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Sutra:

"You must go quickly for I fear that people might harm you."
Hui Neng asked, "Where shall I go?"
The Patriarch replied, "Stop at Huai and hide at Hui."
Hui Neng received the robe and bowl in the third watch. He said, "Hui Neng is a Southerner and does not know these mountain roads. How does one reach the mouth of the river?"
The Fifth Patriarch escorted him to the Chiu Chiang courier station and ordered him to board a boat. The Fifth Patriarch took up the oars and rowed. Hui Neng said, "Please, High Master, sit down. It is fitting that your disciple take the oars."
The Patriarch replied, "It is fitting that I take you across."
Hui Neng said, "When someone is deluded, his master takes him across, but when he is enlightened, he takes himself across. Although the term 'taking across' is the same in each case, the function is not the same."

Commentary:

The Fifth Patriarch instructed the Sixth Patriarch to leave quickly, for he knew that Shen Hsiu's followers would certainly want to kill him when they realized he had inherited the patriarchate. "Do not stay here," the Fifth Patriarch said, "Stop at Huai and hide at Hui." Huai is a district in Kuang Hsi, Wu Chou, and Hui is Ssu Hui, now called Hsin Hui.
High Master is a respectful form of address used for a teacher or an Abbot, so the Sixth Patriarch used it to address the Fifth Patriarch. "High Master, it is only proper that your disciple take the oars."
"Hey!" said the Fifth Patriarch, "Let me take you across the river." The Master and disciple exchanged courtesies, but although they each used the same term "taking across," it meant something different in each case. For the teacher to take the disciple across is not the same thing as for the disciple to take the teacher across. Hui Neng understood. "When the student is confused," he said, "the teacher must save him. But when the student becomes enlightened, he must save himself."
Before becoming enlightened and obtaining the original substance of the self-nature, the disciple is confused and lost. His teacher advises him to work hard: "Do not be afraid of the pain in your legs when you sit in meditation. If you are afraid of suffering you cannot become enlightened." The Sixth Patriarch, when he hung a stone around his waist so he could pound the rice harder, was not afraid of suffering. The rock which the Layman Lu, the Sixth Patriarch, used to tie around his waist when the pounded rice is still on P'ing Mao Mountain at Tung Shan Ch'an Monastery and carved on the rock is the inscription: "The rock Hui Neng, the former Layman Lu, tied around his waist."

Sutra:

"Hui Neng was born in the frontier regions and his pronunciation is incorrect, yet he has received the Dharma transmission from the Master. Now that enlightenment has been attained, it is only fitting that he take his own nature across."
The Patriarch replied, "So it is, so it is. Hereafter because of you, the Buddhadharma will be widely practiced. Three years after your departure I will leave this world. Start on your journey now and go south as fast as possible. Do not speak too soon, for the Buddhadharma arises from difficulty."

Commentary:

Because he was from the south, the Sixth Patriarch spoke Cantonese rather than Mandarin, so few people understood him. Nevertheless, he inherited the mind seal of the wonderful Dharma.
Master Hui Neng was truly enlightened, unlike some people who are not enlightened but cheat and say that they are, who are not testified to the fruit of enlightenment but lie and say that they have.
The Fifth Patriarch thought, "This disciple knows my heart." He said to Hui Neng, "Yes, it is just that way."
One should take one's own nature across. Remember that. For example, someone must teach you to recite the Shurangama Mantra, but once you know how, you must recite it on you own. People should not have to say, "It is time for you to recite the Shurangama Mantra." Again, someone must teach you to recite Sutras, but then you must do it yourself. That is what is meant by "taking one's own nature across."
A teacher shows you how to remove afflictions. He says that anger is harmful, and that one should transform one's nasty temper into Bodhi. Once taught, the nature cannot be taken across unless the methods is applied. The Master says, "Don't get upset. When faced with crisis, proceed as if nothing has happened. All things are like flowers in the sky or the moon's reflection in the water--unreal, illusory, like a dream of a dewdrop. Remember that and there will be no affliction." If, when faced with a situation, or a state of mind, you see through it and put it down, you have taken your nature across.
Smoking can be a problem. The teacher says, "Stop smoking! Smoking hinders cultivation." When I said that to one disciple he said, "Stop smoking? We'll give it a try," and he stopped. He took his nature across.
Another disciple is found of drink. Having studied the Buddhadharma, he ought to have quit drinking, but he says, "I'm confused. I'm not enlightened." If you stop you become enlightened; if you don't, you sink into confusion. Whether or not you become enlightened is entirely up to you.
Cutting off all unwholesome activities is to become enlightened and to take your nature across. Not understanding, you may think, "The Dharma Master says that drugs are bad, so I'll take some more. I'll take a double dose. No, I'll take five time as much! I'll keep getting high until I am enlightened." Continue to take drugs and you will poison yourself and die instead. Confused by drugs, you cannot take your nature across.
Before studying the Buddhadharma, you should not do confused and wicked things. After you have studied the Buddhadharma, the prohibition is even stronger. If you continue to misbehave, you commit the crime of "knowing and intentionally violating the Dharma," and you are certain to fall into the hells. There is nothing polite about these matters. If you do confused and wicked things, you will fall into the hells. If I do them, I will fall into the hells. If someone else does them, he will fall into the hells. No one can avoid this.

The karma made is not destroyed;
When the causes and conditions rebound,
You undergo the retribution by yourself.
No one can suffer for you in the hells.

Karma refers to acts of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and drinking, all of which bear retribution in the future. Your karma does not get lost, and it is you, and you alone, who must suffer the consequences. However,

If you end your confusion
and get rid of the dirt,
You can easily take
your own nature across.

The dirt in your nature is your upside-down actions, your false thinking, your ignorance, your outflows1 , and your bad habits. Eliminate these and you have taken your nature across.
When I lectured this Sutra in another place, I said, "If you create offense karma, you will go to the hells; if someone else creates offense karma, he will go to the hells; if I create offense karma, I will go to the hells." One person who was there objected:
"Dharma Master," he said, "I have never seen these hells. Where are they? I would like to take a look at them because I simply don't believe they exist."
I said, "It is easy enough to fall into the hells, and if you try to fall into them you will fall even more quickly and not escape for a very long time." I hope that those who wish to try out the hells will reconsider.
What kind of person can take his own nature across? A person with wisdom. Deluded people, on the other hand, cannot take their nature across, and what is more, even is a teacher tries to help them, they refuse to listen. It is like trying to teach a dog. You said, "Don't bite people," and, the first chance it gets, the dog bites someone. So you hit it and it still bites people. Why? Because it has a stupid nature. Cats are just the same. You can tell a cat, "Do not kill mice, do not take life, but nevertheless the cat kills the first mouse it sees. You may try to teach a mouse not to steal, but still it sneaks off and steals.
Smoking and drinking are done by those who do not know any better. People with true and proper understanding do not do mixed-up things. People with mixed-up understanding do not do true and proper things. You must correct your own faults. Your teacher shouldn't have to watch your every move and follow you around to make sure that behave. You must take your own nature across.
This is a general explanation, for if I will to speak in detail, I would not finish until the exhaustion of the boundaries of the future.
"I have transmitted my Dharma, and in three years I will complete the stillness and go to Nirvana," said the Fifth Patriarch, "Go well, and whatever you do, don't be lazy. Go well, don't go bad. Don't go the wrong way. Don't take drugs and ruin your body, for your body is your means of cultivation. If you ruin your body, how will you be able to cultivate? Go well, go well, do your best. Quickly head South." That is certainly the kind of advice the Fifth Patriarch gave.
"But don't speak of the Dharma too soon. Hide your light and store up your potential, as troops are fed well so that they may conquer every enemy and capture every city. The Buddhadharma is hard to bring forth. It arises from difficulty."

Sutra:

After Hui Neng took leave of the Patriarch, he set out on foot for the South. In two months he reach the Ta Yu Mountains.
The Fifth Patriarch returned to the monastery but for several days he did not enter the hall. The assembly was concerned and went to ask: "Has the Master some slight illness or problem?"
"There is no illness," came the reply, "but the robe and Dharma have already gone South."
"Who received the transmission?" they asked.
"The Able One obtained it," said the Patriarch.
The assembly then understood, and soon several hundred people took up pursuit, all hoping to steal the robe and bowl.

Commentary:

The Sixth Patriarch left the Fifth Patriarch, no longer attending upon the High Master or making offerings to him. He walked south from P'ing Mao Mountain and in a little over two months, he finally reached the Ta Yu mountain range which forms the border between Nan Hsiung and Kuang Tung.
The Fifth Patriarch return to his room. For many days he did not go into the hall to speak Dharma or take his meals. The assembly was curious. "High Master," they said, "You're not ill, are you?"
"You may all disperse," said the Fifth Patriarch, "because I no longer have the Buddhadharma. The robe and Dharma have gone South. I intend to rest now. I am going to retire."
"Who received the transmission?" they asked.
"The Able One," said the Patriarch, "He who was able obtained it. Whoever the able one is, he got it."
When this announcement was made there were those in the assembly who had been intelligence, one of them being Dharma Master Fa Ju. He was one of the ten people to whom the Fifth Patriarch gave instructions before he entered Nirvana, telling them, "Each of you go to a different direction and be a Dharma Host." But now, when Fa Ju heard the Fifth Patriarch say that the Able One had obtained the transmission, he cried out, "No! That must mean the southern barbarian has got the Dharma! How strange." The "Able One" refers to Hui Neng: "Able" (neng) was his name.
Word spread, and soon everyone knew. They all objected violently. "No! No!" they shouted, "How can it be? Let's go take it from him right now." Several hundred powerful people ran after Hui Neng. Consider the situations: The Fifth Patriarch had transmitted the Dharma to a barbarian, and the entire assembly was resentful. "How could you give it to him?" they said, "We have been following you for so many years. Why didn't you give it to us?" They thought to themselves, "The Patriarch's brain must be addled. How else could the give the Dharma to such a hick" How can he become the Sixth Patriarch? We should get back the robe and bowl--by force!"

Sutra:

One Bhikshu, Hui Ming, a coarse-natured man whose lay name had been Ch'en, had formerly been a fourth class military official. He was intent in his search and ahead of the others. When he had almost caught up with Hui Neng the latter tossed the robe and bowl onto a rock, saying, "This robe and bowl are tokens of faith. How can they be taken by force?" Hui Neng then hid in a thicket.
When Hui Ming arrived, he tried to pick them up, but found he could not move them. He cried out, "Cultivator, Cultivator, I have come for the Dharma, not for the robe!"
Hui Neng then came out and sat cross-legged on a rock. Hui Ming made obeisance and said, "I hope that the Cultivator will teach the Dharma for my sake."
Hui Neng said, "Since you have come for the Dharma, you may put aside all conditions. Do not give rise to a single thought and I will teach it to you clearly." After a time, Hui Neng said, "With no thoughts of good and with no thoughts of evil. at just this moment, what is Superior One Hui Ming's original face?" At these words, Hui Ming was greatly enlightened.

Commentary:

Bhikshu Hui Ming was coarse and uneducated. He never opened his month unless it was to scold someone, and if they refused to listen, he beat them. He could smash a rack of several hundred pounds with one blow. With this extraordinary strength he became a fourth class army officer.
Hui Ming had one peculiar trait. His feet were covered with feathers which enable him to run fast. He could travel sixty miles a day, compared to the ordinary man's thirty. His feathered feet and great strength carried him far ahead of the others. As he flew along, his mind raced, "I'll get the robe and bowl and then it will be mine! It belongs to the strongest man."
When Hui Neng saw this big crude feather-footed pursuer, he was a bit frightened. Although he had obtained the Dharma, he had just begun to cultivate and did not yet have great spiritual power. He shouted into empty space: "This robe and bowl are symbols of the faith. How can you take them by force? How can there be any dispute?"
What do you think?
Hui Ming had actually intended to grab the robe and bowl and run. But he could not move then. Why do you suppose he couldn't move them? After all he was so strong he could have smashed the bowl to smithereens with a single blow and have ripped the robe to shreds. Yet for all his strength and as light as the robe was, he couldn't budge it. This indicates that there were Dharma protectors - - gods, dragons, and others of the eight divisions present guarding the robe and bowl. Since he couldn't grab them, he thought, "That's strange. I can't use force here. Ah! I'll ask for the Dharma instead." Had he truly been seeking the Way he wouldn't have first tried to grab the robe and bowl but would immediately have said, "Cultivator, I come for the Dharma, not for the robe and bowl." Don't you think my opinion about this is logically sound?
Hui Neng emerged and sat in lotus position on a rock. Hui Ming bowed to the Sixth Patriarch. He understood now that the Dharma of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas cannot be taken by force. "You say you've come for the Dharma." said Hui Neng. "Really? Did you really come for the Dharma and not to steal the robe and bowl? Fine. Put aside all conditions. Put mind to rest. Stop grasping at conditions and then I will explain the Dharma clearly to you."
For seven or eight minutes the Great Master sat waiting. Neither he nor Hui Ming gave
rise to a single thought. Everything stopped. Not even the ghost and spirits knew what was happening. Everything was empty.
Hui Ming was not given rise to thought. He was not thinking north, south, east, or west.
So Hui Neng said, "With no thoughts of goos and no thoughts of evil, at just the moment , what is Superior Ming's original face?" Since the Sixth Patriarch was at that time still a layman he respectfully addressed Hui Ming as "Superior One."
The word "what" means "who." In the Dhyana School we meditate on the question, "Who is reciting the Buddha's name?" When Hui Ming heard the word "what" he became enlightened. "Oh!' he said, "originally it's just this way!"
Hearing these words, have you become enlightened?

Sutra:

Hui Ming asked further, "Apart from the secret speech and secret meaning just spoken, is there yet another secret meaning?"
Hui Neng said, "What had been spoken to you is not secret. If you turn the illumination inward, the secret is with you."
Hui Ming said, "Although Hui Ming was at Huang Mei he had not yet awakened to his original face. Now that he has been favored with this instruction he is like one who drink water and know for himself whether it is cold or warm. The cultivator is now Hui Ming's master."
"If you feel that way," said Hui Neng, "then you and I have the same master, Hung Mei1 . Protect yourself well."
Hui Ming asked further, "Where should I go now?"
Hui Neng said, "Stop at Yuan and dwell at Meng."

Commentary:

All of the Sixth Patriarch's pursuers were greedy, but Hui Ming was the worst. He had just seen his original face, he had just become enlightened, but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted to know if he had missed anything. "Are there any more secrets?" he asked, "Is there something even more wonderful?"
"What I have said is not the most miraculous and wonderful thing," said the Sixth Patriarch, "What is most important is that you turn the light back around and illuminate inward so that you may see the wonderful secret which is within you. It is all within you; it is not here with me."
"Great Master," said Hui Ming, "I wish to take you as my master."
"If that is how you feel," said the Sixth Patriarch, "we have the same teach, Huang Mei. We both have the Fifth Patriarch's Dharma transmission and are Dharma brothers. That is fine! Now, take good care of the Dharma and don't allow it to become extinct."
It was not until three years after this encounter with the Patriarch that Hui Ming went to Meng Mountain in Yuan District. There he met a ghost who. in his last life, had been a top-ranking scholar under the imperial examination system. The ghost composed a poem and sang it to Hui Ming:

Still, still, barren waste--
a dream.
Then, now, triumph, loss
lazy thought measures.
Wild grass, idle flowers
picked, how many?
Bitter rain, sour wind,
how many broken hearts?

At night, with firefly light
I came and go.
At dawn, the cock crows;
I hide away my form.
Regret from the first
not tilling the Mind ground;
Two streams are caused to fall--
green mountain tears.

Seeing the ghost's plight, Hui Ming explained the Dharma to the ghost and took him across. Even since then there had been the "ceremony of Meng Mountain" which is performed to take ghosts across and liberate them.

Sutra:

Hui Ming bowed and left. Reaching the foot of the mountain, he said to the pursuers, "UP above there is only a rocky, trackless height. We must find another path." The pursuers all agreed. Afterward, Hui Ming changed his name to Tao Ming to avoid using Hui Neng's first name.

Commentary:

After receiving instruction from the Sixth Patriarch, feather-footed Hui Ming went down the mountain and told the pursuers that he had not seen the Sixth Patriarch.
Hui Ming usually told the truth, and so everyone believed him now, even though he was lying. Actually, this was not a lie, but an expedient device used to protect the Sixth Patriarch from those who, unlike Hui Ming, had not received the Dharma and therefore still wished to kill the Sixth Patriarch.
Hui Ming dared not presume to be his Master's equal. He changed his name from Hui Ming to Tao Ming to avoid using the Patriarch's first name.

Sutra:

Hui Neng arrived at Ts'ao Hsi where he was again pursued by men with evil intentions. To avoid difficulty, he went to Szu Hui and lived among hunters for fifteen years, at times teaching Dharma to them if an appropriate manner.
The hunters often told him to watch their nets, but whenever he saw beings who were still living he released them. At mealtime he cooked vegetables in the pot alongside the meat. When he was questioned about it, he would answer, "I only eat vegetables alongside the meat."

Commentary:

Shen Hsiu still wanted to kill the Sixth Patriarch and steal the Patriarchate. Hui Neng escaped to Szu Hui, the present Hsin Hui, where he lived with a band of hunters for fifteen years. Who would have suspected that a Buddhist would choose to live with hunters? No one. Shen Hsiu's party searched far and wide, but they never found him.
Some say the Great Master lived with the hunters for sixteen years, but their calculation includes the time he spent coming and going. He actually lived with them for only fifteen years.
For lunch, the Great Master gathered wild vegetables on the mountain and cooked them in the pot beside the meat. If someone asked him, "Why are you doing that?" he said, "I only eat the vegetables. I don't eat meat."

Sutra:

One day Hui Neng thought, "The time has come to spread the Dharma. I cannot stay in hiding forever. " Accordingly, he went fo Fa Hsing Monastery in Kuang Chou where Dharma Master Yin Tsung was giving lectures on The Nirvana Sutra.
At that time there were two bhikshus who were discussing the topic of the wind and flag. One said, "The wind is moving." The other said, "The flag is moving." They argued incessantly. Hui Neng stepped forward and said, "The wind is not moving, nor is the flag. You minds, King sirs, are moving." Everyone was startled.
Dharma Master Yin Tsung invited him to take a seat of honor and sought to ask him about the hidden meaning. Seeing that Hui Neng's exposition of the true principles was concise and to the point and not based written word, Yin Tsung said, "The cultivator is certainly no ordinary man. I heard long ago that Hung Mei's robe and bowl had come south. Cultivator, is it not you?"
Hui Neng said, "I dare not presume such a thing."
Yin Tsung then made obeisance and requested that the transmitted robe and bowl be brought forth and show to the assembly.

Commentary:

The Great Master went to Kuang Chou, to Fa Hsing Monastery, now call Kuang Hsiao Monastery, where Dharma Master Yin Tsung was lecturing on the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which the Buddha spoke just before entering Nirvana. AT the monastery the Master met the two monks arguing over the topic of the wind and a flag. One said the wind moved, the other said the flag moved. and he told them, "You are both wrong. Neither the wind nor the flag is moving. Your minds are moving. If your minds were not moving, then neither the wind nor the flag would move."
Everyone was astonished to hear this layman speak in such a wonderful and mysterious way. Yin Tsung asked him, "Aren't you the holder of Huang Mei's robe and bowl?"
"I am unworthy of such a tittle," the Master said modestly.
Yin Tsung knew, however, that the Great Master was only being polite. Yin Tsung recognized Layman Lu as the Sixth Patriarch.

Sutra:

He further asked, "How was Huang Mei's doctrine transmitted?"
"There was no transmission," replied Hui Neng, "We merely discussed seeing the nature. There was no discussion of Dhyana samadhi or liberation."
Yin Tsung asked, "Why was there no discussion of Dhyana samadhi or liberation?"
Hui Neng said, "These are dualistic dharmas. They are not the Buddhadharma. The Buddhadharma is a Dharma of non-dualism."
Yin Tsung asked further, "What is this Buddhadharma which is the Dharma of non-dualism?"
Hui Neng said, "The Dharma Master has been lecturing the Nirvana Sutra which says that to understand the Buddha-nature is the Buddhadharma which is the Dharma of non-dualism. As Kao Kuei Te Wang Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, 'Does violating the four serious prohibitions, committing the five rebellious acts, or being an icchantika and the like cut off the good roots and the Buddha-nature?'"
"The Buddha replied, 'There are two kinds of good roots: the first, permanent; the second, impermanent. The Buddha-nature is neither permanent nor impermanent. Therefore it is not cur off.'"
"That is what is meant by non-dualistic. The first is good and second is not good. The Buddha-nature is neither good nor bad. That is what is meant by non-dualistic. Common people think of the heaps1 and realms2 as dualistic. The wise man comprehends that they are non-dualistic in nature. The non-dualistic nature is the Buddha-nature."
Hearing this explanation, Yin Tsung was delighted. He joined his palms and said, "My explanation of Sutra is like broken tile, whereas your discussion of the meaning, Kind Sir, is like pure gold."

He then shaved Hui Neng's head1 and asked Hui Neng to be his master. Accordingly, under that Bodhi tree, Hui Neng explained the Tung Shan Dharma-door.

Commentary:

The four serious prohibitions are killing, stealing, lying, and sexual miscount. The five rebellious acts are matricide, patricide, killing an Arhat, shedding the blood of a Buddha, and breaking up the harmony of the Sangha. What happens to the good roots and the Buddha-nature of one who commits such of offenses?
Icchantika is a Sanskrit word which may be explained as meaning "of incomplete faith." Are the good roots and the Buddha-nature of icchantika cut off?
Kao Kuei Te Wang Bodhisattva asked the Buddha these questions because he mistook good roots for the Buddha-nature itself. In his answer, the Buddha makes it clear that good roots are not the Buddha-nature.
Because the Great Master obtained the Dharma from the Fifth Patriarch at Tung Shan, "East Mountain," it is called the Tung Shan Dharma-door.

Sutra:

"Hui Neng obtained the Dharma at Tung Shan and has undergone much suffering, his life hanging as if by a thread.
"Today, in this gathering of the magistrate and officials, of Bhikshus, Bhikshunis, Taoists, and layman, there is not one of you who is not here because of accumulated ages of karmic conditions. Because in past lives you have made offering to the Buddhas and planted good roots in common, you now have the opportunity to hear the Sudden Teaching, which is a cause of obtaining the Dharma."
"This teaching had been handed down by former sages; it is not Hui Neng's own wisdom. You who wish to hear the teaching of the former sages should first purify your minds. After hearing it, cast aside your doubts, and that way you will be no different from the sages of the past."

Commentary:

Thus, the Sixth Patriarch concludes the narrative of his life. We in America who are so fortunate to hear this Sutra explained have also for ages established common karmic conditions by making offerings to the Buddhas.
"The Dharma is transmitted from former sages, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas. It is not my own wisdom," said Hui Neng, "If you listen to me carefully, it will be just as if you were listening to the Buddhas and Bodhisattva speaking."

Sutra:

Hearing this Dharma, the entire assembly was delighted, made obeisance, and withdrew.

II. PRAJNA

Sutra:

The following day, at the invitation of Magistrate Wei, the Master took his seat and said to the great assembly, "All of you purify your minds and think about Maha Prajna paramita."

Commentary:

This second chapter of the Sutra is an explanation of Prajna, given by the Master upon the request of Magistrate Wei.
Prajna is a Sanskrit word which meant "wisdom." There are three kinds of Prajna: literary Prajna, contemplative Prajna, and real mark Prajna.
Because the word Prajna encompasses these three meanings, it has a fuller connotation than the word "wisdom." Therefore the Chinese translators of Sutra did not translate it, but instead transliterated it. 1
The Sixth Patriarch took his seat and said, "All of you should quit daydreaming. Listen to the Dharma with a pure mind and a united heart. Be mindful of Maha Prajna Paramita."
Maha prajna Paramita is called "great wisdom." Maha means great; Prajna means wisdom; Prajna means arrived at the other shore.

Sutra

He then said, "Good Knowing Advisors, the wisdom of Bodhi and Prajna is originally possessed by worldly people themselves. It is only because their minds are confused that they are unable to enlighten themselves and must rely on a great Good Knowing Advisor who can lead them to see their Buddha-nature. You should know that the Buddha-nature of stupid and wise people is basically not different. It is only because confusion and enlightenment are different that some are stupid and some are wise. I will now explain for you the Maha Prajna Paramita Dharma in order that each of you may become wise. Pay careful attention, and I will explain it to you.
"Good Knowing Advisors, worldly people recite 'Prajna' with their mouths all day long and yet do not recognize the Prajna of their self-nature. Just as talking about food will not make you full, so, too, if you only speak of emptiness you will not see your own nature in ten thousand ages. In the end you will not have obtained any benefit.
"Good Knowing Advisor, Maha Prajna Paramita is a Sanskrit word which means 'great wisdom which has arrived at the other shore.' It must be practiced in the mind, and not just recited in words. When the mouth recites and the mind does not practice, it is like an illusion, a transformation, dew drops, or lightning. However, when the mouth recites and the mind practices, then mind and mouth are in mutual accord. One's own original nature is Buddha; apart from the nature there is no other Buddha."

Commentary:

The Master said, "Worldly people recite 'Prajna, Prajna, Prajna,' but they do not know the Prajna of their own original nature, or their own inherent wisdom. You may recite recipes from a cookbook from morning to night saying, 'This is delicious!' but you will never fill your stomach that way. Saying 'Prajna is empty' is not to do anything about it. In the end it is of no benefit. It is nothing more than 'head-mouth Zen' and will not help you to see your own inherent Prajna."
Instead, see everything as empty and put it aside: see it, smash it, and put it down. Empty everything. Then you need not recite it all day long with your mouth. If your mouth recites but your mind does not practice, your recitation is a worthless illusion. If you see the Prajna wisdom of your own nature, you will not become entangled in stupid affairs. You will not be ignorant. If you remain ignorant, your mind is not practicing.
If you use your mind as well as your mouth in cultivating Prajna, you will see that your own fundamental nature is itself the Buddha.
Everyone can realize Buddhahood. You need only cultivate. What should you cultivate? Your nature. Do not seek outside yourself, but turn the light inward; reverse the illumination and look within.

Sutra:

"What is meant by Maha? Maha means 'great.' The capacity of the mind is vast and great like empty space, and has no boundaries. It is not square or round, great nor small. Neither is it blue, yellow, red or white. It is not above or below, or long or short. It is without anger, without joy, without right, without wrong, without good, without evil, and it has no head or tail."
"All Buddha-lands are ultimately the same as empty space. The wonderful nature of worldly people is originally empty, and there is not a single dharma which can be obtained. The true emptiness of the self-nature is also like this."
"Good Knowing Advisors, do not listen to my explanation of emptiness and then become attached to emptiness. The most important thing is to avoid becoming attached to emptiness. If you sit still with an empty mind you will become attached to undifferentiated emptiness."

Commentary:

Because the mind first thought of going there, we now send rockets to the moon. The mind has no limits or boundaries. You can't say that it is big or small, for there is nothing bigger and nothing smaller.
The self-nature is the Middle Way. Your true mind is neither right nor wrong, true or false. In your true mind there are no thoughts of good or evil. Therefore the Sixth Patriarch asked Hui Ming, the ex-soldier who had come to steal the robe and bowl, "With no thoughts of good and with no thoughts of evil, at just this moment, what is the Superior One Hui Ming's original face?" He posed this question to reveal that there is neither good nor evil in the true mind. As they say in philosophy, "It has no head or tail!"
There is not even one single dharma. It is empty.

The self-nature is like empty space;
It contains within itself both truth and falsehood.
Enlighten yourself to the original substance;
In one penetration, penetrate all.

"When you hear me say that Prajna is empty, do not become attached to undifferentiated emptiness. If you do you will sit as if dead," continued the Sixth Patriarch.
We should cultivate true emptiness, which is wonderful existence, not vacuity. In true emptiness everything is known and everything is not known.

Understanding, complete and clear,
Like water reflecting the moon.
The mind in samadhi, like the sky,
For ten thousand miles, not a cloud.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, the emptiness of the universe is able to contain the forms and shapes of the ten thousand things; the sun, moon, and stars; the mountains, rivers, and the great earth; the fountains, springs, streams, torrents, grasses, trees, thickets, and forests; good and bad people, good and bad dharmas, the heavens and the hells, all the great seas, Sumeru1 and all mountains--all are contained within emptiness. The emptiness of the nature of worldly men is also like this.
"Good Knowing Advisors, the ability of one's own nature to contain the ten thousand dharmas is what is meant by 'great.' The myriad dharmas are within the nature of all people. If you regard all people, the bad as well as good, without grasping or rejecting, without producing a defiling attachment, your mind will be like empty space. Therefore it is said to be 'great,' 'Maha.'"

Commentary:

Empty space not only holds all good things, it includes all bad people as well. Empty space would never say, "You bad person! Get out of my empty space! Good people, come on in."
In the same way, you should see good and bad people without being attached to the good or repulsed by the bad. As I have told you before, bad people have something in them which is extremely good. You should hope that they reform. I have many disciples who do not obey me. I tell them to go south and all day long they run north; I tell them to go east and they go west. Although they disobey, I wait patiently because I know the time will come when they will change.
All good and all bad are included within the self-nature; you should neither grasp it nor cast it aside. Grasping and rejecting are defiling attachments.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, the mouth of the confused person speaks, but the mind of the wise person practices. There are deluded men who sit still with empty minds, vainly thinking of nothing and declaring that to be something great. One should not speak with these people because of their deviant views."
"Good Knowing Advisors, the capacity of the mind is vast and great, encompassing the Dharma realm. Its function is to understand clearly and distinctly. Its correct function is to know all. All is one; one is all. Coming and going freely, the mind's substance is unobstructed. That is Prajna."

Commentary:

The deluded person does not do what must be done. He merely talks. A wise person, on the other hand, always puts principle into practice, not with head-mouth Zen, but with constant cultivation.
The Great Master said, "You are all very wise. The vast mind pervades the all-inclusive Dharma realm. It is like a mirror; when things come, it reflects them; when things go, it is empty. The true mind knows everything when it is used. To have Prajna is to have complete understanding and be free of all stupidity."

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, all Prajna wisdom is produced from one's own nature; it does not enter from the outside. Using the intellect correctly is called the natural function of one's true nature. One truth is all truth. The mind has the capacity for great things, and is not meant for practicing petty ways. Do not talk about emptiness with your mouth all day and in your mind fall to cultivate the conduct that you talk of. That would be like a common person calling himself the king of a country, which cannot be. People like that are not my disciples."

Commentary:

Do not seek Prajna outside your self-nature. Do not make the mistake of using the intellect, the discriminating mind. The self-nature is not meant for small things.
The Great Master said, "Do not say, 'Empty, empty, empty, Prajna, Prajna, Prajna...' People who do that are not my disciples." Why? Because they don't listen. I tell them not to get attached to emptiness, and they get attached to emptiness. I tell them not to get attached to existence and they get attached to existence. I tell them not to have sexual desire, and they still do not cut it off. "Oh, no problem," they say, "Slowly, slowly."

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, what is meant by 'Prajna?' Prajna in our language means wisdom. Everywhere and at all times, in thought after thought, remain undeluded and practice wisdom constantly; that is Prajna conduct. Prajna is cut off by a single deluded
thought. By one wise thought, Prajna is produced. Worldly men, deluded and confused, do not see Prajna. They speak of it with their mouths, but their minds are always deluded. They constantly say of themselves, 'I cultivate Prajna!' and though they continually speak of emptiness, they are unaware of true emptiness. Prajna, without form or mark, is just the wisdom mind. If thus explained, just this is Prajna wisdom."

Commentary:

If you have Prajna, then in thought after thought you clearly understand; in thought after thought you are not confused; in thought after thought you have no ignorance.
"Prajna is cut off by a single deluded thought." To speak of it is as 'cut off' is merely an analogy. Actually it is not cut off. How could proper wisdom, which is without production or destrcution, be cut off? 'Cut off' merely describes the moment of delusion, because at that moment Prajna is not apparent.
"By one wise thought Prajna is produced." When you are not deluded or confused, Prajna is produced. I will give you an example of how confusion cut off Prajna: When people say that drinking is harmful, smoking is not good, and taking confusing drugs is bad, and you do not believe it, you cut off Prajna. If you change, you give rise to Prajna and true intelligence. When someone tries to teach you, but you refuse to understand or believe, that is delusion. In short, delusion is to know clearly that something is wrong, but to go ahead and do it anyway. Such delusion cuts off Prajna. The great majority of people in this world are deeply deluded, for they do not see Prajna and they do not know how to cultivate it.
Their mouths speak about wisdom, but their actions betray their stupidity. They talk about Prajna saying, "Emptiness is Prajna. There are twenty kinds of emptiness related to Prajna. You should empty everything." But they do not know true emptiness. Perhaps they understand a little of the Sutras, or recite a few lines of a mantra, but even though they speak they do not change their own faults and therefore do not recognize true emptiness.
You must give up ignorance, bad habits, faults, and obstructions, if you are to understand true emptiness.
"Prajna, without form or mark, is the wisdom mind." Wisdom has no form or characteristic. Didn't the Sixth Patriarch just say that Prajna is neither long nor short, neither square nor round, neither big nor small? Nor is it green, yellow, red, white or black. What is it, then? It is the wise mind, free from ignorance, which knows right dharmas from wrong dharmas.

Sutra:

"What is meant by Paramita? It is a Sanskrit word which in our language means 'arrived at the other shore,' and is explained as 'apart from production and extinction.' When one is attached to states of being, production and extinction arise like waves on water. That is what is meant by 'this shore.' To be apart from states of being, with no production or extinction, is to be like freely flowing water. That is what is meant by 'the other shore.' Therefore it is called 'Paramita.'"

Commentary:

To reach the other shore is to be separated from birth and death. This shore is birth and death; the other shore is Nirvana. To go from this shore to the other, you must cross the great sea of afflictions. Because there are afflictions, there is also birth, death, and Nirvana. If you have no afflictions, then birth and death are Nirvana and Nirvana is birth and death. Birth, death, and Nirvana are nothing more than names.
The absence of birth and death is Nirvana. If you have no afflictions, then in the midst of birth and death you have no birth and death. We are born and we die because of affliction. This is very important and you should all remember it: birth and death exist because of afflictions; affliction exists because of ignorance; and ignorance is simply whatever you don't understand.
What don't you understand? What do you understand? Knowing you do not understand is ignorance. Knowing you do understand id Prajna. There is just that small difference.
"When one is attached to states of being, production and extinction arise like waves on water." What is meant be the other shore? What is Nirvana? Nirvana is like water without waves. When the wind rises, the waves swell. The wind of ignorance, the waves of affliction are 'this shore.'
"To be apart from states, with no production or extinction, is to be like freely flowing water," The principle is clear: the nature is like water, the water of wisdom. When there are no waves, there is no birth and death.
We should work hard to understand why our mind have so many extraneous thoughts. these thoughts are like so many waves. Without them there would be no production or extinction, no birth or death. With production and extinction you are on this shore, but if you separate yourself from production and extinction you are like freely flowing water, permeating the universe with wisdom. That is what is meant by 'the other shore.'
This section of text is very useful. Use a little effort and you will understand it and derive from it inexhaustible benefit.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, deluded people recite with their mouths, but while they recite they live in falsehood and in error. When there is practice in every thought, that is the true nature. You should understand this dharma, which is the Prajna dharma; and cultivate this conduct, which is the Prajna conduct. Not to cultivate is to be a common person, but in a single thought of cultivation, you are equal to the Buddhas."

Commentary:

In each thought, avoid doing stupid things. If you understand this dharma, you realize that Prajna is to refrain from stupidity. What is stupidity? Doing what you absolutely should not do . Most important is the matter of sexual desire. You absolutely should not give rise to sexual desire, for when it arises you get confused and forget everything. You forget Prajna, you forget Paramita. At that time you cannot even recite their names. You become involved it and no longer pay attention to principle. Although it is the stupidest thing one can do, people still like to do it. They want to be stupid instead of wanting to cultivate the Prajna dharma. If you want to cultivate and practice Prajna for even a single thought, you must cut off desire and cast out love. The absence of sexual desire is the practice of Prajna and "in a single thought of cultivation, you are equal to the Buddhas."

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, common people are Buddhas and affliction is Bodhi. Past thoughts deluded are the thoughts of a common person. Future thoughts enlightened are the thoughts of a Buddha. Past thoughts attached to states of being are afflictions, and future thoughts separate from states of being are Bodhi."

Commentary:

Where do the Buddha come from? He starts out as a common person. Yes, the Buddha was a common person who cultivated and eventually achieved Buddha-hood. Why are we common people? Simply because we do not cultivate the Prajna dharma. Our nature flows out and becomes emotion; our emotions flow out and become desire. Common people are that way. But the returning of desire to one's own nature, so that one is unmoved by ignorance: that is the Buddha.
"Affliction is Bodhi." Without affliction there is no Bodhi. So you say, "Then I will not get rid of my afflictions. I will keep them." If you keep them, they are still afflictions, and afflictions are just afflictions. You should use a scientific method to temper your afflictions. How? Actually, this change is no change, it is merely a returning to your original nature.
My hand, for example, has a palm and back to it. The back of the hand represents affliction and the palm represents Bodhi. All you need to do is flip it over and everything is all right. There is no addition or subtraction required. Just turn it over! If you do not turn it over, you are off by just that margin, and affliction is affliction and Bodhi is Bodhi. But as soon as you turn it around, affliction is Bodhi and birth and death is Nirvana. I have often spoken of this. At Berkeley I said:
Affliction is Bodhi, ice is water,
Birth and death and Nirvana are empty dharmas.
If you understand, then dharmas are also empty. If you do not understand, then there are still dharmas. You should understand that people and dharma are both empty.
"Past thoughts deluded are the thoughts of a common person. Future thoughts enlightened are the thoughts of a Buddha." With stupid thoughts, you are a common person; with wisdom and enlightenment, you are a Buddha.
"Past thoughts attached to states of being are afflictions, and future thoughts separate from states of being are Bodhi." When thought is attached to states, affliction arises. You may think, "This is San Francisco. It surely isn't the same as New York!" Fundamentally San Francisco and New York are the same. They are both big cities. But you make distinctions. "In San Francisco," you say, "there is no snow, but New York had lot of snow." This is just the discriminating mind. Basically the two cities are the same.
If you are unattached to states of being, you will not have so much affliction. If you do not use your discriminating mind, there is no affliction. Past thoughts, which were attached to states, discriminated between San Francisco and New York, and therefore affliction arose. A later thought, which is unattached, makes you say, "they are empty! San Francisco and New York are the same. Why bother to discriminate one from the other?" If you do not discriminate, that is Bodhi.
It is easy to speak that way, but putting down all discrimination is another matter. That is difficult. When you understand that kind of state, there is no home and no country. There is nothing at all. This is to "produce that thought which is nowhere supported." It is also to "produce that body which is nowhere supported." Not dwelling anywhere, you can manifest a body that can go everywhere. Is this not wonderful dharma? It is nothing less than Bodhi. There's no need to sigh. If you can be enlightened, then you are enlightened. If you can't be yet, then slowly, slowly, you can be.

Nature in samadhi,
Demons defeated:
Everyday--happiness.

False thought
Not arising:
Everywhere--peace.

When your mind is in samadhi, there is not so much false thinking. Everyday you are happy and at peace. Why are you unhappy now? Because of false thoughts. Without false thoughts, every place is the Land of Ultimate Bliss,1 and you can 'produce that body which is nowhere supported."

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, Maha Prajna Paramita is the most honored, the most supreme, the foremost. It does not stay; it does not come or go. All Buddhas of the three periods of time emerge from it. You should use great wisdom to destroy affliction, defilement, and the five skandhic heaps. With such cultivation as that you certainly realize the Buddha Way, transforming the three poisons into morality, concentration, and wisdom.

Commentary:

The Great Master again addressed the assembly, saying, "In the self-nature of each of you there is limitless wisdom. Maha Prajna Paramita is originally fully present within your self-nature. You need not seek it outside."
"It does not stay; it does not come or go," The Prajna wisdom of your self-nature is unattached. All Buddhas of the three periods of time, the past, present. and future, issue from Maha Prajna Paramita--the highest, most supreme, most honored, number one dharma.
"You should use this great wisdom, not small wisdom, to destroy affliction, defilement, and the five skandhic heaps of form. feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness. Without Prajna you cannot see that the five heaps are empty, and therefore you have affliction and are unable to cut off defilement. If you wish to have genuine Prajna, you must "illumine and view the five skandhas all as empty," as Avalokiteshvara did when deeply practicing the Prajna Paramita. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva worked a long time practicing the deep Prajna Paramita. He could not, in just a short time, illumine and view the five heaps as empty. If you practice the deep Prajna Paramita, you can see the five heaps in this way, and when you destroy all affliction and attachment to sense-objects, the original Prajna nature manifests itself.
"With such cultivation as that, you will certainly realize the Buddha Way, transforming the three poisons into morality, concentration, and wisdom." There is no doubt that you will realize the Way, turning greed, hatred, and stupidity into morality, concentration, and wisdom. Let's see whether or not you can change. If you change, you will dwell in Prajna, if you do not change, you will wander among the deluded.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, my Dharma-door1 produces 84,0002 wisdoms from the one Prajna. Why? Because worldly people have 84,000 kinds of defilement. In the absence of defilement, wisdom is always present, since it is not separate from the self-nature."
"Understand that this dharma is just no-thought, no-remembrance, non-attachment, and the non-production of falsehood and error. Use your own true-suchness nature, and, by means of wisdom, contemplate and illuminate all dharmas without grasping or rejecting them. That is to see one's own nature and realize the Buddha Way."
"Good Knowing Advisors, if you wish to enter the extremely deep Dharma realm and the Prajna samadhi, you must cultivate the practice of Prajna. Hold and recite The Diamond Sutra and that way you will see your own nature."

Commentary:

The Sixth Patriarch said, "From one kind of wisdom, measureless Prajna are produces." These 84,000 kinds of wisdom are just 84,000 kinds of Prajna. If you change the defilement of external objects, it becomes wisdom.
Do not use your discriminating consciousness to contemplate and illuminate all dharmas. Use wisdom.
If you wish to enter the Sutra store and have wisdom like sea, if you wish to master all dharmas and the Prajna Samadhi, you must cultivate the Prajna conduct. How do you practice the Prajna Dharma-door? Hold and recite The Diamond Sutra. Because the Sixth Patriarch became enlightened upon hearing The Diamond Sutra, he tells everyone, "You should all recite The Diamond Sutra. Hold it in your mind. Do not be distracted or forgetful. Hold The Diamond Sutra and you will see your own nature."
In reciting Sutras it is essential to avoid giving rise to false thinking and extraneous thoughts. Once there was a man who recited The Diamond Sutra every day. One night he dreamt that a ghost asked him to take him across to a more favorable rebirth just as we perform the Ullambana ceremony on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in order to take across parents from this and past lives. The ghost said, "Please recite a Sutra to take me across."
"How many times shall I recite it ?" the man asked.
The ghost said, "One recitation will be enough."
The next day, halfway through the recitation, one of the man's servants brought him a cup of tea. He pushed the cup aside, thinking, "I do not want it," and continued to recite.
That evening the ghost returned. "You promised to recite the Sutra for me," he said, "but you only recite half of it."
"What do you mean?" the man replied, "I recited the whole Sutra."
The ghost said, "You recited the whole Sutra, but halfway through you thought, 'I do not want it,' so the merit from the second half of the recitation was lost."
The man then realized what happened. "Yes," he replied, "I did think, 'do not want,' but it was tea I did not want, not the Sutra's merit."
It took only these words "I do not want" halfway through the recitation to convince the ghosts and spirits that he did not want the merit. Probably the ghosts took the merit for themselves. The man said, "I will recite it again." This time he recited without interruption and the next evening the ghost happily bowed to him in thanks for the compassionate recitation.
So when you recite The Diamond Sutra do not think, "I do not want." Reciting "Subhuti,1 Subhuti, I don't want Subhuti," Subhuti will probably run away.

Sutra:

"You should know that the merit and virtue of this Sutra is immeasurable, unbounded, and indescribable, as the Sutra text itself clearly states."
"This Dharma-door is the Superior Vehicle, taught for people of great wisdom and superior faculties. When people of limited faculties and wisdom hear it, their mind give rise to doubt."
"Why is that? Take for example the rain which the heavenly dragons shower on Jambudvipa.2 Cities and villages drift about in the flood like thorns and leaves. But if it the rain falls on the great sea, its water neither increase nor decrease.
"If people of the Great Vehicle, the Most Superior Vehicle, hear The Diamond Sutra, their mind open up, awaken, and understand. They then know that their original nature itself possesses the wisdom of Prajna. Because they themselves use this wisdom constantly to contemplate all illuminate, they do not rely on written words."
"Take for example the rain water. It does not come from the sky. The true is that the dragons cause it to fall in order that all living beings, all plants and trees, all those with feeling and those without feeling may receive its moisture. In a hundred streams it flows into the great sea and there units in one substance. The wisdom of the Prajna of the original nature of living beings acts the same way."

Commentary:

People without good roots say, "The Diamond Sutra is meaningless! What good points does reciting it have? If you recite it every day, can you go without eating and still live? Keep reciting and we will see if you can go without eating." People of shallow roots and wisdom do not believe in this Sutra.
The great sea represents people of great roots and energy. As soon as they hear this dharma, they realize the Prajna is originally complete within the self-nature. and so they believe it. People of small roots and wisdom, however, are like grass and leaves which float on the surface of the water and sink as soon as it rains. They doubt the Great Vehicle Dharma.
Reflecting within, it is not necessary for those of great wisdom to be highly literate in order to understand Prajna wisdom.
The Prajna wisdom of the self-nature of living beings is just like the rain from the heavens which flows into the great sea. The sea represents our inherent wisdom. No matter how much rain falls, the sea neither increases nor decreases.
The Buddhadharma is like a great sea;
Only those with faith can enter.
It may also be said, "Only those with wisdom can enter," because without wisdom it is difficult to enter this sea.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, when people of limited faculties hear this Sudden Teaching, they are like the plants and trees with shallow roots which, washed away by the great rain, are unable to grow. But at the same time, the Prajna wisdom which people of limited faculties possess is fundamentally no different from the Prajna that men of great wisdom possess."
"Hearing this Dharma, why do they not become enlightened? It is because the obstacle of their deviant views is a formidable one and the root of their afflictions is deep. It is like when thick clouds cover the sun: if the wind does not blow, the sunlight will not be visible."
"Prajna wisdom is itself neither great nor small. Living beings differ because their own minds are either confused or enlightened. Those of confused mind look outwardly to cultivate in search of the Buddha. Not having awakened to their self-nature yet, they have small roots."
"When you become enlightened to the Sudden Teaching, you do not grasp onto the cultivation of external things. When your own mind constantly gives rise to right views, afflictions and defilement can never stain you. That is what is meant by seeing your own nature."

Commentary:

Deluded people do not become enlightened because their deviant views are too strong and too formidable and obstruction, and cause them to disbelieve. Their ignorance is great and they give rise to much affliction, which is like thick clouds covering the sun. The sunlight is simply the Prajna of your self-nature and the clouds are your deviant views and afflictions. If no wind blows the clouds away, the sunlight will not shine through.
Some living beings are heavily afflicted by bad habits. Having created a great deal of bad karma, they are confused. Those with fewer bad habits and lighter karma can become enlightened. The confused person seeks the Dharma outside his own mind. Seeking outwardly, he dose not recognize the originally complete Buddha of his own self-nature. The more he seek the Buddha outside the farther away he goes.
You should enlighten yourself and not seek outside. If you hear the Sudden Teaching you may become enlightened right away. Understand the Prajna of your own nature and always hold to right knowledge and vision. You will then be without affliction or defilement.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, the ability to cultivate the conduct of not dwelling inwardly or outwardly, of coming and going freely, of casting away the grasping mind, and of unobstructed penetration. is basically no different from The Prajna Sutra."

Commentary:

Inside there is no body and mind, outside there is no world. But this is not dull emptiness. It is not to say, "My body and mind do not exist; the world does not exist!" and then to fall into vacuity. What is spoken here is non-attachment: non-attachment to the body, to the mind, and to the world. Then you may "come and go freely."
Coming here, going there, coming back to the body and mind, going out into the Dharma Realm, you are free if you are unattached to the coming and the going. If you are attached, you are in bondage.
Unattached, you are free with respect to life and death. "If I want to live, I live. If I want to die, I die." You asked, "Is this suicide?" No. You need simply sit down, enter Dhyana Samadhi, and go. You need not take poison to make sure than you will die. Isn't this freedom? If it were not freedom, you would not be able to go. How was the Third Patriarch, Seng Ts'an, able to reach up and grasp the limb of a tree and, while hanging there, die? How could he enter Nirvana this way? He could do this because he was free to live or die, free to come or go.
If I wish to live, then I may never die.
If I wish to die, I die right now.
This is what is meant by "coming and going freely."
If you are free to come and go, you can end your life even while in the midst of talking, just like the Great Master Tao Sheng. He was really a good sport. The first part of The Mahaparinirvana Sutra said that the icchantikas, those of little faith, do not possess the Buddha nature, but Tao Sheng disagreed: "I say that icchantikas do have the Buddha nature!"
Everyone said, "He's crazy! He's mentally ill! He knows what the Sutra says, yet he deliberately contradicts it." They scolded him. they shunned him. "Get out of here," they said.
Master Tao Sheng then made a vow. He said, "If my explanation of Dharma is in agreement with the Buddha's Sutras and the Buddha's Mind, then in the future I shall end my life while lecturing from the Dharma seat. But if I have spoken contrary to the Buddha's Mind, this vow will not be fulfilled."
He then went into the mountains and lectured on Sutras to the rocks and ragged boulders. When the rocks heard him, they nodded their heads in acceptance of his principles.
When Sheng, the Venerable,
spoke the Dharma,
Even the rocks
bowed.
He continued to lecture on Sutras until once when, mysteriously and wonderfully, he paused while lecturing and died sitting in the Dharma seat. The assembly looked up and cried, "He had gone to rebirth!"
Wasn't he a good sport? This is what is meant by "coming and going freely."
You say, "Dharma Master, I quite agree with you. I don't want to be attached. In fact, I don't want to follow the rules. After all, the rules are just an attachment." Wrong! If you can "cast away your grasping mind " and be unattached, you should be unattached to what is wrong, but you should not be unattached to what is right. For example, if you follow the rules you can become a Buddha. But if you think, "I am not attached. I don't have to follow the rules," then you cannot become a Buddha.
Go down the right road.
Retreat from the wrong one.
Do not become attached to principles which are in opposition to the Way, but grasp and hold tightly to those principles which are in accord with it. Holding to and reciting may be an attachment, but holding to and reciting The Diamond Sutra is cultivation.
Do not say, "I am attached. I have a small fault which I do not want to give up. What is more, I do not want anyone to know about it." That is to be even more attached. "All right then," you say, "I don't care if anyone know about it. If people say I am wrong, I will be unattached and pay no attention." That is deviant knowledge and deviant views. The more you cultivate that way, the farther you drift from the Buddhadharma.
Once you have left attachments behind, you can penetrate and understand without obstruction and be without obstacles to your progress. The ability to cultivate this conduct "is basically no different from The Prajna Sutra." If you cannot cultivate this conduct, you will be in opposition to the principle of The Diamond Sutra, but if you can cultivate, it is Prajna wisdom manifest.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, all Sutras and writings of the Great and Small Vehicles, the twelve divisions of Sutras, have been devised because of people and established because of the nature of wisdom. If there were no people the ten thousand dharmas would not exist. Therefore you should know that all dharmas are originally postulated because of people, and all Sutras are spoken for their sakes."

Commentary:

On the higher plane, a Sutra tallies with the principles of all the Buddhas, and below, it tallies with the opportunities for teaching living beings; for that reason the word Sutra took on the meaning "to tally."
The twelve divisions of Sutra text are:

1. Prose;
2. Verse;
3. Transmitting of Predictions;
4. Interpolations;
5. The speaking of Dharma without its having been requested;
6. Discussion of causes and conditions;
7. Analogies;
8. Events of the past lives of the Buddhas;
9. Events of the past lives of the Bodhisattvas and disciples;
10. Writings which explain principle in an explicitly expansive way;
11. Dharma which has never been spoken before;
12. Commentaries.

Sutras exist because people exist. If there were no people, the Sutras would be useless. In the same way, troubles exist only because there are people to have them. The Dharma teaches people how to end their troubles; to get rid of the 84,000 kinds of defilement and trouble, the Buddha teaches 84,000 Dharma-doors. But if there were no people, the troubles would never have arisen.

The Buddha spoke all Dharma
For the minds of human beings.
If there were no minds
Of what use would Dharmas be?

Sutra:

"Some people are deluded and some are wise; the deluded are small people and the wise are great people. The deluded question the wise and the wise teach Dharma to the deluded. When the deluded people suddenly awaken and understand, their minds open to enlightenment and they are no longer different from the wise."
"Good knowing Advisors, unenlightened, the Buddha is a living being. At the time of a single enlightened thought, the living being is a Buddha. Therefore you should know that the ten thousand dharmas exist totally within your own mind. Why don't you, from within your own mind, suddenly see the true suchness of your original nature?"
"The Bodhisattva -shila Sutra says, 'our fundamental self-nature is clear and pure.' If we recognize our own mind and see the nature, we shall all perfect the Buddha Way. The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra say, "Just then, suddenly regain your original mind."

Commentary:

If, in the very shortest space of time, the space of a thought, you suddenly understand, you wake up and become a Buddha. Confused, you are a living being; enlightened, you are a Buddha.
One confused thought: you are a living being.
Thought after thought confused:
thought after thought, a living being.
One enlightened thought: you are a Buddha.
Thought after thought enlightened:
thought after thought, a Buddha.
What does it mean to be enlightened? Ask yourself! Ultimately, what advantage do emotion and desire have? Emotion and desire harm your body; that is a serious problem. They rob you of your life; they make you stupid. If in thought after thought you have desire, then thought after thought you are deluded. It is said,

Karma ended, emotion emptied,
is the true Buddha.
Karma heavy, emotion turbid,
is the living being.

Enlightenment is here: put down defiled thoughts and pick up the pure. What are defiled
thoughts? Thoughts of desire are defiled thoughts. I will make it even clearer: thoughts of sexual desire are defiled thoughts. You should clearly recognize your thoughts of sexual desire. Should you give way to sexual desire with your body, then the action of your body, your body-karma, is impure. If you talk about sex, the action of your mouth is impure. If you constantly think about sex, your mind-karma is impure. However, if you are without offense in body, mouth, and mind, you are not far from Buddhahood.
Most people turn their backs on enlightenment and unite themselves with the dust of external objects and states. Falling into states of emotion and desire they become defiled. Leaving emotion and desire behind and turning your back on the dust, you are united with enlightenment. You are clear and pure and can realize Buddhahood. However, as long as you have the slightest trace of defilement, you cannot realize Buddhahood; you remain a living being. One confused thought makes you a living being for the space of that thought. If every thought is confused, you are continually a living being. One enlightened thought makes you a Buddha for the space of that thought. If every thought is enlightened, you are always a Buddha.
Do you see? It is very simple. Still, you need the help of a Good Knowing Advisor who will teach you that, in order to be clear and pure, it is of the utmost importance to be unselfish. Not working for your own benefit and being without greed, hatred, stupidity, and a view of self, you may attain purity. That is enlightenment.
Some people hear, "One enlightened thought; you are a Buddha," and they say, "Everyone is a Buddha!" Right. All living beings are Buddhas, but they must first work up to it. To say, "Everyone is a Buddha." when you are not enlightened is to be like the common person mentioned earlier in the Sutra who called himself the king. The real king would throw that man in prison.
Heaven cannot hold two suns;
The citizens cannot serve two kings.
Why don't you cultivate your own mind? Get rid of the defilement and then you can see your own nature as it truly is. See it right now. Do not say, "Wait a minute, wait a minute." See it immediately!
If you see your nature, you realize Buddhahood. If I see my nature, I realize Buddhahood. If someone else see his nature, he realize Buddhahood. There is no inequality here. This principle is completely democratic: Whoever sees his nature realizes Buddhahood.
You need not wait. See right through it, and suddenly, you don't know how, you are enlightened. Strange and unspeakably wonderful. You return to yourself and regain your original mind.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, when I was with the High Master Jen, I was enlightened as soon as I heard hid words, and suddenly saw the true suchness of my own original nature. That is why I am spreading this method of teaching which leads students of the Way to become enlightened suddenly to Bodhi as each contemplates his own mind and sees his own original nature."

Commentary:

"All of you of great knowledge, hear me!" said the Sixth Patriarch. "I have explained so much Dharma to you. Have you become enlightened yet? When I was with the High Master Jen, the Fifth Patriarch, I awoke as soon as I heard him speak."
"I, the Sixth Patriarch, an illiterate barbarian, a stupid country person, met the High Master Jen." The Master did not say the Fifth Patriarch's full name, but merely said "Jen" as a gesture of respect. "The High Master Jen," he said, "endured the temper of many." Those below him tried to pressure him into transmitting the Dharma to Shen Hsiu. The Fifth Patriarch was not even free to transmit the Dharma, but was forced to endure the tyranny of his own disciples. His name, Jen, means "to endure." He endured, practicing the perfection of patience until, one day, the barbarian arrived. "I will give the Dharma to the barbarian," the Fifth Patriarch thought, "and forget about all of you. Do you think you can bully a Patriarch? I will transmit the Dharma to someone who can't even read. What use is your education now?" Thus, the High Master jen ceased enduring and transmitted the Dharma to the Sixth Patriarch.
The Sixth Patriarch was a friend who understood. "High Master," he said, "you have suffered greatly!" Then he told the assembly, "I was enlightened as soon as I heard his words."
Why did the Fifth Patriarch transmit the Dharma to this barbarian? It was not just because he wanted to defy Shen Hsiu. Rather it was because this barbarian was so intelligent that, as soon as he heard the Fifth Patriarch speak, he said in reply, "So that's how it is! My self-nature is originally pure. My self-nature is originally bright and light. My self-nature is originally unmoving. How wonderful it is!"
"Yes,"said the Fifth Patriarch, "you are right. It is just that way."
The Sixth Patriarch told the assembly, "I propagate this Sudden Teaching in order to cause all students of the Way to become enlightened suddenly to their own mind and see their own nature."

Sutra:

"If you are unable to enlighten yourself, you must seek out a great Good Knowing Advisor, one who understands the Dharma of the Most Superior Vehicle and who will direct you to the right road."
"Such a Good Knowing Advisor possesses great karmic conditions, which is to say that he will transform you and guide you and lead you to see your nature. It is because of the Good Knowing Advisor that all wholesome Dharmas can arise. All the Buddhas of the three periods of time, and the twelve divisions of Sutra texts as well, exist within the nature of people, originally complete within them. If you are unable to enlighten yourself, you should seek out the instruction of a Good Knowing Advisor who will lead you to see your nature."

Commentary:

If you can't enlighten yourself, you must seek out a bright-eyed knowing one, one who has "gone through."
Wishing to travel the mountain tracks.
Ask someone who has taken the trip.
Ask him, "Where does this road lead?" If you do not ask someone who had travelled the road before, but instead ask a blind man for directions, the blind man will say, "Just keep walking. Go wherever you wish." If you ask the blind man, "Is this emptiness?" he will say : "It certainly is. No one can hinder you here!" But is it really emptiness?
The great Good Knowing Advisor understands the Dharma of the Superior Vehicle and directs you to the right road.
If there is a great affinity between, you may meet a bright-eyed knowing one who will teach you to understand your mind and see your nature. All good dharmas arise because of him. Your good roots flourish because he watches over their growth. He explains the Dharma to you every day and causes your good roots to grow.
All the Buddhas of the past, present, and future and the twelve divisions of Sutra text are originally complete within your own nature. But if you cannot understand that, you should seek out the instruction of a Good Knowing Advisor. He will teach you to behold the pure and wonderful substance of your self-nature.

Sutra:

"If you are one who enlightens himself, you need not seek a teacher outside. If you insist that it is necessary to seek a Good Knowing Advisor in the hope of obtaining liberation, you are mistaken. Why? Within your own mind there is self-enlightenment which is a Knowing Advisor."
"But if you give rise to deviant confusion, false thoughts, and perversions, although a Good Knowing Advisor external to you instructs you, he cannot save you."

Commentary:

If you seek outside yourself, you will not obtain it. You must enlighten yourself, by recognizing the Prajna of your self-nature. Your true Good Knowing Advisor is within your self-nature; he is simply your own wisdom.
"Deviant" means "not right." "Confusion" means "lack of understanding." Not understanding what? Not understanding what is right. For example, people have certain fondness. Some have the deviant confusion of sex. You should not regard these confusions as unimportant, for when you do, your confusion deepens and the small confusions become large ones. Thinking the large confusions to be unimportant, you arrive at old age with old confusions and go to your death with death-confusions. Even at the time of death you are confused and unclear. How pitiful!
"False thoughts" are untrue thoughts. They are vain and unreal. "Perversions" occur when you clearly know that something is wrong, but do it anyway. You understand perfectly well that it is not right, but you say, "It is right! It is right!"
If you continue to do things contrary to Dharma, you are perverted. You are perverted when you not only do these things yourself, but influence others to do them as well. To discuss this thoroughly would take a long time. To have success, students of the Buddhadharma must not be perverted. If you have deviant confusions, false thoughts and perversions, although a Good Knowing Advisor external to you, such as your good teacher of good friend, instructs you, he cannot save you.
Your good teacher and worthy friend may try to help you, but if you refuse to obey him he can do no more. Your Good Knowing Advisor is not a policeman! If you break his laws, he cannot put you in jail. He can only hole that you will gradually change your faults. If living beings obey, the master is certainly pleased, but if they do not, although he cannot not get angry, his is unhappy in his heart because he has no way to help them.

Sutra:

"If you give rise to genuine Prajna contemplation and illumination, in the space of an instant all false thoughts are extinguished. If you recognize your self-nature, in a single moment of enlightenment you will arrive at the stage of Buddha."

Commentary:

"Genuine" means "not deviant and confused." "Prajna" is genuine wisdom. To "contemplate and illuminate" is to slice off deviant confusion, false thought, and upside-down actions with the sword of wisdom. If you do not swing the wisdom-sword and cut through your deviant confusion, your false thinking, and your upside-down actions, you are deluded, lack wisdom and do upside-down things.
Recognize your own original nature. Understand it once, and, in that one moment of enlightenment, you will go to the Buddha realm. On the other hand, where do you go in one moment of confusion? To the ghost realm.
Enlightened,
a Buddha.
Confused,
a living being.
In the space of an instant all false thoughts are extinguished, destroyed by your wisdom-sword like ice melted by the sun.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, When you contemplate and illuminate with the wisdom which brightly penetrates within and without, you recognize your original mind."
"The recognition of your original mind is the original liberation. The attainment of liberation is the Prajna Samadhi, is no-thought."

Commentary:

Using your inherent wisdom, observe inwardly the mind and body and outwardly the world. Completely understand both, as you would look through a pane of glass: from the outside seeing in and from the inside seeing out. Inwardly, there is no body and mind, and, outwardly, there is no world. But, although there is no body nor mind nor world, the body and mind and the world function in accord with one another. Although they function together, they are not attached to one another. This is called "recognizing your own original mind." The original self-nature, the true mind, clearly penetrates within and without.
The recognition of your original mind is liberation. When you are not attached to sense objects or false thought, you obtain liberation. This is the Prajna Samadhi of your self-nature and is simply no-thought.
I previously spoke about non-recollection, no-thought, and non-falseness. Non-recollection is morality, no-thought is Samadhi, and non-falseness (i.e. being without false thought ) is wisdom. When morality, Samadhi, and wisdom all manifest, greed, hatred, and delusion disappear.

Sutra:

"What is meant by 'no-thought?' No-thought means to view all dharmas with a mind undefiled by attachment. The function pervades all places but is nowhere attached. Merely purify your original mind and cause the six consciousnesses to go out the six gates, to be undefiled and unmixed among the six objects, to come and go freely and to penetrate without obstruction. That is the Prajna Samadhi and freedom and liberation, and it is called the practice of no-thought."

Commentary:

No-thought means to view all dharmas with a mind undefiled by attachment. When the mind is undefiled by attachment, dharmas are empty. If dharmas are empty, then why must you get attached to your bad habits and weaknesses?
Someone hears this and wants to try to become unattached to dharmas by ignoring his faults. He may be unattached to dharmas but he can't get rid of his faults. How can this be called "undefiled by attachment?" Since to be undefiled by attachment there must be no dharmas, there must even more emphatically be on faults. The Diamond Sutra says, "Even dharmas must be forsaken, so non-dharmas must be forsaken even more."
If you do not put down your bad habits and your faults, what kind of Buddhadharma do you study? I ask you! You are nothing but a fraud who cheats himself and cheats others. Students of the Dharma must definitely give up their faults. If you cannot, even though you may be able to explain a few sentences of Dharma, you are utterly useless. You are at the height of delusion.
"Prajna Samadhi pervades all places" and illuminates all places, but is nowhere attached. It is just like empty space.
"Merely purify your original mind " so that it is undefiled and unattached, and cause the six consciousnesses ( visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and mental awareness ) to go out the six gates ( eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind ) and among the six objects ( forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, and objects of mind ), but to be undefiled and untainted to come and go freely, and to penetrate without obstruction.
If you examine this conglomeration, you will see that the six organs and six objects ordinarily unite to form a corporation. Where there is a corporation, there is defilement and mixing. Do not incorporate!
They should freely come and go:
The eyes view forms outside;
inside there is nothing.
The ears hear sounds outside;
but the mind does not know.
What does this mean? You don't understand? Then study the Buddhadharma diligently.
At the time of unobstructed penetration, the ten thousand changes and the ten thousand transformations of the correct use are unhindered, unblocked and inexhaustible. "That is Prajna Samadhi, and freedom and liberation, and it is called the practice of no-thought."

Sutra:

"Not thinking of the hundred things and constantly causing your thought to be cut off is called Dharma-bondage and is an extremist view."

Commentary:

If you sit, saying, "I am sitting here, not thinking of anything. I am thinking of nothing!" and in this way try to cut off your thought, you still have not cut off the thought of "not thinking of anything." If you do this, you will be tied up in the dharmas, and will not obtain release. Thought, no-thought: falling into either of the two extremes is not the Middle Way.
In telling you to awaken to the no-thought dharma, it is not to say that you should be like dead ashes or rotten wood. What use are ashes without fire? They are nothing but dirt. What use is rotten wood? You can't burn it. If you sit, thinking, "Do not think! Do not think of the hundred things!" your thought of not thinking is itself a thought!
Trying not to think is like trying to prevent the grass from growing by pounding on it with a rock and shouting "Don't come up!" You push the rock into the soil, but when you move it again the grass grows up thicker, stronger, and more dense than ever.
Then how dose one attain to the no-thought dharma? It requires the samadhi power that comes from having right, not deviant, thought.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, one who awakens to the no-thought dharma completely penetrates the ten thousand dharmas; one who awakens to the no-thought dharma sees all Buddha realms; one who awakens to the no-thought dharma arrives at the Buddha position."

Commentary:

Do you know the realms of all Buddhas? Do you know what their state is alike? If you do, then you understand the no-thought dharma. "No," you say, "I do not understand the Buddha realms." Then you do not understand the no-thought dharma.
Do not be like a certain person who does not know anything at all, who cannot even explain the Five Esoteric Meanings and the Seven Sutra Title Topics, but who still runs around "lecturing" on Sutras and cheating those who do not understand the Buddhadharma. People stream in the ants to hear him. They come marching, "deng, deng, deng." What for? Who knows. Ultimately, what Buddhadharma do they study? That man reads an English translation of a Sutra aloud; he simply reads it. Anybody can read it: you can read it, he can read it-- I couldn't read it. Why? Because I can't read English!
Don't march off with the ants.
If you enlighten to the dharma of no-thought, you go to the Buddha position. Now, isn't that important?
When I explain Sutras, people come to hear, not ants. The people are few, but they come to study the Dharma, not to eat honey like ants. Here, we gather to eat bitterness; we do not come to eat candy.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, those of future generations who obtain my Dharma should take up this Sudden Teaching Dharma door and with those of like views and like practice they should vow to receive and uphold it as if serving the Buddhas. To the end of their lives they should not retreat, and they will certainly enter the holy position. In this way it should be transmitted from generation to generation. It is silently transmitted. Do not hide away the orthodox Dharma and do not transmit it to those of different views and different practice who believe in other teaching, since it will harm them and ultimately be of no benefit."

Commentary:

"All of you Good Knowing Advisors," continued the Sixth Patriarch, "the Dharma was transmitted from Shakyamuni Buddha to Mahakashyapa, to Ananda, and so forth to Bodhidharma, and then to the Second Patriarch, the Third Patriarch, reaching to me, the Sixth Patriarch. You should transmit the Mind-Seal Dharma-door in just that way, from generation to generation. Do not hide the orthodox Dharma and transmit deviant dharma instead."
Why was the Great Master a Patriarch? Because he never slighted the lowly. When he was at Huang Mei, everyone looked down on him because he was an illiterate country person. He knew the pain of enduring ridicule himself, and so he did not slight others. He addressed everyone as "Good Knowing Advisors" whether they were or not.
"You should not transmit this Mind Seal to those of different views and practice," he said. Why?

Sutra:

"I fear that deluded people may misunderstand and slander this Dharma-door, and will cut off their nature which possesses the seed of Buddhahood for hundreds of ages and thousands of lifetimes."
"Good Knowing Advisors, I have a verse of no-mark which you should all recite. Those at home and those who have left home should cultivate according to it. If you do not cultivate it, memorizing it will be of no use. listen to my verse:

With speech and mind both understood.
Like the sun whose place is in space,
Just spread the "seeing-the-nature way"
Appear in the world to destroy false doctrines.

Dharma is neither sudden nor gradual,
Delusion and awakening are slow and quick,
But deluded people cannot comprehend
This Dharma-door of seeing-the-nature.

Although it is said in ten thousand ways,
United, the principles return to one;
In the dark dwelling of defilements,
Always produce the sunlight of wisdom.

The deviant comes and affliction arrives,
The right comes and affliction goes.
The false and true both cast aside,
In clear purity the state of no residue is attained.

Bodhi is the original self-nature;
Giving rise to a thought is wrong;
The pure mind is within the false:
Only the right is without the three
obstructions.

If people in the world practice the Way,
They are not hindered by anything.
By constantly seeing their own transgression.
They are in accord with the Way.

Each kind of form has its own way,
Without hindering one another;
Leaving the Way to seek another way,
To the end of life is not to see the Way.

A frantic passage through a life,
Will bring regret when it comes to its end.
Should you wish for a vision of the true Way,
Right practice is the Way.

If you don't have a mind for the Way,
You walk in darkness blind to the Way;
If you truly walk the Way,
You are blind to the faults of the world.

If you attend to others' faults,
Your fault-finding itself is wrong;
Others' faults I do not treat as wrong;
My faults are my own transgressions.

Simply cast out the mind that finds fault,
Once cast away, troubles are gone;
When hate and love don't block the mind,
Stretch out both legs and then lie down.

If you hope and intend to transform others,
You must perfect expedient means.
Don't cause them to have doubts, and then
Their self-nature will appear.

The Buddhadharma is here in the world;
Enlightenment is not apart from the world.
To search for Bodhi apart from the world,
Is like looking for hare with horns.

Right views are transcendental;
Deviant views are all mundane.
Deviant and right completely destroyed:
The Bodhi nature appears spontaneously.

This verse is the Sudden Teaching,
Also called the great Dharma boat.
Hear in confusion, pass through ages,
In an instant's space, enlightenment.

Commentary:

"With speech and mind both understood." Understanding speech is to know how to lecture on Sutras and explain the Dharma. Understanding the mind refers to the mind-ground Dharma door of Dhyana meditation. If you can lecture on Sutra, speak Dharma, and cultivate Dhyana meditation, you are "Like the sun whose place is in space;" you are like bright light which illuminates the void and yet is nowhere attached.
"Just spread the 'seeing-the-nature Way';" the Dharma door which the Six Patriarch transmits teaches you to understand your mind and see your nature. Understand the mind and there are no difficulties. See your nature and there is no anxiety. When you see your original face, you understand the Buddhadharma.
"Appear in the world to destroy false doctrines." This Dharma-door exclusively speaks of transcendental principles, and destroys all heretical, non-Buddhist religions.
Dharma is neither sudden nor gradual,
Delusion and awakening are slow and quick.
Essentially, the Dharma is neither sudden nor gradual. However, confused people must be taught to cultivate gradually, while wise, enlightened people understand the sudden Dharma. If you are stupid, you become enlightened a little slower. If you are intelligent, you become enlightened a little faster.
Today I will tell you the plain truth. Every day I lecture the sutras, but rarely do I speak plain truth. Today I'll say a little. Why? I can't speak much plain truth because you won't believe it. I say a little and you cannot believe it, so if I were to say more you would believe it even less. That's because you don't like to hear the truth, nor do you like to actually cultivate. So I have no way to speak true Dharma for you. I have to wait. I wait for an opportunity. And now an opportunity presents itself because we have come to this verse and the doctrine should be explained here. What is the Sudden Teaching? Sudden means "cut it off." Cut what off? Cut off your sexual desire. Can you do it or not? You say, "What's the use of that?" Do you see? You don't believe. Very well, then, I will not talk about it. If I say more, you will disbelieve even more strongly. That's all there is to it. It's just is much:
CUT OFF IGNORANCE IMMEDIATELY!
Ignorance is just sexual desire. Can you cut it off? Can you? You can't cut it off, and so you don't believe in the true Dharma. When you do cut it off, you will attain the Sudden Teaching.
What is the gradual teaching? "Slowly, slowly," you say, "I can't cut it off all at once. How can I put it down? How can I let it go?" The sudden becomes gradual. That's all there is to it. Do you get the point? I give intelligent people this little bit and they cut it off. But stupid people can't put their desire down. "I don't believe this is the true Dharma," they said, "I don't believe this is the Sudden Teaching." That's why I have never spoken this way before. If you believed, you would have become a Buddha long ago. It's just because you don't believe that you are still wallowing in the mud, turning in the six paths of rebirth. If you want to turn, turn. Nobody is forcing you to stop.
It is a question of sooner or later. You may not want to cut it off now, but when you decide to become a Buddha, you will certainly have to cut it off.
But stupid people cannot comprehend
This Dharma-door of seeing the nature.
The Sudden Teaching is the Dharma-door of seeing the nature. If you cut off sexual desire you can understand your mind and see your nature.
Don't speak of this Dharma to stupid people. They cannot understand it and they won't believe it, just as now, when I told you to cut it off and you couldn't do it. Stupid people cannot comprehend, they cannot understand. If you tell them, they won't believe you.
Although it is said in ten thousand ways.
United, the principles return to one.
There are a thousand, ten thousand, millions of Dharma-doors used to explain this principle. There are 84,000 Dharma-doors to counteract just this kind of affliction, just that kind of ignorance. But when you trace them to the root, they are all just one, just the Sudden Dharma which tells you to cut off ignorance immediately and manifest the Dharma-nature.
In the dark dwelling of defilements,
Always produce the sunlight of wisdom.
Having affliction, you are in a dark room, but having wisdom, you are out in the dazzling sunlight.
The deviant comes and affliction arrives,
The right comes and the affliction goes.
Today I will give you a little basic Dharma. If I never say it, you will never know. Deviant refers to the arousing of sexual desire. Do not take it as happiness; it is an affliction.
What is "right" is Prajna wisdom. Genuine wisdom breaks through ignorance and casts out affliction.
The false and true both cast aside,
In clear purity the state of no residue is attained.
This is Nirvana without residue. You say, "The verse says, 'The false and true both cast aside'--I will ignore both of them!" If you ignore them, you are still in the dark dwelling. When you have transcended the deviant and right, then they have no use. There is only "right" because there is "deviant;" there is only "deviant" because there is "right." When neither one exists, that is clear purity, Nirvana without residue.
Bodhi is the original self-nature;
Giving rise to a thought is wrong.
Do not seek Bodhi outside yourself. The enlightenment nature is already complete within the Prajna wisdom of your self-nature. Nevertheless you still give rise to false thoughts. Originally, in clear and pure Nirvana without residue, there is no thought, no recollection, and no falseness. It is complete in samadhi, morality, and wisdom.
The pure mind is within the false:
Only the right is without the three obstructions.
The pure mind is within the false, like water in the ice; the ice has the potential to become water.
In order to separate yourself from the three obstacles, you need only cultivate and uphold the right Dharma. The three obstacles are the karma obstacle, that is, all the karma you have created in past lives and in the present one; the retribution obstacle, that is, you body, which undergoes the obstructive effects of you karma; and the affliction obstacle, that is, all your troubles and worries.
If people in the world practice the Way,
They are not hindered by anything.
You can realize the Way by success in any Dharma-door at all. Bur first you must understand the true Dharma. Then you can cultivate it walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, with no obstacles whatsoever.
By constantly seeing their own transgressions,
They are in accord with the Way.
Mind your own business. Don't watch other people, like a camera which can only take pictures of what is outside, but can't take pictures of itself. You say, "That person is bad! He drinks, smokes, and takes drugs. No one can teach him. He steals! He kills! Just look at him!" You talk nothing but big talk; you only criticize others. You never ask yourself, "Did I kill today? Did I steal? Did I have deviant thoughts of lust? Did I lie or drink?" You never the light inward because you are too busy shining it outside.
If you wish to practice the Way, you should cultivate yourself and see your own faults. Then you will be in accord with the Way.
The Six Patriarch's verse is excellent. It is profound, deep, and of inexhaustible use. It is simple and clear: anyone can understand it. If you can understand the meaning, and memorize it as well, it will greatly aid your cultivation.
Each kind of form has it own way
Without hindering one another;
Everything which has a shape and an appearance is a kind of form. While dwelling in forms, if you are able to wake up and understand, to cut off desire and cast out love and be unattached to the forms, then you will naturally possess the Way. You need not look for it anywhere else.
Leaving the Way to seek another way
To the end of life is not to see the Way.
If you understand and are unconfused by forms, then there is no difficulty and no annoyance. But if you leave the Way, saying, "This is not the Way. I am going to find another way," you are just adding a head on top of a head.
If you see what happens and understand,
you can transcend the world.
If you see what happens and are confused,
you fall beneath the wheel.
If you become confused and give rise to view delusion, you fall into the dust of external states and objects and to the end of your life you will not see the Way.
A frantic passage through a life
Will bring regret when it comes to its end.
Wishing for a vision of the true Way,
Right practice is the Way.
When you arrive at the Way, everything you do from morning to night is in accord with Dharma. You do right and proper things, not deviant things. If you leave your daily activities and look elsewhere for the Way, you whole life will be suffering and when you are old you will have regrets. "I have wasted my life!" you will say, "If only I hadn't drunk so mush wine, I wouldn't be so stupid now. If only I hadn't gambled, I wouldn't be so poor. If someone had just told me, I could have cultivated. But I never met a Good Knowing Advisor."
You met a Good Knowing Advisor, but you didn't recognize him. His teaching passed by like the wind--in one ear and out the other. You never reformed your own faults and you never corrected your bad habits and so, at the end, you have regrets.
Cultivate properly. Do not criticize others and wash their clothes for them, saying, "This person's clothes are filthy! I'd better wash them. And look at him! He's jealous. He's afraid others are going to be better than he is." This is called "washing other people's clothes."
If you don't have a mind for the Way,
You walk in darkness, blind to the Way.
If you only do things in darkness, if you only do things which you do not wish others to see, you are not practicing the Way.
If you truly walk the Way,
You are blind to the faults of the world.
There are those who say, "The Dharma-ending age is really bad! There is no more Dharma. Cultivators do not give proof to the fruit." Why don't you give proof to the fruit? The Dharma itself has no "right," "image," or "ending-age." If you cultivate the right Dharma, you live in the right Dharma age. If you do not see the faults or the world, but see all living beings as the Buddhas, then you yourself are Buddha. If you see all living beings as demons,then you are a demon.
If you attend to others' faults,
Your fault-finding itself is wrong:
Does the Buddha look at other people's faults? No. The Buddha see all living beings as Buddhas.
Others' faults I do not treat as wrong;
My faults are my own transgressions.
If he is wrong, do not follow his example. If he is wrong, do not join him and do not see his errors. Have great compassion for everyone. Be merciful. Say, "These living beings are indeed pitiful! I vow to take them all to Buddhahood."
Simply cast out the mind that finds fault,
Once cast away, troubles are gone;
When hate and love don't block the mind,
Stretch out both legs and lie down.
"I really love him!" you say, "I would gladly give up my life for him!" This is all just emotion. If you truly had the compassionate heart to love and protect all beings, you would say, "I vow to take him to Buddhahood. If he does not realize Buddhahood, I will not realize Buddhahood."
Today someone asked to formally become a Buddhist by taking refuge in the Triple Jewel, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. After taking refuge you must follow the rules. Those who believe in the Buddha should not be as they were before. If they are, others will say, "He is a Buddhist, but he still has his same old life-style. He hasn't change." Therefore I have made this vow: if those who have taken refuge with me do not realize Buddhahood, I will just wait here for them. You must realize Buddhahood before I do. I have no other method. If you take refuge, you should cultivate a little faster. Don't make me wait for you. I will wait a long time, but eventually I may dislike it and say, "I will wait no longer. I'm finished. This is it!"
"Stretch out both legs and lie down." This appeals to lazy people! However, this is not laziness or sleep. It represents freedom. Unchained, unshackled, unfettered, and free, you "leave upside-down dream-thinking far behind and attain ultimate Nirvana." Do not interpret the Six Patriarch's Sutra as saying that you should stretch out both legs and go to sleep.
If you hope and intend to transform others,
You must perfect expedient means;
To practice expedient means, one must know what Dharma should spoken to what living being. For that one must be unattached.
Don't cause them to have doubts, and then
Their self-nature will appear.
Do not cause living beings who hear this Dharma to disbelieve, and you will then be able to use the brilliant wisdom of your own nature.
The Buddhadharma is here in the world;
Enlightenment is not apart from the world.
The Buddhadharma includes both mundane and transcendental dharma. Buddhadharma is in the midst of the world and yet transcends the world. There is no awakening and no Prajna wisdom apart from the world.
The search for Bodhi apart from the world
Is like looking for a hare with horns.
Do you think you can find a rabbit with horns? There is no such thing. If you separate yourself from worldly things to seek the transcendental dharma elsewhere, that is like looking for a rabbit with horns.
Right views are transcendental:
Deviant views are all mundane.
Right views are enlightenment. To what is one enlightened? To the fact that sexual desire must be cut off-- that is transcendental dharma. Deviant views are mundane views. When you casually follow your desires, yielding to them instead of causing them to yield to you, you are holding to deviant and mundane views.
Deviant and right completely destroyed:
The Bodhi nature appears spontaneously.
When neither the deviant nor the right remain, the Bodhi nature is spontaneously manifest. You need not look for the Bodhi nature anywhere else.
This verse is the Sudden Teaching,
Also called the Great Dharma Boat.
This verse is the verse of Sudden enlightenment and the Dharma-door of realizing Buddhahood. It is called the Great Dharma Boat because it can ferry all living beings from the shore of birth and death across the current of affliction to the other shore of Nirvana.
Hear in confusion, pass through ages,
In an instant's space, enlightenment.
If you are deluded, many ages may pass before you become enlightened. If you are on the verge of enlightenment and can put down every one of your desires, you can suddenly become enlightened in the space of an instant. If you truly, truly understand, you can open enlightenment instantly.

Sutra:

The Master said further, "In the Ta Fan Temple I have just now spoken the Sudden Teaching, making the universal vow that all living beings of the Dharma--realm will see their nature and realize Buddhahood as they hear these words."
Then among Magistrate Wei and the officials, Taoists and laypeople who heard what the Master said, there were none who did not awaken. Together they made obeisance and exclaimed with delight, "Good indeed! Who would have thought that in Ling Nan a Buddha would appear in the world?"

Commentary:

After they heard the markless verse, they said, "Ah! This is really fine! Who would have imagined that in Ling Nan a Buddha would appear in the world?"

III. DOUBTS AND QUESTIONS

Sutra:

One day, Magistrate Wei arranged a great vegetarian feast on behalf of the Master.

Commentary:

The doubts referred to in the title of this chapter were those of Magistrate Wei, who did not understand how the Patriarch Bodhidharma would have told the Emperor Wu of Liang that the Emperor had no merit. Therefore the Magistrate questioned the Six Patriarch about it.
The Magistrate invited the Master to a great vegetarian feast. All the Bhikshus, laymen, Taoists, scholars, officials, and common people were invited to the meatless meal. Politicians like to eat meat, but because Magistrate Wei propagated the Buddhadharma, he invited them all to a vegetarian meal.
"Great" means that many people attended. In China, the Thousand Monk Vegetarian Feast occurs when a thousand Bhikshus are invited to have a meal. Among a thousand monks, there is sure to be one Arhat, so making offerings to a thousand Bhikshus is making offerings to one Arhat. Which one is the Arhat? No one knows. If you knew, you would just make offerings to the Arhat and not to the thousand Bhikshus. This great feast, however, was an offering to not just thousand Bhikshus; I believe it was to ten thousand.
The banquet was held on behalf of the Six Patriarch. As one who had left home, the Master himself could not invite people to lunch. Laymen make offerings to those who have left home; those who have left home do not make offerings to laymen. Recently, I said to a visitor from Hong Kong, "Remember, lay people make offerings to the Bodhimanda, protect and support the Triple Jewel. Do not be supported by the Triple Jewel."
She replied, "I have never in my life heard a Good Knowing Advisor speak such honest words to me! This certainly has changed me. When I return, I will be different from what I was before."Magistrate Wei was the Sixth Patriarch's disciple, and he wished to cause everyone to recognize and believe in his master. He invited them to eat vegetarian food, because it is said:

If you want to lead them
to the Buddha's wisdom,
First you ought to give them
something good to eat!

In fact, one definition of the word "people" goes:
People: when they eat, they're happy.
If you feed them well, they can't forget it. "Ah!" they say, "I've got to go listen to some more Sutra lectures." They come time after time to get what they want--not Dharma, but good food. They eat and eat and soon, when they hear the Dharma, they say, "The Dharma Tastes even better than these vegetables." And then they don't run away.
Magistrate Wei understood human nature. He arranged this feast on behalf of his Master. He did not do it for himself, saying, "Look at me, making great offerings to the Triple Jewel!" He was not seeking notoriety. He probably used the technique used at today's $500-a-plate fund-raising dinners. "We are going to build Nan Hua Temple," he probably said, "You should donate five thousand dollars, or perhaps fifty thousand dollars.
Because the assembly was held for the purpose of building a temple, the Magistrate asked the Master about the merit and virtue of Emperor Wu, the great Liang dynasty Emperor who built many temples and gave sanction to many monks who left home.

Sutra:

After the meal, the Magistrate asked the Master to take his seat. Together with officials, scholars, and the assembly, he bowed reverently and asked, "Your disciple has heard the High Master explain the Dharma. It is truly inconceivable. I now have a few doubts and hope you will be compassionate and resolve them for me."
The Master said, "If you have any doubts, please ask me and I will explain."
The Honorable Wei said, "Is not what the Master speaks the same as the doctrine of Bodhidharma?"
The Master replied, "It is."
The Magistrate asked, "Your disciple has heard that when Bodhidharma first instructed the Emperor Wu of Liang, the Emperor asked him, 'All my life I have built temples, given sanction to the Sangha, practiced giving, and arranged vegetarian feast. What merit and virtue have I gained?'"
"Bodhidharma said, 'There was actually no merit and virtue.'"
"I, your disciple, have not yet understood this principle and hope that the High Master will explain it."

Commentary:

Magistrate Wei represented the entire assembly in requesting the Dharma. He was extremely respectful, stern, and upright in his bearing. He didn't dare laugh or cry. The Magistrate had some small doubts; not big problems. He asked the Master to bestow great compassion on him. "Please resolve my little problem, because there are a few things I simply do not understand."
"Honorable" is a term of great respect. The Magistrate was called "honorable" because he was a high-ranking official. When my disciples go to Taiwan to take the precepts, they should call the old cultivators, the Bhikshus, "Honorable." "Honor" them once and they will be delighted. If you do not "Honor" them, they will say, "This newly-precepted one is extremely disrespectful!"
The magistrate asked, "Don't you explain the same principle as Bodhidharma?"
The Sixth Patriarch said, "Yes, I do. It is the mind-to-mind seal transmitted by Bodhidharma, the direct pointing to the mind to see the nature and realize Buddhahood."
The Magistrate said, "I have heard that when Bodhidharma went to Nan Ching to convert the Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty, the Emperor told him, 'I have built many temples.'"
The Emperor Wu of Liang spent his entire life building temples. He allowed many Bhikshus to leave home and he made offerings of food and shelter to them. He would bow to anyone who left home. Wasn't this good? He gave the wealth of his country to the poor and arranged many vegetarian feasts.
"What merit and virtue have I gained?" he asked. Emperor We had to be number one in everything. Therefore, when he met Patriarch Bodhidharma, he did not seek the Dharma, he sought Bodhidharma's praise instead. He wanted Bodhidharma to give him a "high hat." He was afraid that Bodhidharma might not know of his merit and so he introduced himself, saying, "Look at me. I have built hundreds of temples to house thousands of monks, all of whom left home under my official sanction. What kind of merit have I gained?" What he meant was, "Look at me! I am an Emperor unlike all others! Everything I do is good and meritorious." He didn't seek the Dharma to end birth and death, the wanted to put himself on display instead.
This is like a certain Dharma Protector who says, "Do you know me? I am the greatest, strongest Dharma Protector. I give all my money to the Triple Jewel." In fact, the money he used to play around with women is several thousand times greater than the money he gives to the Triple Jewel. Isn't this perverse? he never speaks about the money he squanders all over heaven and earth, but when he gives a dollar to the Temple, he says, "I gave a dollar to the Temple! Do you know that?" He is certainly the Emperor Wu's disciple. With his merit and virtue he too can be an emperor someday.
Hearing the Emperor brag about "me, myself, and I," boasting and advertising his merit and in general exalting himself, Bodhidharma thought, "How can a sage go around backslapping? How can I agree with him?"
Ordinary people would have said to the Emperor, "Oh yes! Yes! Your merit is indeed great. No one in the world can match it!" Bodhidharma was a Patriarch. He could not possibly have indulged in such behavior, and so he said, "No merit! Totally without merit!"

Sutra:

The Master said, "There actually was no merit and virtue. Do not doubt the words of a sage. Emperor Wu of Liang's mind was wrong; he did not know the right Dharma. Building temples and giving sanction to the sangha, practicing giving and arranging vegetarian feasts is called 'seeking blessings.' Do not mistake blessings for merit and virtue. Merit and virtue are in the Dharma body, not in the cultivation of blessings."
The Master said further, "Seeing your own nature is merit, and equanimity virtue. To be unobstructed in every thought, constantly seeing the true, real, wonderful function of your original nature is called merit and virtue."

Commentary:

The Sixth Patriarch replied, "Do not doubt the sage's words. There really was no merit and virtue. Emperor We was seeking fame; he was not seeking the orthodox Dharma."
The Great Master said, "Merit and virtue are in the Dharma body, not in cultivating blessings." What is merit then? Seeing your brilliant, wonderful, original nature is merit. With merit, you can see your own nature.
What is merit? At first, it is difficult to sit in Dhyana meditation, but after a while it becomes natural. When you begin to sit, your legs and back hurt, but after a while you defeat your legs and they no longer hurt. When your legs do not hurt, you have merit. If your legs hurt, you have no merit.
"Seeing your own nature is merit." See your original face. You ask, "What does my original face look like?" You must find out for yourself. I cannot describe it to you, and even if I did, you wouldn't know because your knowledge would have come from the outside. Enlighten yourself to your own nature. "Ah," you will say, "My original face look just likes this!"
Then you must have your vision of the self-nature certified by a Good Knowing Advisor. You cannot set yourself up as king and said, "I am the Emperor. I am a Bodhisattva!" like the hippie who had poisoned himself with drugs to the point that he claimed to be a Bodhisattva, when he actually was nothing but a demon.
"Equanimity is virtue." Without selfishness, everything is equal. There is no prejudice or partiality. If you are fair, just, and open-minded, you have virtue.
"To be unobstructed in every thought," If you are obstructed, your thoughts flow here, stop there, and become attached. Obstruction means attachment. If you are not obstructed, you can always see your original nature. As the Sixth Patriarch said when he was enlightened, "How surprising that the self-nature is originally pure in itself! How surprising that the self-nature is originally unmoving! How surprising that the self-nature is originally not produced or destroyed! How surprising that the self-nature so inconceivable!"
This is to "constantly see the true, real, wonderful function of your original nature is called merit and virtue." If you do not seek within yourself, but give sanction to Bhikshus, build temples, and give to the poor instead, you accumulate blessings. Blessings, however, are not merit and virtue. You should perfect your own merit and virtue just as the Buddhas have done.

Sutra:

"Inner humility is merit and the outer practice of reverence is virtue. Your self-nature establishing the ten thousand dharmas is merit and the mind-substance separate from thought is virtue. Not being separate from the self-nature is merit, and the correct use of the undefiled (self-nature) is virtue. If you seek the merit and virtue of the Dharma body, simply act according to these principles, for this is true merit and virtue."

Commentary:

Your should not be arrogant. In all situations, you should be polite. Do not say, "Look at me! I know more Buddhadharma than you." If you show off like this, you are being proud, not humble, and you have no merit. When you speak to people , you should be easy and polite, not like a wooden board which smashes their heads with a single sentence. You don't have to hit people, all you have to do is say one sentence and you split their heads open, which is a fiercer thing than using an iron bar. But if you are humble, you are never impolite.
Outwardly, you see everyone as better than you. Don't be self-satisfied.
Arrogance causes harm.
Humility brings benefit.
If you fill your cup with tea until it overflows and then keep pouring, you are being wasteful. Do not be "full of self." If you are polite, you will gain benefit. Do not say, "I am the greatest. I am number one. I am so intelligent that I understood long age things which you still do not know!" In Buddhism you should not fear that you will not understand. Fear only that you will not practice. Whether or not you understand is not so important, but if you do not practice, you are useless.
The mind-substance should be separate from false thought, but not separate from proper thought. That is virtue. Turn the light around and reverse the illumination to see your self-nature, which constantly gives rise to Prajna. This is merit. In unimpeded, limitless transformation, the correct use of the self-nature enables you to do whatever you wish while never doing unclean things.
If you are seeking the Dharma body you should act in accord with these principles, because it is be means of such merit and virtue that the Dharma body is realized.

Sutra:

"Those who cultivate merit and virtue in their thoughts do not slight others, but always respect them. Those who slight others and do not cut off the 'me and mine' are without merit. The vain and unreal self-nature is without virtue, because of the 'me and mine,' because of the greatness of the 'self,' and because of the constant slighting of others."

Commentary:

You should not slight people, animals, or any living beings. For example, whenever Sadaparibhuta Bodhisattva met someone, he immediately bowed and said, "I dare not slight you because you are going to be a Buddha." Sadaparibhuta Bodhisattva, who was a pervious incarnation of Shakyamuni Buddha, realized Buddhahood because of his practice of universal respect while walking the Bodhisattva path.
"Those who slight others and do not cut off the 'me and mine' are without merit." You have no merit if, whenever you meet someone, you immediately become jealous, terrified that they will be better than you are or more intelligent or will surpass you in some other respect. Your jealousy causes you to belittle them. You see yourself as great. "See how big I am?" you say, "No one can compare with me. In the present age there is no emperor, but if there were, it would certainly be me. None of you would have a share. Why? Because I am more intelligent than all of you. I can dominate you, but you can't dominate me." "I," "myself," "me and mine" are not cut off and not put down. There is no room for merit, because you are too full of self.
You do not really cultivate, and so your self-nature is unreal. You are not basically genuine, you do not believe in yourself and you do not know whether you are true or false. I did not tell you to drink or smoke. Why are you drinking and smoking? I did not tell you to go gambling. Why did you go? You don't know why you do these mix-up things. The self-nature in this way is "vain and unreal." This happens because you have no virtue and you see yourself as too big. "Look at me!" you said, "I am a Buddha!" This is like a certain person who said, "This Dharma Master is enlightened and I am just like him!" He did not say that he himself was enlightened. He said that the Dharma Master was enlightened and that the two of them were just alike. He might as well have introduced himself by saying, "I am enlightened." This is "me, myself, and I" too big. There is no merit here.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, continuity of thought is merit, and the mind practicing equality and directness is virtue. Self-cultivation of one's nature is merit, and self-cultivation of the body is virtue."

Commentary:

In thought after thought, without interruption, every thought should be right. In thought after thought, without stopping, every thought should be cultivation. This is merit. At first it is forced, but after a time it becomes natural, and the naturalness is merit.
Always be even-mind and impartial, direct and without deceit. That is virtue.
If you have not seen your nature, you must cultivate it. How do you cultivate it? By not giving rise to affliction. When someone hits you, think of it as if you had urn into a wall. When someone scolds you, pretend that they are singing a song, or speaking a foreign language. "Oh, he is not scolding me. He's speaking Japanese: 'Chi, chi, cha, cha,' or is it Spanish?" If you think of it that way, there is not trouble at all.
If someone tries to spit at heaven, the spit just falls right back into his face. If someone scolds you, but you take no notice, it is just as if he were scolding himself. When hit, you can think, "I have run into a wall. It certainly hurts." Can you deny that it is your own karmic retribution returning to you? If you bump your head in the dark, do you hit the wall with your fist? If you do, your fist will hurt and there will be even more pain. Pay no attention: then nothing will have happened. Maitreya Bodhisattva said,
The Old Fool wears second-hand clothes
And fills his belly with tasteless food,
Mends holes to make a cover against
The cold, and thus the myriad affairs of life,
According to what comes, are done.
Scolded, the Old Fool merely says, "Fine."
Struck, the Old Fool falls down to sleep.
"Spit on my face, I just let it dry;
I save strength and energy and
Give you no affliction." Paramita is
His style; he gains the jewel within
The wonderful. Know this news and then
What worry is there of not perfecting
the Way?
This is wonderful, but not everyone can do it. The jewel within the wonderful is not easy to obtain. Cultivation of the nature is simply not getting angry.
How does one cultivate the body? Do not do bad things. Have no lust, hatred, or delusion. If you do not kill, steal, or lust, you cultivate the body. This is virtue.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, merit and virtue should be seen within one's own nature, not sought through giving and making offerings. That is the different between blessings and merit and virtue. Emperor Wu did not know the true principle. Our Patriarch was not in error."

Commentary:

You cannot not say, "I make offerings to the Triple Jewel. I have merit." It is not merit, just blessings. Therefore blessings and merit and virtue are different. If you perform acts of blessing, you will receive the karmic retribution of blessing in future lives. But you obtain the advantages of merit and virtue now, in this life.
Bodhidharma wanted to take the Emperor across, but the Emperor's ego was too big. Therefore, in order to break the Emperor's attachment, Bodhidharma said that he had no merit and virtue. The Emperor was most displeased and from then on he ignored Bodhidharma. No matter what dharma Bodhidharma spoke, he wouldn't listen. "Why should I listen to you?" he said. He would not respond to Bodhidharma's compassionate efforts to save him and so Bodhidharma just went away. After a time, the Emperor died of starvation. Think it over: How could one with merit and virtue starve to death? He died of starvation because he had no merit and virtue. Bodhidharma had wanted to wake him up so that he would not have to die that way. What a pity that the Emperor's view of himself was so big that Bodhidharma couldn't help him.

Sutra:

The Magistrate asked further, "Your disciple has often seen the Sangha and laity reciting 'Amitabha Buddha,' vowing to be reborn in the West. Will the High Master please tell me if they will obtain rebirth there, and so dispel my doubts?"

Commentary:

The Magistrate said, "The clergy and laymen recite the name of Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of limitless light. They all vow to be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.1 High Master, will they actually be born there?"
The Magistrate himself understood the principle, but he knew that others present in the assembly did not understand and so he asked the Sixth Patriarch for an explanation. At that time, the reciters of the Buddha's name slandered the Ch'an School :2 "Ch'an School people eat their fill, sit down, shut their eye and go to sleep! What kind of work is that? Lazy work! They don't compare with those who recite the Buddha's name. Recitation is the best Dharma-door."
The Ch'an School fired back: "You recite the name of Amitabha Buddha to gain rebirth in the West. In the past, before Amitabha Buddha, what Buddha's name did you recite?"
And so they fought, saying, "You're wrong! You're wrong!" until, finally, nobody knew who was right.

Sutra:

The Master said, "Magistrate, listen well. Hui Neng will explain it for you. When the World Honored One was in Shravasti City, he spoke of being led to rebirth in the West. The Sutra text clearly states, 'It is not far from here.' If we discuss its appearance, it is 108,000 miles away, but in immediate terms, it is just beyond the ten evils and eight deviations within us. It is explained as far distant for those of inferior roots and as nearby for those of superior wisdom."
Commentary:

Shravasti is a city in India. Translated, it means "abundance and virtue." In Shravasti, the five desires were abundant: for fame, wealth, sex, food and sleep. The people of Shravasti had the virtue of much learning and liberation: they had studied a great deal and were not attached.
In this city of abundance and virtue, the Buddha spoke of being led to rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. The Land of Ultimate Bliss appears to be 108,000 away, but if you discuss it in immediate terms, it is just beyond the ten evils and the eight deviations within us. Actually, The Amitabha Sutra says that the Western Paradise is 10,000,000,000 lands away, but the Great Master said 108,000 miles because he wanted to counter the prejudices of those in the assembly. In terms of its appearance, the Western Land far away, but in terms of our own nature, it is just beyond the ten evils and the eight deviations.
Of the ten evils, three are committed with the body: 1) killing, 2) stealing, 3) sexual misconduct. Three are committed with the mind: 4) greed, 5) hatred, 6) delusion (or wrong views). Four are committed with the mouth, a most dirty thing: 7) foul language (talking about the affairs of men and women), 8) lying, 9) harsh speech, 10) slander.
The eight deviations are the opposite of the Eight-Fold Path. Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Eight-Fold Path of 1) right views, 2)right thought, 3) right speech, 4) right action, 5) right livelihood, 6) right vigor, 7) right recollection, 8) right concentration. The eight deviations, then, would consist of deviant views, deviant thought, deviant speech, deviant action, deviant livelihood, deviant vigor, deviant recollection, deviant concentration.
The Buddha spoke of the Western Paradise as distant to those of common intelligence. To those of superior intelligence he spoke of the Western Paradise as being on the other side of the ten evils and the eight deviations-- within their own self-nature.

Sutra:

"There are two kinds of people, not two kinds of Dharma. Enlightenment and confusion differ, and seeing can be quick or slow. The deluded person recites the Buddha's name, seeking rebirth there, while the enlightened person purifies his own mind. Therefore the Buddha said, 'As the mind is purified, the Buddhaland is purified.'"

Commentary:

The two kinds of people are not white people and yellow people, but wise people and deluded ones. There is only one Dharma; deluded or wise, you cultivate the same Dharma.
Confused people recite the Buddha's name and expect to be reborn in the Western Paradise, while the wise recite the Buddha's name in order to purify their own minds. The pure is the Western Paradise. If you understand that, then it is not 10,000,000,000 lands away; it is right here. If you don't understand, you don't know how many Buddhalands beyond even that number it is. It is said,
Confused, a thousand books are few;
Enlightened, one word is too much.
When confused, you may study this Sutra, study that Sutra, investigate back and forth and still not understand. When truly awake, there is no need to study; one word is too much. But you must truly understand. Do not pretend and say, "I don't have to recite the Buddha's name." That is just laziness. Once a man who was well-read said to me, "I have read many books, and now I find that they are all wrong, so I no longer read books." He meant that he had realized Buddhahood and he longer needed anything. This is extremely stupid behavior. Understanding nothing, he faked understanding. You may try to brew tea in cold water, forcing it to steep, but you will never get tea. How can you brew tea in cold water? There are many strange people in the world--an uncountable number.

Sutra:

"Magistrate, if the person of the East merely purifies his mind, he is without offense. Even though one may be of the West, if his mind is impure he is at fault. The person of the East commits offenses and recites the Buddha's name, seeking rebirth in the West. When the person of the West commits offenses and recites the Buddha's name, in what country does he seek rebirth?"

Commentary :

Whether you are in the East or West, you must not commit offenses. If you do, you won't be reborn in any direction except that of the hells, animals, or hungry ghosts.
If you recite the Buddha's name and hope to be reborn in the Western Paradise, you must also cultivate goodness. If you cultivate Dhyana meditation, you must also cultivate good deeds. Unless you nurture merit and virtue, you cannot become accomplished in your cultivation.
"Magistrate, if the person of the East merely purifies his mind, he is without offense." The pure mind has no confusion, no selfishness, and no profit-seeking. It is without jealousy, obstruction, greed, hatred and delusion. Purify your mind and get rid of all deviant thought. Then you will be without offense.
"Even though one may be of the West, if his mind is impure, he is at fault." This is an analogy. The Sixth Patriarch is not saying that Western people have impure minds, because those of the Western Paradise completely different people of this world. They do not need to purify their minds, since their minds are pure to begin with. They aren't greedy, hateful, or stupid and the three evil paths do not exist for them. Do not use This passage to try to prove that the Sixth Patriarch said people of the West have impure minds. The people of the West have neither purity nor impurity.
"The person of the East commits offenses and recites the Buddha's name to be reborn in the West. When the people of the West commits offenses and recites the Buddha's name, in what country does he seek rebirth?" This is another analogy. Those of the West never commit offenses. The Sixth Patriarch wanted to break attachments and so he asked, "If people of the East recite in order to be born in the West, then when people of the West recite, where do they seek rebirth?" If you wish to be reborn in the West, you must first have no offenses. If you have offenses, you will go nowhere but to hell.
If those of the East are reborn in the West, where are those of the West reborn? Is there some other "para"-paradise for them? Don't be so attached.

Sutra:

"Common, deluded people do not understand their self-nature and do not know that the Pure Land is within themselves. Therefore they make vows for the East and vows for the West. To enlightened people, all places are the same. As the Buddha said, 'In whatever place one dwells, there is constant peace and happiness.'"
"Magistrate, if the mind-ground is only without unwholesomeness, the West if not far from here. If one harbors unwholesome thoughts, one may recite the Buddha's name, but it will be difficult to attain that rebirth."
"Good Knowing Advisors, I now exhort you all to get rid of the ten evils first and you will have walked one hundred thousand miles. Next get rid of the eight deviations and you will have gone eight thousand miles. If in every thought you see your own nature and always practice impartiality and straightforwardness, you will arrive in a finger-snap and see Amitabha."
"Magistrate, merely practice the ten wholesome acts; then what need will there be for you to vow to be reborn there? But if you do not rid the mind of the ten evils, what Buddha will come to welcome you?"

Commentary:

Deluded people do not know how to discipline their self-nature. They do not know that purification of their own mind is the Pure Land. Sometimes they vow to be reborn in the East, sometimes in the West. Those who are enlightened know that all places are the same. For them there is no north, east, south, or west. They are comfortable everywhere, because they make no discriminations. But if you continually think evil thoughts and do evil things, you will never arrive in the West.
"Magistrate, merely practice the ten wholesome acts; then what need will there be for you to vow to be reborn there." There are people who do not dare to practice the ten good deeds.1 They say, "If I do the ten good deeds, demonic obstacles may arise!" But they are not afraid of doing evil. They do not fear that demonic obstacles will arise when they do evil because in doing evil, they are demons themselves. People can certainly be mixed-up. They aren't afraid of doing evil, but fear doing good.
"But if you do not rid the mind of the ten evils, what Buddha will come to welcome you?" If all your life everything you do is evil and confused, if every pore from head to foot carries the monstrous karma of offensive acts, how can you be born in the West? Which Buddha will come to welcome you? If you do evil, you may seek it, but you will never be born there, because you are bound by your offensive acts. Although it is said, "You may go to rebirth carrying your offenses," that is just a manner of speaking. You still must purify your own mind before you may go. What Buddha is going to welcome a criminal?

Sutra:

"If you become enlightened to the sudden dharma of the unproduced, you will see the West in an instant. Unenlightened, you may recite the Buddha's name seeking rebirth, but since the road is so long, how can you traverse it?"
"Hui Neng will move the West here in the space of an instant so that you may see it right before your eyes. Do you wish to see it?"
The entire assembly bowed and said, "If we could see it here, what need would there be to vow to be reborn there? Please, High Master, be compassionate and make the West appear so that we might see it."

Commentary:

The assembly suddenly got greedy. They bowed and said, "If we can see it here, then we don't need to vow to be reborn in the West! We all want you to be compassionate and let us see the Western Paradise."
During the next lecture the Western Paradise will be moved to the Buddhist Lecture Hall, but you will have to wait until then.

Sutra:

The Master said, "Great assembly, the worldly person's own physical body is the city, and the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body are the gates. Outside there are five gates and inside there is the gate of the mind. The mind is the "ground" and one's nature is the "king." The "king" dwells on the mind "ground." When the nature is present, the king is present, but when the nature is absent, there is no king. When the nature is present, the body and mind remain, but when the nature is absent, the body and mind are destroyed. The Buddha is made within the self-nature. Do not seek outside the body. Confused, the self-nature is a living being; enlightened, it is a Buddha."

Commentary:

The Sixth Patriarch said that he would move the Western Paradise to the assembly, and I agreed to move it to the Buddhist Lecture Hall. But if I were to move it, it would be a lot of work and trouble. So now we shall just change our own bodies into the Western Paradise instead.
"Good Knowing Advisors, the worldly person's own physical body is the city..." Your very own body is the Western Paradise. When your mind is pure, the Buddhaland is pure. The pure Buddhaland is bliss. In the pure mind there are no defiled dharmas, for the dharmas are purified when one is no longer turned by their defilement.
"Outside there are five gates and inside there is the gate of mind." The mind is called a "gate" because sometimes it thinks and sometimes it doesn't. "The mind is the 'ground' and the nature is the 'king.'" The mind itself is the fine golden sand of the Western Paradise and the nature is Amitabha Buddha. "The 'king' dwells on the 'mind-ground.'" Amitabha, your nature dwells within own mind. "When the nature is present the 'king' is present, but when the nature is absent, there is no 'king.'" If you know that your own nature is constantly present, "such, such, unmoving," finally, completely, constantly bright, then the king is present. If you understand the mind and see the nature, Amitabha Buddha manifests.
"The Buddha is made within the self-nature." The Buddha is to be cultivated within your self-nature. Your mind is the Buddha. Your nature is the Buddha. If you work on your self-nature,you can realize Buddha-hood. The self-nature and the Buddha-nature are not two, but one. Therefore, if you wish to be a Buddha, you must apply effort to realize your self-nature by the purification of your mind and will, your heart and nature.
Break your bad habits and correct your faults. If you do not get rid of the ten evils, the eight deviations, and your own imperfections, you will never become a Buddha. Do not look outside!
"Confused, the self-nature is a living being." If, in confusion, you lose your self-nature, or perhaps forget about it, you are just a living being. "Enlightened, the self-nature is a Buddha." If you wake up and understand that bad dharmas should never be practiced and all good dharmas must be practiced, then you cut off bad and practice good. Just that is the Buddha.

Sutra:

" 'Kindness and compassion' are Avalokiteshvara1 and 'sympathetic joy and giving' are Mahasthamaprapta. 'Purification' is Shakyamuni, and 'equanimity and directness' are Amitabha. 'Others and self' are Mount Sumeru and 'deviant thoughts' are ocean water. 'Afflictions' are the waves. 'Cruelty' is an evil dragon. 'Empty falseness' is ghosts and spirits. 'Defilement' is fish and turtles, 'greed and hatred' are hell, and 'delusion' is animals.

Commentary:

" 'Kindness and compassion' are Avalokiteshvara..." Do you wish to be like Kuan Yin Bodhisattva? It's easy! Practice the compassionate way, practice the compassionate dharma and be compassionate toward all living beings. One of my disciples once said to me, "Your compassion is something new. I never understood before what compassion was." Not only that disciple, who is American, but many, many other Westerners are ignorant about compassion. They are not taught compassion and so they are unfamiliar with it. It is said, "Even when right in front of you, you do not recognize Avalokiteshvara." Because you do not understand compassion, you do not know Avalokiteshvara. If you wish to know this Bodhisattva and be like him, then practice the compassionate dharma. With kindness, make people happy, and with compassion, relieve their sufferings. This is genuine happiness, not like worldly pleasures such as gambling, horse-racing, the movies, or dancing. Worldly pleasures are just a form of suffering. If you can lead others to true understanding and awakening,then you give them true happiness. To put an end to confusion, to cut off ignorance and manifest the Dharma nature, that is the true happiness.
" 'Sympathetic joy and giving' are Mahasthamaprapta." To delight in giving is just Mahashtamaprapta. Kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and giving are the four unlimited thoughts of the Buddha. If you can give with joy, you are just like Mahashtamaprapta Bodhisattva, who practices great giving and great sympathetic joy.
" 'Purification' is Shakyamuni..." Your own purification of the mind and will and heart, your own return to the original source, to your originally wonderful, bright mind, perfectly bright enlightened Tathagata store--all of that is just Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni also means "able to be humane."
" 'Equanimity and directness' are Amitabha..." If you can be perfectly impartial, without the slightest prejudice, compassionate and just towards all, this is just the behavior of Amitabha. This is an analogy. Do not say, "Equanimity and direction are Amitabha!" In listening to Sutras and hearing Dharma, avoid giving rise to such attachments. To say, "I heard the Dharma Master say that equanimity and directness are Amitabha," is to slight Amitabha. If you are fair-minded, that is to the conduct of Amitabha Buddha.
"But the Six Patriarch said this!" you say. "Can't we believe him?"
Did he really say that? Why didn't I hear him?
" 'Others and self' are Mount Sumeru." This phrase is important. Nothing is higher than Mount Sumeru. You evaluate yourself and others. You have your status and they have theirs. Sumeru is a Sanskrit word which means " Wonderfully high." It is wonderful because no one knows just how high it is. Arrogance and pride, notions of self and other, are like Mount Sumeru.
The analogies are to teach you to see Amitabha Buddha within your own self-nature and to recognize the imperfections there as well.
"...and 'deviant thoughts' are the ocean water." Are you afflicted? Your deviant thoughts are the salty ocean water and your afflictions are the waves. Small waves do not cause much damage, but big waves may rise tens of feet high and sink ships. How many ships lie on the bottom of the sea? No one knows. The ships were invited as guests of the dragon king and escorted to the sea's bottom by the big waves. Just so, big afflictions smother the brilliant wisdom of your self-nature. Take care not to have affliction-waves.
" 'Empty falseness' is ghosts and spirits. You say, "I don't believe in ghosts and spirits. If they exist, why have I never seen one?" If you try to catch a ghost, you cannot grab him. You may see what appears to be a physical shape, but when you reach out to grab it --he remains right where he was. He is just a shadow, empty and false. He is not actually there.
I will tell you about ghosts and spirits: ghosts are black, because they belong to the yin. Spirits are white, because they belong to the yang. You may see them, but you cannot catch them. They are empty and false.
" 'Defilement' is fish and turtles." Weariness of sense objects is represented by fish and turtles.
I have explained Sutras for you for a long time and I have never told you that greed and hatred are hell. It is not that greed and hatred are hell, but thoughts of greed and hatred will certainly send you to hell. You plant the seeds of hell now with thoughts of greed and hatred and in the future you will descend into the hells.
" 'Delusion' is animals." When I explain Sutras I sometime say, "That person is as stupid as a pig." Some people say, "Pigs are intelligent. They eat and sleep and they don't do any work." These people think that not doing anything is intelligent. Such people would like to be pigs. As soon as they eat they go to sleep and when they wake up they eat again. When the time comes, they are slaughtered for food.
Animals are stupid and yet, as meaningless as their lives are, they still wish to live. When you kill a pig, he screams, "I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" He begs for his life, but you don't understand his language. What a pity. If you understood, you might be merciful and spare him.

Sutra:

"Good Knowing Advisors, always practice the ten good practices and the heavens can easily be reached. Get rid of others and self, and Mount Sumeru topples. Do away with deviant thought, and the ocean waters dry up. Without defilements, the waves cease. End cruelty, and there are no fish and dragons. The Tathagata of the enlightened nature is on your own mind-ground, emitting a great bright light which outwardly illuminates and purifies the six gates and breaks through the six desire-heavens. Inwardly, it illuminates the self-nature and casts out the three poisons. The hells and all such offenses are destroyed at once. Inwardly and outwardly there is bright penetration. This is no different from the West. But if you do not cultivate, how can you go there?"

Commentary:

Previously, I spoke about the small waves which represent the subtle thought process which takes place in the mind. You are unaware of these thought-waves, but they are present nonetheless. The big waves represent big afflictions and the small waves the extremely subtle ignorance within your mind which runs in a current like waves on water. Are you ignorant or not? With ignorance comes greed, hatred, and stupidity. You are greed because ignorance tyrannized you. It says, " I want that thing. Go get it for me!" and the greed mind goes and get it. Beauty and wealth --if he doesn't get them, the flies into a rage, like one of my disciples who says, "I must have my way! Why isn't everything just the way I want it!" Ignorance, anger, waves... Small waves are not important, but big waves may get you an invitation to the dragon's party.
Don't be cruel; don't hurt people; don't be a venomous dragon. If you end cruelty, the fish and turtles and dragons disappear.
Your enlightened nature is the Tathagata. When you give rise to the light of great wisdom, it outwardly illuminates and purifies the six gates, so that : the eye sees forms, but is not turned by them; the ear hears sounds, but is not turned by them; the nose smells scents, but is not turned by them; the tongue tastes, but is not turned by tastes; the body feels, but is not turned by feeling; and the mind perceives dharmas, but makes them disappear.
The bright light of wisdom breaks through the six desire-heavens: 1) The Heaven of the Four Kings, 2) the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, 3) the Suyama Heaven, 4) the Tushita Heaven, 5) the Nirmanarati Heaven, and 6) the Paranirmitavashavartin Heaven.
The causes, the seeds, of the six desire heavens are planted within your six organs. If you are fond of beauty, you may be reborn in a heaven of beautiful goddesses. Turned by sounds, you may be reborn in a heaven where you listen to music all day long, much finer music than what is made by your guitars and mandolins.
"The smells in this world are so nice," you say, "Certainly the smells in the heavens are even nicer," and so you are reborn in a heaven full of good smells. When your nose is not turned by smells, you smash that desire heaven, and so forth for the remaining five organs.
You ask, "When the desire heavens are destroyed, is the earth destroyed as well?" Empty space itself disappears, how much the more so the earth.
"But where will I live?"
You can live in emptiness, and you need not return. That is the very best way.
When you turn the light around and reverse the illumination, when you investigate and awaken to the Tathagata of the enlightened nature, then the three poisons are wiped away and the offenses of the hells are destroyed. At this moment you are enlightened and understand that the nature of offenses is fundamentally empty. But unless you destroy ignorance, your offenses are not removed.
"Inwardly and outwardly there is bright penetration. This is no different from the West." Inside and out, there is bright light. Inside and out, there are no obstacles. The three evil destinies and the three obstacles exist no longer, and their absence is the Western paradise. For this reason we do not need to move the Western Paradise to the Buddhist Lecture Hall, and we do not need to consult a travel agent for passports and visas. The Western Paradise is right here. "But if you do not cultivate, how can you go there?" Then it is very far away. It takes several days just to go to the moon. The Western Paradise is ten billion Buddhalands away, millions of times farther than the moon. Then how do you go there? You purify your mind.

Sutra:

On hearing this speech, the members of the great assembly clearly saw their own natures. They bowed together and exclaimed, "This is indeed good! May all living beings of the Dharma Realm who have heard this awaken at once and understand!"
The Master said, "Good Knowing Advisors, if you wish to cultivate, you may do so at home. You need not be in a monastery. If you live at home and practice, you are like the person of the East whose mind is good. If you dwell in a monastery but do not cultivate, you are like the person of the West whose mind is evil. Merely purify your mind; that is the 'West' of your self-nature."

Commentary:

"Fundamentally, our own bodies are the Western Paradise," the assembly exclaimed, "But we did not understand because we did not know how to use them." Those present in the assembly saw their nature: "Really good!" they exclaimed. "We have never before heard such wonderful Buddhadharma. Inconceivable! May all who hear it become enlightened immediately and certify to the fruit."
The Sixth Patriarch had made himself manifest in a layman's body in order to speak the Dharma. After his enlightenment, he did not leave home, but went to live with hunters for fifteen years instead. During that time he cultivated and worked hard. So he said that it is not necessary to be in a monastery to cultivate the Way.

Sutra:

The Honorable Wei asked further: "How should those at home cultivate? Please instruct us?"
The Master said, "I have composed a markless verse for the great assembly. Merely rely on it to cultivate and you will be as if always by my side. If you cut your hair and leave home, but do not cultivate, it will be of no benefit in pursuing the Way.
The verse runs:
The mind made straight, why toil following rules?
The practice sure, of what use is Dhyana meditation?
Filial deeds support the father and mother.
Right conduct is in harmony with those above and below.
Deference: the honored and the lowly in accord with each other.
Patience: no rumors of the evils of the crowd.
If drilling wood can spin smoke into fire,
A red-petalled lotus can surely spring from mud.
Good medicine is better to the taste.
Words hard against the ear must be good advice.
Correcting failings gives birth to wisdom.
Guarded errors expose a petty mind.
Persist daily in just, benevolent deeds,
Charity is not the means to attain the Way.
Search out Bodhi only in the mind.
Why toil outside in search of the profound?
Just as you hear these words, so practice:
Heaven then appears, right before your eyes.

Commentary:

The Way must be walked.
If you do not walk it,
How is it the Way?

Virtue must be cultivated.
If you do not cultivate it,
How is it virtue?

The straight mind is without greed, hatred and stupidity. Precepts are designed to protect you from these three poisons, but if your mind is straight, what function do the precepts serve? The straight mind has no waves, no ignorance, and does not need to toil at holding the precepts.
The straight mind is Ch'an. Ch'an is used to rid you of your faults. Someone says, "The Sutra says, 'Why toil at following rules?' so I won't hold the precepts." Is that person's mind straight or not? He doesn't care wether or not his mind is straight and his "conduct sure," he just cares about not having to follow any rules. If his mind is not straight, how can he not hold precepts? If he continues to be selfish, greedy, habit-ridden, envious, and obstructive, how can his mind be straight?
Your parents gave birth to you. You should repay their kindness by being filial and good to them.
The honored and the lowly, the master and the servant, should be courteous and polite to each other.
What is patience? Refusing to speak of the shortcomings of others. not slandering, not being jealous or obstructive: all that is patience. Do not say, "This man is evil. I saw him shoplifting!" The incident never occurred, but the rumour spreads. "He took the precepts and then went out drinking!" It never happened, but someone started talking...
Do not discuss people's bad points. Bring up their good points. The impatient person never speaks of the good, only of the bad. If you have no bad points, the impatient person will create them for you.
In China, about four thousand years ago, wood drills were used to make fire. Wood was drilled and drilled until fire flared up.
If wood can make fire and the mud can grow a red lotus, then it is not absolutely necessary to leave home in order to cultivate. If you cut off your desire while still at home, you can have success.
One who criticizes you is your Good Knowing Advisor. Just as "bitter medicine" cures your disease, the critic's words may be unpleasant, but they are sound advice. "Do not be lazy," says the teacher, "Do not go to sleep!" The student says, "All you ever do is watch over me!" Americans in particular respond that way, because they are so remarkably independent. They don't listen to anyone's advice. They want to be unsurpassed and supremely honored. "Right or wrong," they say, "I listen only to myself. I don't care what anybody says. I may turn into a senseless block of wood, but nonetheless I am going to stand on my own principles." I understand Americans. They don't like to hear words which are hard against the ear.
"Correcting failings gives rise to wisdom." If you do not change your faults, you are stupid. That need not be discussed is detail.
"Guarded errors expose a petty mind." If you indulgently cherish your problems and make excuses, saying, "No! You don't understand. There were extenuating circumstances. It wasn't that way at all! I had to do it, you see..." you become your own lawyer and argue your defense with flashy rhetoric. I have many such disciples. They think that I am stupid and that they can deceive me.
Do what you are supposed to do every day. Be just and benevolent, always benefitting others. But do not say, "I gave $100,000. I have Buddha-hood!' "Charity is not the means to attain the Way." You have to cultivate by searching out Bodhi only in the mind, not outside.
Although we have been discussing the Western Paradise, the verse refers to the Christian Heaven as well. Heaven is not just in heaven. Heaven is right before your eyes.

Sutra:

The Master continued, "Good Knowing Advisors, you in this assembly should cultivate according to this verse to see and make contact with your self-nature and to realize Buddha Way directly. The Dharma does not wait. The assembly may now disperse. I shall now return to Ts'ao Hsi. If you have questions, come quickly and ask."
At that time, Magistrate Wei, the officials, and the good men and faithful women of the assembly all attained understanding, faithfully accepted, honored the teaching and practiced it.

Commentary:

How did the people in the assembly attain understanding? Don't pay attention to them! You must find a way to understand for yourself and leave it at that.

1 Dharma Master Fa Hai was a "room entering disciple " of the Six Patriarch. That means that the Six Patriach had transmitted the wonderful mind-seal Dharma to him and he ws therefore privileged to enter the Partriarch's room.

1 One formally become a Buddhist only when one has received the three Refuges, transmitted in a traditional ceremony by a qualified member of the Sangha. They are : refuge in : 1) the Buddha, 2) the Dharma ( the teachings ), and 3) the Sangha (Buddhist monks and nuns of the past, present and future).

2 Bodhisattva is a Sanskrit word. Bodhi means "enlightenment" and sattva, "being." They do not enter Nirvana but choose instead to remain in the world and save living beings. Thus Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who enlighten other beings. "Diamond-treasury" refers to a division of Dharma-protectig Bodhisattvas.

1 The Real Mark denotes true reality, devoid of external appearances, attachments, and discriminations.

1 The T'ien T'ai School, systematized by the Great Master Chih-i (538-597) , is one of the great teaching school of Chinese Buddhism. It takes as its basic text the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutre, and divides the Buddha's teaching into five periods; each period is represented by an analogy to a milk product.
Period Milk Product
Avatamsaka (21 days) whole milk
Agama (12 years) coagulated milk
Vaipulya (8 years) curdled milk
Prajna-paramita (22 years) butter
Lotus Flower-Nirvana (8 days) clarified butter (ghee)

The original dharma of the Avatamsaka is like fresh milk. With each new teaching, it becomes
richer and purer, yet it is still the same basic substance--Dharma food.

1 The Mahayana or "great vehicle" teaching streese the salvation of all beings, since all beings possess the Buddha nature and may realize Buddhahood. It is called "great"' in comparison with the Hinayana or
"lesser vehicle", whose followers pursue personal salvation.

1 A Bhikshu is a Buddhist Monk.

2 Opened through cultivation, the Five Eyes are : 1) the Buddha Eye, 2) the Dharma Eye, 3) the Flesh Eye, 4) the Heavenly Eye, and 5) the wisdom Eye.

1 - i hsin yin hsin,refers to the mind -to- mind transmission of Dharma passed througy each generation from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha onwards.

2 Shurangama sutra - Leng Yen ching, from Roll I. T. 945.

1 "Great Vehicle Root Nature" refers to the strong karmic affinity of those who in past lives have cultivated the Gteat Vehicle and who, by their meritorious actions, have sent down " deep roots" that is, have estabilshed a firm foundation in the Buddhadharma, which enables them to successfully understand and practice it in the present.

1 - pai yang shih chieh

1 Stupas are reliquaries designed to hold the remains of Buddhas, Buddhist saints, and patriarchs.

1 The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, also called The Diamond Sutra. This Sutra, with the Venerable Master Hua's commentary is available in translation from IITBT of SABA.

1 Catur-maharajas, the four deva kings who dwell on each side of Mount Sumeru and ward off evil influences.
In the East, Dhrtarashtra, "the king who holds his country",in the south, Virudhaka, "deva of increase and growth", in the West Virupaksa, the "broad-eyed"or "ugly-eyed", and in the North Vaishravana, the king who is "greatly learned".

1 - ke liao.

2 Fields of blessings refer figurativelly to the meritorious deeds one does before the Triple Jewel (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha). Also, the robes worn by members of the Sangha are sewn in patches which resemble fields. By revering and making offerings to the Sangha, one "plants" seeds of merit and virtue in the place where they will certainly "ripen" and bear blessed fruit.

3 Root refer to one's capacity to hear, believe, understand, accept and maintain the Buddhadharma. People may be endowed with superior, ordinary or inferior roots.

1 "Transcendental wisdom." See Chapter II.

1 The results of bad deeds done in the past manifest as various kinds of hindrances which impede one's cultivation and detain one's enlightenment.

1 The highest leveo of sagehood in the Lesser Vehicle, as contrasted with the Great Vehicle Bodhisattva. "Arhat" has three meanings: "worthy of gifts," "slayer of the thieves of affliction," and "not to be reborn."

1 A jewel, a pearl, symbol of perfection and purity.

2 There are 88 categories of view-delusions, which arise when greed and love are produced with respect to externals, and there are 81 categories of thought-delusions, which arise when, confused about principles, one gives rise to discrimination.

3 The seventeenth Buddhist patriarch in China (1839-1959).

1 A wooden percussion instrument shaped like a fish, used in monasteries to accompany chanting and to give signals.

1 Refers to the discharge of energy through the six sense organs; hence, defilement, affliction; that which obstructs cultivation.

1 i. e., The Fifth Patriarch. The masters are often referred to honorifically by the place where they lived and taught.

1 What appears to be the "self" or "personality" may be broken down into five impersonal components called heaps: a)forms, b)feelings, c)perceptions, d)impulses, e)consciousness.

2 There are eighteen realms of sense, i. e. the six sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), the six objects of the sense organs (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, and mind objects [dharmsa]) plus the sonsciousnesses which arise between the organs and the objects (eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, ect.)

1 Thus accepting him into the Sangha.

1 There are five kinds of terms which the Great Master Hsuan Tsang of the T'ang Dynasty transliterated: a) the esoteric terms; b) terms with many meanings; c) terms for things which did not exist in China; d) the honorific terms; e) terms which should be used following the example of the Ancients.
1 The central mountain of every world system. Translated into Chinese as -Miao Kao, "wounderfully high."

1 Paradise, the pure land of Amitabha Buddha.

1 The Dharma doors are the doctrines, discourses, and wisdom of the Buddhas, the cultivation of which lead to enlightenment.

2 This term is used in the general sense for a great number.

1 It was Subhuti, the foremost of the Buddha's discilpes in understanding emptiness, that the Buddha addressed when he spoke The Diamond Sutra.

2 Every world system contains one sun, one moon, and one Mount Sumeru as well as four great continents. Jambudvipa is the continent located south of Mount Sumeru; it is the continent upon which we live.
After the Buddha 's Nirvana, the Dharma passes through the following historical periods:
1) The first 500 years: the "right Dharma age."
2) The following 1000 years: the "Dharma image age."
3) The following 1000 years: the "Dharma-ending age."

1 For further reference see A General Explanation of the Buddha speaks of Amitabha Sutra by Tripi taka Master Hua, The Buddhist Text Translation Society, San Fracisco. 1974.

2 The five Buddhist schools each take a different approach to cultivate. The five are: Ch'an, Secret, Vinaya, Teaching, and Pure Land. The Pure Land sect is associated with the recitation of the name of the Buddha Amitabha in order to obtain rebirth in the Western Paradise, the Pure Land of Amitabha according to the Teaching of the Amitabha Sutra.

1 i. e., the opposite of the ten evils.

1 Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, more well-known by the Chinese, "Kuan Shih Yin," "contemplator of the World's Sounds," is the Bodhisattva of great compassion. He stands to the left of Amitabha Buddha. Mahasthamaprapta, "The Bodhisattva Who Has Attained Great Might," stands on Amitabha Buddha's right. The three are known as the Three Sages of the Western Paradise.