Now if you arouse a great, heroic, powerful will, clearly see through buddha-nature, thoroughly examine all the teachings of differentiation within essential nature, so that they are as clear to you as something you see in the palm of your hand; and after that take up progressive transcendence, acquire the claws and fangs of the cave of the Dharma, and with unimpeded freedom liberate everyone, practicing the conduct of bodhisattvas lifetime after lifetime, generation after generation, never ever thinking of retreat, this is called the One Vehicle of Buddhahood. It is also called the True Great Vehicle, and also the Fundamental Vehicle, the Highest Vehicle, and the Vehicle of All Knowledge. This is called ultimate real true liberation; this is called a bodhisattva mahasattva.5 Is this not the work of a stalwart?
If you want to complete the true path, you must be thoroughgoing. Students nowadays call themselves wearers of the patch robe as soon as they enter Zen communities; following others in their activities, they gradually develop aspiration for enlightenment, but they don’t yet know the original intent of leaving home, do not study the practices and vows of bodhisattvas, do not look into the conduct of the ancients, do not believe in the multiple barriers of Buddhas and Masters. Covering their eyes with their hands, they blindly expound Zen and explain the Way, just hoping to open a big mouth some day to belittle others and enjoy life with an exalted reputation. Because of this, work on the Way is not done, and vows are not carried out, but they gradually gain fame and profit, putting on all manner of poses and appearances.
If you are genuine wayfarers, do not emulate this decadent custom. Get to know the strictures and difficulties of the road, the passes and the obstacles, and only then set out. Entering in directly, let go of your preexisting fixations and minimize your entanglements; make your footsteps light and your sense of the Way heavy. Don’t seek fame and gain, don’t mix in worldly thoughts. Your heart will become joyful, as if you were setting out on the road back home, like you were going into a mine of gold and jade, like you have become an emperor. Keep on this way thought to thought, and you can congeal a mass of wonder.
Right now, what is this? What is it that sees? What is it that hears? What is it that moves? What is it that sits? At all times, in all places, focus on your mind and see how it is. Without conceiving of being or nonbeing, without thinking of affirmation or negation, without discriminating, without rationalizing, just observe in this way. When the time comes it will appear of itself, without need of your intellectual discrimination. As soon as you conceive discrimination, you obscure original essential nature—then even if you labored forever, you couldn’t get it.
If thoughts are flying around, consider this story: “Does a dog have buddha-nature? No.” Bring it to mind directly, and don’t interpret it logically. Don’t interpret it as flavorless; don’t interpret it as nothing. If you conceive any logical understanding, you’ll never complete the work. But don’t develop an illogical mind either. Logic and no logic are after all random ideas. Just bring it up and look at it. It has nothing to do with interpretation; it is the real way of practice of the Buddhas. Continue moment to moment, whether speaking or silent, active or quiet, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—do not forget it! Or if you occasionally forget, don’t lose power.
This is like learning archery—it takes a long, long time to hit the bull’s-eye. Just develop the will to persevere; be careful not to flag and slack. If you give up this teaching, by what teaching can you attain liberation? And if you are not liberated, you cannot escape vicious cycles. And how do the pains and troubles of vicious circles compare to the toils and pains of Zen study? How does the fun of false thinking compare to the delight of seeing essential nature? Even the temporal glory of a human king is still considered noble; how much more a king of the supreme Dharma!
Once you’ve developed a great heart and do not regress moment to moment, the achievement becomes perceptible. Those who detach from birth and death but do not clarify the Way are like birds who want to fly without wings, like trees that want to flourish without roots. Please think about this.
Zen Master Dahui said,
If you do not retreat from your initial inspiration moment to moment, taking your consciousness from its focus on worldly troubles and returning it to insight, then even if you do not break through in this lifetime, still when you’re facing death you won’t be dragged down by bad habits into bad states. In the next life you’ll surely be able to actually experience insight, according to the power of your vows in this life. This is a certain fact, not to be doubted.
How much more if your investigation is unremitting—the great Dharma will become manifest, like pointing to the palm of your hand.
Just let go of gain and loss and affirmation and negation all at once, and examine directly right where you are: when sitting, examine while sitting; when active, examine while active; when lying down, examine while lying down; when eating, examine while eating; when speaking, examine while speaking; when doing all tasks, examine while doing all tasks.
Suppose a precious jewel you had hidden away at home got lost one day and you didn’t know where it was. When you search high and low and still can’t find it, you’re uneasy in mind. Twenty-four hours a day, no matter what you’re doing, you surreptitiously keep looking, far and near. Whose business is this? And what is buddha-nature like? Who is the you that it is like?
There may be those who, on reading such a discourse on the power of vows, may mistakenly imagine they have no part in it and cannot follow it in practice. What they don’t realize is that this is an expedient for developing an initial attitude of faith, an ancient precedent for inspiring the initial outset of practice. It is like a child’s first copybook—the letters are not even completely formed, let alone skillful. Mature or not, it’s all a matter of long-term practice. One should progress in study as much as possible according to the teacher’s method. The same is true of the vows of students of the Way; although incapable at first, eventually they’ll succeed. Even if temporarily discouraged by obstruction caused by ingrained habits, if you can keep your vows in mind you will return to your original mind before long.
For this reason, those who are basically lazy ought to rely on these vows all the more; those whose faith is shallow ought to rely on these vows all the more; those who are dull and ignorant ought to rely on these vows all the more. Those whose perception of nature is clear ought to rely on these vows all the more; those whose intellectual functions are independent ought to rely on these vows all the more. From the first inspiration in the beginning to the final consummation in the end, all depends upon the practical power of these vows. Recite them outwardly; keep mindful of them inwardly. Pray earnestly every day; think about them time and again. Their unconscious influence, like fog moistening clothes, like fragrance adhering to things, naturally enables you to attain the degree of consciousness of the Buddhas and Masters, so self-help and helping others are both fulfilled.
1. By Li Tongxuan, a renowned lay Buddhist of Tang-dynasty China. Entry into the Realm of Reality contains a translation of the portion of this commentary covering the Gandvyuha portion of the Avatamsaka-sutra.
2. “The four universal vows” are “Living beings are infinite; I vow to liberate them. Afflictions are endless; I vow to stop them. The teachings are innumerable; I vow to study them. The way of Buddhas is supreme; I vow to fulfill it.”
3. The heavens are meditation states; “deteriorations” refers to people coming back down to earth, out of these abstractions. This is described in terms at once concrete and metaphorical: their clothes get dirty, the flowers of their crowns wither and fade, their armpits sweat, their bodies stink, and they are uncomfortable where they are.
4. “The eight difficulties” refers to the difficulty of attaining enlightenment in eight conditions: hellish states, animalistic states, extreme greediness, a meditative paradise of apparent perpetuity, an earthly paradise of longevity, blindness and deafness, intellectual brilliance, and birth before or after
the time of a Buddha.
5. Mahasattva means “great being,” a descriptive term for advanced bodhisattvas.
[ 3 ]
VISIONARY STATES
As the power of concentration gradually matures in people learning the Way, afflictions weaken bit by bit and beautiful experiences occur from time to time. These are called good states. At such times, you may develop a vision of emptiness of phenomena, or a vision of uniform equality, or a vision of completeness, or a vision that this very being is It.1 Various perceptions occur, according to one’s power of concentration.
The Heroic Progress Scripture says,
You individual illuminates and disciples who still have to learn, today turn your minds toward the supreme sublime awakening of great enlightenment. I have now explained the method of authentic cultivation, but you still don’t recognize the subtle bedevilments in the practice of cessation and observation. When hallucinations appear to you and you can’t recognize them as such, your cleaning of your mind is incorrect and you fall into false views. It may be the bedevilments of your mental and physical constituents or it may be celestial bedevilment or you may become possessed or bewitched. If your mind is not clear, you mistake thieves for your own children.
Then again, some attain a little and consider that enough, like the ignorant monk in the fourth meditation who mistakenly claimed to have realized sainthood.2 When his heavenly rewards came to an end and signs of deterioration began to appear, he repudiated arhats as being subject to further existence, and fell into uninterrupted hell. It also says, “When you don’t consider it holy, it’s called a good state; if you interpret it as saintly, you’ll be subject to a multitude of deceits.” It also says, “There are some demons that enter the heart.”
That scripture clearly defines fifty kinds of visionary states. How sad that students today mostly mistake visionary states for realization of enlightenment. For this reason devotees of demons are not few—they subsequently sit at a sanctuary, draw in so many good people, and cause them all to fall into false views, without either party knowing. Instead they call it wonderful supreme enlightenment.
Some make a cult of profound stillness in the wellspring of mind; some make a cult of ordinary unconcern; some make a cult of beating and shouting; some make a cult of denying creation and destruction; some make a cult of not establishing any doctrine. Some consider the verbal teachings of Buddhas and Masters to be secondary and discard them all; some force arbitrary subjective interpretation on the verbal teachings of Buddhas and Masters, and expound various theories. Some make an understanding of flavorlessness, or make an understanding of spells, or make an understanding out of caning, or make an understanding out of shouting, or make an understanding of the thieving mentality. People like this are common; all of them mistakenly acknowledge visionary states and construe them as understanding. Eventually they wind up on the paths of disciples, solitary illuminates, outsiders, or devils, yet without realizing it themselves.
The Scripture on Complete Awareness says, “If people seek good friends but instead meet those with false views and do not attain true enlightenment, they are called outsiders. It is the mistake of false teachers, not the fault of the people.” How regrettable when people become monks known as teachers and eminent worthies, yet wind up in the category of these phonies! High-minded people who genuinely study mysticism should know this and not be deluded by them, not lapping up the aforementioned fox slobber, not letting charlatans take advantage.
The ninety-six types of outsiders, as well as the most evil devil, think they have attained supreme enlightenment.3 Therefore wayfarers must first distinguish bedevilments. Any views that differ at all from Buddha are views of outsiders. Just meticulously observe objectively. Don’t think it’s easy. Even the worst sinners have some hope of deliverance, but there is no getting out of the consequences of false views.
As clearly defined in the letters of Zen Master Dahui, these are states of bedevilment. What are people of later times thinking when they ignore this? It’s a result of having no genuine guide. How sad!
Please arouse an attitude of intense determination, and take another step forward. The abode of treasure is near; don’t linger in the magical castle.4
People of old went to many bitter pains before they accomplished this path—are we to be any exception? We have been born and have died over and over since beginningless time, suffering all sorts of misery, but something must have happened in the meantime to enable us to have come forth in a context of the teaching of a past Buddha so we hear of the Way; yet because of the depth and gravity of obstruction by ingrained habits, we have been lost until now. Now we are hearing the teaching for the first time and have not mastered it through long practice. It’s like suddenly bestowing kingship on a commoner—how could it be easy? Just determine to reach the state realized by Buddhas and Masters, and don’t regard a little gain to be sufficient.
In ancient times when Buddha was in the world, there were already attainments of three vehicles. Disciples realized emptiness and took it to be nirvana; they didn’t seek the totality of Buddha’s teachings at all. Individual illuminates discovered the nature of reality on their own and thought relying on nature and having no concerns was the ultimate end. Bodhisattvas practiced the six perfections together on the path they attained. In this way they each attained resulting realizations and were able to develop spiritual capacities and the powers of the path. But this was not the way of authentic perception of essential nature, so they were criticized in the Universal scriptures.
There are also two different kinds of three vehicles—attained by study and stopped along the way. That is to say, first believing in the teachings of the three vehicles, each individual attains the resulting realization according to capacity; this is referred to as being attained by study. Alternatively, even if your faith is in the One Vehicle, if you stop along the way to indulge in the results and do not progress further, this is called stopping along the way.
For example, suppose you are aiming for the county or prefecture seat; when you arrive, you can reside there. Then again, suppose your aim is the royal capital, but along the way you mistake the county seat or the prefecture seat for the royal capital. Now if you make the crowning Zen of the Buddhas the basis of your study but your faith is insufficient, as a consequence, you stop at a small view.
The three vehicles and five natures are all stages in the process of practicing the path.5 It is like learning archery. The aim is the target, but those whose strength is inadequate are unsteady of eye and foot, so their arrows don’t hit the target, falling far away. Even though there is that subtle wondrous Way, yet the fulfillment of it ultimately is not beyond the results obtained by the three vehicles. Therefore I include great views and small views, all realizations, within the category of visionary states. I only ask that you pay attention and be careful. Even if you have attained genuine perception of essential nature, there are still locks of differentiation, and the road beyond; how much more for those who haven’t yet seen nature.
When people of old have spoken of attainment at a single stroke without going through any process, it just means that attainment of buddhahood is basically in an instant—only thus does this make sense. It is like hitting a target; it’s up to a single arrow—a follow-up arrow won’t help it.
Now because you can’t discern the target and you misperceive the target, you create so much debate. So if you want to shoot the target, first distinguish the false from the true. If the target isn’t right, it’s not real even if you hit it.
Generally, when your mind is simple and straightforward, there are basically no terms such as true or false. When you err to the point of taking the unreal for the real, then there is an issue of right and wrong. This is why koans originated. When you get here, please be lively and do not think you have attained what you have not yet attained or that you have realized what you have not yet realized. Even if you have some very deep realizations, they are all visionary states, not
real buddhahood.
Dahui said, “Great enlightenment, eighteen times; little enlightenments, I don’t know how many.” He already had a great heart, so he was no pushover for bedeviling states. When he first met Yuanwu, he thought to himself, “I’ll complete nine summers, and if he approves me like they have everywhere else, I’ll write a treatise on the nonexistence of Zen.” See how the people of old developed great capacity like this. Nowadays, as soon as people gain a bit of knowledge or half an understanding, they all consider the great matter concluded. As for their teachers and teachings, they exchange stamps of approval, testifying to this as genuine Buddhism.
Even worse are those who, on hearing that talk of mind and nature, take it to be Zen. Boasting of the principle of inherence, they do not believe in the ancients’ explanations of true realization. Therefore Zen Master Yuanwu said, “Suppose someone comes out here and says there is originally no transcendence and no accommodation, so why study? I would just tell him, ‘I knew you were living in a ghost cave.’” He said, “What a pity! Many people later rationalized that ‘crude words and subtle speech all wind up at ultimate truth.’ If you understand this way, go be a professor, where you can spend your life profiting from lots of knowledge and lots of interpretation.” He also said,
The Undying Lamp of Zen Page 5
