by Hsuan Hua
Without that contract, no perception of them can take place.
But contact will be intermittent; how could tangibles
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Those inner objects of the mind are what we call defilements;
Since these are objects, each of them must have precise location.
Observer and observed cannot be everywhere; then how
Could mental objects guide all beings to enlightenment?
“Although the faculty of seeing does indeed see clearly,
Still it perceives what lies before it, not what lies behind.
Of four directions it can see but two at once;75 how could it
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Breath enters in the nostrils, then goes out again; however
Between each in-breath and each out-breath, there must be a pause.
The breath is discontinuous; how could the nose
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“The tongue, with nothing placed on it, can have no tasting function;
It senses flavors only when they’re present. When dispersed,
Awareness of them ceases; how then could the tongue
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“What’s true of taste is true of tactile objects and the body:
They’re not the best for contemplation toward awakening.
Body and objects, being finite, do not always meet;
How could the body guide all beings to enlightenment?
“The borders of cognition with the faculty of mind
Aren’t clear enough for beings to tell which one of them is which.
Beginners cannot free themselves from thinking, nor from thoughts;
How could this faculty guide beings toward enlightenment?
“Observe that the eye-consciousness involves a threefold joining;76
It is dependent; basically it has no attributes.
No independent essence of its own; how could it then
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Ear-consciousness, if it’s aware throughout the ten directions,
Is drawing power from great practice in past lives.
Beginners’ minds cannot advance into this practice; how then
Could it guide beings to a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“The contemplation of the nose is an expedient
That merely focuses the mind upon a single spot.
But such a focus is confined to just one place; how could it
Guide all beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Wielding the sounds of words to speak about the Dharma
Wakens the speaker, based on past accomplishment.
But words and sentences do not lack outflows; thus could speech
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Avoiding violation of the precepts regulates
The body only; such restraints do not apply to beings
Who have no body.77 How could what does not apply to all
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Spiritual powers are based on practice in past lives; such powers
Are not related to cognition’s making of distinctions.
There has to be an object for cognition to occur;
How could cognition then guide beings to enlightenment?
“Consider contemplating earth: it’s solid and opaque;
One can’t move through it. What‘s conditional must lack
The nature of a sage. How could this contemplation, then,
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Consider contemplating water: contemplating thus
Involves cognition, which is neither true nor real.
Contemplation by itself won’t reach the state that’s thus;
Then how could water guide all beings toward enlightenment?
“Consider contemplating fire: disdaining one’s desire,
Is not the same as ending it. This contemplation, then,
Is not a method suited to beginners.78 How could fire
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Consider contemplating wind: movement and stillness
Must be opposites, and opposition cannot be
A basis for awakening. Thus how could wind
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Consider contemplating space: space lacks awareness,
Beginning from primordial darkness. Being unaware
Is not the same as full awakening. How then could space
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“Consider contemplating consciousness: this consciousness79
Is intermittent. Its existence in the mind, as well,
Is only an illusion. How then could this consciousness
Guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?
“No practice is entirely continuous,
So even mindfulness80 perforce arises and must halt.
An intermittent practice’s results are intermittent.
How could awareness guide all beings to enlightenment?
“I now respectfully say this to the World-Honored One —
The One who came to be a Buddha in this Sahā world
In order to transmit to us the true, essential teaching
Meant for this place — I say that purity is found through hearing.
All those who wish to gain samādhi’s mastery
Will surely find that hearing is the way to enter.
“For leaving suffering behind and gaining liberation,
How excellent the method that the One
Who Hears the Cries of the World has just proclaimed!
Throughout the ages many as the River Ganges’ sands,
He enters countless Buddha-lands. He has the ease of mastery
And he bestows his fearlessness on beings in danger.
“Most wondrous is the voice of the One Who Hears the Cries!
Its sound is pure and like the ocean-tide! Throughout the worlds
He rescues worldly beings, brings them peace, and if they wish,
He helps them leave the world and reach nirvana everlasting!
“I now can recommend respectfully the practice
Taught by the One Who Hears the Cries of the World.
A being whose mind is tranquil hears the sound
Of drumbeats coming from all ten directions,
And yet he’ll hear each of the drums distinctly.
And so our hearing faculty must be the perfect one,
The one that’s genuine and true.
“The eyes can’t see through objects that are solid;
The tongue and nose are likewise limited.
For bodily awareness, contact’s needed,
And, too, the mind’s chaotic, lacking order.
“But sounds are heard close by and from afar;
And even walls may fail in blocking them.
No other faculty’s the equal of our hearing;
Both true and genuine, it is the one for breaking through.
“We’re capable of hearing sounds and silence both;
They may be present to the ear or not.
Though people say that when no sound is present,
Our hearing must be absent too, in fact
Our hearing does not lapse. It does not cease
With silence; neither is it born of sound.
Our hearing, then, is genuine and true.
It is the everlasting one.
“And when cognition ceases in a dream,
That does not mean that hearing is suspended.
The ear’s awareness goes beyond mere thought.
No other faculty, of mind or body,
Can ever be the equal of our hearing.
“And now, for be
ings of this Sahā world,
I have explained the method based on hearing.
“Confused about the nature of our hearing,
Beings, by permitting their attention
To go out pursuing sounds, have bound themselves
To birth and death’s unending cycle.
“Ānanda’s erudition just could not prevent
His falling prey to an improper scheme.
By heeding sounds, how could he not have fallen?
But had his striving been against the current,81
Would he not have then avoided error?
“Ānanda, listen closely! Aided by the awe-inspiring
Power of the Buddha, I have now explained to you
This regal, genuine, and marvelous samādhi.
Indestructible, beyond the reach of mundane thought,
It is the mother of all Buddhas.
“Though you may hear of all the secret Dharma-gateways
That Buddhas numberless as motes of dust may teach,
Just learning them is useless if you first do not
Get rid of all your outflows, which are based upon desire.
You’ve heard and practiced all these Buddhas’ Buddha-Dharmas;
Why haven’t you been hearing your own hearing?
“People say that hearing comes about because of sounds,
Not on its own. If that’s what you call ‘hearing,’ though,
Then when you turn your hearing round and set it free from sounds,
What name are you to give to that which is set free?
“Return just one of the perceiving faculties
Back to its source, and all six faculties will then be free.
For what we hear is mere illusion, like the objects of our vision —
Like what is seen by one whose eyes are covered by a film.
The Threefold Realm is like those flowers in an empty sky,82
But turn the hearing inward, and the faculties are cured.
Their objects vanish, and awareness is completely pure.
“In perfect purity, the brilliance of awareness shines
Unhindered and in still illumination of all space,
In contemplating worldly things as the events of dreams.
The young Mātaṅga woman was a figure in a dream.
Just who was really there with power to entice you?
“Consider this analogy from ordinary life:
A puppet-master can present illusions — men and women
Made to move by pulling on a string; but if he chooses
Not to pull upon the string, the scene returns to stillness
And all is shown to be illusion.
“Just so are our six faculties. Originally
A pure and single understanding, they divide;
And once divided, each of them makes contact with its objects.
But then if one of them is redirected inward,
All six as a result will cease to function separately,
And their defiling objects vanish instantly.
Thus our understanding is perfected
In a wondrous purity.
“Those who still have remnants of their basic ignorance
Need more instruction. Those whose understanding is perfected,
Their illumination ultimate — these are the Thus-Come Ones.
“Great Assembly! Ānanda! Halt the puppet show
Of your distorted hearing! Merely turn your hearing round
To listen to your genuine true nature,
Which is the destination of the Path that is supreme.
This is the genuine way to break through to enlightenment.
“It is the way that the innumerable Buddhas followed
Straight to nirvana’s gate. All Thus-Come Ones of eons past
Succeeded by this method. Through this method, Bodhisattvas,
Too, right now are gaining perfect understanding.
“Among the people of the future, those who undertake
A spiritual practice should rely upon this teaching.
I myself became enlightened by this very method.
He Who Hears the Cries is not the only one.
“The Buddha, the World-Honored One, made a request
That I consider methods that will rescue beings
Who in the Dharma’s ending-time resolve their minds
Upon attainment of transcendence and nirvana.
The best of all the methods is the practice
Taught by the One Who Hears the Cries of the World.
“The sages who attained enlightenment by other means
Were aided by the Buddha’s awe-inspiring spiritual power,
And each was specially taught how to abandon all affliction.
Some of these paths are shallow, some go deep; these teachings vary.
“I bow now in respect to all the Buddhas, and I bow
To all their Dharma-treasuries and to the marvelous ones
Who’ve put an end to outflows.83 And may beings of the future
Be empowered so that they will have no doubts
That this one method is the most accessible.
“It is the easiest way to reach enlightenment.
It is the teaching most appropriate
For Ānanda and for the beings drowning
In the Dharma’s ending-time. They only need
This practice of the faculty of hearing
For them to break through to enlightenment,
For it surpasses all the other methods.
It is the genuine path to the true mind.
We say that the faculty of hearing functions when there is sound, but does it still function when there is no sound? It does, because the nature of hearing is not subject to coming into being and ceasing to be. Therefore, turn the attention of your hearing-faculty inward. From now on, don’t go out after the six sense-objects with your six faculties. Bring your faculties back. Reverse the direction of your hearing-faculty and listen to your true nature until your nature merges with the unsurpassed path to enlightenment. What is your true nature? When you hear it, you will recognize it. Now, before you have heard it, you wouldn’t understand even if I told you. For instance, when I myself drink a cup of tea, I know whether my tea is hot or cool, but you don’t know. If you want to know, you will have to pour some for yourself. If you want to arrive at your true nature, you first have to reverse the attention of your hearing-faculty to listen within.
When you reverse the direction of your hearing, how do you listen? Use your ears. But don’t listen to the sounds outside. Don’t try to figure out what is happening in the street or who is saying what nearby. Turn the hearing inward and listen inside yourself. In this way your own nature will be revealed. When you have turned your hearing around, you will be set free from external sounds. What name are you to give to that which is set free? If you can divorce yourself from sounds, you will hear and yet not hear. Is this then really what we call “hearing”? It is and it isn’t. It isn’t, yet it is. Hear and yet do not hear. That’s what is meant by getting free of sounds. You do hear, but it’s not the same as the way you heard before. Even though it is said that ordinary hearing can reach far and near, it still has a limit. If you genuinely reach a state of mind in which you are hearing your true nature, you can hear throughout the Dharma-Realm, provided that you choose to do so. But you can also choose not to listen to any of the sounds throughout the Dharma-Realm. You have control. What do we call what is free of sound then? It does not have a name. That which is beyond even the name “hearing” is true hearing. (V, 215–6)...
Why does Mañjuśrī choose the ear-faculty? It is the easiest practice for success in spiritual cultivation. The skill used in reversing the hearing to hear the true nature is the skill used when you meditate in stillness.84 When you sit in meditation, don’t spend all your energy on seeking what is outside yourself. Turn your light around to shine within. Then ask yourself, “Who is this who is mindful of the Buddha?” “Who?” Put
the “who” into your mind and then listen with your ears. Don’t pause in your pursuit of “who?” Don’t let your skill disperse. Inquire into this topic in everything you do. It’s said:
Walking, standing, sitting, reclining,
Don’t be apart from this.
If you depart from this,
You’ve made a mistake.
What is this? It is the question, “Who is mindful of the Buddha?” You don’t have to ask this question out loud; ask it in your mind and listen to it with your ears. Listen within, not outside. After you have listened within, your mind and the enlightened nature of hearing will eventually merge. And then in some unexpected way, at some unexpected moment, you will suddenly become enlightened. But you definitely must bring your mind and nature together. Don’t let them scatter in all directions. Don’t let them get dissipated outside yourself. Gather them in. As you reverse your hearing to listen to your true nature, eventually, naturally, your skill will develop. (V, 221)
Then Ānanda and all the others in the great assembly, having received such profound instruction, gained a clear understanding of their faculties and the corresponding consciousnesses. As they contemplated the Buddha’s full awakening and great nirvana, Ānanda and the others were like someone who has traveled far from home on matters of business: although the traveler has not yet been able to return, he knows the road that will lead him home. The entire assembly of beings, ten times as many as the sand-grains of the River Ganges — gods, dragons, and other celestial beings; sages of the Lesser Vehicle who still needed instruction; and others who only recently had made the resolve to become Bodhisattvas — all now discovered their inherent true mind so that they would forever be free of affliction. All opened their pure Dharma-eye. The nun named Nature, upon hearing these verses, became an Arhat.85 These numberless beings all made the resolution to seek the unsurpassed, correct, and perfect enlightenment.86
