Issue 270

“Ananda, I now ask you: at the time of your initial resolve, which arose in response to the Tathagata’s thirty-two characteristics, what was it that saw those characteristics and who delighted in them?”

The Buddha again questions Ananda, “Ananda, I now ask you: at the time of your initial resolve.” In making his decision to cultivate the Way, when Ananda used his conscious mind to think about the Buddha’s appearance, the Tathagata’s thirty-two characteristics, Ananda was taking advantage of the situation. This is the meaning of in response to. So the Buddha asks, “What was it that saw those characteristics and who delighted in them?”Answer me now!

With regard to the character ‘樂’, most unlearned people would pronounce it as ‘le’ but it really should be pronounced as ‘yau’ the third sound. It means delighted (sound yau) which also include happy (sound le). But here should be pronounced as ‘yau’.

Ananda said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, this is the way I experienced the delight: I used my mind and eyes. Because my eyes saw the Tathagata’s outstanding characteristics, my mind gave rise to delight. That is why I became resolved and wished to remove myself from birth and death.”

Ananda said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, this is the way I experienced the delight: I used my mind and eyes.” Ananda said to the Buddha, ‘World Honored One! Didn’t you ask who delighted in them? Now I use my straightforward mind to answer you. For my delightful experience, I used my mind and eyes to see.”Most people would say that this was correct, that he used his eyes and mind to see the Buddha. But as the Sutra text continues you will come to find out this is a mistake.

Because my eyes saw the Tathagata’s outstanding characteristics, my mind gave rise to delight. I used my eyes to look at the Buddha’s thirty-two major and eighty minor characteristics and in my mind love arose. What was it I loved? I saw the Buddha’s characteristics and adornments were immaculately pure, not at all filthy like bodies born from love and desire with a defiled nature. That is why I became resolved and wished to remove myself from birth and death. Because I am fond of the Buddha’s pure body, so I made this resolve to follow the Buddha, leave the home-life, and cultivate the Way. The history of my leaving home is like that.” That is how he answered Shakyamuni Buddha’s question.

The Buddha said to Ananda, “It is as you say, that experience of delight actually occurs because of your mind and eyes. If you do not know where your mind and eyes are, you will not be able to conquer the wearisome dust. For example, when a king’s country is invaded by thieves and he sends out his troops to suppress and banish them, the troops must know where the thieves are. It is the fault of your mind and eyes that you flow and turn. I am now asking you specifically about your mind and eyes: where are they now?”

The Buddha said to Ananda, “It is as you say, that experience of delight actually occurs because of your mind and eyes.” There is a genuine mind that truly love the supreme characteristics of the Buddha. Nonetheless, do you know where your mind is? Do you know if your eyes have the ability to see? Do you know where your eyes are?
“These kind of questions are totally senseless,” you object. “His eyes were in his face and his mind in his body. Anybody knows that.”But that’s not your true mind. Nor is that genuine seeing. If you do not know where your mind and eyes are…If you do not know and do not truly recognize where your mind and eyes are; when you first listen, it sounds like those questions are totally senseless. However, later in the text, one will find that behind the Buddha’s questions lies the wisdom of the Tathagata which we ordinary people do not possess. Just looking at this passage, one might feel that the Buddha was being unreasonable.

If you do not know where your mind and eyes are, you will not be able to conquer the wearisome dust. You will not have the power to overcome the wearisome dust. The “dust” means defilement, and “wearisome” means disturbing. The dust disturbs your mind, and it troubles your nature. If you cannot defeat it, you would not be able to transform your false thinking to true mind. It’s just as when two armies clash, the defeated side would surrender. If you cannot defeat the wearisome dust, then the wearisome dust becomes the victor and you become the loser. If you can conquer the wearisome dust, you become the victor.

This section of the text stated the Buddha asking Ananda where his mind and eyes are. If you don’t know, then you won’t be able to end birth and death. ‘To conquer the wearisome dust’ is to end birth and death, to cut off the road to birth and death. If you cannot conquer it, although you already have left the home-life, yet you are still unable to end birth and death. Because of this, you must know where the mind and eyes are.

The Buddha then presents an analogy: “For example, when a king’s country is invaded by thieves who wish to seize the land, he sends out his troops to suppress and banish them, to quell them and drive them out. But the troops he sends must know where the thieves are” or else they won’t be able to conquer and remove them. In the same way, the reason you cannot put an end to the beginningless eons of birth and death is because you do not know where your mind and eyes are. If you wish to end birth and death, it is imperative that you study and resolve the problem of your mind and eyes clearly!

“I will tell you further that it is the fault of your mind and eyes that you flow and turn. Why are you birthed and why do you die? What causes you to cycle between birth and death, revolving endlessly on the turning wheel of the six paths? Your mind and eyes are to blame! Your mind and eyes are at fault for making you undergo birth and death and rendering you incapable of obtaining liberation and genuine freedom. Since they are to blame, I am now asking you specifically about your mind and eyes: where are they now? Speak up quickly!” The Buddha exhorts Ananda.

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the ‘Driving Force of Subjective Wisdom’ seminar in Spring, 1988.

‘When lecturing the sutra and speaking the dharma, the meaning is right within the text; when wisdom is sought from its meaning, this is called accomplishment.’ This is very important. When we look at, read, and study the sutra, we need to know the meaning of the text. For example, this phrase ‘如汝所說’ (‘It is as you say’), it doesn’t mean that ‘what you said is correct’. The character ‘如’means ‘It is’. ‘It is as you say those words’, and it’s not to say for certain that what he said is correct. This is not an affirmative word, it is an active word. This is to setup another metaphor, using the principle of what he said to further investigate and study on a deeper level.

Since he himself spoke those words, it is certain that he will know what they mean. This is ‘to use his way to seek out his mind.’ Ask him what he had said. Where is this ‘source’? That’s just the reason to point out that his love and delight are because of his ‘mind and eyes’. However, do you truly understand what you see and using the source of mind and eyes? Do you really discern the bottom of this mind and eyes?

This is using a metaphor to debate with Ananda in order to reveal the true principle and manifest seeing nature. This is called ‘Seven Places to Seek out the Mind’. Ananda would find this mind from seven places. Then the World Honored One would explain ‘Ten Manifestation of Seeing’. At this point, we should not regard this theory as rigid, we should regard it as lively and dynamic. We cannot surely and certainly say this phrase means ‘what you said is correct’. It’s not what it means. Hence every one of us should understand this point. Only then can we comprehend the meaning of the sutra.

‘Driving Force of Subjective Wisdom’ seminar ends