Issue 300

You noticed that it was Ananda’s head that moved; the seeing did not move. You also noticed that it was my hand which opened and closed; the seeing did not stretch or bend.

You noticed that it was Ananda’s head that moved; the seeing did not move. You in the great assembly watched Ananda’s head turn back and forth, and Ananda just said the seeing-nature is unmoving. You also noticed that it was my hand which opened and closed; the seeing did not stretch or bend. It wasn’t the seeing nature that stretched out or flexed.

Why do you continue to take something moving like your body and its environment to be in substantial existence, so that from the beginning to the end, your every thought is subject to production and extinction? You have lost your true nature and conduct yourselves in upside-down ways. Having lost your true nature and mind, you recognize objects as yourself, and it is you who cling to the flowing and turning of the revolving wheel.

Here the Buddha raises a rhetorical question to the great assembly. He says: Now you have seen very clearly that it was Ananda’s head that moved and the seeing-nature does not move, it didn’t roll up or stretch out either. Since that’s the case, then why do you continue to take something moving like your body and its environment to be in substantial existence? You in the great assembly are unable to see your own genuine seeing-nature. You take your physical body and the environment in which it finds itself to be a real thing. You react to the moving of your body and surroundings as if they were actual. These movements are basically external. They are not something that belongs to your self-nature.

So that from the beginning to the end, your every thought is subject to production and extinction? You cling tenaciously to your body and mind as your hosts. You use the conscious mind in your thinking, and every thought of your conscious mind is subject to production and extinction. First, one thought arises and is extinguished, and then the next thought arises and is extinguished. The cycle of production and extinction follows production and extinction. You concentrate your effort exclusively on the realm of production and extinction, and have no true understanding of the seeing-nature.

Now the Buddha scolds everyone and tells the great assembly it is wrong! You have lost your true nature. From beginningless time to the present, you have all lost your true nature. It is not truly lost, but it seems to be lost. Why? Because living beings don’t perceive the unmoving, unshakable realm of the self-nature, and so they have not understood this doctrine. It is as if it is lost. And conduct yourselves in upside-down ways. Basically, when you do things, you should do them well, but you continually botch them up; you should have done good deeds, but you did evil deeds instead. That’s called “doing things in an upside-down way.”

What is meant by upside-down? I’ll give you an example. A man is upside down when his feet are on top and his head is on the bottom. Or else your feet are on the bottom and your head is on top, but you take your shoes and put them on your head, and you wear your hat on your feet. That’s also called upside-down. When you were little and your parents sent you off to school and you didn’t want to go, that too was a case of being upside-down. When people are trying to sleep and you make a lot of noise, yelling and carrying on so they can’t sleep, you’re acting upside-down. In general, things which are not done in accord with propriety are called upside-down. It’s to turn your back on the Way and run off. You want to go south, to South San Francisco, but you end up going north to North San Francisco. That’s to be upside-down and going backwards.

Having lost your true nature and mind, you recognize objects as yourself. Because you conduct yourself in upside-down ways, your nature and mind do not work together, and thus you lose track of the true and actual nature. You mistake outside states as yourself. That means you recognize that inn of yours as yourself. You shouldn’t think that your inn is you. That’s to recognize objects as yourself. “Objects” here refers to all external objects.

And it is you who cling to the flowing and turning of the revolving wheel. Because you recognize things as yourself you produce all kinds of attachments. You fail to see through all kinds of things. You aren’t clear about principle. And because of that, you cling to flowing and turning – that is, to birth and death. You yourself are attached to dying. You go looking for birth and death.

If you yourself weren’t upside-down, if you didn’t mistake a thief for your son and objects for yourself, you would be able to end birth and death. If you want to end birth and death, it is an easy thing to do. All you need to do is turn yourself around. If you go forward, you head right down the path of birth and death. If you turn around and go the other way, you end birth and death. It’s not that difficult; it’s just that it’s up to you to do it. You simply turn around; you turn your head and pivot your body. That’s all that’s needed. It is said, “The sea of suffering is boundless; a turn of the head is the other shore.” There is no edge to the sea of suffering, and when you turn around, you will come back to the shore!

When Ananda and the great assembly heard the Buddha’s instructions, they became peaceful and composed both in body and mind. They recollected that since time without beginning, they had strayed from their fundamental true mind by mistaking the shadows of their causally conditioned differentiating minds as something real and substantial. Now on this day they had awakened to such illusions and misconceptions. Like a lost infant who rejoins its beloved mother after a long separation, they put their palms together to make obeisance to the Buddha. They wished to hear such words from the Thus Come One as to enlighten them to the dual nature of body and mind – what is false and what is real, what is empty and what is substantial, what is subject to production and extinction and what transcends production and extinction.

When Ananda and the great assembly heard the Buddha’s instructions. When Ananda and the great Bodhisattvas, the great Arhats, and the great bhikshus, and the others heard this teaching, they became peaceful and composed both in body and mind. Their bodies and minds felt extremely comfortable, so that they didn’t feel the least bit of pain. They had never felt better. They had never known anything so fine!

But at the same time, they recollected that since time without beginning, they had strayed from their fundamental true mind by mistaking the shadows of their causally conditioned differentiating minds as something real and substantial. From time without beginning they had renounced their basic mind and had used only their false mind, their conscious mind, their mind which makes distinctions in order to do things. They hadn’t understood external states; ‘false’ means a mistake. They mistake the conditions and defilement of the external states and take their false-thinking mind to be true and actual. This is Ananda realizing that he is wrong. They had engaged in false activities at the gates of the six organs. In order to function, they dealt exclusively with the false-thinking mind, the attached mind, the arrogant mind, the mind which seizes upon conditions, the mind which is false in various kinds of ways, and hadn’t the least bit of skill when it came to the self-nature.

Now on this day they had awakened to such illusions and misconceptions. Like a lost infant who rejoins its beloved mother after a long separation, they put their palms together to make obeisance to the Buddha. They had been like a hungry child who had no milk to drink; it had been very painful. All of a sudden, the child’s compassionate mother had returned, and the child had milk to drink: that is what it was like for the assembly when they awakened upon hearing the Buddha’s instruction. They placed their palms together and bowed to the Buddha to thank him for his kindness in bestowing the Dharma upon them.

Why did the assembly bow to the Buddha? Because they wished to hear such words from the Thus Come One as to enlighten them to the dual nature of body and mind. They wanted him to uncover it and portray it clearly, to reveal what is false and what is real, what is empty and what is substantial. There is the true and the false, the empty and the actual, and they wanted the Buddha to teach them to recognize each of them. They wanted him to reveal what is subject to production and extinction and what transcends production and extinction – to reveal the mind’s dual nature, the mind with superficial production and extinction and the mind that is not subject to production and extinction.

What is the mind of production and extinction? It is the conscious mind, our mind which seizes upon conditions by turning to the outside and seeking there, instead of developing skill at the self-nature. What is the mind not subject to production and extinction? You must apply your skill to the self-nature and understand that the mountains, the rivers, the great earth, the vegetation, and all the myriad appearances are all the Dharma body of all Buddhas. The Dharma body of all Buddhas is neither produced nor extinguished. And the pure nature and bright substance of everyone’s permanently dwelling true mind is also not produced and not extinguished.

Why do we have production and extinction, birth and death? It is because we do not recognize the pure nature and bright substance of the permanently dwelling true mind. It is also because your mad mind has not ceased. So, it is said, “when the mad mind ceases, that ceasing is Bodhi.” The mad mind’s stopping itself is the manifestation of your Bodhi-mind. Because the mad mind exists and has not ceased, the Bodhi-mind cannot come forth. The mad mind hides it. What is being explained now, and in every other passage of sutra text without exception, has the aim of revealing everyone’s true mind.

Then King Prasenajit rose and said to the Buddha, “In the past, when I had not yet received the teachings of the Buddha, I met Katyayana and Vairatiputra, both of whom said that this body is annihilated after death, and that this is Nirvana.”

Then – before the Buddha spoke – King Prasenajit rose in the great assembly. ‘Prasenajit’ is a Sanskrit word, it means ‘war victory’, it also means ‘victorious army’ King Prasenajit’s name means “Moonlight” in Sanskrit, as mentioned before. The king was born at the same time that the Buddha entered the world. Upon entering the world, the Buddha emitted light, but King Prasenajit’s father thought that it was his son who was emitting the light as he came into the world, so he named him “Moonlight.”

Before the Buddha spoke, King Prasenajit stood up amidst the crowd and said to the Buddha, “In the past, when I had not yet received the teachings of the Buddha, I met Katyayana and Vairatiputra. Before I received the benefit of the Buddha’s teaching and transforming, I believed in external paths.” He believed in the annihilationism of Katyayana. “Katyayana” is a Sanskrit name which is interpreted to mean “cut hair,” because formerly those who followed this external path did not cut their hair.” “Vairatiputra” means “son of Vairati”; Vairati was his mother’s name; the name is interpreted to mean “does not do.” What he didn’t do were good deeds, but he had no hesitation about doing bad deeds.

“Both of whom said that this body is annihilated after death, and that this is Nirvana. They say that after this body dies there isn’t anything. There is no cause and there is no effect, no future lives and no former lives.” Basically, a person’s death is like putting out a lamp. It’s gone. There isn’t anything at all. Everything is annihilated. Annihilation means there is no soul, no awareness, no nature, nothing at all, and that’s what they call Nirvana. That’s what nihilists mean by not produced and not extinguished; since there’s nothing, there isn’t any production or extinction. That’s how the external paths talk.

But I will tell you all that that is a grave mistake! When people die they are not annihilated. So, it is just at this point where the distinction between Buddhism and external paths lies. Some external paths talk about annihilation, and some talk about permanence. One advocates annihilation, the other advocates permanence, and both kinds confuse people most seriously.