Issue 306

Ananda’s tears fell, and he folded his hands and said to the Buddha. Ananda was so grateful to the Buddha that he didn’t know what to do, so he wept. His tears kept falling as he spoke. Having been instructed in subtle and wonderful doctrines by such Dharma sounds as these, I understand now that the wonderful bright mind, the mind-ground, is fundamentally perfect, perfect from the beginning. I now understand that it is the pure nature and bright substance of the permanently dwelling true mind.

“I have heard these wonderful sounds of the Buddha and have realized that the wonderful bright mind is fundamentally perfect; it is the eternally dwelling mind-ground. But now in awakening to the Dharma-sounds that the Buddha is speaking, it is my conditioned mind which I use to contemplate them reverently.” Ananda says that in understanding the subtle, wonderful Dharma-sounds and in respectfully looking upon the Buddha’s countenance and contemplating the sound of his voice, he is still using his mind which seizes on conditions.

“Having just obtained the mind”: I only now understand that I have just obtained this mind. “I do not dare acknowledge that it is the fundamental mind-ground.” I’m still hesitant to acknowledge my original fundamental mind-ground. Although I have attained it now, I am still somewhat unclear about it and dare not admit it. So instead, here he is asking questions again. Ananda always has something to say. The Buddha explained to him, “The mountains, the rivers, the great earth, everything is your true mind. They are all within your true mind.” He understood the doctrine, but he still doesn’t dare accept it and make it his true mind. He hasn’t turned himself around immediately. He doesn’t dare to admit his fundamental mind-ground. Very strange indeed!

The Buddha explained that the seeing nature is just the permanently dwelling true mind of each one of us. Although he heard it, he still dared not accept this principle. Why not dare accept it? He said that when he listened to the Buddha’s teachings, he listened with his mind that exploits condition. If he didn’t have this mind that exploits condition, would he have a way to listen? He believed that without his mind that exploits condition, there would be no dharma; this was a mistake, and this was another layer of delusion for Ananda. Therefore, Ananda says he has obtained it, but he doesn’t dare acknowledge it. He doesn’t dare recognize it and admit completely that it is his true mind.

“I pray that the Buddha will take pity on me and proclaim the perfect sound to pull out my doubts by the roots and enable me to return to the unsurpassed Way.”

So Ananda asks the Buddha to instruct him with the perfect sound, and “I pray that the Buddha will take pity on me and proclaim the perfect sound to pull out my doubts by the roots and enable me to return to the unsurpassed Way. I have not gotten rid of my doubts yet. The roots of doubt are still in my mind. If the Buddha will help me pull them out, I will be able to understand the unsurpassed doctrine.”

The “perfect sound” is the perfect unobstructed sound. The perfect sound is the one perfect sound. When people hear the one perfect sound, they understand it; when gods hear it, gods understand it; when ghosts hear it, ghosts understand it; even when animals hear it, they understand it. It is said, “The Buddha speaks the Dharma with one sound; living beings understand it, each according to his kind.” Every category of living beings – people, gods, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, great bhikshus, animals, beings in the hells, hungry ghosts – each understands the doctrines which the Buddhas speak with a single voice. When the Buddha speaks the Dharma, living beings who have affinities with the Buddha, and no matter how far away they are from him, they can hear it just the same as if they were right at the Buddha’s side. They don’t notice the distance. Would you say that is wonderful or not?

The Buddha told Ananda, “You still listen to the Dharma with the conditioned mind, and so the Dharma becomes conditioned as well, and you do not obtain the Dharma-nature. It is like when someone points his finger at the moon to show it to someone else. Guided by the finger, that person should see the moon. If he looks at the finger instead and mistakes it for the moon, he loses not only the moon but the finger also. Why? He mistakes the pointing finger for the bright moon.

Granting Ananda’s request that his doubts be removed so he can attain the supreme fruition of the Way, the Buddha said, “You still listen to the Dharma with the conditioned mind, and so the Dharma becomes conditioned as well. You are still using your mind that seizes upon conditions, and so as you listen to the Dharma it also becomes conditioned, rather than something that is neither born nor dies. It turns into a dharma subject to production and extinction, and you do not obtain the Dharma-nature. You do not obtain the basic substance and nature of the Dharma.

It is like when someone points his finger at the moon to show it to someone else. Guided by the finger, that person should see the moon. I’ll give you an example. I point to the moon and say to you, ‘Look! That’s the moon.’ The appropriate things for you to do is look at the moon.

If he looks at the finger instead and mistakes it for the moon, he loses not only the moon but the finger also. But you don’t look at the moon I’m pointing at; you look at my finger and say, “Ah, that’s the moon. That’s what the moon is like.” You take the finger for the moon, and so you lose the moon. You miss out.” Here someone looks at a finger and takes it for the moon, and so he not only loses the moon, he doesn’t even recognize the other persons’ finger. It is lost too. “I’m telling you! The moon is over there! Why are you looking at my finger instead of the moon?” The Sutra speaks earlier of “losing your true nature.” This person now mistakes the pointing finger for the bright moon!

Why? He mistakes the pointing finger for the bright moon. Why did I say that he had even lost the pointing finger, that it’s gone? Look at this person! He mistakes the pointing finger for the bright moon. He recognizes neither the finger nor the moon. Who is he? It is Ananda who is like that!

It is like when someone points his finger at the moon, which is the true mind. The Dharma which is spoken is the finger, since the Buddha speaks the Dharma to point to the true mind. When someone tells you to look at the moon, you don’t look at the moon, you don’t seek the true mind, you only look at the pointing finger, and think that the finger is the true mind. This way, not only the true mind is lost, even the Dharma is not understood. Hence, the Buddha said, “You listen to the Dharma with your conditioned mind, and the Dharma becomes conditioned also.” The Dharma has also become a condition, no longer something that is not subject to production or extinction. Since he fails to recognize the true mind and the pointing finger, he has also lost the luminosity of the true mind. Would you say a person like that is pitiful? I think that kind of person is pitiful.

Not only does he lose the finger, but he also fails to recognize light and darkness. Why? He mistakes the substance of the finger for the bright nature of the moon, and so he does not understand the two natures of light and darkness. The same is true of you.

Not only does he lose the finger, but he also fails to recognize light and darkness.” This person not only doesn’t recognize this finger! He also doesn’t understand or recognize light and darkness. He doesn’t recognize either the finger or the moon for what they are, and so they are lost. And yet, neither is really lost. They are still there. However, he thought they were lost. It just means that he neither understands nor recognizes them. In other words, this person basically doesn’t know what is meant by enlightenment or what is meant by lack of enlightenment; what is meant by ignorance and what is meant by true understanding.

“Why? He mistakes the substance of the finger for the bright nature of the moon.” He confuses the nature of the finger which is dark, and the nature of the moon which is bright. Isn’t that upside-down? Everyone knows it is. But he wants to be upside-down. “And so, he does not understand the two natures of light and darkness.” This is because he doesn’t know the nature of light and darkness. He doesn’t know what light is and what darkness is. Utter stupidity, wouldn’t you say?

“The same is true of you:” Ananda! you’re just like this. What is it like? When someone points to the moon with his finger to show you the moon, you don’t look at the moon, you only look at the finger. You don’t just look at the finger, you take the finger as the moon. You’ve mistaken and lost both the moon and the finger, and completely failed to understand light and darkness! That’s just how you are! You listen to the Dharma with the conditioned mind as much as you want, but the more you listen the more foolish and the more stupid you become. And you go further astray!

One doesn’t know how Ananda felt then. Earlier, when he lost track of his mind, he was upset and startled and didn’t know what to do. He leapt from his seat. Now that the Buddha has told him he has lost both the finger and the moon, one doesn’t know what he thought.