Dattatreya 9) Hayasirsa 10) Hamsa 11) Prsnigarbha 12) Rsabha 13) Prithu 14) Narasimha 15) Kurma 16) Dhanvantari 17) Mohini 18) Vamana 19) Parasurama 20) Raghavendra (Rama) 21) Vyasa 22) Balarama 23) Krishna 24) Kalki

Types of avatars

Avatars(as believed) of Madhvacharya. From top (in order of occurrence): Hanuman, Bhima and Shri MadhvacharyaAccording to Madhvacharya, all avatars of Vishnu are alike in potency and every other quality. There is no gradation among them, and perceiving or claiming any differences among avatars is a cause of eternal damnation. (See Madhva’s commentary on the Katha Upanishad, or his Mahabharata-Tatparya-Nirnaya.)
According to Vaishnava doctrine, there are two type of avatars, primary avatars and secondary avatars. The most common type of primary avatars are called Svarupavatars, in which He manifests Himself in His Sat-cid-ananda form. In the primary avatars, such as Narasimha, Rama, Krishna, Vishnu directly descends. The Svarupavatars are subdivided into Amsarupavatars and Purna avatars. In Amsarupavatars, Vishnu is fully present in the body but He is manifest in the person only partially. Such avatars include the first five avatars from Matsya to Vamana except for Narasimha. Narasimha, Rama and Krishna, on the other hand, are types of Purna avatars, in which all the qualities and powers of the Lord are expressed. Narasimha and Rama are also additionally considered to be Lila avatars.
Other avatars are secondary avatars, such as Parashurama in which Vishnu does not directly descend. Parashurama is the only one of the traditional ten avatars that is not a direct descent of Vishnu. There are two types of secondary avatars: 1) Vishnu enters a soul with His form. (e.g., Parashurama) or 2) Vishnu does not enter a soul with His own form, but gives him extraordinary divine powers. (e.g., Veda Vyasa.) The secondary avatar class is sometimes called Saktyamsavatar, Saktyaveshavatar or avesha avatar.
Note that the secondary avatars are not worshipped. Only the direct, primary avatars are worshipped. However, in practice, the direct avatars that are worshipped today are the Purna avatars of Narasimha, Rama and Krishna. Krishna, among most Vaishnavites, is considered to be the highest kind of Purna avatar. However, followers of Chaitanya (including ISKCON), Nimbarka, Vallabhacharya differ philosophically from other Vaishnavites, such as Ramanuja and Madhva and consider Krishna to be the ultimate Godhead, and not simply an avatar. In any event, all Hindus believe that there is no difference between worship of Vishnu and His avatars as it all leads to Him.
References are cited and given below.
A number of people in more recent times have are considered to be avatars by themselves or by others. See List of other people considered to be avatars.

The Ninth Avatar: Balarama or Buddha?
Balarama is the ninth avatar according to Puranic tradition. According to Puranas, Buddha is never considered as a part of Dasa Avatar. In fact, Buddha is against Hinduism and its concepts. Hence it is not at all possible for Hinduism to accept Buddha as one of its avatars. The only avatar in Kali Yuga is that of Kalki and He is yet to appear.

Symbolism
Many claim that the ten avatars represent the evolution of life and of mankind on earth. Matsya, the fish, represents life in water. Kurma, the tortoise, represents the next stage, amphibianism. The third animal, the boar Varaha, symbolizes life on land. Narasimha, the Man-Lion, symbolizes the commencement development of mammals. Vamana, the dwarf, symbolizes this incomplete development of human. Then, Parashurama, the forest-dwelling hermit armed with an axe, connotes completion of the basic development of humankind. The King Rama signals man’s ability to govern nations. Krishna, an expert in the sixty-four fields of science and art according to Hinduism, indicates man’s advancement in cultural and civilization. Buddha, the Enlightened one, symbolizes the enlightenment and social advancement of man. Balarama, whose weapon was a plough could stand for the development of agriculture.

Note that the time of the avatars also has some significance: Thus, kings rule reached its ideal state in Treta Yuga with Rama Avatar and social justice and Dharma reached its ideal state in Dwapar Yuga with the avatar of Krishna. Thus the avatars represent the evolution of life and society with changing epoh from Krita Yuga to Kali yuga. The animal evolution and development connotations also bear striking resemblances to the modern scientific theory of Evolution.

List of other people considered to be avatars
For more details on this topic, see List of people considered to be avatars.
Besides the ten traditional avatars of Hinduism, some other Indian Hindus are considered to be avatars by themselves or by others. Some of these include:

Chaitanya (1486-1534) is claimed to be an avatar of Krishna by the Gaudiya Vaishnavism sect. He is also known as the ‘Golden Avatar’. His appearance is predicted in the latter texts of the Srimad Bhagavatam. For more information, see Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology.
Ayya Vaikundar (1809-1851) According to Akilattirattu Ammanai, the religious book of Ayyavazhi, Lord Vaikundar arose from the sea as the Avatar of Narayana.
Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) and Sri Sarada Devi (1853-1920). Ramakrishna is reported to have said to Swami Vivekananda, “He who was Rama and Krishna is now, in this body, Ramakrishna.” Sarada Devi, who was married to Ramakrishna in a traditional Indian child marriage, is likewise considered by many to be an incarnation of Kali. This pairing of contemporaneous avatars is rare if not unique in Hindu history. Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, and Vivekananda are worshipped by devotees worldwide as a holy trinity, the latter not as an avatar but as someone who has obtained moksha, total enlightnenment and liberation from samsara, the cycle of birth and death.
Shirdi Sai Baba (18??-1918) some of his followers believed him to be an avatar of Dattatreya
Meher Baba (1894- 1969)
Hans Ji Maharaj (1900-1966) Declared that the Satguru is an avatar with the 64 kalas [1]
Sathya Sai Baba (1926?-1929?-present) claims to be an avatar of Shiva, Shakti and Krishna
Mother Meera (1960-present) claims to be an Avatar of Adipara-Shakti
Narayani Amma (1976-present) claimed as the real Narayani Avatar
Some Hindus with a universalist outlook view the central figures of various non-Hindu religions as avatars. Many others Hindus reject the the idea of avatars outside of traditional Hinduism. Some of these religious figures include:

Zoroaster (Zarathustra) the prophet of Zoroastrianism.
Mahavira (599 BC-527 BC) originator of the tenents of Jainism.
Gautama Buddha (563-483BC-543BC) the key figure in Buddhism. See Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan and Vaishnava Theology.
Jesus (4 BC-36) whose teachings inspired Christianity.
Muhammed (570-632) the prophet of Islam.
Bahá’u'lláh (1817-1892) the founder-prophet of the Bahá’í Faith, believed to be Kalki Avatar.
The label of avatar has been used by others outside of the Indian subcontinent and the umbrella of mainstream religions. Some of these are:

Samael Aun Weor (1917-1977) claimed as the real Kalki Avatar and Buddha Maitreya
Adi Da (1939-present) claims to be the Kalki avatar

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Avatars”.

Tags: Avatars, Hinduism, God, Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, Supreme Being, Jesus, Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha, Bahá'u'lláh, Muhammed, Mahavira

Vipassana Research Institute…Link

Published on Saturday, December 24th, 2005

Vipassana Research Institute

Tags: Meditation, Vipassana, buddha, Buddhism

Huang-po…The Dharma of Mind Transmission:

Published on Tuesday, September 6th, 2005

The Dharma of Mind Transmission:
Zen Teachings of Huang-po

The Mind is neither large nor small; it is located neither within nor without. It should not be thought about by the mind nor be discussed by the mouth. Ordinarily, it is said that we use the Mind to transmit the Mind, or that we use the Mind to seal the Mind. Actually, however, in transmitting the Mind, there is really no Mind to receive or obtain; and in sealing the Mind, there is really no Mind to seal. If this is the case, then does the Mind exist or does it not exist? Actually, it cannot be said with certainty that the Mind either exists or does not exist, for it is Absolute Reality. This is expressed in the Ch’an Sect by the maxim: “If you open your mouth, you are wrong. If you give rise to a single thought, you are in error.” So, if you can quiet your thinking totally, all that remains is voidness and stillness.

The Mind is Buddha; Buddha is the Mind. All sentient beings and all Buddhas have the same Mind, which is without boundaries and void, without name and form and is immeasurable.

What is your Original Face and what is Hua-Tou? Your Original Face is without discrimination. Hua-Tou is the Reality before the arising of a single thought. When this Mind is enlightened, it is the Buddha; but when it is confused, it remains only the mind of sentient beings.

The Ch’an Master Huang-po Tuan-Chi was a major Dharma descendent of the Sixth Patriarch and was the Dharma-son of the Ch’an Master Pai-Chang. He was enlightened by the Supreme Vehicle to realize the Truth. Transmission of Mind is this alone ? nothing else!

The Dharma of Mind Transmission, the teaching of Ch’an Master Huang-po Tuan-Chi, is a cover-title that includes both The Chung-Ling Record and The Wan-Ling Record. These Records are sermons and dialogues of the Master that were collected and recorded by his eminent follower P’ei Hsiu. Both a government official and great scholar, P’ei Hsiu set down what he could recollect of the Master’s teaching in 857 C.E., during the T’ang Dynasty, eight years after the Master’s death (ca. 850 C. E. ), fifteen years after his first period of instruction by the Master at a temple near Chung Ling (842 C.E.), and nine years after his second period of instruction at a temple near Wan Ling (848 C.E.). The Records were presumably edited and published somewhat later in the T’ang Dynasty by an unknown person, and they contain a “Preface” by the recorder, P’ei Hsiu.

The Preface of P’ei Hsiu

The great Ch’an Master, whose Dharma-name was Hsi Yun, resided below Vulture Peak on Huang-po Mountain, which is in Kao-An County in Hung-Chou. He was a major disciple of Ts’ao-Ch’i, the Sixth Patriarch, and the Dharma-son of Pai-Chang. He admired the Supreme Mahayana Vehicle and sealed it without words, teaching the transmission of Mind only and no other Dharma whatsoever. He held that both Mind and substance are void and that the interrelationships of phenomena are motionless. Thus, everything is, in reality, void and still like the radiant light of the great sun in the sky, shining brightly and purely throughout the world. If one has attained this understanding, he holds no concept of duality ? such as new versus old or shallow versus deep ? in his mind. If one has attained this understanding, he does not attempt to explain its meaning, nor does he hold biased views, one way or another, regarding particular sects. The Master just pointed out that ” It is!” alone is the correct understanding. So, even allowing a single thought to arise is wrong. He made clear that the profound meaning beyond words is the Tao, which is subtle and the action of which is solitary and uniform.

Thus, many disciples came to him from the four directions, most of them becoming enlightened merely upon first seeing the Master; and usually a company of more than one thousand disciples accompanied him at any one time.

In the second year of Hui-Ch’ang (842 C.E.), I stayed in Chung-Ling, inviting the Master to come to the city from the mountain. While residing together at Lung-Hsing Temple, I asked the Master, every day, to transmit the Dharma to me. Also, later, in the second year of Ta-Chung (848 C.E.), I stayed in Wan-Ling, again inviting the Master to the city. At that time, while residing together at K’ai Yuan Temple, I received Dharma from the Master every day. A few years later, I made a record of the Dharma that the Master had transmitted to me, but I could recall only a small portion of it. Nevertheless, I regard what is set down here to be the genuine Mind-Seal Dharma. Initially I had some reservations about making this Doctrine public, but, afterwards, fearing that this wonderful and profound Teaching might not be available to or known by future truth-seekers, I decided to publish it.

With this in mind, I have sent the manuscript to the Master’s disciple, Tai-Chou Fa-Chien, asking him to return to Kuang-T’ang Temple, on the ancient mountain, and discuss my record with certain elder monks and other Sangha members to determine how much it agrees with or how much it differs from what they themselves had heard and learned from the Master. T’ang Dynasty
The Eighth Day of the Tenth Moon of the Eleventh Year of Ta-Chung
(October 8, 857 C.E. )

The Chung-Ling Record

All Buddhas and all sentient beings are no different from the One Mind. In this One Mind there is neither arising nor ceasing, no name or form, no long or short, no large or small, and neither existence nor non-existence. It transcends all limitations of name, word and relativity, and it is as boundless as the great void. Giving rise to thought is erroneous, and any speculation about it with our ordinary faculties is inapplicable, irrelevant and inaccurate. Only Mind is Buddha, and Buddhas and sentient beings are not different. All sentient beings grasp form and search outside themselves. Using Buddha to seek Buddha, they thus use mind to seek Mind. Practicing in this manner even until the end of the kalpa, they cannot attain the fruit. However, when thinking and discrimination suddenly halt, the Buddhas appear.

The Mind is Buddha, and the Buddha is no different from sentient beings. The Mind of sentient beings does not decrease; the Buddha’s Mind does not increase. Moreover, the six paramitas and all sila, as countless as the grains of sand of the Ganges, belong to one’s own mind. Thus there is no need to search outside oneself to create them. When causes and conditions unite, they will appear; as causes and conditions separate, they disappear. So if one does not have the understanding that on’es very own Mind itself is Buddha, he will then grasp the form of the practice merely and create even more delusion. This approach is exactly the opposite of the Buddha’s practice path. Just this Mind alone is Buddha! Nothing else is!

The Mind is transparent, having no shape or form. Giving rise to thought and discrimination is grasping and runs counter to the natural Dharma. Since time without beginning, there never has been a grasping Buddha. The practice of the six paramitas and various other disciplines is known as the gradual method of becoming a Buddha. This gradual method, however, is a secondary idea, and it does not represent the complete path to Perfect Awakening. If one does not understand that one’s mind is Buddha, no Dharma can ever be attained.

The Buddhas and sentient beings possess the same fundamental Mind, neither mixing nor separating the quality of true voidness. When the sun shines over the four directions, the world becomes light, but true voidness is never light. When the sun sets, the world becomes dark, but voidness is never dark. The regions of dark and light destroy each other, but the nature of voidness is clear and undisturbed. The True Mind of both Buddhas and sentient beings enjoys this same nature.

If one thinks that the Buddha is clean, bright and liberated and that sentient beings are dirty, dark and entangled in samsara, and, further, if one also uses this view to practice, then even though one perseveres through kalpas as numerous as the sand grains of the Ganges, one will not arrive at Bodhi. What exists for both Buddhas and for sentient beings, however, is the unconditioned Mind (Asamskrta citta) with nothing to attain. Many Ch’an students, not understanding the nature of this Mind, use the Mind to create Mind, thus grasping form and searching outside themselves. However, this is only to follow the path of evil and really is not the practice path to Bodhi.

Making offerings to one “without mind” surpasses in merit offerings made to countless others. Why is this? Because without mind we have unconditioned Buddha, who has neither movement nor obstruction. This alone is true emptiness, neither active nor passive, without form or place, without gain or loss.

Manjusri Bodhisattva symbolizes great substance (principle) and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva symbolizes the great function (action). Substance means emptiness, being without obstacles; functions means no form, being inexhaustible. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva symbolizes great compassion (mahakaruna), and Mahasthama Bodhisattva symbolizes great wisdom (mahaprajna). Vimalakirti means “pure name”. Purity is nature and name is form. Name and form are not different, and, therefore, Vimalakirti is called “pure name”. These great Bodhisattvas symbolize those wholesome qualities or perfections that all of us intrinsically possess. There is no Mind to search for outside ourselves. Understanding “thus it is”, people awaken immediately. Many contemporary Dharma students do not investigate their own minds, but instead search outside and grasp the region of form. Fearing failure, they cannot enter the region of dhyana and, therefore, experience powerlessness and frustration and return to seeking intellectual understanding and knowledge. Hence, many students strive for doctrinal or intellectual understanding, but very few attain to the state of True Awakening. They just proceed, in their error, in the direction the very opposite to Bodhi.

One should emulate the great earth. All Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, devas and human beings tread upon the earth, but the earth does not rejoice because of this. When the sheep, oxen, ants, etc., tread upon it, the earth does not become angry. Adorned with jewelry or rare fragrances, the earth does not give rise to greed. Bearing excrement and foul smells, the earth does not exhibit hatred or disgust. The unconditioned Mind is without mind, beyond form. All sentient beings and Buddhas are not different; the Perfectly Awakened Mind is thus. If Dharma students are unable to let go of conditioned mind suddenly, and instead practice in other ways, many kalpas may pass but they still will not have reached Bodhi. Because they are tied down by their thinking of the merits of the Three Vehicles, they do not attain genuine liberation.

Some students attain the state of liberated Mind quickly, some slowly. After listening to a Dharma talk, some reach “no mind” directly. In contrast, some must first pass gradually through the ten grades of Bodhisattva faith, the Dasabhumi of Bodhisattva development, and the ten stages before attaining the Perfectly Awakened Mind. Whether one takes a long or a short time, however, once attained, “no mind” can never be lost. With nothing further to cultivate and nothing more to attain, one realizes that this “no mind” is true, not false, Mind. Whether reaching this stage quickly or after passing through the various stages of Bodhisattva development gradually, the attainment of “no mind” cannot be characterized in terms of shallow or deep. Those students who cannot win this state of understanding and liberation go on to create the wholesome and unwholesome mental states by grasping form, thus creating further suffering in samsara.

In short, nothing is better than suddenly to recognize the Original Dharma. This Dharma is Mind, and outside of Mind there is no Dharma. This Mind is Dharma, and outside of this Dharma there is no mind. Self mind is “no mind” and no “no mind”. Awaken the mind to “no mind” and win silent and sudden understanding. Just this!!

A Ch’an master said: “Break off the way of speech and destroy the place of thinking!” This Mind itself is the ultimately pure Source of Buddha; and all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and sentient beings possess this same Mind. However, some people, because of delusion and discrimination, create much karma fruit. Original Buddha contains nothing. Awaken suddenly, profoundly and completely to the emptiness, peace, brilliance, wonder and bliss of this Original Buddha!!

The attainment of one who has practiced the myriad Dharma doors throughout three kalpas, having passed through the many Bodhisattva stages, and the attainment of one who has suddenly awakened to the One Mind are equal. Both of them have just attained their own Original Buddha. The former type of disciple, the gradual attainer, upon arriving at his Original Buddha, looks back on his three kalpas of past practice as if he were looking at himself acting totally without principle in a dream.

Therefore, the Tathagata said: “There was really no Dharma by means of which the Tathagata attained Supreme Awakening. If there had been, Dipamkara Buddha would not have predicted my future attainment of Buddhahood.” In addition the Tathagata said: “This Dharma is universal and impartial; therefore, it is called Supreme Awakening.”

This ultimate pure source of Mind encompasses all Buddhas, sentient beings and the world of mountains, rivers, forms and formlessness. Throughout the ten directions, all and everything reflects the equality of pure Mind, which is always universally penetrating and illuminating. However, those with merely worldly understanding cannot recognize this truth and so identify seeing, hearing, touching and thinking as the mind. Covered by seeing, hearing, touching and thinking, one cannot see the brightness of Original Mind. If suddenly one is without mind, Original Mind will appear like the great sun in the sky, illuminating everywhere without obstruction.

Most Dharma students only know seeing, hearing, touching and thinking as movement and function and are, therefore, unable to recognize Original Mind at the moment of seeing, hearing, touching and thinking. However, Original Mind does not belong to seeing, hearing, touching and thinking but also is not distinct or separate from these activities. The view that one is seeing, hearing, touching and thinking does not arise; and yet one is not separate from these activities. This movement does not dim the Mind, for it is neither itself a thing nor something apart from things. Neither staying nor grasping, capable of freely moving in any direction whatsoever, everywhere, this Mind becomes the Bodhimandala.

When people hear that all Buddhas transmit the Mind Dharma, they fantasize that there is a special Dharma they might attain. They then try to use the Mind to find Dharma, not realizing that this very Mind is the Dharma and that the Dharma is this very Mind. Using the mind to search out Mind, one can pass through thousands and thousands of kalpas of cultivation and still not acquire it. However, if a person can be suddenly without mind, then he and Original Dharma are one. A prodigal son forgot that a pearl was hidden in the cuff of his own clothes and searched outside, here and there, running everywhere in bewilderment and wonder. Then a wise friend pointed out the pearl to him, so thus he found it where it had always been.

Most Dharma students are confused about Original Mind, not knowing that Original Dharma is non-existing, neither dependent nor staying. Neither active nor passive and without stirring thought, they can suddenly attain the stage of Perfect Awakening and see that they have reached the condition of Original Mind that alone is Buddha. Looking back on their prior cultivation throughout many kalpas, they see it now only as labor expended in vain. Thus the prodigal son found his original pearl, and he realized then that the time and energy spent looking for it, heretofore, outside himself were all completely unnecessary. Therefore, Sakyamuni Buddha stated: ” There was really no Dharma by means of which the Tathagata attained Supreme Awakening.” Because most people find this Dharma profound and difficult to believe, one is forced to make use of analogies to express the Supreme Reality.

Dharma students should harbor no doubts concerning the body, and they should realize that, comprised, as it is, of four elements, there is within it no self or master to be found. The skandhas are mind, but no self or master can be found there either. The six sense-organs, six sense-objects and six sense-consciousnesses form the eighteen sense-realms, which are, likewise, void. Birth, death and all things everywhere are empty. Only Original Mind is vast and clear. If one maintains the four elements of this body and allays the ulcer of hunger in a manner free from grasping, one nourishes oneself with wisdom food. On the other hand, if one pursues taste, having no regard for rules of moderation, and uses discrimination to seek things to please the palate and sate his desire-nature, one is gorging on consciousness food.

The disciple depends on the sound of the Dharma Teaching to attain the state of Perfect Awakening, but he still does not know the reality of unconditioned Mind. This is because he erroneously gives rise to thoughts concerning the Teaching, sounds, yogic power, auspicious signs, speaking and activity. If such a person were to hear about Bodhi or Nirvana and then set about to practice in order to achieve Liberation ? even for the duration of three great Asankhyeya kalpas ? his practice would never, indeed, attain the Supreme Buddha Fruit. This cultivation belongs to the Sravaka stage and is called Sravaka Buddha. Suddenly awakening to one’s own Mind, one finds real Buddha. Nothing to practice, nothing to attain ? this alone is the Supreme Tao, the genuine Dharma. Without seeking the Mind, there is no birth; without grasping the Mind, there is no death. That which is neither birth nor death is Buddha. The 84,000 Dharmas are useful for curing the ills of sentient beings, but they are merely expedients used to teach and convert and receive all sentient beings. However, only Original Emptiness, without defilement, is Bodhi.

If Dharma students wish to know the key to successful cultivation, they should know that it is the mind that dwells on nothing. Emptiness is the Buddha’s Dharmakaya, just as the Dharmakaya is emptiness. People’s usual understanding is that the Dharmakaya pervades emptiness, and that it is contained in emptiness. However, this is erroneous, for we should understand that the Dharmakaya is emptiness and that emptiness is the Dharmakaya.

If one thinks that emptiness is an entity and that this emptiness is separate from the Dharmakaya or that there is a Dharmakaya outside of emptiness, one is holding a wrong view. In the complete absence of views about emptiness, the true Dharmakaya appears. Emptiness and Dharmakaya are not different. Sentient beings and Buddhas are not different. Birth and death and Nirvana are not different. Klesa and Bodhi are not different. That alone which is beyond all form is Buddha.

Worldly people grasp worldliness; Dharma students grasp Mind. If they let go of both worldliness and Mind, they can encounter real Dharma. Dwelling without worldliness is easy; dwelling without mind is difficult. People fear dwelling without mind and fear failure in their attempts to do so because they think that they would have nothing to hold onto. However, Original Emptiness is not emptiness but genuine Dharmadhatu.

Since time without beginning, the nature of Awakened Mind and Emptiness has consisted of the same, absolute non-duality of no birth or death, no existence or non-existence, no purity or impurity, no movement or stillness, no young or old, no inside or outside, no shape and form, no sound and color. Neither striving nor searching, one should not use intellect to understand nor words to express Awakened Mind. One should not think that it is a place or things, name or form. One should not think that it is a place or things, name or form. Only then is it realized that all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and sentient beings possess the same natural state of great Nirvana.

True Nature is Mind; the Mind is Buddha; the Buddha is Dharma. One should not use the Mind to seek Mind, the Buddha to seek Buddha, nor the Dharma to seek Dharma. Therefore, Dharma students should suddenly realize no-mind and suddenly attain stillness and silence. Stirring thoughts is wrong, but using the Mind to transmit Mind is right. Be careful not to search outside yourself. If you consider the Mind to be outside yourself, it is the same as mistaking a thief for your own son.

Because of our craving, aversion and delusion, we must utilize sila,samadhi and prajna to purify our minds of grasping and delusion. If there originally is no defilement, then what is Bodhi? Relative to this, a Ch’an Master said: “All Dharma taught by Lord Buddha is taught solely to wipe out all mind, Without any mind at all, what use is Dharma?” So, there is nothing at all to hold onto at the original and ultimate source of pure Buddha. Even if emptiness were to be adorned with countless jewels and other treasures, these things could not remain. Similarly, even if the Buddha Nature is adorned with immeasurable wisdom and virtue, that adornment has no place to stay. Most people are deluded about their own nature and thus cannot or will not awaken to their own Minds.

In short, all things are dependent on the Mind. When causes and conditions meet, things appear. When causes and conditions separate, they disappear. Dharma students should not sully their pure nature by giving rise to thoughts. The mirror of sila and prajna is bright and tranquil and allows one to reflect on seeing, hearing, touching and thinking. This view of the Mind’s sphere is only an expedient used to teach those of average or inferior capabilities and is not a vision of Supreme Bodhi. One who aspires to Supreme Bodhi should not hold such a view. The existent and non-existent are both within the grasping mind’s sphere. Without existence and non-existence, there is no-mind and everything is Dharma.

A Ch’an Master has said: “From the time of his arrival in China, Patriarch Bodhidharma taught only the view of unconditioned Mind and spread only the view of unconditioned Dharma.” Using Dharma to transmit Dharma, there is no other Dharma. Using Buddha to transmit Buddha, there is no other Buddha. This Dharma is “without-words” Dharma; this Buddha is “without-words” Buddha. Hence, they are the ultimate source of Pure Mind. This is the true Ch’an teaching. All others are false!

Prajna is Original Mind without form. Worldly people do not have a natural inclination towards the Tao, but prefer instead to indulge in the six emotions that arise due to the six conditions of sentient existence — i.e., the emotional effects, like desire or aversion, that arise when sense-objects contact the internal sense-bases or, afterwards, in recollection of this contact. Dharma students who allow a thought of birth and death to arise fall into the realm of Mara. If one allows a thought to arise while seeing, one falls into heresy. When one desires to exterminate birth and death, one falls into the Sravaka realm. One who sees neither birth nor death and is aware only of cessation falls into the Pratyekabuddha realm. However, one might ask: Originally the dharmas know no arising, so how can they be subject to cessation? The answer one might receive is : With this non-dualistic outlook — that is, having neither desire nor aversion ? everything is Mind. This alone is the Buddha of Supreme Awakening!

Worldly people allow thoughts to arise concerning the mind’s sphere and thus harbor like and dislike. If one does not want this entanglement, one must forget the mind. Without mind, the sphere is empty. If one does not want “without mind”, but only wants to end entanglement in the various realms of the mind, then one is simply creating more disturbance. Therefore, one must realize that all phenomena are dependent on Mind and that Mind itself is unattainable, if one is to attain the Buddha of Supreme Awakening.

Prajna students, even if you seek the one Dharma and give no thought to the Three Vehicles, this one Dharma is also unobtainable, If someone says he can obtain it, he is indeed an arrogant person and indeed is one with those who left the Lotus Assembly, refusing to listen to the Lotus Teaching Thus the Tathagata said: “There was really no Dharma by means of which the Tathagata attained Supreme Awakening.” However, there is the unspoken, silent understanding. There is just this!

Those who are near death just then realize that the five skandhas are empty, the real Mind is without form, and that the four elements are devoid of self. Neither coming nor going, the Buddhas nature does not depart. If one suddenly understands the unconditioned Mind and realizes that the mind-sphere is non-differentiated, he is not restricted by the three periods. This is the true Arya, who is free of defiling tendencies. Encountering pleasing sense objects and even being greeted by all Buddhas, he does not pursue them. Terrible or loathsome sense objects cause no fear to such a one. Dwelling without mind, like the Dharmadhatu, the Mind is free of all delusions.

A Ch’an Master said: “The expedient teachings of Sravaka, Bodhisattva, Dasabhumi and Samyak Sambodhi all belong to the path of gradual awakening.” What is perfect Nirvana? Perfect Nirvana is the sudden understanding that one’s own nature is original Buddha and True Mind. It is the sudden realization that there is neither Buddha nor sentient beings, neither subject nor object. If this present place is illusion city, where then is perfect Nirvana? Perfect Nirvana cannot be pointed out because we are only able to point out a place. Whatever is thought of as a place cannot be the condition of true, perfect Nirvana. One can give indications as to which direction it lies in, but one cannot give a definite location. However, one may come to a correct and silent understanding of it.

An Icchantika is a person abandoned as unteachable because of the complete absence of faith in his heart. If any sentient beings and Sravakas do not believe that being “without mind” is the Buddha and Supreme Awakening, they can certainly be termed Icchantika.

All Bodhisattvas have confidence in the Buddhadharma, whether it is the teaching of the Sravaka or the Bodhisattva Vehicles. All sentient beings have the same Dharma nature as the Buddhas and, therefore, may be termed Icchantika with good roots. In short, those who depend on hearing the Teaching to attain Awakening are termed Sravakas. Those who contemplate the twelve nidanas of dependent origination and thus win Awakening are termed Pratyekabuddhas. Most Dharma students are awakened by Dharma teaching but not awakened directly to Mind. Practicing for many kalpas, they still do not attain Original Buddha. Just as a dog is distracted by a clod of earth thrown at him, so we forget Original Mind. However, if one can attain silent and unspoken understanding, one knows that because the mind is Dharma it is, therefore, not necessary to seek Dharma.

Most people’s minds are hindered by the mind-realms and only perceive the Buddha principle polluted by and mixed with phenomena. Thus, they are always trying to escape the mind-realms and calm the mind. To attain Pure Mind, they attempt to eradicate phenomena and keep the principle, not realizing that the mind-realms are hindered by Mind and that phenomena are hindered by the principle. Without mind, the realms are empty; when the principle is tranquil, so are phenomena. One should not turn the Mind upside down for some personal use. People do not really want to realize the state of being “Without mind”, fearing that if they fail at their attempts at cultivation a one-sided emptiness would result. Foolish people only try to wipe out phenomena but do not wipe out mind. The wise man wipes out the mind and does not bother with phenomena. The mind of the Bodhisattva is void, having abandoned all and grasping neither bliss nor merit.

There are three degrees of renunciation in this practice. The highest degree is the renunciation of body and mind through the perception of everything, inside and out, as void, there being nothing to obtain and nothing to grasp. Depending on the limits of his strength of belief and committment to practice, one makes the great renunciation of negative and positive, existence and non-existence. Following this realization of truth with practice and non-expectation of reward or personal benefit is the middle degree of renunciation. The superior degree of renunciation is compared to holding a torch in front of oneself, being neither deluded nor awakened. The middle renunciation is compared to holding the torch at one’s side; it is sometimes light and sometimes dark. The lowest renunciation is similar to holding the torch at one’s back, thus being unable to see a pit or trap in front of one. The mind of the Bodhisattva is void, having abandoned all things. Past-mind not grasping is past renunciation; present-mind not grasping is present renunciation; future-mind not grasping is future renunciation.

Since that time when the Tathagata bequeathed his Teaching to Venerable Mahakasyapa, the Mind has been used to transmit Mind, nothing apart from this being necessary. As a seal makes no impression on the sky, one leaves no written mark. As a seal makes an impression on paper, one leaves no Dharma. Therefore, using the Mind to imprint Mind, one still has only Mind. Without both the negative and positive imprint, the unspoken understanding is difficult to attain. For this reason, many Dharma students study, but few accomplish the path. However, no-mind is Mind and no-attainment is Attainment.

The Tathagata has a threefold body. The Dharmakaya propagates the void-nature Dharma. The Dharmakaya preaches the Dharma beyond words and form. With really no Dharma to expound, it teaches the Dharma of emptiness as self-nature. The Nirmanakaya propagates the six paramitas and the myriad Dharma practices. The Sambhogakaya expounds Dharma according to the various conditions and capacities of all sentient beings.

The one essence is Mind. The six sense-organs with their six sense-objects and resultant six sense-consciousnesses are, altogether, called the eighteen realms. If one perceives these eighteen realms as empty and reduces them to one essence, that essence is Mind. All Dharma students know this theoretically, but cannot divest themselves of views based on the duality and analysis of this essence and the grasping of the six senses. Being bound by these dharmas, they cannot silently understand Original Mind.

The Tathagata appeared in the world to teach the Supreme Vehicle. However, because sentient beings were unable to believe in, and even slandered, the Teaching, they remained immersed and drowning in a sea of suffering. Therefore, the Tathagata utilized the expedient Teaching of the Three Vehicles to help them. Some disciples attained deep realization, some shallow; but since few or none had awakened to Buddha’s Original Dharma, one sutra states: “They still do not manifest the Dharma of One Mind.” This special teaching of Mind is a Dharma without words. The Ch’an School relies not on texts but, instead, on the special transmission received by the Venerable Mahakasyapa ? i.e., silent understanding and sudden attainment of the Great Awakening with arrival at the Ultimate Tao.

Once a bhiksu asked his master: “What is Tao and how is it practiced?” The master responded: “What is this Tao and what do you want to practice?” The bhiksu asked: “Is Tao receptive of the students who come for instruction in cultivation?” “That is for people of dull capacity; the Tao cannot be practiced,” said the master. “If this is for people of dull capacity, what is the Dharma for people of superior ability?” asked the bhiksu. The master answered: “If one is of genuine superior ability, there is none for him to follow. Even seeking himself is impossible, so how can he grasp Dharma?” The bhiksu exclaimed, “If that is so, there is nothing to seek!” The master retorted, “Then save your mental energy.” “But this would be tantamount to the annihilation view, and one could say nothing.” said the bhiksu. “Who is it that says nothing? Who is he? Try to search for him, ” said the master. “If this is the case, why seek who it is that says nothing’?” asked the bhiksu. The master answered: “If you do not seek, that is alright. Who asked you about annihilation? You see the void in front of you, so why do you think you have destroyed it?” “Could this Dharma be voidness?” asked the bhiksu. “Does this voidness tell you the difference between morning and night? I’m just speaking expediently to you because you are giving rise to thoughts and holding views about what I say,” said the master. The bhiksu then asked: “One should not hold views?” The master answered: “I’m not obstructing you, but you should understand your view as emotion. When emotion arises, wisdom is concealed.” The bhiksu asked: I’m just talking to you, so why call it superfluous?” The master said: ” you do not understand what others say, so where is the superfluity?” The bhiksu said: Now you have talked for quite some time, all of which seemed to be for the sake of resisting the enemy of words, while giving no instruction at all in the Dharma.” The master replied: “Just realize the Dharma without inverted view. Your questions are inverted! What true’ Dharma do you want?” The bhiksu then observed: “So, my questions are inverted? How about the master’s answers?” The master replied:” You should take something to illumine your face; do not meddle with others.” The bhiksu exclaimed: “Just like a foolish dog! When he sees something move, he barks at shadows and sounds.” The master said: “The Dhyana School, mutually receiving all sentient beings from the distant past until now, never taught people to hold views, but only stated, Learn Tao’.” These words are designed to convert and receive the average person, but the Tao cannot be learned. If one hold some view of learning, then one is , indeed, deluded by the Tao. The Tao is nothing but this Mahayana mind. This mind is nowhere, neither inside, outside, nor somewhere in between. So primarily, one should not hold any view. The cessation of the dualistic view of like’ is Tao. If like’ is cut off, the mind is nowhere. The Original Tao is without name, but because worldly people do not comprehend, they are deluded by perverted views. All Buddhas appear in the world to explain and teach this Dharma. Since people are unable to understand it directly, the Buddhas utilize expedient methods to teach the Tao. One should not cling to names and create views. For example, when fishing, if one catches a fish, one should forget about the bamboo fish-trap. When one attains the other shore, one should then give up the raft.”

At the very moment when one understands the Tao and recognizes the Mind, one is then free of body and mind. One who reaches the ultimate source is called a Sramana. The fruit of a Sramana is the cessation of false thinking. This fruit cannot be attained through worldly learning. Using the mind to seek Mind and depending on others for insight, how can one reach or acquire the Tao? The ancient cultivators were possessed of wisdom. Just by hearing a few words of Dharma, they suddenly attained the state beyond study and thinking. Today, people only want to seek worldly learning, mistakenly believing that more knowledge leads to better practice. They do not know that more and more learning leads only to obstacles in their cultivation. Giving a baby more and more cream to eat, who knows if he digests it or not? Likewise, the Teaching of the Three Vehicles is comparable to eating a lot without proper digestion. All study without proper digestion is poison. These things exist in the realm of production and annihilation, while in the Bhutatathata ? the state of absolute Thusness or Suchness, i.e., things as they are in reality, devoid of the usual distortion by klesa ? there is nothing whatsoever. Attaining the Bhutatathata and the Unconditioned means wiping out all previous views and remaining empty without false discrimination.

What is the Tathagata Store? It is Emptiness, the kingly Dharma, appearing in the world to refute all relative things. Therefore, the sutra states: “There really was no Dharma by means of which the Tathagata attained Supreme Awakening.” These words are only to be expediently used for wiping out one’s perverted views. Without the inside-and-outside concept of perverted views, there is nothing whatsoever to depend on or to grasp. This is truly the reality of the unhindered one. All the teaching of the Three Vehicles is merely medicine for weak patients; all the various teachings are merely expedients to suit the temporary needs of sentient beings. However, one should not become confused by this Teaching. If one does not give rise to views or grasp words, there is no Dharma. Why? Because there is no fixed Dharma for the Tathagata to expound. My Dhyana school never talks about this matter. The Teaching’s purpose is to stop false thinking; it is not meant to serve the ends of thinking, pondering and intellectual analysis.

A bhiksu once declared to his master: “You have said that, above all, the mind is Buddha, but I don’t know which mind is the Buddha.” ” How many minds do you have?” questioned the master. “Is the worldly mind or the holy mind the Buddha?” asked the Bhiksu. The master then asked: ” Exactly where do you find the worldly and the holy minds?” The bhiksu observed: ” The Three Vehicles constantly speak of worldly and holy, so how can you say they don’t exist?” The master replied: “Worldly and holy are very clearly explained in the Three Vehicles. You do not understand and grasp them as objects. Wouldn’t it be incorrect to think of emptiness as really existing? Merely wipe out the worldly-and-holy view. There is no Buddha outside of the Mind. The Patriarch came from the West solely to point out that people’s minds are Buddha. You do not recognize this and actively pursue the Buddha. You do not recognize this and actively pursue the Buddha outside, thus deluding your own mind. For this reason, I talk about the Mind as Buddha. Actually, giving rise to a single thought, one falls into heterodox paths. Since time without beginning, there is no differentiation or discrimination, Voidness is the Unconditioned Awakening.”

The bhiksu queried: “In what theory do you say is’?” The master replied: “What theory do you seek? If you have some theory, that is a differentiating mind.” The bhiksu asked further: “You said earlier that since time without beginning there is no differentiation. What theory is this?” The master answered: “Because of your seeking, you realize a difference. Without seeking, where is the difference?” The bhiksu asked: “If non-different, why do you say it is’?” The master replied: “If you do not have the worldly-and-holy view, who can tell you it is’? If it is’ is not, it truly is’! When mind is not mind’, then the mind and it is’ all disappear. Where do you want to seek?” The bhiksu queried: “If the false can be an obstacle to the Mind, how does one drive away the false?” The master answered: “The false arising and ceasing — that is the false. Originally, the false has no root but arises from discrimination, If one has no perverted view of worldly versus holy, then automatically there is no false. With nothing to grasp and nothing to drive out, abandoning everything — just there and then is the Buddha.” The bhiksu then asked: “If there is already no grasping, then what is transmitted?” The master answered: “The Mind is used to transmit Mind.” The bhiksu asked: “If the mind can be mutually transmitted, how can one then be said to be without mind?” The master responded: “Just nothing-to-obtain is the real transmission of Mind. If one really understands, then the mind is no-mind and no-Dharma.” The bhiksu asked: “If there is no-mind and no-Dharma, where is the transmission?” The master replied: When you hear the phrase transmission of Mind’ do you think there is something to obtain? The Patriarch has said, When you see the mind nature, that is the state beyond discrimination.’ The complete Mind is just nothing attained. Where is there attainment’? Knowing is not present. What do you think about that?” The bhiksu asked: “Only voidness in front of me without the mind’s sphere! Without the mind’s sphere, wouldn’t one then see the Mind? The master responded: “What mind do you want to see in this sphere? If you see something, it is only a reflection from the mind’s sphere? Like a person looking at his face in a mirror thinking he clearly sees his face and eye-brows but, in reality, seeing only an image or a reflection, even so is any reflection from the mind’s sphere. But what has all this got to do with you?” The bhiksu asked: “If not by reflection, how can one see the Mind?” The master replied: “If one wants to point out the cause, one must continually refer to that which the cause is dependent upon. This is a never-ending process, for there is no end to the dependent origination of things. Relax your hold, for there is nothing to obtain. Talking continuously of thousands and thousands of things is just labor expended in vain.”

“If one understands this, then even with reflection is there still nothing to obtain?” asked the bhiksu. “If there is nothing to obtain, then reflection is not necessary,” said the master. “Don’t depend on talk from a dream to open your eyes. Nothing-to-seek’ is the primary Dharma. This is better than studying and learning a hundred different things. With nothing to obtain, one has finished the task,” continued the master. The bhiksu queried: “What is ordinary truth?” The master replied: “Why do you persist in creating clinging vines? Originally, truth is clear and bright. It is not necessary to have questions and answers.”

In summary, then, it is to be noted that this without-mind state is wisdom and detachment. Walking, standing, sitting, reclining, talking and all of one’s other everyday actions are done without attachment and are thus transformed into non-action.

In this Dharma-ending age, many Dharma students grasp form and sound in their cultivation. If only they were able to make their minds as void as a withered, dead tree or like a stone or cold ashes, they might realize a bit of this Dharma. Otherwise, they might as well try to force information from the King of Hell. Being without the dualistic conception of existence and non-existence, like the sun shining in the sky, wouldn’t they save energy?

Therefore, being with no place to dwell is the way of all Buddha activity. The Mind that does not abide anywhere is the Perfect Awakening, Without understanding the Unconditioned Truth, even with much learning and diligent practice, one still does not recognize one’s own Mind. Therefore, all one’s actions are nonsense, and one is a member of the Deva Mara’s family. The Ch’an master Chi-Kung observed: “Buddha is one’s own Mind! Why do you search in words and letters?” “If you do not meet a teacher with this transcendental understanding, then you must take the Dharma medicine of Mahayana. Walking, standing, sitting and lying over a long period of time, one may realize the without-mind state if the right combination of causes fosters it. Because one lacks the capacity for sudden Awakening, one must study the Tao of Dhyana for 3, 5, or 10 years. There is no special arrangement or negotiation for achieving Buddhadharma. However, this Teaching of the Tathagata exists as an expedient for the purpose of transforming all beings. For example, one shows a yellow leaf to a crying baby and pretends that it is gold. This is not really true, but it stops the crying of the baby. If a teaching says that there is truly something to obtain, then it is not the Teaching of my sect, nor would I be a member of such an heretical sect. The sutra states: “There really was no Dharma by means of which the Tathagata attained Supreme Awakening.” This is the truth of the non-heretical sect, with which I identify.

If one realizes the originally clear and bright Mind, then both Buddha and Mara, as dualistic conceptions, are wrong. In this Mind there is no square or round, no big or small, no short or long. It is passionless and non-active. Neither deluded nor awakened, it is clarity and emptiness. Human beings and Buddha in worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges appear as bubbles in the ocean. Nothing is better than “without-mind”. Since time without beginning, all Buddhas and the Dharmakaya are not different, neither increasing nor decreasing. For this reason, if one really comprehends the importance of such an insight, one should cultivate diligently until the end of one’s life. Since the outbreath does not guarantee the inbreath, everybody should wake up!!

A bhiksu asked the master: “Since the Sixth Patriarch did not study the sutras, how could he possibly receive the transmission of the yellow robe and become Patriarch? Venerable Shen-Hsiu was the leader of five hundred monks and a Dharma teacher able to expound on thirty-two sutras and sastras. Why wasn’t the Patriarch’s robe transmitted to hem?” The master said:” The Venerable Shen-Hsiu still had a discriminating mind. His Dharma was action-oriented because he practiced and attained that which has form. The Sixth Patriarch, in contrast, was suddenly awakened and tacitly understood. Therefore, the Fifth Patriarch secretly transmitted to him the profound truth of the Tathagata’s Teaching.”

The Dharma Transmission Gatha of Sakyamuni Buddha states: “Original Dharma is no-Dharma; without Dharma is true Dharma. In transmitting the Dharma that is no-Dharma, has there ever been a Dharma?” If one accepts this right view, then one can practice with ease; such a one can truly be called one who has left home. When the Venerable Wai-Ming chased the Sixth Patriarch to Ta Yu Mountain, the Patriarch asked him: “What do you want by coming here? Do you seek the robe or the Dharma?” “I come for the Dharma, not for the robe,” answered the Venerable Wai-Ming. The Sixth Patriarch then asked him: “Without thinking of good or evil, what is the original face of the Venerable Wai-Ming?” Venerable Wai-Ming was suddenly awakened and prostrated himself at the feet of the Patriarch, declaring: “Only a person who drinks the water knows whether it is cool or warm. My following the Fifth Patriarch for thirty years was just labor expended in vain.” The Sixth Patriarch responded: “Yes! Now you know that the intention of the Patriarch’s coming from the West was just to point to the Mind directly. Beholding the Buddha Nature within oneself is the Perfect Awakening, for it never depends on words.”

Once the Venerable Ananda asked the Venerable Mahakasyapa: “Besides handing down the robe, what else does the World Honored One transmit?” Venerable Mahakasyapa shouted, “Ananda!” “Yes!” answered Venerable Ananda. “Turn the flag-pole in front of the door upside down,” commanded Venerable Mahakasyapa. This is an excellent example of the upholding and maintaining of the Patriarch’s purpose. The foremost listener among the Buddha’s disciples was Venerable Ananda, the Buddha’s attendant for thirty years. However, his only reasons for listening to the Dharma had been to acquire vast erudition. Therefore, the Buddha scolded him thus: “Learning the Tao for one day is far superior to acquiring knowledge for a thousand.” If Dharma students do not learn the Tao, even the digestion of one drop of water is difficult.

A bhiksu asked the master: “How does one practice without grade or degree?” The master replied: “Taking one’s meal every day, one never chews a grain of rice. Walking every day, one never steps upon the ground.” Without the discrimination between self and others, one lives in the world, not deluded by anything at all. This is a genuinely free person whose thinking is beyond name and form. Transcending the three periods of thought, he understands that the previous period has not passed, the present period does not stay, and that the future period will not come. Sitting properly and peacefully, not bound by the world ? this alone is called liberation! Everybody should strive diligently. Out of thousands and thousands of Dharma students in the Dhyana School, only three or five attain the fruit. If we do not care about our practice, misfortune could easily arise in the future. All of us should practice diligently and finish the task of liberation in this life. Who can or wants to bear misfortune for endless kalpas?

The Wan-Ling Record

Once, I asked the master that: “There are a few hundred monks dwelling on that mountain. How many of them have acquired your Dharma?” The master responded: “To know how many of them have acquired it is impossible because the Tao is expressed and comprehended only by Mind, not by words. All thoughts and words are used only as expedients to teach innocent children.”

Question: “What is the Buddha?” The master responded: “The Mind is Buddha; no-mind is the Tao. Just be without mind and stop your thinking. Just be of that Mind where there is no existence or non-existence, no long and no short, no self and no others, neither negative nor positive, and neither within nor without. Just know, above all, that non-differentiating Mind is the Buddha, that Buddha is the Mind and that the Mind is voidness. Therefore, the real Dharmakaya is just voidness. It is not necessary to seek anything whatsoever, and all who do continue to seek for something only prolong their suffering in samsara. Even if they were to practice the Six Paramitas for as many numberless kalpas as there are sandgrains in the Ganges River, they would still not reach the Supreme Stage. And why not? Just because such practice depends on primary and secondary causes, and when these causes separate, the practitioner of this path will still have only reached a stage of impermanence. Therefore, even the Sambhogakaya and the Nirmanakaya are not the real Buddha. Also, the one who spreads Dharma is not the real Buddha. In reality, therefore, everybody should recognize that only one’s own Mind is the Original Buddha.”

Question: “The holy without-mind’ is Buddha, but might the worldly without-mind’ sink into emptiness?” The master answered: “Hold neither a concept of holy nor of worldly; think neither of emptiness nor tranquillity in the Dharma. Since originally there is no non-existent Dharma, it is, therefore, not necessary to have a view of existence as such. Furthermore, concepts of existence and non-existence are all perverted views just like the illusion created by a film spread over diseased eyes. Analogously, the perceptions of seeing and hearing, just like the film that creates the illusion for diseased eyes, cause the errors and delusions of all sentient beings. Being without motive, desire or view, and without compromise, is the way of the Patriarch. In addition, being without motive is the principle that allows the flourishing of Buddha. In contrast, discriminating view, firmly grasped, encourages the thriving of the army of Mara.”

Question: “If the Mind is already the original Buddha, should we still need to practice the Six Paramitas and all such methods?” The master said: “We are enlightened only by Mind, no matter whether we follow the Six Paramitas or other methods. All such methods and teaching are used only as expedients to help save all sentient beings. The goal is to realize Bodhi, liberation and Dharmakaya; even the four Phalas (Fruitions) and the ten stages of a Bodhisattvas progress are nothing but expedient teaching ? surely not ends in themselves ? to help sentient beings realize the Buddha Mind. Since, in reality, the Mind is Buddha, the first and only teaching necessary for saving sentient beings is THE MIND IS BUDDHA’.” If we were without concepts of birth and death as well as suffering and affliction, it would not then be necessary to have the Dharma of Bodhi. So all the Dharma ever spoken by Buddha was and is expediently designed to liberate the minds of all sentient beings. However, if all beings are without mind, it is not necessary to have any Dharma at all. The Buddha and the Patriarchs never talk about anything other than One Mind, which is also called the One Vehicle. Therefore, even if you seek in the ten directions, you will find no other vehicle that is the Truth except this realization of One Mind. So, in the Assembly that has this Right View, there are no leaves or branches ? only the One Vehicle.

However, it is extremely difficult for most beings to believe in or to grasp the profound meaning of this Dharma. Bodhidharma came to the two countries of Liang and Wei, just in order to spread the Venerable Wai-Kuo’s esoteric belief in the Dharma and the understanding that one’s own Mind is Buddha. Without-body’ and without-mind’ is the great Tao! Since all sentient beings have fundamentally the same nature, everybody should be able to believe deeply. Mind and self-nature are not different. One’s self-nature is Mind. One’s Mind is self-nature. It is frequently said that the recognition and realization of this identification of mind and self-nature is beyond comprehension.”

Question: “Does the Buddha really save or rescue all sentient beings?” The master said: “There are really no sentient beings to be saved by Tathagata. Since there is, in reality, neither self nor non-self, how then can there be a Buddha to save or sentient beings to be saved?”

Question: “There are thirty-two Laksanas, that traditionally purport to save all sentient beings, so how can we say that there are no sentient being?” The master said: “Everything with form is unreal. If all form is seen as unreal, then the Taghagata will be perceived, Buddha, sentient beings and the infinite variety of forms ? all are generated by your false view, whereby you do not understand the Original Mind. If you retain a view even of Buddha as real, then even Buddha is an obstacle! If you grasp a view of sentient beings as real, then sentient beings are also obstacles. If you hold a view that labels phenomena as worldly, holy, pure, dirty, etc., this is also an obstacle to enlightenment. Because of these obstacles in your mind, you transmigrate along the six illusory paths, becoming fixed to the wheel of transmigration, just as a monkey picks up one object and lets go of another in never-ending, habitual, monotonous repetition.

The important thing is to learn the Truth; for without learning that there is really no holy, no pure, no dirty, no big, no small, etc., but only emptiness and non-action and that this alone is ONE MIND and that, always, any adornment is only an expedient to learn the truth, one only clings to illusion. Furthermore, even if you learn by heart the Three Vehicles and the twelve divisions of the Mahayana canon, you must abandon it all. Thus the Vimalakirti Sutra states that just as a person confined in bed by illness only lies in one bed, so there is only one Dharma that does not obstruct Dharma ? namely, the No-Dharma Dharma. This Dharma view alone can penetrate the three physical, mental and worldly realms, and it alone constitutes the supramundane Buddha.

Thus, just as one prostrates oneself, grasping at nothing, so this view is not at all heretical, for since the Mind is no different from the Dharma? the Mind being non-action and the Dharma being non-action? then everything is created by the mind. If the mind is empty, then all Dharma is emptiness, and all things are identical? including space in the ten directions? with the One Mind. Because you hold to a discriminating view, you, therefore, have different names, forms and things, just as all the Devas take a meal from a one-jewelled container, but the color and the taste of the food depend upon their stages of bliss and morality. Thus, there was really no Dharma by means of which all the Buddhas in the ten directions attained what is called Supreme Enlightenment’. Without differentiation of form or luster, there is neither victory nor defeat; and if there is no victory or defeat, then sentient beings have no form.”

Question: “If there never really has been form in the Mind, then how can we correctly say that it is possible to save all sentient beings by means of the thirty-two Laksanas and the eighty notable physical characteristics?” The master responded: “The thirty-two Laksanas are form. The Sutra has said that everything with form is unreal. The eighty notable physical characteristics are appearance. So the Diamond Sutra said: He who seeks me by outward appearance and seeks me in sound treads the heterodox path and cannot perceive the Tathagata’.”

Question: “Are the natures of Buddha and of sentient beings the same or different?” the master replied: “Their natures have no such characteristics as same’ and different’. Suppose that a hypothetical three-vehicles teaching discriminated between Buddha Nature and sentient-beings nature. Thereupon would follow the view of cause and effect, and form this we could then say that their natures have such characteristics as same’ and different’. However, suppose the Buddha and the Patriarchs never talked in this manner, but only pointed to the One Mind. Then there could be no such same’ and different’, no cause and effect and, except as an expedient teaching, no two or three. In reality, therefore, there is only One Vehicle!”

Question: “Can the immeasurable body of a Bodhisattva be seen or not be seen?” The master answered: “There is really nothing to see. Why not? Just because the immeasurable body of a Bodhisattva is the Tathagata. So, again, there is nothing to see. Just do not hold any view of the Buddha and you will never go to the Buddha extreme; just do not hold a view about sentient beings and you will never go to the sentient-beings extreme; just do not hold any view about existence and you will never go to existence extreme; do not hold a view about non-existence extreme; do not hold any view about worldly characteristics and you will never go to the worldly-characteristics extreme; do not hold any view about holy characteristics and you will never go to the holy-characteristics extreme. Thus the state of merely being without any view whatsoever is already the Immeasurable Body. If you have something to see, you are a heretic. While heretics like to hold all different kinds of views, Bodhisattvas are not moved by any view whatsoever. Tathagata’ means the suchness of all phenomena, the undifferentiated whole of all dharmas.

Therefore, the Maitreya and all the holy saints and sages are also suchness, having neither birth nor death and neither characteristics nor view. The real and true expression of Buddha is the Complete View. However, if you do not hold the view of the Complete View, you will never go to the Complete-View extreme. Remember that the body of Buddha is only non-form and non-action, ever crystallizing or materializing into phenomena, just as in the great space of the void nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Do not discern self versus others, if to discriminate in such a way would become illusory knowledge ? i.e., consciousness. So sink into the ocean of complete Perfection Consciousness, flowing, returning and drifting about alone. Merely learn how to be quietly enlightened and liberated. Regarding the view that desires victory and does not desire defeat ? I can only ask, What use is such a view?’ I have just advised you that no matter what the usual way of acting or perceiving is, don’t let your mind run wild. If you just cease holding any view whatsoever, then it is not necessary to search for truth. In this sense, then, both Buddha and Deva Mara are evil. So Manjusri said: If anyone gives rise to the transient, dualistic view of transcendence and calls it reality, he should be banished to the two iron-enclosing mountains at the very edge of the world.’ Manjusri represents the wisdom of reality, while Samantabhadra represents the knowledge of relative truth, for there is only One Mind. Even the Mind itself is neither the nature of Buddha nor of sentient beings. Even if you abruptly have a vision of the Buddha, it is also, simultaneously, a vision of sentient beings. The view that holds to the duality of existence and non-existence and of permanent and impermanent is like being limited by the two iron-enclosing mountains, because understanding and liberation are obstructed by any and all views. To point out that the Original Mind of all sentient beings is Buddha was the only purpose of the Patriarch who came from the West. Thus suddenly, rather than gradually, pointing to Original Mind, the Patriarch showed that it was neither light nor dark and that without light there is no dark and that without dark there is no light. Consequently, it followed that there is no ignorance and also no ending of ignorance. As one enters the door of Dhyana, he should have this awareness and understanding. This discernment of reality is the Dharma ? which is no other than the awareness of Buddha as no Buddha and the Sangha as the Sangha of non-action and the realization of the Precious Three as One Body. If you seek to understand Dharma better, don’t grasp the Sangha. You should realize that there is nothing to seek. Also, do not grasp the Buddha or the Dharma, for, again, there is nothing at all to seek. Don’t grasp the Buddha in your seeking, for there is no Buddha. Don’t grasp the Dharma in your seeking, for there is no Dharma. Don’t grasp the Sangha in your seeking, for there is no Sangha. Such is the true and correct Dharma!”

Question: “Master, you spread Dharma now, so how can you say that there is no Sangha and no Dharma?” The master answered: “If you think that I have Dharma to spread, that means you perceive the Tathagata by sound. If you really have seen the Tathagata, that means you also perceive a place. The true Dharma is no-Dharma! The true Dharma is Mind! So be aware that in the Dharma of Mind Transmission, Dharma has, indeed, never been Dharma. Without the view of Dharma and mind’, we would understand immediately that all mind is Dharma. At this instant we would set up the Bodhimandala. Remember, there is really nothing to obtain, for the Bodhimandala is without any view whatsoever. To the enlightened ones, the Dharma is voidness and nothingness. Then where has it ever been defiled by any dust? Such is the Bhutatathata in its purity. If you comprehend this truth intuitively, you will have joy and freedom beyond comparison.”

Question: “You say that originally there is nothingness. Doesn’t this view assume that nothingness’ is’?” The master replied: “Nothingness also is not is’. Bodhi is nowhere and also has no such view.”

Question: “What is Buddha?” The master answered: “Your Mind is Buddha. Buddha and Mind are not different. If the Mind were to depart, nothing else would be Buddha.”

Question: “If one’s own Mind is Buddha, how can it be transmitted by the Patriarch who came from the West?” The master responded: “The patriarch who came from the West only transmitted the Buddha Mind and directly pointed out that your Original Mind is Buddha. Original Mind itself is no different from the so-called Patriarch. If you comprehend this meaning deeply, suddenly you transcend the Three Vehicles and all the stages of a Bodhisattva’s progress and realize that, since all is Buddha originally, it is not necessary to practice.”

Questions: “If suddenly all Buddhas were to appear from all the ten directions of space, what Dharma would be preached by those Buddhas?” The master replied: “All Buddhas appearing from the ten directions of space would only spread the Dharma of One Mind. Therefore, the World Honored One handed down just this esoteric Dharma to Mahakasyapa. The Dharma of One Mind consists of utter voidness and the universal Dharmakaya, which alone is called The Truth of All Buddhas.’ One cannot seek this Dharma in subjective and objective duality; neither can it be found by searching out books and concepts, nor can it be perceived in time or space. It can only be tacitly understood. This is the doorway to understanding the non-action Dharma. If you want to comprehend, just be without mind and you will suddenly be enlightened; for if you intend or plan to learn about or desire to get something, you will find yourself very far away from the truth. However, if you have no discrimination, do not grasp thought and abandon all views, then the mind, as firm and hard as a piece of wood or stone, will have a chance to realize the Tao.”

Question: “Now, there really are many false thoughts, so how can you say there are none?” The master replied: “False thoughts have no self-nature, for they arise from your discriminating mind. If you recognize that the Mind is Buddha, then the Mind is not false nor does any thought arise that views the Mind as false. Thus, if you do not raise any thought or start any thinking, then naturally there is no false thought; however, when the mind stirs, all sorts of things are created; but when the mind is annihilated, all sorts of things vanish.”

Question: “When false thought stirs, where is the Buddha?” The master replied: “When you perceive false thought stirring, that very perception is the Buddha. If there is no false thought, there is no Buddha. Why not? Just because if you have a view of Buddha, you will think that there really is a Buddha to be attained. If you have a view of sentient beings, you will think there really are sentient beings to be delivered. Such is the totality of your false thought. However, if you are without any thought or view at all, where then is the Buddha? So this is why Manjusri said, To have any view of Buddha whatsoever is like being limited and obstructed by the two iron-enclosing mountains’.”

Question: “At the moment of perception of and upon reaching Enlightenment, where is the Buddha?” The master said: “From where does the question come and from where does perception arise? Conversation and silence, movement and tranquillity, sound and form are all Buddha’s affair, so where else can you seek a Buddha? You should not seek to put a head on a head or add a mouth to a mouth. Just let go of any discriminating view, and a mountain is a mountain, water is water, Sangha is Sangha, laymen are laymen; and these mountains, rivers, the earth, the sun, the moon and all the planets are absolutely nothing outside of your own mind.

Even the three kinds of thousands of great chiliocosms are all your own self, nor are they anything at all outside your own mind. It follows then that the green mountains and blue water and the multitudinous eyes of the infinite would are just voidness that is very clear and bright. Moreover, if you have the no-view’ of things, then all sounds and forms are the wisdom-eyes of Buddha. The Dharma that phenomena are real does not raise a solitary thing that depends on a created realm. Even so, for sentient beings the Buddha used many different kinds of wisdom. However, Buddha spoke all day and said nothing; and sentient beings listened from morning to night but heard nothing. In this sense it can be asserted that Buddha Sakyamuni spoke the Dharma for forty-nine years but never spoke a single word.”"

Question: ” If it is really thus, then where is Bodhi?” The master replied: “Bodhi is nowhere! Even Buddha has never attained Bodhi, while all sentient beings have never lost it. It is neither gotten by the body nor sought by the mind. All sentient beings are, indeed, the form of Bodhi.”

Question: “How is it possible to develop the Supreme-Enlightenment Mind?” The master said: “Bodhi means nothing to attain. Even now, just as you allow a thought to arise, you get nothing. Thus, realizing that there is absolutely nothing to attain is the Bodhi Mind. The realization that there is nowhere to abide and nothing to attain is the Bodhi. Therefore, Sakyamuni Buddha said, Since there was really no Dharma by means of which the Tathagata attained Supreme Enlightenment, so Dipamkara Buddha predicted about me in my last lifetime, “In your next lifetime, you will be a Buddha named Sakyamuni”.’ It is very clear, then that originally all sentient beings are Bodhi, so there is no Bodhi to again attain. Thus, you have just now heard how to develop Bodhi Mind. Do you think there really have a Mind to develop? Do you think that you really is a Buddha to attain? If you practice with this view or in this way, even throughout the three Asankhyeya kalpas, you would only have attained the Sambhogakaya and the Nirmanakaya. What have these got to do with your Original Buddha Mind? Furthermore, to seek the form of Buddha Mind outside your own mind is illusion, for that ? whatever you find ? is not your Original Buddha Mind.”

Question: “If originally all is Buddha, how can there be four forms of birth, six conditions of sentient existence and all kinds of different forms?” The master answered: “The universal body of all Buddhas, without increasing or decreasing, represents everywhere the perfect combination. All sentient beings are Buddha, just as when a large bead of mercury disperses into many places but every smaller bead remains round like the original and just as all parts are contained, in potential, within the original if it does not disperse. One is all and all is one! Take a house as a further example. We abandon the house of a donkey in order to enter the house of a person. In turn, we abandon the body of a person to obtain the body of a heavenly being. Until you enter the houses of Sravaka, Pratyeka-Buddha, Bodhisattva and Buddha, you continue to accept, reject and discriminate among various places and bodies, thus experiencing difference? in name and form ? and suffering. But where is there and differentiation at all in our Original Nature?”

Question: “How is it possible to spread Dharma and to perform the acts of great compassion of all the Buddhas?” The master answered: “That compassion of Buddha without immediate causal connection is the Great Compassion. Your not seeing a Buddha to be attained is Great Compassion. Your not seeing any sentient being to release from suffering is great pity. To spread Dharma, neither speak nor indicate; to listen to Dharma, hear nothing and desire to attain nothing. If as an illusionary person you spread Dharma to another illusionary person, or if you think that you understand the Dharma as correct even if you’ve heard it from a virtuous friend, or if you let the thought arise that you desire to attain great learning and compassion? these conditions definitely are not your Enlightened Mind. Finally, by grasping such views, you work without achieving anything at all in the end.”

Question: “What is unadulterated progress?” The master said: “Your not allowing any view whatsoever of body and mind to arise is the very highest and strongest unadulterated progress. Allowing just one tiny thought to arise is to seek outside; then, like Kaliraja, you become interested in travelling here and there to hunt. However, the Mind that does not search outside itself is like Ksantyrsi. Being without any mind-and-body view whatsoever is the way of the Buddha.”

Question: “If we practice Dharma without discrimination, how do we know that it is the correct Dharma?” The master said: “To be without discriminating mind is the correct Dharma. Now when you conceive of right or wrong or even allow a single thought to arise, the idea of place arises; on the other hand, without a single thought arising, ideas of place and mind both vanish. In reality, there is nothing to seek and nothing to search for.”

Question: “How is it possible to leave the three realms?” The master answered: “To be without a view either of good or evil is to leave the three realms. The Tathagata appeared in the world to refute the three kinds of existence. Therefore, if you are without any mind at all, then there are, suddenly, no three realms. To illustrate: If a molecule is separated into a hundred parts and ninety-nine parts are destroyed, with only one part remaining, the existence of this one remaining part, like the tiniest discriminating thought, makes impossible the victory of the Great Vehicle. Not until this last little bit of discrimination also vanishes can the Mahayana Dharma be truly victorious.”

The master said: “The Mind is Buddha. All Buddhas and all sentient beings have the same Buddha-Nature and one Mind. Therefore, Bodhidharma came from the West only to transmit the One-Mind Doctrine. However, since the mind of all sentient beings is the same as original Buddha-Nature, there is no need to practice; for if one recognizes one’s own Mind and sees one’s own Nature, there is nothing at all to seek outside oneself. But how is one to recognize one’s own Mind? Just that Mind itself that wants to perceive the Mind ? that is your own Mind, which is as void as Original Mind and is without words and function. However, we cannot say that up to now we have been talking about nothing but existence.”

The master said: “The real nature of Mind is without a head and without a tail. This is called expedient wisdom and is used to convert and deliver sentient beings, depending upon their capacity. If there is no conversion of sentient beings, we cannot say whether there is existence or non-existence. Therefore, one should understand as follows: Just to settle in voidness ? that is the way of all Buddhas. The Sutra said: One should develop a mind which does not abide in anything whatsoever.’ All sentient beings have birth and death in endless transmigration because their mind-sense is intractable, always taking the path of the six senses and existence, thus grasping the wheel of life and death ? a condition that causes them perpetual suffering.

The Vimalakirti Sutra says: “It is very difficult to convert people because their minds are as intractable as monkeys.’ They use many different methods to guard against conversion; and only gradually, after a long time, might they bring their minds under control. Therefore, when the mind stirs, all sorts of things are created; and when the mind is annihilated, all sorts of things are destroyed. In this manner, everything ? human beings, Devas, the six ways of sentient existence ? is created by the mind. If you wish to understand the truth or achieve the reality of no-mind, just stop all accessory conditions; i.e., suddenly and absolutely do not allow false thoughts and discriminatory ideas to arise. Without others, there is no self, no greed, no hate, no love, no abhorrence; neither is there victory or defeat. So just eliminate all delusions, and what remains is the Original Bright Nature ? Bodhi and Dharma. If you do not understand this, then even though you study extensively and practice diligently and even though you lead a simple life, but never come to recognize your own Mind, you will finally only bear the fruit of evil action, perhaps becoming a deva-mara, a heretic, or a god of water or land. So what benefit is there at all in such practice! Master Chi Kung said, The Buddha-Nature is your own Mind, so how can you search for it or find it through words and concepts?’ Just recognize your own Mind and stop thinking; then the false thoughts and all the troubles of the world automatically disappear. The Vimalakirti Sutra says: Just as a person confined in bed by illness who is resting to get well, do not allow any thought to arise. Just as a person lying in bed with an illness trying to cure himself, stop all activities that aggravate the illness. When false thoughts stop, Bodhi appears.’ Now, if your mind is in great confusion, even if you arrive at the stage of the Three Vehicles and practice all the stages of a Bodhisattva’s progress, you will still only remain hovering between the worldly and holy views. One should realize that everything is impermanent, that all power declines; just as an arrow shot up into the sky, expending the energy of the thrust, falls to earth, so human beings continuously revolve through the various states of transmigration, birth and death. If we do not understand the Dharma and practice, and instead only continue suffering and working in ignorance, achieving nothing, isn’t this a great error?”

The Master Chi Kung said: “If you do not study with a teacher of images of supramundane reality, then it would be useless to take the medicine of Mahayana Dharma. Rather, while walking, standing, sitting, lying, etc., just learn being without-mind’ and being without discrimination or dependence on anything. Also, learn neither to stay not to grasp. Then you will be prosperous and happy, as you wish, always, even though you might appear to others to be merely a fool. Nobody in the whole world will recognize you, but then you will not need them to recognize you. Your mind will become like an unpolished stone with no crack ? nothing whatsoever can pierce your mind. To stand firmly without grasping corresponds somewhat to this state. Passing right through the region of the three sense realms, one is suddenly in supramundane Reality. Not to grasp even a tiny spark of the mind is passionless wisdom. Neither create the karma of human beings and devas nor create the karma of hell. Do not allow any thought whatsoever to arise, and you will be at the end of all conditioned mind. At this stage, then, the body and mind are free yet not non-reborn, but reborn according to one’s own wishes. So the Sutra said: The Bodhisattva assumes a body at his own will.’ If you do not comprehend the mind or if you grasp any form, this only creates karma that belongs to Deva Nara. Even becoming involved in Buddhist rituals and practice ? such as Pure Land ? can all, if clung to , be obstructions to the realization of Buddha. Because of these obstructions in your mind and being bound to conditions of discipline brought about by cause and effect, there is no freedom to go from or to stay in any or all of the various realms at will.

Therefore, the Dharma of Bodhi was originally non-existent, but all the Tathagata’s teaching is used as skillful means for the transformation of all sentient beings. Just as the golden-yellow leaves, used expediently to stop the crying of a baby, are not real gold, so there is a Dharma called Supreme Enlightenment. Now, if you already understand this teaching, there is no need at all to practice diligently. Just eliminate your old karma and never create new misfortune. Thus your mind will ever be very bright and clear. So abandon all of your previous views. The Vimalakirti Sutra says: Eliminate everything!’ The Lotus Sutra says: Try to shovel out the dung from your mind that has been piling up for the last twenty years or so. Just eliminate the view of place and form from your mind, and automatically the dung of sophistry will be wiped out. Then and only then will you realize that the Tathagata Store is originally only voidness. So the Sutra says: All Buddhalands are truly void.’ If you think that any Buddhas have attained Enlightenment by learning and practice, you will find no support for such a view.

If one holds to the subjective-objective view, he will feel proud when, after studying and practicing a little, he thinks he has tacitly understood and attained Enlightenment in the Ch’an method. So for this reason, if we see someone such as this who does not really understand anything at all, we scold him for his ignorance. If he gets some meaning from others, he is very happy and might feel superior to others, thus creating for himself even more unfortunate mental conditions. If one studies Ch’an with this focus, there is no possibility of profound understanding; for even if one is permitted to comprehend some small idea or theory, one merely obtains, as a result, some attribute of the mind but no insight into Ch’an or Tao. Therefore, the Bodhidharma sat facing the wall ? an example for people to totally reject all views. Thus, being without motive is the way of Buddha. Having any discrimination whatsoever is only achieving the stage of Deva Mara. For the ignorant person Buddha-Nature is never lost. For the enlightened person there is nothing to attain. In reality, Buddha Nature is originally neither confused nor enlightened. Remember that the endlessness of the ten directions of infinite space is originally one’s own Mind. Even though you have creative energy and physical and mental functions, still you are never separated from voidness. The void has in it neither the big nor the small. It is passionless, being neither active nor non-active. It is neither confused nor enlightened, and it is without any view whatsoever generated by phenomenal disturbances. It has neither sentient beings nor Buddhas. It depends on absolutely nothing, not even the tiniest mote or flash. It is fundamentally pure and bright and is identical with the patient endurance of the uncreate. The real Buddha has no mouth and no Dharma to state or spread. It is said that we hear the real Dharma without ears, but who hears? One should think well about this! There is really nothing to say about it!”

One day the master, preaching in the Dharma Hall to the assembly, said: “If you do not awaken soon rather than late, when the end of your life approaches there is no guarantee that you will not have some trouble.” At that moment, some heretics in the hall were talking aloud about having achieved kung fu (a term for a certain level of attainment in meditation practice). One man was smiling sarcastically and said: “At the last moment I will still have my kung fu.” The master responded thus: “I would like to know what you would say to yourself suddenly during your last breath to defend against being caught, once again, in the repetitive cycle of life and death. Try to think about it! In fact, you should have some plan or insight for these last moments, Tell me, where is there any inborn Maitreya and where do we have natural Sakyamuni? Some say that there is a heaven of gods and a hell of wild and hungry ghosts. If you saw a sick person, you might say to him, Just lie down and rest.’ However, when you yourself get sick, you might not be able to focus, and you might be confused and afraid and unable to lie down, rest or even to take any medicine easily. Moreover, even if you could defend yourself with the very swords of hell and the boiling oil of the cooking pot, at that time you would have no assistance at all from any being with supernatural powers. So you should prepare a plan for yourself at the right time so you can use it in an emergency. Don’t waste your energy. You should not prepare your plan too late and find yourself in a regretful state and bereft. If your mind is, at the last moment, in an hysterical flurry, how can you escape the disorder and dissolution of your body. The prospect is dark, and, lacking insight, you would be at a loss to know how to handle this situation. Alas! Alas! Commonly one learns about Samadhi only to speak platitudes about Ch’an and Tao or to shout at the Buddha and scold the Patriarch. However, during one’s last breath, all is useless, all is in vain! If you have always cheated and lied you way through life, you will only cheat yourself on that final day. The hell of Avici already has imprisoned you, and you cannot escape at the last moment.

During this Dharma-ending age, when the Dharma has almost disappeared, there is a good opportunity and the perfect time for those monks who have taken a Great Vow to spread Dharma and to bear and transmit to future generations, for continued use, the wisdom-life of all Buddhas, not to let their Vow weaken or die. Now, we have quite a few wandering monks who desire to be responsible only for seeing and enjoying the brightness of the mountains and the beauty of the rivers. However, they do not know how much time they have left in this life, for if only one tiny outbreath does not return as an inbreath you are already on your way to the next life. Moreover, nobody knows what lies ahead or what he will have to face again in the next lifetime. Alas! So my advice to all of my brothers is to fulfill your promise during your period of good health and take advantage immediately of your good opportunity for Enlightenment. Do it now! Don’t wait! This is the Universal Enlightenment and the Great Release, which average people are quite confused about. This confusion and obstruction to understanding is not difficult to conquer. However, if you do not have any ambition and determination to practice, but only talk, again and again, about how difficult it all is, you will not succeed. Rather, you should remember the origin of the wooden ladle ? that it began its life in a tree. Recalling this, you should change your way of thinking and turn to the Right Way. If you are really courageous, go seek a Kung-an!”

One monk asked Master Chao-Chou: “Does a dog have Buddha-Nature?” Chao-Chou replied: “None!” At once the monk just concentrated his mind exclusively on the word none’. For twenty-four hours of every day, while walking, staying, sitting and lying, he practiced. Day by day, even while eating and dressing, moving his bowels and urinating, his mind and mental energy were all focussed, at all times, towards profound and total concentration on the word none’. Gradually he understood the none’(wu) was, indeed, just so. If you are suddenly enlightened regarding the nature of Buddha, you can never be fooled about truth by anyone in the world, no matter how clever he is. In this sense, then, you could say that Bodhidharma came from the West to make a lot of trouble out of nothing. Also you might say that when the World Honored One held up the golden flower, his performance was a complete failure. Furthermore, you can even say that Yama, the King of Hell, and even all the holy saints and sages are no different from you yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you believe or not, for that which is real is beyond our comprehension. Why? Just because if there is really no problem or suffering in the world that is based on misconception and illusion, then you do not need to have any fear or desire anything whatsoever.”

The Gatha
Abandon all trouble in the world —
This is the most extraordinary act.

As in an opera, grasp the rope
Only to swing on, progressing further.

If you don’t feel penetrating cold
To the bone at least once,

How can you ever come to smell
The warm fragrance of plum flowers?

A Gatha by P’ei Hsiu

I heretofore acquired the Dharma of the Transmission of Mind, as expressed in The Chung-Ling Record and in The Wan-Ling Record, from Ch’an Master Huang-po (Hsi-Yun). So thus I have come to write a gatha on The Transmission of Mind:

The Mind cannot be transmitted;
To tacitly understand is transmission.

The Mind can perceive nothing at all,
But nothingness is true perception.

The tally is not the tally;
Also, nothing is not nothing.

Do not remain in Illusion City,
Or you’ll mistake the pearl on your forehead;
Be aware, the word “pearl” is only an expedient,
For how can Illusion City have any form?

Only the Mind is Buddha,
The Buddha without birth.

So know directly that “it is!”
Without seeking or acting.
For a Buddha to seek Buddha
Is just a waste of energy.
If you let a Dharma-view arise,
You’ll only fall into Mara’s realm.
Don’t separate the worldly and the holy;
Then seeing and hearing will disappear.

Just like a clear mirror, be without mind,
And there is no competition with things.
Just like the bright void, be without thinking,
And you contain the ten thousand things.

The Three Vehicles are outside of the Dharma,
But to know this is rare in a kalpa’s course.
When one attains such realization, then
He is the Hero Who Leaves the World.

Tags: Huang-po, Dharma, Mind Transmission, Supreme Vehicle, One Mind, Buddha, Original Mind, Bodhisattva

The Diamond Sutra..Simpified

Published on Thursday, August 18th, 2005

The Diamond Sutra, simplified
A directory of stanzas following the introductory remarks:
The following discourse is attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, later called the Buddha Shakyamuni (the holy sage of the Shakya clan), passed on by word of mouth throughout the centuries from around 500 BC until the second century AD, when it was written down by Nagarjuna. Hui-neng, the sixth Patriarch of Ch’an, identified Nagarjuna as being about halfway in the line of dharma-succession from Siddhartha to Bodhidharma, who carried the Great Jewel from India to China.

1. The Convocation of the Assembly

In Jeta Grove, the park of Anatha-pindika near the once-great city Shravasti, the “city of wonders” in northern India close to the border of Nepal, twelve hundred and fifty wandering mendicants broke their fast then gathered round to hear the words of the Buddha.

2. Subhuti Makes a Request

The disciple Subhuti arose and, raising his hands with palms joined in respect, said: World-Honored One, if good men and women seek enlightenment, how should they then conduct themselves?

3. The Real Teaching of the Great Way

They should discipline their thoughts as follows, Buddha replied. All living creatures are caused by me to attain unbounded liberation. Yet when vast numbers of beings have thus been liberated, in truth no being has been liberated. And why is this? Because no enlightened being cherishes the idea of a separate individuality.

4. Even the Most Beneficent Practices are Relative

Furthermore, the Buddha said, a bodhisattva [aspirant] should practice good acts without regard to appearances, without attachment to sight, sound or any other quality.

Thus is merit gained, as Krishna instructed Arjuna in The Song of the Blessed One [Bhagavad Gita], when action is performed with detachment.

5. Understanding the Ultimate Principle of Reality

Do you think that Reality is to be recognized by some material characteristic? [Is Reality perceivable by the senses?]

No, World-Honored One.

That’s right, Subhuti. Wherever there are material characteristics, there is delusion. But whoever perceives that all characteristics are in fact no-characteristics, perceives Reality.

6. Rare is True Faith

Will there always be men who truly believe after hearing this teaching? Subhuti asked.

Twenty-five hundred years after the passing of the Buddha [i.e., circa 2000], men hearing this teaching will have an uprising of pure faith, and the Buddha will recognize them, Siddhartha answered.

Yes, he will clearly perceive all those of pure heart. And why is that? It is because such men will not cherish the idea of individuality, of a separate being. Neither will they cherish the idea that things have intrinsic qualities, which includes the idea of an ego or individuality, nor even that things are devoid of intrinsic qualities. For the latter ideas imply the former.

My teaching of the dharma, the good law, is like a raft that has carried one safely across a flood. One does not continue the journey carrying the raft upon his head. Thus even the buddha-teaching must be relinquished.

7. Great Ones, Perfect beyond Learning, Utter no Words of Teaching

Has the Buddha attained enlightenment, Subhuti? Has he a teaching to enunciate?

As I understand Buddha’s meaning there is no formulation of truth called enlightenment, he answered. Moreover there is no teaching to enunciate. The Buddha has said that truth is uncontainable and inexpressible. It neither is nor is not.

This unformulated principle is the foundation of the different systems of all true sages, Subhuti.

8. The Fruits of Meritorious Actions

If anyone filled three thousand galaxies with all the treasures of the universe and gave it all away in alms, would he gain great merit? Buddha asked.

Great indeed World-Honored One.

On the other hand, Buddha said, if anyone received and retained even four lines of this discourse and taught them to others, his merit would be the greater. From this discourse issue forth all the buddhas and the enlightenment teachings of all the buddhas.

[This seems like a device for ensuring that the teaching would be carried on to succeeding generations verbatim, which was probably a major concern before the advent of widespread recording media. On the other hand, Buddha has just said that there is no teaching to enunciate and that truth is inexpressible. Apparently he didn’t assume there would be an unbroken chain of enlightened teachers to keep the lamp burning. Although words cannot express Truth, they can be catalysts for the advent of awakening, as Hui-neng describes his first hearing of the Diamond Sutra — and as two friends and fellow students of Richard Rose found out in 1999, one upon reading something written by Alfred Pulyan, the other when reading something written by Franklin Merrell-Wolff (see the Maximum Systems page).]

9. Real Designation is Undesignate

Does a venerable one who will never more be reborn as a mortal say to himself, “I obtain the fruit of a nonreturner”?

No, World-Honored One. “Nonreturner” is just a name. There is no nonreturning; hence the designation “nonreturner.”

Does a holy one say to himself, “I have obtained perfect enlightenment”?

No, World-Honored One, for that would partake of the idea of an ego or individual self. Claiming spiritual superiority is separative and enhances the illusory personality.

10. Setting forth Pure Lands

[The reference is to a bodhisattva who has attained complete enlightenment and who may preside as a king over a world of beings whom he never ceases to help until they are free and perfected.]

Does a buddha set forth any majestic buddha-lands?

No, Subhuti answered, because such “setting forth” is not a majestic setting forth but merely a name.

Therefore, Buddha said, all bodhisattvas should develop a pure, lucid mind that alights upon nothing whatsoever.

11. The Superiority of Unformulated Truth

If a good man or woman filled three thousand galaxies with all the treasures in the universe as many times over as there are grains of sand in all their great rivers and gave all away in gifts to the needy, would he gain great merit?

Great indeed, World-Honored One.

Nevertheless, if a good man or woman studies this discourse only so far as to receive and retain four lines, and teaches and explains them to others, the consequent merit would be far greater.

[Richard Rose felt strongly that a person’s path is accelerated by a vow to help others. He remarked that while few have ears to hear Truth, even fewer can act — pointing out that while Jesus had about seventy disciples, there were only twelve apostles. Following this proportion as a guide, every seeker should be helping six other seekers on the rung of the ladder below his own.]

12. Veneration of the True Doctrine

Furthermore, you should know that wherever this discourse is proclaimed, by even so little as four lines, that place should be venerated by all the realms of sentient beings.

How much more is this so in the case of one who is able to receive and retain the whole. Such a one attains the highest and most wonderful truth.

13. How this Teaching Should Be Received and Retained

By what name should this discourse be known, World-Honored One, and how should we receive and retain it?

It should be known as the Diamond Cutter of Perfect Wisdom. But according to the buddha-teaching, the perfection of transcendental wisdom is not really such, but just the name given to it.

Would there be many molecules in three thousand galaxies, Subhuti?

Many, indeed, Subhuti said.

The Tathagata [another title for Buddha composed in Chinese of the characters for “thus” and “come”] declares that all these molecules are not really such; they are merely called molecules. Furthermore, a world is not really a world; it is merely called such.

If on the one hand a good man or woman sacrifices as many lives as sand grains on the Ganges, and on the other hand anyone receives and retains only four lines of this discourse, and teaches it to others, the merit of the latter will be greater.

14. Perfect Peace Lies in Freedom from Characteristic Distinctions

Upon hearing the discourse Subhuti had an interior realization and was moved to tears. It is a most precious thing, World-Honored One, that you should deliver this supremely profound discourse, he said. Never have I heard such an exposition since my eye of wisdom first opened. If anyone listens to this discourse in faith with a pure, lucid mind, he will thereupon conceive an idea of fundamental reality.

Just as you say, Buddha replied. If anyone listens to this discourse and is filled with neither alarm nor awe nor dread, be it known that such a one is of remarkable achievement.

The first perfection, the perfection of charity, is not, in fact, the first perfection; it is merely a name. Likewise the perfection of patience is not such. Therefore bodhisattvas should leave behind all phenomenal distinctions and awaken the thought of enlightenment by not allowing the mind to depend upon notions evoked by the sensible world.

The mind should be kept independent of any thoughts that arise within it, or it has no sure haven. As bodhisattvas practice charity for the welfare of all living beings, they should do it in this manner. Just as the Tathagata declares that characteristics are not characteristics, so he declares that all living beings are not, in fact, living beings.

The Tathagata is he who declares that which is true, he who declares that which is fundamental, he who declares that which is ultimate. The truth to which the Tathagata has attained is neither real nor unreal.

If there be good men and women in future ages able to receive, read and recite this discourse in its entirety, the Tathagata will clearly perceive and recognize them by means of his buddha-knowledge; and each one of them will bring immeasurable and incalculable merit to fruition.

[The conversion of an ordinary man to a bodhisattva is said to be marked by three events: 1) he awakens the thought of enlightenment; 2) he dedicates himself to the ideal of service for the salvation of all creatures; and 3) he receives a prediction from a buddha of his attainment of the goal.]

15. The Incomparable Value of this Teaching

If on the one hand a good man or woman performs in the morning as many charitable acts of self-denial as the sand grains of the Ganges, and performs as many again in the noonday and as many again in the evening, and continues so doing throughout numberless ages, and, on the other hand, anyone listens to this discourse with heart of faith and without contention, the latter would be the more blessed. But how can any comparison be made with one who writes it down, receives it, retains it, and explains it to others!

The full value of this discourse can be neither conceived nor estimated, nor can any limit be set to it. The Tathagata has declared this teaching for the benefit of the initiates of the great way; he has declared it for the benefit of the initiates of the supreme way.

16. Purgation through Suffering the Retribution for Past Sins

If good men and women who receive and retain this discourse are downtrodden, their evil destiny is the inevitable retributive result of sins committed in their past mortal lives. By virtue of their present misfortunes the reacting effects of their past will be thereby worked out, and they will be in a position to attain the consummation of incomparable enlightenment.

If I fully detailed the merit gained by good men and women coming to receive, retain, study and recite this discourse, my hearers would be filled with doubt and might become disordered in mind, suspicious and unbelieving. You should know, Subhuti, that the significance of this discourse is beyond conception; likewise the fruit of its rewards is beyond conception.

[The above remark is consistent with the teachings of the Ch’an masters, which is that reality cannot be conceived by the intellect but can only be realized through direct experience.]

17. No One Attains Transcendental Wisdom

World-Honored One, if good men and women seek enlightenment, how should they abide and how control their thoughts?

They must create this resolved attitude of mind, Buddha replied: “I must liberate all living beings; yet when all have been liberated, verily not anyone is liberated.”

In reality there is no formula that gives rise to the consummation of incomparable enlightenment. Tathagata is a signification implying all formulas. The basis of the Tathagata’s attainment of enlightenment is wholly BEYOND; it is neither real nor unreal.

If a bodhisattva announces “I will liberate all living creatures,” he is not rightly called a bodhisattva. There is really no such condition as bodhisattvaship, because all things are devoid of separate individuality. Bodhisattvas who are truly devoid of any conception of separate selfhood are truthfully called bodhisattvas.

18. All Modes of Mind Are Really Only Mind

If there were as many Ganges rivers as the sand grains of the Ganges and there was a buddha-land for each sand grain in all those rivers, would those buddha-lands be many?

Many, indeed.

However many living beings there are in all those buddha-lands, though they have manifold modes of mind, the Tathagata understands them all. All these are not mind; they are merely called mind. It is impossible to retain past mind, impossible to hold on to present mind, and impossible to grasp future mind.

19. Absolute Reality Is the Only Foundation
If anyone filled three thousand galaxies with treasure and gave it all away, would he gain great merit?

Indeed, World-Honored One, he would gain great merit.

If such merit were real, the Tathagata would not have declared it to be great, but because it is without a foundation the Tathagata characterized it as “great”.

20. The Unreality of Phenomenal Distinctions

Can the Buddha be perceived by his perfectly formed body?

No, World-Honored One. A perfectly formed body is not really such; it is merely called that.

Can the Absolute be perceived by means of any phenomenal characteristics [that is, perceptible by the senses]?

No, Subhuti replied, because phenomenal characteristics are not really such but are merely called so.

21. Words Cannot Express Truth; That which Words Express is not Truth Directory

If anyone says that the Tathagata sets forth a teaching he really slanders Buddha and is unable to explain what I teach. As to any truth-declaring system, truth is undeclarable; so an “enunciation of truth” is just the name give to it.

In future ages, Subhuti asked, will there be men coming to hear a declaration of this teaching who will be inspired with belief?

Those to whom you refer are neither living beings nor not-living beings. “Living beings” are not really such; they are just called that.

22. It Cannot Be Said that Anything Is Attainable

Subhuti asked: In the attainment of enlightenment did the Buddha make no acquisition whatever?

Just so, Buddha replied. Through the consummation of incomparable enlightenment I acquired not the least thing.

23. The Cultivation of Goodness Purifies the Mind
Furthermore, THIS is altogether everywhere, without differentiation or degree. It is straightly attained by freedom from separate selfhood and by cultivating all kinds of goodness. But, though we speak of “goodness,” the Tathagata declares that there is no goodness.

24. The Incomparable Merit of this Teaching

If one gives the needy a mass of treasures equal in extent to as many mighty Mount Sumerus as there would be in three thousand galaxies, and if another selects even four lines from this discourse upon the perfection of the transcendental wisdom, receiving and retaining them, and clearly expounding them to others, the merit of the latter will be so far greater than that of the former that no conceivable comparison can be made between them.

25. The Illusion of the Ego

Let no one say the Tathagata cherishes the idea “I must liberate all living beings.” In reality there are no living beings to be liberated by the Tathagata. If there were living beings for the Tathagata to liberate, he would partake of the idea of selfhood, personality, ego entity and separate individuality.

26. The Body of Truth Has No Mark

May the Tathagata be perceived by the thirty-two marks of a great man? Buddha asked.

As I understand the meaning of Buddha’s words, the Tathagata may not be perceived by the thirty-two marks, Subhuti replied.

Whereupon the World-Honored One uttered this verse:

Who seeks me by form,
Who seeks me in sound,
Perverted are his footsteps upon the way;
For he cannot perceive the Absolute.

27. It Is Erroneous to Affirm that All Things Are Ever Extinguished

The Tathagata’s attainment of enlightenment was not by reason of his perfected form [I believe he’s referring to the entire organism, physical and mental, as well as its manifested actions]. On the other hand, do not believe that anyone in whom dawns the consummation of incomparable enlightenment would declare that all manifest standards are ended and extinguished. Such a man does not affirm concerning any formula that it is finally extinguished.

28. Attachment to Rewards of Merit

If one bodhisattva bestows in charity sufficient treasures to fill as many worlds as there are sand grains in the Ganges, and another, realizing that all things are egoless, attains perfection through patient forbearance, the merit of the latter will far exceed that of the former.

What is the saying, World-Honored One, that bodhisattvas are insentient as to rewards of merit?

Bodhisattvas who achieve merit should not be fettered with desire for rewards. Thus it is said that the rewards of merit are not received.

[From the Bhagavad-Gita: Thy right is to work, but never to its fruits; let not the fruit of thy work be thy motive, nor take refuge in abstinence from works. Standing in union with the Soul, carry out thy work, putting away attachment, O conqueror of wealth; equal in success and failure, for equalness is called union with the Soul.]

29. Perfect Tranquility

If anyone should say that the Tathagata comes or goes or sits or reclines, he fails to understand my teaching. Why? Because the Tathagata has neither whence or whither.

30. The Integral Principle

If a good man or woman ground an infinite number of worlds to dust, would the resulting minute particles be many, Subhuti?

Many, indeed! Because if such were really minute particles Buddha would not have spoken of them as minute particles. “Minute particles” is just the name given to them. Also, when the Tathagata speaks of worlds, these are not worlds; for if reality could be predicated of a world it would be a self-existent cosmos, and the Tathagata teaches that there is really no such thing.

Words cannot explain the real nature of a cosmos, Buddha agreed. Only common people fettered with desire make use of this arbitrary method.

31. Conventional Truth Should Be Cut Off

If anyone should say that Buddha declares any conception of egoity, would he understand my teaching?

No, Subhuti replied, because the World-Honored One declares that notions of selfhood, personality, entity and separate individuality are erroneous; these terms are merely figures of speech.

Those who aspire to the consummation of incomparable enlightenment should recognize and understand all the varieties of things in the same way and cut off the arising of aspects, Buddha said.

32. The Delusion of Appearances

Someone might fill innumerable worlds with treasure and give all away in gifts of alms, but if any good man or woman awakens the thought of enlightenment and takes even four lines from this discourse, reciting, using, receiving, retaining and spreading them abroad and explaining them for the benefit of others, it will be far more meritorious.

In what manner may he explain them to others? By detachment from appearances - abiding in real truth.

Tags: The Diamond Sutra, Buddha

Huang Po

Published on Thursday, August 18th, 2005

Dhyana-Practice (From Blofeld’s introduction to his rendering of The Zen Teaching of Huang Po on the Transmission of Mind):

The book tells us very little about the practice of what, for want of a better translation, is often called meditation or contemplation. Unfortunately both these words are misleading as they imply some object of meditation or of contemplation; and, if objectlessness be stipulated, then they may well be taken to lead to a blank or sleeplike trance, which is not at all the goal of Zen. Huang Po seems to have assumed that his audience knew something about the practice - as most keen Buddhists do, of course. He gives few instructions as to how to “meditate,” but he does tell us what to avoid. If, conceiving of the phenomenal world as illusion, we try to shut it out, we make a false distinction between the “real” and the “unreal.” So we must not shut anything out, but try to reach the point where all distinctions are seen to be void, where nothing is seen as desirable or undesirable, existing or not existing. Yet this does not mean that we should make our minds blank, for then we should be no better than blocks of wood or lumps of stone; moreover, if we remained in this state, we should not be able to deal with the circumstances of daily life or be capable of observing the Zen precept” “When hungry, eat.” Rather, we must cultivate dispassion, realizing that none of the attractive or unattractive attributes of things have any absolute existence.

Enlightenment, when it comes, will come in a flash. There can be no gradual, no partial, Enlightenment. The highly trained and zealous adept may be said to have prepared himself for Enlightenment, but by no means can he be regarded as partially Enlightened - just as a drop of water may get hotter and hotter and then, suddenly, boil; at no stage is it partly boiling, and, until the very moment of boiling, no qualitative change has occurred. In effect, however, we may go through three stages - two of non-Enlightenment and one of Enlightenment. To the great majority of people, the moon is the moon and the trees are the trees. The next stage (not really higher than the first) is to perceive that moon and trees are not at all what they seem to be, since “all is the One Mind.” When this stage is achieved, we have the concept of a vast uniformity in which all distinctions are void; and, to some adepts, this concept may come as an actual perception, as “real” to them as the moon and the trees before. It is said that, when Enlightenment really comes, the moon is again very much the moon and the trees exactly trees; but with a difference, for the Enlightened man is capable of perceiving both unity and multiplicity without the least contradiction between them!

Conceptual Thinking:

To make use of your minds to think conceptually is to leave the substance [of Mind, Buddha] and attach yourselves to form.

The Mind is no mind of conceptual thought, and it is completely detached from form…. There are those who, upon hearing this teaching, rid themselves of conceptual thought in a flash…. But whether they transcend conceptual thought by a longer or shorter way, the result is a state of BEING: there is no practicing and no action of realizing. That there is nothing which can be attained is not idle talk; it is the truth.

If you would spend all your time - walking, standing, sitting or lying down - learning to halt the concept-forming activities of your own mind, you could be sure of ultimately attaining the goal.

Perception:

…If you students of the Way seek to progress through seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, when you are deprived of your perceptions, your ways to Mind will be cut off and you will find nowhere to enter.

Do not keep them nor abandon them nor dwell in them nor cleave to them. Above, below and around you, all is spontaneously existing, for there is nowhere which is outside Buddha-Mind.

One Mind:

Only awake to the One Mind and there is nothing whatever to be attained.

This pure Mind, the source of everything, shines forever and on all with the brilliance of its own perfection. But the people of the world do not awake to it, regarding only that which sees, hears, feels and knows as mind…. If they would only eliminate all conceptual thought in a flash, that source-substance would manifest itself like a sun….

Fear:

Ordinary people look to their surroundings, while followers of the Way look to Mind, but the true Dharma is to forget them both. The former is easy enough, the latter very difficult. Men are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma.

Intuition:

So you students of the Way should immediately refrain from all conceptual thought. Let a tacit understanding be all! Any mental processes must lead to error. There is just a transmission of Mind with Mind.

The Place of Precious Things:

That which is called the Place of Precious Things is the real Mind, the original Buddha-Essence, the treasure of our own real Nature…. Where is the Place of Precious Things? It is a place to which no directions can be given…. All we can say is that it is close by.

The Ignorant Seeker:

Many people are afraid to empty their minds lest they may plunge into the Void. They do not know that their own Mind is the void. The ignorant [seekers] eschew phenomena but not thought; the wise [seekers] eschew thought but not phenomena.

The World-Transcendor:

If an ordinary man, when he is about to die, could only see the five elements of his consciousness as void; the four physical elements as not constituting an ‘I’; the real Mind as formless and neither coming nor going; his nature as something neither commencing at his birth nor perishing at his death, but as whole and motionless in its very depths; his Mind and environmental objects as one - if he could really accomplish this, he would receive Enlightenment in a flash. He would no longer be entangled by the Triple World; he would be a World-Transcendor.

The Supreme Way:

…To awaken suddenly to the fact that your own Mind is the Buddha, that there is nothing to be attained or a single action to be performed - this is the Supreme Way….

“…his words were simple, his reasoning direct, his way of life exalted and his habits unlike the habits of other men. Disciples hastened to him from all quarters, looking up to him as to a lofty mountain, and through their contact with him awoke to Reality. Of the crowds which flocked to see him, there were always more than a thousand with him at a time.”

Thus P’ei Hsiu (pronounced pay shoo), a scholar-official of great learning according to Blofeld, described Huang Po (hwong bo; Japanese: Obaku), whose teachings he recorded for posterity. Blofeld also tells us that P’ei Hsiu was devoted to Huang Po, so we can forgive him if he may have used a little puffery in describing the size of the crowds always in attendance, but his description of the man rings with honest conviction.

Lest you get the impression that Huang Po was mild-mannered, though, you might be interested to know that his teacher, Pai-chang (whose teacher was Ma-tsu), compared him to a tiger in his ferociousness.

Similarity to the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, from Blofeld’s introductory comments:

The present volume is a complete translation of the Huang Po Ch’uan Hsin Fa Yao, a ninth-century Chinese Buddhist text, much of which now appears in English for the first time. It contains a concise account of the sublime teachings of a great Master of the Dhyana Sect, to which, in accordance with current Western practice, I shall henceforth refer to by its Japanese name of Zen. Zen is often regarded as a uniquely Far Eastern development of Buddhism, but Zen followers claim that their Doctrine stems directly from Gautama Buddha himself. This text, which is one of the principle Zen works, follows closely the teachings proclaimed in the Diamond Sutra or Jewel of Transcendental Wisdom, which has been ably translated by Arnold Price and published by the Buddhist Society, London. It is also close in spirit to The Sutra of Wei Lang (Hui Nêng), another of the Buddhist Society’s publications. But I have been deeply struck by the astonishing similarity to our text in spirit and terminology of the not-so-Far Eastern, eighth-century Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, edited by Evens-Wentz and published by the Oxford University Press. In my opinion, these four books are among the most brilliant expositions of the highest Wisdom which have so far appeared in our language; and, of them all, the present text and the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation present the Doctrine in a form best suited to the needs of Western readers.

Transmission:

When the people of the world hear it said that the Buddhas transmit the Doctrine of the Mind, they suppose that there is something to be attained or realized apart from Mind, and thereupon they use Mind to seek the Dharma [the Way], not knowing that Mind and the object of their search are one. Mind cannot be used to search for something from Mind….

… Mind is transmitted with Mind and those Minds do not differ. Transmitting and receiving transmission are both a most difficult kind of mysterious understanding, so that few indeed have been able to receive it. In fact, however, Mind is not Mind and transmission is not really transmission. [That is, all terms are merely makeshifts. Richard Rose, in Psychology of the Observer, describes the six kinds of perception, two of which encompass transmission and reception of Mind.]

Put a Stop to Conceptual Thought and Forget Your Anxiety (from the Chun Chou Record of the Zen Master Huang Po (Tuan Chi), a collection of sermons and dialogues recorded by P’ei Hsiu while in the city of Chun Chou):

The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measure, names, traces and comparisons. It is that which you see before you - begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error. It is like the boundless void which cannot be fathomed or measured. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient things, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind. Even though they do their utmost for a full aeon, they will not be able to attain it. They do not know that, if they put a stop to conceptual thought and forget their anxiety, the Buddha will appear before them, for this Mind is the Buddha and the Buddha is all living beings. It is not the less for being manifested in ordinary beings, nor is it greater for being manifest in the Buddhas.

What is the Way?

Q: What is the Way and how must it be followed?
A: What sort of THING do you suppose the Way to be, that you should wish to FOLLOW it?
Q: What instructions have the Masters everywhere given for dhyana-practice and the study of the Dharma?
A: Words used to attract the dull of wit are not to be relied on.
Q: If those teachings were meant for the dull-witted, I have yet to hear what Dharma has been taught to those of really high capacity.
A: If they are really men of high capacity, where could they find people to follow? If they seek from within themselves, they will find nothing tangible; how much less can they find a Dharma worthy of their attention elsewhere! Do not look to what is called the Dharma by preachers, for what sort of Dharma could that be?
Q: If that is so, should we not seek for anything at all?
A: By conceding this, you would save yourself a lot of mental effort.
Q: But in this way everything would be eliminated. There cannot just be nothing.
A: Who called it nothing? Who was this fellow? But you wanted to SEEK for something.
Q: Since there is no need to seek, why do you also say that not everything is eliminated?
A: Not to seek is to rest tranquil. Who told you to eliminate anything? Look at the void in front of your eyes. How can you produce it or eliminate it?
Q: If I could reach this Dharma, would it be like the void?
A: Morning and night I have explained to you that the Void is both One and Manifold. I said this as a temporary expedient, but you are building up concepts from it.
Q: Do you mean that we should not form concepts as human beings normally do?
A: I have not prevented you; but concepts are related to the senses; and, when feeling takes place, wisdom is shut out.
Q: Then should we avoid any feeling in relation to the Dharma?
A: Where no feeling arises, who can say that you are right?
Q: Why do you speak as though I was mistaken in all the questions I have asked Your Reverence?
A: You are a man who doesn’t understand what is said to him. What is all this about being mistaken?

The Way is not something which can be studied. Study leads to the retention of concepts and so the Way is entirely misunderstood. Moreover, the Way is not something specially existing; it is called the Mahayana Mind - Mind which is not to be found inside, outside, or in the middle. Truly it is not located anywhere. The first step is to refrain from knowledge-based concepts.

The Way is spiritual Truth and was originally without name or title. It was only because people ignorantly sought for it empirically that the Buddhas appeared and taught them to eradicate this method of approach. Fearing that nobody would understand, they selected the name ‘Way.’

… The Way of the Buddhas and the Way of devils are equally wide of the mark.

The Absolute:

The substance of the Absolute is inwardly like wood or stone, in that it is motionless, and outwardly like the void, in that it is without bounds or obstructions…. Those who hasten towards it dare not enter, fearing to hurtle down through the void with nothing to cling to or to stay their fall. So they look to the brink and retreat. This refers to all who seek such a goal through cognition. Thus, those who seek the goal through cognition are like the fur (many), while those who obtain to intuitive knowledge of the Way are like the horns (few).

Tags: Huang Po, Buddha, Dharma, Zen, enlightenment, The Way, mind, being

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Huang Po