19. “On the eighth day of the tenth moon, the Master said to me: That which is called the City of Illusion contains the Two Vehicles, the Ten Stages of a Bodhisattva’s Progress, and the two forms of Full Enlightenment.1 All of them are powerful teachings for arousing people’s interest, but they still belong to the City of Illusion.2 That which is called the Place of Precious Things is the real Mind, the original Buddha-Essence, the treasure of our own real Nature. These jewels cannot be measured or accumulated. Yet since there are neither Buddha nor sentient beings, neither subject nor object, where can there be a City of Precious Things? If you ask, ‘Well, so much for the City of Illusion, but where is the Place of Precious Things?’, it is a place to which no directions can be given. For, if it could be pointed out, it would be a place existing in space; hence, it could not be the real Place of Precious Things. All we can say is that it is close by. It cannot be exactly described, but when you have a tacit understanding of its substance, it is there.”

1 Including the form which leads to the awakening of others.

2 The City of Illusion is a term taken from the Lotus Sutra and here implies temporary or incomplete Nirvana. From the point of view of Zen, all the teachings of the many sects based on a belief in gradual Enlightenment are likely to lead their followers to the City of Illusion, because all of them apparently subscribe to some form or other of dualism.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, The Hobbit, will be released in theaters soon. It is a prequel to his epic The Lord of the Ring trilogy and actually plants the seeds of what is the main focal point of his fantastic tales: the mystical ring that has the power to corrupt all those who use it, or “the one ring to enslave them all.” Actually its own literary genre owes its roots to Wagner’s Ring Cycle—wherein the main motif is the same, an enchanting ring’s power to corrupt even the best of sentient beings—the gods themselves included. In The Hobbit, the ring is first discovered in the subterranean lair of the impish creature, Gollum, by the main protagonist of the story, Bilbo Baggins. But it is Gollum who intrigues me more, with his incessant refrain of, “my precious, my precious!”—in reference of course to the ring that has actually drained him of his life-force energy, as his every moment is spent pining away in his self-made tomb since his spirit has totally succumbed to the evil power of this great symbol of materialism itself. In contrast to this nefarious ring stands Huang Po’s reference to “the Place of Precious Things”, which of course is a rich metaphor for the One-Mind that houses the very vivifying Self-Nature of our True Beingness in the Unborn; indeed, the Unborn Buddha Mind is the great mani-pearl that does not enslave, but rather luminously eradicates the dark evil one, Mara, whose own dictatorial and materialistic hold can render impotent one’s spirit that has forgotten its True Primordial Source. The Place of this Precious Mani-Pearl of Noble Wisdom is location-less, It is not determined in terms of any measurable quotient within the creative sphere; It is spacelessness and timelessness Itself. Yet, as the Master points out, It is always close by. The Place of Precious Things therefore is the exact antithesis to what he describes as “the City of Illusion”, which as Blofeld indicates in his footnote is a reference found in the Lotus Sutra that implies “temporary or incomplete nirvana.” Once again the Master speaks about the tomfoolery of those who are beholden to exoteric teaching-forms that only keep one entrapped between the Iron Mountains of dualism. What one need do, of course, is to inwardly turn-about from any discursive thought process and discover the True and Undivided Nirvanic Kingdom of Selfhood in the Unborn.

20. “Icchantikas are those with beliefs which are incomplete. All beings within the six realms of existence, including those who follow Mahayana and Hinayana, if they do not believe in their potential Buddhahood, are accordingly called Icchantikas with cut-off roots of goodness. Bodhisattvas1 who believe deeply in the Buddha-Dharma, without accepting the division into Mahayana and Hinayana, but who do not realize the one Nature of Buddhas and sentient beings, are accordingly called Icchantikas with roots of goodness. Those who are Enlightened largely through hearing the spoken doctrine are termed Sravakas (hearers]. Those Enlightened through perception of the law of karma are called Pratyeka-Buddhas.2 Those who become Buddhas, but not from Enlightenment occurring in their own minds, are called Hearer-Buddhas. Most students of the Way are Enlightened through the Dharma which is taught in words and not through the Dharma of Mind. Even after successive aeons of effort, they will not become attuned to the original Buddha-Essence. For those who are not Enlightened from within their own Mind, but from hearing the Dharma which is taught in words, make light of Mind and attach importance to doctrine, so they advance only step by step, neglecting their original Mind. Thus, if only you have a tacit understanding of Mind, you will not need to search for any Dharma, for then Mind is the Dharma.”3  

1 Here meaning Buddhists

2 Commonly meaning those Buddhas who do not interest themselves in the Enlightenment of others.

3 Most of this paragraph is intended to make it clear that, though Buddhism of the gradual school does produce results, they take long to attain and are at least incomplete compared with results obtained through Zen.

Huang Po makes a pivotal point concerning the Icchantikas, or those who’s Buddha-nature does not come to fruition. As he indicates, he’s just not referring to the common lot (puthujjanas) but even all those who are well versed in the Mahayana, but have not yet consummated their quest for the Unborn. One also needs to discover their own Buddha-nature that lies dormant within the gotra, or bodhichild with mystical affiliation with the Tathagatas. Huang Po warns here that merely memorizing scripture or invoking mantras and engaging in soteriological practices will be a totally useless endeavor. Even if one find’s an erudite teacher, if he or she has not discovered their own hidden Buddha-nature, then their teaching is done in vain. The Mind-Dharma is knowing Mind As It Is In Itself.

21. “People are often hindered by environmental phenomena from perceiving Mind, and by individual events from perceiving underlying principles; so they often try to escape from environmental phenomena in order to still their minds, or to obscure events in order to retain their grasp of principles. They do not realize that this is merely to obscure phenomena with Mind, events with principles. Just let your minds become void and environmental phenomena will void themselves; let principles cease to stir and events will cease stirring of themselves.1 Do not employ Mind in this perverted way. Many people are afraid to empty their minds lest they may plunge into the Void. They do not know that their own Mind is the void. The ignorant eschew phenomena but not thought; the wise eschew thought but not phenomena.2”  

1 To FORCE the mind to blot out phenomena shows ignorance of the identity of the one with the other.

2 This profound teaching is aimed partly at those Buddhists who practice a form of meditation which aims at temporarily blotting out the material world.

Once again Huang Po masterfully teaches to avoid trying to eradicate outside phenomena; if one tries in vain to FORCE the issue, then one will become all the more entangled in phenomena’s unwholesome grip. Just Recollect Mind’s Voidness, then all phenomenalizations will begin to dissipate on their own, like the passing clouds against the backdrop of the boundless sky. One must not try to cut-off passing phenomena, this would be like trying to cut off one of the many heads of the Hydra; instead eschew the heart of the Demon (discursive thoughts) altogether.

16. “On the first day of the ninth moon, the Master said to me: From the time when the Great Master Bodhidharma arrived in China, he spoke only of the One Mind and transmitted only the one Dharma. He used the Buddha to transmit the Buddha, never speaking of any other Buddha. He used the Dharma to transmit the Dharma, never speaking of any other Dharma. That Dharma was the wordless Dharma, and that Buddha was the intangible Buddha, since they were in fact that Pure Mind which is the source of all things. This is the only truth; all else is false. Prajna is wisdom; wisdom is the formless original Mind-Source. Ordinary people do not seek the Way, but merely indulge their six senses which lead them back into the six realms of existence. A student of the Way, by allowing himself a single samsaric thought, falls among devils. If he permits himself a single thought leading to differential perception, he falls into heresy. To hold that there is something born and to try to eliminate it, that is to fall among the Sravakas.1 To hold that things are not born but capable of destruction is to fall among the Pratyekas.2 Nothing is born, nothing is destroyed. Away with your dualism, your likes and dislikes. Every single thing is just the One Mind. When you have perceived this, you will have mounted the Chariot of the Buddhas.”

1 Huang Po, according to his usual custom, is using the word Sravaka to mean Hinayanist. Hinayanists are dualists in that they seek to overcome their samsaric life in order to enter Nirvana; while Zen perceives that Samsara is no other than Nirvana.

2 Huang Po customarily uses or misuses this word to mean the Madhyamikists or followers of the Middle Vehicle.

Reference is made yet again to the great Bodhidharma and his sole and resolute mission to teach the Buddhadharma—that great “wordless” transmission that reveals the Absolute Pure Mind of all Buddhas. Huang Po continues his own mission to proclaim that this Noble Mind Realization is the truth whereas all conceptualizations of the clouded-skandhic mind are false. Prajna itself unfolds the imagelessness of the Unborn Buddha Mind; and is hence a mystical-unspoken Dhyana that is all one needs when entering into deep samadhis in order to awaken (bodhi) within the sacred womb of Bhutatathata (Absolute Suchness). The puthujjanas are forever blinded by incessantly seeking Mind through the skandhic-riddled mind, that leads them into the perpetual regenesis of re-becoming in the darkened womb of the six samsaric realms of existence. The Master makes it emphatically and unequivocally known that any adept of the True-Mind-Path, through just one SINGLE SAMSARIC THOUGHT, FALLS AMONG DEVILS. He is not pulling any punches here; all obtuse-thoughts that emanate from the clouded-skandhic mind forever keeps one in the diurnal spin of differentiation—the hallmark of heresy in all Authentic Mind Schools of the unoriginated wordless, and image-less, Buddhadharma. Huang Po also makes a dire warning of becoming trapped between the two iron mountains of delusion—one that believes that something is born and hence can be destroyed; the other which states that no-thing is born, yet this no-thing-ness is still objectifiable and can be destroyed. Hence, there is no birth…there is no death…there is only THAT Deathless-Unborn. Once this is Self-Realized, one mounts the Chariot of all Buddhas and soars like Pegasus with Unborn wings over the abyss of time and space and dreams.

17. “Ordinary people all indulge in conceptual thought based on environmental phenomena, hence they feel desire and hatred. To eliminate environmental phenomena, just put an end to your conceptual thinking. When this ceases, environmental phenomena are void; and when these are void, thought ceases. But if you try to eliminate environment without first putting a stop to conceptual thought, you will not succeed, but merely increase its power to disturb you. Thus all things are naught but Mind–intangible Mind; so what can you hope to attain? Those who are students of Prajna1 hold that there is nothing tangible whatever, so they cease thinking of the Three Vehicles.2 There is only the one reality, neither to be realized nor attained. To say ‘I am able to realize something ‘ or ‘I am able to attain something” is to place yourself among the arrogant. The men who flapped their garments and left the meeting as mentioned in the Lotus Sutra were just such people.3 Therefore the Buddha said: ‘I truly obtained nothing from Enlightenment.’ There is just a mysterious tacit understanding and no more.”

1 Here used to mean Wisdom in the sense of Zen.

2 I.e. theThree Great Schools teaching gradual Enlightenment.

3 These people THOUGHT they had understood and were smugly self-satisfied.

Putting an end to conceptual-thinking allays the onslaught of all environmental-phenomena. The Master warns that if one tries to eliminate phenomenal outflows without first quelling the rabid dog of conceptualizations, one will only feed the beast all the more. Prajna teaches that there is truly no-thing attainable, there is only the One Mind that cannot be grasped by conceptualizations. Being unable to lay-down the untrustworthy and rusted sword of one’s own feeble mind realizations, one succumbs to arrogance and thus cuts one’s own throat. Once again, Huang Po makes use of the Buddha’s own admonition that NO THING is ever attainable, not even after Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi.

18. “If an ordinary man, when he is about to die, could only see the five elements of consciousness as void; the four physical elements as not constituting an ‘I’; the real Mind as formless and neither coming nor going; his nature as something neither commencing at his birth nor perishing at his death, but as whole and motionless in its very depths; his Mind and environmental objects as one–if he could really accomplish this, he would receive Enlightenment in a flash. He would no longer be entangled by the Triple World; he would be a World-Transcendor. He would be without even the faintest tendency towards rebirth. If he should behold the glorious sight of all the Buddhas coming to welcome him, surrounded by every kind of gorgeous manifestation, he would feel no desire to approach them. If he should behold all sorts of horrific forms surrounding him, he would experience no terror. He would just be himself, oblivious of conceptual thought and one with the Absolute. He would have attained the state of unconditioned being. This, then, is the fundamental principle.”1  

1 This paragraph is, perhaps, one of the finest expositions of Zen teaching, for it encompasses in a few words almost the entire scope of that vast and penetrating wisdom.

I concur wholeheartedly with Blofeld’s footnote. This passage is the final summation of the Whole Noble-Teaching of the Tathagatas—one that hopefully prepares the weary samsaric sojourner for that great and FINAL BARDO MOMENT when death comes knocking at the door. Mind is totally Void of ANY phenomenal outflows—from every dark fear even to the apparent shape of Shining Buddha’s arrayed in the finest regalia. This passage bespeaks the great overcoming of BOTH the peaceful and wrathful imagery that confronts one in the final bardo stages before rebirth. If one simply remains quiescent in the Imageless Unborn Buddha Mind, then one can Un-conditionally embrace the Fundamental-Principle of the Dharmadhatu—fully awakening with the unclouded Bodhi-Mind to the Real looking at the Real, and thus returning to One’s True Nirvanic-Primordial Home.

14. “If you students of the Way desire knowledge of this great mystery, only avoid attachment to any single thing beyond Mind. To say that the real Dharmakaya of the Buddha1 resembles the Void is another way of saying that the Dharmakaya is the Void and that the Void is the Dharmakaya. People often claim that the Dharmakaya is in the Void and that the Void contains the Dharmakaya, not realizing that they are one and the same. But if you define the Void as something existing, then it is not the Dharmakaya; and if you define the Dharmakaya as something existing, then it is not the Void. Only refrain from any objective conception of the Void; then it is the Dharmakaya: and, if only you refrain from any objective conception of the Dharmakaya, why,then it is the Void. These two do not differ from each other, nor is there any difference between sentient beings and Buddhas, or between samsara and Nirvana,or between delusion and Bodhi. When all such forms are abandoned, there is the Buddha. Ordinary people look to their surroundings, while followers of the Way look to Mind, but the true Dharma is to forget them both. The former is easy enough, the latter very difficult. Men are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma. This spiritually enlightening nature is without beginning, as ancient as the Void, subject neither to birth nor to destruction, neither existing nor not existing, neither impure nor pure, neither clamorous nor silent, neither old nor young, occupying no space, having neither inside nor outside, size nor form, colour nor sound. It cannot be looked for or sought, comprehended by wisdom or knowledge, explained in words, contacted materially or reached by meritorious achievement. All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, together with all wriggling things possessed of life, share in this great Nirvanic nature. This nature is Mind; Mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the Dharma. Any thought apart from this truth is entirely a wrong thought. You cannot use Mind to seek Mind, the Buddha to seek the Buddha, or the Dharma to seek the Dharma. So you students of the Way should immediately refrain from conceptual thought. Let a tacit understanding be all! Any mental process must lead to error. There is just a transmission of Mind with Mind. This is the proper view to hold. Be careful not to look outwards to material surroundings. To mistake material surroundings for Mind is to mistake a thief for your son.”2  

1 The highest of the three Bodies, synonymous with the Absolute

2 There is a story of a man who mistook a thief for his long-lost son and, giving him a warm welcome, enabled the latter to sneak away with most of his possessions. Those who place reliance on material things are in danger of losing that most valuable of all possessions-the key to the riddle of life which unlocks Nirvana’s gate.

Huang Po asserts that the Void is synonymous with the Dharmakaya. Oftentimes the Void can be mistaken as an Objective-stand-alone phenomenon that is absent of everything else but still subsisting in itself alone. The Master asserts that this is another conceptual conundrum that needs to be transcended and that the best way to do this is to focus on the realization that the Void is the Dharmakaya, just as all other attributions like sentient beings and Buddhas are also One in the Dharmakaya. Another way of saying this is that all IS the Dharmakaya manifesting as one variable of the Absolute or another; of course, one need be careful lest they fall into the pantheistic-trap of believing that the Dharmakaya IS and “equals” everything else. That is a false understanding. It needs to be “turned-round”, everything is IN the Dharmakaya, but the Dharmakaya IS NOT IN everything else. That’s why he says that one cannot even use Mind to seek Mind since Mind subtracted from the Absolute as a stand-alone entity is non-existent and is not greater than the Absolute Mind in It’s essential Voidness. Once again the Master utilizes the analogy of men being fearful of letting-go of their conceptual minds lest they fall into the Void not realizing that this Voidness is the real Dharma-realm of the Dharmakaya. The Dharmakaya is indeed Void-like since It is no-thing nominal in stature—devoid of being and non-being, size and form, color and sound, ect. Thus the Dharmakayic-Mind is Nirvanic in scope and no-thing in the phenomenal world can outweigh Its own intrinsic Absolute-Stature. Huang Po says to just allow this to be a “tacit understanding” and never to allow any kind of conceptual-framework to mess-up the inner-workings of the Unborn.  To do otherwise one falls into the claws of Materialism, which the Master says is like mistaking a thief for one’s son—which translates as mistaking the Skandhic-Materialistic mind for one’s own inner-bodhichild, or the Noble-Child of the Pure-Absolute Mind Itself.

15. “It is only in contradistinction to greed, anger and ignorance that abstinence, calm and wisdom exist. Without illusion, how could there be Enlightenment? Therefore Bodhidharma said: ‘The Buddha enunciated all Dharmas in order to eliminate every vestige of conceptual thinking. If I refrained entirely from conceptual thought, what would be the use of all the Dharmas?’ Attach yourselves to nothing beyond the pure Buddha-Nature which is the original source of all things. Suppose you were to adorn the Void with countless jewels, how could they remain in position? The Buddha-Nature is like the Void; though you were to adorn it with inestimable merit and wisdom, how could they remain there?1 They would only serve to conceal its original Nature and to render it invisible. That which is called the Doctrine of Mental Origins (followed by certain other sects) postulates that all things are built up in Mind and that they manifest themselves upon contact with external environment, ceasing to be manifest when that environment is not present. But it is wrong to conceive of an environment separate from the pure, unvarying nature of all things.2 That which is called the Mirror of Concentration and Wisdom (another reference to non-Zen Mahayana doctrine) requires the use of sight, hearing, feeling and cognition, which lead to successive states of calm and agitation. But these involve conceptions based on environmental objects; they are temporary expedients appertaining to one of the lower categories of ‘roots of goodness’.3 And this category of ‘roots of goodness’ merely enables people to understand what is said to them. If you wish to experience Enlightenment yourselves, you must not indulge in such conceptions. They are all environmental Dharmas concerning things which are and things which are not, based on existence and nonexistence. If only you will avoid concepts of existence and non-existence in regard to absolutely everything, you will then perceive THE DHARMA.”

1 Other Buddhist sects attach great importance to the acquisition of merit and wisdom, but this implies a dualistic conception of reality which Zen considers an insuperable obstacle to realization of the One Mind.

2 This constitutes a warning against another type of dualism.

3 Roots of goodness are believed by some Mahayanaists to be ‘Enlightenment-potentials’ of varying degrees of strength with which individuals are reborn in accordance with the varying merits gained in former lives.

All antithetical notions like ignorance and wisdom co-exist in relative contradistinction to each other, but have absolutely no bearing on one’s essential Buddha-nature “which is the Original source of all things” and having no-conflicting bifurcations in Itself. The Master makes classic use here of Bodhidharma’s assertion that the Buddha made use of Dharmas in order to eradicate all conceptual Dharmas from the Absolute Plane of Pure-Mind Realization. Attaching any-thing on the Absolute Face of the Unborn can be likened to trying to attach jewels on the face of the Void—indeed, where would they hang? Huang Po masterfully draws one’s attention to the “Doctrine of Mental Origins” that postulates that ALL that is manifested in the created order are originally just fancies “built-up in Mind” and appear to exist when hitting the atmosphere of a relative-environment; but when that environment dissolves, they cease to manifest. It would indeed be wrong to even begin to assert that this relative environment is somehow self-existent apart from the Absolute. The Master then hones-in on all “Environmental Dharmas”, such as utilizing mental fabrications of all sensate-cognitive associative materials, that can bring one a sense of momentary bliss, but ultimately are self-empty and only appeal to the lower bhumis wherein one equates accumulated-merits as being the end-all of everything since they are collectively understood as essentially and karmically beneficial in the noosphere; whereas in the Absolute-Milieu of the Unborn they are perceived as Adharma and quite antithetical to the non-dual Buddhadharma.

A good student asked me;

“If IT (the light) is a feeling, it is not the self. Then how is uniting with a
feeling the right progress (practice)? ”

My rather lengthy answer, which I recommend you read several times is as
follows:

You are referring to the second skandha (vedana-feeling/sensation) as a falsely
confirming root source for the light. The fact is that it is the undivided light
(Pure Mind/Unborn Mind) that is the root source of this elevated sensation
(sukha) you feel.

Because your spirit has insulated itself with a layer of false consciousness (4
skandhas with the fifth in the middle), you could see it as thus;

The light of your true nature (your true self) is going outwards like a circle
expanding like a wave simultaneously equal in all expanding directions, towards
the skandha walls and through them.

Hence with each produced wave, the skandha walls are ‘painted’ and verified as
‘real’ (because the light itself is absolute/real), which they are not. It was
therefore Buddha deemed them empty of self (anatta- of the light) and just mere
mind/light constructs.

What you are doing in your current state is experiencing a direct but 
brief encounter with the light Within the skandha walls.
You are ‘surfing the light waves’ of the pure Unborn Mind ocean.
The bliss you are experiencing at this stage is a mere reverberation
from your skandha filters/walls ‘transforming’ an ‘interpretation’ of the joy
your spirit is undergoing during this change of view (from false to right).
See this ‘interpretation as a finger pointing at the moon SEEING the KNOWER of
this finger pointing act as the root source of joy.

As you practise to commune directly with the light and not what it ‘paints’
(like a radar beam ‘painting’ a target), this undivided light-wave will
gradually cease to reinforce your skandha filters/walls by this re-direction
(paravritti) from old habit/desire energy, thus making the pure light more
present in your spirit (true self).

This means that one day your spirit (Mind beyond body consciousness) will
discover it can ride the outwardly expanding light wave -ring THROUGH
the skandha walls, and suddenly awaken to the strange sensation of seeing its
old notion of self (its material body and its world) from ‘outside’, as if
consciously disembodied.

This again arises bliss in the form of the happiness of spiritual
self-realization and freedom (which is still incomplete). This is also your
spirits first SATORI, eg. enlightenment of your true self being greater, more
real than your mortal body consciousness (eg. the worldly persona built around
your mortal body and its temporal values).

From here on the way of Tathagata Zen becomes a joyful passionate practise. You
become the great surfer trying to ride the light wave all the way to the other
side, where the permanent shore of Nirvana awaits you where no corruption,
impermanence is possible.

Once there your bliss is now Nirvana because you know Nirvana as such, your
spirit has by awakening (Budh/Bodhi) confirmed to itself its absolute reality.

You have here now the option/choice to cut the undivided light feed to your
mortal body, at which it will instantly die due to heart failure or cessation of
the energy field sustaining all brain activity (skandhic consciousness) which
results in physical death or keep it alive as a source of nirmankaya teachings
with which you can teach those whom cannot see your ‘surfer self’, sambhokaya
body in the sambhokaya realms.

If you sever the ties with your nirmankaya body (your worldly body) you are
said to choose to permanently stay on the shore of Nirvana which equals
Pari-nirvana.

So to sum up the nature of bliss. It is fourfold;

1. Bliss of 1st jhana in accordance with Tathagata Zen standards
(not theravada).

The mind is in an erratic communion (contact) with the undivided light by means
of Zen or dhyan meaning contemplation of the undivided light which is
continuously produced by your Unborn Mind in the form of outwardly going waves
from a centered singular point (absolute singularity-dharmakaya).
Thus the expression “Let there be light”. Indeed the Light of creation, paints
the world and everything in it.

Confirming Signs: The adept is experiencing brief moments of bliss, translated
through the skandha filter vedana. All experienced as natural happiness. A
soothing but intermitent cloud of well being pervades the adepts body and its
mortal consciousness. Wakes up happy or content in the morning, goes to sleep
happy or content in the evening.

Any meditation on the undivided light of the Unborn Mind, is entered easy and
not as before when mind tried to meditate on ‘states’ or simple light-less
phenomena/objects , constrained, forceful.

—————————————————————————-

2. Bliss of 2nd jhana. Mind of the adept is now in complete union with the
light and the sensation of the material body is lost/gone/not present in any way
(much like peaks of perfect sexual orgasms without any physical sensations).

This is called Samadhi. The states of Samadhi are usually in three parts/levels.
The first level was described above of 1st jhana. The secondary level takes
focused willpower and maintaining it takes even more will. But good practise
(right concentration of the light) always brings good results.

All this will comes easy as the adept knows now that there is something worth
struggling for. Consequently right concentration (on the light) comes more easy
than before where there was only faith but no right view of the undivided light
beyond the skandhic walls.

This bliss, 2nd jhana samadhis of various strengths and durations, can be very
strong, due to NO NOTION of the heavy body consciousness and its gross world
phenomena. It is very addictive and candidates prone to past obsessions with
drugs or similar things should be careful not to get stuck here.

The knowledge of being beyond this stage is described below in 3d jhana.

Confirming Signs:

Extreme bliss of perfect ‘freedom’. Complete fearlessness. Like a huge stone
has dropped from your chest and you feel the sensation of extreme lightness
almost able to ‘fly’ away from this world.
Once you ‘come back’ to samsaric mind reality thing might seem to be in extreme
colors, heightened smell sensation, heightened hearing, ‘precognitive eyes’
(used by extremely skilled samurai’s trained by rinzaimasters in ancient japan)
and many more Mind heightened abilities/siddhis.

——————————————————————————–\
-

3. Bliss of 3d Jhana. Mind of adept has now by being in perfect union with the
light wave of the Unborn Mind broken through the skandha wall and disembodied
from the body consciousness fully conscious with his awakened SPIRIT
consciousness (standing on vulture´s peak). One can say that the adept is now on
the other side of the fence surfing the undivided light waves of pure Mind
Ocean. The sensation ofSELF-OTHER now at a minimum.

Confirming signs: Adepts mind perfectly equate with the real medium of undivided
light, Mind Only thus naturally mindful of the light ocean as more real
than samsara (the world of the body consciousness).

Blissful knowledge arises instantaneously about the Unborn Mind’s sheer
productiveness of constructing-destroying phenomena without the slightest
discrimination. Each arisal of a phenomenon,whether it be a thing, an action, a
sensation is instantly born with its counterpart end (its destruction), thus
birth and death of any-thing is seen instantly as such and right knowledge
of interdependent origination arises in the light pervaded, fully pure Mind of
the Adept.

The extreme bliss of the effortless function known as NO-thought and NO-Mind
arises. Eg. the wisdom filled light PRE-STATING/antesceding the construct of a
single thought. The adept instantly realises that this is far superior to a
thought stream that ‘takes time’ and only useful in a temporal samsara. Thus the
mindful self-acknowledgement of this highly samadhic ability is
investigated eagerly with each dhyana session where dis-embodiment from the body
consciousness and surfing on the light ocean occurs.

——————————————————————————–\
–

4. Bliss of 4th Jhana. The adept with a pure spirit body/consciousness stands
now on the permanent shore of Nirvana where neither pleasure nor pain permeates
this deathless body of pure mind. If the choice arises to permanently ‘stay’,
eg. hereby severing all connection with samsaric body, this act
equals Pari-nirvana.

Most dharma dragons prefer though to complete the remaining natural karmic age
of their nirmankaya bodies, by teaching the true dharma to their student/s until
moment of ‘death’ occurs to the body. When that happens, the dharma dragon is
already beyond the death pains of the body, and not touched by the karma known
as ‘Death’ which plagues ordinary beings.

Confirming signs: Impossible to translate signs to words. Must be experienced
directly as Buddha and all dharma sages have recommended since beginninngless
time.

——————————————————————————–\
—————

Best regards

Tozen

11. “Students of the Way should be sure that the four elements composing the body do not constitute the ‘self, that the ‘self is not an entity; and that it can be deduced from this that the body is neither ‘self nor entity. Moreover, the five aggregates composing the mind (in the common sense) do not constitute either a’self or an entity ; hence, it can be deduced that the (so-called individual) mind is neither ‘self nor entity. The six sense organs (including the brain) which, together with their six types of perception and the six kinds of objects of perception, constitute the sensory world, must be understood in the same way. Those eighteen aspects of sense are separately and together void. There is only Mind-Source, limitless in extent and of absolute purity.”

Huang Po confronts the millennium-old problem of what constitutes the Self in Buddhism. Essentially, the Buddha’s discourse on anātman [meaning no-soul] usually gets mistakenly and incorrectly identified as a no-self doctrine that Siddhartha Guatama purportedly promulgated; rather, what he truly intended to convey (like in the early extant Pali source, the Anattalakkhana Sutta ) was that the five aggregates (or skandhas) constituting the apparent self-personality (form, sensation, thought, volition, mortal consciousness) should not be equated with the Actual-Self—or the true Buddha-Mind of THAT which animates. The Master was truly in league with the Black Dragons—within many and diverse spiritual traditions—who have asserted that Self is synonymous with the Primordial-Source Itself. Being instilled with Inconceivable Wisdom, that is forever dark and obscure to the clouded minds of the lesser-able, the Black Dragons soar like nuclear birds above any anthropocentrically-biased agendas that stand in the way of authentic avenues towards True and unobstructed Selfhood in the Unborn.

12. “Thus, there is sensual eating and wise eating. When the body composed of the four elements suffers the pangs of hunger and accordingly you provide it with food, but without greed, that is called wise eating. On the other hand, if you gluttonously delight in purity and flavour, you are permitting the distinctions which arise from wrong thinking. Merely seeking to gratify the organ of taste without realizing when you have taken enough is called sensual eating.”1 

1 This is a simple example of the wrong use of the six senses. Of course we must use them for dealing with the world as it affects our daily lives, but our employment of them should be limited to what is strictly necessary for our wellbeing.

This section may well be a later redaction by P’ei Hsiu or one of his magistrates directed towards instituting proper monastic-dietary guidelines. All-things in moderation, yes, but there could also be something deeper afoot here in terms of the Master’s diagnosis for transcending the aforementioned samsaric landscape. Huang Po always emphasized being “of one taste” when it comes to the Self-Realization of Pure Mind. As the vast Oceans are full of one taste, the taste of salt, so the Unborn Buddha Mind is of One Undifferentiated Substance; trying to add any further cognitive conceptualizations about IT only stuffs one’s mind full of unnecessary waste-material; indeed, there are spiritual-gluttons who fill their bottomless bellies full of rubbish so that there is never any room left to digest the proper bodhi-food of the Buddhadharma.

13. “Sravakas reach Enlightenment by hearing the Dharma, so they are called Sravakas.1 Sravakas do not comprehend their own mind, but allow concepts to arise from listening to the doctrine. Whether they hear of the existence of Bodhi and Nirvana through supernormal powers or good fortune or preaching, they will attain to Buddhahood only after three aeons of infinitely long duration. All these belong to the way of the Sravakas, so they are called Sravaka-Buddhas. But to awaken suddenly to the fact that your own Mind is the Buddha, that there is nothing to be attained or a single action to be performed–this is the Supreme Way; this is really to be as a Buddha. It is only to be feared that you students of the Way, by the coming into existence of a single thought, may raise a barrier between yourselves and the Way. From thought-instant to thought-instant, no FORM; from thought-instant to thought-instant, no ACTIVITY–that is to be a Buddha! If you students of the Way wish to become Buddhas, you need study no doctrines whatever, but learn only how to avoid seeking for and attaching yourselves to anything. Where nothing is sought this implies Mind unborn; where no attachment exists, this implies Mind not destroyed; and that which is neither born nor destroyed is the Buddha. The eighty-four thousand methods for countering the eighty-four thousand forms of delusion are merely figures of speech for drawing people towards the Gate. In fact, none of them have real existence. Relinquishment of everything is the Dharma, and he who understands this is a Buddha, but the relinquishment of ALL delusions leaves no Dharma on which to lay hold”.2

1 Huang Po sometimes stretches this term to apply to Hinayanists in general. The literal meaning of its Chinese equivalent is ‘those who hear’ and Huang Po implies that Hinayanists pay too much attention to the literal meaning of the Scriptures, instead of seeking intuitive knowledge through eliminating conceptual thought. Those able to apply the latter method have no need of scriptures.

2 Buddhists of most sects are taught to relinquish sensual attachments and to cling singlemindedly to the Dharma. Huang Po goes further in showing that any form of attachment, even attachment to the Dharma, leads us away from the truth.

I’d like to offer a contemporary scenario to the understanding of what constitutes being a Sravaka—or one who hears the “surface-layer” of the Buddhaic-scriptures. Catholics by and large are formed to “hear the gospel” message as written-down in scripture and as proclaimed from the pulpit by a priest or deacon. More often than not, the popular imagination comes away with just a literal interpretation—this especially happens in more evangelical congregations whose imaginations really run-wild with literalistic slants on scripture that can border on hysteria, like what happens with apocalyptic-agendas concerning what was written down in the Book of Revelation. The point here, in league with Blofeld’s footnote, is that the surface-stuff always wins the upper hand, while the more intuitive (the Real Stuff of Revealed Spirit) meaning, beneath that surface layer of scripture (sutras included) gets buried beneath all those literalistic conceptualizations. Huang Po unequivocally states that the “Supreme Way”, in actuality the Ways of the Tathagathas themselves, is to make that leap away from conceptualized surface generalizations and then to take the plunge into the Deeper-Dimension of Mind Only, wherein one awakens (“bodhi”) to the Pure Unborn Buddha Mind; in this vein one truly hears (Dhammasota) and sees through imageless eyes the Buddhadharma. I’ve always loved the Master’s admonition here to be “prior-to” any thoughts and formulations, indeed any kind of ACTIVITY that stands in the way of one’s Union with the Unborn—of what it truly means to “be a Buddha”, Undividedly Awakened, or having the Bodhi-Mind. This section also reinforces what was stated in an earlier blog-post of this series that, for Huang Po, it was always (like the apophatic-mystic and Black Dragon, John of the Cross) nada, nada, nada—no-thing, not even attachment to the Dharma, should stand in the way of the Self-realization of Noble Wisdom. Once again, this is all a strong indication that the Master was At-One with the Diamond Sutra.

9. “This pure Mind, the source of everything, shines forever and on all with the brilliance of its own perfection. But the people of the world do not awake to it, regarding only that which sees, hears, feels and knows as mind. Blinded by their own sight, hearing, feeling and knowing, they do not perceive the spiritual brilliance of the source-substance. If they would only eliminate all conceptual thought in a flash, that source-substance would manifest itself like the sun ascending through the void and illuminating the whole universe without hindrance or bounds. Therefore, if you students of the Way seek to progress through seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, when you are deprived of your perceptions, your way to Mind will be cut off and you will find nowhere to enter. Only realize that, though real Mind is expressed in these perceptions, it neither forms part of them nor is separate from them. You should not start REASONING from these perceptions, nor allow them to give rise to conceptual thought; yet nor should you seek the One Mind apart from them or abandon them in your pursuit of the Dharma. Do not keep them nor abandon them nor dwell in them nor cleave to them. Above, below and around you, all is spontaneously existing, for there is nowhere which is outside the Buddha-Mind.”

The mind that relies exclusively upon its cognitive-skandhic make-up is a no-mind of the Tathagatas. Pure Mind forever shines as perfectly void of any skandhic reference points as Its Deathless Suchness permeates all in the ten directions. Disregarding all conceptual-thought patterns would awaken one’s mind to That which is shining-through at all times and Illumines the inner-mechanism that Recollects Mind As It Is In Itself.  Seeking for Mind in all the wrong places via the external-sensate mechanism of the Five Skandhas will only deter and detour one away from That which, left to Its own accord, will Self-Realize Itself in an instant flash of Self-Same Mind Recognition. If one chooses, however, to use the skandhic-mind vehicle of reasoning about what it “perceives” to be the Reality of Pure Mind, then these incessant and blurred relative perceptions cloaked as the Absolute will continue to be perceived as the real thing; the Master advises one to avoid the reasoning-process based on these false pattern recognitions not by trying to erase them—for by that very ACTION one gives them the undue credit that they do not deserve, thus becoming more attached to them—like sinking in quicksand. On the other hand, nor should one try to embrace them, thinking that by doing so they will eventually just fade-away. So then, what’s the cure for this mind-disease that stands in the way for the quest of the Buddhadharma? It’s not a question of doing nothing or doing something, but rather remaining unbound (Wu-Wei) in Perfect-Primordial Quiescence within the Unborn Buddha Mind That is All-Pervasive (Omnipresent).

10. “When the people of the world hear it said that the Buddhas transmit the Doctrine of the Mind, they suppose that there is something to be attained or realized apart from Mind, and thereupon they use Mind to seek the Dharma, not knowing that Mind and the object of their search are one. Mind cannot be used to seek something from Mind; for then, after the passing of millions of aeons, the day of success will still not have dawned. Such a method is not to be compared with suddenly eliminating conceptual thought, which is the fundamental Dharma. Suppose a warrior, forgetting that he was already wearing his pearl on his forehead, were to seek for it elsewhere, he could travel the whole world without finding it. But if someone who knew what was wrong were to point it out to him, the warrior would immediately realize that the pearl had been there all the time. So, if you students of the Way are mistaken about your own real Mind, not recognizing that it is the Buddha, you will consequently look for him elsewhere, indulging in various achievements and practices and expecting to attain realization by such graduated practices. But, even after aeons of diligent searching, you will not be able to attain to the Way. These methods cannot be compared to the sudden elimination of conceptual thought, in the certain knowledge that there is nothing at all which has absolute existence, nothing on which to lay hold, nothing on which to rely, nothing in which to abide, nothing subjective or objective. It is by preventing the rise of conceptual thought that you will realize Bodhi; and, when you do, you will just be realizing the Buddha who has always existed in your own Mind! Aeons of striving will prove to be so much wasted effort; just as, when the warrior found his pearl, he merely discovered what had been hanging on his forehead all the time; and just as his finding of it had nothing to do with his efforts to discover it elsewhere. Therefore the Buddha said: ‘I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment.’ It was for fear that people would not believe this that he drew upon what is seen with the five sorts of vision and spoken with the five kinds of speech. So this quotation is by no means empty talk, but expresses the highest truth.”

The Buddha’s Mind-Transmission is a No-Transmission of Mind. The Worldlings (puthujjanas) have no inkling of this and perceive something to be transmitted by something (mind). Mind cannot be used to grasp Mind as that would implicate Mind in some kind of subjective/objective substratum affair. Mind does not seek the dharma, It IS the Dharma. So then, what does “get-transmitted?” Who does the transmitting and who gets what is transmitted? Many have assumed that Huang Po is actually transmitting a Doctrine of Mind Transmission; this is really far-off the beaten path of what the Master was attempting to convey. One discerns from studying and meditating on the Teachings of Huang Po after many years that he would not want his efforts to be classified under any form of “doctrine”; indeed, that would be the ultimate slap in the face. What wrongly gets translated as Mind Doctrine here is actually the re-evaluation of all doctrines, including meditational-denominations of any form for that matter. For the Master, Mind is Mind (Fait accompli) and no-thing else. No-thing gets transmitted; this is why he includes the Buddha’s admonition time and time again, ‘I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment.’ I love his use of the parable to illustrate the foolishness of searching for That which one already has. The “gem” in the parable represents one’s Buddha-nature; indeed, many go searching for it for aeons upon aeons, never coming to the Noble Self-Realization that It’s always been “right-there/here” (in the forehead, representing Real Mind) all the time. The Master uses this illustration in reference to the puthujjanas, but also to his own disciples (as well as disciples from other zen schools) to relay the foolhardiness of trying to find IT through various meditational/contemplative/academic disciplines because in the end IT will always evade “all-constructs” that attempt to cultivate and thus pin-IT-down. Just Realize the Buddha in your Mind of Minds. No-thing more need be done. This section concludes with Huang Po’s reference to the “five sorts of vision” which was covered recently in our study of the Diamond Sutra (Human Eye; Divine Eye; Gnostic Eye; Transcendent Wisdom Eye; Omniscient Buddha-Eye), as well as the five kinds of speech (Right speech; deceptive speech; divisive speech; harsh speech; idle chatter).

7. “The building up of good and evil both involve attachment to form.1 Those who, being attached to form, do evil have to undergo various incarnations unnecessarily; while those who, being attached to form, do good, subject themselves to toil and privation equally to no purpose. In either case it is better to achieve sudden self-realization and to grasp the fundamental Dharma. This Dharma is Mind, beyond which there is no Dharma; and this Mind is the Dharma, beyond which there is no mind. Mind in itself is not mind, yet neither is it no-mind. To say that Mind is no-mind implies something existent.2 Let there be a silent understanding and no more. Away with all thinking and explaining.  Then we may say that the Way of Words has been cut off and movements of the mind eliminated. This Mind is the pure Buddha-Source inherent in all men. All wriggling beings possessed of sentient life and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are of this one substance and do not differ. Differences arise from wrong-thinking only and lead to the creation of all kinds of karma.3”

1 According to Zen, virtuous actions should be performed by adepts, but not with a view to accumulating merit and not as a means to Enlightenment. The door should remain perfectly unattached to the actions and to their results.

2 In other words, Mind is an arbitary term for something that cannot properly be expressed in words.

3 Karma, even good karma, leads to rebirth and prolongs the wanderings of the supposedly individual entity; for when good karma has worked itself out in consequent enjoyment, the ‘individual’ is as far from understanding the One Mind as ever.

All dichotomous attributes like good and evil are indelibly linked to formal patterns bearing some karmic ramifications. The Master says that those attached to evil patterns continue to spin the karmic-wheel and will reincarnate again and again, oftentimes in quite undesirable formalized conditions; while those attached to good patterns in hopes of gaining merit toil in vain and ultimately for no purpose, other than to make some kind of altruistic mark on a samsaric world that is in itself sunya. He says to drop all concerns of the formalized, conditioned mundane body-consciousness and to turn instead to the Noble Self-Realization of the Unborn Buddha Mind, the hallmark of the Buddhadharma. Mind and the Buddhadharma are synonymous in import, beyond which there is no mind or Dharma. Yet, once again in league with the Diamond Sutra, the Master states that in itself Mind knows no formal classification as “Mind”; although (and this is vitally significant) “neither is it no-mind”, to proclaim it so otherwise implies that it is some kind of self-existent thing. Years ago when I was in my “Osho-Phase”, I was always enamored of his proclamation of “No-Mind”—as if this was some kind of miraculous revelation that freed one from the plague of the Ego-mind. In effect, what his ignominious and proselytizing refrain of “no-mind” actually did was to enslave unwary spirits to a life of total and unequivocal obedience to his own warped and chameleon-like Egotized dark presence. He used to state that “you can try to leave me; but I’ll always be there ‘in your mind’”; indeed, he was always attempting to convey in endless “words, words, words” a Noble Mind Realization that is in itself ineffable. As the True Master states herein, animated sentient reality is not self-existent from the Mind that animates; all differential-thinking will only lead to further suffering and endless rounds within the karmadhatu.

8. “Our original Buddha-Nature is, in highest truth, devoid of any atom of objectivity. It is void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is glorious and mysterious peaceful joy–and that is all. Enter deeply into it by awaking to it yourself. That which is before you is it, in all its fullness, utterly complete. There is naught beside. Even if you go through all the stages of a Bodhisattva’s progress towards Buddhahood, one by one; when at last, in a single flash, you attain to full realization, you will only be realizing the Buddha-Nature which has been with you all the time; and by all the foregoing stages you will have added to it nothing at all.1 You will come to look upon those aeons of work and achievement as no better than unreal actions performed in a dream. That is why the Tathagata said: ‘I truly attained nothing from complete, unexcelled Enlightenment. Had there been anything attained, Dipamkara Buddha would not have made the prophecy concerning me.’2 He also said: ‘This Dharma is absolutely without distinctions, neither high nor low, and its name is Bodhi.’ It is pure Mind, which is the source of everything and which, whether appearing as sentient beings or as Buddhas, as the rivers and mountains of the world which has form, as that which is formless, or as penetrating the whole universe, is absolutely without distinctions, there being no such entities as selfness and otherness.”

1 Enlightenment must come in a flash, whether you have passed through the preliminary stages or not, so the latter can well be dispensed with, except that, for reasons unconnected with Enlightenment, Zen requires of adepts an attitude of kindness and helpfulness towards all living creatures.

2 This quotation refers to the Diamond Sutra, as do many of the others either directly or indirectly. Dipamkara Buddha, during a former life of Gautama Buddha, prophesied ‘that he would one day attain to Buddhahood. Huang Po means that the prophecy would not have been made if Dipamkara Buddha had supposed that Gautama Buddha’s Enlightenment would lead to the actual attainment of something he had not already been from the very first; for then Enlightenment would not have led to Buddhahood, which implies a voidness of all distinctions such as attainer, attained, non-attainer and non-attained.

Once again the Master emphasizes the Unborn Nature of Mind that he says is “mysterious-peaceful-joy” and naught else besides. All one need do is to open up to the grace AS IT IS before you, and no-thing more need be done. Don’t try to add or subtract from Its effervescent imageless-hue that is all-encompassing. If you try to grasp It by groping through all the bodhisattvic stages or even “in a single flash”, it’s all the same…just more cognitive interference that disrupts the Dharmakayic Ecstasy from revealing It’s own and complete Noble Self-Realization of an Unborn Mind in a perfect state-less state of actuosity. Blofeld’s accompanying footnote concerning Huang-po’s alliance with the Diamond Sutra is right on the mark; indeed, as stated earlier in previous blog posts of this series, the Master’s teachings and the Diamond Sutra are inseparably linked. The perfect Mind-Realization is also expounded here that the Tathagata reveals the True Mind-Dharma as Undifferentiated and Undivided and hence Bodhi-Mind—the most salient component of the Buddhadharma. The dawning of this most auspicious Mind-Realization has empowered Zen folk throughout the millennia to assert that there is no-thing self-existent as mountains and rivers; yet after enlightenment is enkindled, they are most fully present in-Mind as mountains and rivers—but devoid of being a separate “other” from a distinguishing separate “self”.

5. “Manjusri represents fundamental law and Samantabhadra, activity. By the former is meant the law of the real and unbounded void, and by the latter the inexhaustible activities beyond the sphere of form. Avalokitesvara represents boundless compassion; Mahasthama, great wisdom, and Vimalakirti, spotless name.1 Spotless refers to the real nature of things, while name means form; yet form is really one with real nature, hence the combined term ‘spotless name’.2 All the qualities typified by the great Bodhi-sattvas are inherent in men and are not to be separated from the One Mind. Awake to it, and it is there. You students of the Way who do not awake to this in your own minds, and who are attached to appearances or who seek for something objective outside your own minds, have all turned your backs on the Way. The sands of the Ganges! The Buddha said of these sands: ‘If all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with Indra and all the gods walk across them, the sands do not rejoice; and, if oxen, sheep, reptiles and insects tread upon them, the sands are not angered. For jewels and perfumes they have no longing, and for the stinking filth of manure and urine they have no loathing.’”

1 This abstract notion of the Bodhisattvas, regarded by some sects as individual spiritual entities, is shared by some Buddhists outside the Zen Sect.

2 Zen teaches that, though the phenomenal world based on sensory experience has only relative existence, it is wrong to regard it as something separate from the One Mind. It is the One Mind wrongly apprehended. As the Hridaya Sutra says: ‘Form is not different from void, void from form; form is void and void is form.’

On several occasions The Master brings to mind the Great Bodhisattva Mañjushrī. Tradition has it that Mañjushrī supernally emanated from a Yellow-Ray of the Tathagata that eventually coalesced into a Blue Lotus Blossom from which he sprang, holding in his right hand the Sword of Wisdom and in his left hand that self-same Blue Lotus Blossom that housed the Revered Book of Wisdom. His Mystical Bodhi-Sword is able to pierce right through the densest levels of avidya whilst simultaneously wiping-clear the darkness of all evils with Luminous Unborn Light. Mañjushrī’s Book of Wisdom represents the full teachings and treasury of the Prajna-Paramita, although this is only the exoteric significance of that Great Book; esoterically, it holds far-greater significance and can only be utilized by Maha-Bodisattvas who, through profound Buddha-gnosis in deepest dhyana, intone the Book’s Sacred Mantras (dharanis) hidden within and that enhance their Buddha-gnosis a thousand-fold, as their learning curve is linked with the Transcendent and Illuminating Wisdom of the Tathagatas. This is why Mañjushrī protects that Sacrosanct Book with such eternal vigilance; the Book’s import is comparable to the Ark of the Covenant and anyone who attempts to misuse and abuse its hidden Noble Unborn Word  is doomed to suffer dire consequences…not just anyone can break open its inviolate seals and benefit from the Buddha-gnosis therein. Those who invoke Mañjushrī are blessed with a greater spirit of determined diligence and mental acumen in the Ways of the Buddhadharma. This is why The Master says that Mañjushrī represents the Fundamental Law of that Self-Same Buddhadharma.

The inclusion here of Samantabhadra is also significant. Samantabhadra was covered extensively during our excursions into the Lankavatarian Book of the Dead and thus represents the Supreme Primordial Wisdom Buddha, whose “inexhaustible-activities beyond the realm of form and formlessness” is well noted by The Master. His inclusion of also Avalokitesvara and Vimalakirti as well bespeaks his immense reverence for the Maha-Bodhisattvas, whose boundless bodhipower initiates those spotless (imageless) qualities that are innately latent in one’s spirit. The Master says that anyone who turns their backs on the intuitive resourcefulness of these arcane inner qualities and chooses instead to bet their lives away, rolling the exoteric dice of discriminatory associations, are contumacious indeed; what Jesus the Christ referred to as a “stiff-necked” people. Love the Master’s imagery of the “Sands of the Ganges”; true, if one’s spirit becomes fully immersed in the Ways of the Buddhadharma, then like those sands they will become impervious to any external or internal vexations.

6. “This Mind is no mind of conceptual thought and it is completely detached from form. So Buddhas and sentient beings do not differ at all. lf you can only rid yourselves of conceptual thought, you will have accomplished everything. But if you students of the Way do not rid yourselves of conceptual thought in a flash, even though you strive for aeon after aeon, you will never accomplish it. Enmeshed in the meritorious practices of the Three Vehicles, you will be unable to attain Enlightenment. Nevertheless, the realization of the One Mind may come after a shorter or a longer period. There are those who, upon hearing this teaching, rid themselves of conceptual thought in a flash. There are others who do this after following through the Ten Beliefs, the Ten Stages, the Ten Activities and the Ten Bestowals of Merit. Yet others accomplish it after passing through the Ten Stages of a Bodhisattva’s Progress.1

1 These various categories of ten are all part of the doctrine as taught by certain other sects. Huang Po wishes to make it clear that, though these may be useful in preparing the ground, the mind must in any case take a sudden leap, and that having passed through these stages in nowise constitutes partial Enlightenment.

But whether they transcend conceptual thought by a longer or a shorter way, the result is a state of BEING: there is no pious practicing and no action of realizing. That there is nothing which can be attained is not idle talk; it is the truth. Moreover, whether you accomplish your aim in a single flash of thought or after going through the Ten Stages of a Bodhisattva’s Progress, the achievement will be the same; for this state of being admits of no degrees, so the latter method merely entails aeons of unnecessary suffering and toil.*”

* Merit, however excellent in itself, has nothing to do with Enlightenment..

Once again the Master hammers into the heads of his disciples the crucial factor of eliminating all cognitive constructs. In the spirit of the Diamond Sutra he emphasizes the futility of accumulating meritorious deeds, for those will get them nowhere in the Ways of Awakening to the Unborn Buddha Mind of the Tathagatas; even wearing the external badges of any of the Three Vehicles (Hinayana, Mahayana and Tantrayana) will not guarantee any iota of Enlightenment. The Master indicates that the actual “coming to-realization” may be sudden or gradual; in this light he does not advocate leanings or allegiance to any particular schools of sudden or gradual enlightenment. His inclusion of all the sundry “stages” of the various schools is a testament to that; this is why I beg to differ with Blofeld’s footnote here that seems to indicate that Huang Po advocated Unequivocal-Sudden Realization; although, spiritually, the initial impact of Awakening is Sudden in effect. Afterwards the “cultivation” of this Awakening needs to be continually and diligently undertaken. The Master does stress, however, that any of these proceedings should not be undertaken with the thought that eventually something will be attained;in this light he says that undertaking any methodology will certainly produce endless suffering anxiety and needless toil. Awakening is never attained, it is Self-Actualized.

3. “Mind is like the void in which there is no confusion or evil, as when the sun wheels through it shining upon the four corners of the world. For, when the sun rises and illuminates the whole earth, the void gains not in brilliance; and, when the sun sets, the void does not darken. The phenomena of light and dark alternate with each other, but the nature of the void remains unchanged. So it is with the Mind of the Buddha and of sentient beings. If you look upon the Buddha as presenting a pure, bright or Enlightened appearance, or upon sentient beings as presenting a foul, dark or mortal-seeming appearance, these conceptions resulting from attachment to form will keep you from supreme knowledge even after the passing of as many aeons as there are sands in the Ganges. There is only the One Mind and not a particle of anything else on which to lay hold, for this Mind is the Buddha. If you students of the Way do not awake to this Mind substance, you will overlay Mind with conceptual thought, you will seek the Buddha outside yourselves, and you will remain attached to forms, pious practices and so on, all of which are harmful and not at all the way to supreme knowledge.”

The Master makes numerous references to “the Void”. More often than not, the Void is imagined to be like some dark-hole of nothingness deep in the heart of space. The void is not nothingness, as if it is a blank absence of something. The void is devoid of all positive and negative phenomena. It is essentially empty of all attributes. In this sense it can be liken to Shūnyatā, or the emptiness of all that has no Self-Substance in itself but is always dependent upon some dichotomous other. Thus as the Master states, when the sun riseth the void does not set; nor does it rise with the moon in the evening. It is Absolute Changelessness that does not alter Its Essential Substance under any circumstances. Light and Darkness have no place in Its Unborn Stature; there was no “god” who once uttered, “Let there be the Void”, as It Is Forever in a stateless-state of Suchness bearing no-signs of the created order. It is the Imagelessness of the Dharmakaya; hence the Unborn Buddha Mind is the Imageless Mind of all Buddhas. The Master says that if anyone conceives of this Buddha Mind as exhibiting traits of brightness whilst at the same time conceiving of some “sentient” entity as having traits of foul darkness, then one has bifurcated their Unborn Buddha Mind into two opposing camps—neither of which is Self-Absolute. If one constantly seeks this Unborn Buddha Mind outside one’s own inner intuitive resourcefulness, then attachment to some kind of created-form or formlessness is inevitable; the Master says that it is the same for attachment to any devotional agencies, any form of which proves to be a hindrance that prevents one from intuiting Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, thus far off the markless-mark of the Unborn.

4. “Making offerings to all the Buddhas of the universe is not equal to making offerings to one follower of the Way who has eliminated conceptual thought. Why? Because such a one forms no concepts whatever. The substance of the Absolute is inwardly like wood or stone, in that it is motionless, and outwardly like the void, in that it is without bounds or obstructions. It is neither subjective nor objective, has no specific location, is formless, and cannot vanish. Those who hasten towards it dare not enter, fearing to hurtle down through the void with nothing to cling to or to stay their fall. So they look to the brink and retreat. This refers to all those who seek such a goal through cognition. Thus, those who seek the goal through cognition are like the fur (many), while those who obtain intuitive knowledge of the Way are like the horns (few).”

The Master continues in relaying the utter futility of exclusively committing oneself to some form of devotional agency, any of which is inadequate to full Self-Realization of the Unborn Buddha Mind. He states that if anyone chooses to make incessant devotional offerings to “all the Buddhas of the universe”, such an action pales in comparison in making an offering to just “one follower of the Way” who has totally eliminated all of these conceptual constructs. Notice, though, that he’s not saying that to do so implies any offerings made to some kind of self-existent sentient follower of the way. As the Diamond Sutra would state, neither “the Buddhas of the universe”, nor “a follower of the Way” are truly really self-existent; indeed, both are constitutive of those conceptual constructs. One who adheres to the True Buddhadharma would “form no concept of either whatsoever.” The Absolute Substance of the Unborn Buddha Mind is inwardly “motionless” like a stone-statue; yet, since It is likened outwardly to the Void It is boundless in stature and can thus strike like, in one of Tozen’s phrases, a “Heaven-Blown-Lightning.” This Unborn Buddha Mind is neither objective nor subjective and It is location-less; indeed neither here nor there, but yet everywhere for those who can behold It with Imageless Eyes. The Master states that most are unwilling to even catch a glimpse of Its Void-like Stature. Why? Because there are no longer any conceptual frameworks one can grab hold of like a frightened child, cringing and clinging helplessly to its parent. As was stated in an earlier Blog Post (Our Lady of the Void), within this Great Deathless Void there is no-thing to see, no-thing to perceive, no-thing to grasp or cling to—just Total Unequivocal Relinquishment of all that is not the Unborn Absolute. Most just approach the brink of letting-go of their conceptual faculties, but pull back in fear lest they lose them all if they should plunge into that conception-less and thus Unknown Void. One needs to abandon all their skandhic-cognitive faculties—a true “letting-go” that empowers one to venture into the Great Unborn and Deathless Void. As Jesus the Christ once said, “narrow is the way; and how few there are who enter into it.” In other words, “wide” is the path of endless reliance on one’s own cognitive faculties and many are the mind-traps that will befall one; whereas few obstacles remain for those who eliminate conceptual thought all together and rely solely on one’ s inner-intuitive and Recollective Unborn Resourcefulness.