The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra PART 4 Chapter 4: CONCENTRATION AND WISDOM Sutra: The Master instructed the assembly: “Good Knowing Advisors, this Dharma-door of mine has concentration and wisdom as its foundation. Great assembly, do not be confused and say that concentration and wisdom are different. Concentration and wisdom are one substance, not two. Concentration is the substance of wisdom, and wisdom is the function of concentration. Where there is wisdom, concentration is in the wisdom. Where there is concentration, wisdom is in the concentration. If you understand this principle, you understand the balanced study of concentration and wisdom. “Students of the Way, do not say that first there is concentration, which produces wisdom, or that first there is wisdom, which produces concentration: do not say that the two are different. To hold this view implies a duality of dharma. If your speech is good, but your mind is not, then concentration and wisdom are useless because they are not equal. If mind and speech are both good, the inner and outer are alike, and concentration and wisdom are equal. “Self-enlightenment, cultivation, and practice are not a matter for debate. If you debate which comes first, then you are like a confused man who does not cut off ideas of victory and defeat, but magnifies the notion of self and dharmas, and does not disassociate himself from the four marks.” “Good Knowing Advisors, what are concentration and wisdom like? They are like a lamp and its light. With the lamp, there is light. Without the lamp, there is darkness. The lamp is the substance of the light and the light is the function of the lamp. Although there are two names, there is one fundamental substance. The dharma of concentration and wisdom is also thus.” Commentary: Concentration comes from holding precepts. With concentration, one can bring forth wisdom. Precepts, concentration, and wisdom are the three studies which have no outflows. If you wish to obtain concentration, you must begin by holding precepts. That is: All evil not done. All good respectfully practiced. The Sixth Patriarch said, “Although you are Good Knowing Advisors, don’t be attached and say that concentration and wisdom differ. In this Sudden Teaching Dharma-door of mine, concentration is wisdom and wisdom is concentration; although there are two names, there is only one substance. What is the function of concentration? Concentration produces wisdom. When wisdom is produced, concentration is certainly within it. If you understand that concentration and wisdom are one substance with two different functions, then you understand “the balanced study of concentration and wisdom.” “If the speech is good, but the mind is not:” If your mind is full of jealousy, obstruction, insolence, conceit, deviant views, greed, hatred, and stupidity, “concentration and wisdom are useless,” they are not present, “because they are not equal.” But if your “mind and speech both are good,” then your mouth says what is in your mind, and “concentration and wisdom are equal.” You should understand and cultivate on your own. Do not argue with people in order to show off your cultivation and advertise yourself. To debate whether concentration or wisdom comes first is to be “like a confused person who does not cut off ideas of victory and defeat:” In debate, thoughts of victory and defeat Stand in contradiction to the Way; Giving rise to the mind of four marks. How can one obtain samadhi? Attached to the mark of self, others, living beings, and a life, how can you obtain samadhi? As soon as you argue, you have no concentration and, consequently, no wisdom. This is extremely stupid. When you argue, you give rise to the attachment to self and dharmas and then the four marks arise. With attachment to self comes attachment to others; with attachment to others comes attachment to living beings; with attachment to living beings comes attachment to life. The analogy of the lamp and light illustrates the identical substance of concentration and wisdom. As a lamp produces light, so concentration produces wisdom. As light is the function of a lamp, so wisdom is the function of concentration. But despite the discrimination, concentration and wisdom are fundamentally one. Sutra: The Master instructed the assembly: “Good Knowing Advisors, the Single Conduct Samadhi is the constant practice of maintaining a direct, straightforward mind in all places, whether one is walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. As the Vimalakirti Sutra says, ‘The straight mind is the Bodhimandala; the straight mind is the Pure Land.’ “Do not speak of straightness with the mouth only, while the mind and practice are crooked, nor speak of the Single Conduct Samadhi without maintaining a straight mind. Simply practice keeping a straight mind and have no attachment to any dharma. “The confused person is attached to the marks of dharmas, while holding to the Single Conduct Samadhi and saying, ‘I sit unmoving and falseness does not arise in my mind. That is the Single Conduct Samadhi.’ Such an interpretation serves to make him insensate and obstructs the causes and conditions for attaining the Way. “Good Knowing Advisors, the Way must penetrate and flow. How can it be impeded? If the mind does not dwell in dharmas, the Way will penetrate and flow. The mind that dwells in dharmas is in self-bondage. To say that sitting unmoving is correct is to be like Shariputra who sat quietly in the forest but was scolded by Vimalakirti.” Commentary: You should not speak of directness, and act dishonestly. If you greet rich people with smiles and compliments, saying, “Welcome, welcome!” when in fact it is not the person you welcome, but their money and power instead, that is flattery. If you speak about the Single Conduct Samadhi, but you act improperly, such hypocrisy betrays a crooked mind. But if you practice keeping a direct mind, then your mind is the Bodhimanda. You should manage all your affairs with a direct mind and have no attachments. A stupid person gives rise to a dharma-attachment. “I sit here unmoving and I have no false thinking. This is the Single Conduct Samadhi.” He is completely wrong. One who thinks this way turns into a vegetable. The Way should flow without obstruction. If you stop your thought, you turn into dead ashes and rotten wood and become useless. You should “produce that thought which is nowhere supported,” by attaching yourself neither to emptiness, to existence, nor to dharmas. Attachment to dharmas results in attachment to existence, and attachment to existence results in perishing in emptiness. But when you are unsupported, the Way will circulate freely. “The mind that dwells in dharmas is in self-bondage.” If you get attached to the meditation-dharma and sit without moving, you tie yourself up and become a prisoner. Shariputra, the foremost of Shakyamuni Buddha’s disciples in wisdom, sat in the forest, quietly meditating, but the layman Vimalakirti reprimanded him, saying, “What are you doing? What use are you, sitting there like a corpse!” Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, there are those who teach people to sit looking at the mind and contemplating stillness, without moving or arising. They claim that it has merit. Confused men, not understanding, easily become attached and go insane. There are many such people. Therefore you should know that teaching of this kind is a great error.” Commentary: The deluded person does not understand the principle. They think, “I’ll just sit here and not get up. This is the way to attain skill in Ch’an.” They get attached to what they are doing, and they go insane. For example, many people have come here saying that they are enlightened. That is insanity. There are many such people. Teachers from their number say, “If you certify my enlightenment, I will certify yours.” That is a big mistake. In China in the T’ang dynasty, there were false Buddhist Patriarchs who practiced “intellectual zen”–they had clever answers but no foundation in actual cultivation. It is not surprising that we find such people in America today. But these imposters who falsely claim to be enlightened pave the way for those of true enlightenment. No one knew about enlightenment, so the impostors said, “We are enlightened!” Everyone then said, “So this is enlightenment!” and they examined them closely to see what enlightenment is like. Suddenly a truly enlightened person comes and no one believes in him. They think that the truly enlightened one is the same as the impostors. You who now cultivate to become enlightened will be forced to deal with the widespread influence of such pretenders. That leads me to advise you that when you become enlightened, you should not say that you are. That is the best method. This is the way of the world: true, true, false; false, false, true. If you are true, they say you are false. If you are false, they say you are true. Therefore you should not speak of true and false. Tell people to go and see for themselves. Unenlightened people will say that they are enlightened. If you who have already become enlightened claim to be enlightened, then you are just like those who are not. Why? People who actually are enlightened do not introduce themselves saying, “Don’t you know me? I am enlightened! I am the same as so and so, and he is enlightened. He is enlightened and I am just like him.” Enlightenment and non-enlightenment are the same, not different. Do not hang out a false name. Enlightened, you are a human being. Unenlightened, you are still a human being. The enlightened and the unenlightened both can realize Buddhahood. It’s a question of time. Do not advertise yourself. If no one knows you, that is the very best! Then your straight mind is the Bodhimandala. Sutra: The Master instructed the assembly: “Good Knowing Advisors, the right teaching is basically without a division into ‘sudden’ and ‘gradual.’ People’s natures themselves are sharp or dull. When the confused person who gradually cultivates and the enlightened person who suddenly connects each recognize the original mind and see the original nature, they are no different. “Therefore, the terms sudden and gradual are shown to be false names. “Good Knowing Advisors, this Dharma-door of mine, from the past onwards, has been established from the first with no-thought as its doctrine, no-mark as its substance, and no-dwelling as its basis. No-mark means to be apart from marks while in the midst of marks. No-thought means to be without thought while in the midst of thought. No-dwelling is the basic nature of human beings. “In the world of good and evil, attractiveness and ugliness, friendliness and hostility, when faced with language which is offensive, critical, or argumentative, you should treat it all as empty and have no thought of revenge. In every thought, do not think of former states. If past, present, and future thoughts succeed one another without interruption, it is bondage. Not to dwell in dharmas from thought to thought is to be free from bondage. That is to take no-dwelling as the basis. “Good Knowing Advisors, to be separate from all outward marks is called ‘no-mark.’ The ability to be separate from marks is the purity of the Dharma’s substance. It is to take no-mark as the substance. “Good Knowing Advisors, the non-defilement of the mind in all states is called ‘no-thought.’ In your thoughts you should always be separate from states; do not give rise to thought about them.” Commentary: Basically, real Buddhism has no sudden or gradual Dharma. Stupid people cultivate it bit by bit, whereas enlightened people immediately cut off false thinking, bad habits, and involvement with external objects and so understand the mind and see their own nature. From the time of Shakyamuni Buddha right up until the present, the Sudden Teaching Dharma-door which the Sixth Patriarch transmitted established no-thought, no-mark, and nodwelling as its doctrine, its substance, and its basis. Thoughts of the past, present, and future are continuous like waves on water. To be attached to such thoughts is to tie yourself up, to lock yourself up so that you cannot be free. You should not be attached to any dharmas. In your own clear, pure thoughts, keep constantly separate from states and do not think about the external environment. Sutra: “If you merely do not think of the hundred things, and so completely rid yourself of thought, then as the last thought ceases, you die and undergo rebirth in another place. That is a great mistake, of which students of the Way should take heed. Commentary: While you should not produce thoughts with regard to external states, that does not mean that you should completely rid yourself of thought. Attached to marks, whatever you do is wrong; But in non-activity you fall into emptiness. “What should I do?” you ask. It is just at this point that the greatest difficulty arises, but if you handle it, just that is no-thought. If you want to have no-thought, then die. That is to have no-thought. But if you die here, you will be reborn somewhere else. That is really wrong! If you want to cultivate the Way, you should pay special attention and take heed! Sutra: “To misinterpret the Dharma and make a mistake yourself might be acceptable, but to exhort others to do the same is unacceptable. In your own confusion you do not see, and, moreover you slander the Buddha’s Sutras. Therefore no-thought is established as the doctrine. “Good Knowing Advisors, why is no-thought established as the doctrine? Because there are confused people who speak of seeing their own nature, and yet they produce thought with regard to states. Their thoughts cause deviant views to arise, and from that all defilement and false thinking are created. Originally, not one single dharma can be obtained in the self-nature. If there is something to attain, or false talk of misfortune and blessing, that is just defilement and deviant views. Therefore, this Dharma-door establishes no-thought as its doctrine. Commentary: You may be stupid yourself and not understand your mind and nature. What is more you may slander the Buddha’s Sutras and say that they are incorrect. For that reason, no-thought is set up as the doctrine. Some people say that they have seen the nature. They say they are enlightened, but they have all kinds of thoughts about externals, deviant views, and defilements. But your own clear, pure origin, the wondrous, bright enlightenment nature has not one single dharma within it. It is the clear, pure, source, the wondrous, bright, true nature. Originally, there is not one single thing. Some people speak of misfortune and blessing, saying, “Tomorrow you are going to die, unless, of course, you buy great merit today by giving me a million dollars.” Hearing such talk, the victim immediately buys some merit and, naturally, he does not die. He claims that the prediction was certainly efficacious, but does not mention the fact that he was cheated out of a million dollars. Or someone says, “You have great blessings, but you are off by just a little bit. If you create a million dollars worth of merit, next term you can be president.” “The presidency is certainly cheap. If I buy it for a million, I’ll still have several billion left,” says the victim, and he buys the presidency. That is false talk of misfortune and blessings. It is defilement and deviant views. I will speak to you more about no-thought, no mark, and no-dwelling. Without a mark, where do you dwell? Without thought, what mark do you have? Isn’t that right? No-thought, no mark, and no-dwelling: no-thought is no production, no mark is no extinction, and no-dwelling is the fundamental absence of production and extinction, of right and wrong. No-thought, no-mark, and no-dwelling are the same as no right and no wrong, no good and no evil, no male and no female. Without deviant thought, how could there be male and female? This is truly marvelous. If you master this dharma there is no mark. Without the mark of self, who has sexual desire? Sexual desire is just a thought; without thought there is no sexual desire and no mark of a self and no attachment. Is this anything but true freedom and true liberation? No-thought, no-mark, and no-dwelling; no movement, no stillness; no right, no wrong; no male, no female; no good, no evil: this is extremely miraculous. You need only use no-thought, no-mark, and no-dwelling. Without a body, where do you dwell? Right? This is wonderful. You should investigate it in detail. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, ‘No’ means no what? ‘Thought’ means thought of what? ‘No’ means no two marks, no thought of defilement. ‘Thought’ means thought of the original nature of True Suchness. True Suchness is the substance of thought and thought is the function of True Suchness. “The True Suchness self-nature gives rise to thought. It is not the eye, ear, nose, or tongue which can think. The True Suchness possesses a nature and therefore gives rise to thought. Without True Suchness, the eye, ear, forms, and sounds immediately go bad. “Good Knowing Advisors, the True Suchness self-nature gives rise to thought, and the six faculties, although they see, hear, feel, and know, are not defiled by the ten thousand states. Your true nature is eternally independent. Therefore, the Vimalakirti Sutra says, ‘If one is well able to discriminate all dharma marks, then, in the primary meaning, one does not move.’” Commentary: The Patriarch addressed the assembly saying, “Good Knowing Advisors, all of you with wisdom, when I say ‘no,’ what is not? When I say ‘thought,’ what is the thought of? ‘No’ means no two marks; further, not even one mark. ‘No thought’ means no thoughts of defilement; no defiled, improper, deviant thoughts of sexual desire. “‘Thought’ means the thought of the True Suchness inherent in each of us. This is the Tathagata Store nature, the Buddha nature.” You ask, “Then if there is no thought, is there no True Suchness?” ‘No’ means no two marks; ‘thought’ means thought of the Truly Such original nature. Thought arising from the Truly Such self-nature is true thought. The eye, ear, nose, and tongue cannot think. True Suchness is the kind spoken of in Chapter III: “When your nature is present, the king is present; when your nature goes, there is no king.” Although thought does arise and seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing do occur at the gates of the six organs, there is no attachment when you use your True Suchness nature because there are no deviant thoughts. The true nature is eternally independent. Because of the function of True Suchness, you are well able to discriminate all dharma marks. Even so, you are not attached to any state and so in the final analysis you do not move. Chapter 5: SITTING IN CH'AN Sutra: The Master instructed the assembly: “The door of sitting in Ch’an consists fundamentally of attaching oneself neither to the mind nor to purity; it is not non-movement. One might speak of becoming attached to the mind, and yet the mind is fundamentally false. You should know that the mind is like an illusion, and therefore there is nothing to which you can become attached.” Commentary: Ch’an is not necessarily just sitting in meditation. One may practice Ch’an while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. In his “Song of Enlightenment,” the Great Master Yung Chia wrote: In Ch’an while walking and while sitting, Speaking, silent, moving, still, His body is at peace. If you know how, you can practice Ch’an at all times, not just while sitting in meditation. But do not become attached to the mind or to purity. Becoming attached to the mind, you have two minds, and becoming attached to purity, you have two purities. Do not think, “I will sit here and not move.” Becoming attached to the mind, you have two false minds, neither of which is the true mind. The mind is an illusion. Why attach yourself to it? Sutra: “One might say that to practice Ch’an is to attach oneself to purity, yet the nature of people is basically pure. It is because of false thinking that the True Suchness is obscured. Simply have no false thinking, and the nature will be pure of itself. “If an attachment to purity arises in your mind, a deluded idea of purity will result. What is delusory does not exist, and the attachment is false. Purity has no form or mark and yet there are those who set up the mark of purity as an achievement. Those with this view obstruct their own original nature and become bound by purity. Commentary: Everyone’s self-nature is basically pure of itself, but when you cling to purity, you add a head on top of a head and create two purities, a true purity and a false purity. And so you stray from the original pure substance. Though purity has no form or mark, you postulate a mark to it and in so doing add a head on top of a head. When you consider that to be skill, you obstruct your original mind and nature. Cultivation is for the purpose of breaking attachments. You should not be attached. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, one who cultivates non-movement does not notice whether other people are right or wrong, good or bad, or whether they have other faults. That is the non-movement of the self-nature. “Good Knowing Advisors, although the body of the confused person may not move, as soon as he opens his mouth he speaks of what is right and wrong about others, of their good points and shortcomings, and so he turns his back on the Way. Attachment to the mind and attachment to purity are obstructions to the Way.” Commentary: You cultivate non-movement? Non-movement of what? You shouldn’t just sit there and not move. You should cultivate non-movement in the midst of movement; in the midst of your daily activities, do not move. Do not insist on criticizing others and pointing out their faults. If you do nothing but censure and browbeat others, it is not non-movement. Sutra: The Master instructed the assembly, “Good Knowing Advisors, what is meant by ‘sitting in Ch’an?’ In this unobstructed and unimpeded Dharma-door, the mind’s thoughts do not arise with respect to any good or evil external state. That is what ‘sitting’ is. To see the unmoving self-nature inwardly is Ch’an. “Good Knowing Advisors, what is meant by ‘Ch’an concentration?’ Being separate from external marks is ‘Ch’an.’ Not being confused inwardly is ‘concentration.’ “If you become attached to external marks, your mind will be confused inwardly. If you are separate from external marks, inwardly your mind will be unconfused. The original nature is naturally pure, in a natural state of concentration. Confusion arises merely because states are seen and attended to. If the mind remains unconfused when any state is encountered, that is true concentration.” Commentary: Sitting in one place is not necessarily “sitting.” You are said to be “sitting” when your mind is no longer disturbed by external conditions, be they good or bad. When you view the unmoving self-nature inwardly, you are practicing Ch’an. When you are not attached to external marks, you have attained Ch’an. When inwardly you have no illusions or scattered thoughts, you have attained concentration. Detach yourself from external marks, and your efficacious, bright, enlightened nature will be pure of itself. In that way you will attain concentration. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, being separate from all external marks is Ch’an and being inwardly unconfused is concentration. External Ch’an and inward concentration are Ch’an concentration. The Vimalakirti Sutra says, ‘Just then, suddenly return and regain the original mind.’ The Bodhisattva-shila Sutra says, ‘Our basic nature is pure of itself.’ Good Knowing Advisors, in every thought, see your own clear and pure original nature. Cultivate, practice, realize the Buddha Way!” Chapter 6: REPENTANCE AND REFORM Sutra: Seeing the scholars and common people of Kuang Chou and Shao Kuan and the four directions assembled on the mountain to hear the Dharma, the Great Master took his seat and spoke to the assembly, saying: “Come, each of you Good Knowing Advisors! This work must begin within your self-nature. At all times, in every thought, purify your own mind, cultivate your own conduct, see your own Dharma-body and the Buddha of your own mind. Take yourself across; discipline yourself. Only then will your coming here have not been in vain. You have come from afar to attend this gathering because we have karmic affinities in common. Now all of you kneel and I will first transmit to you the five-fold Dharma-body refuge of the self-nature, and then the markless repentance and reform.” Commentary: Shao Kuan is the present day Ch’ü Chiang. Students and common people from north, east, south, and west went to Nan Hua Temple on Pao Lin Mountain to hear the Great Master explain the Dharma. The Master said, “The work of sitting in Ch’an meditation, the mind-ground Dharma-door, must arise from within your selfnature. Every thought must be correct, not deviant. Proper thoughts purify the mind; improper thoughts defile it. You personally must cultivate this dharma-door; no one else can do it for you. Your own Dharma body is simply your self-nature, and the Buddha is within your own mind. If you take yourself across by receiving and keeping moral precepts, you will not have wasted your life. We meet here because conditions from former lives have ripened. Now, put your right knee on the ground and I will transmit to you the five-fold Dharma-body refuge and the markless repentance and reform.” Sutra: The assembly knelt and the Master said, “The first is the morality-refuge, which is simply your own mind when free from error, evil, jealousy, greed, hatred and hostility. “The second is the concentration-refuge, which is just your own mind which does not become confused when seeing the marks of all good and evil conditions. “The third is the wisdom-refuge, which is simply your own mind when it is unobstructed and when it constantly uses wisdom to contemplate and illuminate the self-nature, when it does no evil, does good without becoming attached, and is respectful of superiors, considerate of inferiors, and sympathetic towards orphans and widows.” Commentary: Pay attention! The morality-refuge is simply to have no thoughts of right and wrong, good and evil. In order to keep the precepts you absolutely must not be jealous: neither should you be aggressive, like a bandit. If the mind remains unperturbed in all states, good and bad, that is the concentration-refuge. Do not obstruct yourself with feelings of inferiority, but use wisdom to destroy ignorance so that you may view the selfnature. Refrain from evil and practice good, but do not become attached to the idea of merit as the Emperor Wu of Liang did. If you do good, forget about it. Don’t run up to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three and shout, “I gave $500.00! I gave $1,000.00! My merit is higher than the heavens!” This is to be stupid like Emperor Wu; it is not wisdom. Respect your father, mother, teacher, and elders and never speak of their faults. Do not be like the boy who testified against his own father. The police asked the father if he had stolen a sheep: “No,” said the father. “What do you mean ‘no?’” cried his son. “I saw you kill the sheep, eat it, and sell its wool. How can you deny that you stole it?” This is wrong. If you know that your father is guilty, when the police come you should run. Refuse to testify! This is called “respecting your superiors.” Be considerate to those beneath you. Don’t be mean to little children and unsympathetic to widows. Mencius said, “A child without a father is an orphan and an old woman without a husband is a widow.” Orphans and widows deserve pity and support. Sutra: “The fourth is the liberation-refuge, which is simply your own mind independent of conditions, not thinking of good or evil, and free and unobstructed. “The fifth is the refuge of knowledge and views, which is simply your own mind when it is independent of good and evil conditions and when it does not dwell in emptiness or cling to stillness. You should then study this in detail, listen a great deal, recognize your original mind, and penetrate the true principle of all the Buddhas. You should welcome and be in harmony with living creatures; and, without the idea of self or other, arrive directly at Bodhi, the unchanging true nature.” Commentary: Is this clear? The absence of self-seeking is liberation. If you are self-seeking, you can’t put everything down and so continually scheme and plot. To be liberated, do not grasp at good or evil. If you say, “I will sit here and not study anything. I am empty!” your state is useless like the emptiness inside a rubber ball. It is not the emptiness of the void. These people sit all day thinking of nothing and doing nothing. At mealtime they eat, and at bedtime they sleep and do not even dream. This is a pitiful waste of time. What should you do then? You should study the Sutras in detail and listen to Sutra lectures. Those who dwell in emptiness and cling to stillness claim to study Buddhism. They do not listen to lectures or study the Dharma, but if you ask them about it, they say they know it all. You should welcome living creatures and be in harmony with them. In the Chinese “to be in harmony with” is expressed by the phrase “to unite the light.” What does that mean? All lamps give off light, but have you ever known lamplight to fight with lamplight? Has a lamplight ever said, “You are brighter than I am! That is no good. I am going to put out your light!”, upon which it hits the other lamplight? Or the other lamp says, “Your light is too small. Either make it bigger or move out!” None of that goes on between lights. Do you understand? It applies to everyone in the world. You practice your way and I will practice mine, “without hindering one another.” You cannot decide that someone’s reputation is too dazzling and try to ruin him so that your own name will shine. It is permissible for others to be jealous of me, but I am not jealous of anyone. The better you are, the better I like it. The more success you have, the happier I am. Not to be jealous is to unite the light. You might say, “I am uniting the light with him, but he is not uniting the light with me.” If you were truly uniting the light with him, you wouldn’t know that he wasn’t uniting the light with you. Do you understand? If you unite the light with him, how can you know that he is not uniting the light with you? He won’t unite the light? That’s no problem. Just continue to unite the light with him. Welcome living creatures. If you like Great Vehicle Buddhism, I will explain the Great Vehicle. If you like the Small Vehicle, I will explain the Four Noble Truths of suffering, origination, stopping, and the Way. If you like the Bodhisattva Way, I will explain the Six Paramitas: giving, morality, patience, vigor, concentration, and wisdom, and the Ten Thousand Conducts which lead to realization of the Bodhisattva Way. If you like the dharmas of the Pratyeka Buddhas, I will explain the Twelve Conditioned Causes: ignorance conditions activity; activity conditions consciousness; consciousness conditions name and form; name and form conditions the six senses; the six senses condition contact; contact conditions feeling; feeling conditions love; love conditions grasping; grasping conditions becoming; becoming conditions birth; birth conditions old age and death. This is called uniting the light and welcoming living creatures, responding to the needs of the individual. One of my disciples looked in the dictionary and found that in Chinese to “welcome living creatures” means to help other people. However, it is not just to help them, it is to induce them to leave suffering and obtain bliss. “Lacking the idea of self or other, arrive directly at Bodhi, the unchanging true nature.” Having helped one person, you cannot say, “I have taken a bhikshu across! How great is my merit?” If one thinks like that, he hasn’t a dust mote of merit. Once you have done something, it should be forgotten. If you lead people to Buddhahood you should not be attached to the merit gained from it. Therefore the Diamond Sutra says “I must take all beings across to Nirvana...and yet not a single living being has been taken to Nirvana.” You recite the Diamond Sutra from morning to night, but do not understand its meaning in the least. “Look at ME!” you say. There is still “me,” and “me” comes before everything else. What Diamond Sutra do you recite anyway? The Diamond Sutra speaks of having no mark of self, no mark of people, of others, of living beings or a life, because all dharmas are empty appearances. Is there anything more wonderful? If you truly understand, you arrive directly at Bodhi, the unchanging true nature. This is called the refuge of proper knowledge and views. You have been liberated from knowledge, views, and attachments. No self, no other– Contemplate independence, No emptiness, no form– View the One Come Thus. Without the mark of self: just that is the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. If you do not fall either into emptiness or existence, you can see the Buddha. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, the incense of these refuges perfumes each of you within. Do not seek outside. I will now transmit to you the markless repentance and reform to destroy the offensive actions done within the three periods of time and to purify the three karmas.” Commentary: Repentance is to repent of past misdeeds and reform is to refrain from error in the future. If you receive it with a sincere mind, this repentance and reform can wipe away the offenses of the past and prevent them from being committed in the future. Purify your mind, and the transmission will purify the karma of your body, mouth and mind. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, repeat after me: ‘May this disciple be, in past, present, and future thought, in every thought, unstained by stupidity and confusion. May it be wiped away at once and never arise again.’” Commentary: Defiled by stupidity, turned by stupidity, you soon become quite stupid. It is most important, in every thought, not to go down the road of stupidity but bring forth wisdom instead. Bad karma is created out of ignorance. Completely repent and reform of all offenses: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, greed, hatred, stupidity, filthy language, lying, harsh speech, and slander, and in an instant they will be wiped away. Do not commit offenses out of stupidity and confusion. Sutra: “‘May this disciple be, in past, present, and future thought, in every thought, unstained by arrogance and deceit. Now I completely repent of and reform all bad actions done in the past out of arrogance and deceit and other such offenses. May their effects be wiped away at once and may they never be perpetrated again!’” Commentary: Arrogance: Only knowing there is you; Unaware that there are others. Looking down on everything: “In the heavens and below, I alone am honored.” “Deceit” is lying; it is also the self-deceit of thinking that you are indispensable number one in the entire world. “I am the highest. The President, the King, and the Chairman cannot compare with me.” Do not be stained by arrogance or turned by deceit. Sutra: “‘May this disciple be in past, present, and future thought, in every thought unstained by jealousy. Now I completely repent of and reform all bad actions done in the past out of jealousy and other such offenses. May they be wiped away at once and never arise again.’” Commentary: Jealousy is the very worst thing! Cultivators see someone who is more intelligent than they are and become jealous; they see someone who learns faster and become jealous; they see someone sitting “thus, thus unmoving” and become jealous; they see someone eating more food and become jealous; they see someone sleeping more and become jealous; they see someone drinking more tea and become jealous; even to the point that when someone has been sick for a long time they think, “Why can’t I get sick, too?” Do not be defiled or turned by jealousy. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, the above has been the markless repentance and reform. What is repentance and what is reform? Repentance is to repent of past errors, to repent so completely of all bad actions done in the past out of stupidity, confusion, arrogance, deceit, jealousy, and other such offenses, that they never arise again. Reform is to refrain from such transgressions in the future. Awakening and cutting off such offenses completely and never committing them again is called repentance and reform. “Common people, stupid and confused, know only how to repent of former errors and do not know how to reform and refrain from transgressions in the future. Because they do not reform, their former errors are not wiped away, and they will occur in the future. If former errors are not wiped away and transgressions are again committed, how can that be called repentance and reform? “Good Knowing Advisors, as you have repented and reformed, I will now teach you to make the four all-encompassing vows. I vow to take across the limitless living beings of my own mind. I vow to cut off the inexhaustible afflictions of my own mind. I vow to study the immeasurable Dharma-doors of my own nature. I vow to realize the supreme Buddha Way of my own nature. “Good Knowing Advisors, did all of you not just say, ‘I vow to take across the limitless living beings’? What does it mean? You should remember that it is not Hui Neng who takes them across. Good Knowing Advisors, the ‘living beings’ within your mind are deviant and confused thoughts, deceitful and false thoughts, unwholesome thoughts, jealous thoughts, vicious thoughts: all these thoughts are ‘living beings.’ The self-nature of each one of them must take itself across. That is true crossing over.” Commentary: You must vow to take across the beings within your own heart, to cut off the afflictions, and to study the Dharma-doors. There is nothing higher than Buddhahood: vow to realize it. Living beings are incalculably numerous, but you yourself must vow to save them, for it is not the Sixth Patriarch who takes them across. These good and bad living beings exist within your own mind. The good ones seek unsurpassed Bodhi and produce the Bodhi mind, while the bad ones must still be saved. Think it over and ask yourself, “Have I saved the living beings within my own mind? Am I proper in attitude and honorable in conduct or am I jealous, obstructive, and otherwise ignorant?” The living beings within the mind are limitless, but our first concerns are the deviant and confused living beings, which should be taken across by means of proper wisdom; the deceitful and false living beings, which should be taken across by means of humility, and the unwholesome living beings, which should be taken across by means of goodness. If you find that you have these faults, vow to correct them, for if you do not they will drag you into the inescapable and endless misery of hell. Respect takes jealous living beings across. Although Bodhiruci was a Dharma Master, he envied other Dharma Masters and viciously tried to poison Bodhidharma. Such thoughts are living beings and you are making a serious mistake if you do not take them across. Sutra: “What is meant by ‘the self nature taking itself across’? It is to take across by means of right views the living beings of deviant views, affliction, and delusion within your own mind. Once you have right views, use Prajna Wisdom to destroy the living beings of delusion, confusion, and falsehood. Each one takes itself across. Enlightenment takes confusion across, wisdom takes delusion across, goodness takes evil across. Such crossing over is a true crossing. “Further, ‘I vow to cut off the inexhaustible afflictions.’ That is to use the Prajna Wisdom of your own self-nature to cast out the vain and false thoughts in your mind. “Further, ‘I vow to study the immeasurable Dharma-doors.’ You must see your own nature and always practice the right Dharma. That is true study. “Further, ‘I vow to realize the supreme Buddha way,’ and with humble mind to always practice the true and the proper. Separate yourself from both confusion and enlightenment, and always give rise to Prajna. When you cast out the true and the false, you see your nature and realize the Buddha-way at the very moment it is spoken of. Always be mindful; cultivate the Dharma that possesses the power of this vow.” Commentary: Use Prajna wisdom to destroy the living beings of delusion, confusion, and falsehood. Beat them to death! You ask, “But isn’t that a violation of the precept against killing?” Here you may violate the precept, just a bit. You are indeed hard to teach! When you break precepts, you don’t worry about breaking them, but when you do not break precepts you worry about breaking them. Transform the bad beings within your nature so that the good ones may dwell undisturbed and at peace. You may kill them; you may beat them to death. Such crossing over is true crossing over. Afflictions never end, but you must cut them off. Actually, “cut off” means “change.” Change your afflictions into Bodhi. Afflictions are actually Bodhi, and if you cut off all afflictions you cut off Bodhi. If you cut off all afflictions you would become a Buddha, and you don’t want to do that just yet, do you? So leave just a hair’s worth of afflictions and transform the rest into Bodhi. Use genuine Prajna wisdom to get rid of affliction and cast out all vain, false, deviant, and ignorant thoughts. Recognize your mind, see your original nature, and always practice the right Dharma, not the wrong. You may study the Buddhadharma in detail, but if you do not practice it, it is not true study. True Buddhist studies includes both study and practice. For example, people who used to smoke, drink, and take drugs no longer do so once they have studied the Buddhadharma. They do not even eat meat! Those who were lazy and did nothing but sleep from morning to night and from night to morning, now read and translate Sutras, listen to lectures, and meditate vigorously without a thought of sleeping. If this were not true study, why would they choose to work so hard? All living beings can cross themselves over. No one needs to take them across. The four vows in the text above are the basic vows which all Bodhisattvas should make. As to the humble mind, the Earth Store Sutra says, “The Buddha told Earth Store Bodhisattva, ‘Perhaps there are kings of countries in Jambudvipa, or noblemen, great ministers, great elders, great Kshatriyas, great Brahmans, and the rest who encounter the tired, the poor, and those who are hunchbacked, crippled, dumb, mute, deaf, retarded, eyeless, as well as all others who are handicapped. Perhaps these kings and great men will wish to give and will be able to do so with great compassion, a humble heart, and a smile. Perhaps they will give personally with their own hands or arrange for others to give, speaking gentle and sympathetic words. Such kings and others will obtain blessings comparable to the meritorious virtue they would gain by giving to Buddhas as numerous as the sand-grains in one hundred Ganges Rivers.’” Vow to realize the unsurpassed path! A ten-thousand-story building Is built from the ground up: Once a person told an illogical tale. “In New York,” he said, “the skyscrapers are not built from the ground up. They are built in empty space. They build the roof first.” Everyone racked their brains and grew very upset, but no one could figure out how a building could be built in empty space. When I was in New York, I saw that the buildings were, in fact, built from the ground up. His story was nothing but a false rumor. Another person said, “America is indeed beautiful! The American clouds are not like clouds in other countries. They are multicolored and entwined like garlands! The American moon is triangular and the American sun is square!” Do you believe this? To realize Buddhahood, one must begin from the ground up, with a humble mind. Do not brag, “Look at me!” Practice the true and proper Dharma with a contrite heart and modest manner. “Separate yourself from confusion and enlightenment.” You say, “Separating oneself from confusion is all right, but how can one possibly separate oneself from enlightenment?” This refers to deviant enlightenment, not right enlightenment. Those with deviant enlightenment are slow to understand the Buddhadharma, but they don’t need to be taught how to gamble or take drugs. They can do that on their own. You should keep away from such evil enlightenment. The text here does not say that you should avoid right enlightenment. “You always give rise to Prajna.” When you separate from deviant enlightenment, you give rise to wisdom, understanding, and right enlightenment and constantly generate Prajna. “When you cast out the true and the false, you see the Buddha-nature and realize the Buddha-way at the very moment of speaking of it.” The truth that you cast aside is relative, not actual. Once rid of the true and the false, the original True Suchness-nature is manifest. You cannot say that this nature is either true or false. Truth exists because there is falsehood and falsehood because there is truth. The true nature, however, is neither true nor false. The Shurangama Sutra says, Falseness itself manifests all truth; The false and true are both false. The Great Master Yung Chia in his “Song of Enlightenment,” said: When truth is not postulated, falseness is basically empty. Existence and non-existence both rejected: what is not empty, make empty. Real truth has no opposite. “Always be mindful; cultivate the Dharma that possesses the power of this vow.” Having made these vows, you may practice. Cultivate them in every thought. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, now that you have made the four all-encompassing vows, I will transmit the precepts of the triple refuge that has no mark. Good Knowing Advisors, take refuge with the enlightened, the honored, the doubly complete. Take refuge with the right, the honored that is apart from desire. Take refuge with the pure, the honored among the multitudes.” Commentary: Take refuge with the Buddha; the Buddha is enlightened. Enlightenment is simply the Buddha. The Buddha is nothing but enlightenment. The Buddha is “doubly complete” because he has perfected both blessings and wisdom. Take refuge with the Dharma which is “right” and proper. Do not take refuge with deviant teachings, heavenly demons, or heterodox religions. Take refuge with the genuine Buddhadharma which is the “honored that is apart from desire.” Everyone has sexual desire and it actually kills people. Why don’t we realize Buddhahood? It is because of desire, and the greed, hate, and stupidity which accompany it. We study the Buddhadharma in order to get rid of desire and cut off love. The absence of lust is the honored that is apart from desire. Take refuge with the Sangha; the Sangha is pure and its members are called “pure fields of merit.” True, genuine cultivators should maintain the precept against handling money. Without money, you are pure; with money you are dirty. Members of the Sangha who truly wish to cultivate should stay away from money. On the other hand, without money you cannot nourish the Way, you cannot cultivate. Although you need money, you should not be attached to it and depend on its source, thinking all day, “Who has several million in the bank? I’ll go and beg from him. Then I can build a temple or a school or perhaps print an edition of the Tripitaka as a meritorious activity.” That’s just profit seeking. While in Manchuria there was a short period during which money and I parted company. I never touched money and for a good reason. Living in the temple where I lived when I left home were forty or fifty bhikshus, but sometimes as few as ten. When I first arrived at the temple, the abbot was out begging and none of the bhikshus knew me. “I know the abbot,” I said, and they welcomed me. After leaving home, I practiced austerities, but not the ones you practice. You type, translate Sutras, and meditate, but in the big rural temple where I lived, there was a lot of outside work to be done. Sweeping the courtyard alone took an hour. My first job was to clean the toilets, which weren’t flush toilets, but pit toilets, and every day the waste had to be removed because the cultivators did not want to smell the odor. They gave this work to me because I had just left home and had not yet cut off my attachment to smells. I did it every day and didn’t mind too much. I got up at two in the morning to prepare the hall for services. When it snowed I swept the walkways so that they were clear at four when everyone else got up. When the abbot returned and saw me he said, “So you have come!” “Yes,” I said, “I have.” After I had formally left home, he called a meeting, wishing to elect me as manager, a position second only to the abbot. When the abbot retires, the manager becomes the new abbot. Everyone objected. “He has just left home,” they said. “How can he possibly be manager!” “Very well,” said the abbot. “Let’s go before the image of Wei T’ou Bodhisattva and draw names.” Oddly enough, they drew three times and my name came up each time. No one said a word because I had been elected by Wei T’ou Bodhisattva himself. Later, when the abbot wanted to make me an administrator, I said, “All right, but I will not touch money. Other people must handle and count it. That is my condition.” Unusual things happened while I held this precept. Whenever I went to the train station I would sit and wait for someone who knew me to come and offer to buy me a ticket. If no one came I just waited, but strangely enough whenever I went to the station someone came to buy me a ticket. If you don’t handle money, you are pure. If you keep even one cent, you are unclean. Take refuge with the Sangha, which occupies the purest, highest, and most venerable position–“the honored among the multitudes.” Sutra: “‘From this day forward, we call enlightenment our master and will never again take refuge with deviant demons or outside religions. We constantly enlighten ourselves by means of the Triple Jewel of our own self-nature.’ “Good Knowing Advisors, I exhort you all to take refuge with the Triple Jewel of your own nature: the Buddha, which is enlightenment, the Dharma, which is right, and the Sangha, which is pure. “When your mind takes refuge with enlightenment, deviant confusion does not arise. Desire decreases, so that you know contentment and are able to keep away from wealth and from the opposite sex. That is called the honored, the doubly complete. “When your own mind takes refuge with what is right, there are no deviant views in any of your thoughts. Because there are no deviant views, there is no self, other, arrogance, greed, love, or attachment. That is called the honored that is apart from desire. “When your own mind takes refuge with the pure, your self-nature is not stained by attachment to any state of defilement, desire or love. That is called the honored among the multitudes.” Commentary: To lessen desire, it is not enough to be a vegetarian and to read Sutras. You must cut off all sexual desire: If one does not cast out thoughts of lust, One never will escape the dust. Unless you rid yourself of sexual desire you will never get out of the Triple World: the world of desire, the world of form, and the formless world. “Contentment” means not being greedy. Dying of poverty, dying of starvation, no matter what the difficulty, you are never greedy. “Separate from wealth and beauty.” Do you see how clearly it says that you should not covet wealth, or the opposite sex, or fame? That is to be doubly complete, perfect in blessings and wisdom. “States of defilement” here refers to all social and political situations. You should not be molded by the society, but rather transform it. Teach living beings; do not be taught by them. Once, when I noticed that one of my students had been talking on the phone for over an hour, I asked her what she was doing. “I’m trying to convert my boyfriend to Buddhism,” she said. “Really?” I said. “What is he now?” “He’s a Catholic,” she said. “Be careful he doesn’t convert you.” I said. “His belief in Catholicism is firm. Take care that he doesn’t take you across!” Sure enough, not long afterward she ran off. Now what she believes, whether she saved others or was saved by them, is unknown. The non-defilement of the self-nature is called “the honored among the multitudes.” Living beings are all defiled. If you wish to be an exceptional individual, you must leave desire behind. To separate yourself from desire is to be a great hero and true student of the Buddhadharma. Unless you correct your faults, what little Buddhadharma you do know is useless. Sutra: “If you cultivate this practice, you take refuge with yourself. “Common people do not understand that, and so, from morning to night, they take the triple-refuge precepts. They say they take refuge with the Buddha, but where is the Buddha? If they cannot see the Buddha, how can they return to him? Their talk is absurd. “Good Knowing Advisors, each of you examine yourselves. Do not make wrong use of the mind. The Avatamsaka Sutra clearly states that you should take refuge with your own Buddha, not with some other Buddha. If you do not take refuge with the Buddha in yourself, there is no one you can rely on. “Now that you are self-awakened, you should each take refuge with the Triple Jewel of your own mind. “Within yourself, regulate your mind and nature; outside yourself, respect others. That is to take refuge with yourself.” Commentary: Ordinary people do not understand the principle of taking refuge. If you constantly say, “I take refuge with the Buddha,” just where is the Buddha? If you have never seen the Buddha, then how can you take refuge with him? If you say, “I have seen him!” you are lying. The Sutra tells you to take refuge with your own Buddha, not with some other Buddha. The Buddha of your self-nature is always present, but you didn’t know this because until now you never had the instruction of a Good Knowing Advisor. Now that you have taken refuge, you should be clear about the Buddha of your self-nature. Take refuge with enlightenment. Take refuge with what is right. Take refuge with the pure. Take refuge with enlightenment and don’t do stupid things. Take refuge with what is right and don’t do what is wrong. Take refuge with the pure and don’t do unclean things. Take refuge with the Triple Jewel within your own mind. If you really understand the Buddhadharma, you will respect not just your relatives and friends, but everyone, even people you don’t know. Instead of slapping someone when you see him and then throwing mud in his face, you must be the most respectful toward those who act the worst toward you. This is a fundamental responsibility of students of Buddhism. You say, “You haven’t really been bad to me, so how could I be bad to you?” Isn’t this extraordinary? It’s just to take refuge with the Triple Jewel of your self-nature. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, now that you have taken refuge with the Triple Jewel, you should listen carefully while I explain to you the three bodies of a single substance, the self-nature of the Buddha, so that you may see the three bodies and become completely enlightened to your own self-nature. “Repeat after me, I take refuge with the clear, pure Dharma-body of the Buddha within my own body. I take refuge with the hundred thousand myriad Transformation-bodies of the Buddha within my own body. I take refuge with the complete and full Reward body of the Buddha within my own body. “Good Knowing Advisors, the form-body is an inn; it cannot be returned to. The three bodies of the Buddha exist within the self-nature of worldly people, but because they are confused, they do not see the nature within them and so seek the three bodies of the Tathagata outside themselves. They do not see that the three bodies of the Buddha are within their own bodies. “Listen to what I say, for it can cause you to see the three bodies of your own self-nature within your own body. The three bodies of the Buddha arise from your own self-nature and are not obtained from outside. “What is the clear, pure Dharma-body Buddha? The worldly person’s nature is basically clear and pure, and the ten thousand dharmas are produced from it. The thought of evil produces evil actions and the thought of good produces good actions. Thus all dharmas exist within the self-nature. "This is like the sky which is always clear, and the sun and moon which are always bright, so that if they are obscured by floating clouds it is bright above the clouds and dark below them. But if the wind suddenly blows and scatters the clouds, there is brightness above and below, and the myriad forms appear. The worldly person’s nature constantly drifts like those clouds in the sky. “Good Knowing Advisors, intelligence is like the sun and wisdom is like the moon. Intelligence and wisdom are constantly bright, but if you are attached to external states, the floating clouds of false thought cover the selfnature so that it cannot shine. “If you meet a Good Knowing Advisor, if you listen to the true and right Dharma and cast out your own confusion and falseness, then inside and out there will be penetrating brightness, and within the self-nature all the ten thousand dharmas will appear. That is how it is with those who see their own nature. It is called the clear, pure Dharma-body of the Buddha.” Commentary: Your physical body is like a house. You must not take refuge in it, but rather take refuge with your own self-nature. Everyone has the three Buddha-bodies within themselves, but because of their delusion they don’t know it. Break through the clouds of illusion! It is just because you have not broken through them that you are deluded and have no wisdom. But if you do away with troubles and ignorance and listen to a Clear-eyed Advisor’s explanation of the orthodox Teaching, your own nature will reflect all the dharmas, like a luminous crystal. Those who see their nature and know their original mind are like a clear sky: The heart calm– All worries go away; The mind still– Heaven has no clouds. When your heart is upset there is chaos, but when your mind is calm and resolved, everything is auspicious. The pure heart like the moon in water; The quiet mind like a cloudless sky; True wealth: the mind stopped, thought cut off; True field of blessing: all passions put to an end. You must end your delusion and greed, still the mind and cut off thought. That is true wealth. Truly wealthy people are not greedy. Those who are greedy are thereby poor. They may have a little money, but they are never satisfied. The passions are just selfish desires and without them you are a true field of merit. Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, when your own mind takes refuge with your self-nature, it takes refuge with the true Buddha. To take refuge is to rid your self-nature of egotism and unwholesome thoughts as well as of jealousy, obsequiousness, deceitfulness, contempt, pride, conceit, and deviant views, and all other unwholesome tendencies whenever they arise. “To take refuge is to be always aware of your own transgressions and never to speak of other people’s good or bad traits. Always to be humble and polite is to have penetrated to the self-nature without any obstacle. That is taking refuge. Commentary: If you turn the light around and reverse the illumination, you take refuge with the true Buddha. Be careful not to envy others. Would you like to know why you are so deluded? It is because in past lives, life after life, you envied others. You envied their intelligence and so now you are stupid; you envied their talent and so now you have none. You were jealous then and now you are inferior. You should not be devious and indirect. Get rid of egotism: “I, I, me, myself, everything revolves around me!” You should not be deceitful, full of self-importance, and contemptuous of others. To have deviant views is to misjudge every situation you encounter and then go off in the wrong direction. Deviant views are easy to come by. If you wish to take refuge, see your own faults and quit talking about other people. Criticism is yin and praise is yang. You should find the Middle Way. Sutra: “What is the perfect, full Reward-body of the Buddha? Just as one lamp can disperse the darkness of a thousand years, one thought of wisdom can destroy ten thousand years of delusion. “Do not think of the past; it is gone and can never be recovered. Instead think always of the future and in every thought, perfect and clear, see your own original nature. Although good and evil differ, the original nature is non-dual. That non-dual nature is the real nature. Undefiled by either good or evil, it is the perfect, full Reward-body of the Buddha. “One evil thought arising from the self-nature destroys ten thousand eons’ worth of good karma. One good thought arising from the self-nature ends evils as numerous as the sand-grains in the Ganges River. To reach the unsurpassed Bodhi directly, see it for yourself in every thought and do not lose the original thought. That is the Reward-body of the Buddha.” Commentary: When you bring forth wisdom, not just ten thousand years, but ten thousand eons of delusion are wiped away. Do not regret the past or be anxious about the future. “What am I going to do next?” you ask. If you plant good causes, you will reap good results; if you plant bad causes, you will reap bad results. So do good things and good things will happen; do bad and bad things will happen. Your thoughts should be proper, perfectly lucid, and full of light, not deviant, selfish, and selfseeking, obstructive or jealous. If you are not afraid that others will be better than you, it may be that you are a little better than they are. But if you fear that they will surpass you, then they are all better than you. The good and evil natures within the self-nature differ, but the self-nature is not dual. The non-dual suchness self-nature is the real nature. Yung Chia wrote in his “Song of Enlightenment”: Ignorance and the real nature are just the Buddha nature; The illusory empty body is just the Dharma body. In the original, real nature, there is no good or evil. It is entirely perfect and wonderful in itself, far reaching in its penetration, and broad in understanding. One vicious thought, such as Bodhiruci’s desire to poison Bodhidharma, destroys ten thousand eons of good karma, whereas one good thought melts away evil karma as immense as the number of sandgrains in the Ganges. One good thought can cause the realization of Buddhahood, and one bad thought is cause enough for going to hell. If you would like to know whether you are going to become a Buddha or go to hell, take a look at what kind of thoughts you have. To arrive at Buddhahood directly, see it for yourself in every thought. Understand your own mind and see your own original nature. Do not lose the original thought, the true thought, the true nature. Sutra: “What are the hundred thousand myriad Transformation bodies of the Buddha? If you are free of any thought of the ten thousand dharmas, then your nature is basically like emptiness, but in one thought of calculation, transformation occurs. Evil thoughts are transformed into hell-beings and good thoughts into heavenly beings. Viciousness is transformed into dragons and snakes, and compassion into Bodhisattvas. "Wisdom is transformed into the upper realms, and delusion into the lower realms. The transformations of the self-nature are extremely many, and yet the confused person, unawakened to that truth, continually gives rise to evil and walks evil paths. Turn a single thought back to goodness, and wisdom is produced. That is the Transformation-body of the Buddha within your self-nature.” Commentary: Having discussed the perfect full Reward-body which lacks nothing and has nothing in excess, which obtains nothing and loses nothing and is neither defiled nor immaculate, increasing nor decreasing, male nor female, good nor evil–but which is perfect Bodhi that returns to non-attainment–the Sixth Patriarch asks, “What are the hundred-thousand myriad Transformation bodies?” “We have one body,” you say. “How can we have a hundred thousand myriad bodies? What do the Buddha’s transformation-bodies have to do with me?” These transformation-bodies are simply a hundred thousand myriad thoughts and calculations. Shakyamuni Buddha can transform himself to appear in any one of the ten Dharma Realms. That is, he can become a Buddha, a Bodhisattva, a Pratyekabuddha, an Arhat, a god, asura, human, hell-being, hungry ghost, or animal. You might also say that you and I have a hundred thousand myriad transformation-bodies. I have taken a hundred thousand myriad disciples and all of them imitate their teacher in cultivation. They see their teacher eating only one meal a day, before noon, and say, “I’m going to do that too.” I tell them, “I never stick out my hand and beg. I don’t depend on external situations and neither should you. If no one makes offerings to me and I die, that’s just fine. Those who leave the home life under me must follow my Three Conditions, as I do: Freezing, I don’t beg, Starving, I don’t scheme, and Dying of poverty, I ask for nothing. The disciples say, “All right! Even if we starve to death, we won’t beg or scheme.” Because they copy me, they are my transformation bodies. In the future you will have transformation bodies, too. If you have a good way of doing things, you will have a hundred thousand myriad good transformation bodies. If you have an evil, ghostly way, you will have that many ghostly transformation bodies. “If you are free of any thought of the ten thousand Dharmas, then your nature is basically like emptiness...” One thought not produced, The entire substance manifests. If you do not give rise to a single thought, your original Buddha nature appears. But aren’t you producing a thought? Are you without false thinking? Are you not thinking, “What will I eat tomorrow? What time will I get to bed tonight?” or, “I’m thirsty. I think I’ll have a cup of tea?” Without false thinking, you are a Buddha. But if you can’t cut off your false thinking, you must not claim to be a Buddha; you must cultivate the Way. If you haven’t cultivated and say, “Hey! I’m a Buddha!” you are just a dog of a Buddha. You can’t simply say that everyone is Buddha, you have to cultivate and realize Buddhahood. Without cultivation, people are people, animals are animals, and dogs are dogs. But do not be offended. Dogs also have the Buddha nature. They have to cultivate, that’s all. Six roots suddenly move: A covering of clouds. When you see something and think it beautiful or hear something and think, “Music!” you are being influenced by externals. Using the six sense organs, the six sense objects and the six consciousnesses in this way, you cover yourself with clouds. “Evil thoughts are transformed into hell-beings...” Suppose you think, “How can I get famous? How can I succeed? I’ll start a riot, murder people, set fires, and loot the streets.” “...and good thoughts into heavenly beings.” “Oh,” you say, “I want to help people. You have no money? Here is a million to help you get by.” Or you think, “No one makes offerings to the Americans who have left home. I’ll make an offering.” Don’t wait for America, such an affluent nation, to allow its new Buddhist Sangha to starve to death: transform into the heavens. “Wisdom is transformed into the upper realms, and delusion into the lower realms.” With intelligence, you go up, but if you are deluded, you fall. The Superior one mounts on high. The petty person travels a lower road. “The transformations of the self-nature are extremely many, and yet the confused person, unawakened to that truth, continually gives rise to evil, and walks evil paths.” The confused person’s every thought is evil: “That person mistreats me! I’m going to ruin him.” The Great Master Shen Hsiu was one who walked evil paths by repeatedly sending hired killers after the Sixth Patriarch. “Turn a single thought back to goodness, and wisdom is produced. That is the Transformation-body of the Buddha within your self-nature.” Do you understand? If you do, you are a Good Knowing Advisor; if you don’t, you’re an evil knowing advisor. Wouldn’t you rather be a Good Knowing Advisor? Sutra: “Good Knowing Advisors, the Dharma body of the Buddha is basically complete. To see your own nature in every thought is the Reward body of the Buddha. When the Reward body thinks and calculates, it is the Transformation body of the Buddha. Awaken and cultivate by your own efforts the merit and virtue of your self-nature. That is truly taking refuge. “The skin and flesh of the physical body are like an inn to which you cannot return. Simply awaken to the three bodies of your self-nature and you will understand the self-nature Buddha.” Commentary: You yourself must wake up and cultivate on your own. Do not babble intellectual zen all day, “Yak, yak, yak!” talking but never practicing. Talking a yard is not as good as practicing an inch. If you do nothing but talk, you are cheating people. So pay no attention to whether my lectures are good or bad. Look instead to see if I have ever cheated you. The Sixth Patriarch tells you to awaken to the three bodies of your self-nature, so you say, “Then taking refuge with myself is to take refuge with my body.” No. If you take refuge with your body you are just adding a head on top of a head, like Yajnadatta in the Shurangama Sutra who ran everywhere looking for his head. Your physical body is an inn where your self-nature temporarily dwells. Therefore you cannot say, “My body is me.” Your body is not you. Then is it someone else’s? No your body is yours, it is not mine or his. It is yours, but it is not you. Don’t I always say that if you live in a house, you can say the house is yours but you certainly cannot say the house is you? If you say that it is you, everyone will say, “He doesn’t even know who he is! He thinks his house is him, but it’s just a thing.” Your body is like a house; don’t mistake it for being you. Understand? Don’t take refuge with the physical body, take refuge with your self-nature. Awaken to the clear, pure Dharma-body Buddha, the perfect, full Reward-body Buddha, and the hundred thousand myriad Transformation-body Buddhas within your own nature. By understanding the Buddha of your self-nature you may perfect the three bodies. Sutra: “I have a verse without marks. If you can recite and memorize it, it will wipe away-accumulated eons of confusion and offenses as soon as the words are spoken. The verse runs: A confused person will foster blessings, but not cultivate the Way; And say, “To practice for the blessings is practice of the Way.” While giving and making offerings brings blessings without limit, It is in the mind that the three evils have their origin. By seeking blessings you may wish to obliterate offenses; But in the future, though you are blessed, offenses still remain. You ought to simply strike the evil conditions from your mind; By true repentance and reform within your own self-nature. A sudden awakening: the true repentance and reform of the Great Vehicle; You must cast out the deviant, and practice the right, to be without offense. To study the Way, always look within your own self-nature; You are then the same in kind and lineage as all Buddhas. Our Patriarch passed along only this Sudden Teaching; Wishing that all might see the nature and be of one substance. In the future if you wish to find the Dharma body; Detach yourself from Dharma marks and inwardly wash the mind. Strive to see it for yourself and do not waste your time, For when the final thought has stopped your life comes to an end. Enlightened to the Great Vehicle you can see your nature; So reverently join your palms and seek it with all your heart. Commentary: “Don’t be nervous,” continued the Great Master, “I have some good news! Don’t you know? I have a verse without marks. Do you want to hear it? If you do, I’ll recite; if not, I’ll just put it away.” “Yes!” everyone exclaimed, “we definitely do want to hear it. Please be compassionate and recite it.” “If you can learn this verse by heart,” the Master said, “it will cause the confusions and crimes accumulated from beginningless time, passing through limitless ages, life after life, to be eradicated immediately. Where will they go? Do you mean you still want to look for them? What a waste of effort!” A confused person will foster blessing, but if you tell him to cultivate with vigor, he won’t do it. Although there are not many students here, those present are extremely sincere. They do not fear leg-pain, back-pain, any pain whatever. “I will endure this pain and cultivate the Way, even if it means giving up my life!” they say. Such rare determination makes me happy, but I don’t show my happiness by joking with you all day. It’s not that kind of happiness; it’s true happiness. Deluded people say, “To practice for the blessings is practice of the Way.” This is like the Emperor Wu of Liang who said, “I have taken Bhikshus across and have built many temples. I have made offerings and practiced charity and arranged vegetarian banquets. What great merit I must have! It’s probably even greater than Shakyamuni Buddha’s!” Giving and making offerings brings limitless blessings, but the origin of the three evils is within the mind. What are the three evils? Greed, hate, and delusion. Greed: “I think I’ll eat a few more peanuts and then I won’t be hungry today.” Hate: “Hey! Who ate all the peanuts?” Delusion: Hating the one who ate the peanuts which makes you unreasonable and stupid. Cultivating blessings while neglecting wisdom has made you so stupid that you can’t quit over-eating and even have the gall to speak of it as a bitter practice. You cannot get rid of offenses by cultivating blessings, because although you obtain the blessings, the offenses still remain. What you should do is rid the mind of all evil conditions, i.e. thoughts of greed, hate, delusion, jealousy, obstructiveness, conceit, obsequiousness, viciousness and deceitfulness. “But they’re my old friends,” you say. “We’ve been together for millions of years. How can I part with them?” Fine. If you can’t part with them, then there’s nothing to do but follow them down to hell. To practice true repentance and reform is to understand the Great Vehicle and immediately get rid of all evil thoughts. It is very clear; no analogies are needed. You truly repent when you “get rid of the deviant and practice the right,” as the Sixth Patriarch’s verse says. Then you may walk down the straight, great bright road and be without offense. “To study the Way, always look within the self-nature.” Ask yourself, “What am I doing? Am I acting like a person or a ghost, an animal, a horse or a cow?” You are what you do. If you act like a Buddha, you are a Buddha. The Buddha practices friendliness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and giving. His compassion is genuine, not false and greedy. He never thinks, “If I am a little compassionate to you, you will be greatly compassionate to me.” There are no ulterior motives in the compassion I have for you. I would not give you a brick and expect a piece of jade in return. Cultivators, turn the light around, reverse its illumination, and ask yourself, “Am I thinking like a demon or a Buddha? Am I selfish or generous, self-seeking or charitable?” If you are charitable you are the “same in kind as all the Buddhas.” If you act like a Buddha, you are a Buddha, but if you act like a ghost, how can you be a Buddha? By “our Patriarch” the Sixth Patriarch means Bodhidharma, who transmitted only the Sudden Teaching Dharma-door because he wanted everyone to see the Buddha nature and realize the Buddha Way together. “If you wish to find the Dharma-body,” then separate yourself from all marks. Do not be attached, jealous, obstructive, ignorant, afflicted, or snobbish. You cannot think, as the Buddha did, “In the heavens and below, I alone am honored.” The Diamond Sutra says, “One who has left all marks is called a Buddha.” Apart from marks and unattached to self and to dharmas, the mind-ground is cleansed. “Strive to see it for yourself” and go forward with heroic vigor. You’ll never succeed if you’re lazy and waste your time, saying “Wait, I’ll cultivate tomorrow. Wait, I’ll translate tomorrow.” Even at lunchtime you say, “Wait, I’ll eat later.” Wait, wait, until it’s time to die and King Yama won’t listen to you when you say, “Wait! I’ll die later.” If you are truly free, you come and go in birth and death and yet are not subject to birth and death. King Yama has no control over you. This is like the Third Patriarch, Seng Ts’an, who said, “You see others sit in lotus posture to die and think it special. Watch this!” and grabbed a tree branch with one hand and went to Nirvana, just hanging there. Wasn’t he free? If you wait until your dying breath to cultivate, it will be too late, “for when the final thought has stopped, your life comes to an end. Earlier, in Chapter IV, didn’t the Sutra say that you should not cut off your thought, because when the last thought is cut off you die and then undergo rebirth in some other place? At the time of death there is nothing–no fame, no riches. Both your hands will be empty and you’ll be forced to put down what you can’t put down. No matter how dear your loved ones are, you’ll have to part with them. Enlightened to the Great Vehicle you can see the nature; So reverently join your palms and seek it with all your heart. See the nature and humbly seek to follow the unsurpassed Way. Sutra: The Master said, “Good Knowing Advisors, all of you should take up this verse and cultivate according to it. If you see your nature at the moment these words are spoken, even if we are a thousand miles apart you will always be by my side. If you do not awaken at the moment of speaking, then, face to face we are a thousand miles apart, so why did you bother to come from so far? Take care of yourselves and go well.” The united assembly heard this Dharma and there were none who did not awaken. They received it with delight and practiced in accord with it. Commentary: I think the Sixth Patriarch liked to talk and so he delivered this Platform Sutra. If he hadn’t liked to speak, he wouldn’t have taught any Sutra at all. Now I am teaching it to all of you: “You are quite intelligent,” the Master said, “and you have good roots. We have an affinity which goes back for many lifetimes and many ages, and therefore we have met here today.” Of course, there were no foreigners in the Master’s Dharma-assembly; they were all Chinese. That I have met with so many Americans must be a case of even greater affinity. “If you understand the verse I have recited,” said the Master, “you will ‘get rid of the deviant, practice the right, and be without offense,’ and although we are a thousand miles apart, you will be right beside me.” If my disciples understand and remember the Sutras I have explained, they will be right beside me. But if instead they take advantage of external circumstances or get jealous and angry, they will have studied the Way in vain. If they don’t understand this verse, then even if we should stand face to face, we would still be a thousand miles apart. If they believe in me, although we are a thousand miles apart, we are face to face. “Are you trying to make people believe in you?” you ask. No! Why should I want you to believe in me? You’re better off believing in yourself, because if you cultivate, you do it for yourself. You don’t eat to make me full. All I do is teach you the methods. If you have come all this way just to be a thousand miles from me, why did you bother to come at all? “Take care of yourselves.” Don’t look down on yourself and say, “I’m not going to cultivate. I’m nothing but a dog anyway.” See yourself as a person, not a dog, and go to a good place, not a bad one. Chapter 7: OPPORTUNITIES AND CONDITIONS Sutra: The Master obtained the Dharma at Huang Mei and returned to Ts’ao Hou Village in Shao Chou where no one knew him. But Liu Chih Liao, a scholar, received him with great courtesy. Chih Liao’s aunt, Bhikshuni Wu Chin Tsang, constantly recited the Mahaparinirvana Sutra. When the Master heard it, he instantly grasped its wonderful principle and explained it to her. The Bhikshuni then held out a scroll and asked about some characters. The Master said, “I cannot read; please ask about the meaning.” “If you cannot even read, how can you understand the meaning?” asked the Bhikshuni. The Master replied, “The subtle meaning of all Buddhas is not based on language.” The Bhikshuni was startled and she announced to all the elders and virtuous ones in the village: “Here is a gentleman who possesses the Way. We should ask him to stay and receive our offerings.” Ts’ao Shu Liang, great-grandson of the Marquis Wu of the Wei dynasty, came rushing to pay homage, along with the people of the village. At that time the pure dwellings of the ancient Pao Lin Temple, which had been destroyed by war and fire at the end of the Sui dynasty, were rebuilt on their old foundation. The Master was invited to stay and soon the temple became a revered place. He dwelt there a little over nine months when he was once again pursued by evil men. The Master hid in the mountain in the front of the temple, and when they set fire to the brush and trees, he escaped by crawling into a rock to hide. The rock still bears the imprints of the Master’s knees and of his robe where he sat in lotus posture. Because of this it is called “The Rock of Refuge.” Remembering the Fifth Patriarch’s instructions to stop at Huai and hide at Hui, he went to conceal himself in those two cities. Commentary: After receiving the mind-seal Dharma from the Fifth Patriarch Hung Jen, the Sixth Patriarch returned to Shao Chou. He thereupon went to Ts’ao Hou Village, the present day Shao Kuan in Chü Chiang District. When he arrived in the vicinity of Nan Hua Temple, which before had been Pao Lin Temple, no one knew that he was the one who held the robe and bowl. Liu Chih Liao was a wealthy retired official who enjoyed studying the Buddhadharma. He welcomed the Master reverently and made offerings to him. Chih Liao and his aunt, Bhikshuni Wu Chin Tsang, “limitless treasury,” were the Sixth Patriarch’s great Dharma protectors. Wu Chin Tsang liked to recite the Mahaparinirvana Sutra. This Sutra, in ten volumes, was spoken by the Buddha just before he went to Nirvana. Hearing the recitation, the Sixth Patriarch understood the subtle principle and explained it to the Bhikshuni. Probably she couldn’t read very well, because she asked the Master, “What is this word?” “Do you mean you can’t read it?” said the Master. “No, I can’t,” she said. “Well, I can’t either!” said the Master, “But if you ask about the meaning I can explain it for you.” “If you can’t even read it, how can you know what it means?” she asked. The Master said, “The Buddha’s heart, the mind-Dharma, the wonderful principle of Sudden Enlightenment, has nothing to do with words. Instead, it points directly to the mind so that we can see our own nature and become Buddhas. Since it is not based on language it doesn’t matter whether you can read.” Bhikshuni Wu Chin Tsang thought that was very strange indeed. She told everyone in the village, “Here is a gentleman who has the Way! He is a virtuous Dharma Master. He may not be able to read, but he’s enlightened, so we should make offerings to him.” Although she didn’t know a lot of characters, Wu Chin Tsang was nevertheless an incredible Bhikshuni. She ate one meal a day and never lay down to sleep, because she knew that the Fourth Patriarch recommended these practices. Although her family was wealthy, she kept the precept of never holding money. She studied and recited Sutras industriously, and when the time came, she died sitting up in meditation. Many days, many years have passed and her body still has not decayed. Because she was vigorous and worked hard at cultivation and had no sexual desire, her flesh transformed into indestructible vajra. I saw the body in a temple in Chü Chiang. It is truly awesome. Among the villagers who paid homage to the Great Master was the great-grandson of Marquis Wu. Marquis Wu was very intelligent. He was, in fact, as clever as a fox. He was a genius, but he had a tendency to be jealous. Bhikshuni Wu Chin Tsang promoted the Sixth Patriarch: “Do you know who he is?” she would say, “He’s the rightful successor to the Fifth Patriarch! He holds the robe and bowl.” One flower may be beautiful, but it looks much better surrounded by greenery. If no one had protected him, the Sixth Patriarch would surely have been murdered by Shen Hsiu’s gang, or those of other religions. His Dharma assembly flourished because his disciples and laypeople such as Bhikshuni Wu Chin Tsang and her nephew, Liu Chih Liao, the scholar, guarded and protected him. Vinaya Master T’ung Ying also brought several hundred of his students to study with the Master, and each student told his friends to come. So every day for lunch there were between 1,500 and 2,000 people, seven or eight hundred of whom were members of the Sangha. Everyone made heartfelt offerings to help rebuild Nan Hua Temple. Some gave ten thousand ounces of silver, some gave a million. They asked the Master to live there and before long it was a great Bodhimanda, big enough for several thousand people. A little over nine months later, several hundred of Shen Hsiu’s men left Huang Mei, passing through the Ta Yü mountain range on their way to Nan Hua Temple. They traveled for over two months. If they hadn’t been intent on killing the Master and stealing the robe and bowl, they would have given up after a couple of days. Think it over: Sixteen or seventeen years had passed since the transmission, and the Master had only been staying at Nan Hua for nine months when the evil men returned. It’s not easy to be a Patriarch, unless you are a phony. Real Patriarchs live in great danger. The Sixth Patriarch had spiritual powers and he knew that not just one or two, but several hundred men were after him. He hid in the “Rock of Refuge” which is just big enough to hold one person sitting in meditation. The evil men mingled in with the large crowd and stealthily set fire to the mountain. They burned off the entire area, but never found the Master. While hiding, the Master probably meditated with great intensity because the texture of his robe and the marks of his knees can still be seen imprinted in the rock. When I was at Nan Hua Temple I sat in the rock for a time, but I wasn’t seeking refuge, I was just trying it out. When you sit inside it, no one can see you. Bhikshu Fa Hai Sutra: When Bhikshu Fa Hai of Chü Chiang city in Shao Chou first called on the Patriarch, he asked, “Will you please instruct me on the sentence, ‘Mind is Buddha’?” The Master said, “When one’s preceding thoughts are not produced this is mind and when one’s subsequent thoughts are not extinguished this is Buddha. The setting up of marks is mind, and separation from them is Buddha. Were I to explain it fully, I would not finish before the end of the present age. “Listen to my verse: When the mind is called wisdom, Then the Buddha is called concentration. When concentration and wisdom are equal. The intellect is pure. Understand this Dharma teaching By practicing within your own nature. The function is basically unproduced; It is right to cultivate both.” At these words, Fa Hai was greatly enlightened and spoke a verse in praise This mind is basically Buddha; By not understanding I disgrace myself. I know the cause of concentration and wisdom Is to cultivate both and separate myself from all things. Commentary: Bhikshu Fa Hai, also called Wen Yün, compiled and edited the Platform Sutra from the Sixth Patriarch’s lectures. Although I dare not say that he liked to be first, when he wrote this chapter he certainly thought, “I am the Master’s number one great disciple!” and consequently wrote about himself first. “Great Master,” said Fa Hai, “I don’t understand the sentence ‘This mind is Buddha.’ Please explain it.” “Do not produce the former thought,” said the Master, “and just that is mind. Do not extinguish the latter thought and just that is Buddha. With neither production nor extinction, the mind itself is Buddha. All appearances are set up by the mind, and if you can set up all appearances and be separate from them, that is Buddha.” The mind is called wisdom and the Buddha is called concentration. When concentration and wisdom are equal, the mind is Buddha and Buddha is the mind. They are one substance. When thought is pure, then wisdom and concentration, mind and Buddha, are equal. If you understand the Sudden Teaching you know that the Buddha is not separate from the mind and the mind is not separate from the Buddha; concentration is not separate from wisdom and wisdom is not separate from concentration. You don’t understand because you have accumulated bad habits for many ages. The wonderful function of the self-nature is basically unproduced and undestroyed, so when you cultivate the mind, you cultivate the Buddha; when you cultivate the Buddha, you cultivate the mind. The same applies to concentration and wisdom. You should cultivate them equally. When you don’t understand, there are two: mind and Buddha, When you understand you know that they are originally one. In cultivating concentration and wisdom, you should separate yourself from all marks. Bhikshu Fa Ta Sutra: Bhikshu Fa Ta of Hung Chou left home at age seven and constantly recited the Dharma Flower Sutra, but when he came to bow before the Patriarch, his head did not touch the ground. The Master scolded him, saying, “If you do not touch the ground, isn’t it better not to bow? There must be something on your mind. What do you practice?” “I have recited the Dharma Flower Sutra over three thousand times,” he replied. The Master said, “I don’t care if you have recited it ten thousand times. If you understood the Sutra’s meaning, you would not be so overbearing, and you could walk along with me. You have failed in your work and do not even recognize your error. Listen to my verse: As bowing is basically to cut off arrogance, Why don’t you touch your head to the ground? When you possess a self, offenses arise, But forgetting merit brings supreme blessings.” The Master asked further, “What is your name?” “Fa Ta,” he replied. The Master said, “Your name means ‘Dharma Penetration,’ but what Dharma have you penetrated?” He then spoke a verse: Your name means Dharma Penetration, And you earnestly recite without pause to rest. Recitation is mere sound, But one who understands his mind is called a Bodhisattva. Now, because of your karmic conditions, I will explain it to you: Believe only that the Buddha is without words And the lotus blossom will bloom from your mouth. Commentary: Dharma Masters Fa Hai (Dharma Sea) and Fa Ta (Dharma Penetration) both received the Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma. Fa Ta left home at age seven and constantly recited the Lotus Sutra, but when he met the Patriarch he didn’t bow properly, he just pretended. He had to make some sort of show of it since everybody knew that the Great Master held Huang Mei’s robe and bowl. But the most respect he could muster was to throw himself hastily on the ground, without even touching his head to the floor, and in his heart he felt that his own merit certainly was greater than the Master’s. “After all,” he thought, “I’ve recited the Sutra over three thousand times.” When Fa Ta saw ordinary people, he couldn’t even manage a half bow. He was like a rich snob who only sees other rich snobs and looks down on everyone else. The Sixth Patriarch took one look and knew that Fa Ta had something on his mind. The Lotus Sutra is seven volumes long and, reciting quickly, you could read through it once in a day, or three hundred and sixty-five times a year. Therefore Fa Ta had been reciting it for over ten years. “I don’t care if you’ve recited it ten thousand times!” said the Master. “If you really understood it you wouldn’t revel in your own merit and could study with me. Not everyone can study with a Patriarch, you know. If you have obstructions and afflictions, he may not want you.” Therefore, if you come to study here but break the rules, you are not welcome. In order to cultivate with me you must offer up your conduct in accord with the teaching. “So many recitations,” said the Master, “and you still don’t know how conceited you are! No doubt you think your merit is even greater than mine. Such pride is an offense. But if you could forget your merit and consider your three thousand recitations as no recitations, then your merit would be limitless and boundless.” “Speak up, Dharma Penetration!” the Master continued, “What Dharma have you penetrated?” Fa Ta was speechless. “Not bad,” the Master said, “You work hard. However, your recitation is of no benefit because you don’t understand what the Sutra means. If you could only understand your mind and see your nature, you would be a Bodhisattva. You have come all this way from Hung Chou because we have an affinity from circumstances in former lives. Now just believe that the Buddha is without words, and the lotus blossom will bloom from your mouth. Believe! The Buddha never said a thing, and if you recite without understanding the principle, you are wasting your time.” The Diamond Sutra says, One who sees me by form Or seeks me in sound, Walks a deviant path Not seeing the Tathagata. The Buddha taught for forty-nine years in over three hundred Dharma assemblies, but when he was about to enter Nirvana and his disciples asked him about the Sutras, he said, “I never said a word.” Was he lying? The Sixth Patriarch also taught that the Buddha said nothing, and if you believe this the Lotus will bloom from your mouth. But how does one obtain such rare faith? The Sutra’s principles exist in the minds of people; they can be spoken by you; they can be spoken by me. Everyone has this wisdom and everyone can speak the Sutras. The Buddha spoke the Sutras for living beings and the Sutras flow from the minds of living beings. Therefore the Buddha spoke without speaking. This means that you should not be attached to Dharma or to emptiness. Nevertheless, you cannot say, “I don’t know any Dharma. I’m empty!” To understand that the Buddha spoke and yet did not speak is the most difficult and yet the easiest thing one can do. Can you do it? If you can, the Buddha has not spoken. If you cannot, then the Buddha has said too much. Sutra: Hearing the verse, Fa Ta was remorseful and he said, “From now on I will respect everyone. Your disciple recites the Dharma Flower Sutra but has not yet understood its meaning. His mind often has doubts. High Master, your wisdom is vast and great. Will you please explain the general meaning of the Sutra for me?” The Master said, “Dharma Penetration, the Dharma is extremely penetrating, but your mind does not penetrate it. There is basically nothing doubtful in the Sutra. The doubts are in your own mind. You recite this Sutra, but what do you think its teaching is?” Fa Ta said, “This student’s faculties are dull and dim. Since I have only recited it by rote, how could I understand its doctrine?” The Master said, “I cannot read, but if you take the Sutra and read it once, I will explain it to you.” Fa Ta recited loudly until he came to the “Analogies Chapter.” The Master said, “Stop! This Sutra fundamentally is based on the principles underlying the causes and conditions of the Buddha’s appearance in the world. None of the analogies spoken go beyond that. What are the causes and conditions? The Sutra says, ‘All Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the world for the causes and conditions of the One Important Matter.’ The One Important Matter is the knowledge and vision of the Buddha. Worldly people, deluded by the external world, attach themselves to marks, and deluded by the inner world, they attach themselves to emptiness. If you can live among marks and yet be separate from it, then you will be confused by neither the internal nor the external. If you awaken to this Dharma, in one moment your mind will open to enlightenment. The knowledge and vision of the Buddha is simply that. The Buddha is enlightenment. There are four divisions: 1. Opening to the enlightened knowledge and vision; 2. Demonstrating the enlightened knowledge and vision; 3. Awakening to the enlightened knowledge and vision; and 4. Entering the enlightened knowledge and vision. If you listen to the opening and demonstrating (of the Dharma), you can easily awaken and enter. That is the enlightened knowledge and vision, the original true nature becoming manifest. Be careful not to misinterpret the Sutra by thinking that the opening, demonstrating, awakening, and entering of which it speaks is the Buddha’s knowledge and vision and that we have no share in it. To explain it that way would be to slander the Sutra and defame the Buddha. Since he is already a Buddha, perfect in knowledge and vision, what is the use of his opening to it again? You should now believe that the Buddha’s knowledge and vision is simply your own mind, for there is no other Buddha. “But, because living beings cover their brilliance with greed and with the love of states of defilement, external conditions and inner disturbance make slaves of them. That troubles the World-Honored One to rise from Samadhi, and with various reproaches and expedients, he exhorts living beings to stop and rest, not to seek outside themselves, and to make themselves the same as he is. That is called ‘opening the knowledge and vision of the Buddha.’ I, too, am always exhorting all people to open to the knowledge and vision of the Buddha within their own minds. “The minds of worldly people are deviant. Confused and deluded, they commit offenses. Their speech may be good, but their minds are evil. They are greedy, hateful, envious, given over to flattery, deceit, and arrogance. They oppress one another and harm living creatures, thus they open not the knowledge and vision of Buddhas but that of living beings. If you can with an upright mind constantly bring forth wisdom, contemplating and illumining your own mind, and if you can practice the good and refrain from evil, you, yourself will open to the knowledge and vision of the Buddha. "In every thought you should open up to the knowledge and vision of the Buddha; do not open up to the knowledge and vision of living beings. To be open to the knowledge and vision of the Buddha is transcendental; to be open to the knowledge and vision of living beings is mundane. If you exert yourself in recitation, clinging to it as a meritorious exercise, how does that make you different from a yak who loves his own tail?” Commentary: To be unconfused, be unattached. Do not get attached to emptiness or fall into existence. If you suddenly awaken to this dharma your heart will open to the knowledge and vision of the Buddha. If you listen to opening and demonstrating, that is, to instruction on the principles of the Sutras, you can easily wake up and understand the enlightened knowledge and vision. The Buddha’s knowledge and vision is simply that of your own mind, because your mind fundamentally is the Buddha. What darkens your light? Thoughts of greed Create thoughts of love. Greed is dirt, And love defiled. The impurities Of greed and love Cause self-seeking And make you a slave. By now you should Have become enlightened. Stop depending on Outer conditions Which only make trouble within. Without them there is No trouble: there is Peace and purity. There are many varieties of external conditions: eyes, ears, noses, tongues, bodies, and minds; forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects, and objects of the mind; and the six consciousnesses where sense-organs and sense-objects meet. When you seek outside yourself, your mind is not at peace; you are upset and anxious, and your mind, originally the master, becomes the body’s slave. The Buddhas trouble themselves to arise from Samadhi just to tell you not to seek outside yourself. When you quit seeking outside, you are one with the Buddhas; you open up to their knowledge and vision and become just like them. The deviant views and delusion of ordinary people causes them to perform offensive acts. While their speech may be as compassionate as the Buddha, their minds are as poisonous as a snake. Of the offenses they commit, greed, hate, and jealousy are the worst. But when they shine the light within and straighten out their own minds, they naturally are open to the knowledge and vision of the Buddha. Sutra: Fa Ta said, “If this is so, then I need only understand the meaning and need not exert myself in reciting the Sutra. Isn’t that correct?” The Master replied, “What fault does the Sutra have that would stop you from reciting it? Confusion and enlightenment are in you. Loss or gain comes from yourself. If your mouth recites and your mind practices, you ‘turn’ the Sutra, but if your mouth recites and your mind does not practice, the Sutra ‘turns’ you. Listen to my verse: When the mind is confused, the Dharma Flower turns it. The enlightened mind will turn the Dharma Flower. Reciting the Sutra so long without understanding Has made you an enemy of its meaning. Without a thought your recitation is right. With thought, your recitation is wrong. With no “with” and no “without” You may ride forever in the White Ox Cart. Fa Ta heard this verse and wept without knowing it. At the moment the words were spoken, he achieved a great enlightenment and said to the Master, “Until today I have never actually turned the Dharma Flower; instead it has turned me.” Commentary: If you are confused, your recitation is of no benefit, but if you are enlightened, there is merit. What does this have to do with the Sutra? If you recite the Sutra and put it into practice as well, you are truly reciting the Sutra and turning the Dharma wheel. You set the Dharma Flower spinning. But if you recite the Sutra with a confused mind, the reciting turns you around so that, the more recitation you do, the less you understand. After more than ten years of work, Fa Ta was still unclear; he was a stranger to the Sutra. Without false thoughts, recitation is a correct thing, but with arrogant thoughts and conceit about your merit and virtue, your recitation becomes deviant. You should pay no attention to having or not having merit, and recite as if not reciting. Do not be attached, and you will always ride in the White Ox Cart. The White Ox Cart is an analogy for The One Buddha Vehicle. You ask, “If I recite as if not reciting, then may I not recite as if reciting?” If you don’t recite it, you cannot understand the Sutra’s principles, and it is not as if you were reciting it. The phrase: Reciting as if not reciting, Not reciting as if reciting, is to instruct you to be unattached. But you cannot say, “I’ll be unattached and forget about reciting the Sutra.” After listening to the Master, Fa Ta wept without even knowing it, but it wasn’t because he had been bullied or tricked. Before, he had stupidly wasted his time reciting the Sutra without obtaining the slightest benefit. Now, at the Master’s explanation, he was so overcome with joy that he burst into tears, just like friends or relatives do when they meet after a long separation He cried because of his great enlightenment. Sutra: Fa Ta asked further, “The Lotus Sutra says, ‘If everyone from Shravakas up to the Bodhisattvas were to exhaust all their thought in order to measure the Buddha’s wisdom, they still could not fathom it.’ Now, you cause common people merely to understand their own minds, and you call that the knowledge and vision of the Buddha. Because of this, I am afraid that those without superior faculties will not be able to avoid doubting and slandering the Sutra. The Sutra also speaks of three carts. How do the sheep, deer, and ox carts differ from the White Ox Cart? I pray the High Master will once again instruct me.” The Master said, “The Sutra’s meaning is clear. You yourself are confused. Disciples of all three vehicles are unable to fathom the Buddha’s wisdom; the fault is in their thinking and measuring. The more they think, the further away they go. From the start the Buddha speaks for the sake of common people, not for the sake of other Buddhas. Those who chose not to believe were free to leave the assembly. Not knowing that they were sitting in the White Ox Cart, they sought three vehicles outside the gate. What is more, the Sutra text clearly tells you ‘There is only the One Buddha Vehicle, no other vehicle, whether two or three, and the same is true for countless expedients, for various causes and conditions, and for analogies and rhetoric. All these Dharmas are for the sake of the One Buddha Vehicle.’” Commentary: The Lotus Sutra says, If the world were filled With those like Shariputra Exhausting their thought to measure the Buddha’s wisdom, They couldn’t fathom it. Fa Ta questioned the Master: “Shariputra was the wisest of the Buddha’s disciples. Now, if you filled the entire universe with Shariputras, and they all tried to fathom the Buddha’s wisdom, they wouldn’t be able to do it. Great Master, how can you say that when common people merely understand their own minds, they are open to the knowledge and vision of the Buddhas? I am afraid that unless one had supreme wisdom and good roots, one couldn’t avoid slandering the Sutra. Please be compassionate and tell me how the sheep and deer carts differ from the White Ox Cart.” The Master said, “The Sutra is perfectly clear on this point. The Shravakas, Pratyekabuddhas and Bodhisattvas cannot know the Buddha’s wisdom simply because they do try to measure it. If their minds did not have such calculating thoughts, they could understand it. The Buddha spoke Sutras for common people, not for other Buddhas. If you don’t believe the Sutras, you can get up and walk out as you please. What is more, there is only One Buddha Vehicle; there are no other vehicles, whether two (Shravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas) or three (Shravakas, Pratyeka Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas) or any number of parables, causes and conditions, and uncountable expedient devices: all are spoken for the sake of the One Buddha Vehicle.” Sutra: “Why don’t you wake up? The three carts are false, because they are preliminary. The one vehicle is real because it is the immediate present. You are merely taught to go from the false and return to the real. Once you have returned to reality, the real is also nameless. You should know that all the treasure and wealth is ultimately your own, for your own use. Do not think further of the father, nor of the son, nor of the use. That is called maintaining the Dharma Flower Sutra. Then from eon to eon your hands will never let go of the scrolls; from morning to night you will recite it unceasingly.” Fa Ta received this instruction and, overwhelmed with joy, he spoke a verse: Three thousand Sutra recitations: At Ts’ao Hsi not one single word. Before I knew why he appeared in the world, How could I stop the madness of accumulated births? Sheep, deer, and ox provisionally set up; Beginning, middle, end, well set forth. Who would have thought that within the burning house Originally the king of Dharma dwelt? The Master said, “From now on you may be called the monk mindful of the Sutra.” From then on, although he understood the profound meaning, Fa Ta continued to recite the Sutra unceasingly. Commentary: Once you have returned to the real vehicle, even the real is nameless; you should discard the notion of reality. All the treasure and wealth of the Buddhadharma is yours, originally. It is the wind and light of your homeland; use it as you wish. But do not think, “These were given to me by my father. I have received them as an inheritance.” You shouldn’t think of the father, the son, or the use: just use them, that’s all. That is genuine recitation of the Sutra. From the first to the last eon, your hands won’t set the text down and you will recite it from morning to night. “Before I knew why the Buddha appeared in the world,” said Fa Ta, “I had no way to stop the karmic process of this mad mind. But now I know that the beginning Shravaka vehicle, the middle Pratyekabuddha Vehicle, and the Mahayana Bodhisattva vehicle are nothing but expedient devices. They are not real. Who would have guessed? Who would have guessed! Nobody! Why, it’s just right here in the flaming house of the triple world, the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm, that one can cultivate, realize Buddhahood and be a Great Dharma King!” “Yes,” said the Master, “I see that you understand, and so now you have the right to be called a Sutra-reciting monk.” Fa Ta understood the doctrine, but he did not make the mistake some people might have and think, “I understand it, so I don’t have to recite it. I have reached the level where I: Recite and yet do not recite; Do not recite and yet recite. If this is the case, then can you: Eat as if not eating, and Not eat as if eating; or Steal as if not stealing, and Not steal as if stealing; or even Kill as if not killing, and Not kill as if killing? Can you get away with this? Of course not! If you truly understand and are unattached to what you do, you will not babble intellectual zen and say that you recite without reciting. Before you can make that claim, you must first have reached that level of accomplishment. Bhikshu Chih T’ung Sutra: Bhikshu Chih T’ung, a native of An Feng in Shao Chou, had read the Lankavatara Sutra over a thousand times but still did not understand the three bodies and the four wisdoms. He made obeisance to the Master, seeking an explanation of the meaning. The Master said, “The three bodies are: the clear, pure Dharma-body, which is your nature; the perfect, full Reward-body, which is your wisdom; and the hundred thousand myriad Transformation bodies, which are your conduct. To speak of the three bodies as separate from your original nature is to have the bodies but not the wisdoms. To remember that the three bodies have no self-nature is to understand the four wisdoms of Bodhi. Listen to my verse: Three bodies complete in your own self-nature When understood become four wisdoms. While not apart from seeing and hearing Transcend them and ascend to the Buddha realm. I will now explain it for you. If you are attentive and faithful, you will never be deluded. Don’t run outside in search of them, By saying ‘Bodhi’ to the end of your days. Chih T’ung asked further, “May I hear about the meaning of the four wisdoms?” The Master said, “Since you understand the three bodies, you should also understand the four wisdoms. Why do you ask again? To speak of the four wisdoms as separate from the three bodies is to have the wisdoms but not the bodies, in which case the wisdoms become non-wisdoms.” He then spoke this verse: The wisdom of the great, perfect mirror Is your clear, pure nature. The wisdom of equal nature Is the mind without disease. Wonderfully observing wisdom Is seeing without effort. Perfecting wisdom is The same as the perfect mirror. Five, eight, six, seven– Effect and cause both turn; Merely useful names: They are without real nature. If, in the place of turning, Emotion is not kept, You always and forever dwell In Naga concentration. Commentary: Bhikshu Chih T’ung studied the Lankavatara Sutra because Bodhidharma recommended it above all other texts for the Ch’an School. Although he had read it over a thousand times, he still had to ask the Master about the three bodies and the four wisdoms. The Master always teaches Dharma of and from self-nature. “The clear, pure Dharma-body is your own original nature,” he said, “and the Reward-body is your wisdom. The transformation-bodies are your conduct, because you are what you do; you are transformed according to what you practice. If you try to explain the three bodies as something apart from your self-nature, you have the bodies, but not the wisdoms. But when you understand that the three bodies are devoid of self-nature, you possess the four wisdoms of Bodhi. “When you understand that the three bodies are immanent in the self-nature, you realize the four wisdoms. Without being separated from the conditions of sight and hearing, you ascend directly to the Buddha-realm. Now, I have spoken this verse,” the Sixth Patriarch said, “and you must truly believe it. Then you will never again be confused like those people who go around saying ‘Bodhi, Bodhi, Bodhi’ all day long, but who never practice or understand Bodhi. Don’t chatter ‘head-mouth’ zen! You must truly understand the three bodies for it to count. The Master continued, “Since you understand the three bodies, you should understand the four wisdoms as well. If you try to explain the four wisdoms as something apart from the three bodies, then although you know the name ‘four wisdoms’ you do not possess their actual substance or know their function. Your wisdoms are non-wisdoms.” The Buddha has four wisdoms. The wisdom of the great, perfect mirror is the eighth consciousness (alayavijnana) when it has been transformed from consciousness into wisdom. The eighth consciousness is also called the “store” consciousness, because it stores up all the good and bad seeds you have planted in the past, all the good and bad things you have done in this and past lives. If you have planted good causes, you reap good effects; if you have planted bad causes, you reap bad effects. As the potential of all good and bad karma is stored in the eighth consciousness, it also comes to be called the “field of the eighth-consciousness,” because whatever you plant in it eventually sprouts. When you are unable to use it, it is merely consciousness, but when you return to the root and go back to the source, the eighth consciousness is transmuted into the great perfect mirror wisdom, which in its essence is pure and undefiled. The wisdom of equal nature is the seventh consciousness when it has been transformed from consciousness into wisdom. Before you understand, it is the seventh consciousness, but once you are enlightened, it is the wisdom of equal nature. The seventh consciousness is also called the “transmitting consciousness” because it acts as a transmitter between the sixth and eighth consciousness. It is called “the wisdom of equal nature” because the minds of all Buddhas and living beings are equal when the latter’s consciousness have been transformed into wisdom. “The mind without disease” means that there is no obstruction, no jealousy, no greed, hate, or stupidity. Without these defilements the seventh consciousness is transmuted into the wisdom of equal nature. The wonderful observing wisdom is the sixth consciousness when it has been transformed into wisdom. It is the wisdom of subtle observation. The sixth consciousness, what we think of as the ordinary mind, is the consciousness of discrimination; it discriminates good and evil, right and wrong, male and female. Such discrimination is not actually the work of intelligence, as it seems to be, but is merely a kind of consciousness. When you turn it into wisdom, it becomes wonderfully observing wisdom, which sees all realms without having to go through the process of discrimination. This wonderful observation is quite different from mere discriminative thoughts. When certified Arhats wish to use the wonderful observing wisdom to know something, they must first sit quietly in meditation and intentionally observe, for unless they intentionally observe, their minds are no different from those of ordinary people. By intentionally observing, they can know the events of the past eighty thousand eons. Perfecting wisdom comes from the transformation of the first five consciousnesses–eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body–into wisdom. “Five, eight, six, seven–effect and cause both turn.” The five consciousnesses and the eighth consciousness are transformed in the period of reaping effects and the sixth and seventh are transformed in the period of planting causes. In transforming the consciousnesses into the four wisdoms, first turn the sixth and seventh in the period of planting causes, and next the eighth and five in the period of reaping effects. “Merely useful names: they are without real nature.” Although they are said to be changed in the realms of causes and effects, there is nothing in reality which corresponds to them; they are merely names and nothing more. “If, in the place of ‘turning,’ emotion isn’t kept;” if, in the place where your emotional feelings are being ‘turned’ you do not use your common mind and become caught up in the ‘turning...’ “You always and forever dwell in Naga concentration.” At all times you are in Naga samadhi. Naga means “dragon.” Dragons can magically appear in big or small bodies because they have a great deal of concentration. As Fa Hai tells us in his introduction to the Sutra, the Sixth Patriarch defeated a dragon by saying, “If you are really a magic dragon, you should be able to appear in a small body as well as a large one.” Then, when the dragon turned up in a small body the Master dared him to climb into his bowl. As the little dragon had a big temper and much ignorance, he jumped at the dare; but when he tried to jump out again, he couldn’t do it. The Master explained the Dharma to the dragon and the dragon then went to rebirth. The dragon may have been constantly in samadhi, but he had not destroyed his ignorance and therefore lost his temper. “I’ll show you!” he said, “I’ll change my body into a little one right now!” If he had really been in samadhi he would have said, “You say I can’t appear in a small body? O.K. So what? I’ll just appear in this large one.” But he lost his concentration and was ‘turned,’ caught, and defeated by the Great Master. Still, Naga samadhi is an inconceivable state. How do dragons get to be dragons? They study the Buddhadharma with mighty effort, morning to night, but they do not keep the precepts. “Precepts are for common people,” they say. “I’m extraordinary. I’m not in the same category as they are, and I do not have to keep precepts!” That’s how they turn into dragons. Sutra: Note: The transformation of consciousness into wisdom has been described. The teaching says, “The first five consciousnesses turned become the perfecting wisdom; the sixth consciousness turned becomes the wonderfully observing wisdom; the seventh consciousness turned becomes the wisdom of equal nature, the eighth consciousness turned becomes the wisdom of the great perfect mirror.” Although the sixth and seventh are turned in the cause and the first five and the eighth in the effect, it is merely the names which turn. Their substance does not turn. Commentary: The above passage was not part of the original text, but was added later. Sutra: Instantly enlightened to the nature of wisdom, Chih T’ung submitted the following verse: Three bodies are my basic substance, Four wisdoms my original bright mind. Body and wisdom in unobstructed fusion: In response to beings I accordingly take form. Arising to cultivate them is false movement. Holding to or pondering over them a waste of effort. Through the Master I know the wonderful principle, And in the end I lose the stain of names. Commentary: Chih T’ung understood the function of the three bodies and the four wisdoms. “The three bodies are not to be found outside of my own body,” he said, “and the four wisdoms, too, are produced from my own bright, understanding mind. When the bodies and wisdoms interpenetrate, then I may dispense the Dharma in accord with the needs of living beings–in accord with external conditions and yet not changing; unchanging, and yet in accord with conditions. If you wonder, “How can I cultivate the three bodies and four wisdoms?” that is nothing but false thinking, false movement. The same is true of holding to them and being attached to them. From beginning to end there is no stain of names. What is unstained by names is the original self-nature, which is untouched by worldly emotion. Unless you have no defilement, you cannot return to the root and go back to the source, which is undefiled. Bhikshu Chih Ch’ang Sutra: Bhikshu Chih Ch’ang, a native of Kuei Hsi in Hsin Chou, left home when he was a child and resolutely sought to see his own nature. One day he called on the Master, who asked him, “Where are you from and what do you want?” Chih Ch’ang replied, “Your student has recently been to Pai Feng Mountain in Hung Chou to call on the High Master Ta T’ung and receive his instruction on the principle of seeing one’s nature and realizing Buddhahood. As I have not yet resolved my doubts, I have come from a great distance to bow reverently and request the Master’s compassionate instruction.” The Master said, “What instruction did he give you? Try to repeat it to me.” Chih Ch’ang said, “After arriving there, three months passed and still I had received no instruction. Being eager for the Dharma, one evening I went alone into the Abbot’s room and asked him, ‘What is my original mind and original substance?’” “Ta T’ung then said to me, ‘Do you see empty space?’ “‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I see it.’ “Ta T’ung said, ‘Do you know what appearance it has?’ “I replied, ‘Empty space has no form. How could it have an appearance?’ “Ta T’ung said, ‘Your original mind is just like empty space. To understand that nothing can be seen is called right seeing; to know that nothing can be known is called true knowing. There is nothing blue or yellow, long or short. Simply seeing the clear, pure original source, the perfect, bright enlightened substance, this is what is called ‘seeing one’s nature and realizing Buddhahood.’ It is also called ‘the knowledge and vision of the Tathagata.’ “Although I heard his instruction, I still do not understand and beg you, O Master to instruct me.” The Master said, “Your former master’s explanation still retains the concepts of knowing and seeing; and that is why you have not understood. Now, I will teach you with a verse: Not to see a single dharma still retains no-seeing, Greatly resembling floating clouds covering the sun. Not to know a single dharma holds to empty knowing, Even as a lightning flash comes out of empty space. This knowing and seeing arise in an instant. When seen wrongly, can expedients be understood? If, in the space of a thought, you can know your own error, Your own spiritual light will always be manifest. Commentary: Bhikshu Chih Ch’ang left home at the early age of seven or eight. When he called on the Sixth Patriarch, the Master remembered his first meeting with the Fifth Patriarch, who had asked him, “Where are you from and what do you seek?” “I’m from Hsin Chou,” the Master had said, “and I seek nothing but Buddhahood.” “Hsin Chou people are barbarians,” the Fifth Patriarch had said. “How can you become a Buddha?” “The Barbarian’s body and the High Master’s body are not the same,” countered the Sixth Patriarch, “but in the Buddha nature where is the distinction?” Remembering this, the Sixth Patriarch asked Chih Ch’ang, “Where are you from? Just what do you think you’re doing?” Chih Ch’ang had received instruction on seeing the nature and realizing Buddhahood, but he still had doubts. The Chinese word for doubts is literally “fox doubt” because foxes are wary of everything. When a fox walks across the ice, he takes a step, cocks his head, and listens: if the ice crackles he runs back to shore; if it does not, he keeps on walking and listening, walking and listening. Although foxes are extremely intelligent, they are full of doubts. In his verse the Sixth Patriarch explains, “If you do not see a single dharma and the ten thousand dharmas all are empty, you still have the view of not seeing any dharmas; you still hold that view. This is just like floating clouds covering the sun, because if you truly do not see anything, you are free of the idea of not seeing. “In the same way, if you don’t establish a single dharma and don’t know a single dharma, but still have the knowledge that you neither establish nor know dharmas, you still hold on to an empty, false kind of knowing. Your principles seem coherent, but knowing and seeing still remain. This is like the great void: originally there is nothing there, but suddenly there is a flash of lightning. Now, do you see, or not? “This ‘knowing and seeing’ arise in an instant.” Your seeing nothing and your empty knowing, your view of not seeing and your knowledge of knowing nothing, are there before your eyes. You should understand right this instant that you are wrong in holding to the idea of seeing nothing and knowing emptiness. Then your original wisdom, your original intelligence, your inherent Buddha nature which is the Tathagata’s Treasury will always be manifest. Sutra: Hearing the verse, Chih Ch’ang understood it with his heart and mind, and he composed this verse: Without beginning, knowing and seeing arise. When one is attached to marks bodhi is sought out. Clinging to a thought of enlightenment, Do I rise above my former confusion? The inherently enlightened substance of my nature Illuminates the turning twisting flow. But had I not entered the Patriarch’s room, I’d still be running, lost between the two extremes. Commentary: When Chih Ch’ang heard this verse, he put it all down. Having put it all down he didn’t say, “I put it all down!” If you put it down, put it down; don’t keep saying, “I put it down!” If you keep on saying that you’ve put it down, you haven’t really done it. If you truly have no knowledge or view and have returned to the root and gone back to the source, why do you keep a ‘knowing’ and a ‘viewing’? Chih Ch’ang understood and spoke a wonderful verse: “Without beginning, knowing and seeing arise.” Without a head, without a tail, the idea of seeing nothing and the knowledge of emptiness arise from no beginning, without a causal basis or foundation. Though one is attached to marks, Bodhi is sought out. You should not be attached to marks, but now you have become attached to seeing nothing and knowing emptiness. Previously, when I explained “no-thought,” I said that if you think, “I have no thought,” just that is a thought. Isn’t it? If you really are without thought, you are also without no-thought. The concept of no-thought is just another thought. In Ch’an (Dhyana) meditation, when we reflect on the question, “Who is reciting the Buddha’s name?” we search for the “who” but don’t find it, because basically there is no “who.” But people can’t understand, and keep looking for a “self,” saying “Who?” In your search, do not be attached to marks; do not be attached to the mark of self when you seek Bodhi. When you think, “I’m seeing emptiness and there is nothing at all!” you still have the thought of knowing; you still have the thought of seeing, and you don’t overcome your confusion. This is certainly not enlightenment. “The inherently enlightened substance of my nature illuminates the turning, twisting flow.” The basic substance of the self-nature, which is enlightened from the beginning, is in accord with the shift and flow of external conditions, and yet it does not change. Understanding this, Chih Ch’ang finds the middle way between the “two extremes” of ‘seeing’ nothing and ‘knowing’ emptiness. Sutra: One day Chih Ch’ang asked the Master, “The Buddha taught the dharma of the three vehicles and also the Supreme Vehicle. Your disciple has not yet understood that and would like to be instructed.” The Master said, “Contemplate only your own original mind and do not be attached to the marks of external dharmas. The Dharma doesn’t have four vehicles; it is people’s minds that differ. Seeing, hearing, and reciting is the small vehicle. Awakening to the Dharma and understanding the meaning is the middle vehicle. Cultivating in accord with Dharma is the great vehicle. To penetrate the ten thousand dharmas entirely and completely while remaining without defilement, and to sever attachment to the marks of all the dharmas with nothing whatsoever gained in return: that is the Supreme Vehicle. Vehicles are methods of practice, not subjects for debate. Cultivate on your own and do not ask me, for at all times your own self-nature is itself ‘thus.’” Chih Ch’ang bowed and thanked the Master and served him to the end of the Master’s life. Commentary: The Master said, “Chih Ch’ang, the Dharma doesn’t even have one vehicle, much less four! People’s minds are what differ. If you see, hear, and recite, you belong to the small vehicle; if you understand and awaken, you belong to the middle vehicle; if you practice in accord with the Dharma, you belong to the great vehicle. When you understand all dharmas, when they are perfected in your own mind without any obstruction, and when you know that the ten thousand dharmas are the mind and the mind is the ten thousand dharmas, and further when you are not defiled by any state, then you belong to the Supreme Vehicle. But you must cultivate on your own; I can’t do it for you. Eat your own food and fill yourself; End your own birth and death. From that time on, Chih Ch’ang served the Master. When he wanted a cup of tea, Chih Ch’ang brought it for him; when he was hungry, Chih Ch’ang brought him food. He served the Master right up until the Master’s death, at which time he left Nan Hua Temple. Bhikshu Chih Tao Sutra: Bhikshu Chih Tao, a native of Nan Hai in Kuang Chou, asked a favor: “Since leaving home, your student has studied the Nirvana Sutra for over ten years and has still not understood its great purport. I hope that the High Master will bestow his instruction.” The Master said, “What point haven’t you understood?” Chih Tao replied, “All activities are impermanent, Characterized by production and extinction; When production and extinction are extinguished, That still extinction is bliss. My doubts are with respect to this passage.” Commentary: Once in the past, during the period when Shakyamuni Buddha was cultivating to plant causes for the attainment of Buddhahood, he was a Brahman. Deep in the mountains he cultivated many Dharma doors so heroically that the god Shakra was moved and said, “He works so hard! I wonder if I can break him?” and he transformed himself into a rakshasa ghost to test the Brahman. He told him, “The Buddha known as ‘Free from Fear’ said, ‘All activities are impermanent, characterized by production and extinction.’” “Who said that?” said the Brahman. The rakshasa ghost, who was hideously ugly, appeared and said, “I was just quoting a verse spoken by the Buddha who is free from fear.” “But you didn’t recite the entire verse, only the first half. Please complete it,” said the Brahman. “I don’t have the energy because I haven’t eaten for several days. Find me something to eat and I will speak it for you,” the ghost said. “What would you like?” asked the Brahman. “I don’t eat anything but fresh, warm, human meat,” said the ghost. “In that case,” replied the Brahman, “you may speak the verse and then I will give you my own body to eat.” The ghost stared at him. “Can you really do such an awesome deed? Can you really give up your body for half a verse?” “I speak the truth; I do not lie,” said the Brahman, “and if you don’t believe me I can ask the Buddhas of the ten directions to bear testimony to the fact. Now, recite the verse and then I will feed you.” The ghost quickly recited, “‘All activities are impermanent, characterized by production and extinction; When production and extinction are extinguished, that still extinction is bliss.’ Now give me your body!” “Wait a minute,” said the Brahman. “Once you have eaten me there will be nothing left of the verse unless I write it down. Let me carve it on this tree so that future generations may cultivate according to it.” Then he stripped the bark from a tree and carved the verse on its trunk. The ghost said, “Can I eat you now?” “Just a minute...” said the Brahman. “So you’re backing out, are you?” the ghost said. “No, I’m not,” said the Brahman, “but what I have written on the tree will eventually be worn away by the wind and rain. I want to carve the verse in stone so that it will last forever. I’ll gladly give you my body, but I must also leave the Buddhadharma for those of the future.” “Not a bad idea,” said the ghost. The Brahman carved the words in stone and said, “All right, I’ve done what I had to do. I give my body to you as an offering. You may eat me now,” and he shut his eyes and waited for the ghost to devour him. But just then the ghost flew up into empty space, transformed himself back into Shakra and said, “Very good! Very good! You are a true cultivator, one who gives up his own body for the sake of the Buddha Way. In the future you are sure to become a Buddha!” This is an event in a former life of Shakyamuni Buddha, when, as a Brahman, he offered his life for half a verse. Sutra: The Master said, “What are your doubts?” “All living beings have two bodies,” Chih Tao replied, “the physical body and the Dharma-body. The physical body is impermanent and is produced and destroyed. The Dharma-body is permanent and is without knowing or awareness. The Sutra says that the extinction of production and extinction is bliss, but I do not know which body is in tranquil extinction and which receives the bliss. “How could it be the physical body which receives the bliss? When this physical body is extinguished, the four elements scatter. That is total suffering and suffering cannot be called bliss. If the Dharma-body were extinguished it would become like grass, trees, tiles, or stones; then what would receive the bliss? “Moreover, the Dharma-nature is the substance of production and extinction and the five heaps are the function of production and extinction. With one body having five functions, production and extinction are permanent; at the time of production, the functions arise from the substance, and at the time of extinction, the functions return to the substance. If there were rebirth then sentient beings would not cease to exist or be extinguished. If there were not rebirth, they would return to tranquil extinction and be just like insentient objects. Thus all dharmas would be suppressed by Nirvana and there would not even be production. How could there be bliss?” The Master said, “You are a son of Shakya! How can you hold the deviant views of annihilationism and permanence which belongs to other religions and criticise the Supreme Vehicle Dharma! According to what you say, there is a Dharma-body that exists apart from physical form and a tranquil extinction to be sought apart from production and extinction. Moreover you propose that there is a body which enjoys the permanence and bliss of Nirvana. But that is to grasp tightly onto birth and death and indulge in worldly bliss.” Commentary: “Is it the physical body which is extinct and the Dharma body which receives the bliss?” Chih Tao wanted to know, “or is it the Dharma body which is extinct and the physical body which receives the bliss? “How could it be the physical body which receives the bliss? The body is composed of the elements earth, air, fire, and water. At death, the elements scatter and that is a state of unspeakable suffering. You can’t call suffering happiness.” “Hey!” said the Great Master, “you are a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha. You have left home and are a member of the Sangha. How can you harbor the deviant views and deviant knowledge of non-Buddhist religions? You say that there is a Dharma-body apart from the physical body and its extinction and that there is a tranquil extinction apart from the process of production and extinction. Isn’t this what you’re saying? You also say that there is a body which enjoys the four virtues of Nirvana: permanence, bliss, true self, and purity. In fact, your theories are nothing but niggardly attachment to birth and death and worldly pleasure. Stuck in the mundane world, you cannot possibly know transcendental bliss.” Sutra: “You should now know that deluded people mistook the union of five heaps for their own bodies and discriminated dharmas as external to themselves. They loved life, dreaded death, and drifted from thought to thought, not knowing that this illusory dream is empty and false. They turned vainly around on the wheel of birth and death and mistook the permanence and bliss of Nirvana for a form of suffering. All day long they sought after something else. "Taking pity on them, the Buddha made manifest in the space of an instant the true bliss of Nirvana, which has no mark of production or extinction; it has no production or extinction to be extinguished. That, then, is the manifestation of tranquil extinction. Its manifestation cannot be reckoned; it is permanent and blissful. The bliss has neither an enjoyer nor a non-enjoyer. How can you call it ‘one substance with five functions?’ Worse, how can you say that Nirvana suppresses all dharmas, causing them to be forever unproduced? That is to slander the Buddha and defame the Dharma.” Commentary: The Buddha spoke for those who thought that their bodies were actually made up of a union of the five heaps, and who thought dharmas were something external to themselves. They were attached to life and death because they didn’t know that everything is like a dream, a bubble, a lightning flash, or a dew drop–illusory. They underwent birth and death over and over again, uselessly and pitifully spinning on the wheel of the six paths of rebirth. Some people thought that the wonderful virtues of Nirvana were a kind of suffering, but the Buddha mercifully revealed to them the true happiness of Nirvana, where there is no mark of production and no mark of extinction. Further, there is absolutely no extinction of production and extinction, because right within production and extinction there appears the state of non-production and non-extinction. That is the manifestation of tranquil extinction. You can’t say that the manifestation of tranquil extinction is so long or so short, so high or so wide. It’s a kind of permanent happiness which is without an enjoyer or a non-enjoyer. If you would like to have this kind of happiness, you should know that there is no one who enjoys it or does not enjoy it. Why? It is the manifestation of the original self-nature. Sutra: “Listen to my verse: Supreme, great Nirvana is bright Perfect, permanent, still and shining. Deluded common people call it death, Other teachings hold it to be annihilation. All those who seek two vehicles Regard it as non-action. Ultimately these notions arise from feeling, And form the basis for sixty-two views, Wrongly establishing unreal names. What is the true, real principle? Only one who has gone beyond measuring Penetrates without grasping or rejecting, And knows that the dharma of the five heaps And the self within the heaps, The outward appearances–a mass of images– The mark of every sound, Are equally like the illusion of dreams, For him, views of common and holy do not arise Nor are explanations of Nirvana made. The two boundaries, the three limits are cut off. All organs have their function, But there never arises the thought of the function. All dharmas are discriminated Without a thought of discrimination arising. When the fire at the eon’s end burns the bottom of the sea And the winds blow the mountains against each other, The true, permanent, still extinct bliss, The mark of Nirvana is ‘thus.’ I have struggled to explain it, To cause you to reject your false views. Don’t understand it by words alone And maybe you’ll understand a bit of this.” After hearing this verse, Chih Tao was greatly enlightened. Overwhelmed with joy, he made obeisance and withdrew. Commentary: The Sixth Patriarch said, “Listen. Great Nirvana is full, complete and bright. It’s permanent, unchanging, and constantly illuminating. Ordinary people say that it is death, and those of non-Buddhist religions say that it is annihilation. The two vehicles of the Shravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas think that it is non-action; that it is uncreated and arises spontaneously. But these are all discriminations which arise from emotion, and they form the basis of sixty-two wrong views. What are the sixty-two wrong views? 1. The heap (skandha) is big and I am contained in the heap. 2. I am big and the heap is contained in me. 3. The heap itself is me. 4. I am separate from the heap. When each of the four above are applied to the five heaps– form, feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness–they make twenty. The twenty multiplied by the three periods of time–past, present, and future–make sixty. Adding the two extremes of permanence and annihilation makes sixty-two. None of them are real; they are all empty and false.” Then “what is the true real principle?” Only one who has gone beyond measuring penetrates without grasping at or rejecting them. Therefore he truly understands that the dharma of the five heaps and the self within those heaps, the marks of form and sound, are all like dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows. “For him, views of common and holy do not arise.” He doesn’t have the views of a common person, he doesn’t have the understanding of the sage, and he doesn’t try to explain the bliss of Nirvana. “The two boundaries, the three limits are cut off.” He is attached neither to the boundary of emptiness, nor to the boundary of existence. Therefore the three limits of the past, present, and future are cut off and he is not attached to them. “All organs have their function, but there never arises the thought of the function.” The true suchness self-nature has the ability to function in accord with external conditions and yet not change. It’s responsiveness is inexhaustible and yet there is no thought of “Ah! I am functioning!” All “Dharmas are discriminated without a thought of discrimination arising.” You don’t think, “I am not making discriminations.” If you do think that, you have the mark of discrimination. To be truly without discrimination is to be without the mark of non-discrimination as well. “When the fire at the end of the eon burns the bottom of the sea and the wind blows the mountains against each other:” At the end of an eon, there are three disasters: flood, fire, and wind. “The true permanent, still, extinct bliss, the mark of Nirvana is ‘thus.’” If you have attained true permanence and the bliss of tranquil extinction, then the mark of Nirvana is just as it was explained above, and the three disasters cannot affect you. The Great Master concludes by saying that he has spoken the verse to encourage his listeners to cast aside their present knowledge and views. “When you no longer rely on the text in order to explain the Sutras,” he said, “I will grant that you understand just a little bit of what I’ve said.” Bhikshu Hsing Szu Sutra: Dhyana Master Hsing Szu was born into the Liu family, which lived in An Ch’eng district in Chi Chou. Hearing of the flourishing influence of the Ts’ao Hsi Dharma Assembly, Hsing Szu went directly there to pay homage and asked, “What is required to avoid falling into successive stages?” The Master said, “What did you do before coming here?” He replied, “I did not even practice the Holy Truths.” The Master said, “Then into what successive states could you fall?” He replied, “If one isn’t practicing the Four Holy Truths, what successive stages are there?” The Master greatly admired his capacity and made him the leader of the assembly. One day the Master said, “You should go elsewhere to teach. Do not allow the teaching to be cut off.” Having obtained the Dharma, Hsing Szu returned to Ch’ing Yüan Mountain in Chi Chou, to propagate the Dharma and transform living beings. After his death he was given the posthumous title “Dhyana Master Hung Chi.” Commentary: Dhyana Master Hsing Szu walked and thought about things at the same time. What did he think about? Do you know? I know. He walked and thought, “Who is mindful of the Buddha? Who is mindful of the Buddha?” and so he was called Hsing Szu, “walking thinker.” At that time the reputation of the Dharma Assembly at Ts’ao Hsi had spread all over China. Everyone knew that the person to whom the Fifth Patriarch had transmitted the robe and bowl was spreading the Dharma there. People “drift away from the empty and gather with the flourishing.” If there are only a few people in your place, it will soon be empty. For instance, here there are thirty people, but if there were only three or four people, soon they would all run away. The more people there are, the more will come from the outside. “There are a lot of people at the Buddhist Lecture Hall!” “Hippies who go there cut their hair and shave their beards. It’s inconceivable. There must be something happening there. Let’s go and see!” The Dharma Assembly at Ts’ao Hsi flourished. “Gather with the flourishing” can also be explained as “gather with the sages,” because in Chinese the words “flourishing” and “sage” sound the same. Many sages and common people came to support the Patriarch. Hsing Szu asked the Patriarch which Dharma door he should cultivate in order to avoid the successive stages of the gradual teaching. The sudden teaching does not have successive stages. Therefore, what he actually asked was, “How do I cultivate the sudden dharma?” He must have heard someone say, “The Sixth Patriarch is truly inconceivable. He has the five eyes and the six spiritual penetrations. I went there and didn’t say a thing and he knew what I was thinking and asked me about, it!” The Master regarded Hsing Szu highly. “What this man says makes sense,” he thought. “He surely must have good roots.” He appointed Hsing Szu head of the assembly and thereafter Hsing Szu always walked in front, leading the others during the ceremonies. The Sixth Patriarch saw Hsing Szu as a vessel of the Dharma, a Dharma-door “elephant and dragon.” This means that he had the capability of a patriarch, not a self-made patriarch, but one who had received the Sixth Patriarch’s certification and permission to teach. “Go and teach elsewhere,” said the Master. “You should not stay here with me but should go in such and such a direction to be a teaching master. Do not let the Dharma become extinct!” Hsing Szu received the robe and bowl and carried the transmission of the lamp of the wonderful Dharma. The posthumous title was conferred by the Emperor. Hsing Szu was given the name Hung Chi, “extensive crossing,” just as the Sixth Patriarch received the name Ta Chien, “great mirror.” Dhyana Master Huai Jang Sutra: Dhyana Master Huai Jang was the son of the Tu family in Chin Chou. He first visited National Master An of Sung Mountain, who told him to go to Ts’ao Hsi to pay homage. When he arrived, he bowed, and the Master asked him, “What has come?” He replied, “Sung Shan.” The Master said, “What thing is it and how does it come?” He replied, “To say that it is like a thing is to miss the point.” The Master said, “Then can there still be that which is cultivated and certified?” He replied, “Cultivation and certification are not absent, but there can be no defilement.” The Master said, “It is just the lack of defilement of which all Buddhas are mindful and protective. You are like that, and I am like that, too. In the West, Prajnatara predicted that a colt would run from under your feet, trampling and killing people under heaven. You should keep that in mind, but do not speak of it too soon.” Huai Jang suddenly understood. Accordingly he waited upon the Master for fifteen years, daily penetrating more deeply into the profound and mysterious. He later went to Nan Yao where he spread the Dhyana School. The title “Dhyana Master Ta Hui” was bestowed upon him posthumously. Commentary: Huai Jang received the Dharma-transmission from the Great Master and became the Seventh Patriarch. Huai means “to cherish.” What did he cherish? Jang, which means “to yield.” He was never arrogant toward anyone, but kept his mind humble and modest, respecting everyone above and below him. In his mind he always cherished politeness. What this Dhyana Master had, he appeared to be without; what was real appeared false. Although he had the Way, it seemed as though he didn’t. He was actually highly educated, but if anyone brought it up, he politely insisted that he was really just a beginner. He first went to study the Buddhadharma with National Master An. National Master An sent him to study at Ts’ao Hsi, because at that time everyone knew that Ts’ao Hsi was the place of the true orthodox Buddhadharma. If you really wanted to study and cultivate faith in the Buddhadharma you went to Ts’ao Hsi. Now, in America, if you really want to study the Buddhadharma, you should come and study the Sutras here. Don’t fear difficulty! Don’t fear suffering! Don’t be lazy! Study the Buddhadharma. At that time at Nan Hua Temple, the site of the platform of the Sixth Patriarch, there was Dhyana meditation and work on the mountain slopes every day. Everyone got up at three-thirty in the morning. At four o’clock they went to morning recitation, which was very vigorous and lasted until five-thirty. Then they sat in meditation until sunrise. After they had eaten some rice gruel, there was another hour of meditation. At eight o’clock they went out on the mountain slopes for two hours until ten o’clock. Because there were about two thousand people, in two hours they were able to do a lot of work. It was not like one or two people doing the work and not being able to finish it. At ten they returned from the slopes and rested until eleven, at which time they ate. From twelve to two they sat in meditation, and at two o’clock they went back out on the mountain slopes to work for two more hours. Then they returned and sat in meditation for six hours until ten o’clock. Afterwards, some did their own work, bowing in homage to the Sutras, or performing repentance ceremonies, until midnight. Every day it was this way. The “wind of the Way” blew severely at Nan Hua Temple. Everyone had to follow the rules. There were several thousand people and you never heard a person speak. No one spoke because they feared that they might strike up false thinking and then their work would not succeed. If you single-mindedly apply effort, you never pursue any train of random thought whatsoever. The Sixth Patriarch therefore established work in common which was very rigorous. When Dhyana Master Huai Jang arrived at Nan Hua Temple he bowed, and the Master said, “What has come?” This is Ch’an. In the Ch’an School, one never speaks of the principle outright. He merely said, “What has come?” Ostensibly it was a Bhikshu, but he said, “What comes?” At least he didn’t ask if it was a ghost. Huai Jang replied, “Sung Shan.” He meant, “I am from Sung Mountain.” The two were using the language of the Ch’an School– repartee. “Cultivation and certification are not absent, but there can be no defilement.” Cultivation has that which is cultivated and certification has that which is certified. Therefore cultivation and certification are not non-existent. So cultivation and certification can exist, but defilement cannot; that is, you cannot be stained. The self-nature must be bright and light. When Huai Jang said this, the Master replied that there was no defilement, no filth in the self-nature. The defilements are self-seeking, jealousy, greed, hate, and delusion. “Without these defilements,” he said, “you are ‘thus’, just as I am. We two are the same–equal.” The Twenty-seventh Indian Patriarch, Prajnatara, the predecessor of Bodhidharma, had said that a colt would run from under Huai Jang’s feet. Who was the colt? He was Huai Jang’s Dharma successor, Great Master Ma Tsu “horse patriarch” Tao I. “Under your feet” means that the colt would be Huai Jang’s disciple, because a disciple behaves as if he were under his teacher’s foot. “In the future,” Prajnatara had said, “a colt will run out of your gate, trampling people all over the world. No other Dharma Master will match his superb eloquence and vast wisdom. None will defeat him. Under heaven, he will be supreme.” Master Huai Jang became the Sixth Patriarch’s personal attendant. Later he went to Heng Mountain in Nan Yao, which is in Hu Nan Province in south-central China, to propagate the Dhyana School. After Huai Jang died, the Emperor gave him the title “Great Master Ta Hui,” “Great Wisdom.” Dhyana Master Hsüan Chiao Sutra: Dhyana Master Hsüan Chiao of Yung Chia was the son of a family called Tai in Wen Chou. When he was young he studied the Sutras and commentaries and was skilled in the T’ien T’ai Dharma-door of “Stop and Look.” Upon reading the Vimalakirti Sutra, he understood the mind-ground. One day he happened to meet the Master’s disciple Hsüan Ch’e and they had a pleasant talk. As Hsüan Chiao’s words were consonant with the words of all the Patriarchs, Hsüan Ch’e asked him, “Kind Sir, from whom did you obtain the Dharma?” He replied, “I have heard the Vaipulya Sutras and Shastras, receiving each from a master. Later, upon reading the Vimalakirti Sutra, I awakened to the doctrine of the Buddha-mind, but as yet no one has certified me.” Hsüan Ch’e said, “That was acceptable before the time of the Buddha called the Awesome-Voiced King. But since the coming of that Buddha, all those who ‘self-enlighten’ without a master belong to other religions which hold to the tenet of spontaneity.” “Then will you please certify me, Kind Sir?” said Hsüan Chiao. Hsüan Ch’e said, “My words are of little worth, but the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch, is at Ts’ao Hsi, where people gather like clouds from the four directions. He is one who has received the Dharma. If you wish to go, I will accompany you.” Commentary: Yung Chia is the name of a place. Because everyone greatly respected this Dharma Master, they addressed him after the name of his birthplace, according to Chinese custom. When he was young Yung Chia investigated the Buddhist Sutras and the commentaries written by the Patriarchs. When he read the Vimalakirti Sutra, he understood the Dharma-door of his own mind-ground. One day he had a chat with the Sixth Patriarch’s disciple Hsüan Ch’e, and Hsüan Ch’e found that their views were in agreement and that they both agreed with the principles of the Patriarchs. Supposing him to be a member of his own school, Hsüan Ch’e asked, “Who transmitted our Dharma to you, Great Master Hsüan Chiao? Who certified you?” When he learned Hsüan Chiao had enlightened himself by reading Vimalakirti Sutra, he said, “Before the time of Awesome-Voiced King Buddha, that would have been all right. But he was the first Buddha, and now, since his advent, anyone who claims to be enlightened without a master’s certification is simply not a Buddhist.” “Not a Buddhist? Oh no!” said Hsüan Chiao. “Then please certify me!” I don’t know what certain people in America who certify themselves and then lecture on The Sixth Patriarch’s Sutra do when they come to this passage of text. How do they explain it? Awesome-Voiced King Buddha’s name means that the sound of his voice penetrates to the most remote places, through the wind and light to the original ground. “I can’t certify you,” said Hsüan Ch’e, “because I don’t have the authority. Besides, it’s not certain that I myself am enlightened. However the Sixth Patriarch is at Nan Hua Temple. The Fifth Patriarch has transmitted both the Dharma and Bodhidharma’s robe and bowl to him.” Sutra: Thereupon Hsüan Chiao went with Hsüan Ch’e to call upon the Master. On arriving, he circumambulated the Master three times, shook his staff, and stood in front of him. The Master said, “Inasmuch as a Shramana has perfected the three thousand awesome deportments and the eighty thousand fine practices, where does this Virtuous One come from and what makes him so arrogant?” Hsüan Chiao said, “The affair of birth and death is great and impermanence comes quickly.” The Master said, “Why not embody non-production and understand that which is not quick?” He replied, “The body itself is not produced and fundamentally there is no quickness.” The Master said, “So it is; so it is.” Commentary: When the two arrived at Ts’ao Hsi, Hsüan Chiao marched around the Sixth Patriarch three times, pounded his tin staff into the ground, and stood there as if angry. The Sixth Patriarch politely asked, “How did you get here and why are you so obnoxious? One who has left home has perfected the three thousand awesome deportments and the eighty thousand fine practices, and yet you didn’t even bow to me.” There are two hundred and fifty deportments for each of the four body postures: standing, sitting, walking, and lying down. These thousand comportments multiplied by the past, present, and future make three thousand. There are actually eighty four thousand fine practices, although the text here gives the number as eighty thousand. Hsüan Chiao said, “I act this way because birth and death is a serious problem and one never knows when the Ghost of Impermanence will pay his inevitable call. It all happens very fast, you know.” What Hsüan Chiao actually meant was, “I am trying to end birth and death and I have no time for good manners. Besides, I’ve put that sort of thing down.” “Then why don’t you think of a way to embody and comprehend that which is not produced and to understand what is not quick?” said the Master. “You should be clear about the principles of non-production and quickness.” “The body itself is not produced,” said Hsüan Chiao, “and, fundamentally the understanding is without quickness. That is, if I clearly understand birth and death, then there is no birth and death, and if I maintain that clear understanding, then in fact there is no quickness. Why then should I fear the Ghost of Impermanence?” Seeing that he understood, the Sixth Patriarch certified him saying, “Right! Good work! It’s just as you say.” Sutra: Hsüan Chiao then made obeisance with perfect awesome deportment. A short while later he announced that he was leaving and the Master said, “Aren’t you leaving too quickly?” He replied, “Fundamentally I don’t move; how can I be quick?” The Master said, “Who knows you don’t move?” He replied, “Kind Sir, you yourself make this discrimination.” The Master said, “You have truly got the idea of non-production.” “But does non-production possess an ‘idea’?” asked Hsüan Chiao. “If it is without ideas, then who discriminates it?” said the Master. “What discriminates is not an idea either,” he replied. The Master exclaimed, “Good indeed! Please stay for a night.” During his time he was called “The One Enlightened Overnight” and later he wrote the “Song of Certifying to the Way,” which circulated widely in the world. His posthumous title is “Great Master Wu Hsiang,” and during his lifetime he was called “Chen Chiao.” Commentary: The Master and Hsüan Chiao carried on some repartee: “Your eloquence indicates that you have truly understood the idea of non-production,” said the Master. “How can non-production have an idea?” Hsüan Chiao replied. “Without ideas, who could discriminate it?” said the Master. Hsüan Chiao said, “Although there is discrimination, it is not done on the basis of the mind’s ideas; it is not the intellect engaging in intellection which discriminates. Rather, it is the Buddha’s wonderful observing wisdom which has no need to resort to the process of reasoning and which yet knows everything. Therefore, what discriminates is not an idea either.” “You’re absolutely right,” said the Master. Hsüan Chiao stayed one night at Nan Hua Temple and became enlightened, so everyone called him “The One Enlightened Overnight.” Later on, he wrote the “Song of Certifying to the Way” which I am sure you all know. It begins: Have you not seen the man of the Way Who has cut off learning and, in leisure, does nothing Who does not reject false thinking or seek reality? For him, the real nature of ignorance is the Buddha nature And the empty body of illusion is the Dharma-body. After he died, the Emperor gave him the title, “Wu Hsiang” which means, “without marks,” and his contemporaries called him “Chen Chiao,” “true enlightenment.” Dhyana Master Chih Huang Sutra: Dhyana cultivator Chih Huang had formerly studied under the Fifth Patriarch and said of himself that he had attained to the “right reception.” He lived in a hut, constantly sitting, for twenty years. In his travels, the Master’s disciple Hsüan Ch’e reached Ho Shuo, where he heard of Chih Huang’s reputation. He paid a visit to his hut and asked him, “What are you doing here?” “Entering concentration,” replied Chih Huang. Hsüan Ch’e said, “You say you are entering concentration. Do you enter with thought or without thought? If you enter without thought, then all insentient things, such as grass, trees, tiles, and stones, should likewise attain concentration. If you enter with thought, then all sentient things which have consciousness should also attain concentration.” Chih Huang said, “When I properly enter concentration I do not notice whether I have thought or not.” Hsüan Ch’e said, “Not to notice whether or not you have thought is eternal concentration. How can you enter it or come out of it? If you come out of it or enter it, it is not the great concentration.” Chih Huang was speechless. After a long while, he finally asked, “Who is your teacher?” Hsüan Ch’e said, “My master is the Sixth Patriarch at Ts’ao Hsi.” Chih Huang said, “What does your master take to be Dhyana Concentration?” Commentary: Chih Huang practiced Dhyana meditation; his first teacher was the Fifth Patriarch, Hung Jen. Formerly, when cultivators left the home-life they would travel everywhere in search of a “bright-eyed knowing one.” Hsüan Ch’e did public relations work for the Sixth Patriarch. He traveled all over China saying, “My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch, the genuine recipient of the robe and bowl!” When he heard about Chih Huang’s cultivation he went to visit him and said, “Hey! What are you doing here, huh?” Chih Huang just said, “I am entering concentration.” “You say you are entering concentration,” said Hsüan Ch’e. “Tell me, do you do it with the thought in mind that you want to enter concentration, or don’t you have such a thought? If you do not enter it with such a thought in mind, then all inanimate objects could also enter concentration, because they don’t have thought either. But if you do, then all living, conscious creatures could enter as well.” Chih Huang said, “When I enter concentration I don’t notice whether I have thought or not. At that time I’m empty.” Hsüan Ch’e said, “If you don’t notice whether or not you have thought, then that is permanent concentration. How can you come out of it or enter it? How do you go in? How do you come out? If you can enter or leave it, it’s not the great concentration of the Buddha.” Chih Huang was dumbfounded. “What am I going to do?” he thought. “I do go into concentration and come out of it.” He couldn’t open his mouth for a long time. He knew that his own words had no principle, that Hsüan Ch’e’s wisdom was higher than his own, and that he had no means to debate with him. Finally he asked, “Who is your teacher? Your eloquence is superb. Surely your master is even more clever than you. Who transmitted the Dharma to you?” “My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch, the Abbot of Nan Hua Temple in Ts’ao Hsi,” said Hsüan Ch’e. “What does he take to be Dhyana concentration?” Chih Huang asked. Sutra: Hsüan Ch’e said, “My teacher speaks of the wonderful, clear, perfect stillness, the suchness of the substance and function, the fundamental emptiness of the five skandhas, and the non-existence of the six organs. There is neither emerging nor entering, neither concentration nor confusion. The nature of Dhyana is non-dwelling and is beyond the act of dwelling in Dhyana stillness. The nature of Dhyana is unproduced and beyond the production of the thought of Dhyana. The mind is like empty space and is without the measure of empty space.” Commentary: The Sixth Patriarch says that the original nature is wonderful, clear, perfectly still and unmoving. Its substance and function both are “thus, thus unmoving, clear, clear, and illuminating.” The five shadows, i.e. the five skandhic heaps of form, feeling, perception, impulses, and consciousness are fundamentally void and the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, tangible objects, and objects of the mind are also non-existent. When you understand the wonderful function of the original substance, there is no question of either dwelling or not dwelling in Dhyana. The Dhyana nature transcends that kind of “dead Dhyana” which is attached to stillness. The nature of Dhyana itself is unproduced and transcends such thoughts as, “Here I sit in Dhyana meditation.” Sutra: Hearing this explanation, Chih Huang went directly to visit the Master. The Master asked him, “Kind Sir, where are you from?” Chih Huang related the above incident in detail. The Master then said, “It is truly just as he said. Simply let your mind be like empty space without being attached to the idea of emptiness and the correct function of the self-nature will no longer be obstructed. Have no thought, whether in motion or stillness; forget any feeling of being common or holy, put an end to both subject and object. The nature and mark will be ‘thus, thus,’ and at no time will you be out of the state of concentration.” Commentary: “What Hsüan Ch’e told you was correct,” said the Master. “Just make your mind like empty space, but do not hold onto the idea of empty space. You will then function in an unhindered way. When something presents itself, you will respond and when it passes, you will be still. This is to be unobstructed. Whether moving or still, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, have no thought. Do not think, “I’m a sage!” and do not think, “I’m just a common person.” Forget about feeling holy or common; get rid of emotional feelings altogether. Be without subject or object: do not have something which sees and something which is seen, something which makes empty and something which is made empty. You should know that when you see brightness, your seeing is not bright; when you see darkness, your seeing is not dark; when you see emptiness, your seeing is not empty; when you see form, your seeing has no form; when you see existence, your seeing is not existent; and when you see non-existence, your seeing is not non-existent. The Shurangama Sutra says, “When your seeing sees the seeing (nature), that seeing is no (longer) seeing. Your seeing nature is beyond your seeing and your seeing cannot reach it.” Your seeing nature should be separate from and unattached to your false discriminating seeing and you should not hold onto the thought of seeing. If you adhere to the idea of subject and object, maintaining that there is someone who sees as well as an emptiness which is seen, you are left with just that knowledge and vision. You should put an end to both subject and object. Sutra: Just then Chih Huang attained the great enlightenment. What he had gained in twenty years vanished from his mind without a trace. That night the people of Hopei heard a voice in space announcing, “Today, Dhyana Master Chih Huang has attained the Way.” Later, he made obeisance and left, returning to Hopei to teach and convert the four assemblies there. Commentary: All of a sudden, Chih Huang had a great, not a small, enlightenment and the skill he had acquired in twenty years of diligent cultivation completely left him. There was not a trace, not an echo. Before he had entered samadhi thinking, “I am entering samadhi,” but now he had nothing at all. Everything was empty. He had returned to the root and source of all dharmas. Although Chih Huang himself was in Ho Shuo, that night in his native village on the outskirts of Peking, his neighbors, disciples, and Dharma protectors all heard a voice in space saying, “You should all know that today Dhyana Master Chih Huang reached enlightenment.” Later, Chih Huang bowed to the Sixth Patriarch, took leave and returned to Hopei to teach the Bhikshus, Bhikshunis, laymen, and laywomen there. Hopei is about fifteen hundred miles from Ho Shuo. That’s a long walk. One Member Of The Sangha Sutra: One of the Sangha asked the Master, “Who got the principle of Huang Mei?” The Master replied, “The one who understands the Buddhadharma.” The Sangha member said, “High Master, have you obtained it?” “I do not understand the Buddhadharma,” the Master replied. Commentary: This member of the Sangha was truly a barbarian, an uneducated savage. He rudely confronted the Master and asked, “Who got the robe and bowl of the Fifth Patriarch Hung Jen of Huang Mei?” He knew very well that the Sixth Patriarch had it, but he asked anyway. From this we know that among those who came to the Master for instruction there were rude country peasants as well as good disciples. He knew that his question was insulting to the Master and what he meant by it was, “You can’t even read. How can you be worthy of the robe and bowl?” The Master said, “One who thoroughly comprehends the Buddhadharma obtains that principle and the Fifth Patriarch’s robe and bowl.” “But High Master,” the Bhikshu said, “have you got it or not?” He didn’t believe that the Master had received the transmission. The Sixth Patriarch didn’t say yes and he didn’t say no, he simply said, “I don’t understand the Buddhadharma.” What do you think? Was he telling the truth? Bhikshu Fang Pien Sutra: One day the Master wanted to wash the robe which he had inherited, but there was no clear stream nearby. He walked about two miles behind the temple where he saw good energies revolving in a dense grove of trees. He shook his staff, stuck it in the ground, and a spring bubbled up and formed a pool. Commentary: The Master walked about two miles behind the temple, where he found a luxuriant grove filled with tall trees and good vibrations. People who have opened their five eyes and obtained the six spiritual powers can tell at a glance the geomantic properties of any particular piece of land. So when the Master planted his tin staff in the ground, the nine metal rings which hung from the head of his staff echoed through the wood, and a spring gushed forth to form a clear, pure pool. The public washing stream is about a third of a mile behind Nan Hua Temple. Whether this present stream is the same source that was used during the Sixth Patriarch’s time is uncertain. Sutra: As he knelt to wash his robe on a rock, suddenly a monk came up and bowed before him saying, “I am Fang Pien, a native of Hsi Shu. A while ago I was in India, where I visited the Great Master Bodhidharma. He told me to return to China immediately, saying, ‘The orthodox Dharma Eye Treasury and the samghati robe which I inherited from Mahakashyapa has been transmitted to the sixth generation at Ts’ao Hsi, Shao Chou. Go there and pay reverence.’ Fang Pien has come from afar, hoping to see the robe and bowl that his Master transmitted.” The Master showed them to him and asked, “Superior One, what work do you do?” “I am good at sculpting,” he replied. Keeping a straight face, the Master said, “Then sculpt something for me to see.” Fang Pien was bewildered, but after several days he completed a lifelike image of the Patriarch, seven inches high and wonderful in every detail. The Master laughed and said, “You only understand the nature of sculpture; you do not understand the nature of the Buddha.” Then the Master stretched out his hand and rubbed the crown of Fang Pien’s head, saying, “You will forever be a field of blessing for gods and humans.” The Master rewarded him with a robe, which Fang Pien divided into three parts: one he used to wrap the sculpture, one he kept for himself, and the third he wrapped in palm leaves and buried in the ground, vowing, “In the future, when this robe is found again, I will appear in the world to be abbot here and restore these buildings.” Note: During the Sung Dynasty in the eighth year of the Chia Yu reign period (1063 A.D.), while Bhikshu Wei Hsien was repairing the hall, he excavated the earth and found the robe which was like new. The image is at Kao Ch’üan Temple and those who pray before it obtain a quick response. Commentary: Think about it: Bodhidharma had long since died in China, but Bhikshu Fang Pien met him in India. That is not surprising, however, because to this day no one knows exactly what happened to Bodhidharma. I will now tell you a true story. While I was living in Manchuria I decided, for various reasons, to leave the home-life and cultivate the Way. The man I most respected was Wang Hsiao Tzu, ‘Filial-Son Wang.’ When he was twenty-eight years old his mother died and he practiced filial piety by sitting beside her grave. He built a small hut out of scrap lumber to protect himself from the bitter Manchurian cold and lived there for three years, according to the Confucian custom. When the first three years were up he decided to stay for another three years, so in all he practiced for six years. During the second three-year period he did not speak, no matter who came. Every day he sat in his hut, meditating and reciting the Diamond Sutra. Toward the end of the sixth year he had a daydream. “In Ch’ien and Kuang Ling Mountains,” he thought, “there are cultivators who live for over a thousand years. When I fulfill my filial obligations I’ll go there to cultivate.” The following morning, during meditation, he heard a Dharma Protector say, “Today an important guest will visit you.” He thought perhaps a great official was coming and he waited until ten o’clock when he saw a monk approaching wearing rag robes and carrying a bumble stick. Filial Son Wang did not speak out loud, but in his mind he wondered, “Where is he from?” The monk replied, “I’m from Kuang Ling Mountain.” Filial Son Wang then thought, “What is his name?” The monk told him his name and added, “In the Ming dynasty I was a general and later I left home to cultivate. We two have a karmic affinity for one another, and so when I heard that you wanted to go to Kuang Ling Mountain, I felt I should advise you that the monks there cultivate solely for their own benefit. You, on the other hand, should cultivate for the good of all. After you have finished your act of filial piety, build a temple right here and spread the Buddhadharma.” Now, ‘Filial-Son Wang’ hadn’t spoken to the monk, and yet the monk read the questions in his mind. That shows that the monk had the spiritual power of knowing others’ thoughts and had obtained the five eyes and six spiritual penetrations. He said he was from the Ming dynasty. ‘Filial-Son Wang’ lived during the first years of the Republic, some three hundred years later. So you see that Bodhidharma could easily have been seen in southern India several hundred years after his disappearance from China. That he met Fang Pien there and told him about the robe and bowl is a very ordinary matter–nothing strange at all. Bhikshu Fang Pien knew how to make Buddha images. He carved them in wood and molded them in clay. The Master very solemnly said to him, “Please sculpt an image for me to see” Caught off guard, Fang Pien just stood there in silence, but a few days later he had finished making a true image of the Patriarch. It looked just like the Master. The nose, ears, eyes, all the features were exactly right. It was a perfect likeness right down to the finest detail. When the Master saw the little statue of himself he couldn’t help but smile. “Fang Pien,” he said, “you may know how to model clay, but you don’t know the Buddha nature. In any case, you should leave home in every life, become a Bhikshu, and act as a field of blessing for humans and gods.” Master Wo Lun’s Verse Sutra: One Bhikshu was reciting Dhyana Master Wo Lun’s verse: Wo Lun has the talent To stop the hundred thoughts: Facing situations his mind won’t move; Bodhi grows day by day. When the Master heard it he said, “This verse shows no understanding of the mind-ground, and to cultivate according to it will increase one’s bondage. Then he spoke this verse: Hui Neng has no talent To stop the hundred thoughts. Facing situations his mind often moves; How can Bodhi grow? Commentary: The name of the reciter of Wo Lun’s verse is not given. Perhaps he had no name or perhaps he didn’t want to be famous. Dhyana Master Wo Lun could cut off his thoughts, but Wo Lun himself, the cutter-off of thoughts, still remained. Thus he had fallen into the second or third position. He was not in the first position. Upon hearing Wo Lun’s verse, the Great Master replied, I haven’t a single talent, Nor even the thought of cutting off thought. My mind responds in a natural way: Who cares whether Bodhi grows or not? Here he expresses the same principle as in the verse he wrote while still a layman at Huang Mei: “Originally there is not one thing. Where can the dust alight?” The absolute is pure; what need is there to dust it off? Chapter 8: SUDDEN AND GRADUAL Commentary: “Sudden” refers to the immediate understanding of a principle. You may be suddenly enlightened to a principle, but until you have been certified as one who is fully enlightened, you still must cultivate that principle gradually by putting it into practice in everyday life. Sutra: While the Patriarch was staying at Pao Lin Temple in Ts’ao Hsi, the Great Master Shen Hsiu was at Yü Ch’üan Temple in Ching Nan. At that time the two schools flourished and everyone called them, “Southern Neng and Northern Hsiu.” So it was that the two schools, northern and southern, were divided into “sudden” and “gradual.” As the students did not understand the doctrine, the Master said to them, “The Dharma is originally of one school. It is people who think of North and South. The Dharma is of one kind, but people understand it slowly or quickly. Dharma is not sudden or gradual. Rather it is people who are sharp or dull. Hence the terms sudden and gradual.” Nonetheless, Shen Hsiu’s followers continually ridiculed the southern Patriarch, saying that he couldn’t read a single word and had nothing in his favor. But Shen Hsiu said, “He has obtained wisdom without the aid of a teacher and understands the Supreme Vehicle deeply. I am inferior to him. Furthermore, my Master, the Fifth Patriarch, personally transmitted the robe and Dharma to him, and not without good reason. I regret that I am unable to make the long journey to visit him, as I unworthily receive state patronage here. But do not let me stop you. Go to Ts’ao Hsi and call on him.” Commentary: You all remember Shen Hsiu, the Great Master who was obsessed with the deadly ambition to be a patriarch. He was an intelligent man, and yet he couldn’t cut off his desire for the Patriarchate. In the south, the Sixth Patriarch taught the “sudden” Dharma to a flourishing assembly of over a thousand people. Shen Hsiu, in Ching Nan, was busy teaching “gradual” Dharma to an even larger crowd of over ten thousand people. Originally, Shen Hsiu had about two hundred followers, but every day more and more people came. However, everyone knew that the Fifth Patriarch had transmitted the robe and bowl to Hui Neng in the south. In spite of the fact that Shen Hsiu had been teaching master under the Fifth Patriarch and was extremely well-educated, he did not have the transmission. Still, Shen Hsiu’s disciples advertised him as the Sixth Patriarch and finally even sent an assassin to try to kill the Master and seize the robe and bowl. Because of the division into Northern and Southern schools, students of the Way did not know where to turn. Should they study with the Sixth Patriarch? He was illiterate and sometimes his teachings seemed to contradict the scriptures. On the other hand, Shen Hsiu didn’t have the robe and bowl. Seeing their dilemma, the Master said, “There is only one Dharma. People may come from the north or south but there is actually only one non-dual Dharma door. Intelligent people understand it all of a sudden and stupid people come to understand it gradually, but the Dharma itself is neither sudden nor gradual.” Still, Shen Hsiu’s men constantly made fun of the Sixth Patriarch. “Hey, look at him!” they said. “He can’t even read. The Southern School disciples are following an illiterate. That is perfectly ridiculous. What could they possibly learn from him?” Thus they slighted the Patriarch and his disciples, saying that they were ignorant, not having even one doctorate among them. Shen Hsiu said, “Don’t talk like that! He’s an enlightened man. He has obtained wisdom through his own effort, without the aid of a teacher, and has a thorough grasp of the Supreme Vehicle. Frankly, I’m not as good as he is; I do not possess his enlightened wisdom. Our teacher, the Fifth Patriarch, passed the wonderful mind-seal Dharma on to him, and for a good reason. It was no accident.” Shen Hsiu was a National Master. He and Masters Lao An, Chih Hsien, and Fa Ju were among the Fifth Patriarch’s ten great disciples. As they had received invitations to the Imperial Palace from Empress Wu Tsai T’ien, they received state patronage. Shen Hsiu told his disciples, “I can’t get away, as I receive state aid here. But don’t let me stop you. You may go to Ts’ao Hsi to call on the Great Master.” Actually, Shen Hsiu was just testing his disciples to see whether or not they would go. He said that the Sixth Patriarch had more virtue than he, but what he really meant was, “If you believe in me you won’t leave, even though he has more virtue. But if you don’t believe, you’ll go as soon as I tell you to leave. Go!” No one went. Sutra: One day Shen Hsiu told his disciple Chih Ch’eng, “You are intelligent and very wise. You may go to Ts’ao Hsi on my behalf and listen to the Dharma. Remember it all and take careful notes to read to me when you return.” As ordered, Chih Ch’eng proceeded to Ts’ao Hsi and joined the assembly without saying where he had come from. The Patriarch told the assembly, “Today there is a Dharma thief hidden in this assembly!” Chih Ch’eng immediately stepped forward, bowed, and explained his mission. The Master said, “You are from Yü Ch’üan; you must be a spy.” “No,” he replied, “I am not.” The Master said, “What do you mean?” He replied, “Before I confessed, I was; but now that I have confessed, I am not.” The Master said, “How does your Master instruct his followers?” Chih Ch’eng replied, “He always instructs us to dwell with the mind contemplating stillness and to sit up all the time without lying down.” The Master said, “To dwell with the mind contemplating stillness is sickness, not Dhyana. Constant sitting restrains the body. How can it be beneficial? Listen to my verse: When living, sit, don’t lie. When dead, lie down, don’t sit. How can a set of stinking bones Be used for training? Chih Ch’eng bowed again and said, “Your disciple studied the Way for nine years at the place of Great Master Hsiu but obtained no enlightenment. Now, hearing one speech from the High Master, I am united with my original mind. Your disciple’s birth and death is a serious matter. Will the High Master be compassionate enough to instruct me further?” Commentary: Chih Ch’eng was a good disciple to Shen Hsiu, one of his favorites. “You may represent me at Ts’ao Hsi,” Shen Hsiu said. “I cannot go. If I were to go personally, Hui Neng would surely recognize me and not speak the Dharma. Write down everything he says without getting one word wrong. Then bring back your notes and read them to me.” When Chih Ch’eng asked for instruction at Ts’ao Hsi, he didn’t say where he was from. “I’ve been here and there,” he said, beating around the bush. That day there were several thousand people gathered to hear the Dharma. The Sixth Patriarch announced: “Everyone should be careful! There is a Dharma thief hidden in the assembly!” Chih Ch’eng pushed his way through the crowd, bowed at the Master’s feet and said, “I confess! I’m a spy. Shen Hsiu sent me here.” The Master explained the Dharma to Chih Cheng. “Contemplating stillness is a kind of occupational disease,” he said, “It is not Dhyana. As to constant sitting in meditation, this is a mere constraint on the body. What is the principle behind it? When you eat, just eat; when you sleep, just sleep. Don’t lock yourself up.” Shen Hsiu was just working on his stinking skin-bag. He didn’t know how to work in the self-nature. That is sickness. The Sixth Patriarch worked naturally in the self-nature, and he spoke this verse to say, You sit up when you’re alive, You lie down when you’re dead. Your body’s a bone-bag composed of four elements: Why not work on the self-nature instead? To dwell with the mind contemplating stillness contradicts the principle of the Diamond Sutra, which tells us to “produce that thought which is nowhere supported.” The Sixth Patriarch spoke this verse to break Chih Ch’eng’s attachment to marks. Shen Hsiu taught people to dwell with the mind contemplating stillness and the Sixth Patriarch said that that was wrong. Nonetheless, if you can do it, bit by bit, you will gain benefit. If you always sit and do not lie down, although it is not very natural, it will assist your body and mind in cultivation. Then why did the Sixth Patriarch object to these practices? It was because Chih Ch’eng had just come from Shen Hsiu and it was necessary to break his attachments before he could properly receive the genuine Buddhadharma. In cultivation you should not be attached to your work and think, “Look at me! I really work hard, constantly sitting and never lying down!” Such thoughts will obstruct your progress. If the mind “dwells,” it is attached. In order to be united with the original wisdom of the self-nature, you must “produce that thought which is nowhere supported,” as the Diamond Sutra says. The Sixth Patriarch gave Chih Ch’eng this teaching in order to break his attachments. If you can constantly sit and feel natural and unforced doing so, then go ahead, but do not force yourself. Force is not the way. You should work naturally. “Good!” you say. “Then I don’t have to follow the rules.” This does not mean that you can ignore the rules. If you lie down when people sit, and sit when they lie down, you are not in accord with Dharma and are just trying to show that you think you are special. In general, you must follow the rules and be natural with yourself as well. But “being natural” does not mean that you can break the rules. Is this clear? Chih Ch’eng had studied nine years with Shen Hsiu. How many years have you studied here? One year. And you think that is a very long time. Cultivators may study for ten, twenty, or thirty years with great effort. You can’t graduate in just a few months. As soon as the Sixth Patriarch spoke, his principles entered Chih Ch’eng’s heart like water flowing into water: “thus, thus,” like milk mixing with milk. There was not the slightest difference between them. “The Patriarch’s heart is my heart,” said Chih Ch’eng, “and my heart is the Patriarch’s heart. I am suddenly united with the original mind because our minds are fundamentally one and the same.” “But I do not know when I will die,” Chih Ch’eng continued, “and I do not know when I will be born again. This matter of birth and death is most pressing. Please be compassionate and help me understand.” Sutra: The Master said, “I have heard that your Master instructs his students in the dharmas of morality, concentration, and wisdom. Please tell me how he defines the terms.” Chih Ch’eng said, “Great Master Shen Hsiu says that morality is abstaining from doing evil, wisdom is offering up all good conduct, and concentration is purifying one’s own mind. This is how he explains them, but I do not know, High Master, what dharma of instruction you use.” The Master said, “If I said that I had a dharma to give to others, I would be lying to you. I merely use expedients to untie bonds and falsely call that samadhi. Your master’s explanation of morality, concentration, and wisdom is truly inconceivably good but my conception of morality, concentration, and wisdom is different from his.” Commentary: “I don’t have any dharmas at all,” said the Sixth Patriarch. “I’d be cheating you if I said that I did. I have no special dharma to give to people. For each individual I use an appropriate teaching to untie his bonds. To ‘untie bonds’ means to break attachments. The attachments of living beings bind them up. I just untie their bonds and set them free of their attachments. Fundamentally this teaching has no name whatsoever, but it is hypothetically called ‘samadhi.’ Thus, my view of morality, concentration, and wisdom is special; it is not the same as Shen Hsiu’s.” Sutra: Chih Ch’eng said, “There can only be one kind of morality, concentration, and wisdom. How can there be a difference?” The Master said, “Your master’s morality, concentration, and wisdom guide those of the Great Vehicle, whereas my morality, concentration, and wisdom guide those of the Supreme Vehicle. Enlightenment is not the same as understanding; seeing may take place slowly or quickly. Commentary: When you become enlightened, in that moment of enlightenment you attain your aim. Understanding, on the other hand, is a gradual process. Thus perception may be sudden or gradual, fast or slow. Sutra: “Listen to my explanation. Is it the same as Shen Hsiu’s? The Dharma which I speak does not depart from the self-nature, for to depart from the self-nature in explaining the Dharma is to speak of marks and continually confuse the self-nature. You should know that the functions of the ten thousand dharmas all arise from the self-nature and that this is the true morality, concentration, and wisdom. Listen to my verse: Mind-ground without wrong: Self-nature morality. Mind-ground without delusion: Self-nature wisdom. Mind-ground without confusion: Self-nature concentration. Neither increasing nor decreasing: You are vajra. Body comes, body goes: The original samadhi. Commentary: “When I speak the Dharma,” said the Sixth Patriarch, “I never stray from the self-nature. When you stray from the selfnature you become attached to marks and confuse the selfnature. All dharmas are composed of the substance of the selfnature and respond with unlimited function. Now, listen to this: Mind-ground without wrong: Self-nature morality. “The mind is like a piece of ground. Whatever you plant in it grows there. If you plant a good cause, you reap a good result in the future; if you plant a bad cause, you reap a bad result. When the mind-ground contains no thoughts of greed, malice, envy, or selfishness, it is without wrong thoughts, and that is the morality of the self-nature.” Master Shen Hsiu said that morality is to abstain from evil; that is almost the same as the Sixth Patriarch’s instructions to clear the mind-ground of wrong thoughts. But Shen Hsiu gave morality another name, calling it the abstention from evil, while the Sixth Patriarch spoke of the morality of the mind-ground, the morality of the self-nature. Mind-ground without delusion: Self-nature wisdom. When your mind-ground is free of delusion, the conduct you offer can be extremely good, just as Shen Hsiu instructed. But Shen Hsiu merely passed out names. He did not speak of morality, concentration, and wisdom in terms of the self-nature and the mind-ground. Do not plant the causes of stupidity in the mind-ground: that is the self-nature’s wisdom. Mind-ground without confusion: Self-nature concentration. When it is without confusion, the mind is purified. Shen Hsiu’s instructions to purify the mind did not relate concentration to the self-nature, whereas the Sixth Patriarch always spoke Dharma from the mind-ground. His Dharma arose from the self-nature and did not come from outside. Shen Hsiu spoke about external dharmas and was attached to marks. In other words, Shen Hsiu spoke from outside the mind; the Sixth Patriarch spoke from within. Neither increasing nor decreasing: You are vajra. The brilliant light of the self-nature illuminates everything; it is miraculous, profound, and all-inclusive. The self-nature neither increases nor decreases; it is your very own indestructible vajra. Body comes, body goes: The original samadhi. You go away, you come back, and you’re in samadhi all the time: standing, sitting, walking, and lying down. Sutra: Hearing this verse, Chih Ch’eng regretted his former mistakes, and he expressed his gratitude by saying this verse: These five heaps are A body of illusion. And what is illusion, Ultimately? If you tend toward True suchness The Dharma is Not yet pure. Commentary: The five skandhas are not real. The body, too, is false–merely a combination of the four elements. Knowing this, you should not attach so much importance to it by looking for good food, good clothes, a nice place to live, or a good wife or husband. How do the four elements combine to form your body? The earth is the hard part of your body: the skin, nails, bones, and muscles. Tears, mucus, saliva and excrement are the water and your body heat is the fire. The circulatory and respiratory systems are the wind. After you die, the body decomposes and the earth returns to the earth, the water to the water, the fire to the fire, and the wind to the wind. But where do you go? You don’t know, do you? We are studying the Buddhadharma just to understand this question. The body, then, is nothing but a transformation of the five skandhas and the four elements. And what, ultimately, is this illusion? If you tend toward true suchness, the Dharma is not pure yet, for you have not arrived at the root-substance and you have not returned to purity. Why? Because you still have the thought, “I’d like to go back to true suchness.” If you have even one thought, you cannot penetrate the basic substance, because the basic substance functions independently and freely, without obstruction. There is no grasping or rejecting it, no thinking of this or that. Sutra: The Master approved, and he said further to Chih Ch’eng, “Your Master’s morality, concentration, and wisdom exhort those of lesser faculties and lesser wisdom, while my morality, concentration, and wisdom exhort those of great faculties and great wisdom. If you are enlightened to your self-nature, you do not set up in your mind the notion of Bodhi or of Nirvana or of the liberation of knowledge and vision. When not a single dharma is established in the mind, then the ten thousand dharmas can be established there. To understand this principle is to achieve the Buddha’s body which is also called Bodhi, Nirvana, and the liberation of knowledge and vision as well. Those who see their own nature can establish dharmas in their minds or not establish them as they choose. They come and go freely, without impediments or obstacles. They function correctly and speak appropriately, seeing all transformation bodies as integral with the self-nature. That is precisely the way they obtain independence, spiritual powers, and the samadhi of playfulness. This is what is called seeing the nature.” Commentary: “You’re right,” said the Master, “and your verse is not bad at all. You should know that my morality, concentration, and wisdom are not the same as Shen Hsiu’s. His teaching is for people of lesser wisdom.” Here the Master describes the people of great wisdom for whom his teaching is intended. “They have awakened to the selfnature,” he said, “and they don’t even entertain the notion of Bodhi, Nirvana, or the liberation of knowledge and vision.” None of these dharmas exist for them. Not a single thing remains. Not one dharma established, ten thousand dharmas are empty. Because such people do not set up the notion of a single dharma, they can set up the ten thousand dharmas. Although not a single dharma exists, the ten thousand dharmas are present all the same. If you understand this principle, you may become a Buddha on the spot. Then you may call it Bodhi, Nirvana, or the liberation of knowledge and vision. You may call it anything you like. But first you must understand it. If you don’t understand it, you can’t call it anything at all. People of genuine enlightenment who have understood the mind and seen the nature can establish dharmas or not establish them. They come and go without obstruction. You say, “I’m this way too. If I want to come to the Buddhist Lecture Hall, I come; if I want to go, I go.” You’re wrong. The Sixth Patriarch was speaking of freedom over life and death. With this kind of freedom, if you want to live, you live; if you want to die, you can die any place, any time, like the Third Patriarch Seng Ts’an, who died of his own will, hanging by one hand from a tree. That’s why I often say to you, “Everything’s O.K.” If you are master of this, you hold the power of life and death in your hands. Live or die, as you please. No one can stop you. “Freedom to come and go” is not like your coming and going from the Buddhist Lecture Hall. People who see the nature “function correctly and speak appropriately, seeing all transformation bodies as integral with the self-nature.” They don’t need to think, they just speak. But they always speak with principle. If someone asks you about the heavens and you reply, “On earth there are mountains and rivers,” or if they ask, “What’s a horse?” and you say, “Oxen have two horns,” you are just confusing the issue and going against common sense. People who see the nature “obtain independence” just like Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. The “spiritual powers” that they obtain are the six spiritual powers: 1) the heavenly eye; 2) the heavenly ear; 3) the knowledge of others’ thoughts; 4) the knowledge of former lives; 5) the knowledge of the extinction of outflows; 6) psychic power. One who has obtained the “samadhi of playfulness” sings, but not like other singers; he eats, but not like other people. For example, he may say, “Lunch time! Let’s eat!” and then run to the table and eat every morsel of food in sight. Then he’ll say, “The food is still in the kitchen.” When everyone looks in the kitchen the food is still there. He didn’t really eat it after all. That is a lot of fun. Sutra: Chih Ch’eng asked the Master further, “What is meant by ‘not establishing?’” The Master replied, “When your self-nature is free from error, obstruction, and confusion, when Prajna is present in every thought, contemplating and shedding illumination, and when you are constantly apart from the dharma marks and are free and independent, both horizontally and vertically, then what is there to be established? “In the self-nature, in self-enlightenment, in sudden enlightenment, and in sudden cultivation there are no degrees. Therefore, not a single dharma is established. All dharmas are still and extinct. How can there be stages?” Chih Ch’eng made obeisance and attended on the Master day and night without laziness. He was a native of T’ai Ho in Chi Chou. Commentary: When there is nothing in your self-nature which is obstructive or confused, what is there to be established? “Confusion” means “upside-down.” You should not think that if your hand points to the earth it is upside-down down and if you raise it above your head it is right-side up. There is actually no such thing as upside-down or right-side up. “Prajna is present in every thought, contemplating and shedding illumination.” Similarly, the Master said earlier, “You should know that the self-nature constantly generates wisdom.” Further, you should be separate from any attachment to dharma marks, and then you will be free to come and go. Vertically, if you want to jump, jump! Horizontally, if you want to move sideways, go ahead. Ascend into the heavens or plunge into the hells; visit the Western Paradise or the Eastern Crystal Azure World. You can go anywhere and always be in accord with Dharma. So what dharma is there to be established? That is why the Master says that not a single dharma is established. You should enlighten your self-nature by yourself. If you are enlightened immediately, you will cultivate immediately and there will be no question of sudden and gradual stages of progress. Therefore no dharmas are established: all dharmas are empty–marked with still extinction. How can you arrange them in stages according to number one, number two, and so on? Hearing the Master’s instruction, the former spy defected and was converted to the Master’s teaching. He changed his mind and reformed his conduct. That is called “going straight.” He did whatever the Patriarch told him to do, no matter how difficult, because he knew that the Sixth Patriarch had become a patriarch by doing bitter work, threshing rice at Huang Mei for over eight months. He thought, “I have an opportunity to serve a Patriarch and I should work diligently.” Bhikshu Chih Ch’e Sutra: Bhikshu Chih Ch’e, a native of Chiang Hsi, had the family name Chang and the personal name Hsing Ch’ang. As a youth he was an itinerant warrior. When the schools split into the Northern and Southern, although the two leaders had lost the notion of self and other, the disciples stirred up love and hate. The disciples of the Northern School secretly set up Shen Hsiu as the Sixth Patriarch. Fearing that the country would hear of the transmission of the robe, they hired Hsing Ch’ang to assassinate the Master. But the Master had the power of knowing the thoughts of others. He knew of this matter in advance and set ten ounces of gold on his chair. That night Hsing Ch’ang entered his room intending to kill him. The Master just stretched out his neck. Hsing Ch’ang swung the blade three times but could not harm him. Commentary: Neither Shen Hsiu nor the Sixth Patriarch had thoughts of “self” or “others.” But their disciples agitated, stirring up thoughts of love and hate in people. More specifically, Shen Hsiu’s disciples did the agitating, denouncing the Southern Patriarch as illiterate and incompetent. The Sixth Patriarch’s disciples really believed in him. “You can’t talk that way about our teacher!” they said. “He has obtained wisdom without the aid of a master.” It never occurred to the Sixth Patriarch’s disciples that they should kill Shen Hsiu, but Shen Hsiu’s disciples were jealous and wanted to kill the Sixth Patriarch. They knew that the robe and bowl were in the South. The rumors flew. “That Hui Neng would do anything: homicide, manslaughter. Why, in the old days he was a confidence man and now he’s pretending to be a Patriarch. How absurd.” Others said, “He used to be a poor firewood gatherer in the mountains. What talent could he have? The people in the south have made him their leader, but it’s only talk.” They did everything they could to ruin him. “At Huang Mei everyone knew that he was a barbarian. He doesn’t know anything at all.” Shen Hsiu had several thousand men behind him, even though he did not have the robe and bowl. They each wanted to be the Seventh Patriarch, and without a father how can there be a son? With Shen Hsiu as the Sixth Patriarch, the Seventh Patriarch would surely be one of them. But they didn’t dare make the news public because it was all too obvious that the position rightly belonged to Hui Neng. T’ang dynasty Buddhism was extremely complex. Hsing Ch’ang’s family name had been Chang, but after he left home the Master named him Chih Ch’e. As a boy, he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, always fighting for the underdog. His martial skills were outstanding. Light and limber, he could leap twenty feet in the air in a single bound. They called him “Flying Cat” Chang because he ran so fast and with such agility that he could break into your house without a sound, just like a cat. Not only could this cat walk silently, he could fly. But you won’t find this nickname in any of the history books; you would have to have been there. Having unsuccessfully tried to capture the Master by burning off the mountain behind Nan Hua Temple, Shen Hsiu’s men decided to hire an assassin to kill the master and steal the robe and bowl. The Sixth Patriarch could read minds, and so he was expecting his visitor. He put some gold on his chair and waited until midnight, when the sky was black and Hsing Ch’ang came creeping up the stairs, down the hall, and into his room. Was this a tense situation or not? What do you think the Master did? He just stretched out his neck, and although he didn’t say anything, he thought, “Go ahead and swing your sword. Come on, kill me!” This is called “sticking your neck out.” Hsing Ch’ang was oblivious to the Master. He was determined to carry out orders and had nothing on his mind but murder. “I don’t care if you’re a Bhikshu, an Arhat, or even a Patriarch, I’m going to kill you!” he said, swinging at the Master’s neck. He swung three times and nothing happened. Now, just what do you think this means? Sutra: The Master said, A straight sword is not bent. A bent sword is not straight. I merely owe you gold. I do not owe you life. Hsing Ch’ang fell to the ground in fright. After a while he came to and begged for mercy, repenting of his error and vowing to leave home. The Master gave him the gold and said, “Go! I fear that my followers will come to take revenge. Change your appearance and return another day and I will accept you.” Commentary: The Master said, “A straight sword is not bent,” that is, the straight sword of the proper Dharma cannot be harmed by deviant dharma. “The deviant cannot defeat the right; the right always overcomes the deviant. You may have a sword, but you can’t harm me with it. I merely owe you the gold which I borrowed in a past life,” the Master said, “I don’t owe you my life because I never killed you.” It was all too much for Hsing Ch’ang, and he fainted. When he came to, the Master talked with him for a long time, “Why did you want to kill me?” he asked. “It wasn’t my idea,” said Hsing Ch’ang. “They told me that you were a scoundrel, a thief, and a hunter. They said that you were nothing but a firewood gatherer who was pretending to be a Patriarch. Hearing this, I felt it was my duty to kill you, but now I know that I was wrong. Why? If you had no virtue, my sharp sword would have sliced your head right off. Having met you, I realized that the affairs of the world are of no great interest. Please let me leave home and bow to you as my teacher.” The Master said, “Here, take this gold and go quickly. My disciples are fond of me and they would kill you if they found out about this. Go somewhere else and leave home. When you return I will teach and transform you.” Sutra: Hsing Ch’ang received his orders and disappeared into the night. Later he left home under another Bhikshu, received the complete precepts and was vigorous in practice. One day, remembering the Master’s words, he made the long journey to have an audience. The Master said, “I have thought of you for a long time. What took you so long?” He replied, “The High Master once favored me by pardoning my crime. Although I have left home and although I practice austerities, I shall never be able to repay his kindness. May I try to repay you by transmitting the Dharma and taking living beings across? “Your disciple often studies the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, but he has not yet understood the principles of permanence and impermanence. I beg the High Master to be compassionate and explain them for me. The Master said, “Impermanence is just the Buddha nature and permanence is just the mind discriminating good and evil dharmas.” “High Master, your explanation contradicts the Sutra text!” Hsing Ch’ang replied. The Master said, “I transmit the Buddha’s mind-seal. How could I dare to contradict the Buddhas’ Sutras?” Hsing Ch’ang replied, “The Sutra says that the Buddha nature is permanent and the High Master has just said that it is impermanent; it says that good and evil dharmas, reaching even to the Bodhi Mind, are impermanent and the High Master has just said that they are permanent. This contradiction has merely intensified your student’s doubt and delusion.” The Master said, “Formerly, I heard Bhikshuni Wu Chin Tsang recite the Nirvana Sutra. When I commented on it, there was not one word or principle which did not accord with the Sutra text. My explanation to you now is not different.” Hsing Ch’ang replied, “Your student’s capacity for understanding is superficial. Will the High Master please explain further?” The Master said, “Don’t you understand? If the Buddha nature were permanent, what use would there be in speaking of good and evil dharmas? To the end of an eon not one person would produce the Bodhi Mind. Therefore I explain it as impermanent. That is exactly what the Buddha explained as the meaning of true permanence.” Commentary: The Buddha explained the Buddha nature as permanent to those attached to impermanence, and he explained it as impermanent to those attached to permanence. If you say that the Buddha nature is permanent, what good and evil dharmas remain for discussion? Living beings would have all become Buddhas long ago. Why should one bother to speak the Dharma to them in order to take them across? If the Buddha nature is permanent, everyone would be a Buddha and there would be no need to cultivate. “So,” the Master said, “you see that my explanation of the Buddha nature as impermanent is exactly what the Buddha meant when he spoke of permanence.” Sutra: “Furthermore, if all dharmas were impermanent, all things would have a self-nature subject to birth and death, and the true permanent nature would not pervade all places. Therefore, I explain it as permanent. That is exactly what the Buddha explained as the meaning of true impermanence.” Commentary: Basically, the Buddha nature is neither permanent nor impermanent. That is the ultimate principle of the middle way. Then why did the Sixth Patriarch say that it was impermanent? Why did he say that the mind which discriminates good and evil was permanent? He did it to cure Hsing Ch’ang of his attachments. Once you are rid of attachment, you do not need the Buddhadharma. The Sixth Patriarch took advantage of an opportunity to heal Hsing Ch’ang, but he wouldn’t necessarily have explained it the same way to every one. Sutra: “It was for the sake of common people and those who belong to other religions who cling to deviant views of permanence, and for all those who follow the two-vehicle way, mistaking permanence for impermanence formulating the eight perverted views, that the Buddha in the ultimate Nirvana teaching destroyed their prejudiced views. He explained true permanence, true bliss, true selfhood, and true purity.” Commentary: Common people and non-Buddhists cling to false permanence; Shravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas mistake permanence for impermanence. These two groups each have four perverted views, making eight in all. Common people and non-Buddhists turn the four marks of conditioned existence upside-down and say: 1. The suffering of conditioned existence is bliss; 2. Its impermanence is permanent; 3. Its impurity is pure; and 4. Its “no-self” is “self.” The Shravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas turn the four virtues of Nirvana upside-down and say: 5. The bliss of Nirvana is suffering; 6. Its permanence is impermanent; 7. Its purity is impure; and 8. Its “self” is “no-self.” Sutra: “You now contradict this meaning by relying on the words, taking annihilation to be impermanence and fixing on a lifeless permanence. In this way you misinterpret the last, subtle, complete and wonderful words of the Buddha. Even if you read it a thousand times, what benefit could you derive from it?” Hsing Ch’ang suddenly achieved the great enlightenment and spoke this verse: To those who hold impermanence in mind, The Buddha speaks of the permanent nature; Not knowing expedients is like Picking up pebbles from a spring pond. But now without an effort The Buddha nature manifests; The Master did not transmit it, And I did not obtain a thing. The Master said, “Now you understand! You should be called ‘Chih Ch’e’ (breadth of understanding).” Chih Ch’e thanked the Master, bowed, and withdrew. Commentary: Unless you understand that the Buddha’s dharmas are expedient devices, you might as well collect rocks from the bottom of a pool: you’re useless. Hearing the Master’s instruction, Hsing Ch’ang returned to the source and went back home. Suddenly enlightened, he understood his mind and saw his nature. But his enlightenment was not given to him by the Sixth Patriarch, and his attainment was actually no attainment. He simply opened up to his own inherent wisdom. The Master gave him certification saying, “Now that you are truly enlightened, I’ll give you the name ‘Chih Ch’e.’” Bhikshu Shen Hui Sutra: A young boy thirteen years old named Shen Hui, who was from a Kao family in Hsiang Yang, came from Yü Ch’üan to pay homage. The Master said, “The Knowing One’s journey must have been difficult. Did you bring the original with you? If you have the original, you should know the owner. Try to explain it to me.” Shen Hui said, “I take non-dwelling as the original and seeing as the owner.” The Master said, “This Shramanera imitates the talk of others.” Shen Hui then asked, “When you sit in Ch’an, High Master, do you see or not?” The Master hit him three times with his staff and said, “When I hit you, does it hurt or not?” He replied, “It both hurts and does not hurt.” The Master said, “I both see and do not see.” Shen Hui asked, “How can you both see and not see?” The Master said, “What I see is the transgression and error of my own mind. I do not see the right, wrong, good, or bad of other people. This is my seeing and not seeing. How can you say it both hurts and does not hurt? If it does not hurt you are like a piece of wood or a stone, but if it does hurt you are just like a common person and will give rise to hatred. Your ‘seeing and not seeing’ are two extremes and your ‘hurting and not hurting’ are production and extinction. You have not even seen your own nature and yet you dare to ridicule others.” Commentary: Shen Hui was an exceptional child. Precocious and brilliant, he forgot his body for the sake of the Dharma. He could tell at a glance that Shen Hsiu didn’t have the genuine Buddhadharma; he set out for the Sixth Patriarch’s place, eighteen hundred miles distant. His shoes fell apart and the rocks and slivers of glass on the road cut into his feet, but he continued to walk, tearing up his robe to bandage his bleeding feet and acting as if there were no pain at all. When the Great Master saw him he knew that he had undergone much suffering. “Good Knowing Advisor,” he said, “your journey must have been difficult. Did you bring the original with you? Have you attained your original face or not? Do you recognize your original face? If you have the original, you should know the owner. If you have the original, the Buddha-nature, and if you have understood your mind, seen your nature, you should know the owner. The owner is the Buddha-nature. Tell me about it!” But this unruly child had a mind of his own. “I take ‘not dwelling anywhere’ as my original face,” he said, “and my seeing nature as the host.” The Sixth Patriarch said, “You’re just imitating the talk of other people. You pretend to know what you do not know, to understand what you do not understand, and to see what you do not see. This is nothing but verbal zen. It is not an expression of the self-nature. Shen Hui had a lot of gall. “When the High Master sits in meditation,” he asked, “does he see or not?” This child was wild and difficult to teach. The Patriarch, not being an ordinary person, gave no ordinary answer. He hit Shen Hui with his staff and shouted, “Does that hurt?” It is not known whether the child was afraid, or whether he cried or not. Shen Hui said, “It both hurts and does not hurt.” The Master said, “I both see and do not see.” “How can this be?” said Shen Hui. “I see my own mistakes,” said the Master. “I keep an eye on my evil false thinking and immediately put a stop to it. I do not see the faults of others: others’ evils, others’ obsessions, others’ conditions, others’ transgressions.” Students of the Buddhadharma should take note of this. See your own errors, not those of other people. Don’t be like a watchdog watching someone else’s door. The dog doesn’t have anything of its own and so it watches over other people’s things. Don’t be critical and don’t gossip: see and do not see. “I see and do not see,” said the Master, “but how can you both hurt and not hurt? If you don’t hurt, you are just like a rock. If you do hurt, then you’ll catch fire and get angry and afflicted, just like an unenlightened common person. Seeing and not seeing are two extremes and hurting and not hurting are dharmas of production and extinction. You haven’t even seen your own nature and yet you have the nerve to come here and talk down to me?” Sutra: Shen Hui bowed, apologized, and thanked the Master. The Master continued, “If your mind is confused and you do not see, then ask a Good Knowing Advisor to help you find the Way. If your mind is enlightened, then see your own nature and cultivate according to the Dharma. You yourself are confused and do not see your own mind, and yet you come to ask me whether or not I see. If I see, I know it for myself, but is that of any help to you in your confusion? In the same way your seeing is of no use to me. Why don’t you know and see it for yourself, instead of asking me whether or not I see?” Shen Hui bowed again over one hundred times, seeking forgiveness for his error. He served the Master with diligence, never leaving his side. Commentary: The Master said, “Shen Hui, if your mind is unclear and you cannot see the nature, then ask a Good Knowing Advisor to teach you how to work at cultivation. If your mind is enlightened and you have understood the mind and seen the nature, then you should cultivate according to Dharma. You haven’t even seen your original mind, and yet you come to ask me whether or not I have seen it. If I’ve seen it, that’s my own business, of no use to you in your deluded condition. If you’ve seen the nature and obtained the original face, that’s of no use to me. Why not turn the light around and reverse the illumination to find out whether you’ve seen your own mind or not? Isn’t that better than asking me? What difference does it make whether I’ve seen it or not?” After that, Shen Hui was really sorry. Why had he been so incorrigible? Did he really have no conscience? His questioning of the Patriarch was like trying to sell dime novels to Confucius or going to the home of Lu Pan, China’s first engineer and foremost carpenter, to do remodeling. He begged for forgiveness, saying, “I’m just a kid. I don’t know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is. Please don’t hold it against me.” From then on, Shen Hui waited on the Master, following along everywhere the Master went to give lectures on the Sutras and speak about the Dharma. Sutra: One day the Master addressed the assembly as follows: “I have a thing. It has no head or tail, no name or label, no back or front. Do you all know what it is?” Shen Hui stepped forward and said, “It is the root source of all Buddhas, Shen Hui’s Buddha nature!” The Master said, “I just told you that it had no name or label, and you immediately call it the root-source of all Buddhas. Go and build a thatched hut over your head! You’re nothing but a follower who pursues knowledge and interpretation.” After the Master’s extinction, Shen Hui went to Ching Lo where he propagated the Ts’ao Hsi Sudden Teaching. He wrote the Hsien Tsung Chi which circulated widely throughout the land. He is known as Dhyana Master Ho Che. Commentary: Everyone shut their mouths; no one said a word. Some of them didn’t speak because they knew and some didn’t speak because they did not know. Seeing that no one was going to answer, Shen Hui jumped out from the assembly and said, “I know what it is! It’s the origin of all Buddhas: my Buddha nature!” “In the ranks of the Ch’an School,” said the Master, “you’re nothing but a scholar. You have no genuine understanding.” In a way the Master’s scolding was a compliment. It isn’t easy to be a Ch’an scholar of the school of those who know and interpret. When the Sixth Patriarch died, Shen Hui went to the capital at Loyang to spread the Sudden Teaching of the Ch’an School. He later wrote the Hsien Tsung Chi, a treatise on the Northern and Southern Schools, which exposed Shen Hsiu as a false pretender and proclaimed the Southern Patriarch Hui Neng as the real Sixth Patriarch, the recipient of the Buddha’s mind-seal. Had Shen Hui not written this book, Shen Hsiu would have stolen the title of the Sixth Patriarch. Shen Hui came to be known as Ho Che, which is the name of the place where he went to live. Difficult Questions Sutra: The Master saw many disciples of other schools, all with evil intentions, gathered beneath his seat to ask him difficult questions. Pitying them, he said, “Students of the Way, all thoughts of good or evil should be completely cast away. What cannot be named by any name is called the self-nature. This non-dual nature is the real nature, and it is within the real nature that all teaching doors are established. At these words you should see it for yourselves.” Hearing this, they all made obeisance and asked him to be their master. Commentary: Not only did Shen Hsiu’s party want to murder the Great Master, but those of other sects, such as the Consciousness Only School, came to ask the Master difficult questions. “Which came first,” they would ask, “the Buddha or the Dharma? Where does the Buddhadharma begin?” They had many questions. The Sixth Patriarch said, “If you can speak the Dharma, then it’s first the Buddha, then the Dharma. If you can listen to the Dharma, then it’s first the Dharma and then the Buddha. The Buddhadharma comes from the minds of living beings.” On this occasion he saw that the crowd was full of spies and would-be assassins. “Cultivators should not hold thoughts of good or evil,” he said, “What cannot be named by any name is called the self-nature. The self-nature is non-dual; it is also called the real nature, the real mark. Within it all schools and sects are set up. It’s not enough just to talk about it, however. You must understand and immediately give proof to the state of no-mark.” Hearing these words, the assembly realized that all their thoughts had been bound up in good and evil and they were greatly ashamed. They bowed down before him and said, “From now on we’ll be different. Please, Great Master, be our teacher.” Chapter 9: PROCLAMATIONS Sutra: On the fifteenth day of the first month, during the first year of the Shen Lung reign (A.D. 705) Empress Tse T’ien and Emperor Chung Tsung issued the following proclamation: “We have invited Masters Hui An and Shen Hsiu to the palace to receive offerings so that we may investigate the One Vehicle in the leisure time remaining after our myriad duties. The two Masters have declined, saying that in the South there is Dhyana Master Hui Neng, who was secretly transmitted the robe and Dharma of the Great Master Hung Jen who now transmits the Buddhas’ mind-seal. “We now send Chamberlain Hsieh Chien with this invitation, hoping that the Master will remember us with compassion and come to the capital.” The Master sent back a petition pleading illness saying that he wished to spend his remaining years at the foot of the mountain. Commentary: The Ninth Chapter is entitled “Proclamations.” Wu Tse T’ien was an empress during the T’ang dynasty. She believed in the Buddha, but she wasn’t very orthodox. In fact, she would do anything. But she believed in Buddhism and so she invited all the high monks to the palace to receive offerings. Her son, Emperor Chung Tsung, reigned only a short time before the empress had him exiled to Lu Ling to be king there, so that she could take the throne. A proclamation was a letter from the emperor. When ordinary people received a proclamation, they bowed to it as a gesture of respect to the emperor, but people who have left home don’t do this, of course. Wishing to study the One Buddha Vehicle, the Sudden Teaching Dharma door, the empress invited Masters Hui An and Shen Hsiu to come to the palace to receive offerings. But they refused. “We do not have enough virtue,” they said, “You should invite Hui Neng. He has received the Fifth Patriarch’s robe and bowl and is a true transmitter of the mind seal.” The empress took the two masters’ advice and invited the Sixth Patriarch to the capital, Ch’ang An. The invitation was brought by a chamberlain, that is, by an official of the inner court. The chamberlain, Hsieh Chien, was a eunuch. Eunuchs began serving Chinese emperors during the Han dynasty. The Sixth Patriarch wrote back “I am very ill.” Actually, he wasn’t ill at all; this was merely an expedient device, because the Sixth Patriarch did not wish to visit a ruler. More specifically, he did not wish to visit an empress. It would have been against the rules. Wu Tse T’ien knew nothing about moral precepts and she didn’t follow any rules. But the Sixth Patriarch couldn’t say, “You are an empress and I am a Patriarch and I don’t have to visit you,” so he said, “I am old and sick.” Sutra: Hsieh Chien said, “The Virtuous Dhyana Masters at the capital all say that to master the Way one must sit in Dhyana meditation and practice concentration, for without Dhyana concentration, liberation is impossible. I do not know how the Master explains this dharma. The Master said, “The Way is awakened to from the mind. How could it be found in sitting? The Diamond Sutra states that to say that Tathagata either sits or lies down is to walk a deviant path. Why? The clear pure Dhyana of the Tathagata comes from nowhere and goes nowhere and is neither produced nor extinguished. The Tathagata’s clear pure ‘sitting’ is the state of all dharmas being empty and still. Ultimately there is no certification; even less is there any ‘sitting.’” Commentary: For an illiterate, the Master was quite intelligent. He answered, “You awaken to the Way from within your mind. You can’t just sit there. You have to understand the principles of the Buddhadharma and be enlightened to them. The enlightenment is ‘understanding’ and the sitting is ‘practice.’ Practicing without understanding is stupid; understanding without practice is nothing but intellectual zen.” You must understand and practice. Don’t just sit, sit, sit for several decades without even understanding the principle of enlightening your mind. The Master added, “Since ultimately there is nothing to be attained or certified to, why be attached to sitting in meditation?” Sutra: Hsieh Chien said, “When your disciple returns to the capital, their majesties will surely question him. Will the High Master please be compassionate and instruct me on the essentials of the mind so that I can transmit them to the two palaces and to students of the Way at the capital? It will be like one lamp setting a hundred thousand lamps burning, making all the darkness endlessly light.” The Master said, “The Way is without light or darkness. Light and darkness belong to the principle of alternation. ‘Endless light’ has an end, too, because such terms are relative. Therefore the Vimalakirti Sutra says, ‘The Dharma is incomparable because it is not relative.’” Hsieh Chien said, “Light represents wisdom and darkness represents affliction. If cultivators of the Way do not use wisdom to expose and destroy affliction, how can they escape from the birth and death that have no beginning?” The Master said, “Affliction is Bodhi; they are not two and not different. One who uses wisdom to expose and destroy affliction has the views and understanding of the two vehicles and the potential of the sheep and deer carts. Those of superior wisdom and great roots are completely different.” Hsieh Chien said, “What are the views and understanding of the Great Vehicle?” The Master said, “The common person sees light and darkness as two, but the wise person comprehends that their nature is non-dual. The non-dual nature is the real nature. The real nature does not decrease in common people nor increase in worthy sages. In afflictions it is not confused and in Dhyana concentration it is not still. It is neither cut off nor permanent. It does not come or go. It is not inside, outside, or in the middle. It is not produced or destroyed. The nature and mark is ‘thus, thus.’ It permanently dwells and does not change. It is called the ‘Way.’” Commentary: Hsieh Chien wished for instruction on the essentials of the principle of using the mind to seal the mind. He said that the Patriarch was like a lamp, setting a hundred thousand lamps burning in the capital: bright, bright limitless light. The Master said, “You shouldn’t see light and darkness as different or affliction and Bodhi as different. Affliction and the enlightenment nature are one. Shravakas and Pratyekabuddhas destroy affliction by means of wisdom, but Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are completely different from them. Ordinary people see understanding and ignorance as two, but wise people know that in essence they are one, not two. That non-dual nature is the real nature. In states of confusion, the real nature is not confused; in Dhyana concentration, it is not still. It is both still and moving; it both moves and is still. The nature and mark are both ‘thus’. We call it the ‘Way.’” Sutra: Hsieh Chien said, “How does your explanation of the self-nature as neither produced nor destroyed differ from that of other religions?” The Master answered, “As non-production and nonextinction are explained by other religions, extinction ends production and production reveals extinction. Their extinction is not extinction and what they call production is not production. My explanation of non-production and non-extinction is this: originally there was no production and now there is no extinction. For this reason my explanation differs from that of other religions. “If you wish to know the essentials of the mind, simply do not think of good or evil. You will then enter naturally the clear, pure substance of the mind, which is deep and permanently still, and whose wonderful abilities are as numerous as the sand grains in the Ganges River.” Commentary: Other religions see production and extinction as two. They say that extinction puts an end to production and that production reveals extinction. Their explanation is not the ultimate one. As I explain the terms, originally there was no production, and so now there is no extinction. The Master continued, “If you would like to know about the wonderful mind-transmission Dharma, the essential points of the mind-ground Dharma door, I will tell you: simply do not think of good or evil. Then you will spontaneously understand the true principle and enter into the pure substance of the mind.” The mind-substance is deep and constantly pure and still. Although it is always still, within its true emptiness there is wonderful existence, and its wonderful abilities are innumerable. Sutra: Hsieh Chien received this instruction and was suddenly greatly enlightened. He bowed, took leave, and returned to the palace to report the Master’s speech. That year on the third of the ninth month a proclamation was issued in praise of the Master. It read: “The Master has declined our invitation because of old age and illness. He cultivates the Way for us and is a field of blessings for the country. The Master is like Vimalakirti who pleaded illness in Vaishali. He spreads the great fruit widely, transmitting the Buddha-mind and discoursing on the non-dual Dharma. “Hsieh Chien has conveyed the Master’s instruction, the knowledge and vision of the Tathagata. It must be due to accumulated good acts, abundant blessings, and good roots planted in former lives that we now have met with the Master when he appears in the world and have suddenly been enlightened to the Supreme Vehicle. We are extremely grateful for his kindness which we receive with bowed heads, and now offer in return a Mo Na robe and crystal bowl as gifts. We order the Magistrate of Shao Chou to rebuild the temple buildings and convert the Master’s former dwelling place into a temple to be called ‘Kuo En,’ (Country’s Kindness).” Commentary: Hsieh Chien returned to the capital and submitted a written report to the empress which set forth the principles the Master had discussed with him. The palace then issued a statement in praise of the Master, saying he was the highest Master in the nation and one of unexcelled cultivation. They said that the Sixth Patriarch was like the layman Vimalakirti, who was sick in Vaishali. “The Master propagates the ‘great fruit,’ the Mahayana Buddhadharma, and transmits the ‘Buddha-mind,’ the mind-seal of all Buddhas. At Nan Hua Temple he expounds the non-dual Dharma door, saying that production and extinction are one and the nature and mark are not two. His knowledge and vision are that of the Buddha. We must have done a lot of good things in past lives in order to meet the Master now and suddenly awaken to the wonderful principle of the Supreme Vehicle. We bow to his teaching every day and hold it respectfully above our heads.” They offered the Master an expensive robe made of Korean cloth which had been sent as tribute to the empress. It was a patchwork robe, with a Buddha image embroidered on each patch. Some say that the empress embroidered them herself, but there is no way to know with certainty.