A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace Read online

  When you are free from all characteristics, delusory thoughts no longer arise. Once you realize that the myriad dharmas are mere manifestations of the one mind, clearly there will be no hindrances at any time.

  “This does not mean there is no longer any rebirth, just that you will be reborn in accord with your intention. This is what the sūtras mean when they say, ‘Bodhisattvas have a mind-made body.’161

  不是一向不生 秖是隨意而生 經云 菩薩有意生身 是也.

  A mind-made body (manomayakāya) is not the body that you receive from your parents; it is the fruition of your intentional thought. Bodhisattvas have no fixed form; they stay separate from form. As they demonstrate the mind of compassion, they take a form appropriate to the situation. If you reach the bodhisattvas’ level, you take rebirth in accord with your mental intention. Since bodhisattvas who cultivate the six perfections and myriad of practices possess divine power that is not tinged with unwholesome karma, they can even intentionally choose to regress.

  “If suddenly you were no longer able to comprehend no-mind and acted while clinging to characteristics, then these [acts] would all be associated with Māra’s karma; and even if you cultivated a buddha’s activities in his pure land, these would all create karma and would then be called a buddha’s hindrances.

  忽若未會無心 著相而作者 皆屬魔業 乃至作淨土佛事 並皆成業 乃名佛障.

  If you do not know that the mind is formless and thus generate attachments to external objects, you will be subject to the demon Māra. If you are in this situation, even though you cultivate the samādhi of reciting the Buddha’s name, you just end up creating karma.

  “Since you have obstructed your mind, your going and staying are bound by cause and effect, without a hint of freedom. Therefore such dharmas as bodhi are originally not existent.

  障汝心故 被因果管束 去住無自由分 所以菩提等法 本不是有.

  If you seek the pure land or enlightenment by holding to a conception of them, they will obstruct your nature. You will cling to external phenomena without even being aware of it. Then, entrapped by causality, you will experience suffering.

  There are originally neither buddhas nor sentient beings at the place of origin, neither birth and death nor nirvāṇa. It is foolish to discriminate between existence and nonexistence.

  “Everything the Tathāgata taught was a means to transform people. It is like pretending a yellow leaf is real gold to try and stop a child from crying.162

  如來所說 皆是化人 猶如黃葉為金權止小兒啼.

  In the eighty thousand pages of the Buddhist canon, the Buddha, out of his compassion, preached all sorts of sermons in response to the diverse spiritual capacities of different people, using such terms as buddhas and sentient beings, bodhi and nirvāṇa.

  However well you may understand what has been said as a stratagem to help soothe a crying child, your understanding of it is intellectual, and thus you end up feeling constrained. As clouds disperse, the green mountains naturally appear. Only when the basis of intellectual understanding is overturned will the place where not a single dharma can be established be clearly made manifest. Passing through what we call “the checkpoints of the ancient Seon patriarchs and teachers” (zushi guan / josa gwan 祖師關) is the fastest, shortest, and most complete way to awake from “distorted views and dream-like conceptions.”

  “Therefore, in actuality there is no dharma named anu[ttarasamyaksaṃ]bodhi. Having already comprehended this meaning, what need have you now for trifling and trivial [explanations]? If you just dissolve old karma in accordance with conditions and create no further calamities for yourself, all will be brilliant and bright in your mind.

  故實無有法 名阿耨菩提 如今既會此意 何用區區 但隨緣消舊業 更莫造新殃 心裏明明.

  Defilements are originally false, so if they disappear, that’s it. Since all is originally pristine, there is nothing to be attained. This is the state of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, the supreme, perfect enlightenment that is unsurpassed, right, and equanimous.

  “Therefore, completely discard all your outmoded views and understandings.

  所以舊時見解 總須捨却

  If you already know the reality that your nature is originally pristine, let go of your old wrong views and knowledge so you are no longer dragged around by your intellectual understanding. Where is there anything lighter than living with an emptied mind? You should live as a free person, frolicking playfully.

  “Vimalakīrti said, ‘Get rid of all your possessions!’163 The Lotus Sūtra says, “For twenty years, [the wealthy father] kept [his long-lost impoverished son] shoveling manure.’164

  淨名云 除去所有 法華云 二十年中常令除糞.

  Sentient beings are attracted to characteristics. When they have something they cherish, they will not let go of it. However, those cherished objects are in fact stinking filth.

  In the account in the Lotus Sūtra, a rich man finally finds his long-lost son after a lengthy search. This son had lived as a beggar for so long he was reluctant to enter the house of the rich man who was his father. Sentient beings cannot deal with the signless scenery of the original ground because they are so attracted to characteristics, which are actually stinking filth. That wise rich man therefore kept his beggar-son shoveling manure for some twenty years until he finally gained his trust.

  “Just remove point of view from the mind. It is also said, ‘Clear the manure of conceptual proliferation.’165

  “Therefore the tathāgatagarbha is originally empty and quiescent in and of itself and does not linger on a single dharma. As a sūtra says, ‘All the buddha lands are also empty.’166

  秖是除去心中作見解處 又云 蠲除戲論之糞 所以如來藏本自空寂 并不停留一法 故經云 諸佛國土 亦復皆空.

  The worst stench comes from the views in our minds. It is hardest to remove the characteristics of phenomena, which are the manure of conceptual proliferation (prapañca). This is because sentient beings never doubt that these characteristics are indeed the truth just as they are.

  True treasure does not come from outside us. Leaving this home of the original nature, wandering around looking outside the original nature, is to be like a beggar or a non-Buddhist. You are all children of a rich man, lacking nothing. Only when you understand the idea that since it is empty, it is endowed with everything can you let go of the coarse views of non-Buddhists. Since all the buddhas and patriarchs offer the exact same sort of explanation, you have to accept these words. Only then will your practice of the Buddhadharma be headed in the right direction. Vimalakīrti said, “All the buddha lands are also empty.” We have to let go of all views in order to enter a buddha land. If you can truly do so, the three realms of existence will immediately turn into a buddha land.

  “You may say that the Buddha Way is attained through practice and training, but such a view or interpretation has absolutely nothing to do with it.

  若言 佛道是修學而得 如此見解全無交涉.

  The Way is not attained through training or learning. Since you are originally endowed with it, there is nothing you need to attain. It is like a fish for the first time becoming aware of the water in which it swims or a person realizing that his head has always been his head. Your every movement is initiated by your mind. There are no spiritual powers that are outside your mind. If just once you recognize this fact thoroughly, you can escape “distorted views and dreamlike conceptions.”

  If you just approach this matter intellectually, you end up becoming a puppet of your conceptual understanding and have a distorted dream. If you do so, a thousand buddhas cannot save you. Once you destroy the black-lacquer bucket of ignorance and come into accord with your original mind, you will find ‘peace of mind and the correct course in life.’

  “You might see someone make a particular gesture or give a certain response, maybe raise his eyebrows or shift his eyes, and since that matches your
understanding, you say, ‘I get it,’ or ‘I’ve had a realization-awakening (zhengwu/jeungo 證悟) of the principle of Seon.’ Or you may happen upon a person you don’t understand and say to him, ‘Oh, you don’t know anything.’ You may think you’ve gained a certain principle from a person, and your mind is delighted; or you may be defeated in debate by someone and and think you are not his equal, and your mind becomes despondent and disappointed. If this is the frame of mind in which you intend to train in Seon, what relevance will it have?

  或作一機一境 揚眉動目 秖對相當 便道契會也 得證悟禪理也 忽逢一人 不解便道 都無所知 對他 若得道理 心中便歡喜 若被他折伏 不如他 便即心懷惆悵 如此心意學禪 有何交涉.

  Practitioners who have not yet realized their own Original Matter often learn the outward format and style of Seon dialogues, develop rational Seon (uiri Seon 義理禪), and imitate those who have opened their eyes. It seems there were such practitioners even during Master Huangbo’s time.

  In any era, false practitioners wear the Buddha’s robe and sell the Buddha’s sermons. Reflecting on ourselves, it is patently obvious that the great matter of birth and death — opening our eyes to the Buddhadharma — does not lie in such mimicry. We cannot deceive our own conscience. The correct attitude is to discard all dry knowledge (ganhui/geonhye 乾慧), all intellectual speculation, and return to our initial aspiration for enlightenment.

  Master Gaofeng Yuanmiao in his Essentials of Chan asserted that great faith, fury, and doubt were the three essentials of Seon practice.167 Renew your resolve by returning to that moment of your initial arousal of the aspiration for enlightenment, generate the mind of great ferocity in your practice, and keep on trying. This is more crucial than relying on conceptual understanding and wasting your time, accomplishing nothing.

  Turning back to your initial aspiration for enlightenment is always the fastest shortcut to awakening. Those who are able to turn one thought around are the real noble persons.

  “You may have comprehended a modicum of principle, but that is just a mental factor (caitta); it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Way of Seon. For this reason, Bodhidharma faced the wall [in wall contemplation] to help people free themselves from any point of view.

  任汝會得少許道理 即得個心所法 禪道總沒交涉 所以達摩面壁 都不令人有見處.

  Seon practice means to be free of views. If you have no views, everything will be empty in all directions, and you will be as free as a bird in the sky; but if you cling to even a hair’s breadth of principle, your mind will immediately darken. In that place, not a single dharma can be established. Layman Pang 龐居士 (Pang Yun 龐蘊, 740–808) said, “I just hope that you will regard as empty all that is existent; but be careful not to consider as real all that is nonexistent.”168

  Bodhidharma’s facing the wall in wall contemplation demonstrated that our minds should not scurry around outside. Avoid clinging to karmic conditions outside, and stop the mind from rushing around inside. Only when your mind becomes like a wall will you be able to enter the Way.

  If you seek something outside the mind, you will still have views. Views become perceptual signs, and with your mind full of thoughts, your mind becomes the black-lacquer bucket of ignorance. The patriarchs’ checkpoints are established in order to destroy this lacquer bucket. The words of all the generations of patriarchs are a sword of wisdom that severs ignorance with a single stroke. If the doubt you raise regarding the master’s words settles deep within your heart, discriminating delusions will stall and begin to melt away.

  “Therefore, it is said, ‘Remaining oblivious to mental impulses is the Buddha’s Way; discrimination is Māra’s domain.’169

  故云 忘機是佛道 分別是魔境.

  Everyone is fully endowed with the intrinsic nature that is originally pristine. The Buddhadharma is clearly revealed throughout the whole world; if you simply open your eyes to it, you will see that it is nothing special. But if you give rise to one thought and begin discriminating this from that, the difference will be as huge as heaven and earth. Therefore the Seon patriarchs tell you simply to not contaminate your minds. Since those who accord with this place neither abide in nor cling to functioning, they act all day long without actually taking any action.

  The fasting that Bodhidharma talked about does not mean abstaining from food. It really means that you eat all day long without actually eating anything. During or after eating, you should have no attachment to food. You are simply aware that you are eating when you are eating. This is the true appearance of one who practices Buddhism. However, since worldlings generate delusions and all sorts of thoughts, when they eat, it is not they that eat food; the food eats them.

  “Even when you are deluded, this nature is not lost; even when you awaken, it is not gained.

  此性縱汝迷時亦不失 悟時亦不得.

  The nature is always simply thus; it is not something either gained or lost. Just as empty space brightens and darkens as the sun rises and sets, the nature brightens and darkens in accord with karma but is never tinged by that karma.

  Those who practice Buddhism with unfailing zeal live undaunted, thoroughly understanding causes and effects without being affected by them.

  “This immaculate self-nature is originally neither deluded nor awakened. The realm of empty space that entirely pervades the ten directions is intrinsically our one-mind essence.

  天真自性 本無迷悟 盡十方虛空界 元來是我一心體.

  The nature that is intrinsic to us is identical in its nonduality. It does not fall into such binaries as delusion and awakening or sentient beings and buddhas. Since the nature encloses the entire universe like empty space, there is nothing that does not contain it. However, unlike empty space, this nature is full of numinous force. The empty and numinous mind permeates the entire universe. Nonetheless, if one thought arises and discriminating delusions envelop the mind, this mind becomes dark because of the lacquer bucket of ignorance.

  Master Huangbo opened the first chapter of his Essentials of Transmitting the Mind-Dharma by saying, “All the buddhas and sentient beings are only the one mind; there is no other dharma.” He says here in the Wanling Record, “The realm of empty space that entirely pervades the ten directions is intrinsically our one-mind essence.” The mind-dharma that the successive generations of patriarchs and teachers seek to transmit refers to this one real characteristic of things.

  “Even though you engage in dynamic functioning and productive activity, how are these separate from empty space?

  縱汝動用造作 豈離虛空.

  The myriad dharmas adorn the dharma realms without adorning anything. Because people do not know this, they wander around, seeking the mind. If they turn one thought around and accord with the mind, everything will be fine. However, they drift far from the mind by arousing one thought and seeking the mind outside.

  “Empty space is originally neither large nor small, neither contaminated nor conditioned, neither deluded nor awakened. If you look clearly, you’ll find not a single thing, no persons and no buddhas.

  虛空本來無大無小 無漏無為 無迷無悟 了了見 無一物 亦無人 亦無佛.

  If you thoroughly understand the nature that is originally pristine, it is certain that at that spot you will not establish even a single dharma. The nature is empty and, at the same time, full of numinous force. Thus it manifests in various forms.

  It cannot be said that all these matters either exist or do not exist. Being ineffable, it is said they are inconceivable.

  Since the true characteristic of the middle way means that “the pathways of words and speech are eradicated” (yanyudao duan / eoneodo dan 言語 道斷) and “the locus of mental activity is annihilated” (xinxingchu mie / simhaengcheo myeol 心行處滅), it cannot be understood through conceptual understanding. It can only be confirmed through “authentic contemplation and authentic cultivation” (shican shixiu / silcham silsu 實�
��實修) under the guidance of a Seon master.

  “Bringing an end to even a hair’s breadth of conceptualization means not relying on or being attached to anything. A clear stream flowing in one direction is the self-nature’s acquiescence to the nonproduction of dharmas. What hesitation can there be?

  絕纖毫的量 是無依倚 無䊀綴 一道清流 是自性無生法忍 何有擬議

  The acquiescence to the nonproduction of dharmas (anutpattikadharmakṣānti) is the Buddha’s teaching that can solve the great matter of birth and death. While our physical body and our mental defilements and delusions are reborn through the cycle of birth and death, our intrinsic nature is neither created nor destroyed. Although the Buddha said that “all compounded things are impermanent” (zhuxing wuchang / jehaeng musang 諸行無常), the place where those things arise and cease is “quiescent and unmoving” (jiran budong / jeog-yeon budong 寂然不動) and flowing freely. You should resolve at its very root this matter of birth and death by awakening to this reality.

  If you realize the acquiescence to the nonproduction of dharmas, you cannot die, even though you might want to, because you were never actually born. Since you have encountered this affinity with the great perfection of wisdom that leads to the acquiescence to the nonproduction of dharmas, take full advantage of this opportunity and thoroughly resolve this issue of birth and death by entering into authentic practice. If you just memorize this precious teaching on the acquiescence to the nonproduction of dharmas and do not realize it through practice, on your deathbed, your regrets will be too late.

  “Since the authentic buddha has no mouth, he does not know how to preach the dharma. Since authentic listening does not involve ears, who is it who hears? Take care!”

  真佛無口 不解說法 真聽無耳 其誰聞乎 珍重.