(Haskel)

Precepts 

A certain master of the Precepts School asked: “Doesn’t your Reverence observe the precepts?”

The Master said: “Originally, what people call the precepts were all for wicked monks who broke the rules; for the man who abides in the Unborn Buddha Mind, there’s no need for precepts. The precepts were taught to help sentient beings—they weren’t taught to help buddhas! What everyone has from his parents innately is the Unborn Buddha Mind alone, so abide in the Unborn Buddha Mind. When you abide in the Unborn Buddha Mind, you’re a living buddha here today, and that living buddha certainly isn’t going to concoct anything like taking the precepts, so there aren’t any precepts for him to take. To concoct anything like taking the precepts is not what’s meant by the Unborn Buddha Mind. When you abide in the Unborn Buddha Mind, there’s no way you can violate the precepts. From the standpoint of the Unborn, the precepts too are secondary, peripheral concerns; in the place of the Unborn, there’s really no such thing as precepts. . . 

Intermittently during our study of the Platform Sutra we focused on the import of the Precepts, like “discerning the three bodies of the Buddha”; “reciting the Bodhisattva vows”, ect. Amongst Bankei’s diverse audience were masters from the various Buddhist Schools; here we have one who placed a high premium on the Precepts and who wanted to know Bankei’s take on them. Bankei immediately shreds any form of dependency upon the Precepts. Like many other sundry “religious” rules and regulations, they are meant by and large to keep the “religious faithful” in-tow, so much so that they replace authentic spiritual growth that is never dependent upon religious trinkets. Bankei knew that there is never self-transcendency with such a mindset. One’s exclusive “outward” devotion to pious transparencies only reveals the shallow herd-like mentality of the devotees. This type of formalism oftentimes produces religious fanaticism. Bankei says that one who abides in the Unborn Buddha Mind has no need for such abominations. As the prior Blog disclosed, when one is AT ONE with the Unborn what need is there for anymore inadequate peripheries? Everything is already Perfectly-Resolved in the Unborn. Precepts are only for the dull-witted who never cease depending upon outside intermediaries who will never lead them to the True Promised Land of the Dharmakaya.

The same old thing 

“A certain teacher of Buddhism told me: ‘Instead of teaching the same old thing in your sermons day after day, you ought to throw in a few Buddhist miracle stories once in a while and give people a refreshing change of pace.’ Of course, he could be right. I may be thickheaded, but provided something is really helpful to people, then, thickheaded or not, I’m not beyond memorizing one or two old stories if I put my mind to it. However, teaching this sort of thing is like feeding poison to sentient beings. And feeding people poison is something I certainly can’t do!”  

I don’t talk about Buddhism 

The Master further said: “I don’t teach people by quoting from the words of the buddhas and patriarchs. Since I can manage simply by dealing with people’s own selves, there’s no need on top of that to quote the words of the buddhas and patriarchs too. I don’t talk about Buddhism, and I don’t talk about Zen. There’s really no need to talk about these things. Since I can manage perfectly just by dealing with people’s own selves as they are right here today, there’s no need for me to talk about Buddhism, or Zen either. . . .”

As was pronounced at the outset of this series, Bankei was the quintessential iconoclast. He’s not interested in conforming to or appeasing the vast array of religious sensitivities of his diverse audience. In a grand, Nietzschean-like manner, Bankei makes the Transcendent Case for a Re-Valuation of all values. Sure, including nice little stories from time to time can serve to wet the appetite and grab the attention of certain adepts who are forever like restless little children, but for the aspiring Dragon Minds of earnest and adroit-hearers of the Buddhadharma, there can be no substitute for the Real-Stuff . As Bankei quite aptly puts it, that kind of “poison” only serves as an opiate for the lesser-able. Bankei was too authentically As One in the Unborn to ever debase himself in such a fashion.

Haskel has wonderful apropos headings for these passages, indeed, Bankei never taught “about” Buddhism or Zen—he lived it to the core and his foremost purpose was to awaken others to their own innate At-One-Ment with the Unborn. Don’t try to learn about the Unborn, rather, Recognize and make that Sudden Ascent to your own True and Original Nature. Bankei is truly a man for all time. His teachings are a wake-up call for all seekers of Truth to awaken from their slumber and to fully Recollect their own heritage in the Unborn. It’s the same across the board…don’t try to learn about the Buddha—but BE A BUDDHA; don’t just sit there like rotting cabbages and buy into tooth and nail what is being preached at ya “about Jesus”, rather, arise from your stupor and awaken to the “Christ” –the True Light-Bearer within you..BE THE CHRISTOS—the anointed One-At-One in the Unborn. Awaken to your True and Best-Self.

Meeting masters: Dosha and Ingen 

“Until the age of thirty, I continued to wear my jittoku robes without putting on a proper monk’s robe. When I was thirty, however, my teacher suggested I go to meet the Chinese Zen Master Dosha Chogen of Naninsan, who’d recently landed at Nagasaki. I decided to go, and my teacher told me: ‘Up to now you’ve been able to get by with your jittoku robes; but now that you’re going to call on a real Chinese monk, they won’t do. As it’s also for the sake of the Dharma, from here on you’d better wear a proper monk’s robe, so go put one on and call on Dosha.’

“And that’s how, at the age of thirty, following my teacher’s advice, I put on a monk’s robe for the first time and went off to see Dosha. I immediately presented my understanding. Dosha sized me up at a glance and told me: ‘You have transcended birth and death!’

“Among the Zen teachers at that time, only Dosha was able, to this modest extent, to confirm for me my experience of enlightenment; but, even so, I wasn’t fully satisfied. Now, looking back, today I wouldn’t even find Dosha acceptable. If only Dosha had gone on living till now, I might have made a better man of him. But he was an unlucky fellow and died young, to my great regret.”

“When I was a member of Dosha s assembly, an invitation was sent to China to [the Zen Master] Ingen. I was among those who consulted on this, and, fortunately, Ingen arrived in Japan while I was with Dosha, landing at the harbor in Nagasaki. I went along to welcome him, but the moment Ingen stepped ashore from the boat, I realized he wasn’t a man of the Unborn, and that’s why I never studied with him.”

During his early years of spiritual formation, Bankei was quite taken-up with his teacher, Umpo Zenshō; he followed his advice often and was quite pleased to meet up with Zen Master Dosha. Dosha had enough insight to recognize the Light of the Unborn within Bankei. But as time went on Bankei realized that even Dosha lacked the fullness of the Unborn Tathatic-Spirit. Bankei’s Dharma and Tathatic Eye was most profoundly astute; as soon as Zen Master Ingen stepped off the boat, Bankei was empowered to see right through Ingen’s energy signature and immediately discerned that he “wasn’t a man of the Unborn.”

Tags: Christos, Precepts, Re-evaluation of all values, religious formalism

(Haskel)

The Master addressed the assembly: “Among all you people here today there’s not a single one who’s an unenlightened being. Everyone here is a buddha. So listen carefully! What you all have from your parents innately is the Unborn Buddha Mind alone. There’s nothing else you have innately. This Buddha Mind you have from your parents innately is truly unborn and marvelously illuminating. That which is unborn is the Buddha Mind; the Buddha Mind is unborn and marvelously illuminating, and, what’s more, with this Unborn, everything is perfectly managed. The actual proof of this Unborn which perfectly manages [everything] is that, as you’re all turned this way listening to me talk, if out back there’s the cawing of crows, the chirping of sparrows or the rustling of the wind, even though you’re not deliberately trying to hear each of these sounds, you recognize and distinguish each one. The voices of the crows and sparrows, the rustling of the wind—you hear them without making any mistake about them, and that’s what’s called hearing with the Unborn. In this way, all things are perfectly managed with the Unborn. This is the actual proof of the Unborn. Conclusively realize that what’s unborn and marvelously illuminating is truly the Buddha Mind, straightaway abiding in the Unborn Buddha Mind just as it is, and you’re a living tathagata from today forever after. Since, when you realize conclusively, you abide like this in the Buddha Mind from today on, my school is called the School of Buddha Mind.  

“Well, then, while you’re all turned this way listening to me talk, you don’t mistake the chirp of a sparrow out back for the caw of a crow, the sound of a gong for that of a drum, a man’s voice for a woman’s, an adult’s voice for a child’s—you clearly recognize and distinguish each sound you hear without making any mistake. That’s the marvelously illuminating dynamic function. It’s none other than the Buddha Mind, unborn and marvelously illuminating, the actual proof of the marvelously illuminating [nature of the Buddha Mind].  

“I doubt there’s anyone among the people here now who’d say: ‘I heard [what I did] because I was deliberately trying to hear it.’ If anyone says he did, he’s a liar. Wondering, ‘What’s Bankei telling us?’ all of you are turned this way, intent only on hearing what I’m saying; no one’s deliberately trying to hear the various sounds coming from out back. That’s why, when all of a sudden these sounds appear and you recognize and distinguish them, hearing them without any mistake, you’re hearing with the Unborn Buddha Mind. Nobody here can claim he heard these sounds because he’d made up his mind beforehand to listen for them when they were made. So, in fact, you’re listening with the Unborn.

There is need for a reflective pause when Bankei asserts that one has acquired the Unborn Buddha Mind from one’s parents at birth. He’s not referring to the carnal-mind (rūpacitta). On the contrary, THE Mind of which he speaks IS THE ONE that was and is Unborn and Deathless and Uncreate since well before one’s parents were even born. So, it’s not some kind of “mind” that’s passed down in genetic fashion.  The Mind of which he speaks is the One Absolute Mind of all Buddhas—the supra-genetic markless-mark of A Tathatic-Generation that soars like an eagle above the tangled jungle of all sensate-based phenomena. Bankei is a profound man of faith. He asserts that all one need do is to turn-inward and recognize the seed of Buddhahood that dwells therein. For Bankei, this “recognition” is essential and paramount in order for one to rise to the transcendent occasion and claim one’s own Buddha-nature. His is a path of total and unequivocal ascent—indeed, a Sudden-Ascent, and this does require great faith that by this simple Act of Recognition assures that one’s true parents are not of the corporeal variety, but are part and parcel of the Tathatic Family of Buddhas. And only an awakened seed (Bīja) of undivided awareness power (Bodhi) can authentically make this Act of Undivided Self-Recognition in the Unborn.

One of Bankei’s common refrains is that the “Unborn Buddha Mind is Marvelously Illuminating.” It’s within this Principle of Illumination that everything is perfectly resolved, as translated by Waddell, and perfectly managed, as rendered here by Haskel. This “Principle” of which Bankei finely articulates is in league with Hui-neng’s exemplification of the Dark Principle, or Wu-hsin, the intuitive trigger that spontaneously allows everything to unfold on its own accord (not getting in the way of Mind via action or non-action) in conjunction with Mind’s own prior-illuminative actuosity. Here is Bankei describing it all in common laymen’s terms. For instance, one automatically recognizes the sound of a cawing-crow without having to make some kind of a conjuncture to determine its origin. Here is that “Recognition” again. It’s “sudden” and automatic in that Mind doesn’t have to stop and speculate, “gee, what is the source of that sound?” IT recognizes Its own “Spontaneity” without getting in Its own way. It’s like having that spontaneous urge to urinate and not “thinking” about what’s happening during the act of urination—otherwise the “flow” will not happen of its own accord. Bankei is saying just let it all fly without gumming up the works. Don’t deliberately try to make sense of what’s happening because if you do so it ain’t gonna happen. Don’t try to second guess the Spontaneous Actuosity of the Unborn. Just “listen” freely to how the Unborn, in all circumstances, perfectly and marvelously illuminates all that is unfolding so naturally and freely in that Spontaneous Actuosity. So, the ultimate question is not, “What should I do”, but rather relegating all mind-numbing quentionicity to the waste-bin and just simply allow the Unborn to do Its own thing. Get out of the way stupid! And afterwards, just relish in that marvelous recognition of what the Unborn has just done (or not-done) under Its own accord.

“Everyone who conclusively realizes that what is unborn and marvelously illuminating is truly the Buddha Mind, abiding in the Unborn Buddha Mind, is a living tathagata from today forever after. Even ‘buddha’ is just a name given to traces that have arisen, so, from the standpoint of the Unborn, it’s only a secondary matter, a peripheral concern. The man of the Unborn abides at the source of all buddhas. That which is unborn is the source of all things, the starting point of all things. There’s nothing more original than the Unborn, nothing prior to it. That’s why, when you abide in the Unborn, you abide at the source of all buddhas; so it’s something wonderfully precious. There’s no question of’perishing’ here, so when you abide in the Unborn, it’s superfluous to speak about the Imperishable too. That’s the reason I only talk about the Unborn and don’t mention the Imperishable. What isn’t it’s imperishable without having to mention it. Isn’t that so?  

“Of course, the expression ‘unborn and imperishable’ has appeared here and there in the sutras and records from times of old—but not the actual proof of the Unborn. Everyone just learns the expression ‘unborn and imperishable’ and goes about repeating it; but when it comes to realizing conclusively and actually getting right to the heart of the matter, they haven’t any idea of what the Unborn is. “When I was twenty-six, I first hit on the realization that all things are perfectly managed with the Unborn, and, in the forty years since, I’ve taught everyone with the actual proof of the Unborn: that what you have from your parents innately is the Unborn Buddha Mind—the Buddha Mind which is truly unborn and marvelously illuminating. I was the first to teach this. I’m sure that even among you monks in the assembly now, and everyone else too, nobody’s heard of anyone before me who taught people with the actual proof of the Unborn—that the Buddha Mind is truly Unborn and marvelously illuminating. I was the first to teach this. If anyone claims he’s heard of somebody before me who taught people with the actual proof of the Unborn, he’s a liar!  

“When you abide in the Unborn, you’re abiding at the source of all things. What the buddhas of the past realized was the Unborn Buddha Mind; and what buddhas in the future will realize is the Unborn Buddha Mind too. We today are living in the Degenerate Age of Buddhism, yet when there’s even one man who abides in the Unborn, the true teaching has been restored to the world. All of you, isn’t it so? It certainly is! When you’ve conclusively realized this, then and there you’ll open the eye that sees into men’s minds, and that’s why my school is called the Clear-Eyed School. When the eye that sees into men is manifested, whenever it happens to be, that moment is the complete realization of the Dharma. I want you to know this. Whoever you may be, at that moment, you are my heir!”

After the Recognition of the Unborn’s Marvelously Illuminating Principle, one needs to make a choice to simply abide in IT. When one makes that choice, then one is living in IT, SUCH AS IT IS, and hence is forever associated as a child of the Unborn—a living Tathagata. Once you abide in IT, says Bankei, there is no longer any need for any discriminatory-peripheral concerns—all things are already perfectly resolved in the Prior-Illuminative Principle. One can even forget all nominally conceived notions of Buddha and Buddhahood since one now is IN UNION WITH the SOURCE of all Buddhas. One is now living as the Unborn. No-thing further need be done or undone. Bankei wants to take sole credit for this self-realization, yet he’s just expressing what others (like Hui-neng and Huang-Po) have expounded upon, too—albeit he did have a knack for articulating IT in a Sudden Flash of Mind Recognition that could be easily comprehended even by those outside of his own sect. When he speaks here of a “Degenerate Age of Buddhism”, he’s not referring to the “Dharma-ending-Age” per-se, but rather castigating all those formalized schools of his own age—like Sōtō Zen with its excessive and exclusive reliance upon zazen, something Bankei considered to be so inadequate and an obstacle to his “Sudden-Ascent to Mind-Recognition.” For him, the True and Authentic Buddhadharma was unequivocally articulated in the Unborn and no-where else. Living in the Unborn one is seeing through the imageless eyes of the Tathagatas themselves—the Clear-Dharma AND Tathatic Eye Itself.

Tags: dark principle, faith, Marvelously Illuminating, Sudden Ascent

(Haskel) 

When the Zen Master Bankei Butchi Kosai, founder of the Ryomonji at Aboshi in Banshu, was at the Great Training Period [held] at the Ryomonji in the winter of the third year of Genroku, there were 1,683 monks listed in the temple register. Those who attended included not only Soto and Rinzai followers but members of the Ritsu, Shingon, Tendai, Pure Land, True Pure Land and Nichiren Schools, with laymen and monks mingled together, thronging round the lecture seat. One sensed the Master was truly the Teacher of Men and Devas for the present age.

At that time, the Master mounted the lecture seat and addressed the assembly of monks and laymen, saying: “We’ve got a big crowd of both monks and laymen here at this meeting, and I thought I’d tell you about how, when I was young, I struck on the realization that the mind is unborn. This part about ‘the mind,’ [though,] is something secondary. You monks, when you abide only in the Unborn, [will find that] in the Unborn, there’s nothing anyone needs to tell you, nothing you need to hear. Because the Buddha Mind is unborn and marvelously illuminating, it gets easily turned into whatever comes along. So, as long as I’m telling the lay people here not to change themselves into these different things that come their way and trade their Buddha Mind for thoughts, you monks may as well listen too!”

These opening passages are much akin to the structure of a sutra. Bankei resembles the Buddha expounding the Buddhadharma to a large and diverse audience: vast throngs of monks and laymen; members of both the Sōtō and Rinzai Zen sects; followers of the esoteric schools like Shingon and Tendai, as well as a wide variety of Pure Land Schools. It is evident that the compilers of these teachings wanted to make the impression that Bankei’s influence extended across the vast spectrum of Buddhism within Japan. It’s interesting to note how on the contemporary scene his teachings would just not be influential within Buddhist circles, but also encompassing a wide pluralistic religious spectrum; yea, his Unborn Buddha Mind can be likened unto the “Christ Mind” found within Pauline Literature. An example of a homily composed from this correlational perspective runs as follows:

“Most of the trouble begins when we become trapped inside our own heads…forgetting that when we were baptized we put on the Mind of Christ. Think about that for a moment. When we were baptized we received the Mind of Christ. We HAVE the mind of Christ right now! But, what have we done with the Christ-mind?  From a very early age we have changed it into something else. Anger, selfishness, hopelessness…we have turned away from the Christ-mind and have relied upon the self-conscious mind…a mind turned inward upon itself…a mind that’s filled with all that worry and useless thoughts that clog-up our relationship with the Lord and each other. When everything you do is done according to the Christ-mind, the eye that sees others AS THEY ARE opens up in you…and you begin to see others as God sees them…as a child of God. That’s the reason why once you live-out your baptismal calling you will never fall back into your own selfish ways again.

Many times we think that we have to become like Christ to achieve any merit with the ways of God. But all we’re doing is creating a lot of excess and needless work for ourselves. Instead of trying to become like Christ, a much shorter and easier way is to continue to be mindful of your own baptism by constantly putting on the Mind of Christ. Just be at peace with your Christ-mind. Sit in the Christ-mind; stand in the Christ-mind; go to sleep in the Christ-mind; wake-up in the Christ-mind; do everything in the Christ-mind—then you’ll be living the truth and the truth will set you free! Can there be any better “self-discipline” than this??? True and lasting freedom will only happen when we put on the very Mind of Christ!”

While I prefer much of Haskel’s translation for this sequence, Waddell perhaps has chosen a better striking representation pertaining to Bankei’s youthful self-realization of the Unborn:

“I was still a young man when I came to discover the principle of the Unborn and its relation to thought.”

This is in reference to the Dark Principle that is behind the utter Dynamic-Nature of the Unborn. We will be exploring more on this in depth in the next blog, but at this juncture it has to do with that “marvelously illuminating” quality that oftentimes can get-caught-up-in and overly identify with the phenomena that It is Illuminating. Bankei also empathizes that all one need do is to remain centered in the vivifying nature of the Unborn AS IT IS; if one does so, then any further points of discussion would be rendered ineffectual.

Tags: Christ Mind, Dark Animating Principle

No series would be comprehensive here without a study of Bankei Yōtaku (1622-93). Bankei’s Zen was eloquent in its simplicity. He was forever the quintessential iconoclast, riding against all the excessive material formalism that infested the zen of his time, against all that impinged upon the direct clarity of the Unborn. His elementary cry was to, “Get Unborn!” In effect, to ditch all unnecessary baggage that obscured the deathless, imageless and boundless face of the Unborn Buddha Mind, our Authentic and Original Nature. The following is a general outline of his spiritual path:

Early Struggles 

Bankei had an extreme dislike for towing the Confucian path, one that was being incessantly thrust upon him by his elder brother. It all came to a head for him one day when he had had enough; he stated to himself, “What’s the use of clinging to a life like this?” He then decided to commit suicide by swallowing some poisonous spiders—but miraculously remained unharmed.  In the midst of having to study the Confucian classics, one line in particular preoccupied him: “The way of great learning consists in clarifying Bright Virtue”. For Bankei, endeavoring to discern what constituted “Bright Virtue” became his rallying cry for some time to come. Neither Confucian nor Buddhist scholars had an answer to his avid query. Hence, the profound spiritual-quest had begun. He would spend endless hours in solitude in self-made hermitages; he had some exposure to the esoteric schools of Buddhism like Shintoism, and later Shin Buddhism as well, all to no avail. His first real introduction to Zen was through the eminent Rinzai Zen Priest, Umpō, who advised him that fully realizing what was meant by Bright Virtue could only come about by practicing zazen. For many years Bankei would experience the rigorous torment of sitting hour, after hour, after hour in zazen meditation. All that this produced was an immense toll on his health. He was wasting away, just skin and bones while developing excruciating ulcers on his buttocks. Eventually, he was succumbing to tuberculosis. One day while spitting-up huge globules of blood, one stuck to the wall and slid-down like a huge soapberry; for Bankei this was a moment of experiencing his first satori, “Suddenly, just at that moment, I realized what it was that had escaped me until now: All things are perfectly resolved in the Unborn!”  This first encounter with his own “birthless-nature” was a profound breakthrough. His health was restored. He was also able to convey this deep self-realization to his mother, whom he loved more than anything else in the world. Later, Umpō advised Bankei, who was roughly at age 29, to go and see an eminent Ch’an master (Dōsha Chōgen) from China in order to have his enlightenment confirmed.  Dōsha confirmed that Bankei had initial satori, but that his realization was not yet complete. In 1652, when he was 30, Bankei was meditating along with Dōsha’s congregation and he suddenly experienced irreversible enlightenment (anuttara-samyak-sambodhi). Shortly thereafter, Dōsha was about to bestow upon him the “traditional seal of recognition” (inka-shōmei), but Bankei just tore it up and walked away. He didn’t need any material-form of approval recognizing what the Unborn Alone had bestowed upon him. Bankei eventually moved on to spend time in hermitage again to savor his newfound Noble self-Realization; indeed, few could relate to his unique intuitive spiritual aptitude. While in solitude, Bankei wrote some wonderful poem-songs in honor of the Unborn; among these was his monumental, 50-verse Song of the Original Mind.

The Teaching Years 

Bankei began to be recognized as an erudite spiritual master and many sought him out and encouraged him to expound his Buddhadharma of the Unborn to others at large. Emerging from solitude he spent the remainder of his life teaching the penetrating ways of the Unborn to multitudes of people, both clergy, monks and laity alike. He is also known as favoring women disciples; in fact his own mother became a nun and lived in close proximity to his monastery. Later, a most accomplished adept also became a Buddhist nun named Den Sutejo (religious name, Teikan). Teikan became a fervent disciple of Bankei, keeping diligent records of his teachings in her diary (which proved to be an invaluable resource depicting what it was like being with Bankei during these later years).  Shortly before his death, Bankei composed a death verse which read, ‘I’ve lived for seventy-two years. I’ve been teaching people for forty-five. What I’ve been telling you and others every day during that time is all my death verse. I’m not going to make another one now, before I die, just because everyone else does it.’ “After speaking those words, he passed away. He was in a seated position according to one account, lying on his right side, like the Buddha, according to another.” (Norman Waddell, The Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei 1622-1693, North Point Press)

My main resources for this series is Waddell’s version acknowledged above, as well as Peter Haskel’s, Bankei Zen, Translations from the Record of Bankei, Grove Press. Haskel pin-points Bankei’s immense relevance via the following:

“What was it that made Bankei’s teaching of the Unborn so popular in his time? Above all, perhaps, was the fact that the basics of Bankei’s Zen were clear and relatively simple. You didn’t have to be learned, live in a monastery or even necessarily consider yourself a Buddhist to practice them effectively. Nor did you have to engage in long and arduous discipline. True, Bankei himself had undergone terrible hardships before he realized the Unborn; but only, as he constantly reminded his listeners, because he never met a teacher able to tell him what he had to know. In fact, one could readily attain the Unborn in the comfort of one’s own home. It wasn’t necessary, or even advisable, Bankei insisted, to follow his own example.

Bankei’s entire teaching can be reduced to the single admonition “Abide in the Unborn!” This was Bankei’s constant refrain. The term “Unborn” itself is a common one in classical Buddhism, where it generally signifies that which is intrinsic, original, uncreated. Bankei, however,was the first to use this term as the crux of his teaching. Rather than obtaining or practicing the Unborn, he says, one should simply abide in it, because the Unborn is not a state that has to be created, but is already there, perfect and complete, the mind just as it is. There isn’t any special method for realizing the Unborn other than to be yourself, to be totally natural and spontaneous in everything you do.” (ibid, pg.xxx-xxxi)

Tags: Bright Virtue, Dōsha Chōgen, Haskel, Song of the Original Mind, Teikan, Umpō, Waddell

(Yampolsky) 

The Master passed away on the third day of the eighth month of the second year of Hsien-t’ien (= August 28,713). On the eighth day of the seventh month he called his disciples together and bade them farewell. In the first year of Hsien-t’ien the Master had constructed a pagoda at the Kuo-en Temple in Hsin-chou, and now in the seventh month of the second year of Hsien-t’ien he was taking his leave.

The Master said: “Come close. In the eighth month I intend to leave this world. If any of you have doubts, ask about them quickly, and I shall resolve them for you. I must bring your delusions to an end and make it possible for you to gain peace. After I have gone there will be no one to teach you.”

Fa-hai and the other monks heard him to the end and wept tears of sorrow. Only Shen-hui was not impressed, nor did he weep. The Sixth Patriarch said: “Shen-hui, you are a young monk, yet you have attained the [status of awakening] in which good and not good are identical, and you are not moved by judgments of praise and blame. You others have not yet understood: what have you been practicing at this temple these several years? You’re crying now, but who is there who’s really worried that I don’t know the place to which I’m going? If I didn’t know where I was going then I wouldn’t be leaving you. You’re crying just because you don’t know where I’m going. If you knew where I was going you wouldn’t be crying. The nature itself is without birth and without destruction, without going and without coming. 

All of you sit down. I shall give you a verse, the verse of the true-false moving-quiet. All of you recite it, and if you understand its meaning, you will be the same as I. If you practice with it, you will not lose the essence of the teaching:

Nowhere is there anything true;
Don’t try to see the True in any way.
If you try to see the True,
Your seeing will be in no way true.
If you yourself would gain the True,
Separate from the false; there the mind is true.
If the mind itself does not separate from the false,
There is no True. What place is there for it to be?
Sentient beings can move,
Non-sentient things are without motion;
If you undertake the practices of non-motion,
You will be identical with the non-motion of the non-sentient.
If the true non-motion is observed,
It is but non-motion postulated on motion.
Non-motion is no more than no motion itself;
Non-sentient beings contain no Buddha seed.
Distinguishing well the forms [of the various dharmas],
Remain firm within the First Principle.
This then is the functioning of True Reality.
Let me tell all you students of the Way
That you must exert your utmost efforts.
Do not, in the teaching of the Mahayana,
Cling to the knowledge of birth and death.
When in the future you encounter a person you are destined to meet,
Then discuss together the words of the Buddha.
If he is really not such a person,
Then, with palms joined, have him strive for the good.
From the outset this teaching has never engaged in disputes;
Disputations will betray the intention of the Way.
If you cling to delusions and argue about the teaching,
Your own natures will enter into the cycle of birth and death.

Hui-neng’s teachings wind down with further emphasis upon the premier position of the Platform Sutra over the former transmission of Bodhidharma’s Robe and Bowl. Just prior to Hui-neng’s passing into pari-nirvana, he offered the above stanza as a comfort for his disciples; he also implored them to meditate upon it often and through Right Action, incorporate its spirit into their very hearts. It’s also good to note here how Shen-hui is singularly pointed-out as the Sudden School’s most eminent student; he has clearly developed to a dharma-stage that keeps all the skandhas in-check. He alone was able to escape the awful pangs of sorrow upon Hui-neng’s departure since he knew that the deathless Dharmakayic Rapture awaited him.

The stanza itself is a marvelous disclosure revealing how the True Mind of Bodhi is the True Reality. Hui-neng follows the Diamond Sutra’s lead in presenting how Pure Mind is never synonymous with phenomena. This is in direct contrast to the mistake in Dogenism that eventually disfigured the True Face of Zen by equating Mind with phenomenal manifestations; this is the same quagmire from which modern-day zen and material-buddhism can never escape. Hui-neng even goes so far here as to assert that those who embrace this adharmic principle become ensnared like motionless flies on their rumps of deep-seated attachment to the malignant web of phenomena. The sure way to prevent this mad decree of Self-immolation from taking root is by remaining “firm within the First Principle.” As enumerated earlier, this is putting on the very True Nirvanic Mind Itself That is perfumed with the imageless fragrance of Wu-hsin. To try to exclusively relate with any portion of the six samsaric realms is an insult to the Buddhadharma; yea, this is the exact antithesis of Wu-hsin (True Mind) by putting on the false mind (the five-folded {wu-hsing} skandhic-inducement ) of Mara instead. Hui-neng closes on a note of practical advice: spend time in solitude with fellow authentic adepts of the Buddhadharma; never engage in disputes with those who are alien to the True Mind of Ch’an/Zen. If one disregards this advice, then don’t be surprised when another cycle of rebirth in one of those six samsaric realms comes knocking at the door in the Bardo of Re-becoming. This is indeed a Timeless Lesson, one that is mystically reinforced with the following video from the Dragon Mind of Zen:

Tags: True Mind, Wu-hsin

Part 3:  MISCELLANEA 

The remainder of the Platform Sutra consists in an assortment of miscellaneous and unrelated subject matter. A portion amounts to a repetition of the sermon material on prajñā, along with sundry accounts of the superiority of the Sudden School over the Northern, Gradual School. Some of these sections are bracketed by certain interlocutors who pose questions to Hui-neng revolving around his teachings. By and large, these disparate accounts can be grouped into categories; our first consideration: the transmission of the Platform Sutra itself as proof of one’s familiarity with the Sudden School and one’s authority to pass on its teachings. 

The transmission of the Platform Sutra 

(Yampolsky)

“Good friends, those in later generations who obtain my teaching will always see that my Dharma body is not apart from where they are. Good friends, take this doctrine of the Sudden Teaching, look at it and practice it together, fix your resolve on it, and receive and guard it. Because it is tantamount to serving the Buddha, if for all your lives you receive and guard it and do not retrogress, you will enter into the ranks of the sacred. Now I should like to hand it on. But from the past the Dharma has been handed down in silence; only when the great resolve has been made and there has been no retrogression from enlightenment (bodhi), then should it be passed on. When you meet people whose understanding is not the same as yours and whose resolve is not determined, never recklessly demonstrate the teaching to them. If you do so you will do them harm, and in any event it will be of no value whatsoever. If you happen to meet people who do not understand and who despise this teaching, for a hundred kalpas, ten thousand kalpas, a thousand lives, Buddhism will be extirpated.”

“The Master went to Mount Ts’ao-ch’i and for over forty years converted the people in Shao-chou and Kuang-chou. If one were to talk about the number of his disciples, to say several thousand people, both monks and laymen, would not do it justice. If one were to talk about the pivot of his teaching, it lies in the transmission of the Platform Sutra, and this serves as the authority. Unless a person has received the Platform Sutra, he has not received the sanction. The place, date, and the name of the recipient must be made known, and these are attached to it when it is transmitted. Someone who does not have the Platform Sutra and the sanction is not a disciple of the Southern School. Someone who has not yet obtained sanction, even though he preaches the doctrine of sudden enlightenment, does not know the basic teachings, and in the end will not be able to avoid disputes. Those who have the Dharma should practice it wholeheartedly, for  disputations show a contentious mind and are a betrayal of the Way.”

“The Master said: “You ten disciples, when later you transmit the Dharma, hand down the teaching of the one roll of the Platform Sutra; then you will not lose the basic teaching. Those who do not receive the Platform Sutra do not have the essentials of my teaching. As of now you have received them; hand them down and spread them among later generations. If others are able to encounter the Platform Sutra, it will be as if they received the teaching personally from me.” These ten monks received the teaching, made copies of the Platform Sutra, handed them down, and spread them among later generations. Those who received them have without fail seen into their own true natures.”

These passages emphatically assert that those who adhere to the Sudden School of Ch’an Buddhism are to be sealed with the teachings of Hui-neng, which are contained in a copy of the Platform Sutra. Earlier on, in the autobiographical accounts, Hui-neng downplayed the importance of passing down the Tradition of the Ch’an Patriarchs via Bodhidharma’s Robe and Bowl; he practically consigned them into the ground as mere “objects” as such, and nothing more. Hence, for the Sudden School, the Sutra of Hui-neng has supplanted Bodhidharma’s revered artifacts with reverent devotion to the Platform Sutra itself. Indeed, anyone who does not adhere to these core-teachings are considered anathema to Hui-neng’s unique adaptation of the Buddhadharma.

By way of juxtaposition, Lankavatarians who adhere to the Way of Unborn Mind Zen hold as their primary text, The Lankavatara Sutra; this is in keeping with Bodhidharma’s own original Dharmatic-action of handing down his copy of the Sutra to Hui-ko, who in turn passed it down in consecutive fashion for those who constituted the earliest Records of the Teachers and Students of the Lanka. The Platform Sutra can be considered a companion piece to the Lankavatara Sutra for Lankavatarians. Yea, as can be discerned through this present series, many of Hui-neng’s teachings—in general concerning the Prajñā-Parāmitā, and in particular with Wu-hsin—are fostered and aligned with the Tathagata-garbha teachings in keeping with Unborn Mind Zen. Like Tsung-mi, Lankavatarians emphasize sudden-awakening that is aligned with perpetual cultivation of the Bodhi-seed via sutra reading/study and disciplined Dhyāna (e.g.,Deep Samādhis).

Tags: Lankavatarians, Sudden School, transmission

(Wong Mou-Lam) 

Learned Audience, when we use Prajñā for introspection we are illumined within and without, and in a position to know our own mind. To know our mind is to obtain liberation. To obtain liberation is to attain Samādhi of Prajñā, which is *’thoughtlessness’. What is ‘thoughtlessness’? ‘Thoughtlessness’ is to see and to know all Dharmas (things) with a mind free from attachment. When in use it pervades everywhere, and yet it sticks nowhere. What we have to do is to purify our mind so that the six vijnanas (aspects of consciousness), in passing through the six gates (sense organs) will neither be defiled by nor attached to the six sense-objects. When our mind works freely without any hindrance, and is at liberty to ‘come’ or to ‘go’, we attain Samādhi of Prajñā, or liberation. Such a state is called the function of ‘thoughtlessness’. But to refrain from thinking of anything, so that all thoughts are suppressed, is to be Dharma-ridden, and this is an erroneous view. 

*No-mind

Hui-neng asserts that the Samādhi of Prajñā is synonymous with no-mind (Wu-hsin). IT is not time-bound yet it pervades everywhere. Tozen describes this on the homepage of his dharma-school, “This great Mind of all Buddhas; Not standing still, not moving. Solid as a mountain’s wall, swift as a lightning flash!” In like fashion, Hui-neng solidly portrays that this true Mind-Prajñā is won when the skandhas themselves are eclipsed as swift as lightning when Mind moves freely without any discriminatory hindrances, since ITs Essential-Solid-Stature is motionless, i.e., perceiving like Bodhidharma’s Wall perceives—not like a dead-dunce staring at a wall, but completely impervious to all passing phenomena which can never penetrate the Purity of Mind’s Substance. He ends with a caveat, however, because this has nothing to do with shutting-down passing phenomena since this would, in effect, give undue credit to something that is not self-substantial in the first place.

Learned Audience, those who understand the way of ‘thoughtlessness’ will know everything, will have the experience all Buddhas have had, and attain Buddhahood. In the future, if an initiate of my School should make a vow in company with his fellow-disciples to devote his whole life without retrogression to the practice of the teachings of this ‘Sudden’ School, in the same spirit as that for serving Buddha, he would reach without failure the Path of Holiness. (To the right men) he should transmit from heart to heart the instructions handed down from one Patriarch to another; and no attempt should be made to conceal the orthodox teaching. To those who belong to other schools, and whose views and objects are different from ours, the Dharma should not be transmitted, since it will be anything but good for them. This step is taken lest ignorant persons who cannot understand our system should make slanderous remarks about it and thereby annihilate their seed of Buddha-nature for hundreds of kalpas and thousands of incarnations.

This is a truly motivational segment depicting how those who have incorporated Wu-hsin into the very fiber of their being will Put-On the very Tathatic-Mind of Buddhahood Itself. Hui-neng says that if one faithfully, and without transgression, puts on the dharma-armor of the ‘Sudden School’ in the spirit as if serving the Buddha, such a one will be in league with those who have reached the Other Shore of Tathagatahood. He then proceeds to make a firm injunction, however, that no attempt should be made to transmit the Buddhadharma to anyone who lacks the self-same Resilient-Spirit. In the long run it would do them no good and most likely cause them to make slanderous remarks against the Buddhadharma; this would prove to be a most disastrous occurrence, since in doing so their incorrigible mind-set will condemn them to incalculable kalpas and incarnations devoid of Buddha-nature; yea, they would remain bodhi-less on the corruptible web of their own endless ignorance (avidya).

Learned Audience, I have a ‘formless {signless}’ stanza for you all to recite. Both laity and monks should put its teaching into practice, without which it would be useless to remember my words alone. Listen to this stanza:

A master of the Buddhist Canon as well as of the teaching of the Dhyana School May be likened unto the blazing sun sitting high in his meridian tower.
Such a man would teach nothing but the Dharma for realizing the Essence of Mind, And his object in coming to this world would be to vanquish the heretical sects.
We can hardly classify the Dharmas into ‘Sudden’ and ‘Gradual’, But some men will attain enlightenment much quicker than others.
For example, this system for realizing the Essence of Mind Is above the comprehension of the ignorant.
We may explain it in ten thousand ways, But all those explanations may be traced back to one principle.
To illumine our gloomy tabernacle, which is stained by defilement, We should constantly set up the Light of Wisdom.
Erroneous views keep us in defilement While right views remove us from it, But when we are in a position to discard both of them We are then absolutely pure.
Bodhi is immanent in our Essence of Mind, An attempt to look for it elsewhere is erroneous.
Within our impure mind the pure one is to be found,
And once our mind is set right, we are free from the three kinds of beclouding (hatred, lust and illusion).
If we are treading the Path of Enlightenment We need not be worried by stumbling-blocks. Provided we keep a constant eye on our own faults We cannot go astray from the right path.
Since every species of life has its own way of salvation They will not interfere with or be antagonistic to one another.
But if we leave our own path and seek some other way of salvation We shall not find it, And though we plod on till death overtakes us We shall find only penitence in the end.
If you wish to find the true way Right action will lead you to it directly; But if you do not strive for Buddhahood You will grope in the dark and never find it.
He who treads the Path in earnest Sees not the mistakes of the world; If we find fault with others We ourselves are also in the wrong.
When other people are in the wrong, we should ignore it, For it is wrong for us to find fault.
By getting rid of the habit of fault-finding We cut off a source of defilement.
When neither hatred nor love disturb our mind Serenely we sleep.
Those who intend to be the teachers of others Should themselves be skilled in the various expedients which lead others to enlightenment.
When the disciple is free from all doubts It indicates that his Essence of Mind has been found.
The Kingdom of Buddha is in this world, Within which enlightenment is to be sought.
To seek enlightenment by separating from this world Is as absurd as to search for a rabbit’s horn.
Right views are called ‘transcendental’; Erroneous views are called ‘worldly’.
When all views, right or erroneous, are discarded Then the essence of Bodhi appears.
This stanza is for the ‘Sudden’ School. It is also called the ‘Great Ship of Dharma’ (for sailing across the ocean of existence).
Kalpa after kalpa a man may be under delusion, But once enlightened it takes him only a moment to attain Buddhahood.

Before conclusion, the Patriarch added, “Now, in this Ta Fan Temple, I have addressed you on the teaching of the ‘Sudden’ School. May all sentient beings of the Dharmadhatu instantly understand the Law and attain Buddhahood.” After hearing what the Patriarch said, the Prefect Wei, government officials, Taoists and laymen were all enlightened. They made obeisance in a body and exclaimed unanimously, “Well done! Well done! Who would have expected that a Buddha was born in Kwangtung?”

This is the summation of Chapter II in the Platform Sutra, “On Prajñā”. Without question, Hui-neng’s eloquence rises to the occasion via the splendid verses (akin to those very signless precepts) that, one can say without hesitation, are akin to a Proclamation of the Bodhi-Dharma (not to be confused with Bodhidharma, the first Patriarch of Ch’an Buddhism). In itself, it could be studied and contemplated upon for a lifetime since it systematically depicts all the salient teachings within the Platform Sutra and the ‘Sudden School’ in general. Perhaps the one dominant Bodhi-Pearl that stands out is the One Principle—THAT which, as Hui-neng says, “Lights-up our gloomy tabernacle.” Yea, the Illuminating Principle that is like a darkness to the senses, yet a blazing Unborn Light for the spirit of those who are properly attuned to IT. The Light of Bodhi is like that faithful sanctuary lamp that forever burns in the presence of the Tabernacle of the Tathagata-kaya. It is within this Light of all Lights that all dichotomous notions—rightness or wrongness—are forever discarded as the Quiescent Mind erases all dualities as the Unborn unfolds of Its own accord with no-thing arising or cessating. In the spirit of Tsung-mi, this hidden Light of Prajñā takes but a moment’s Self-realization, but also a lifetime of proper cultivation—like faithfully attending to that sanctuary lamp so that the Undying Flame of Numinous Noble-Wisdom is never extinguished.

Tags: Bodhi, Bodhidharma’s Wall, Light of all Lights, Prajñā, Wu-hsin

(Wong Mou-Lam)

“Learned Audience, in this system of mine one Prajñā produces eighty-four thousand ways of wisdom, since there are that number of ‘defilements’ for us to cope with; but when one is free from defilements, wisdom reveals itself, and will not be separated from the Essence of Mind. Those who understand this Dharma will be free from idle thoughts. To be free from being infatuated by one particular thought, from clinging to desire, and from falsehood; to put one’s own essence of Tathata into operation; to use Prajñā for contemplation, and to take an attitude of neither indifference nor attachment towards all things – this is what is meant by realizing one’s own Essence of Mind for the attainment of Buddhahood.”

Buddhism asserts that mind is exposed to eighty-four thousand types of deception that result in corruption of the proper disposition to Noble Self-realization; simultaneously there runs a parallel line of eighty-four thousand antidotes that counteract avidya and are mediated through one Pure dynamism of Prajñā. Under all circumstances, Hui-neng essentially says to Put-on-the Tathatic-Mind; in so doing, one is in proper-union with Tathata, or the Suchness that is totally Void and free of any discriminatory marks that are borne by ignorance of the deluded-carnal mind. As Such, one is now arrayed in Marvelously Luminos Vidyaa (Tathatic-Consciousness) that is sustained via devoted Recollective fervor. Remaining earnest in this spiritual-mind discipline, one’s spirit is now aligned with the Unborn Tathatic Will.

“Learned Audience, if you wish to penetrate the deepest mystery of the Dharmadhātu and the Samādhi of Prajñā, you should practice Prajñā by reciting and studying the Vajracchedika (Diamond) Sutra, which will enable you to realize the Essence of Mind. You should know that the merit for studying this Sutra, as distinctly set forth in the text, is immeasurable and illimitable, and cannot be enumerated in details. This Sutra belongs to the highest School of Buddhism, and the Lord Buddha delivered it specially for the very wise and quick-witted. If the less wise and the slow-witted should hear about it they would doubt its credibility. Why? For example, if it rained in Jambudvipa (the Southern Continent), through the miracle of the celestial Naga, cities, towns, and villages would drift about in the flood as if they were only leaves of the date tree. But should it rain in the great ocean the level of the sea as a whole would not be affected by it. When Mahayanists hear about the Diamond Sutra their minds become enlightened; they know that Prajñā is immanent in their Essence of Mind and that they need not rely on scriptural authority, since they can make use of their own wisdom by constant practice of contemplation. The Prajñā immanent in the Essence of Mind of every one may be likened to the rain, the moisture of which refreshes every living thing, trees and plants as well as sentient beings. When rivers and streams reach the sea, the water carried by them merges into one body; this is another analogy. My friends, when rain comes in a deluge, plants which are not deep rooted are washed away, and eventually they succumb. This is the case with the slow-witted, when they hear about the teaching of the ‘Sudden’ School. The Prajñā immanent in them is exactly the same as that in the very wise man, but they fail to enlighten themselves when the Dharma is made known to them. Why? Because they are thickly veiled by erroneous views and deep rooted defilements, in the same way as the sun may be thickly veiled by a cloud and unable to show his light until the wind blows the cloud away. Prajñā does not vary with different persons; what makes the difference is whether one’s mind is enlightened or deluded. He who does not know his own Essence of Mind, and is under the delusion that Buddhahood can be attained by outward religious rites is called the slow-witted. He who knows the teaching of the ‘Sudden’ School and attaches no importance to rituals, and whose mind functions always under right views, so that he is absolutely free from defilements or contaminations, is said to have known his Essence of Mind. Learned Audience, the mind should be framed in such a way that it will be independent of external or internal objects, at liberty to come or go, free from attachment and thoroughly enlightened without the least beclouding. He who is able to do this is of the same standard required by the Sutras of the Prajñā School.”

The figure of Hui-neng brilliantly summarizes how the Prajñā-pāramitā  is in league with the teachings of the Diamond Sutra. He says that this particular Sutra is best reserved for those who are attuned to the Ariyan Mind (Mind of Noble Wisdom).  For the lesser-able, or those who remain dim-witted ( prithagjana), Prajñā just sifts through their feeble faculties like water rushing through damaged foliage after a deluge of rain. This is not to say that Noble Prajñā is absent from their being, but due to primal delusion since time immemorial their dharma-eye remains damnably-dormant as it is blinded by the thick cataract of avidya. They still remain bound to external rituals (yea, artificial conventions) that have very little to do with the Buddhadharma; whereas, Hui-neng’s ‘Sudden-School’ has severed the strings of these adventitious distractions as his adepts no longer dance to the mechanical-motions of the puppeteer. They now walk freely hand in hand with the imageless Tathagatas. After ascending the ten-fold stages to Noble Self-Mind Realization, their spirits are so totally united with the Unborn Tathatic-Will that Hui-neng says they now know the True Essence of Mind-Reality (Dharmādhatu) and are thus liberated from all defilements and contaminations. It should be noted that this “freedom” consists from all karmic-associations—both past, present, and those that as of yet will attempt to make their effects known.  This is all reinforced through deep Prajñā-Samādhi that is not bound by words of scripture or its authority, but rather a Profound Mind Realization (One-on-One with the Unborn) in deep samādhis. Thus, walking with the Tathagatas in the undivided Spirit of Noble Wisdom is not a formulation of the three-times, but a timeless and boundless affair.

Tags: Ariyan Mind, Diamond Sutra, Prajñā, Prajñā-Samādhi, Tathagatas

(Yampolsky)

 “What is prajñā?  Prajñā is wisdom (chih-hi). When at all times successive thoughts contain no ignorance, and you always practice wisdom, this is known as the practice of prajñā. If but one instant of thought contains ignorance, then prajñā is cut off; but if one instant of thought contains wisdom, then prajñā is produced.  

“People are deluded and do not see prajña. They speak of prajñā with the mouth, but in their minds they are constantly ignorant. They themselves say: ‘I am practicing prajñā,’ and in consecutive thoughts they speak of emptiness, yet they do not know the true emptiness. Prajñā has no shape and form. This, then, is the mind of wisdom.”

“What is po-lo-mi-to (pāramitā)? This is the Indian Sanskrit pronunciation and means ‘other-shore-reached.’ When its meaning is understood you are apart from birth and destruction. When you are attached to environment, birth and destruction arise. Take waves rising on the water-they are something that occurs on ‘this’ shore. Being apart from environment and putting an end to birth and destruction is like going along with the flow of the water. Thus it is called ‘reaching the other shore,’ in other words, pāramitā. The deluded person recites it; the wise man practices with the mind. If you have delusion [in your mind] when you recite it, the very existence of this delusion is not a true existence. If in successive thoughts you practice it, this is called true existence. Those who awaken to this Dharma have awakened to the Dharma of prajñā and are practicing the prajñā practice. If you do not practice it you are an ordinary person; if you practice for one instant of thought, your Dharma body will be the same as the Buddha’s. Good friends, the very passions are themselves enlightenment (bodhi). When past thoughts are deluded, this is the common man; when future thoughts are awakened to, this is Buddha.

“Good friends, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā is the most honored, the supreme, the foremost. It does not stay, it does not leave, nor does it come, and all the Buddhas of the three worlds issue from it. With great wisdom it leads to the other shore and destroys the passions and the troubles of the five skandhas. Since it is the most honored, the supreme, the foremost, if you praise the supreme Dharma and practice according to it, you will certainly become Buddha. Not leaving, not staying, not going or coming, with the identity of wisdom and meditation, and unstained in all things, the various Buddhas of the three worlds issue forth from and change the three poisons into discipline, meditation, and wisdom.”

Prajñā-pāramitā is Direct-Wisdom from the Other Shore of the Nirvanic Mind. Hui-neng states that one momentary ignorant thought severs this nirvanic-connection. Not only thought, but excessive “talk” about having prajñā is really a non-prajñā attitude. Their talk is empty of prajñā, but not the essential emptiness (Voidness) of Prajñā itself. As Huang Po taught, people talk about being wary of approaching the void not even realizing that their own Mind IS the Void. When one enters the Nirvanic Other Shore one embraces Deathlessness; the ticket to the Other Deathless-Nirvanic Shore is paid via transcending the rough samsaric-seas and just going with the natural flow (Wu-hsin) of Mind-Only; sometimes the flow is clear and steady, and other times it may feel like going over troubled-waters, but that’s OK—the important thing is not getting in the way and trying to control the flow. Just learn to ride the Dharma-wave. The following Bodhi-Pearls help to show this dynamic:

Hence, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā is paramount. As the Diamond Sutra instructed, it is seeing Reality (Dharmadhatū) through the very imageless eyes of the Tathagatas, yea “not leaving, not staying, not going or coming” but within this Diamond-Seated-Self-Wisdom even ignorance itself can be transmuted into Wisdom’s hue. This was established during our study of the Five Tathagatas or Dhyani Buddhas, in the Lankavatarian Book of the Dead series, wherein the Five Skandhas are neutralized and abrogated, and even Mara’s five whores (Greed, Fear, Pride, self-ignorance and dark desires) fade away into Dharmameghic Ecstasy. Also, as Hui-neng states, the three-poisons (Concupiscence, Anger, and Ignorance) are transmuted into “discipline, meditation, and wisdom.”

Tags: pāramitā, Prajñā