Issue 290

Ananda said, “The Tathagata is asking where the mind is located. Now that I use my mind to search for it thoroughly, I propose that precisely what is able to investigate is my mind.”

Ananda said, “The Tathagata is asking where the mind is located. World Honored One, you now ask me where my mind is.

Now that I use my mind to search for it thoroughly”: ‘Now’ here means carrying on from the top to the bottom; that is, carrying the meaning from the top and continuing onward. Because the above meaning has not been fully explained, hence the word ‘now’ is used here to propose and seek; to find this mind. ‘Thoroughly’ means to exhaust the principles. ‘Search’ means to look for; to pursue and chase after.

He looked for his mind. “I have searched every which way, absolutely everywhere, exhausting all possibilities, I have been chasing my mind. I propose that precisely what is able to investigate is my mind.” I can investigate things, and that means there is a mind; so that which is capable of investigating things is probably my mind. When he says “propose”; that means he’s not absolutely sure.

The Buddha said, “Hey! Ananda, that is not your mind.”

Ananda thought what he said had a lot of principle, and he was confident that he’d succeeded in finding the mind. Little did he know the Buddha would scold him. The Buddha said, “Hey!”(Editor’s note: The Chinese character ‘咄’ has same meaning as Cantonese character ‘鬧’ which means scolding)This was the same word the Buddha used to reprimand Aniruddha. “Hey! Hey! How can you sleep?” he asked him, and as a result of that reprimand. Here, the Buddha uses the same word to answer Ananda, which is a way of scolding. It means ‘what you said is incorrect’. He didn’t say whether Ananda was right or wrong, he just used an expletive to yell at him.

“Ananda, that is not your mind.”After the Buddha yelled”Hey! Ananda! This is not your mind! How can you assume that this is your mind?” It is not! The Buddha scolded him.

Why did the Buddha yell at Ananda? Because Ananda’s answer was a grave mistake; it was totally wrong. Earlier, he had persisted in taking the conscious mind as the true mind, and that was already a mistake. Even now he still hasn’t understood. The Buddha raised his fist to let Ananda understand his inherent nature through his seeing nature which is the pure and bright substance of the permanent dwelling true mind. However, Ananda had been confused for a long time. He neither realized nor understood his seeing nature. He said that it’s his eyes and mind that see. The Buddha guided him along by saying, “Fine, it’s the eyes that see; and what do you take to be the mind when you saw my fist dazzled with light?” But once again Ananda said that his ability to investigate is his mind. Yet that is merely the conscious mind. So, the Buddha again used his voice to awaken him. Sometimes people can wake up when they see something while their mind is totally concentrated. Ananda was extremely intent on his dialogue with the Buddha, and at that point the Buddha showed him his dazzling hand in the hope that Ananda would realize that it is the seeing nature that sees. But Ananda disappointed the Buddha again by saying instead that it is the eyes and the mind that see.

So, the Buddha used sound to lead Ananda to awaken to the Way through his hearing nature. He shouted, “Hey!” in a harsh and stern tone, using his awesome virtue to cause Ananda to be enlightened upon hearing the sound. But Ananda had been steeped in confusion for too long; he knew only scholarship and had neglected samadhi power. The Buddha had compassionately worked long and hard to teach and transform him, and Ananda still didn’t understand. Hence the Buddha said again: “Ananda! That is not your mind!” He noted: “This is not your mind.” At first, the Buddha seemed to be very stern when he reprimanded Ananda with the word “Hey!”. Seeing that Ananda still failed to grasp the principle, he said again: “Ananda, ah!” If you speculate the situation, the sound “Ananda, ah” was not that loud. Why? It’s sounded like the Buddha is coaxing a child saying: “Ananda, this is not your mind, ah!” So, the Buddha first uses his awe-inspiring virtue to yell at him, then he used his compassionate heart to draw him in by explaining more gently.

Startled, Ananda leapt from his seat, stood and put his palms together, and said to the Buddha, “If it’s not my mind, what is it?”

“Startled, Ananda leapt from his seat, stood and put his palms together, and said to the Buddha” Ananda was so taken aback that he jumped to his feet, looking stunned and alarmed. He stood to avoid being disrespectful when he addressed the Buddha. Basically, the word ‘leapt’ already includes ‘standing’. If Ananda had not stood up, how could he jump off his seat? Hence, I think the word ‘stood’ in the text is repetitive. The phrase ‘put his palms together’ should be sufficient. However, since people from the past have added these two words, we can go along with him! It’s sufficed that we know this meaning, we don’t deem it necessarily to say that the ancients are wrong.

“If it’s not my mind, what is it?” If it’s not my mind, what do you call it then? Ananda didn’t know what to do. Suddenly he was without a mind. That cannot be! He was startled and immediately stood up to address the Buddha.

The Buddha said to Ananda, “It is your perception of false appearances based on external objects which deludes your true nature and has caused you from beginningless time to your present life to recognize a thief as your son, to lose your eternal source, and to undergo the wheel’s turning.”

This section of text explains not only Ananda’s problem but the problem of you and me and everyone else. Everyone should know that from beginningless time we have all taken thieves to be our sons. We have covered over our inherent nature so it cannot appear.

The Buddha said to Ananda, “Ananda, don’t be nervous. Ananda, don’t be upset. You’re asking what it is that is able to investigate, aren’t you? Now I will tell you in detail.”

It is your perception of false appearances based on external objects which deludes your true nature. It is merely your mental processes that assign false and illusory attributes to the world of perceived objects. Your permanently dwelling true mind is deluded by the false and shadow appearance based on external objects. When you start to perceive, you already fall into a distinctive category of the perceived shadow objects. The true mind is what happens before the rise of the perceived shadow objects. The mind that investigates is not your self-nature; it is not your true mind. It is merely a form of false thinking which makes distinctions. Since it’s the external objects that slightly subtle and less significant, it is deluded and false. If you added a ‘perceive’ word, it is the false and illusory appearance. It can delude your true mind. The Chinese character ‘惑’ here means deluded, it does not mean doubtful.

Why can it delude your true nature? The shadow of external objects which deludes your true nature and has caused you from beginningless time to your present life to recognize a thief as your son. You have mistaken the false perception of externals for your son, and so you have lost your eternal source. You have lost all your gems, all your family heirlooms; your basic, permanently dwelling, unchanging true mind. The meaning here is the same as it was above: it’s not that you have actually lost it; it just seems to be lost.

This causes you to undergo the wheel’s turning. Because you are unaware of your own family treasure, you do not know how to make use of it, and so you rise and sink on the turning wheel of birth and death. The wheel governs you and turns you, and you cannot transcend its cycle. That is why you are the way you are now. This life, next life, life after life will follow that same endless turning, suddenly high, suddenly low, suddenly above, suddenly below. Sometimes you are born in the heavens and sometimes you fall back to earth. There is a saying that goes:

Out of a horse’s belly into the womb of a cow.
How many times back and forth have you
passed by Yama’s halls,
As you go from Shakra’s palaces
down into Yama’s pot?

Out of a horse’s belly into the womb of a cow. How many times back and forth have you passed by Yama’s halls: Sometimes you become a horse, at other times you are a cow. In front of Yama’s halls, you trudge back and forth; one knows not how many times. As you go from Shakra’s palaces down into Yama’s pot: You are like Sundarananda, whom the Buddha took to the heavens, saying that if he cultivated the Way he would be rewarded with rebirthed there, with 500 goddesses serving him. Sundarananda was beside himself with joy. But he forgot King Yama’s pot, for once your heavenly blessings are used up you fall again, perhaps into the hells, where you are boiled in a pot of oil. Once you start spinning on it, you end up going the wrong way and if you are in the least bit careless, once you get started in the wrong direction it is difficult to get back. You see, the path of the turning wheel is dangerous. So now that you have been born a human being, you should hurry up and wake up from this dream. Hurry up and get enlightened. Don’t continue as Ananda did to recognize a thief as your son.