by Hsuan Hua
“Suppose it came into being from the body-faculty. Then there could be no contact with objects of touch or separation from them, and these are said to be two conditions for the body-consciousness’s awareness. How then could the body-consciousness be limited to the body?
“Suppose it came into being from objects of touch. Then your body would not be involved. Yet who can be without a body and still be aware of contact with and separation from objects of touch? Insentient things cannot have tactile awareness; and it is the body-consciousness that is aware of objects of touch. Only with a body-faculty can there be awareness of contact with objects.
“Further, for you to be aware of your body as an object of touch in itself, there needs to be contact, but it is your body-faculty that comes into contact with objects. But an object cannot be identical with a faculty; the body-faculty cannot be an object. Fundamentally, neither the body-faculty nor objects of touch are sufficient as places of support for the body-consciousness. If the body-consciousness were joined to the body-faculty, it would have the essential nature of the body-faculty; yet if it were not joined to the body-faculty, it would have the same nature as space.
“Since the body-consciousness cannot come into being either from the faculty, which is internal, or its objects, which are external, how could it exist between them? Since it cannot exist between them, and since the internal faculty and the external objects are all empty of an inherent nature, what could the body-consciousness be based on?
“Therefore, you should know that the body-faculty and objects of touch cannot be the conditions for the coming into being of the body-consciousness, because none of these three constituents — body-faculty, objects of touch, and body-consciousness — has an independent existence. Fundamentally, they do not come into being from causes and conditions; nor do they come into being on their own.
The various principles explained above demonstrate that the body-consciousness cannot be found.... In the provisional teachings, the body-faculty and contact with objects of touch are the conditions for the action of the body-consciousness. In the ultimate teaching, none of these three exist. They do not have their origin in causes and conditions, nor do their natures have an independent existence. They manifest from within the Matrix of the Thus-Come One. They have no fixed location. The provisional teachings cannot be compared to the truths of the ultimate teaching. What was spoken previously was an expedient teaching.... The Buddha’s teachings about causes and conditions refuted the theory of independent existence of phenomena, as propounded by followers of wrong paths. That is why Ānanda became attached to the teaching of causes and conditions and couldn’t give up on the idea. He thought the teachings that had been given previously could not be superseded. Why is the Buddha now negating the principles which he previously explained? For the Buddha himself not to accept the Dharma which he himself had spoken before was to contradict himself, wasn’t it? It is at this point that Ānanda has many doubts and keeps coming up with questions. So now the Buddha tells Ānanda that he explained the laws of causes and conditions earlier in order to counteract the non-Buddhist sects; it was certainly not ultimate. It was certainly not the essential Dharma. Now that the ultimate truth of the Middle Way — the genuine Dharma — is being explained, the former teachings no longer apply; and you cannot continue to hold on to them. Ānanda has not yet understood that. (III, 125–6)
F. The Coming into Being of the Mind-Consciousness
“Moreover, Ānanda, according to your understanding of it, the cognitive faculty and its objects are the conditions for the coming into being of mind-consciousness. But does this consciousness come into being from the cognitive faculty, such that it is restricted by the boundaries of the cognitive faculty? Or does it come into being from its objects, such that it is restricted to the boundaries its objects?
“Ānanda, suppose the mind-consciousness came into being from the cognitive faculty. Now, your cognitive faculty has to be considering something in order for it to be functioning. If no objects of cognition are present, the cognitive faculty does not arise. If the cognitive faculty has not manifested, how would the mind-consciousness function?
“Further, the natures of both your mind-consciousness and your cognitive faculty are such that they make distinctions.27 Do they differ from one another, or are they the same? If the mind-consciousness were the same as the cognitive faculty, it would be the cognitive faculty; then how could the mind-consciousness come into being from the cognitive faculty? If the mind-consciousness were different from the cognitive faculty, it would not be conscious of anything. If it were not conscious of anything, how could it come into being from the cognitive faculty? If it is conscious, how can you differentiate it from the cognitive faculty? Since neither a sameness nor a difference can be identified, on what can the mind-consciousness be based?
“Suppose, finally, that the mind-consciousness came into being from objects of cognition. Now, all your experiences of the external world are experiences of visible objects, of sounds, of odors, of flavors, or of objects of touch. Each of these categories of objects has the attribute of complementing one of five faculties. None of them complements the cognitive faculty. If you nevertheless insist that your mind-consciousness must come into being from objects of cognition, you should consider carefully what the essential attributes of objects of cognition and the other perceived objects might be. If you exclude the essential attributes of visible objects and if you exclude their absence — as well as excluding the essential attributes of sound and silence, openness and blockage, and separation and contact — beyond these, what would be left for objects of cognition to be? Visible objects, the absence of visible objects, and the other kinds of perceived objects and their absence are what arise, and they are what perish, while objects of cognition, which we are now supposing to be the cause of the mind-consciousness, cannot come into being independently without another perceived object being present. Therefore, if objects of cognition were what cause the mind-consciousness to come into being, what essential attributes would it have? Since objects of cognition have no independent attributes, how could the mind-consciousness arise from them?
“Therefore, you should know that the cognitive faculty and objects of cognition cannot be the conditions that are necessary for the coming into being of the mind-consciousness, because none of these three constituents — cognitive faculty, objects of cognition, and mind-consciousness — has an independent existence. Fundamentally, they do not come into being from causes and conditions, nor do they come into being on their own.”
The Seven Primary Elements Are the Matrix of the Thus-Come One
Ānanda said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, the Thus-Come One has often discussed causes and conditions and aggregating and merging. He has shown that the various phenomena that we see in the world are caused by the merging or aggregating of the four primary elements. Why has the Thus-Come One now rejected causes and conditions and self-generation as explanations? I cannot reconcile this idea with the Buddha’s previous teachings. Only pity us and instruct us and all beings how to know the ultimate truth of the Middle Way. Teach us the Dharma that is not mere words devoid of meaning.”
People’s bodies are a combination of four primary elements, which are earth, water, fire, and wind. The places in our bodies which are hard and solid belong to the primary element earth. The warmth in our bodies belongs to the primary element fire. Saliva, tears, and mucus belong to the primary element water. Our breath belongs to the primary element wind. While we are alive our body is under our control, but after we die these four primary elements disperse. The warmth in our body returns to the primary element fire, the moisture returns to the primary element water, the solids return to the primary element earth, and our breath returns to the primary element wind. People who do not understand about the body want to help the body in all that it does. What they don’t know is that in this way their true natures become slaves to an illusory form. Every day they are confused as they
toil and rush about desperately. Ultimately, what is it all for? Ultimately, what meaning is there in it? If one asks people these questions, they act like Ānanda, mouth agape and speechless. They can’t come up with a reason.
Because people do not understand about the body, they spend all their energy on a lifeless thing. They don’t work on behalf of what is really alive. What dead thing am I referring to? Although we are still living, our bodies may be considered already dead. What living thing am I referring to? Although we are not aware that it is alive, our spirit is young and full of life. It is our inherent Buddha-nature. But people don’t know that they should investigate their own Buddha-nature, and they work instead on behalf of their bodies, such that their bodies control them. From morning till night they help the body get good things to eat and fine clothes to wear. Just what is this body, anyway?... It isn’t anything to grasp onto. Don’t look upon it as so important, because even though you can’t give up your attachment to it, when you die and the four elemental qualities disperse, you will have let go. (III, 133–4)
The World-Honored One then said to Ānanda, “Since you have renounced the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle — of the Hearers of the Teaching and the Solitary Sages — and since you have resolved to strive diligently to realize the supreme awakening, I will now instruct you in the ultimate truth. You need no longer bind yourself up with words that are devoid of meaning and with distorted thinking about causes and conditions. You are very learned, but you are like someone who can discuss medicines yet cannot identify them when they are actually set before him. The Thus-Come One says that you are indeed to be pitied. Listen carefully now. For your sake and for the sake of all who in the future will undertake the Bodhisattva’s journey, I will explain in detail how you can come to thoroughly understand the ultimate truth.” Ānanda was silent and waited for the Buddha’s enlightened instruction.
“Ānanda, according to what you have said, the merging or aggregating of four primary elements brings about the various phenomena that are found in the world and that are subject to change. Let us suppose, Ānanda, that the primary elements have separate essential natures that cannot aggregate or merge.28 In that case, their external attributes, too, could not aggregate or merge any more than space can aggregate or merge with perceived objects. Suppose, on the other hand, that the essential natures of the primary elements can aggregate and merge. Then their aggregating and merging would not differ from the various changes that take place in the world and that cause things to arise and perish through an unending process of coming into being and ceasing to be. Beings, too, are born and die, and having died they are born again, forever coming to life and perishing again, Ānanda, like a torch that is swung endlessly in a circle to form a wheel of flame, or like water that turns to ice and then becomes water again.
Ānanda should know that the suchness of reality conforms to circumstances yet does not change; it does not change yet conforms to circumstances. How is that explained? The suchness of reality — which is also called the Matrix of the Thus-Come One, true reality, and our true mind — is like water that becomes ice: that is, it conforms to circumstances, just as water can turn into ice when it is cold. But the ice can also melt and become water again.... Enlightenment is like water; affliction is like ice.... If you were to pour a bowl of water over someone’s head, he wouldn’t feel any pain. But if you hit someone over the head with a piece of ice, you might even kill him. Ice and water are actually the same thing, but water in its solid form can kill people, while in its liquid form it supports life. Because of this, affliction is compared to ice; full awakening is compared to water. The Buddha’s sutras say that affliction is actually full awakening, just as ice is actually water. You don’t add anything to water to make ice, and you don’t add anything to ice to produce water. The potential to become ice is already in the water, and the potential to become water is already in the ice. Thus, the Sutra here speaks of ice becoming water again. But in order to turn your ice into water, you have to develop a certain amount of skill. You have to use yang light to illumine it; then the ice can turn into water. This refers to our daily practice of meditation in stillness, which can illumine our afflictions so that they turn into water. (III, 141–2)
A. The Primary Element Earth
“Let us consider the nature of the primary element earth. It may take as large a form as a continent and as small a form as a mote of dust. In its most subtle aspect, the primary element earth appears as particles that are so fine that they can hardly be distinguished from space itself.29 If these minute particles were divided further into seven parts, they would then be as small as perceived objects can be. If they were divided yet further, nothing would be left but space.
“Now if these most minute particles could be divided until they became space, Ānanda, then space would be capable of bringing perceived objects into being. You asked just now whether the various phenomena that we see in the world are caused by the merging or aggregating of the four elemental qualities. You should see that space, in whatever amount, could never be accumulated in order to bring into being even a single one of these most minute particles. Nor can it be true that these most minute particles are created by the particles themselves. Further, if these most minute particles could be divided to assume the nature of space, then conversely, how many such particles must be aggregated to bring space into being?
“In fact, when perceived objects are aggregated or merged, they do not become space; and when space accumulates, it does not become a perceived object. Besides, although perceived objects can indeed be divided, how can space be accumulated?
“You simply do not know that, in the Matrix of the Thus-Come One, the real nature of the primary element earth is identical to the real nature of emptiness. The real nature of the primary element earth is fundamentally pure and extends throughout the Dharma-Realm. The extent to which beings are aware of that real nature depends on the capacity of their understanding. The primary element earth appears to them in accord with their karma. Ordinary beings, in their ignorance, mistakenly suppose that the primary element earth comes into being from causes and conditions or that it comes into being on its own. These are distinctions and constructs made by the conscious mind. They are mere words, devoid of meaning.
B. The Primary Element Fire
“Ānanda, the nature of fire is such that it has no independent existence but is dependent on conditions. Let us consider a family in the city. They have not yet eaten dinner. When they set about to cook their meal, someone holds up a reflecting surface to the sun in order to start a fire.
“Ānanda, an example of an aggregation is our community here, which includes you, the twelve hundred and fifty monks, and myself. Although there is but one community, we can discern that it consists of separate individuals, each of whom was born into a certain class, clan, and family. For example, there is Śāriputra, who is a Brahmin; Uruvilvā, who belongs to the Kāśyapa clan; and you, Ānanda, who are of the Gautama family.
“In the example of the family starting a fire to cook a meal, Ānanda, then suppose that the sun, the reflecting surface, and the tinder act together to create the fire. Then when the reflecting surface is held up to the sun so that a fire may be lit, does the fire emerge from the reflecting surface? Does it emerge from the tinder? Does it come from the sun?
“Suppose that the fire came from the sun, Ānanda, such that the sun by itself would be able to set fire to some tinder that you were holding. Then it should also be able to set fire to a grove of trees merely by shining on it. Suppose that the fire emerges from the reflecting surface, such that the fire as it emerges ignites the tinder. Why doesn’t the reflecting surface melt as you hold it up? Far from melting, it doesn’t even become very hot. If the fire came into being from the tinder, what need would there be for sunlight to be reflected by the mirror? Carefully consider this further. Someone is holding up the reflecting surface, the sunlight comes from the sky, the tinder comes from an herb that has been grown
in soil, but where does the fire come from? The sun and the reflecting surface are far apart and cannot come into contact. Yet it cannot be that the fire comes into being on its own.
“You still do not know that, in the Matrix of the Thus-Come One, the real nature of the primary element fire is identical to the real nature of emptiness. The real nature of the primary element fire is fundamentally pure and extends throughout the Dharma-Realm. The extent to which beings are aware of this real nature depends on the capacity of their understanding. You should know, Ānanda, that anywhere in the entire world, throughout the Dharma-Realm, a reflecting surface can be held up to the sun to start a fire. Since a fire can be started anywhere in the world, how could it be limited to one particular place? In fact, the primary element fire becomes apparent to beings in accord with their karma. Ordinary beings, in their ignorance, mistakenly suppose that the primary element fire comes into being from causes and conditions or that it comes into being on its own. These are distinctions and constructs made by the conscious mind. They are mere words, devoid of any real meaning.
C. The Primary Element Water
“Ānanda, the nature of water is variable, neither always flowing nor always still. Consider the ascetic masters30 Kapila, Cakra, Padma, and Hastā,31 along with other great magicians in the city of Śrāvastī. On bright nights with the full moon shining, these magicians each hold up a bowl to the moon in order to collect water which contains the moon’s essence, and this they mix with their hallucinatory herbs.
