"In this luminosity usual people and sages, deluded and enlightened are one. In the midst of impermanence, this luminosity is unobstructed. Forests, flowers, grasses, leaves; humans and animals; large or small, long or short, square or round: all display themselves simultaneously, free of discriminating thoughts or intention. This is luminosity unobstructed in impermanence. Luminosity is its own open brilliance; it does not depend on your mind. Luminosity has no location. When Buddhas appear in this universe, it does not arise with them. When Buddhas cease, luminosity does not cease. When you are born, luminosity is not born; when you die, luminosity does not die. Buddhas do not have more of it; sentient beings do not have less.”

Komyozo Zanmai: The Practice of the Treasury of Luminosity. By Koun Ejo zenji (1198 - 1282). 

Translated by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi and Yasuda Joshu Dainen roshi

The Treasury of the Eye of Reality already contains an essay on Luminosity1. I am writing this only because I want to bring out this essential matter further because the practice of the Treasury of Luminosity is the essence of the Buddha Way. Working unseen, secretly active,2 one's practice practises all beings. This is clear to those long-time practitioners who have "entered the room"3 of the Master.

What we call the Treasury of Luminosity is the source of all Buddhas, the true nature of all beings, the Total Body of all things, the treasury of the Radiance of subtle perceptions and complete Awakening. The three bodies of the Buddhas, the four wisdoms,4 and the practice of each particle containing the infinite particles of Totality are all found here.

The Flower Garland Discourse5 says, the radiance of Dipamkara Buddha6 is the greatest of auspicious signs. The blazing of the light of that Buddha here in this Hall means that this place is auspicious. Actually, this radiance of Dipamkara Buddha pervades everywhere without picking and choosing this place as sacred and that place as usual. As for the Buddha entering the Hall, as soon as you have heard the opening words of the Discourse Thus have I heard... he has already entered. Since this place is auspicious it is here that Sakyamuni Buddha receives teachings from Dipamkara Buddha.

If there were any way to attain this luminosity which pervades past, present, and future then there would have to be something other than it to attain it.

In the Vast Inherent Radiance Discourse7 in the chapter on Dharani it says,

Then the Generous One said to Vajrasattva, 'The aspiration for Awakening is the ground, great compassion is the root, and skillful means the fruition. Master of secrets, what is Awakening? It is knowing your mind as it is. This is utter, complete and perfect Awakening in which nothing is attained. Why? The form of Awakening is unknowable and inconceivable. Why? Because Awakening is formless. Master of secrets, the formlessness of all things is just this form of Space.

Elsewhere, the Discourse says,

Master of secrets, the practice of the Vast Path is awakening the mind which moves into the unfabricated, guided by selflessness. Why? Those who have practised this in the past have seen that the five aggregates and the elements have no foundation, are illusory, like mirages, shadows, echoes, circles drawn by moving flames, a city in the clouds. Master of secrets, thus they release what is without self and the gathering of mental factors self-awakens as the non-arising nature of Awareness. Why? There is nothing that can be known before or after Awareness and so just realizing primordial Awareness leaps over two great eons of gradual practice.

Since nothing can be known before or after,  the Luminosity of Vairocana or Inherent Radiance is the primordial Awareness which never moves.

The Flower Garland Discourse also says,

The body of the Buddha blazes forth a radiance of infinite colours, perfectly pure, which covers all lands like overarching clouds, everywhere presenting the virtues of Awakening. All who are illumined by this radiance rejoice and suffering beings are freed from pain. All are moved to reverence and recognize their own capacity to open to Openness. This is the free functioning of Awakening."

This Discourse has a chapter called "Awakening Through Luminosity," which says,

At that time the light moved past a hundred thousand worlds and illumined a million worlds to the east. The same happened in the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, and upwards and downwards. Everything in all of these worlds was clearly seen. At that time, in each place, Manjusri, being in Openness, spoke to the Buddha in each place this verse:

The Buddha is utterly free,
transcending all realms, supported by nothing,
endowed with all virtues,
free from all existences,
unstained, utterly released,
free from fabrication, unobscured,
his form and nature are beyond all measures.
In seeing him, all praise him.
His Luminosity is everywhere, pure clarity.
The obstructions of the senses are washed away.
Unmoving, he is free from both extremes of
being and nothingness.
This is the knowledge of the Buddha.

The knowledge of Awakening is luminosity, the practice of unmodified Radiance that transcends the extremes of usual and sacred, ultimate and relative. It is the luminosity of Inconceivable Knowing, of which Manjusri is the embodiment. You embody this in the great ease of shikantaza, just sitting.

Thus, Vairocana instructed the Master of Secrets, the practice of the Vast Path is awakening the mind which moves into the unfabricated, guided by selflessness.

Sengcan, the Third Chinese Ancestor, said, Do not look for enlightenment, just release deluded views.

There can be no self in practising the path of the unfabricated, the Treasury of Luminosity, or views of self at all. Self and views are different names for the same thing, the face of a ghost or the face of a spirit. There is just this luminosity. It is not a matter of establishing any opinions about anything at all, from the views of self and what belongs to self or to ideas about the Buddha and the Dharma.

Haven't you heard? Perfect knowing is like a great ball of flame.8

The Lotus Discourse says, At that time the Buddha released a blaze of light from the white hair curled between his brows which illuminated eighty thousand worlds to the east, pervading them all, to the depths of the lowest hells of contracted experience to the summit of the heaven realms of ecstasy above. This miraculous sign of light is the supreme and subtle luminosity realised by the Buddhas.

When Maitreya asked Manjusri what this sign portended, Manjusri explained, This auspicious sign appeared in ancient times when the Sun and Moon Light Buddha9 taught the Vast Path while entering the Harmony of the sphere of Infinite Meaning. And now the Buddha Sakyamuni must be about to present the teaching of the Lotus of Wondrous Reality which has been kept in mind by the Buddhas for the illumination of beings.

This light should be understood as the supreme and vast radiance which contains Infinite Meaning. The great being Manjusri was formerly the wakeful one Sublime Light10 and was the eighth son of the Sun and Moon Light Buddha who taught him to practice supreme enlightenment. The previous Buddha to Sakyamuni was Dipamkara. The practice of our Lineage is sitting in the Treasury of Luminosity and this has been received directly through the transmission from Dipamkara and Sakyamuni Buddhas.

What other teaching is needed? This luminosity is not one thing for sages and another for sentient beings. It is the Single Path transmitted from the past to right now. It does not need to acquire anything or get rid of anything. After this, who can turn back and try to fit back into the hunched postures of conventional views and social relations? It cannot be grasped, cannot be avoided. How can you take the sufferings of delusionary desiring and despising seriously?

To go on. The Lotus Discourse's chapter on "Being in Ease" says,  Manjusri, those opening to Openness and Vastness abide in flexibility and peace, they are kind and not rowdy, their minds are unclouded. They do not worry thoughts with their minds but see the true nature and so do not act like idiots. Sitting is like this, isn't it? In sitting, one is aligning oneself with Great Luminosity.

A verse in that chapter says,

The deluded conceive of things as
existent or non-existent,
real or unreal,
born or unborn.
In a clear space, settle attention,
sit steady and without flinching,
like Mount Sumeru.
See that all things are without substance,
like space, with no solid foundation,
neither born nor arising.
Unmoving, tireless,
practice this one thing.
This is the place which draws near to it.

These are quite direct instructions which present the supreme Way through getting straight to the heart of it, setting aside conventions.

The Great Master Bodhidharma was asked by Emperor Wu of China about the first principle of the holy Teachings. Bodhidharma said, Vast emptiness, nothing holy. This is the great ball of flame, the luminosity of the Transmission of our Awakened Ancestors. Clear right through and on all sides with nothing inside of it at all. Outside of this luminosity there is no other practice, no other teaching. So how could there be any objects to know let alone the cultivation of any particular state or trying to cure yourselves of some imaginary disease?

The emperor asked Bodhidharma, Who is this standing before me? Bodhidharma said, Don't know.

This is the single radiance of Openness.

Zen Master Xuedou's verse on this koan states:

The holy truths are empty?
What is the secret here?
Once more: 'Who is this standing here before me?'
'Don't know!'11

Enter into this koan and you release the body into luminosity, the Total Field into luminosity and realise the great ease.

Great master Yunmen,12in the thirty-ninth generation from the Buddha said to the assembly, Everyone has this luminosity but when they look for it they don't see it. What is this luminosity? As no one could answer, he answered for them, The Monks' Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen Hall, the Gate.13

Now when this great master speaks of this luminosity that everyone has, he doesn't say that it is something that will appear later or that it happened in the past. It is not something that can be seen by standing aside from it because everyone is this luminosity. This is what we call the luminosity of vast and perfect knowing. You should understand this clearly and apply it through skin, meat, bones, and marrow.

This luminosity is all beings and Sakyamuni and Maitreya are only its attendants.14 This subtle luminosity is not greater in Buddhas and less in beings. Everything arises in it. The Total Field is this great ball of flame.

Yunmen asked, What is this luminosity? The assembly had nothing to say. Even if a hundred thousand bon mots were uttered, still there would be "nothing to say."

And so Yunmen answered for them, The Monks' Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen Hall, the Gate. Answering for them is his answer; his answer answers for luminosity, answers for "not seeing it," answers the assembly's answer of not answering. This is the practice of the Treasury of Luminosity blazing and awakening as radiance.

So. It is not a matter of whether you are just "usual folk" or "Buddhas." It isn't a matter of being sentient or an insentient being. Always shining as the ten directions, this beginningless luminosity is without location. This is why "you don't see it," it is this "what."

Moving in this darkness, it is inconceivable, even if you think about it for numberless eons.

Another time:

A monk asked Yunmen, "The light shines silently through numberless worlds..."
Before he could finish phrasing his question, Yunmen snapped, Isn't that the saying of that famous poet Chang Zhou?15
The monk stammered, "It is."
Yunmen said, "Failed."16

This old Buddha Yunmen! His eyes blaze like falling stars, his mind is swifter than a thunderbolt. At this point the monk was struck speechless. How about you? Would you have embarrassed yourself?

Zen Master Xuefeng17  taught the assembly, "All the Buddhas of the three times turn the Wheel of Reality in the midst of fire."
Yunmen said, "The flames present the Teachings of the Buddhas of the three times. All the Buddhas do is stand there and listen!"

The luminosity of these flames is the seat of the Awakening of the Buddhas of the three times, it is the teacher of all the Buddhas. Thus, all Buddhas are always presenting the Teachings in the midst of the numberless forms and yet remain unmoving from the seat of Awakening which is the luminosity of complete and perfect release.

Open the ears without closing the eyes. This great ball of flames is not in front or behind. It is the Body of Totality.

Do not continue to conceive of yourself in terms of obstructions and limitations, squeezing out thoughts of self and poverty, of being a deluded being. This is the demonic defilement of the Wheel of Reality turned by the Buddhas.

The presentation of the Teachings by the flames pointed out by Xuefeng and elaborated by Yunmen is cutting to the truth of it without bothering about niceties. This presents the supreme Way that the Buddha taught throughout each day of his life.

In Xuefeng's speaking of these words, everything is burnt within these flames and there is no escape from it. Chanting the sutras, practising great bows, raising the feet and setting them down step after step, everything is the display of luminosity's vast activity.

Some people look for this as some underlying entity or try to get rid of their thoughts and experiences. They do not understand this hidden essence. Some doubt it all, and go about their business dwelling in the cave of ghosts. Some act like they are diving into the depths of the ocean to count the grains of sand on the ocean floor. Some are like mosquitoes, buzzing against a paper screen.

Leaving aside the possibility of just falling into words, can you say anything?

Instead of wasting time trying to wash dirt with mud, Zen monks must first of all know what they are saying when they ask a question. If we are talking about "light shining silently through numberless worlds," why should these be the words of someone else like a famous poet or the Buddha? Are they your words? Are they anyone's words? Listen carefully: "The Monks' Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen Hall, the Gate."

Great master Changsha18 said to the assembly, "The whole world is reflected in this monk's eye. The whole world is contained in everyday talk. The whole world fills your body. The whole world is your own luminosity. Throughout the Total Field there is no one that is not who you are."19

Deep practice of the Way requires tireless exertion and confidence in what is true. Unless you join the Lineage of the Buddhas life after life, how can you understand anything that I say at all? Do not move away from it.

Now, the whole world is the eye of this monk,  says Changsha. The whole of space is this whole bodymind. He does not grasp at the sacred or avoid the profane. He does not say that deluded beings don't have it while sages do. He just points directly to your own luminosity. So don't leave it all up to Changsha.

This teaching presents it all inside of your nostrils, it gives practical advice with your eyes. Some people bring up old koan as examples and models but never have the least insight about their own lives. This is like being born into a wealthy family but having no clothes.

So, fools who hear some talk about "luminosity" might think that this is like the light of fireflies, like the light of lanterns, like the light of the sun or moon, the gleaming of gold or jewels. They look around for something that they already know. Looking for the blaze of radiance, they concentrate on their little minds and try to figure it out, trying to turn it into the realm of emptiness and silence. So they freeze and hide in motionlessness. They are unable to give up looking for some kind of thing that they can acquire. Or they think mystical thoughts and go on and on about how special it is. There are only too many like this, sleeping with open eyes, just bags of borrowed rice.

If it were really some inconceivably mysterious thing, why do you think that you can get at it with your thoughts? This is the confusion spread by the Buddha-devil that sets up little states as the same as the practice of the Buddhas. This is why the First Ancestor called it, Vast emptiness, nothing holy and the practice as not knowing. I hope you understand.

Zen Master Changsha said,

Students of the Way who do not discern the truth are like that because they won't release their little consciousnesses. Although endless eons of birth and death are rooted there, they conceive of it as the Original Self.

If your practice is based on your own ideas and unquestioned assumptions about what the mind is and what realization is, you are only strengthening the roots of birth and death. The "Original Self" is the true human being, being what humans truly are: the display of inherent and perfect luminosity. Outside of this Open Luminosity, what is there that can even be grasped at? This is nothing holy and don't know. It is an iron hammerhead without a hole for a handle. It is a great ball of flame.

Zhaozhou20  asked Nanquan,21 "What is the Way?"
Nanquan said, "Ordinary Mind is the Way."
Zhaozhou said, "Well, should I move along with it or not?"
Nanquan said, "Once you try to move forward, you have already gone astray."
Zhaozhou said, "If I don't try anything, how can I know the Way?"
Nanquan said, "The Way is not a matter of knowing something or not knowing something. Knowing something is delusion. Knowing nothing is a blank state. Arriving at the Way beyond doubt, it is vast and boundless as space. What can be grasped or avoided?"22

This is why the ancient masters out of compassion for those who fabricate practice through their own efforts carefully guided them with saying things like: The Way is not a matter of thinking or of not-thinking. It cannot be attained through words or silence. As soon as you hesitate, you are ten million stages away.

Monks, do not all of the strategies of cultivating something or of mystical principles or subtle states all fall within either thinking or not-thinking? Since it is not a matter of thinking or not-thinking, right now, give up on deluded views of attaining or rejecting.

The usual folk who have no understanding or exertion do not understand even this and grasp at the illusions of a self and rush about vainly in the world of dreams, possessed by demons of conventional views and cleverness. Trying to figure it out, they conceive of luminosity as something like a fireball erupting from between the Buddha's brows. Taking words at surface value, they never even imagine investigating the real meaning of the sages. Although they might dress up as seasoned veterans of practice, they do not understand advanced practice and so do not understand that the luminosity of this whole body is the luminosity of the Total Field, pervading the skies and covering the ground. Fools who cling to obvious forms, they are almost beneath contempt.

Sakyamuni said,

The supreme light is not blue, gold, red, green, white, or black. It is not an object, it is not the mind. It is neither existent nor non-existent. It does not arise from conditions. It is the source of all the Buddhas, the essence of opening to Openness, the essence of the Buddha Way.

Emerging from the Harmony of Blossoming Luminosity, seated on a diamond throne of numberless lights, the Buddha presented this single practice.

Luminosity is not blue, gold, red, green, white or black. It is the god of fire, scarlet through and through. It is a mud ox playing on the bottom of the sea. It is the iron ox, without skin or bones. Since it is not an object, not the mind, what is there to seek for, panting and heaving, your chest thickened with desire?  "It does not arise from conditions,"   so how could you think that you could fabricate it?

This is truly the source of all the Buddhas, the essence of the Way of Awake Awareness. This luminosity is the single practice practised and maintained by Vairocana Buddha from the moment he set forth on the Way. This is the ground of all experiences, beyond all categories and descriptions. This is known as the single practice of the luminosity of the ground of mind.

Sakyamuni Buddha said,

If those who present this Teaching dwell alone in seclusion, in utter silence beyond the speech of people, and read and recite this sutra, I will manifest for them the body of clear radiance. When they forget a section or verse, I will remind them of it so that they will understand it completely.

Reading and reciting this sutra is the manifestation of clear radiance. The body and mind of all the Buddhas is luminosity. The Field of Dipamkara is Eternal Silent Radiance. Fields of Awakening, bodies and minds are all luminosity. And so we say that there are eighty-four thousand luminosities, numberless luminosities.

Zen Master Puning Yong23 brought up the koan of the fire presenting the Teaching and added this verse for the assembly:

A ball of fierce flames reddens the vast sky
and the Buddhas of the three times are at its centre.
Having presented it, they are finished now.
A cool breeze moves above the brows.

In uncovering the essence of the Way of Awake Awareness and entering the room, this kind of vision of flames presenting the Teachings might happen. But there is a single ball of fierce flames, which has always burned throughout all time. Coming from nowhere, it is formless and without fragments and goes nowhere. Unfragmented, it is the landscape of the primordial ground of all that is, all Buddhas, all beings.

Why do monks of today not understand this or even trust it? Without confidence in this, they fall into the endless circuit of conditioned experiences and lower births. If they can understand the cause of this, they should just look and penetrate it thoroughly.

Those who follow conventional views believe that what is illusory is real, what is transient is permanent, and so they are concerned only with gain and loss and coarse profit. Their lives are like candles in the wind and yet they place their trust in what is uncertain even for tomorrow. Breathing out does not mean that you will necessarily breath in again. And so they are filled with glee and despair at momentary changes.

The elements of the body will evaporate like dew, will vanish in the flames of the cremation pyre. There is not a single particle of it that you can hold on to. And yet you loll about, as if you were the master of yourself. This is not a matter of Buddhist teachings. It is obviously so and you can see it with your own eyes.

The Buddhas of the three times are in this great ball of flames and all beings are in it too. What difference is there between Buddhas and sentient beings? Those in it who grasp at the deluded assumptions of a self cause themselves to drown in the torrent of birth and death. Those in it who see right through to luminosity realise unobstructed all-pervasive knowing.

Yongjia24 said,

It is without boundaries, like space.

It is wherever you stand.
It is free of struggle and searching.
It cannot be held or released.

Give up the search.
It is here.25

Nagarjuna said,

Perfect wisdom is like a great ball of flames, ungraspable from all sides.26

In hearing and reading these famous teachings everybody studies them as if they were intended for someone else. You do not release yourself into Totality or yield into freedom and ease. Instead you mutter that you are missing some essential trick or skill, or that you are just a beginner, or that you've started to practice too late in life. And so you remain usual people who have not shed a single deluded view. You do not release your assumptions of self-image. Although you dwell always in the Great Treasury of Luminosity, you sell yourself out for hard labour, wander in misery, always poor. Although born into wealth and ease, through your own views of poverty, you turn the body of clear radiance into a carrier of buckets of night soil, a shit hole cleaner.27 The view of a self should just be released right now.

Although you might be able to discuss the divisions of the sutras and commentaries, the provisional and true levels of the Teachings, the exoteric and tantric principles, and the subtleties of the five houses and seven schools of Zen, all of this is just spinning about in birth and death if you do so from the vantage of a self. This is why it is said that understanding reality with the mind of birth and death bends reality into the shape of birth and death.

The views of a knower, of a person, an entity, something that lives are all self-image. The view that there is a body, and the fixations and delusions about materiality are all self-image. All of the subtle stages of practice up to Awakening as Wonder28 all arise from self-image. The view of self, the momentum of tendencies, traces of enlightenment, and viewing practice as tranquillisation are all greater or lesser infections of self-image. From the most perverted and dense contractions to the last veil of subtle ignorance, all derive from self-image. Without it there would be no need for a Buddha or the Teachings. Thus Zen Master Dogen said, Release the view of a self through understanding impermanence. These are direct instructions from great compassion and lead to true sincerity.

In The Teaching on Pacifying Mind, Great Master Bodhidharma of Shaolin says,

Why is it that worldly ones fail to realise Awakening despite all of their efforts? They do not realise Awakening because of self-concern. Mature practitioners do not fret over troubles or become gleeful when things go well because they are not driven by self-concern.

A verse by an old Buddha says,

Buddhas do not see themselves as Buddhas
because perfect knowing is Buddha.
If you realise this, there is no other Buddha.
Sages know that there are no obstructions
within equanimity
and have no fear of birth and death.

Having no fear of birth and death means having no view of self. Having no view of self means being free of self-obsession, free of self-image. The luminosity of vast and perfect knowing is beyond persons and so the verse says that only perfect knowing is Buddha.

In spite of this you grasp at this body which is like dew on the grass, like a bubble. And yet when it comes to luminosity, your true body, you think it doesn't concern you or you look for some special thing. And so you spend your time in trivialities like personal conflicts or trying to stir up donations instead of clearly looking into where this vain life will end and using that recognition to stir your practice.

Practice and realise this Treasury of Luminosity and it will no longer be a matter of just your own practice. You have four debts: to parents, to people, to all beings, and to the Three Jewels. The three realms of grasping, pure form, and nothingness, mountains and rivers, the great earth, your body and the bodies of all beings arise within the Suchness of luminosity which pervades everywhere and all times.

Great Master Caoshan29  has a verse:

Essential Awareness is round and bright,
a formless form.

Do not separate yourself from it
with knowledge or views.

The myriad thoughts obscure the subtle,
wandering mind loses the Path.

Feelings about the numberless things
Objectify and block.

Attention following multiplicity
loses the primordially real.

Understand these words
and you will be free of all struggle
as you always already were.

These teachings arise from within the Treasury of Luminosity and provide instruction on the subtle practice of realization. Monks or laypeople, seasoned practitioners or beginners, clever or stupid, all must understand and practise this formless form of primordial Awareness, round and bright, peerless and without another to compare it to.

Primordial Awareness is Buddha Nature. Round and bright, it is the vast luminosity, formlessly and serenely shining as the illusion of your present body. Thus an ancient said, The whole body is formless, the whole world does not obscure it.

If you still don't understand, how about this. Smashing the total body to nothing, incinerating skin, meat, bones, and marrow, bring me one thing. At such a moment, all beings, the Buddhas of past and present, the usual folk and sages throughout the three worlds, the numberless forms, are all only this formless form.

Master Linji30 said,

The elements of earth, air, water, and fire cannot present the Teachings or hear them. The spleen, gut, liver, and gallbladder cannot present the Teachings or hear them. Space cannot present the Teachings or hear them. So what is it that can present the Teachings and hear them?

The formless form of luminosity presents and hears the Teaching. For the sake of others, the ancients provisionally called it the wandering monk hearing the truth.

Essential Awareness is round and bright, a formless form, explains everything in a single line. Yet out of compassion Master Caoshan elaborates further on subtle practice saying, Do not separate yourself from it with knowledge or views. Those who are studying under deluded teachers only learn ways to feel about things and opinions, and wind up feeling that their own study has revealed a Zen beyond the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors, beyond the understanding and perception of anyone to question their actions. Believing that one has realised what one hasn't is being possessed by demons of delusion.

Those obsessed with their own personalities tire easily and advance no further, claiming they are incapable. They would rather cling to opinions than study and learn.

The two extremes of grasping and aversion are the basis of choosing and rejection, of feelings and thoughts. Thus Caoshan severs these with a single cut, The myriad thoughts obscure the subtle, wandering mind loses the Path. And so we must abandon false teachings and teachers to follow friends of virtue because false teachers only deepen our opinions and views with their own.

The "Path" and the "subtle" are the Sun Face and Moon Face of luminosity, primordial Awareness. And yet when within this luminosity a single stance is assumed, the mind wanders into fabrication. These drifting clouds obscure the bright round moon of Awareness and we "lose the Path."

Feelings about the numberless things objectify and block. The Buddha has said, Mind, Buddha, and living beings are not three different things. He also said, There is only one truth. Even though you encounter such teachings, you still fall into delusions about self and other, noble and common, sacred and profane. Viewing objects laid out before you, you consider forms and sounds as poverty and wealth, loss and gain. And by holding on to these views, your practice is infected by hope and fear.

"Attention following multiplicity loses the primordially real."

The Buddha Dharma has manifested countless aspects to work with the countless delusions of beings. Thus there are teachings great and small, provisional and true, half and full, partial and complete, exoteric and tantric, practices and doctrines, the Path of sages and the Path of the Pure Land. It is not that there are not many aspects to the Teachings but that if you do not understand the primordially real you wind up with only a multiplicity of views.

Understand these words and you will be free of all struggle as you always already were. The way you always already were means to practice without attempting to fabricate some kind of realization. Just sit still as formless form, without hesitation. If you adopt any stance of attention you are not free of all struggle as you always already were.

Sakyamuni Buddha said, There is nothing I have gained from Dipamkara Buddha to realise complete and utter perfect Awakening. In this saying we meet Dipamkara Buddha. These words say what numberless words cannot say. Practice the nothing gained of luminosity.

Monks of the present day who shave their heads and wear black robes, following the ways of the Buddha, live their days and months in the radiance that shines from the lamp of Dipamkara. Yet they never question what Dipamkara Buddha, what this lamp, really is and so are not true monks. Just decked out like those who have left home, they spend their time scrabbling for donations like beggars and thieves.

If you say that you are not like this, then tell me: What are the major and minor marks of Dipamkara Buddha? You might have nothing to say but you can't say nothing, so right now: Say it! Say it!

It is regrettable that people think of Dipamkara only as a Buddha of the past and do not realise that Dipamkara Buddha's luminosity shines throughout the past, present, and future. So how could you know then that this luminosity is presenting the Path and realizing release right now in your nostrils and eyes?

The worst kind of students are just weary of birth and death and want to move on to something else, some kind of nirvana, and their practice is based on trying to attain some thing. Already bloated with self-image they turn practice into a kind of greed and their neediness goes on until they die. Teachers with no discernment praise this lot as diligent and faithful practitioners and this reinforces their self-obsessiveness until they are reborn as hungry ghosts.

From the very beginning, seeking concentration states and viewing practice and realization as two different things is different from the realised-practice of the harmonies and vast activity of the Transmission of luminosity.

Master Baizhang31 said,

The luminosity of mind shines alone, unentangled by sensory objectifications. Real and unchanging, the essential manifests beyond the written teachings as the stainless nature of Awareness, perfect and originally complete. Just release objectification and it awakens into Suchness.

The luminosity of Awareness shines without ceasing from the beginningless past through the endless future. This is vast activity. Unentangled by sensory objectification, real and unchanging, the essential manifests. This is the practice of alignment with radiance. Just aligning with the Luminosity of Awareness, dwelling at ease in it, is the supreme samadhi of shikantaza, just sitting.

As soon as you claim that you have attained anything then there is the matter of how much or how little, how deep or how shallow. Clinging to appearances as things, you wind up turning practice into a mere husk, seek for the Buddha as something somewhere, use words and language to determine true and false. Grasping at appearances, your practice of the perfection of generosity is understood as a means to acquire merit. Attempting to purify delusions and manufacture virtues you struggle in mind and body and congratulate yourself for your diligence. So what have you attained?

Putting aside brush and ink, avoiding others, and sitting alone in an empty valley, eating bark and fruit, dressed in hemp robes, sitting ceaselessly without lying down... If you are doing this to try to stop the mind and return to some motionless condition, to try to cut away your confusion and dwell in some absolute truth, to avoid samsaric conditions and attain nirvanic ones, then this is just hope and fear arising from grasping.

So Yongjia said,

Don't grasp at 'voidness' and ignore cause and effect;
such reckless confusion leads only to suffering.

Rejecting the truth and grasping at entities is
also a mistake,
it's like jumping into a fire to avoid drowning.

To reject delusion and grasp at the truth
suits perfectly the mind of like and dislike.

Students who practice this way,
it's like mistaking a thief as your own son.

Ignoring the treasure of Reality and losing the merit
to Awaken self and others
is due to the eighth, seventh and sixth consciousnesses.

Monks, just throw the bodymind into the Treasury of Luminosity, release the whole body into the ease of the luminosity of the Awakened Ones and sit, walk, stand, and lie down inhering within it.

This is why the Buddha said, The children of the Awakened Ones should just abide in this stage, the experiencing of Awakening, and inhere within it, walking, sitting, lying down. These golden words should always be remembered by those who aspire to be children of the Awakened Ones. This stage means the Treasury of Luminosity, the Single Path of Awake Awareness. Do not allow a single arising thought to stray from this and follow objectification or the experience of Awake Awareness is transformed into the animal realm of torporous fixation or the realm of hungry ghosts of craving.

Now, about the major and minor marks and the place of realization of Dipamkara Buddha, of Sakyamuni, of the seven Buddhas32 of this aeon and the successive generations of Awakened Ancestors who have transmitted the lamp of luminosity. Do you consider them to be far from you in time and place? Or do you realise them to be right here and throughout all times? Do you know anything about the jewelled stupa of serene radiance?33

You might understand that the reality of Awake Awareness is open space, but if you just hold on to this statement and do not penetrate past the cave of intellectual understandings and metaphors then how can you become an Ancestor in this transmission of the luminosity of Awake Awareness? This is just the yowling of jackals, tearing at the body of a fallen lion.

If you do not see it through your own eyes then, although you shave your heads and wrap yourselves in black robes, you are just miserable deluded beings. Although you might be able to expound on a thousand sutras and ten thousand classical commentaries you are just counting another's treasures. You are like sailors who know there's something of value aboard but do not know the price.

Tell me, right now: this shitting and pissing, getting dressed and eating...who is it that does this? And what about the sounds of rivers, the colours of the mountains, the coming and going of heat and cold, blossoms in spring, the bright moon in autumn, the thousand changes and numberless appearances? What is it that does this? Truly, this is a wondrous face, its light illumining the ten directions. It is bondage and liberation are like last night's faded dream. It is form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

If you don't know this then you can say it is sitting alone on this great, sublime peak,34 but this is a lie, it is a corrupted teaching. You might hear about the silent luminosity that pervades all times but never comes and goes, but it will just be babbling without any meaning.

In speaking of the practice of the Single Path, the Buddha taught,

Those who grasp at a self and cling to appearances cannot understand my teaching. Those who cultivate practices to elude life are barren fields. To cultivate the seeds of Awakening to the luminosity that illuminates all worlds you should investigate the truth of all things. They are unborn and ceaseless; are not permanent and yet indestructible; are not one thing and yet not different; do not come and go. Whether on the path of learning or having gone beyond learning, do not contrive fragmented views.

This ancient teaching of the luminosity that illumines all worlds should be engraved on your bones, right through to the marrow. This is the subtle form of the vast activity that manifests the Buddhas of the three times. If you yourself should practise this, you could unfold joy for all beings.

However, looking around at monks these days, because they base everything on their own narrow views although they polish it day and night, they are just trying to rub through to get to something. Others try to swat away wandering thoughts, hoping to clear things up by beating out the flames, so that some mysteriously silent light will shine. If you think it is just a matter of stopping thoughts then don't wood, stones, and mud already do it better than you can? This is really the worst kind of student to have because they drown themselves to avoid getting burned. Idiots. If you grasp at the practices of the two vehicles, those with only a hearsay knowledge of the Path35  and those who self-fabricate enlightenment experiences,36 and the tendencies of usual people to realise some supreme and magnificent enlightenment, you are just fooling yourselves.

So it is said,37

Those who practice according to those two vehicles might be diligent but they do not have the aspiration to actualise the Way. Those who live outside of what is real might be clever but they don't understand anything. Deluded and foolish, petty and cringing, they still look for something when I hold out my open hand.

To cultivate the mind or look for the mind like this is just being obstructed by trying to figure it out and thus obscures the primordial perfection of luminosity. It rejects the Buddha's own teachings and creates the causes for falling into the Avici hell of dense contraction.

Countless abbots and teachers from the Tang dynasty up until now have been swindling and fooling the masses with their defective views, encouraging greed and poverty-based seeking. Isn't this regrettable? I find it depressing. Even now, they wander about in their ghost caves, their thieving little minds always scheming.

Some of these people have wrongly interpreted a sudden shift in ki and certify it as Awakening. Or else someone might get up some inspiration to sit ceaselessly without ever lying down, just wear themselves out so that they lose all interest in anything and the activities of bodymind congeal into a dullness that is then wildly interpreted as being the single radiance which has no inside or out, the primordial ground, the only true condition. Taking this experience to a dim-eyed teacher and presenting it before them, these teachers cannot perceive it for what it is. Just agreeing with them, they certify them as Zen Masters and senior practitioners.

Numberless practitioners of the Way who have shallow minds and little understanding have fallen into this poison. Although we say that it is the Dark Age, the End Time for Dharma, it's still depressing.

I sincerely offer these words of advice to those who wish to truly practise:

Do not be pulled around by states of mind or objects. Do not rely on intellectual knowledge. Don't show in your hands what you receive on your seat in the Monks' Hall. Just throw body and mind into the Great Treasury of Luminosity and don't look back.

Don't try to fabricate "enlightenment" or hide from "delusion". Don't push away the arising of thoughts or crave them; don't identify. Stably, calmly, practice shikantaza, just sitting.

If you do not propagate thoughts, they will not continue themselves. Just breathing in. Just breathing out. Just so. Sitting under the open sky, weightless as a flame. Even if eighty-four thousand thoughts come and go, each will display itself as the luminosity of perfect knowing itself if you do not hold to them and allow them to just go on their own way.

This display of luminosity must not just be something you experience in sitting but in each step. This step, this step, are all the walking of luminosity. All through the day be dead to personal views or fragmented thoughts.

Breathing in, breathing out, hearing, touching, without thoughts of separation, is just the silent illumination38 of luminosity in which body and mind are single. Thus, when someone calls, you immediately answer.

In this luminosity usual people and sages, deluded and enlightened are one. In the midst of impermanence, this luminosity is unobstructed. Forests, flowers, grasses, leaves; humans and animals; large or small, long or short, square or round: all display themselves simultaneously, free of discriminating thoughts or intention. This is luminosity unobstructed in impermanence. Luminosity is its own open brilliance; it does not depend on your mind.

Luminosity has no location. When Buddhas appear in this universe, it does not arise with them. When Buddhas cease, luminosity does not cease. When you are born, luminosity is not born; when you die, luminosity does not die. Buddhas do not have more of it; sentient beings do not have less. If you are deluded, it is not; if you are enlightened, it is not. It has no rank, no form, and no name. This is the Body of Totality of all things.

You cannot grasp it; you cannot throw it away. It is unattainable. Although it is unattainable, it penetrates this whole body. From the highest heaven to the deepest hell, all realms are illuminated perfectly. This is wondrous and inconceivably subtle luminosity.

If you trust and open to the meaning of these words, you won't need to ask anyone what is right or wrong. You will intimately realise reality as if you'd come face to face with your grandfather in the village. Don't practise in order to receive a paper of certification from your teacher or predictions about when you will become a Buddha. Even less so should you be attached to clothes, food or home. Don't give in to attachment or lustful cravings.

From beginninglessness, this samadhi is the seat of Awakening, the Ocean of Awake Awareness. This zazen is the Buddha's own practice, the sitting as Awake Awareness which is transmitted from Buddha to Buddha. You are a child of the Awakened Ones, so sit calmly in his own seat. Don't sit like a hell dweller, a hungry ghost or animal, a human being or jealous beings, or shining beings, those with only hearsay knowledge or those who fabricate enlightenment experiences. Just practice this just sitting of shikantaza. Do not waste time. This is the practice place of Ordinary Mind. This is the complete practice of the Treasury of Luminosity. This is inconceivable freedom.

This essay should not be shown about but is only for those of our Lineage who have "entered the master's room." My only concern is that, whether in one's own practice or in instructing others, there should be no false or incomplete views.

 

Written at Eihei-ji in the reign of Guta, August 28, 1278.

 

 

·         1.Dogen zenji's "Komyo" chapter in Shobogenzo.

·         2.A reference to Dongshan Liangjie's "Jewel Mirror Samadhi". See Chanting Breath and Sound, Great Matter Publications, 1994, pg. 51.

·         3.Nyusshitsu.

·         4.The Mirror-like Wisdom, the Wisdom of Subtle Penetration, the Wisdom of Equality, the All-accomplishing Wisdom.

·         5.Avatamsaka sutra.

·         6.Nento-butsu. Blazing Lamp Buddha.

·         7.Mahavairocana sutra.

·         8.This saying is attributed to Nagarjuna as will be made clear later in the text. However, it is also strongly associated for the Soto Lineage with the "Jewel Mirror samadhi."

·         9.Candrasuryapradipa.

·         10.Varaprabha.

·         11.The Blue Cliff Records, case 1.

·         12.Yunmen Wenyen (Yun-men Wen-yen; Ummon Bun'en), 864-949. He appears in Blue Cliff Records 6, 8, 14, 15, 22, 27, 34, 39, 47, 50, 54, 60, 62, 77, 83, 86, 87, 88; Records of Silence 11, 19, 24, 26, 31, 40, 61, 64, 78, 82, 92, 99; Gateless Gate 15, 16, 21, 39, 48.

·         13.The Blue Cliff Records, case 86. See also Dogen's consideration of this koan in "Komyo: Luminosity." Actually, Yunmen begins by quoting a verse by Tanxia Tianren (739-824) and concludes it all by shouting, "I'd rather have nothing!" See the Yunmen lu.

·         14.See Gateless Gate, case 45.

·         15.Chang Zhou's exact dates are unknown. The Five Lamps With One Source (Wudeng huiyuan has this verse attributed to him:

The light shines silently through numberless worlds,
sages and fools and all beings are in my abode.
When no thought arises, the whole world is exposed.
If the six senses move at all, they are blocked by clouds.
Trying to cut away delusion just makes it worse.
Seeking for the ultimate you are way off track.
Live this life without obstruction
and nirvana and birth and death are just colours in a dream.

·         16.Gateless Gate, case 39.

·         17.Xuefeng Yicun (Hsueh-feng I-ts'un; Seppo Gison), 822-908. He appears in Blue Cliff Records: Bi-yen lu 5, 22, 49, 51, and 66; Records of Silence 24, 33, 50, 55, 63, 64, 92; Gateless Gate 13.

·         18.Changsha Jingcen Zhaoxien (Ch'ang-sha Ching-t'sen Chao-hsien, Chosa Keishin), d. 868. A Dharma-heir of Nanquan Puyuan and Dharma-brother of Zhaozhou Congren. He appears in Blue Cliff Records 36; Records of Silence 79. See Dogen's Komyo and Jippo.

·         19.Again, see Dogen's "Komyo: Luminosity".

·         20.Zhaozhou Congshen (Chao-chou T'sung-shen; Joshu Jushin), 778-897. He appears in Pi-en-lu (Hekiganroku) 2, 9, 30, 41, 45, 52, 57, 58, 59, 64, 80, and 96; Records of Silence 9, 10, 18, 39, 47, 57, 63; Gateless Gate 1, 7, 11, 14, 19, 31, and 37.

·         21.Nanquan Puyan Nan-chu'uan P'u-yuan; Nansen Fugan), 748-835. He appears in Blue Cliff Records 28, 31, 40, 63, 64, 69; Records of Silence 9, 10, 16, 23, 69, 79, 91, 93; Gateless Gate 14, 19, 27, 34.

·         22.Gateless Gate, case 19.

·         23.Unknown.

·         24.Yongjia (Yung-chia; Yoka), 665-713. A Tiantai master who late in life received transmission from the Sixth Ancestor Huineng.

·         25.Shodoka: The Song of Freedom by Yoka daishi, translated by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi, WWZC Archives 1987, 1994.

·         26.In the Mula Madhyamika-karika.

·         27.References to a parables in the Lotus Discourse.

·         28.The fifty-two stages of the Kegon school based on the Flower Garland Discourse.

·         29.Caoshan Benyi (Ts'ao-shan Pen-yi; Sozan Honjaku), 840-901. He appears in the Records of Silence 73, 98; Gateless Gate 10. Major Dharma-brother of Yunju Daoying.

·         30.Lingji Yixuan (Lin-chi I-hsuan; Rinzai Gigen), d. 867. He appears in Blue Cliff Records 20, 32; Records of Silence 13, 38, 80, 86, 95.

·         31.Baizhang Huaihai (Pai-chang Huai-hai; Hyakujo Ekai), 720-814. He appears in The Blue Cliff Records 26, 53, 70, 71, 72; Gateless Gate 2, 40; Records of Silence 8; Transmission of Reality 18.

·         32.Vipashyin Buddha, Sikhin Buddha, Vishvabhu Buddha, Krakucchandu Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, Kashyapa buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha.

·         33.In a crucial passage of the Lotus Discourse, Chapter 11, a jewelled stupa appears in space.

·         34.The Blue Cliff Records and The Transmission of Reality (Himitsu Shobogenzo) case 18.

·         35.Sravakas.

·         36.Pratyekabuddhas.

·         37.In the Lotus Discourse.

·         38.Mokushyo.

 

 

   Bodhidharma. Ink on grey card. 17.7 x 12.6 inches

     Hui Hai On Sudden Illumination

1. Humbly I prostrate myself before the Buddhas of the ten quarters' and the excellent company of Bodhisattvas. In setting forth this treatise, I am apprehensive that I may fail correctly to interpret the sacred mind. If so, may I be given a chance for repentance and reform. However, if I do succeed in imparting the sacred truth, I dedicate the resultant merit to all living beings in the hope that each of them will attain Buddhahood in their next life.

2. Q: What method must we practice in order to attain deliverance?
A: It can be attained only through a sudden illumination.
Q: What is a sudden illumination?
A: ‘Sudden' means ridding yourselves of deluded thoughts' instantaneously. ‘Illumination' means the realization that illumination is not something to be attained.
Q: From where do we start this practice?
A: You must start from the very root.
Q: And what is that?
A: Mind is the root.
Q: How can this be known?
A: The Lankavatara Sutra says: ‘When mental processes (hsin) arise, then do all dharmas (phenomena) spring forth; and when mental processes cease, then do all dharmas cease likewise.' The Vimalakirti Sutra says:
‘Those desiring to attain the Pure Land' must first purify their own minds, for the purification of mind is the purity of the Buddha Land. The Sutra (of the Doctrine Bequeathed by the Buddha) says: just by mind control, all things become possible to us.' In another sutra it says: ‘Sages seek from mind, not from the Buddha; fools seek from the Buddha instead of seeking from mind. Wise men regulate their minds rather than their persons; fools regulate their persons rather than their minds.' The Sutra of the Names of the Buddha states: ‘Evil springs forth from the mind, and by the mind is evil overcome.' Thus, we may know that all good and evil proceed from our minds and that mind is therefore the root. If you desire deliverance, you must first know all about the root. Unless you can penetrate to this truth, all your efforts will be vain; for, while you are still seeking something from forms external to yourselves, you will never attain. The Dhyana paramita Sutra says:
‘For as long as you direct your search to the forms around you, you will not attain your goal even after aeon upon aeon; whereas, by contemplating your inner awareness, you can achieve Buddhahood in a single flash of thought.'
Q: By what means is the root-practice to be performed?
A: Only by sitting in meditation, for it is accomplished by Dhyana (Ch'an) and samádhi (ting). The Dhyana-paramita Sutra says: ‘Dhyana and samádhi are essential to the search for the sacred knowledge of the Buddhas; for, without these, the thoughts remain in tumult and the roots of goodness suffer damage.'
Q: Please describe Dhyana and samádhi.
A: When wrong thinking ceases, that is Dhyana; when you sit contemplating your original nature, that is samádhi, for indeed that original nature is your eternal mind. By samádhi, you withdraw your minds from their surroundings, thereby making them impervious to the eight winds, that is to say, impervious to gain and loss, calumny and eulogy, praise and blame, sorrow and joy. By concentrating in this way, even ordinary people may enter the state of Buddhahood. How can that be so? The Sutra of the bodhisattva-Precepts says: ‘All beings who observe the Buddha-precept thereby enter Buddhahood.' Other names for this are ‘deliverance', ‘gaining the further shore', ‘transcending the six states of mortal being ‘overleaping the three worlds',' or becoming a mighty Bodhisattva, an omnipotent sage, a conqueror'!

3. Q: Whereon should the mind settle and dwell?
A: It should settle upon non-dwelling and there dwell.
Q: What is this non-dwelling?
A: It means not allowing the mind to dwell upon any-thing whatsoever.
Q: And what is the meaning of that?
A: Dwelling upon nothing means that the mind is not fixed upon good or evil, being or nonbeing, inside or outside, or somewhere between the two, void or non-void, concentration or distraction. This dwelling upon nothing is the state in which it should dwell; those who attain to it are said to have non-dwelling minds - in other words, they have Buddha-minds!
Q: What does mind resemble?
A: Mind has no color, such as green or yellow, red or white; it is not long or short; it does not vanish or appear; it is free from purity and impurity alike; and its duration is eternal. It is utter stillness. Such, then, is the form and shape of our original mind, which is also our original body - the Buddhakaya!
Q: By what means do this body or mind perceive? Can they perceive with the eyes, ears, nose, sense of touch and consciousness?
A: No, there are not several means of perception like that.
Q: Then, what sort of perception is involved, since it is unlike any of those already mentioned?
A: It is perception by means of your own nature (svabhava). How so? Because your own nature being essentially pure and utterly still, its immaterial and motionless ‘sub-stance' is capable of this perception."'
Q: Yet, since that pure ‘substance' cannot be found, where does such perception come from?
A: We may liken it to a bright mirror, which, though it contains no forms, can nevertheless ‘perceive' all forms. Why? Just because it is free from mental activity. if you students of the Way had minds unstained," they would not give rise to falsehood and their attachment to the subjective ego and to objective externals would vanish; then purity would arise of itself and you would thereby be capable of such perception. The Dharmapada Sutra says: ‘To establish ourselves amid perfect void-ness in a single flash is excellent wisdom indeed!'

4. Q: According to the Vajra-body chapter of the Maha-parinirvana Sutra: ‘The (indestructible) diamond-body" is imperceptible, yet it clearly perceives; it is free from discerning and yet there is nothing which it does not comprehend.' What does this mean?
A: It is imperceptible because its own nature is a formless' substance' which is intangible; hence it is called' imperceptible'; and, since it is intangible, this ‘substance' is observed to be profoundly still and neither vanishing nor appearing. Though not apart from our world, it cannot be influenced by the worldly stream; it is self-possessed and sovereign, which is the reason why it clearly perceives. It is free from discerning in that its own nature is formless and basically undifferentiated. Its comprehending every-thing means that the undifferentiated ‘substance' is endowed with functions as countless as the sands of the Ganges; and, if all phenomena were to be discerned simultaneously, it would comprehend all of them without exception. In the Prajna Gatha it is written:
Prajna, unknowing, knows all,
Prajna, unseeing, sees all.

5.Q: There is a sutra, which says that not to perceive anything in terms of being, or nonbeing is true deliverance. What does it mean?
A: When we attain to purity of mind, that is something, which can be said to exist. When this happens, our remaining free from any thought of achievement is called ‘not perceiving anything as existent'; while reaching the state in which no thoughts arise or persist, yet without being conscious of their absence, is called ‘not perceiving anything as nonexistent'. So it is written: ‘Not to perceive anything in terms of being and nonbeing,' etc. The Shurangama Sutra says: ‘Perceptions employed as a base for building up positive concepts are the origin of all ignorance (avidya);" perception that there is nothing to perceive - that is nirvana, also known as deliverance.'

6.Q: What is the meaning of ‘nothing to perceive'?
A: Being able to behold men, women and all the various sorts of appearances while remaining as free from love or aversion as if they were actually not seen at all - that is what is meant by ‘nothing to perceive'.
Q: That which occurs when we are confronted by all sorts of shapes and forms is called ‘perception'. Can we speak of perception taking place when nothing confronts us?
A: Yes.
Q: When something confronts us, it follows that we perceive it, but how can there be perception when we are confronted by nothing at all?
A: We are now talking of that perception which is independent of there being an object or not. How can that be? The nature of perception being eternal, we go on perceiving whether objects are present or not." Thereby we come to understand that, whereas objects naturally appear and disappear, the nature of perception does neither of those things; and it is the same with all your other senses.
Q: When we are looking at something, does the thing looked at exist objectively within the sphere of perception or not?
A: No, it does not.
Q: When we (look around and) do not see anything, is there an absence of something objective within the sphere of perception?
A: No, there is not.

7.Q: When there are sounds, hearing occurs. When there are no sounds, does hearing persist or not?
A: It does.
Q: When there are sounds it follows that we hear them, but how can hearing take place during the absence of sound?
A: We are now talking of that hearing which is independent of there being any sound or not. How can that be? The nature of hearing being eternal, we continue to hear whether sounds are present or not.
Q: if that is so, who or what is the hearer?
A: It is your own nature, which hears, and it is the inner cognizer who knows.
Q: As to the gateway of sudden illumination, what are its doctrine, its aim, its substance and its function?"
A: To refrain from thinking (nien) is its doctrine; not to allow wrong thoughts to arise is its aim; purity is its substance, and wisdom is its function.
Q: We have said that its doctrine is to refrain from thinking, but we have not yet examined the meaning of this term. What is it that we must refrain from thinking about?
A: It means that we must refrain from wrong thinking, but not from right thinking.
Q: What are wrong thinking and right thinking?
A: Thinking in terms of being and nonbeing is called ‘wrong thinking', while not thinking in those terms is called, right thinking'. Similarly, thinking in terms of good and evil is wrong; not to think so is right thinking. The same applies to all the other categories of opposites - sorrow and joy, beginning and end, acceptance and rejection, dislikes and likes, aversion and love, all of which are called ‘wrong thinking', while to abstain from thinking in those categories is called ‘right thinking'.
Q: Please define ‘right thinking' (more positively).
A: It means thinking solely of bodhi (enlightenment).
Q: Is bodhi something tangible?
A: It is not.
Q: But how can we think solely of bodhi if it is intangible?
A: It is as though bodhi were a mere name applied to something, which, in fact, is intangible, something that never has been nor ever will be attained. Being intangible, it cannot be thought about, and it is just this not thinking about it, which is called ‘rightly thinking of bodhi as some-thing not to be thought about'- for this implies that your mind dwells upon nothing whatsoever. The term ‘not to be thought about' is like the various kinds of not-thinking mentioned earlier, all of which are but names convenient for use in certain circumstances - all are of the one sub-stance in which no differences or diversities exist. Simply to be conscious of mind as resting upon nothing whatsoever is to be without thought; and whoever reaches this state is naturally delivered.

8.Q: What is the meaning of ‘to act as the Buddhas do'?
A: It means total abstention from action, which is also termed ‘right' or ‘holy' action. It is very similar to what we were talking about before, for it means not acting as if things really are or are not, and not acting from motives of aversion, love and all the rest. The Great Canon (Monastic Rules says: ‘The sages do not act like other beings; nor do other beings act like the sages.'

9.Q: What does right perception mean?
A: It means perceiving that there is nothing to perceive.
Q: And what does that mean?
A: it means beholding all sorts of forms, but without being stained by them, as no thoughts of love or aversion arise in the mind. Reaching this state is called ‘obtaining the Buddha-eye', which really means just that and nothing else. Whereas, if the spectacle of various forms produces love or aversion in you, that is called ‘perceiving them as though they had objective existence', which implies having the eye of an ordinary person, for indeed ordinary people have no other sort of eye. It is the same with all the other organs of perception.

10. Q: When you said that wisdom is the function, what did you mean by wisdom?
A: The knowledge that by realizing the void-ness of all opposites, deliverance is assured and that, without this realization, you will never gain deliverance. This is what we call ‘wisdom' or ‘knowing wrong from right'. Another name for it is ‘knowing the function of the substance' Concerning the unreality of opposites, it is the wisdom inherent in the ‘substance' which makes it known that to realize their void-ness means liberation and that there can be no more doubt about it. This is what we mean by ‘function'. In speaking thus of the unreality of opposites, we refer to the nonexistence of relativities such as ‘is' and ‘is not', ‘good' and ‘evil', ‘love' and ‘aversion', and so on.
Q: By what means can the gateway of our school be entered?
A: By means of the Dana paramita.
Q: According to the Buddha, the Bodhisattva path comprises six paramitas. Why, then, have you mentioned only the one? Please explain why this one alone provides a sufficient means for us to enter.
A: Deluded people fail to understand that the other five all proceed from the Dana paramita and that by its practice all the others are fulfilled.
Q: Why is it called the Dana paramita?
A: ‘Dana' means ‘relinquishment'.
Q: Relinquishment of what?
A: Relinquishment of the dualism of opposites.
Q: Which means?
A: It means total relinquishment of ideas as to the dual nature of good and bad, being and nonbeing, love and aversion, void and non-void, concentration and distraction, pure and impure. By giving all of them up, we attain to a state in which all opposites are seen as void. The real practice of the Dana paramita entails achieving this state without any thought of ‘now I see that opposites are void', or' now I have relinquished all of them'. We may also call it ‘the simultaneous cutting off of the myriad types of con-current causes'; for it is when these are cut off that the whole Dharma-nature becomes void; and this void-ness of the Dharma-nature means the non-dwelling of the mind upon anything whatsoever. Once that state is achieved, not a single form can be discerned. Why? Because our self-nature is immaterial and does not contain a single thing (foreign to itself). That which contains no single thing is true reality, the marvelous form of the Tathágata - it is said in the Diamond Sutra: ‘Those who relinquish all forms are called "Buddhas" (enlightened ones).'
Q: However, the Buddha did speak of six paramitas, so why do you now say they can all be fulfilled in that one? Please give your reason for this.
A: The Sutra of the Questions of Brahma says: ‘Jala-vidya, the elder, spoke unto Brahma and said, Bodhisattvas by relinquishing all defilement's (klesha) may be said to have fulfilled the Dana paramita, also known as ‘total relinquishment'; being beguiled by nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the síla paramita, also known as, observing the precepts'; being hurt by nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the kshanti paramita, also known as ‘exercising forbearance'; clinging to nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the virya paramita, also known as ‘exercising zeal'; dwelling on nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the Dhyana paramita, also known as ‘practicing Dhyana and samádhi'; speaking lightly of nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the prajña paramita, also known as ‘exercising wisdom'. Together, they are named 'the six methods'."' Now I am going to speak about those six methods in a way which means precisely the same - the first entails relinquishment; the second, no arising (of perception, sensation, etc); the third, no thinking; the fourth, remaining apart from forms; the fifth, non-abiding (of the mind); and the sixth, no indulgence in light speech. We give different names to these six methods only for convenience in dealing with passing needs; for, when we come to the marvelous principle involved in them all, we find no differences at all. So you have only to understand that, by a single act of relinquishment, everything is relinquished; and that no arising means no arising of anything whatsoever. Those who have lost their way have no intuitive understanding of this; that is why they speak of the methods as though they differed from one another. Fools bogged down in a multiplicity of methods revolve endlessly from life span to life span. I exhort you students to practice the way of relinquishment and nothing else, for it brings to perfection not only the other five paramitas, but also myriads of dharmas (methods).

11. Q: What are the ‘three methods of training (to be performed) at the same level' and what is meant by performing them on the same level?
A: They are discipline (vinaya), concentration (Dhyana) and wisdom (prajña)."
Q: Please explain them one by one.
A: Discipline involves stainless purity. Concentration involves the stilling of your minds so that you remain wholly unmoved by surrounding phenomena. Wisdom means that your stillness of mind is not disturbed by your giving any thought to that stillness, that your purity is unmarred by your entertaining any thought of purity and that, in the midst of all such pairs of opposites as good and evil, you are able to distinguish between them without being stained by them and, in this way, to reach the state of being perfectly at ease and free of all dependence. Furthermore, if you realize that discipline, concentration and wisdom are all alike in that their substance is intangible and that, hence, they are undivided and therefore one - that is what is meant by three methods of training performed at the same level.

12. Q: When the mind rests in a state of purity, will that not give rise to some attachment to purity?
A: If, on reaching the state of purity, you refrain from thinking ‘now my mind is resting in purity', there will be no such attachment.
Q: When the mind rests in a state of void, will that not entail some attachment to void?
A: if you think of your mind as resting in a state of void, then there will be such an attachment.
Q: When the mind reaches this state of not dwelling upon anything, and continues in that state, will there not be some attachment to its not dwelling upon anything?
A: So long as your mind is fixed solely on void, there is nothing to which you can attach yourself. If you want to understand the non-dwelling mind very clearly, while you are actually sitting in meditation, you must be cognizant only of the mind and not permit yourself to make judgments - that is, you must avoid evaluations in terms of good, evil, or anything else. Whatever is past is past, so do not sit in judgment upon it; for, when minding about the past ceases of itself, it can be said that there is no longer any past. Whatever is in the future is not here yet, so do not direct your hopes and longings towards it; for, when minding about the future ceases of itself, it can be said that there is no future. Whatever is present is now at hand; just be conscious of your nonattachment to every-thing - nonattachment in the sense of not allowing any love or aversion for anything to enter your mind; for, when minding the present ceases of itself, we may say that there is no present. When there is no clinging to any of those three periods, they may be said not to exist. Should your mind wander away, do not follow it, whereupon your wandering mind will stop wandering of its own accord. Should your mind desire to linger somewhere, do not follow it and do not dwell there, whereupon your mind's questing for a dwelling place will cease of its own accord. Thereby, you will come to possess a non-dwelling mind - a mind that remains in the state of non-dwelling. If you are fully aware in yourself of a non-dwelling mind, you will discover that there is just the fact of dwelling, with nothing to dwell upon or not to dwell upon. This full awareness in yourself of a mind dwelling upon nothing is known as having a clear perception of your own mind, or, in other words, as having a clear perception of your own nature. A mind, which dwells upon nothing, is the Buddha-mind, the mind of one already delivered, bodhi-mind, un-create mind; it is also called ‘realization that the nature of all appearances is unreal'. It is this, which the sutras call ‘patient realization of the un-create'. If you have not realized it yet, you must strive and strive, you must increase your exertions. Then, when your efforts are crowned with success, you will have attained to understanding from within yourself - an understanding stemming from a mind that abides nowhere, by which we mean a mind free from delusion and reality alike. A mind disturbed by love and aversion is deluded; a mind free from both of them is real; and a mind thus freed reaches the state in which opposites are seen as void, whereby freedom and deliverance are obtained.

13. Q: Are we to make this effort only when we are sitting in meditation, or also when we are walking about?
A: When I spoke just now of making an effort, I did not mean only when you are sitting in meditation; for, whether you are walking, standing, sitting, lying, or what-ever you are doing, you must uninterruptedly exert your-selves all the time. This is what we call ‘constantly abiding' (in that state).

14. Q: The Vaipula Sutra says: ‘Of the five kinds of Dharmakaya, the first is the Dharmakaya of the Absolute; the second is the Dharmakaya of merit; the third is the Dharmakaya of the Dharma-nature; the Dharmakaya of infinite manifestations is the fourth; and the Dharmakaya of the void is the fifth.' Which one is our own body? A: To comprehend that mind is imperishable is to possess the Dharmakaya of the Dharma-nature. To comprehend that all the myriad forms are contained in mind is to possess the Dharmakaya of merit. To comprehend that mind is not mind is to possess the Dharmakaya of the true nature of all. To teach living beings according to their individual capacities for conversion is to possess the Dharmakaya of infinite manifestation. To comprehend that mind is formless and intangible is to possess the Dharmakaya of the void. If you understand the meaning of all this, it implies that you know there is nothing to be achieved. Realizing that there is nothing tangible, nothing achievable - this is achieving the Dharmakaya of the Buddha-dharma." Anyone who supposes they can achieve it by getting hold of, or grasping at, something is full of self-conceit - an arrogant person with perverted views, a person of heterodox beliefs. The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra says: ‘Shariputra enquired of a devakanya," "What is it you have won? What achievement has given you such powers of speech?" To which the devakanya replied, "It was my winning and achieving nothing which enabled me to reach this state. According to the Buddha-dharma, someone who wins and achieves things is a person full of self-conceit. "'

15. Q: The sutras speak not only of Samyak Sambodhi (full enlightenment), but also of a marvelous enlightenment lying even beyond that. Please explain these terms. A: Samyak-Sambodhi is the realization of the identity of form and void-ness. Marvelous enlightenment is the realization of the absence of opposites, or we can say that it means the state of neither enlightenment nor non-enlightenment.
Q: Do these two sorts of enlightenment really differ or not?
A: Their names are expediently used for the sake of temporary convenience, but in substance they are one, being neither dual nor different. This oneness and sameness characterize all phenomena of whatever kind.

16. Q: What is the meaning of a passage in the Diamond Sutra which states that ‘having absolutely nothing describable in words is called "preaching the Dharma"? A: Prajna (wisdom) is a substance of absolute purity, which contains no single thing on which to lay hold. This is the meaning of ‘nothing describable in words'. Yet that immaterial and motionless Prajna is capable of whatever functions are befitting - functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; so there is nothing at all which it does not comprehend; and this is what is implied by the words ‘preaching the Dharma'. Therefore is it written:
‘Having absolutely nothing describable in words is called "preaching the Dharma".'
Q: (The Diamond Sutra also says:) ‘If a virtuous man or woman holds to, studies and recites this sutra, and is despised by others, this person, who was bound to suffer an evil destiny in retribution for his or her past sins and whose karmic sins are now eradicated by the others' contempt, will attain anuttarasamyaksambodhi.' Please explain this.
A: Their case resembles that of those who, not having met an enlightened teacher, continue building up nothing but evil karma for themselves, so that their pure original mind obscured by the three poisons stemming from primordial ignorance, cannot show forth, which is the reason for our calling them despicable. Then, just because they are despised in this life, they grow determined to seek out the Way of the Buddhas without delay; and, thereby, their ignorance is conquered so that the three poisons cease to be generated, whereat their original mind shines forth brilliantly. The tumult of their thoughts is thenceforth stilled, for all the evil in them has been destroyed. It is their having been despicable which has led to the conquest of ignorance, the cessation of their mental tumult and - as a natural consequence of that - to their deliverance. Therefore is it written that bodhi is attainable at the very moment we make up our minds to achieve it - that is to say in this life and not in some other lives to come.
Q: It is also written that the Tathágata has five kinds of vision. What are they?
A: The perception that all appearances are pure (i.e. real) is called ‘earthly vision'. The perception that their substance is pure (real) is called ‘heavenly vision'. Ability to distinguish the minutest differences among the appearances constituting our environment, as well as the smallest gradations of good and evil, and yet to be so entirely unaffected by them that we remain perfectly at ease amidst all of them - that is called ‘the wisdom vision'. The perception that there is nothing to perceive is called ‘the dharma vision'. No perception, yet nothing unperceived, is called ‘the Buddha vision'.
Q: It is also written that there is a Great Vehicle (Mahayana) and a Supreme Vehicle. What are they?
A: The former is that of the Bodhisattvas; the latter is that of the Buddhas.
Q: By what means can they be attained?
A: The means for gaining the Bodhisattvas' vehicle are those of the Mahayana. Attaining to it and thenceforth remaining so free from discursive thought that even the concept of ‘a means' no longer exists for you - such utter tranquility" with nothing to be added to it, nothing to be taken away, is called ‘attainment of the Supreme Vehicle', which is that of the Buddhas!

17. Q: The Maha parinirvana Sutra says: ‘Excess of Dhyana (ting) over wisdom (hui) provides no way out from primordial ignorance (avidya), while excess of wisdom over Dhyana leads to piling up false views; but, when Dhyana and wisdom function on the same level, that is what we call "deliverance" What does it all mean? A: ‘Wisdom' means the ability to distinguish every sort of good and evil; ‘Dhyana' means that, though making these distinctions, you remain wholly unaffected by love or aversion for them - such is the explanation of Dhyana and wisdom functioning on the same level.

18. Q: That sutra also says: ‘No words, nothing to say - this is called "Dhyana".' But can we also speak of being in Dhyana while we are engaged in talking?
A: My definition of Dhyana just now referred to that perpetual Dhyana which is unaffected by speech or silence. Why? Since the nature of Dhyana functions even while we are engaged in speaking, or in making distinctions, our speech and those distinctions also pertain to Dhyana. Similarly, when we contemplate forms with our minds in a state of void-ness, the void-ness persists as much during the act of regarding those forms as when we are neither speaking nor engaged in any other kind of discursive activity. The same applies to our seeing, hearing, feeling and consciousness. How so? Because, as our own nature is void, it remains so in all situations; being void, it is free from attachment, and it is this detachment which makes possible the simultaneous functioning of Dhyana and wisdom on the same level. All Bodhisattvas employ this method of universalizing void-ness, which enables them to attain the final goal. Therefore is it written: When Dhyana and wisdom function on the same level, that is what we call "deliverance" Now I shall give you a further example in order to clarify this, so as to awaken your understanding and set your doubts at rest. Take the case of a bright mirror. When it is reflecting something, does its brightness waver? No, it does not. And when it is not reflecting some-thing, does its brightness waver, then? No. But why is this so? It is unwavering whether an object is present or not because it has the property of reflecting without any sensation being experienced. And so? Where no sensation is present there can be neither movement nor absence of movement. Or take the case of the sunlight. Do the sunbeams waver when they shine upon the earth? No. Or do they waver when they do not encounter the earth? No, they do not. Why? Because they are devoid of sensation. That they do not waver whether they encounter something or not is due to their property of shining without experiencing sensation. The quality of being able to reflect (or shine)" pertains to wisdom, while that of perfect steadiness pertains to Dhyana. It is the Bodhisattvas' employment of this method of equalizing Dhyana and wisdom, which enables them to attain Sambodhi (supreme enlightenment). Therefore is it written: ‘When Dhyana and wisdom are on the same level, that is what we call "deliverance" However, when I spoke just now of absence of sensation, I meant freedom from ordinary sensations, not from holy sensation.
Q: How do they differ?
A: Ordinary sensations are those involving duality of feeling; holy sensation pertains to realization of the void-ness of opposites.

19. Q: The sutra says: ‘The path of words and speech is cut off; the mind's activities cease.' What does this mean?
A: Words and speech are to reveal the Dharma's meaning; but, once that meaning is understood, speech is discarded. Meaning is immaterial; that which is immaterial is Tao (truth), and Tao is inexpressible. Hence ‘the path of words and speech is cut off.' By ‘the mind's activities cease' is meant that, upon actual realization of the Dharma's significance, no further contemplation is required. That which lies beyond our contemplation is the un-create. Being uncreated, the nature of all appearances is void. Because their nature is (seen to be) void, all their concurrent causes are eradicated, and that eradication involves the cessation of the mind's activities.

20. Q: What is Suchness (Ju-ju, Bhutatathata)?
A: Suchness signifies immutability. Since mind is immutable, we term it Suchness. Hence it can be known that all the Buddhas of the past attained enlightenment by conducting themselves in accord with this immutability. With the Buddhas of the present it is likewise and so will it be with the Buddhas of the future. Since all practice, whether past, present, or future, culminates in the same attainment of enlightenment, it is called ‘the attainment of Suchness'. The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra says:
‘Thus has it ever been with all the Buddhas; thus will it be with Maitreya and with every other sentient being as well. Why so? Because the Buddha-nature is eternally and uninterruptedly self-existent.

21. Q: Does the (teaching concerning the) identity of matter and the immaterial (void), and that of ordinary and holy, pertain to the doctrine of sudden illumination?
A: Yes.
Q: What do you mean by the identity of matter and void and of ordinary and holy?
A: When mind is stained by attachment, materiality is there; when it is free from stain, immateriality is there. Stained mind is ordinary and unstained mind is holy. The Absolute is self-existent, which implies the identity of the immaterial and matter; but, since the latter is not discover-able it is in fact immaterial. Here, we are using ‘immaterial' with reference to the void nature of form, not to mean (the kind of) void-ness which would result from form's annihilation." Similarly, we are using ‘material' with reference to the nature of the immaterial, which exists of itself, not in the sense that the material can be matter (as ordinarily understood).

22. Q: What are the exhaustibles and the inexhaustibles mentioned in the sutra?
A: On account of the void nature of all dualities, when seeing and hearing no longer take place, that is exhaustion meaning the end of passions (asravaksaya). ‘Inexhaustible' connotes the uncreated substance complete with marvelous functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. These functions respond to all the needs (of sentient beings) without occasioning the smallest diminution of substance. Such, then, are the exhaustibles and inexhaustibles mentioned in the sutras .
Q: Are the exhaustibles and inexhaustibles really identical, or are they different things?
A: In substance they are one, but they are spoken of separately.
Q: Yet, if they are one in substance, why should they be spoken of separately?
A: ‘One' denotes the substance of speech, and speech is a function of that substance; it is employed as circumstances require. That is why they are said to be of the same substance but spoken of separately. We may liken this to the fact that, although only the one sun appears in the sky above, its reflections are caught by water held by many different receptacles, so that each of those receptacles ‘contains a sun' and every ‘sun' is both complete in itself and yet identical with the sun in the sky. Therefore, although the suns are of the same substance, they are spoken of separately with reference to the various receptacles. Hence (things of) the same substance are spoken of differently. Moreover, although every one of the suns manifested below is perfect and entire, the sun in the sky is not in the least diminished by them - hence the term ‘inexhaustible'.
Q: A sutra speaks of ‘no coming into existence and no ceasing to exist'. To what sort of dharmas (phenomena) do these words apply?
A: They mean the not coming into existence of unwholesome phenomena and the never ceasing to exist of wholesome phenomena-"
Q: What are wholesome and unwholesome phenomena?
A: A mind stained by attachments and leaking" is unwholesome; a mind freed from these characteristics is wholesome. It is only when no stains or leaking occur that unwholesomeness does not arise; and, when freedom from stains and leaking is attained; there is purity, perfection and brilliance - a deep, everlasting and unwavering stillness. This is what is meant by ‘wholesome phenomena not ceasing to be'; it explains the term ‘no coming into existence, or ceasing to exist'.

23. Q: The Precepts of the Bodhisattvas says: ‘When sentient beings observe the Buddha-precept, they enter upon the status of Buddhahood - a status identical with full enlightenment - and thereby they become true sons of the Buddhas.' What does this mean?
A: The Buddha-precept denotes perfect purity of mind. If someone undertakes the practice of purity, and thereby attains a mind unmoved by sensory perceptions, we speak of that person as one who observes the Buddha-precept. All the Buddhas up to this day have practiced purity unmoved by sensory perceptions and it was by means of this that they attained Buddhahood. In these days, if people undertake its practice, their merit is equal to and does not differ from that of the Buddhas; hence they are said to have entered upon the status of Buddha-hood. Illumination thus obtained is precisely the illumination of a Buddha, so such a person's status is said to be identical with full enlightenment. Those people really are sons of the Buddhas and their pure mind begets wisdom. One whose wisdom is pure is called ‘a son of the Buddhas', or ‘this Buddha son'.

24. Q: As to the Buddha and the Dharma, which of them anteceded the other? if the Dharma came first, how can there have been a Buddha to preach it; but, if a Buddha came first, then what doctrine led to his attainment?
A: The Buddhas anteceded the Dharma in one sense, but came after it in another.
Q: How is that possible?
A: If you mean the quiescent Dharma, then the Dharma anteceded the Buddhas; but, if you mean the written or spoken Dharma, then it was the Buddhas who came first and the Dharma, which followed them. How so? Because every one of the Buddhas attained Buddhahood by means of the quiescent Dharma - in that sense, the Dharma anteceded them. The ‘teacher of all the Buddhas' mentioned in the sutra is the Dharma; it was not until they had attained Buddhahood that they first embarked upon their detailed exposition of the Twelve Divisions of the sutras for the purpose of converting sentient beings. When these sentient beings follow and practice the Dharma preached by previous Buddhas, thereby attaining Buddhahood that is also a case of the Dharma anteceding the Buddha.

25. Q: What is meant by ‘proficiency in teaching, but not in transmssion?
A: It refers to those whose words are at variance with their deeds.
Q: And what is meant by ‘proficiency in transmission and also in teaching'?
A: it refers to people whose words are confirmed by their deeds.

26. Q: What is meant by ‘the reachable not reached' and by ‘the unreachable reached'?
A: By ‘the reachable not reached' is meant speech not supported by deeds; by ‘the unreachable reached' is meant deeds performing what speech fails to reach; and, when both speech and deeds attain the goal, this is ‘complete reaching', or ‘double reaching'.

27. Q: Please explain the two statements: ‘The Buddha-dharma neither annihilates the worldly (yu wei) nor gets bogged down in the transcendental (wu wei)."'
A: The first means that the Buddha never rejected any thing phenomenal from the moment when he first deter-mined upon his quest up to the time when he achieved enlightenment beneath the bodhi tree, and from then up to his entrance into parinirvana beneath the twin sala trees. This is ‘non-annihilation of the worldly'. The other statement means that, although he achieved absence of thought, he never looked upon this as an attainment; that, although he reached immaterial and non-active bodhi and nirvana, he never held that these states marked an attainment. This is what is meant by ‘not getting bogged down in the transcendental'.

28. Q: Is there really a hell?
A: There is and there is not.
Q: How so?
A: In that our minds have constructed many sorts of evil karma, there is hell; but, since everyone's self-nature is void, for those whose minds have been freed of attachment's stains there can be no hell.
Q: Do evildoers possess the Buddha-nature?
A: Yes, they have it too.
Q: Then, if they too have this nature, does it enter hell with them or not?
A: It does not enter with them.
Q: But, when they enter hell, where is their Buddha-nature?
A: It also enters hell.
Q: That being so, while they are undergoing punishment there, does their Buddha-nature share the punishment?
A: No. Although the Buddha-nature remains with these people while they are in hell, it is the individuals themselves who suffer; the Buddha-nature is fundamentally beyond punishment.
Q: Yet, if they enter together, how can the Buddha-nature not suffer?
A: Sentient beings possess forms and whatsoever has form is subject to formation and destruction's whereas the Buddha-nature is form-less and, being form-less, is immaterial, for which reason it is the very nature of the void itself and cannot be destroyed. Were someone to make a pile of faggots in a vacuum, the faggots could come to harm but not the vacuum. In this analogy, the vacuum symbolizes the Buddha-nature and the faggots represent sentient beings. Therefore it is written: ‘They enter together but do not suffer together.'

29. Q: Regarding the quotation ‘Transform the eight states of consciousness (parijnana) into the four Buddha-wisdoms and bind the four Buddha-wisdoms to form the trikaya, which of the eight states of consciousness must be combined to form one Buddha-wisdom and which of them will each become a Buddha-wisdom in itself?
A: Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are the five states of consciousness, which together form the perfecting wisdom. The intellect, or sixth state of consciousness, alone becomes the profound observing wisdom. Discriminative awareness, or the seventh state of consciousness, alone becomes the universal wisdom. The storehouse of consciousness, or eighth state, alone becomes the great mirror wisdom.
Q: Do these four wisdoms really differ?
A: In substance they are the same, but they are differently named.
Q: Yet, if they are one in substance, why do their names differ'? Or, allowing that their names are given according to circumstances, what is it that, being of one substance (with the rest), is (nevertheless called) ‘the great mirror wisdom'?
A: That which is clearly void and still, bright and imperturbable, is the great mirror wisdom. That which can face defilements without love or aversion arising and which thereby exhibits the nonexistent nature of all such dualities is the universal wisdom. That, which can range the fields of the senses with unexcelled ability to discern things, yet without giving rise to tumultuous thoughts, so that it is fully independent and at ease, is the profound observing wisdom. That which can convert all the senses with their functions of responding to circumstances into correct sensation free from duality is the perfecting wisdom.
Q: As to ‘binding the four Buddha-wisdoms to form the trikaya', which of them combine to form one body and which of them each becomes a body in itself?
A: The great mirror wisdom singly forms the Dharma-kaya. The universal wisdom singly forms the Sambhogakaya. The profound observing wisdom and the perfecting wisdom jointly form the Nirmanakaya. These three bodies are only named differently to enable unenlightened people to see more clearly. Once the principle is understood, there will be no more three bodies with functions responding to various needs. Why? Formless in substance and by nature, they are established in the basically impermanent, ‘ which is not their own (true basis) at all.

30. Q: What is meant by perceiving the real Buddhakaya?
A: It means no longer perceiving anything as existing or not existing.
Q: But what is the actual meaning of that definition?
A: ‘Existence' is a term used in contradistinction to, nonexistence,' while the latter is used in opposition to the former. Unless you begin by accepting the first concept as valid, the other cannot stand. Similarly, without the concept of nonexistence, how can that of existence have meaning? These two owe their being to mutual dependence and pertain to the realm of birth and death. It is just by avoiding such dual perception that we may come to behold the real Buddhakaya .
Q: If even the concepts of existence and nonexistence are invalid how can that of a real Buddhakaya have validity?
A: Only because you are asking about it! When such questions are not asked, the concept of a Buddhakaya is not valid. Why? Take the case of a mirror; confronted by objects, it reflects them; un-confronted, it reflects nothing.

31. Q: What is meant by ‘being never apart from the Buddha?'
A: Having a mind freed from the going and coming of concepts, its stillness unaffected by environmental forms so that it remains eternally void and motionless - this is being never apart from the Buddha.

32.Q: What is the meaning of the transcendental (wu wei, unconditioned, asamskrta)?
A: it is worldly (yu wei, conditioned, samskrta).
Q: I enquired about the transcendental. Why do you say it is worldly?
A: ‘Worldly' is a term valid only in contradistinction to ‘transcendental'. The latter derives its meaning from the former. If you do not accept the one as a valid concept, the other cannot be retained. But if you are speaking of the real transcendental, that pertains neither to the worldly nor to the transcendental. Yes, the real transcendental is like that! Why? The Diamond Sutra says: ‘If their minds grasp the Dharma, they will still cling to the notion of an ego (a being and a life); if their minds grasp the non-Dharma, they will still cling to the notion of an ego (a being and a life). Therefore, we should not grasp at and hold onto the notions either of Dharma or of not-Dharma.' This is holding to the true Dharma. If you understand this doctrine, that is true deliverance - that, indeed, is reaching the gate of non-duality.

33.Q: What is the significance of the term ‘middle way'?
A: It signifies the extremes.
Q: I enquired about the middle way; why do you say it signifies the extremes?
A: Extremes are only valid in contradistinction to the middle way. If at first you do not postulate extremes, from what can you derive the concept of a middle way? This middle you are talking about was first used in relation to extremes. Hence, we should realize that middle and extremes owe their existence to their mutual dependence and that all of them are transient. The same rule applies equally to the skandhas - form, sensation, perceptions, impulses (or volitions) and consciousness.

34. Q: What are these things, which we call the five skandhas?
A: The propensity to allow the forms we encounter to set their stain upon us, thereby arousing forms in our minds, is called ‘the skandha of form'. As this leads to the reception of the eight winds" which encourage the piling up of wrong notions, sensations are aroused and this is called the skandha of sensation'. Thereupon, the deluded mind takes to perceiving (individual sensations) and perception is aroused, and this is called ‘the skandha of perception'. This leads to the piling up of impulses (based on likes and dislikes) and this is called ‘the skandha of impulse (or volition)'. Accordingly, within the undifferentiated substance, error gives rise to the notion of plurality and countless attachments are formed, whereat false consciousness (or wrong understanding) arises, and this is called ‘the skandha of consciousness'. It is thus that we define the five skandhas.

35. Q: A sutra says that there are twenty-five factors of existence. What are they?
A: This term refers to our having to undergo future incarnations or rebirths taking place within the six realms. Owing to the delusions filling our minds during the present life, we sentient beings have become closely bound by all sorts of karma and will receive rebirth in exact accordance with our karmic state. Hence the term ‘reincarnation.' How-ever, if during a given existence there are people deter-mined upon doing their utmost to gain deliverance and who thereby attain to the state of no rebirth, they will leave the three worlds for ever and never more have to be reborn. This implies attainment of the Dharmakaya in the absolute sense of Buddhakaya.
Q: How do these twenty-five factors of existence differ from one another?
A: Their basic substance is one. However, when we name them in accordance with their various functions, there appear to be twenty-five of them. This figure really connotes the ten evils, the ten virtues, and the five skandhas.
Q: What are the ten evils and the ten virtues?
A: The ten evils are: killing, stealing, licentiousness, lying, voluptuous speech, slander, coarse language, covetousness, anger, and false views." The ten virtues may be simply defined as absence of the ten evils.

36. Q: A little while ago you spoke of refraining from thinking (nien), but you did not finish your explanation.
A: It means not fixing your mind upon anything any-where, but totally withdrawing it from the phenomena surrounding you, so that even the thought (szu) of seeking for something does not remain; it means that your mind, confronted by all the forms composing your environment, remains placid and motionless. This abstaining from all thought whatever is called real thought; but to keep on thinking is deluded thinking and certainly not the right way to think. Why is that? A sutra says: ‘If you teach people to entertain the six meritorious thoughts, that is called "teaching them to think in the wrong way".' So, even entertaining those six thoughts is termed ‘deluded thinking', while abstaining from them is known as ‘real thought'. A sutra says: ‘O virtuous one, it is through abiding in the Dharma of no thought that we obtain this golden color and these thirty-two bodily marks of Buddhahood which emit an effulgent radiance that penetrates the entire universe.' Such inconceivable merits even the Buddhas cannot describe in full; how much the less can the devotees of other vehicles know about them! Those who achieve abstention from thought" are naturally able to enter upon the Buddha-perception, for their six senses can no longer stain their minds. Such an attainment is called ‘entering the treasury of the Buddhas', also known as ‘the treasury of the Dharma', which enables you to perform the Dharmas of all Buddhas. How can that be so? Because of abstention from thought. The same sutra says: ‘All Buddhas are produced by this sutra.'
Q: if we esteem absence of thought, how can the notion of ‘entering upon Buddha-perception' have any validity?
A: Its validity stems from absence of thought. How so? A sutra says: ‘All things take their stand upon the basis of non-abiding.' It also says: ‘Take the case of a bright mirror; though it contains no forms, it can manifest a myriad forms.' Why is this? It is because of its brightness (stainless clarity) that it is able to reflect them. You disciples, if your minds are stainless, will thereby be freed from entertaining erroneous thoughts; the stirring of your minds by the notion of ‘self' and ‘others' will vanish; there will be nothing but purity (stainlessness) on account of which you will become capable of unlimited perception. Sudden illumination means deliverance while still in this life. How shall I make you understand that? You may be compared to lion cubs, which are genuine lions from the time of their birth;" for, with those who undertake to become suddenly illumined, it is just like that. The moment they practice it, they enter the Buddha-stage, just as the shoots put forth by bamboos in spring will have grown to resemble the parent plants without the least difference remaining even before spring has departed. Why so? Because the minds of these people are void. Likewise, they who undertake sudden illumination cut off erroneous thoughts at a stroke, thereby eliminating the duality of selfness and otherness, so that perfect void-ness and stillness supervene - thereby parity with the Buddhas is achieved without one jot of difference remaining. Therefore it is written that the most ordinary beings are profoundly holy. Those who undertake sudden illumination transcend the three realms of existence within this very life! As a sutra says: ‘Transcend the world from its very midst; enter nirvana ere ridding yourselves of Samsára's if you do not employ this method of sudden illumination, you will be like a jackal following and imitating a lion but unable to become a lion even after hundreds and thousands of aeons.
Q: Is the nature of the Absolute (Chan-ju) a true void, or not really void? To describe it as not void is to imply that it has form- yet to speak of it as void implies extinction (mere nothingness) and what would then be left for sentient beings to rely on in their practice for attaining deliverance?
A: The nature of the Absolute is void and yet not void. How so? The marvelous' substance' of the Absolute, having neither form nor shape, is therefore undiscoverable; hence it is void. Nevertheless, that immaterial, formless ‘substance' contains functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, functions, which respond unfailingly to circumstances, so it is also described, as not void. A sutra says: ‘Understand the one point and a thousand others will accordingly grow clear; misunderstand that one and ten thousand delusions will encompass you. He who holds to that one has no more problems to solve.' This is the great marvelous awakening to the Way (truth). As one of the sutras says:
‘The myriad forms dense and close bear the imprint of a single dharma.' How then can so many sorts of views arise from the one Dharma? All these karmic forces are rooted in activity. If, instead of pacifying our minds, we rely on scriptures to achieve enlightenment, we are under-taking the impossible. Ourselves deceived, deceiving others our mutual downfall is assured. Strive on! Strive on! Explore this teaching most thoroughly! Just let things happen without making any response and keep your minds from dwelling on anything whatsoever; for they who can do this thereby enter nirvana. Attained, then, is the condition of no rebirth, otherwise called ‘the gate of non-duality, the end of strife, the samádhi of universality'. Why so? Because it is ultimate purity. As it is free from the duality of selfless and otherness, it no longer gives rise to love and hatred. When all relativities are seen as non-existent, naught remains to be perceived." Thus is the undiscoverable Bhutatathata revealed. This treatise of mine is not for the skeptic, but for those sharing the same view and following the same line of conduct. You ought first to discover whether people are sincere in their faith and qualified to practice it without backsliding before you expound it to them so that they can be awakened to its meaning. I have written this treatise for the sake of those having a karmic affinity with it. I seek neither fame nor wealth. I desire only to emulate the Buddhas who preached their thousands of sutras and countless shastras just for the sake of sentient beings lost in delusion. Since their mental activities vary, appropriate teachings are given to suit individual cases of perverse views; hence the great variety of doctrines. You should know that setting forth the principle of deliverance in its entirety amounts only to this - when things happen, make no response.- keep your minds from dwelling on anything whatsoever… keep them forever still as the void and utterly pure (without stain): and thereby spontaneously attain deliverance. Oh do not seek for empty fame, mouthing forth talk of the Absolute with minds like those of apes! When talk contradicts action that is known as self-deception; it will lead to your falling headlong into evil states of rebirth. Seek not fame and happiness in this lifetime at the cost of un-enlightenment and suffering for long aeons to come. Strive on! Strive on! Sentient beings must save themselves; the Buddhas cannot do it for them. If they could, since there have already been Buddhas as numerous as grains of dust, every single being must by now have been saved; then how is it that you and I are still being tossed upon the waves of life and death instead of having become Buddhas? Do please realize that sentient beings have to save them-selves and that the Buddhas cannot do it for them. Strive on! Strive on! Do it for yourselves. Place no reliance upon the powers of other Buddhas. As the sutra says: ‘Those who seek the Dharma do not find it merely by clinging to the Buddhas.'

37.Q: In the coming generation, there will be many followers of mixed beliefs; how are we to live side by side with them?
A: Share the light with them, but do not share their karmas. Although you may be staying with them, your minds will not dwell in the same place as theirs. There is a sutra, which says: ‘Though it follows the current of circumstances, its nature is unchanging.' As to those other students of the Way, you are all studying the Way for the sake of that great cause - liberation; so, while never despising those who have not studied the Dharma, you should respect those who are studying it as you would respect the Buddha. Do not vaunt your own virtues nor envy the ability of others. Examine your own actions; do not hold up the faults of others. Thus, nowhere will you encounter obstruction and you will naturally enjoy happiness. I will summarize all this in the form of a gatha:

Forbearance is the best of ways;
But first dismiss both self and other.
When things occur, make no response
And thus achieve true Bodhikaya.

The Diamond Sutra says: ‘If a Bodhisattva is thoroughly versed in the doctrine of the unreality of the ego and of all dharmas (things), the Tathágata will call him a true Bodhisattva.' It is also said that ‘he who does not accept anything, has nothing to reject; he is free of samsára forever. He whose mind dwells on nothing whatsoever is called "a son of the Buddha" The Maha parinirvana Sutra says: ‘When the Tathágata attained nirvana, he freed himself from samsára for ever.' Here are some more gathas:

So wholly good my present state of mind
That men's revilement cannot stir my ire.
No word shall pass my lips of right and wrong -
Nirvana and samsára form one Way -
For I have learnt to reach that mind of mine
Which basically transcends both right and wrong.
Erroneous, discriminating thoughts
Reveal the worldling who has still to learn.
I urge the errant folk of Kaliyug"
To rid their minds of every useless straw.
How vast indeed my present state of mind
My wordless unconcern ensures its calm.
At ease and free, my liberation won,
I roam at will without impediment.
In wordless silence all my days are passed,
My every thought fixed on the nominal.
In gazing on the Way, I am at ease
And unaffected by Samsára's round.
So marvelous my present state of mind,
I need intrude no longer on the world,
Where splendor is illusion and a cheat,-
The simplest clothes and coarsest food suffice.
On meeting worldly men, I scarcely speak,
And so they say that I am dull of wit.
Without, I have what seems a dullard's stare,-
Within, my crystal clarity of mind
Soundlessly tallies with Rabul's bidden way
Which worldly folk like you have yet to learn.

For fear that you may still be unable to understand the real principle of deliverance, I shall demonstrate it to you once more.

38. Q: The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra says: ‘Whosoever desires to reach the Pure Land must first purify his mind.' What is the meaning of this purifying of the mind?
A: It means purifying it to the point of ultimate purity.
Q: But what does that mean?
A: It is a state of beyond purity and impurity.
Q: Please explain it further.
A: Purity pertains to a mind, which dwells upon nothing whatsoever. To attain to this without so much as a thought of purity arising is called ‘absence of purity'; and to achieve that without giving it a thought is to be free from absence of purity also.

39.Q: For followers of the Way, what constitutes realization of the goal?
A: Realization must be ultimate realization.
Q: And what is that?
A: Ultimate realization means being free from both realization and absence of realizations
Q: What does that mean?
A: Realization means remaining unstained by sights, sounds and other sense perceptions from without, and inwardly possessing minds in which no erroneous thinking takes place. To achieve this without giving it a thought is called ‘absence of realization'; and to achieve the latter without giving that a thought either is called ‘freedom from absence of realization'.

40.Q: What is meant by ‘a mind delivered'?
A: Having a mind free from the concepts of delivered and undelivered is called ‘real deliverance'. This is what the Diamond Sutra means by the words: ‘Even the Dharma must be cast aside, how much more so the not-Dharma!' Here, Dharma implies existence and not-Dharma implies nonexistence - disengagement from both of which results in true deliverance.

41.Q: What is realization of truth (Tao)?
A: It means ultimate realization.
Q: What is that?
A: Ultimate realization is beyond realization and non-realization.
Q: And what is ultimate void-ness?
A: Ultimate void-ness is beyond void-ness and non-voidness.
Q: And what is the fixed Bhutatathata (Absolute)?
A: The Bhutatathata's fixity is neither fixed nor unfixed. The Diamond Sutra says: ‘There is no fixed Dharma called anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (supreme enlightenment) and there is no fixed Dharma which the Tathágata can expound.' This is what another sutra means by: ‘When meditating on the void, perception of the void should not be taken as realization.' This means abstention from the thought of void-ness. Similarly, although we practice fixing the mind, we do not regard (success in this practice) as realization, because we entertain no thought of fixity. Likewise, although we attain purity, we do not regard it as realization, because we entertain no thought of purity. Even when we attain to fixed concentration, to purity and to the state of letting the mind dwell upon nothing whatsoever, if we permit any thought of our having made progress to enter our minds, that thought will be an erroneous thought and we shall be caught in a net - that cannot be called deliverance! Moreover, if after attaining to all this we experience a lively awareness of being at ease and independent (of all conditioning factors and so on), we must not take this for realization, or suppose that deliverance can be won by thinking in this way. As the sutra says: ‘Allowing the concept of progress to enter our minds is not progress but error; whereas, if we keep our minds free from error, progress is unlimited.'

42.Q: What is the middle way?
A: It is without middle or extremes.
Q: What are the two extremes?
A: They are that-mindedness (pi hsin) and this-mindedness (tzu hsin).
Q: What do those terms mean?
A: Being ensnared from without by forms and sounds is that-mindedness; allowing erroneous thoughts to arise within is this-mindedness. Being unstained from without by forms is called ‘freedom from that-mindedness'; permitting no erroneous thoughts to arise within is called ‘freedom from this-mindedness'. Such is the meaning of no extremes'. And, if your minds are without extremes, how can there be a middle? Reaching this state is called the ‘middle way' or the ‘true Way of the Tathágata's' by which completely awakened people reach deliverance. A sutra says: ‘The void is without middle or extremes; with the Buddhakaya it is also thus.' The void-ness of all forms implies mind dwelling upon nothing whatsoever; and the latter implies the void nature of all forms - these are two ways of saying the same thing. This is the doctrine of the unreality of form, also called ‘the doctrine of the non-existence of form'. If you people reject ‘mind dwelling upon nothing whatsoever', then bodhi (enlightenment), still and passionless nirvana, and perception of your real nature through Dhyana samádhi, will all be closed to you. It is just by not allowing your minds to dwell upon anything whatsoever that you will perceive your own nature whenever you practice attainment of bodhi, deliverance, nirvana, Dhyana samádhi, or the six paramitas. Why so? The Diamond Sutra says: ‘Realizing that there is not the smallest thing to be attained is called "anuttara-samyak-sambodhi" (supreme enlightenment).'

43. Q: if we have performed all (good) deeds success-fully, shall we receive a prediction of our future Buddha-hood?
A: No.
Q: if we have gained ultimate achievement by refraining from the practice of any dharma (method) whatsoever, shall we receive that prediction?
A: No.
Q: in that case, by what dharma is that prediction to be obtained?
A: It is obtainable when you cease (clinging to) deeds and to no deeds. Why so? The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra says: ‘The nature and the phenomenal expression of all deeds are both impermanent.' According to the Mahapati-nirvana Sutra: ‘The Buddha said to Kashyapa, "There is no such thing as permanence of the totality of phenomenal activity."' You must just avoid letting your minds dwell upon anything whatsoever, which implies (being unconcerned about) either deeds or no deeds - that is what we call ‘receiving a prediction of Buddhahood'. What I mean by not letting the mind dwell upon anything what-so-ever is keeping your minds free from hatred and love. This means that you must be able to see attractive things without love for them arising in your minds, which is termed ‘having minds free from love'; and also that you must be able to see repulsive things without hatred for them arising in your minds, which is termed ‘having minds free from hatred'. When these two are absent, the mind is unstained and the nature of forms is seen as void. Perception of the void-ness of their nature leads to the cutting off of concurrent causes and thus to spontaneous deliverance. You must examine this thoroughly. if the meaning is not brilliantly clear to you, hasten to ask your questions. Do not allow the hours to pass in vain. If you people put your trust in this teaching and act accordingly, without being delivered, I shall gladly take your places in hell for the whole of my existence. If I have deceived you, may I be reborn in a place where lions, tigers and wolves will devour my flesh! But, if you do not put your faith in this teaching, and do not practice it diligently, that will be because you do not understand it. Once you have lost a human body, you will not obtain another for millions of aeons. Strive on! Strive on! It is absolutely vital that you come to understand.

  From: The Zen Teaching of Hui Hai on sudden illumination. Translated by John Blofeld 

 Shikantaza as non-seperation

"Shikantaza is generally rendered in English as Just Sitting. And how we tend to interpret that is that we sit without expectation of gain or achievement".

"This translation of Just Sitting is unfortunately terse and a problem which we often come accross in translating terms from Chinese or Japanese, because the primary meaning of Just Sitting is not Sitting without an expectation of gain. The primary meaning of Just Sitting is non-separation. In other words, when there is sitting, there isn't a self and a world. There is simply "this". And hence, the self and the world disappear into this Just Sitting".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEjVNAkW72I