Issue 308

How can we say that the nature of your mind plays the part of host since everything perceived by it returns to something else?

Shakyamuni Buddha said to Ananda, “You think it is your conditioned mind which listens to dharma. If you listen to the dharma with a mind that seizes upon conditions, then the nature of the dharma is also conditioned. That mind of yours doesn’t make distinctions when apart from the dust. It hasn’t any distinction-making nature of its own.

How can we say that the nature of your mind plays the part of host since everything perceived by it returns to something else. Should everything about the nature of your mind return somewhere else, and if everything returns to something else, then which one is your host? And who is your host? As when you borrow something from someone, you should then return it, this is called ‘return’. If the mind exists because of the dust, then it should return to the dust.”

Ananda said, “If every state of our mind returns to something else as its cause, then why does the wonderful bright original mind mentioned by the Buddha return nowhere? I hold out the hope that the Buddha will shower us with such compassion as to enlighten us on this point.”

Now Ananda is even more in the dark, even more confused. Ananda said, “If every state of our mind returns to something else” – if everything about my mind is not my own, but must be returned to others – then why does the wonderful bright original mind mentioned by the Buddha return nowhere? How come that fine, subtle, wonderful, fundamental, originally permanently dwelling true mind spoken by the Buddha has no place to go back to? The more I listen to this doctrine, the more confused I get and the less I understand. This has really made me lose sight of what the mind truly is! It says everything has a return, so why is it that my true mind has no return?

I hold out the hope that the Buddha will shower us with such compassion as to enlighten us on this point. The dharma body, the reward body, and the response body of the Thus Come One are all very tall. That’s why Ananda says, “Please look down upon me and have pity on me! Now, my sole wish is for the Buddha to explain to me the doctrine of ‘no returning of the true mind’!”

The Buddha said to Ananda: “As you now see me, the essence of seeing is fundamentally bright. This seeing, though not the wondrous, essential, and luminous mind, is like a second moon, not merely a reflection of the moon.”

The Buddha said to Ananda, “As you now see me, the essence of your seeing is fundamentally bright.” The essence of your seeing, which sees my thirty-two hallmarks and eighty subsidiary subtle characteristics, has the basic characteristic of clarity. It’s the essence of light.

This seeing, though not the wondrous, essential, and luminous mind. This “seeing” that can see me, although it is not the wondrous, essential, and luminous mind, it’s basically the eighth consciousness which is called the mind-king. The seeing of the mind-king can go to the good side, or it can go to the bad side. If it ascends, it penetrates through to the Buddha-nature. If it descends, it penetrates through into the seventh consciousness. Although the substance of the eighth consciousness is not in itself our true mind, our true mind is contained within the eighth consciousness. So don’t make a mistake here and say that this is not where the wonderfully essential bright mind is, and dare not recognize it as the true mind. This essence of seeing is the true mind. The Buddha has already proven this. This seeing which sees is the true mind!

Is like a second moon, not merely a reflection of the moon: Then what is this ‘essence of seeing fundamentally bright’ actually like? It is like a second moon, not like the moon’s reflection. How is this? If you press against your eye with your finger, the eye will see two moons in response to the pressure. But those two moons are the same moon, there are not truly two moons. It is simply that when you pinch your eye in this manner, it appears as two moons; yet, it remains that very same lunar body. The Buddha is saying that the eighth consciousness, the mind-king, is the basic substance of our true mind. You should not mistakenly think that the eighth consciousness is not the true mind. If you press against your eye with your finger, the eye will see two moons in response to the pressure. But those two moons are the same moon, the one real moon, not a reflection like the moon seen in water, which is not the real thing.

You should listen attentively, for I am now going to show you the place of no returning.

Ananda, you should listen attentively, for I am now going to show you the place of no returning. Ananda, you should pay close attention. Don’t be muddled when I am speaking. Listen well. Now I am going to instruct you, just as you asked, about the true mind and about how it does not return anywhere. The Buddha begins by asking Ananda a question.

Ananda, this great lecture hall is open to the east. It is flooded with light when the sun rises in the sky. It is dark at midnight during a new moon or when obscured by clouds or fog. Looking out through open doors and windows your vision is unimpeded; facing walls or houses your vision is hindered. Your vision is causally conditioned in such places where there are forms of distinctive features; in dull void, you can see only emptiness. Your vision will be distorted when the objects of seeing are shrouded in dust and vapor; you will perceive clearly when the air is fresh.

Ananda, this great lecture hall is open to the east. The Buddha’s great lecture hall where he spoke the Shurangama Sutra, is open to the east. How big is the lecture hall? It can accommodate at least one thousand two hundred and fifty disciples. Moreover, this time, a vast multitude of great Bodhisattvas, great Arhats, and great bhikshus from throughout the three thousand great-thousand worlds of the ten directions have also arrived in boundless and countless numbers. Indeed, that great lecture hall can accommodate this many people!

It is flooded with light when the sun rises in the sky. It is dark at midnight during a new moon or when obscured by clouds or fog. When the sun ascends the sky, its light shines into this lecture hall. In the dead of night—a moonless, pitch-black hour—the vast void was shrouded in clouds and mist; a blanket of darkness prevailed, and the world grew dim once more. The full moon is called bai yue, “white moon,” and the new moon is called hei yue, “black moon.”

The sun mounting the sky represents the light of wisdom in people, which can illumine and destroy their darkness. The clouds and fog bringing dimness and obscurity represent people’s stupidity. When there are clouds in the sky and fog on the ground, you cannot see anything. That stands for people in the height of stupidity, who are totally lacking in wisdom and do not understand the principle behind anything. They don’t know where the road is, where the Way is. They want to cultivate the Way but they cannot find it. They want to perform good deeds, but they don’t know how to go about it in the right way!

It is dark. It becomes dim once again. It is said that darkness fell once again; and this darkness signifies the ignorance of human beings. People’s wisdom is light and their stupidity is darkness. But what makes the difference between them? Can we think to ourselves, “Ah, I’m wise. I’m really smart!” and thereby gain wisdom? No. The more you think you have wisdom and the more you think you are smart, the stupider you are, as stupid as a pig! A pig doesn’t even think of itself as smart. If you think that you are intelligent, you are the stupidest sort of person. Why? Because of sheer complacency! Once you become complacent, you start to assume: “Oh, look at me,” you say. “No one can equal me!” This person is the stupidest person! If no one can equal you, then you aren’t even human!

Let me tell you, if you were a person, then it wouldn’t be the case that people couldn’t equal you, since people are all alike. Do you understand? This is an extremely important point! This is the point of view of extreme stupidity! If you weren’t stupid, then no matter the circumstances, you would never feel that you’re incomparable. You would not puff up with arrogance and conceit: “Look at me, I am first (number one)!” The person you delight in being the ‘first’ is precisely the very ‘last’. (The Master used a hand gesture to indicate ‘last’.) Why? You still have a number that can be counted! If you were truly ‘first’, then there would be no number at all. What does ‘first’ actually mean? To have no number – that is what it means to be first; if there is a number, then it is not first.

So, this point is extremely important! People who are incredibly stupid look upon themselves as intelligent. Truly intelligent people are not aware of their intelligence. They do not ponder on the question of their own intelligence. Darkness implies that one cannot see anything at all, like a blind man who can’t see anything and yet, thinks that he is smarter than anyone else.

Looking out through open doors and windows your vision is unimpeded. Through the openings of windows and doors, you can see what’s outside from the indoors. You penetrate through without any obstruction. The five eyes and six spiritual penetrations are called ‘penetrations’ because they can penetrate through without obstruction. I don’t remember which day it was. One day one of my disciples told me, “After lunch when everyone is supposed to be working, some people go to sleep!” “Why are you minding other people’s business that doesn’t concern you?” I asked him. How did he know that this person was sleeping? The person hadn’t told him, after all! It is because he has the Buddha eye, and so he knows what everyone is doing.
It used to be, when it was just me, that people might do something and not tell me about it, thinking that I didn’t know. So, I wouldn’t pay any attention to the matter either. Now I have a helper, a deputy. I’ve told him to tell me about the faults he finds in others. Now that someone is telling me, I have proof, and so I can cross-examine anyone who is at fault. But you should not be afraid. I don’t intend to ask about small matters. If something of major importance happens, then I will ask.

This disciple is my helper and if anyone steals something, my helper sees it; if anyone kills someone, he knows it. If I want to tend to trivial matters I can do so at any time. If I do not want to tend to trivial matters, then there is no matter at all. So those of you who are thinking of stealing things, don’t be afraid. Those of you who want to do things which you don’t want me to know about also needn’t be afraid. For the time being I am not paying any attention to these small matters.

Facing walls or houses your vision is hindered. In some editions of the sutras, the character「壅」is written as「塞」(blocked).「牆」refers to a wall;「宇」refers to the area near the eaves.「壅」signifies being obstructed. Where there are crevices, seeing penetrates, but where there are no crevices, there’s no penetration. Within these walls or houses, everything is blocked and obstructed. Your vision is causally conditioned in such places where there are forms of distinctive features. The places where there are distinctions are all the states you see, whether they be mountains, rivers, the great earth, groves, fountains, everything which can be distinguished – high and low, good and bad, houses, porches, verandas, cottages, and waterways. Those are distinctions made by the mind, and therefore are conditions. In dull void, you can see only emptiness. Dark, dull emptiness, devoid of efficacy, is the place where there is no awareness; there is emptiness.