Instructional talk given by Venerable Master Hua on the evening of December 4, 1982 at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
If you don’t recognize proper Dharma, then you’ll follow deviant dharma.
People who are learning Buddhadharma must have the Dharma-selecting Eye so they can recognize the different types of dharma such as: right dharmas and wrong dharmas, black dharmas and white dharmas, good dharmas and bad dharmas. Be sure not to take what is right as wrong and what is wrong as right; or, black as white, and white as black; or, good as bad, and bad as good–that’s all upside-down. If you want to recognize these dharmas, you must certainly have the Dharma-selecting Eye.
First, you must not have the mark of self. If you have the mark of self, all kinds of obstacles will arise, and you will have no wisdom. Once there is a mark of self, selfish thoughts arise, followed by thoughts of benefiting the self and thoughts of seeking and greed. Then, when you cannot get what you seek and crave, contentious thoughts arise, and you will fight with others to vie for superiority. If you can be without the mark of self, then what is the ‘self’? Who am I? Ponder and investigate upon the motif “Who is mindful of the Buddha?” This motif “Who…?” is not meant to be recited. Simply reciting it is of no use. You must investigate upon it. Investigating is like drilling a hole. When you drill all the way through, then you will obtain thorough understanding.
If for one moment you don’t understand,
For one moment you must investigate.
If for every moment you don’t understand,
For every moment you must investigate.
Investigating is not guessing. You may guess, “Well, I’m mindful of the Buddha, you’re mindful of the Buddha, and he’s mindful of the Buddha. So, who’s mindful of the Buddha?”. You can keep guessing, but you won’t get the answer. Instead, you must search for the “who.” The word “who” is the Vajra King Jeweled Sword, the sword of wisdom. You must use the wisdom sword to cut through all idle thoughts, then wisdom will spontaneously appear.
If you don’t understand the Dharma-door of investigating Chan and you think the more you recite the better, just like reciting the Buddha’s name, that’s a mistake. You don’t need to recite many times, but ideally you should stretch out the sound and keep it going for a few hours, or even for eighty-four thousand eons, without a break. Then you’re really investigating Chan. Why do we need to investigate upon “Who is mindful of the Buddha?” The word “who” is basically superfluous, but we are like monkeys, always looking around for something to do. The word “who” can function as a shield to make those idle thoughts disappear. This Dharma-door uses poison to fight poison. To investigate Chan simply means to wipe clean diligently (the mirror of the mind). Only when we are free of all random thoughts are we “diligently wiping it clean at all times.” Why do we need to wipe clean diligently? So that there will not be any dust at all. This is the Dharma-door of “sweeping away all dharmas, and separating from all marks.” If you don’t have the Dharma-selecting Eye and you don’t recognize true Dharma, then you won’t know how to investigate. Not knowing how to investigate, then you are wasting your effort. If you don’t recognize proper Dharma, then you’ll follow deviant dharma. That is why the Dharma-selecting Eye is most important.
(The End of the Article)