A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace Read online

  Do not foolishly try to remove conceptions. Try instead to thoroughly realize that originally no such conception exists.

  3. Put Your Mind to Rest

  Pei Xiu asked, “For the saints, no-mind is the buddha. For worldlings, wouldn’t no-mind mean that they end up being submerged in emptiness and quiescence?”

  問 聖人 無心即是佛 凡夫 無心莫沈空寂否.

  The minds of saints and worldlings are not different because both are originally no-mind. Sentient beings who do not know this fact tend to discriminate between saints and worldlings. Therefore masters with bright eyes develop expedients to help break down sentient beings’ delusions and provide an opportunity for those who have aroused faith to practice Buddhism.

  The master replied, “In the dharma, there are no saints or worldlings and no submersion in quiescence, either. The dharma may originally be nonexistent, but do not then generate a view that it is nonexistent. The dharma may originally not be nonexistent, but do not then generate a view that it is existent.

  師云 法無凡聖亦無沈寂 法本不有 莫作無見 法本不無 莫作有見.

  Since those who have had a breakthrough in their training know that there are originally no dharmas to be established, they never create such a view. They employ such views without actually employing anything. They know that, in the mind, there is no distinction between saints and worldlings. Although it may seem that the minds of saints and worldlings exist separately, what is really happening is that their different karma makes them appear to be different.

  In the mind, how would there be either saints or worldlings?

  “Whether [the dharma] is existent or nonexistent is entirely a discriminative view that is like a phantasm.84

  有之與無 盡是情見 猶如幻翳.

  Since all discriminations in the phenomenal realm are created by the sense consciousnesses, be fooled by phantasms no longer.

  Opening the true eye of the Way, you will transcend all discriminations and dualistic views involving the mundane world and embrace these relative values within the nondual middle way. Therefore enlightened people have overcome all dualistic tensions and live freely in their everyday mind.

  Practice diligently with a distinguished master, never neglecting self-examination. Such is the good fortune that comes to practitioners.

  “This is why it is said, ‘Seeing and hearing are like phantasms.’85 Sensing and perceiving are indeed what it means to be a sentient being. In the gate of the patriarchs and teachers, we only discuss resting the [mind’s] operations and remaining oblivious to views.

  所以云 見聞如幻翳 知覺乃眾生 祖師門中 只論息機忘見.

  Although there is originally no distinction between buddhas and sentient beings, people discriminate between the two, creating false impressions because of their ignorance. When sentient beings realize that they themselves are buddhas, all discriminations will disappear.

  Although you generate various thoughts all day long, nothing is generated. If you perfectly realize this fact, discrimination will cease.

  “Therefore, ‘If you remain oblivious to mental impulses, the Buddha Way will thrive; but if you discriminate, Māra’s minions will swarm.’ ”86

  所以 忘機則佛道隆 分別則魔軍熾.

  Since there is no mind to rest, there is no need even to say, “Remain oblivious to mental impulses.” But Master Huangbo said such words out of his concern for his disciples.

  4. No Mind and No Dharma

  Pei Xiu asked, “Since the mind is originally a buddha, should I cultivate the six perfections and the myriad bodhisattva practices or not?”

  問 心既本來是佛 還修六度萬行否.

  Grand Councilor Pei Xiu here is asking, “If I have already seen the mind, is it still necessary for me to cultivate the six perfections and the myriad bodhisattva practices?” Even though though he knew that he could not solve the issues of birth, aging, sickness, and death through conceptual understanding, he asked this question because of his habituations.

  The master replied, “Awakening resides in the mind; it has nothing to do with the six perfections and the myriad bodhisattva practices. The six perfections and the myriad practices all involve the gate of propagation; they are ancillary matters associated with assisting others and saving living creatures.

  師云 悟在於心 非關六度萬行 六度萬行 盡是化門 接物度生邊事.

  Strictly speaking, the six perfections and the myriad practices of the bodhisattva path are just expedients designed to help people realize the mind. Though you may cultivate the six perfections and the myriad bodhisattva practices for eons on end, it still means you are creating karma.

  Awakening resides only in the mind. All practices that do not involve awakening are insignificant and trivial in comparison. However, ignorant people who hear these words do not understand them and cannot even enter the path leading to the Way. Therefore expedients are established to help these people cross over to the other shore.

  If people have an awakening, they should be able to let go of their knowledge. Even though Pei Xiu attained sudden awakening, he could not let go of the knowledge that he had previously acquired.

  Such conceptual knowledge always ends up becoming a hindrance. People gain some knowledge, and then they become curious and want to gain some more. Once people learn a lot, they want to use their knowledge. Therefore knowledge that people have not realized through their own practice becomes a poison and an impediment to their Buddhist training.

  If people attain a great awakening, all intellectual hindrances vanish. Pei Xiu asked these questions because he was not yet mature in his practice. Master Huangbo removed the veils of obscurity for him, leading him directly to the point.

  “Even though [you may attain] bodhi, suchness, the characteristic of reality, liberation, or the dharma body and directly reach the sanctified ranks of the ten stages or the four fruitions, all these involve the [expedient] gate of salvation. They have nothing to do with the buddha mind.

  設使菩提 真如實際解脫法身 直至十地四果聖位 盡是度門 非關佛心.

  All gradual stages are far removed from the Way. Turn one thought around and realize completely the fact that a buddha’s nature and your nature are not different. Those who are not mature enough in their training keep asking these kinds of questions. If you find this is how you are as well, try to develop the power that comes from having firmly established the unwavering mind, so you are no longer dragged around by such foolish thoughts.

  Truly, if you just let go of those things rather than trying to remove them, they will all vanish, just as clouds naturally vanish, revealing the empty sky.

  Bodhidharma speaks of the buddha mind in his Two Accesses and Four Practices Treatise: “That the mind is free from discriminative characteristics is called true suchness; that the mind cannot be altered is called dharma-nature; that the mind is attached to nothing is called liberation; that the mind-nature is free from impediments is called bodhi; that the mind-nature is tranquil and extinct is called nirvāṇa.”87

  “The mind is indeed the buddha. Therefore, among all the gates leading to salvation, the buddha mind is foremost.

  心即是佛 所以一切諸度門中 佛心第一.

  Pei Xiu awakened the moment he met Master Huangbo, but because his initial awakening was not yet complete, he often asked this kind of question. Master Huangbo, therefore, spoke directly of the fundamental matter so that he would be able to see reality. The master pointed out that Pei Xiu was ignorant and confused.

  This dialogue form is, in fact, similar to that which we see in the Diamond Sūtra between the Buddha and Subhūti. Some say that Subhūti had already realized everything but asked such questions as if he did not already know the answers. Others argue that Subhūti asked questions because had yet to attain perfect enlightenment. If the latter is the case, Subhūti is like Pei Xiu.

  In the Diamond Sūtra, although Subhūti opens his wis
dom eye, he still has discriminative thoughts and thus generates defilements. He then asks how to open the dharma eye that is like that of a bodhisattva who transcends all thoughts and conceptions. The Buddha tells him how to open the dharma eye, which is beyond even the wisdom eye.88

  “Only if there are no states of mind involving birth and death, defilements, and so forth is there then no need for such dharmas as bodhi.

  但無生死煩惱等心 即不用菩提等法.

  There is nothing that can be named “mind.” It is not that the mind does not exist; rather, it reveals itself as causes and conditions are produced. Whether good or evil, there is no exception to this rule.

  There is neither birth and death nor defilements; they are all shadows created through corresponding causes and conditions. Not knowing this fact, people try to remove all these shadows. If they suddenly turn one thought around and realize that all shadows are originally empty, their minds will be at rest. If this happens, not only birth and death and defilements but also nirvāṇa and bodhi will be at rest. Whether it is this or that is all relative. Therefore, if one is extinguished, the other will naturally be extinguished as well.

  “Therefore, it is said,

  The Buddha taught all dharmas

  to eliminate all states of mind.

  Since I retain no states of mind,

  what need is there for all dharmas?89

  所以道 佛說一切法 度我一切心 我無一切心 何用一切法.

  The Sixth Patriarch Huineng made the above statement. It is like saying, “Since I am not sick, I need no medication.” The Seon teachings stand firmly at this level of confidence. Inheriting this spirit, the master Linji declared, “Wherever you go, you are master; wherever you stand, all is authentic.”90

  Seon points out the shortcut to becoming a truly free person.

  “From the Buddha to the patriarchs, they speak only of the one mind and the one-vehicle.

  從佛至祖 並不論別事 唯論一心 亦云一乘.

  The buddhas and patriarchs revealed only the original state of reality. The “Skillful Means” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra calls the “one vehicle” the “one Buddha Vehicle.”91 From the standpoint that all sentient beings are able to attain buddhahood, “one vehicle” means the following: “The teaching that saves people is not two. It alone is ultimately true.”

  “Therefore,

  Though you look scrupulously in all ten directions,

  there is no other vehicle. . . .

  There are no branches or leaves left in this congregation;

  there are only well-ripened fruits.92

  所以 十方諦求 更無餘乘 此眾無枝葉 唯有諸貞實.

  The Lotus Sūtra tells the story that, after those of lesser spiritual capacity had all departed from the assembly, the Buddha then explained the one Buddha Vehicle only to his disciples who had opened their eyes. You must read the scripture with the dharma eye to understand its real meaning; do not simply say from the standpoint of worldlings that “the Lotus Sūtra is the greatest of all scriptures!” You have to understand why it is the greatest.

  However perfectly you may understand the principle conceptually, it is just like Linji’s three statements (sanju/samgu 三句). Those who realize the third statement cannot save even themselves. If people realize the second statement, they can become masters of humans and heavenly beings. If people realize the first statement, they will have the power to surpass the buddhas and patriarchs.93 Only when you have this kind of power can you understand the true meaning of the one Buddha Vehicle.

  “Consequently, this meaning is hard to believe. Bodhidharma came to this land and arrived at the two kingdoms of Liang and Wei. Only one person, the great master [Hui] Ke, confidentially believed in his own mind, and through [Bodhidharma’s] words, he then understood that the mind is the buddha.

  所以此意難信 達摩來此土 至梁魏二國 秖有可大師一人 密信自心 言下便會 即心是佛.

  There is inevitably a limit in training through learning and understanding. Only when you have the majestic power that enables you to have faith in the real characteristic of things can you believe it, whether you say you believe or you don’t.

  The master Bodhidharma came to China from South India and became the first patriarch of the Seon school. When Huike 慧可 (487–593) questioned him, Bodhidharma opened Huike’s mind-eye by teaching him how to pacify his mind (anxin/ansim 安心). Bodhidharma said to Huike, “You have acquired my marrow.” Thus Huike became the Second Patriarch of the Seon school.94

  “That both body and mind do not exist — that is called the great Way. Since the great Way is originally equanimous, you will develop deep faith that all living creatures have the same identical true nature.

  身心俱無 是名大道 大道本來平等 所以深信含生 同一真性

  The Way has neither characteristics nor name; the designation “Way” is forced on it. Original equanimousness means absolute, not relative, equanimousness. It refers to something that remains the same throughout past, present, and future.

  All sentient beings result from that true nature. There are no creations that are separate from that nature. Mirages change in various ways. However, the place of the true form — that is, the nature — cannot be two. You should generate faith in this nondual nature. Faith indicates the unwavering state of mind, in which there is the full realization of the nature.

  Bodhidharma says in the Two Accesses and Four Practices Treatise, “The access via principle means deeply believing that all beings, whether worldlings or saints, have the same true nature, and it is merely because of being mistakenly obscured by adventitious defilements that this true nature is not able to be revealed.”95

  “The mind is not different from the nature; the nature is indeed the mind. One whose mind is not different from the nature — we call that person a patriarch.

  心性不異 即性即心 心不異性 名之為祖.

  The phrase, “The nature is indeed the mind,” is an abbreviation of the longer phrase that offers the Seon guideline for awakening: “Directly pointing to the human mind/ so that one may see the nature and attain buddhahood.” The basic stance of the Seon school is to prompt people to see the nature by pointing directly to the mind. A person whose mind accords with the nature becomes a patriarch.

  Such a patriarch is a “living patriarch” (huozu/hwalcho 活祖). He or she is a noble and free person, who at this very spot lives with vivacity. Linji says, “That your states of mind are not different — we call that ‘the living patriarch.’ ”96

  “Therefore, it is said,

  The moment you recognize the nature of the mind,

  you can only say it is inconceivable.”97

  所以云 認得心性時 可說不思議.

  This comes from the transmission verse of Haklena, the twenty-third patriarch of India. The entire gāthā is as follows:

  The moment you recognize the nature of the mind,

  you can only say it is inconceivable.

  Since you thoroughly understand that there is nothing to be attained,

  the moment there is attainment, you cannot say that you know.98

  Haklena’s master, the twenty-second Indian patriarch Manorhita, also has a well-known transmission verse:

  Although the mind is made manifest through the myriad sense realms,

  it truly leaves no trace wherever it appears.

  If you go with the flow and recognize the nature,

  you will have neither joys nor worries.99

  5. Nothing to Learn

  Pei Xiu asked, “Does the Buddha save sentient beings or does he not?”

  The master replied, “ ‘There are in reality no sentient beings whom the Buddha saves.’100

  問 佛度眾生否 師云 實無眾生如來度者.

  Śākyamuni Buddha, the transformation body, appeared in order to save people with whom he shared affinities. However, from an ultimate perspective, where all appearances are t
ranscended, he saves people without actually saving anyone. At the level where existence and nonexistence are utterly transcended, even the word “salvation” is misleading.

  “ ‘If even self is unascertainable, how could nonself ever be ascertained?’101 Neither the Buddha nor sentient beings can be ascertained.”

  我尚不可得 非我何可得 佛與眾生 皆不可得.

  These words are quoted from the “Dharma Gate of Nonduality” chapter of Vimalakīrti’s Instructions. And just as the Heart Sūtra also says, “because there is nothing to be attained,” so too all things ultimately are unascertainable. This matter is incomprehensible, whether things have form or are formless.

  The Buddha opened a way for those having difficulty realizing this fact, so they could see this matter with the eye of wisdom. He bestowed his compassion on sentient beings who were living in ignorance by accepting false appearances as real; he kindled the light in their minds by illuminating them with the brightness of his wisdom.

  [Pei Xiu asked,] “It is said, ‘[The Buddha] manifested the thirty-two major marks and saved sentient beings.’102 How dare you say that this did not happen?”

  云 現有三十二相及度眾生 何得言無.

  The Buddha exercised compassion on behalf of sentient beings, and all the things he preached were expedients that derived from his concern for ignorant sentient beings.

  Pei Xiu’s question here really means, “Since the Buddha possesses the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks of a sage, shouldn’t sentient beings also possess these marks if they are in fact buddhas? And shouldn’t they try to become buddhas so they too can save other sentient beings? How could you, Master, say that all these things are false? I don’t understand what you mean.”

  The master replied, “ ‘Whatever characteristics there may be, all of those are spurious. But if you see that all characteristics are free from characteristics, you will see the Tathāgata.’103