有大禪師。法諱希運。住洪州高安縣黃檗山鷲峯下。乃曹溪六祖之嫡孫。西堂百丈之法姪。獨佩最上乘離文字之印。唯傳一心更無別法。心體亦空萬緣俱寂。如大日輪昇虛空中。光明照曜淨無纖埃。證之者無新舊無淺深。說之者不立義解不立宗主。不開戶牖直下便是。動念即乖。然後為本佛。故其言簡其理直。其道峻其行孤。四方學徒望山而趨。覩相而悟。往來海眾常千餘人。
.
There is a great zen teacher whose dharma-name is Xiyun. Staying beneath the Vulture Peak of Huangbo Mountain in Gao'an County of Hongzhou, he is the orthodox descendant of the Sixth Ancestor of Caoxi and the dharma-nephew1 of Baizhang of Western Hall.
Bearing solely the supreme vehicle's seal that is free from words, he transmits only the one-mind and no other dharma. For the basis of the mind is emptiness, the ten-thousand conditions all quiescent. Like the great orb of sun rising in empty sky, brilliant light shines forth in a purity that is devoid of dust speck.
Realising/verifying it, there is neither new nor old, shallow nor deep. Speaking it, there is no rational explanation established, no chief foundation erected. Without opening any side window - directly so, this is it; stirring thought is just deviation. This then is the original Buddha.
Therefore [Huangbo's] words are simple, his logic straightforward, his way towering, his practice/behaviour singular. Students from all four directions gazed at the mountain [he resided in] and hurried to it. And upon witnessing [Huangbo's] appearance, they were awakened. Visiting crowds of monks were thus constantly in excess of the thousand.
.
Although Huangbo is popularly recognised as the disciple and dharma-heir of Baizhang Huaihai, here it seems to state that he is the dharma-nephew of Baizhang.
予會昌二年廉于鍾陵。自山迎至州。憩龍興寺。旦夕問道。大中二年廉于宛陵。復去禮迎至所部。安居開元寺。旦夕受法。退而紀之。十得一二。佩為心印不敢發揚。今恐入神精義不聞於未來。遂出之授門下僧大舟法建。歸舊山之廣唐寺。問長老法眾。與往日常所親聞。同異如何也。
唐大中十一年十一月初八日序
.
In the second year of Huichang (842 CE), I was stationed at Zhongling. I personally received [Huangbo] down from his mountain to my prefecture, settling him at Longxing Monastery, where day and night I asked him about the [Buddha] way. In the second year of Dazhong (848 CE), I was stationed at Wanling. Again I went ceremoniously to receive [Huangbo] to my area of office, settling him at Kaiyuan Monastery, where day and night I was given dharma teachings.
Each time after leaving him, I recorded [the teachings], able only to write down one or two out of every ten things he said. Bearing [his teachings] as mind-seal, I did not dare publicise them. But now I fear that these profoundly succinct teachings would not be heard of in the future, hence I sent my recorded notes to [Huangbo's] disciple-monks - Dazhou and Fajian - to return to their old mountain of Guangtang Monastery, to check with the other monks and elders if [my recorded notes] accord or differ from what they personally used to hear [of Huangbo].
Preface written in Tang dynasty, on the eleventh year of Dazhong (857 CE), the eleventh month, the eighth day.
師謂休曰。諸佛與一切眾生。唯是一心。更無別法。此心無始已來。不曾生不曾滅。不青不黃。無形無相。不屬有無。不計新舊。非長非短。非大非小。超過一切限量名言縱跡對待。當體便是。動念即乖。猶如虛空無有邊際不可測度。唯此一心即是佛。佛與眾生更無別異。
.
The Teacher [Huangbo] told [Pei] Xiu:
The Buddhas1 and all sentient beings2 are only of one-mind; there is no other dharma3. This mind, since beginningless time, has never been born and never been annihilated. It is not green and not yellow, has no form and no characteristic, doesn't belong to existence or non-existence. It cannot be considered new or old, is neither long nor short, is neither big nor small.
Transcending all limited measurements, names, traces, comparisons - the present basis is it; activating thought is deviation. Just like the empty sky that is without boundary, it cannot be estimated or inferred. Only this one-mind is the Buddha. There is no difference at all for Buddhas or for sentient beings.
.
Buddhas are beings who have transcended the cycle of birth-and-death. The term Buddha is a title which means 'the awakened or enlightened one'.
In Chinese Buddhism, sentient beings (眾生) typically refer to beings that originated from the aggregation of causes and conditions. These beings continuously experience the cycle of birth-and-death.
Dharma can mean 'Buddha's teaching' or 'phenomenon' here.
但是眾生著相外求。求之轉失。使佛覓佛。將心捉心。窮劫盡形終不能得。不知息念忘慮佛自現前。此心即是佛。佛即是眾生。為眾生時此心不減。為諸佛時此心不添。乃至六度萬行河沙功德。本自具足不假修添。遇緣即施。緣息即寂。若不決定信此是佛。而欲著相修行以求功用。皆是妄想。與道相乖。此心即是佛。更無別佛。亦無別心。
.
Yet sentient beings, attached to characteristics, seek outwardly [for this mind]. Seeking [it] turns into missing [it]. Employing Buddha to find Buddha, using mind to apprehend mind, even till the exhaustion of this kalpa1, even till the end of this lifeform, still, there can be no attainment. For [the seeker] does not know that, in resting thought and forgetting concern, Buddha manifests by itself.
This [one-]mind is the Buddha. Buddha is the sentient beings. As sentient beings, this mind does not decrease. As Buddhas, this mind does not increase. Through to the six paramitas2, the ten-thousand practices, the countless merit as many as sand in the river, this mind is already sufficient and complete in itself without relying on any cultivation or addition. Upon meeting conditions, it bestows. When conditions cease, it is quiescent.
If [a person] has no determined faith this is Buddha, desiring instead to practice in attachment to characteristics just to obtain apparent effectiveness, all these are delusive thinking that deviate from the way. This very mind is Buddha. There is no other Buddha and no other mind.
.
Kalpa, also known as aeon, is the period of time spanning the formation of a world/universe through to its destruction.
Paramitas can mean 'perfections' or 'crossings-over to the shore of enlightenment'. The six paramitas are these six practices: generosity (dana), discipline (sila), endurance (kshanti), vigour (virya), meditation (dhyana) and wisdom (prajna).
此心明淨。猶如虛空無一點相貌。舉心動念即乖法體。即為著相。無始已來無著相佛。
.
This [one-]mind is luminous and pure, like empty sky without a single bit of characteristic and appearance. Setting up mind to stir thought is thus deviation from the dharma-basis. It is thus attachment to characteristics. Since beginningless time, there are no Buddhas who are attached to characteristics.
修六度萬行欲求成佛。即是次第。無始已來無次第佛。但悟一心。更無少法可得。此即真佛。
.
Performing the six paramitas and ten-thousand practices, desirously seeking to become Buddha, this is [falling into] sequential stages. Since beginningless time, there are no Buddhas of sequential stages. Just awaken to the one-mind with not the slightest bit of dharma1 to be attained, and this is thus the true Buddha.
.
Dharma can mean phenomenon here.
佛與眾生一心無異。猶如虛空無雜無壞。如大日輪照四天下。日升之時明遍天下。虛空不曾明。日沒之時暗遍天下。虛空不曾暗。明暗之境自相陵奪。虛空之性廓然不變。佛及眾生心亦如此。
.
Buddhas and sentient beings are of the one-mind which is devoid of differences, just like the empty sky that is devoid of diversity and deterioration even as the great orb of sun shines down in four directions.
As the sun rises and brightness covers all under heaven, this empty sky has never brightened. As the sun sets and darkness covers all under heaven, this empty sky has never darkened. Even as the states of brightness and darkness invade and rob each other, the nature of empty sky remains vast and unchanging.
The mind of Buddhas and sentient beings is also as such.
若觀佛作清淨光明解脫之相。觀眾生作垢濁暗昧生死之相。作此解者歷河沙劫終不得菩提。為著相故。
.
If Buddha is contemplated as having characteristics of clear-pureness and bright-enlightenment and unfettered-liberation, while sentient beings are contemplated as having characteristics of murky-filthiness and dull-ignorance and birth-and-death, those making such interpretations, even through kalpas as many as sand in the [Ganges] river1, will still not attain to bodhi2 because of attachment to characteristics.
.
As many as sand in the Ganges river is a phrase often repeated in Buddhist sutras.
Bodhi can mean 'awakening' or 'enlightenment'.
唯此一心更無微塵許法可得。即心是佛。如今學道人。不悟此心體。便於心上生心。向外求佛。著相修行。皆是惡法。非菩提道。供養十方諸佛。不如供養一個無心道人。何故。無心者無一切心也。如如之體。內如木石不動不搖。外如虛空不塞不礙。無能所無方所。無相貌無得失。趨者不敢入此法。恐落空無棲泊處故。望崖而退。例皆廣求知見。所以求知見者如毛。悟道者如角。
.
Only this one-mind has not the tiniest dust-speck of dharma to be attained. This is the mind that is Buddha. Students-of-the-way these days, realising not this mind-basis, go on to generate mind on top of mind. Turning outwards to seek Buddha, practising with attachment to characteristics, all these are bad dharma, not the bodhi-way1.
Rather than making offerings to all Buddhas of the ten directions, make offerings to a wayfarer of no-mind instead2. Why so? Because no-mind3 is devoid of each and every possible mind. It is the basis of tathata4 - inwardly like wood and stone, unmoved and unshaken; outwardly like empty sky, unblocked and unhindered. It is devoid of can and can-be5, devoid of direction and location; devoid of characteristic and appearance, devoid of gain and loss.
Those who incline [to things] do not dare enter this dharma, for fear of falling into an emptiness that's devoid of places to perch and anchor on. They see the cliff-edge and retreat. Instead, one following after another, they go seeking everywhere for conceptual views. And therefore, those who seek conceptual views are [numerous] like hair. Those who realise the way are [few] like horns.
.
Bodhi-way is the way of awakening or enlightenment.
The structure of this statement is similar to the lines found in Chapter 12 of the 'Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters'. The last line of Chapter 12 in this sutra states: "Rather than making food offerings to one hundred billion Buddhas of the three times, make food offerings instead to one of no-thought, no-dwelling, no-practice and no-verification."
No-mind is a key teaching in this text, especially for students with the tendency to generate mind on top of mind upon encountering Huangbo's earlier teaching of one-mind. It is meant to help counter those whose tendency is to generate mind by attributing characteristics like that of self/no-self or universal/individual to the one-mind when there is none. So perhaps, it might be helpful to understand no-mind as the 'mind of no-mind' (as mentioned later in section 1ix), which simply is, one-mind. Generally, whenever the word 'mind' is encountered in this text, care should be taken to infer if it is referring to the one-mind (that is devoid of characteristics) or the generated mind (that has characteristics). No-mind should be understood in context to negate the generated mind, and not the one-mind.
Tathata can mean 'as it is' or 'as such'. It is often translated as 'suchness' or 'thusness' in English.
Can and can-be is usually translated as ‘subject and object’. But the emphasis of the term should be on the relational quality of can-ness (of the subject) and the can-be-ness (of the object). For instance, the phenomenon of ‘seeing a tree’ is a function of the eye-consciousness which is activated when, that which can see (eye) meets that which can-be seen (tree).
文殊當理。普賢當行。理者真空無礙之理。行者離相無盡之行。觀音當大慈。勢至當大智。維摩者淨名也。淨者性也。名者相也。性相不異。故號淨名。諸大菩薩所表者人皆有之。不離一心悟之即是。今學道人。不向自心中悟。乃於心外著相取境。皆與道背。
.
Manjusri (Wenshu) represents principle; Samantabhadra (Puxian) represents practice. Principle, is the unhindered principle of true emptiness. Practice, is the unbounded practice free of characteristics. Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) represents great kindness; Sthamaprapta (Shizhi) represents great wisdom. Vimalakirti (Weimo) is Pure Name. Pure means nature. Name means characteristic. Therefore when nature and characteristic do not differ, he is addressed as Pure Name.
What the various mahasattvas1 symbolize, humans have them all. Just never be apart from the one-mind and [one] can realise them all. But students-of-the-way these days do not turn in to their own mind for realisation. Instead, turning out of their mind, [they] attach to characteristics to grab hold of visaya2. All these are against the way.
.
Mahasattvas means 'great bodhisattvas'. The term is often used to refer to great practitioners of Mahayana Buddhism who have generated bodhicitta - the compassionate wish to attain awakening/enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Visaya is sense-object, or sense-sphere (which denotes the range of the senses and their objects), or content of experience.
恒河沙者。佛說是沙。諸佛菩薩釋梵諸天步履而過。沙亦不喜。牛羊蟲蟻踐踏而行。沙亦不怒。珍寶馨香沙亦不貪。糞尿臭穢沙亦不惡。此心即無心之心。離一切相。眾生諸佛更無差別。但能無心。便是究竟。學道人若不直下無心。累劫修行終不成道。被三乘功行拘繫不得解脫。
.
The sands of Ganges river is what Buddha talked about as 'sand'. When the various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Indra, Brahma and various devas1 walk across [the Ganges river], sand is not delighted. When oxen, goats, worms and ants trample across [the Ganges river], sand is not furious. Precious treasures and fragrant scents are not craved after by sand. Waste excrements and foul stenches do not disgust sand.
Such a mind is the mind of no-mind2, free of all characteristics, where there is no discrimination at all even between sentient beings and Buddhas. As long as [one] is able to be of no-mind, it is then complete.
But if students-of-the-way do not arrive directly at no-mind, even through kalpas of practice, they will still not succeed to the way. For they are being detained and restrained by the merits and practices of the three vehicles3; there will be no attainment of liberation.
.
Devas refer to heavenly gods. Indra and Brahma are two of the more famous heavenly gods within the Buddhist and Hindu cosmology.
Just as how the Lankavatara Sutra (in Chapter 4) compares Tathagatas to the non-discriminating sand of Ganges river, here Huangbo compares the mind of no-mind to sand in a similar fashion. Mind of no-mind is the one-mind which is devoid of each and every possible mind (like mind of delight, or mind of fury, or mind of craving, or mind of disgust). The no-mind part is highlighted to counter the tendency of students who, in their bid to realise the mind-basis, end up generating a mind on top of mind. Such a tendency is mentioned at the start of section 1vii.
The three vehicles in Chinese Buddhism refer to the three ways in which a person can arrive at awakening/enlightenment. The first is the sravaka-vehicle (sound-hearer way), through which the Buddha's oral teachings on the four noble truths lead one to awakening. The second is pratyekabuddha-vehicle (solitary-buddha or condition-awakener way), through which the contemplation of the conditions of dependent-origination lead one to awakening. The third is bodhisattva-vehicle, through which the practice of six paramitas for the benefit of all sentient beings lead one to awakening.
然證此心有遲疾。有聞法一念便得無心者。有至十信十住十行十迴向乃得無心者。長短得無心乃住。更無可修可證。實無所得。真實不虛。一念而得。與十地而得者。功用恰齊。更無深淺。秖是歷劫枉受辛勤耳。
.
But to witness/verify this mind [of no-mind], [some people] are fast and [some people] are slow. There are those who upon hearing the dharma, attain to no-mind in a single thought. And there are those who go through the ten stages of faith, ten stages of dwelling, ten stages of conduct, ten stages of transference1 before attaining to no-mind. Yet regardless of how long or short it took, attainment ceases with no-mind, with nothing actually to be cultivated or verified. Because there is nothing actually attained, which is the real unfalsified truth.
[Thus] attaining it in a single thought and attaining it through ten bhumis2, the efficacy is exactly the same. There is no difference of depth and shallowness at all, except the needless experience of kalpas of hard work.
.
These four sets of ten stages can be found in several Mahayana (great vehicle) Buddhist scriptures, like the Surangama Sutra (aka Heroic March Sutra) and the Avatamsaka Sutra (aka Flower Adornment Sutra).
Bhumi means 'ground' or 'stage'. The ten bhumis refer to the ten stages of bodhisattva development in Buddhism. There are detailed descriptions to each of these bhumis in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
造惡造善皆是著相。著相造惡枉受輪迴。著相造善枉受勞苦。總不如言下便自認取本法。此法即心。心外無法。此心即法。法外無心。心自無心。亦無無心者。將心無心。心卻成有。默契而已。絕諸思議。故曰言語道斷心行處滅。
.
Making evil [deeds] and making good [deeds] are all attachment to characteristics1. Making evil in attachment to characteristics, one needlessly experiences the cycle of samsara2. Making good in attachment to characteristics, one needlessly experiences the suffering of laborious toil. Instead of all these, why not recognise the fundamental dharma for yourself and attain it in this very instant of [my] speech?
This dharma is the mind, which outside of mind, there is no other dharma. This mind is the dharma, which outside of dharma, there is no other mind. Mind itself is thus no-mind, which also is devoid of a thing that's no-mind. For in treating mind to be no-mind, mind instead becomes existent.
So just be in silent accord; terminate the various conceptualizations. As has been said: Cut the way of words/speeches, extinguish the traces/places of mind's activity3.
.
The one-mind is devoid of dualistic characteristics of good and evil. Refer to section 11i-c on Huineng's direct pointing to Ming.
Samsara here refers to the Buddhist concept of rebirth, whereby a being goes on continuously in a cycle of birth-and-death-and-birth-and-death...
This statement seems to be a quote from the Dharma King Sutra, except the line in the sutra has the order of the two parts swapped: Extinguish the traces/places of mind's activity, cut the way of words/speeches.
此心是本源清淨佛。人皆有之。蠢動含靈與諸佛菩薩一體不異。秖為妄想分別造種種業果。本佛上實無一物。虛通寂靜。明妙安樂而已。深自悟入。直下便是。圓滿具足更無所欠。
.
This mind is the original-source clear-pure Buddha. All humans have it. Wriggling spiritual creatures as well as various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas uniformly have it without any difference. Only because of delusive thinking and discriminated separation, various types of karmic fruit are [thus] made.
To the original Buddha1, there is actually not a single thing. Only vast emptiness, stilly quiescence, luminous subtlety and peaceful happiness. Proceed deep in yourself to enter this realisation - directly so is it. Perfect, complete, lacking nothing at all.
.
Original Buddha here refers to the 'original-source clear-pure Buddha' mentioned at the start of this section 1xii.
縱使三秖精進修行歷諸地位。及一念證時。祇證元來自佛。向上更不添得一物。卻觀歷劫功用。總是夢中妄為。故如來云。我於阿耨菩提實無所得。若有所得。然燈佛則不與我授記。又云。是法平等。無有高下。是名菩提。
.
Even if three asamkhya1 of vigorous practice is undertaken, going through various bhumis and ranks, when it is [finally] verified in a single thought, what's verified is just that we are fundamentally Buddha. There isn't a single thing added to it at all. In looking back at the kalpas of applied practice, all is just delusive actions in a dream.
Therefore the Tathagata said2: With regards to anuttara-samyak-sambodhi3, I actually have not gained anything. If there is anything gained, Dipankara Buddha4 would not have conferred a prediction of me [as Buddha in the future].
The Tathagata also said5: It is the dharma of even equalness, devoid of high and low; it is called bodhi.
.
According to some Buddhist treatises (like the Abhidharma Mahavibhasa Sastra and Yogacarabhumi Sastra supposedly), three asamkhya is the period of time taken for a practising Bodhisattva to be able to become Buddha. One asamkhya is said to be about 10^51 or 10^59 kalpas. One kalpa is the period of time spanning the formation of a world/universe through to its destruction.
Though not an exact quote, what the Tathagata said in this part references the Diamond Sutra.
Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi means the unsurpassed right and perfect awakening.
Dipankara Buddha is one of the many Buddhas of the past.
What the Tathagata said in this part also references the Diamond Sutra.
即此本源清淨心。與眾生諸佛世界山河。有相無相遍十方界。一切平等無彼我相。此本源清淨心。常自圓明遍照。世人不悟。秖認見聞覺知為心。為見聞覺知所覆。所以不睹精明本體。但直下無心。本體自現。如大日輪昇於虛空遍照十方更無障礙。故學道人唯認見聞覺知施為動作。
.
It is this original-source clear-pure mind that is with all sentient beings, Buddhas and all mountains and rivers of the world, pervading characteristically or non-characteristically throughout the realms of all ten directions. Thoroughly even and equal, without the characteristic of self and others, this is the original-source clear-pure mind, constantly on its own shining everywhere in perfect illumination.
Worldly people don't realise this [because] they only recognise the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing1 as mind. Enveloped by the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing, they do not therefore witness the essential luminance of the original basis. But in proceeding straight down to no-mind, the original basis manifests by itself, like the great orb of sun rising in empty sky, shining throughout all ten directions without any obstruction at all.
Therefore students-of-the-way recognise the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing [not as mind] but only as disbursement of activity.
.
Seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing is short for the six phenomena of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling/touching and knowing/ideating. They are functions of the six vijnanas (consciousnesses) attributed to the sense roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, manas/mental-faculty) when they are in contact with their respective sense objects.
空卻見聞覺知。即心路絕無入處。但於見聞覺知處認本心。然本心不屬見聞覺知。亦不離見聞覺知。但莫於見聞覺者上起見解。亦莫於見聞覺知上動念。亦莫離見聞覺知覓心。亦莫捨見聞覺知取法。不即不離。不住不著。縱橫自在無非道場。
.
In emptying away the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing, pathways to the mind are terminated. There is thus no entry-point. So use that of the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing to recognise the original mind instead.
However, the original mind does not belong to the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing; it is also not apart from the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing. Just don't use the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing to give rise to interpretive views. Also don't use the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing to stir thought. Also don't depart from the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing to look for mind. Also don't abandon the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing to grab hold of dharma.
Not becoming, not departing; not dwelling, not attaching - crisscrossing freely, there isn't anywhere that is not a bodhimanda1.
.
A bodhimanda is a place of awakening or enlightenment.
世人聞道。諸佛皆傳心法。將謂心上別有一法可證可取。遂將心覓法。不知心即是法法即是心。不可將心更求於心。歷千萬劫終無得日。不如當下無心。便是本法。
.
When worldly people hear about the way and that Buddhas all transmit the mind dharma, they assume there's a separate dharma on top of mind that can be verified and can be grabbed hold of. Hence they use mind to look for dharma, not knowing that mind is dharma and dharma is mind.
Don't use the mind to further seek for mind. Even through tens of millions of kalpa, there still won't be the day of attainment. Why not arrive at no-mind right this instant? This then is the fundamental dharma.
如力士迷額內珠向外求覓。周行十方終不能得。智者指之當時自見本珠如故。故學道人迷自本心不認為佛。遂向外求覓起功用行。依次第證。歷劫勤求永不成道。
.
Like the strongman1 confused about [the whereabouts] of the pearl [buried] inside his forehead, he sought and searched outwardly, travelling round and round in all ten directions without ever finding it. It was only when a wise person pointed out [the fact] to him that he then saw his own pearl as it originally was in that moment - [inside his forehead].
Similarly, it is only because students-of-the-way are confused about their own original mind, that they do not recognise it as Buddha, that they turn outwardly to seek and search, working and practising to verify it according to sequential stages. Even through kalpas of diligent seeking, [these people] will never attain to the way.
.
In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, it is said that there is a strongman who had a pearl placed between his eyebrows. One day, he was struck between his brows while fighting with someone. The pearl sank under his skin and appeared as a boil on his forehead. But the strongman didn't know that and thought he had lost his pearl. So he went everywhere looking for it.
不如當下無心。決定知一切法。本無所有亦無所得。無依無住。無能無所。不動妄念便證菩提。及證道時秖證本心佛。歷劫功用並是虛修。如力士得珠時。秖得本額珠。不關向外求覓之力。故佛言。我於阿耨菩提實無所得。恐人不信故引五眼所見五語所言。
.
Why not arrive at no-mind right this instant, to decisively know that all dharmas are fundamentally devoid of any existence and any attainment. devoid of dependence and devoid of dwelling, devoid of can and devoid of can-be, if deluded thought is not stirred, bodhi is then verified. And in the moment of verifying the way, only our original mind-Buddha is verified.
Those kalpas of applied practices are all extraneously done - just like the strongman who attained the pearl, attaining only that which is originally in his forehead; it had nothing to do with the effort with which he sought and searched outwardly.
Therefore Buddha said: With regards to anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, I actually have not gained anything1. But fearing that people will not believe this, [the Buddha thus] cited what the five eyes2 saw and what the five speeches/speakers3 said.
.
This particular reference to the Diamond Sutra can also be found in section 1xiii.
Buddhism has five types of classification for eye: physical eye, heavenly eye, wisdom eye, dharma eye and Buddha eye. These are the five eyes.
In the Diamond Sutra, Buddha says that the Tathagata is a speaker of five types of speech: speaker of truth, speaker of reality, speaker of suchness, speaker of honesty (non-deceit), speaker of integrity (non-difference).
真實不虛是第一義諦。學道人莫疑四大為身。四大無我。我亦無主。故知此身無我亦無主。五陰為心。五陰無我亦無主。故知此心無我亦無主。六根六塵六識和合生滅亦復如是。十八界既空。一切皆空。唯有本心蕩然清淨。
.
The truth of ultimate meaning1 is really without falsehood. Students-of-the-way [should] not doubt that the body is of the four great-elements2, that the four great-elements are devoid of a self, that the self is also devoid of a master. Therefore know that this body is devoid of self and also devoid of master.
[Do not doubt that] the mind is of the five skandhas3, that the five skandhas are devoid of a self and also devoid of a master. Therefore know that this mind is devoid of self and also devoid of master.
The bounded combinations of the six [sense] roots, six [sense] dusts and six vijnanas4, in their arising and passing-away, are also as such - [devoid of self and devoid of master]. Since the eighteen realms5 are empty, everything is entirely empty. There is only the original mind, absolutely clear and pure.
.
There are two types of truth mentioned in Buddhism - that of conventional truth and that of ultimate truth. Conventional truth describes reality through the dualistic experience of a seemingly substantial world. Ultimate truth describes everything as empty (refer to section 1xxiv on such an emptiness). This ultimate truth is also known as the truth of ultimate meaning.
In Buddhism, the four great-elements are earth (representing the quality of solidity or attractive force), water (representing the quality of liquidity or relative motion), fire (representing the quality of heat or energy) and air/wind (representing the quality of expansion or repulsive force). Maha-Rahulovada Sutta gives a detailed teaching by Buddha on the contemplation of no-self with regards to the body of four great-elements.
Skandhas mean aggregates or heaps. There are five types of skandhas: rupa (material-form/four-great-elements), vedana (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral feelings), sanna (perception), sankhara (mental construction) and vijnana (consciousness). Anatta-lakkhana Sutta gives a detailed teaching by Buddha on the contemplation of no-self with regards to the five skandhas.
Vijnana can mean 'divided or discriminated knowing/knowledge'. It is usually translated as 'consciousness' in English. The six vijnanas are eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness and mental-consciousness.
The eighteen realms are simply the respective realm of each of the six sense roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and intellect/manas), the respective realm of each of the six sense dusts (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and dharma) and the respective realm of each of the six vijnanas (refer to point 3). These eighteen realms cover all phenomena, and hence is synonymous to everything.
有識食有智食。四大之身飢瘡為患。隨順給養不生貪著。謂之智食。恣情取味妄生分別。惟求適口不生厭離。謂之識食。
.
There is vijnana1-feeding and there is jnana2-feeding.
This body of four great-elements has hunger and wound as threats. When following in accord [to conditions], giving nurturance [to the body] without arising greed and attachment - this is called jnana-feeding.
When indulging the passion to grab hold of tastes, delusively arising discrimination/dichotomization, seeking only to please the mouth/palate without arising nibbida3 - this is called vijnana-feeding.
.
Vijnana is usually translated as 'consciousness'. Here, it can refer to the divided/dichotomized knowing of the discriminatory mind.
Jnana is usually translated as 'wisdom'. Here, it can refer to the proper knowing of the clear-pure mind.
Nibbida is a turning away due to disillusionment and disenchantment. One is not enchanted by the illusory object anymore.
聲聞者。因聲得悟。故謂之聲聞。但不了自心。於聲教上起解。或因神通。或因瑞相。言語運動。聞有菩提涅槃三僧秖劫修成佛道。皆屬聲聞道。謂之聲聞佛。唯直下頓了。自心本來是佛。無一法可得。無一行可修。此是無上道。此是真如佛。
.
A sravaka1 attains realisation because of sound/spoken-words, thus he/she is called sound-hearer. When there is no complete comprehension of one's own mind, only interpretations of [Buddha's] oral teachings are made. [Then] either because of siddhis2 or because of auspicious signs, words and speeches are activated, there is hearing of bodhi-nirvana, [thus] going through three asamkhya3 to succeed in the practice of Buddha-way. All these belong to the sravaka-way. [One who succeeds as such] is called sravaka-Buddha.
[But] it's only when one proceeds directly on to an immediate comprehension that his/her own mind is originally the Buddha, that there isn't a single dharma to be gained, that there isn't a single practice to be pursued, this then is the unsurpassed way. This then is the tathata4-Buddha.
.
Sravakas mean 'sound-hearers'. Sravakayana - the way or vehicle of the sound-hearers - is considered one of three modes of Buddhist practice.
Siddhis are special powers or psychic connections that one gains access to, typically through meditation (dhyana).
According to some Buddhist treatises (like the Abhidharma Mahavibhasa Sastra and Yogacarabhumi Sastra supposedly), three asamkhya is the period of time taken for a practising Bodhisattva to be able to become a Buddha. One asamkhya is said to be about 10^51 or 10^59 kalpas. One kalpa is the period of time spanning the formation of a world/universe through to its destruction.
Tathata is usually translated as 'thusness or suchness' in English.
學道人。秖怕一念有。即與道隔矣。念念無相念念無為。即是佛。學道人若欲得成佛。一切佛法總不用學。唯學無求無著。無求即心不生。無著即心不滅。不生不滅即是佛。八萬四千法門對八萬四千煩惱。秖是教化接引門。本無一切法。離即是法。知離者是佛。但離一切煩惱。是無法可得。學道人若欲得知要訣。但莫於心上著一物言佛。
.
Students-of-the-way are afraid only of having a single thought of existence, [for they would] thus be impeded from the way. [But] when thought after thought is without characteristic, when thought after thought is without causal activity - it is thus Buddha.
Should students-of-the-way aspire to become Buddha, none of the Buddha-dharma needs to be learned. Just learn no-seeking and no-attachment. Devoid of seeking, mind does not arise. Devoid of attachment, mind does not pass-away. Not arising and not passing-away is thus Buddha.
The 84,000 dharma-gates1 counter the 84,000 kleshas2. They are just receiving/guiding-gates for [the purpose of] education and conversion. Originally there isn't all these dharmas. Freedom itself is the dharma. That which knows freedom is Buddha. Just be free of every klesha, and there is no dharma to be attained. Should students-of-the-way aspire to know what the key importance is, just don't attach any single thing on top of mind and call it Buddha.
.
Dharma-gates can mean 'methods' or 'teaching devices' here.
Kleshas are mental afflictions that cloud the mind's nature. They are usually translated as defilements, taints or poisons.
真法身猶若虛空。此是喻法身即虛空。虛空即法身。常人謂法身遍虛空處。虛空中含容法身。不知法身即虛空虛空即法身也。若定言有虛空。虛空不是法身。若定言有法身。法身不是虛空。但莫作虛空解。虛空即法身。莫作法身解。法身即虛空。虛空與法身無異相。佛與眾生無異相。生死與涅槃無異相。煩惱與菩提無異相。離一切相即是佛。
.
The true dharmakaya1 is as if an empty sky. This is an analogy of the dharmakaya as empty sky and the empty sky as dharmakaya. But normal people say that the dharmakaya pervades all of empty sky, or that within empty sky is held the dharmakaya. [They] do not know that it is the dharmakaya which is empty sky and the empty sky which is dharmakaya. If empty sky is defined to exist, then empty sky is not the dharmakaya. If dharmakaya is defined to exist, then dharmakaya is not the empty sky.
Just don't construct an interpretation of empty sky, and empty sky is thus dharmakaya. Don't construct an interpretation of dharmakaya, and dharmakaya is thus empty sky. Empty sky and dharmakaya do not differ characteristically. Buddha and sentient beings do not differ characteristically. Samsara and nirvana2 do not differ characteristically. Klesha and bodhi do not differ characteristically. Free of all characteristics, one is thus Buddha.
.
Dharmakaya means 'dharma-body', which is one of three bodies of Buddha. The other two bodies are sambhogakaya (reward-body) and nirmanakaya (transformation-body).
Samsara refers to birth-and-death here. Nirvana refers to the unborn and the deathless.
凡夫取境。道人取心。心境雙忘乃是真法。忘境猶易忘心至難。人不敢忘心。恐落空無撈摸處。不知空本無空。唯一真法界耳。此靈覺性無始已來與虛空同壽。未曾生未曾滅。未曾有未曾無。未曾穢未曾淨。未曾喧未曾寂。未曾少未曾老。無方所無內外。無數量無形相。無色像無音聲。不可覓不可求。不可以智慧識。不可以言語取。不可以境物會。不可以功用到。諸佛菩薩與一切蠢動含靈。同此大涅槃性。性即是心。心即是佛。佛即是法。
.
Mundane-people grab hold of visaya; way-farers grab hold of mind. Forgetting both mind and visaya is actually the true dharma.
Forgetting visaya is still easy but forgetting mind is utterly difficult. People do not dare forget mind, for fear of falling into the place of emptiness where nothing can be scooped and touched. They do not know that this emptiness is fundamentally devoid of emptiness - it is the one and only true dharma realm.
Since beginningless time, this empty space lives concurrently with the spiritually-aware nature. It has never been born and never been annihilated, never been in existence and never been in non-existence, never been filthy and never been pure, never been boisterous and never been quiescent, never been young and never been old. Devoid of direction and location, devoid of inside and outside. Devoid of measurable quantity, devoid of characteristical form. Devoid of visual appearance, devoid of audible sound. It cannot be found, cannot be sought, cannot be cognized by wisdom, cannot be grasped by language, cannot be met through visaya-objects, cannot be arrived through practice-applications.
Every Buddha and bodhisattva, together with every wriggling spiritual creature, share this great nirvana nature. This very nature is mind; this very mind is Buddha; this very Buddha is dharma.
一念離真皆為妄想。不可以心更求于心。不可以佛更求於佛。不可以法更求於法。故學道人直下無心默契而已。擬心即差。以心傳心此為正見。慎勿向外逐境。認境為心。是認賊為子。
.
When [even] a single thought departs from the true [dharma realm]1, all becomes delusive thinking. So do not use mind to further seek for mind; do not use Buddha to further seek for Buddha; do not use dharma to further seek for dharma.
It is thus that students-of-the-way proceed directly to no-mind and be in silent accord only. Drafting a mind is deviation; allowing mind to transmit mind - this is proper view/seeing.
So be cautious not to turn outwards to pursue visaya, for recognising visaya as mind is recognising thieves as family members.
.
This is the true dharma realm mentioned in section 1xxiv - the emptiness fundamentally devoid of emptiness.
為有貪嗔癡即立戒定慧。本無煩惱焉有菩提。故祖師云。佛說一切法。為除一切心。我無一切心。何用一切法。本源清淨佛上。更不著一物。譬如虛空雖以無量珍寶莊嚴終不能住。佛性同虛空。雖以無量功德智慧莊嚴終不能住。但迷本性轉不見耳。
.
It's only because of raga, dvesha and moha1 that sila, samadhi and prajna2 are erected. Originally, there are no kleshas, so how can there be bodhi? Therefore the Ancestral Teacher said: Buddha taught every possible dharma for the sake of eliminating every possible mind, but I don't have any of these minds so why use any of these dharmas3? For the original-source clear-pure Buddha, there can be no attachment to anything.
Like the empty sky, even if adorned with limitless precious treasures, [the precious treasures] inevitably can't hang on and stay. The nature of Buddha is like empty sky, even if adorned with limitless merit and wisdom, [the merit and wisdom] inevitably can't hang on and stay. It's only when one is deluded about his/her original nature that [seeing] is turned into not-seeing.
.
Raga, dvesha and moha are typically considered to be the root of all other kleshas (mental afflictions) in Buddhism. They are also known as the three poisons. Raga refers to greed/sensual-attachment. Dvesha refers to aversion/ill-will. Moha refers to delusion/confusion.
Sila, samadhi and prajna are typically known as the threefold training in Buddhism. Silarefers to the training of ethics/conduct. Samadhi refers to the training of meditation/concentration. Prajna refers to the training of wisdom/insight.
According to the preface of the text 'Compiled Explanations of Zen's Source' written by Guifeng Zongmi, it was the Sixth Ancestral Teacher (Huineng) who said this. However, this quote cannot be found in any of the extant version of 'Sixth Ancestor's Platform Sutra'.
所謂心地法門。萬法皆依此心建立。遇境即有無境即無。不可於淨性上轉作境解。所言定慧。鑑用。歷歷寂寂惺惺見聞覺知。皆是境上作解暫為中下根人說即得。若欲親證皆不可作如此見解。盡是境法有沒處沒於有地。但於一切法不作有無見。即見法也。
.
What's called the mind-ground dharma-gate1 is that, myriad dharmas are all constructed and erected in dependence to this mind. Upon encountering visaya, they are established. Without visaya, they are not established. One must not turn it around and regard the pure nature2 as a visaya to be interpreted.
What's said to be samadhi-prajna [training], is applying scrutiny - distinctly, stilly, alertly - to the seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing3. All this is making interpretations based on visaya. It's appropriate only as provisional instruction for people of average or poor natural capacity. For those who desire an experiential verification, they must not make such interpretive seeing.
When it's all visaya, where dharmas exist or not, their non-existence is based on the ground of existence. So with regards to all dharmas, one does not make the seeing of [them as] existent or non-existent, this then is seeing dharma.
.
Dharma-gate can also be understood as 'method' or 'teaching device'.
Pure nature is short for 'the nature of the original-source pure-clear Buddha' which as described in the previous section is like empty sky.
Seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing is short for the six phenomena of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling/touching and knowing/ideating. They are functions of the six vijnanas (consciousnesses) attributed to the sense roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, manas/mental-faculty) when they are in contact with their respective sense objects.
九月一日師謂休曰。自達摩大師到中國。唯說一心唯傳一法。以佛傳佛不說餘佛。以法傳法不說餘法。法即不可說之法。佛即不可取之佛。乃是本源清淨心也。唯此一事實。餘二則非真。般若為慧。此慧即無相本心也。
.
On 1 September, the Teacher [Huangbo] told [Pei] Xiu:
Since Bodhidharma arrived at China, he spoke only of the one-mind and transmitted only the one-dharma. Buddha is used to transmit Buddha; there is no speaking of any extra Buddha. Dharma is used to transmit dharma; there is no speaking of any extra dharma.
What's dharma, is the unspeakable dharma. What's Buddha, is the ungraspable Buddha. This thus is the original-source clear-pure mind. Only this 'one'1, is the real fact. Any extra to make two is just not true2. With prajna as wisdom, this wisdom is the original [clear-pure] mind that has no characteristic.
.
The motif of 'one' runs throughout this whole text - like one-mind and one-dharma. Later on, there will also be mentions of 'one essential luminance' and 'one-vehicle'.
This is a quote from the Lotus Sutra. It will be mentioned again in section 3ix with regards to the notion of one-vehicle.
凡夫不趣道。唯恣六情乃行六道。學道人一念計生死即落魔道。一念起諸見即落外道。見有生趣其滅。即落聲聞道。不見有生唯見有滅。即落緣覺道。法本不生今亦無滅。不起二見不厭不欣。一切諸法唯是一心。然後乃為佛乘也。
.
Mundane people, not oriented to the [Buddha's] way, know only to indulge the six passions1, thus they go through the six-ways2.
Students-of-the-way, in having a single thought of processing birth-and-death, thus fall into the demon's way; in having a single thought of activating various views, thus fall into the outsider's way3.
In viewing there is arising, thus orienting to its passing-away - this falls into the sravaka's way. Viewing not there is arising while viewing only that of passing-away - this falls into the pratyekabuddha's way4.
Dharmas are fundamentally not arisen/born, and so even now they do not pass-away. Without establishment of a dualistic view, without dislikes and likes, all types of dharma are just the one-mind. This then is the Buddha's vehicle5 indeed.
.
Six passions refer to the six sense roots that have impassioned consciousnesses.
Six-ways refer to the six samsara ways of existence: hellish-being (naraka), hungry ghost (preta), animal (tiryag), human (manusya), demi-god (asura) and heavenly-being (deva).
Outsider's way typically refers to tirthika, which is a term for heretics or non-Buddhists.
Pratyekabuddha's way, in this context, refers to the way of awakening through contemplation of dependent origination.
As taught in the Lotus Sutra, Buddha's vehicle is the one-vehicle that will lead a person to Buddhahood. More information on this one-vehicle can be found in point 1 of section 3ix.
凡夫皆逐境生心。心遂欣厭。若欲無境當忘其心。心忘即境空。境空即心滅。若不忘心而但除境。境不可除。秖益紛擾。故萬法唯心。心亦不可得。復何求哉。
.
Mundane people all chase after visaya, hence giving birth to mind which has likes and dislikes. If one wishes to have no visaya, such a mind [of likes and dislikes] should be forgotten.
When mind is forgotten, visaya is empty. When visaya is empty, mind passes-away. If mind is not forgotten, but attempts are made to eliminate visaya instead, the visaya cannot be eliminated. [Such attempts] only increase confusion and disturbance. Because the ten-thousand dharmas are only mind, and even mind cannot be obtained, what is there to be further sought?
學般若人不見有一法可得。絕意三乘。唯一真實。不可證得。謂我能證能得。皆增上慢人。法華會上拂衣而去者。皆斯徒也。故佛言。我於菩提實無所得默契而已。
.
Students of prajna view not the existence of any dharma to be obtained. Terminate intention for the three vehicles1; proof of this only 'one' truth cannot be obtained.
Those who claim "I can prove" and "I can obtain" are all false-mana2 people. [Just as] those who brushed their robes to leave the Lotus Assembly3 are all people of such [false-mana]. Therefore the Buddha said: With regards to bodhi, I have actually gained nothing of it. It's just silent accord only4.
.
In the Lotus Sutra, it is taught that Buddha uses the idea of three vehicles as skillful means to liberate all beings, but effectively, there is only one-vehicle.
Mana is a Buddhist term that means conceit or arrogance (not to be confused with 'manas', which is the sixth sense root - mental faculty or intellect.). False-mana, one of seven types of conceit/arrogance, refers to the mind of a proud person who feels that he/she has achieved something when it is not actually achieved.
As described in the Lotus Sutra, the Lotus Assembly refers to the great assembly of monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, arahats, mahasattvas, devas, nagas, asuras and all sorts of beings who gathered at the city of Rajagrha to listen to Buddha's teaching. And just as the Buddha was about to teach the wondrous dharma as requested by his disciple Sariputra, five thousand monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen stood up and left the assembly.
Refer to point 1 of section 1xviii. Different variations of this Diamond Sutra reference can be found repeated throughout this text.
凡人臨欲終時。但觀五蘊皆空四大無我。真心無相不去不來。生時性亦不來。死時性亦不去。湛然圓寂心境一如。但能如是。直下頓了。不為三世所拘繫。便是出世人也。切不得有分毫趣向。若見善相諸佛來迎及種種現前。亦無心隨去。若見惡相種種現前。亦無心怖畏。但自忘心。同於法界。便得自在。此即是要節也。
.
Mundane people, when about to die, should just meditate/contemplate that the five skandhas are all empty, that the four great-elements are devoid of 'me'1. The true mind is without characteristics, neither going nor coming. Even in birth its nature does not come; even in death its nature does not go. Peacefully clear, completely quiescent, mind and visaya are in one suchness.
If [a person] can be as such, proceeding directly to the sudden completion of understanding, unrestrained by the three-world/life2, [he/she] is then a world/life-transcending person. There must not be the slightest bit of inclination towards anything.
If various Buddhas of good characteristics are seen coming to welcome [you] with manifestations appearing one after another, have no mind to follow along. If manifestations of bad characteristics appear one after another, have no mind of terror and dread. Just take it upon yourself to forget the mind, be equivalent to the dharma-realm, then there is attainment of autonomy. This point is crucial.
.
In Buddhism, one of the three marks of dharma is that of anatta (not-self/no-self/non-self). It is taught that all phenomema are devoid of 'me'. Refer to section 1xix for Huangbo's full teaching on this.
The three-world/life refer to the previous world/life, the present world/life and the future world/life.
十月八日。師謂休曰。言化城者。二乘及十地等覺妙覺。皆是權立接引之教。並為化城。言寶所者。乃真心本佛自性之寶。此寶不屬情量。不可建立。無佛無眾生。無能無所。何處有城。若問此既是化城。何處為寶所。寶所不可指。指即有方所。非真寶所也。故云在近而已。不可定量言之。但當體會契之即是。
.
On 8 October, the Teacher (Huangbo) told Xiu (Pei Xiu):
What's said to be the conjured city1, is the two vehicles2, the ten bhumis3, the right awakening, the perfect awakening. They are all teachings provisionally established to receive and attract [people]. These teachings are the conjured city.
What's said to be the treasure place4, is actually the true mind, the original Buddha, the treasure of the nature itself. This treasure does not belong to the domain of passion-measurement; it cannot be constructed or established. Devoid of Buddha, devoid of sentient being, devoid of can, devoid of can-be, where is it that the city exists?
If it's asked, "Since this is a conjured city, where then is the treasure place?" The treasure place cannot be [specifically] pointed out. [Specific] pointing produces existent direction and location, which then isn't the true location of the treasure. Therefore it is only said that [the treasure] is near5. There is no speaking of it in specific measurement.
Just realise experientially; be in accord; that's it.
.
The conjured city refers to a story in the Lotus Sutra where a leader was guiding a group of people along a dangerous road to reach a place of treasure. Along the way, the people said they were exhausted and frightened and couldn't go on anymore. So the leader conjured up a city along the dangerous road for the purpose of rest. After the people had rested, the leader vanished the city and told the group to go on, saying that the treasure is near.
The two vehicles here should be referring to Sound-hearer's Vehicle (sravakayana) and Condition-awakener's Vehicle (pratyekabuddhayana).
The ten bhumis refer to the ten stages of bodhisattva development.
Refer to point 1 regarding the story involving the treasure place.
Refer to the last line of point 1 regarding the 'treasure is near'.
言闡提者。信不具也。一切六道眾生乃至二乘不信有佛果。皆謂之斷善根闡提。菩薩者。深信有佛法。不見有大乘小乘。佛與眾生同一法性。乃謂之善根闡提。
.
What's typically said of icchantika1, is that of one who lacks faith/trust. All sentient beings in the six-ways2, even those in the two vehicles, should they not have faith in the presence of the Buddha-fruit, are all called icchantikas with good roots severed.
Bodhisattva, [however,] is one who has deep faith in the presence of Buddha-dharma. Viewing not there is great vehicle or small vehicle, [deeply trusting that] Buddha and sentient beings share the same dharma nature, this then is one who is called icchantika with good roots.
.
Icchantika is one who does not attain to nirvana. According to the Lankavatara Sutra, there are two types of icchantika. The first type is those who have forsaken their good roots by slandering the Mahayana Buddhist sutras or by saying wicked stuff. These are people who do not follow the vinaya (Buddhist rules and precepts) and thus do not attain to nirvana. The second type of icchantika is those Bodhisattvas who vow not to attain nirvana until all sentient beings have done so.
Six-ways refer to the six samsara ways of existence: hellish-being (naraka), hungry ghost (preta), animal (tiryag), human (manusya), demi-god (asura) and heavenly-being (deva).
大抵因聲教而悟者。謂之聲聞。觀因緣而悟者。謂之緣覺。若不向自心中悟。雖至成佛。亦謂之聲聞佛。學道人多於教法上悟。不於心法上悟。雖歷劫修行。終不是本佛。若不於心悟。乃至於教法上悟。即輕心重教。遂成逐塊忘於本心。故但契本心不用求法。心即法也。
.
Generally those who realise because of oral teachings, are called sound-hearers (sravakas). Those who realise through contemplation of causes-and-conditions1, are called condition-awakeners (pratyekabuddhas). If there is no turning in to our own mind for realization, even if one succeeds in becoming Buddha, one may only be called a sound-hearer Buddha.
Students-of-the-way mostly attempt to attain realisation through the teachings-dharma, not through the mind-dharma. Even after kalpas of practice, in the end they are still not the original Buddha2.
When realisation is not attained through mind, attempting instead to realise through teachings-dharma, this is belittling the mind and favouring the teachings. This leads one to chase after dirt clods3, [thus] forgetting the original mind. However, should one just accord with the original mind, there is no need to seek dharma. For mind is actually dharma.
.
Contemplation of causes-and-conditions most likely refers to the meditation on the twelve links of dependent origination.
It's interesting that there are two types of Buddha described in this passage - original Buddha and sound-hearer Buddha.
Chase after dirt clods refers to a passage in the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra (scroll no. 569) which compares a lion to a dog. In the sutra, it is said that when someone throws dirt clod at a lion, the lion chases after the person, and so the clod-throwing would cease. But when someone throws dirt clod at a dog, the dog chases after the dirt clod instead, and so the clod-throwing would persist.
凡人多為境礙心。事礙理。常欲逃境以安心。屏事以存理。不知乃是心礙境理礙事。但令心空境自空。但令理寂事自寂。勿倒用心也。凡人多不肯空心。恐落於空。不知自心本空。愚人除事不除心。智者除心不除事。
.
Mundane people mostly consider visaya as that which hinders mind, phenomenon as that which hinders principle. They constantly wish to flee the visaya in order to pacify mind, block the phenomena in order to preserve principle, not knowing that it is mind that hinders visaya and principle that hinders phenomenon.
Just let mind be empty and visaya will be empty on its own. Just let principle be quiescent and phenomenon will be quiescent on its own. So, don't employ the mind in an upside-down manner.
But mundane people are mostly not willing to empty their mind, for fear of falling into emptiness, not knowing that their own mind is originally empty. Foolish people thus eliminate phenomenon but not mind, while wise people eliminate mind but not phenomenon.
菩薩心如虛空。一切俱捨。所作福德皆不貪著。然捨有三等。內外身心一切俱捨。猶如虛空無所取著。然後隨方應物。能所皆忘。是為大捨。若一邊行道布德。一邊旋捨。無希望心。是為中捨。若廣修眾善有所希望。聞法知空。遂乃不著。是為小捨。大捨如火燭在前。更無迷悟。中捨如火燭在傍。或明或暗。小捨如火燭在後。不見坑阱。故菩薩心如虛空。一切俱捨。過去心不可得。是過去捨。現在心不可得。是現在捨。未來心不可得。是未來捨。所謂三世俱捨。
.
The bodhisattva's mind is like empty sky. Absolutely everything is relinquished. To the blessings and merits made, there is no greedy attachment at all. Relinquishment, however, has three levels to it.
Totally relinquishing all that is within-and-without, all that is body-and-mind, like empty sky with nothing to grasp upon, then responding to things in accord to the situation with both can and can-be forgotten - this is regarded as big relinquishment.
Should one go practising the way by setting up merit on the one side while continually returning to relinquishment on the other side without any mind of wishful hoping - this is regarded as medium relinquishment.
Should one extensively cultivate the many excellences with wishful hoping, but through hearing the dharma, knows about emptiness and thus does not hold any attachment - this is regarded as small relinquishment.
Big relinquishment is like having the flaming candle ahead, there can be no more of either delusion or awakening [along the way]. Medium relinquishment is like having the flaming candle beside, [the way is] sometimes bright and sometimes dark. Small relinquishment is like having the flaming candle behind, there is no seeing of holes/traps [along the way].
Therefore the bodhisattva's mind is like empty sky, totally relinquishing everything. 'Past mind cannot be attained1' is relinquishing the past. 'Present mind cannot be attained' is relinquishing the present. 'Future mind cannot be attained' is relinquishing the future. This is what's called totally relinquishing the three-world/life2.
.
Past mind cannot be attained. Present mind cannot be attained. Future mind cannot be attained.These are quotes from the Diamond Sutra.
The three-world/life refers to the triple time of past world/life, present world/life and future world/life.
自如來付法迦葉已來。以心印心。心心不異。印著空即印不成文。印著物即印不成法。故以心印心。心心不異。能印所印俱難契會。故得者少。然心即無心。得即無得。
.
Ever since the Tathagata passed the dharma to Kasyapa, mind is used to seal/imprint mind, where mind after mind differs not. Imprinting on emptiness, the imprint establishes no impression. Imprinting on objects, the imprint establishes no dharma. Therefore, mind is used to seal/imprint mind, where mind after mind differs not.
However, the conjunction between that which can imprint and that which can be imprinted is difficult, thus those who attain [this mind] are few. For this mind is actually no-mind1, and what's attained is actually no-attainment.
.
This is the mind of no-mind mentioned in section 1ix.
佛有三身。法身說自性虛通法。報身說一切清淨法。化身說六度萬行法。法身說法。不可以言語音聲形相文字而求。無所說無所證。自性虛通而已。故曰。無法可說是名說法。報身化身皆隨機感現。所說法亦隨事應根以為攝化。皆非真法。故曰。報化非真佛。亦非說法者。
.
The Buddha has trikaya1. Dharmakaya speaks the dharma of self-nature's empty accessibility. Sambhogakaya speaks the dharma of all clear-purity. Nirmanakaya speaks the dharma of six paramitas and ten-thousand practices.
Regarding the dharma spoken by Dharmakaya, it should not be sought in speeches, sounds, shapes or words. There is nothing said, there is nothing realised - just self-nature's empty accessibility only. Therefore it is stated: [The speaker of dharma has] no dharma that can be spoken; this is called speaking the dharma2.
Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya all follow the function and manifest in response [to the situation]. Their spoken dharmas also follow the phenomena of responding to [people's] capacity in order to captivate and transform them accordingly. But all [such dharmas] are not the true dharma. Therefore it is stated: Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya are not the true Buddha; they are also not the speaker of dharma3.
.
Trikaya refers to the three bodies of Buddha - Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya.
This is a quote from the Diamond Sutra.
This is a quote from Maitreya's 80-line gatha on the Diamond Sutra. Legend has it that Asanga, through his meditative powers, often visited Tusita heaven to receive teachings from bodhisattva Maitreya. On one occasion, he requested a teaching from Maitreya on the Diamond Sutra and received thus a gatha. This gatha was later taught by Asanga to his brother Vasubhandu, who then compiled it with an accompanying commentary.
所言同是一精明分為六和合。一精明者。一心也。六和合者。六根也。此六根各與塵合。眼與色合。耳與聲合。鼻與香合。舌與味合。身與觸合。意與法合。中間生六識為十八界。若了十八界無所有。束六和合為一精明。一精明者。即心也。學道人皆知此。但不能免作一精明六和合解。遂被法縛不契本心。
.
What's said to be the one essential luminance is discriminated into six resonating units1. This one essential luminance, is one-mind. These six resonating units, are six sense roots2. Each of these six sense roots resonates with its respective sense dust3. Eye resonates with sight, ear resonates with sound, nose resonates with smell, tongue resonates with taste, body resonates with touch, manas4 resonates with dharma5. In these [resonances] are born the six vijnanas6. These are the eighteen realms7.
If the eighteen realms are completely understood to be devoid of existence, the six resonating units are held as one essential luminance. This one essential luminance is the one-mind. Students-of-the-way all know this. Yet they can't stop making interpretation of this one essential luminance as six resonating units. And so, fettered by the dharma, [they] don't accord with the original mind.
.
The one essential luminance and six resonating units are terms mentioned in the Surangama Sutra.
The six sense roots are eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and manas (intellect or mental-faculty).
The six sense dusts are sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and dharma (mental-object).
Manas is the mental faculty or intellect.
Dharma here refers to mental object.
Vijnana which means 'divided or dualistic knowing/knowledge' is usually translated as consciousness. Thus the six vijnanas are eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness and mental-consciousness.
The eighteen realms are the six sense roots, the six sense dusts and the six vijnanas.
如來現世。欲說一乘真法則眾生不信興謗。沒於苦海。若都不說。則墮慳貪。不為眾生溥捨妙道。遂設方便說有三乘。乘有大小。得有淺深。皆非本法。故云。唯有一乘道餘二則非真。然終未能顯一心法。故召迦葉同法座別付一心。離言說法。此一枝法令別行。若能契悟者。便至佛地矣。
.
If the Tathagata manifesting in this world wishes to speak the true dharma of the one-vehicle, sentient beings would not believe it. They would slander [such a dharma] and sink in a sea of suffering. But if not a thing is spoken, it would be to fall into the miserly greed of not dispensing widely the subtle way for all sentient beings. Hence expedients are set up.
Saying that there are three vehicles, that there is greatness or smallness to the vehicle, that there is deepness or shallowness to attainment - all these are not the fundamental dharma. Therefore it is said: There is only the one-vehicle way; any extra to make two isn't true1.
But ultimately, as the dharma of the one-mind could not be made apparent, Kasyapa2 was called upon to share the dharma seat through a special conveyance of the one-mind. Free of words to speak the dharma, this one branch of dharma commands special propagation3. For those who can realise in accord, [they] thus arrive instantly at Buddhahood.
.
These two lines are quoted from Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra. It is a chapter on the topic of expedients (upaya) - where the many seemingly different teachings of Buddha, such as those in the three vehicles, are explained to be expedients used in service of the one-vehicle leading to Buddhahood. Regarding the point that there is only the one-vehicle way(and not three vehicles' ways), Chapter 3 of Lotus Sutra tells the story of a rich man whose mansion was on fire, but his children, oblivious to the fire, were attached to playing toys in the house. When the rich man warned them of the fire, and told them to abandon their toys and get out, the children continued their playing, for they knew not what 'fire' was and what 'abandon' meant. The rich man had to entice them by saying that outside the house there were three types of cart yoked to animals, and that the children can go play with these vehicles. When the children left the house, they saw that there was only one type of cart outside, and each was similarly adorned with jewels with a pure white ox yoked to it.
Kasyapa, more commonly known as Mahakasyapa, was a key disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha. After the parinirvana of Sakyamuni, Kasyapa was supposedly the one who became leader of Buddha's many surviving monks and nuns. He was reputed to have presided over the First Buddhist Council where 500 senior monks gathered together to recite and memorise the Buddha's teachings in an attempt to preserve them.
According to popular narrative, the ancestral lineage of Zen Buddhism began one day when Sakyamuni Buddha raised a lotus blossom in his hand, to which Kasyapa smiled in response. No words were conveyed during that particular exchange. It was a while later that the Buddha said, "I have the true dharma eye treasury and the nirvana wondrous mind entrusted to Kasyapa." Kasyapa thus became the 1st Ancestral Teacher, and such a style of mind transmission went on supposedly from one to another in India, until the 28th Ancestral Teacher Bodhidharma brought it to China.
問如何是道。如何修行。師云。道是何物。汝欲修行。問諸方宗師相承參禪學道如何。師云。引接鈍根人語。未可依憑。云此即是引接鈍根人語。未審接上根人復說何法。師云。若是上根人。何處更就人。覓他自己尚不可得。何況更別有法當情。不見教中云。法法何狀。
.
{4i} Someone asks1:
What is the way? How to cultivate/practice it?
{4i-a} Teacher says:
What sort of thing is the 'way' that you wish to cultivate/practice?
{4ii} Someone asks:
In various places, there is a continuing heritage of 'participating in zen and studying the way2' carried on by venerated teachers. What of this [way]?
{4ii-a} Teacher says:
It's just a phrase to receive and guide people of dull faculty. Not to be relied upon as justification.
{4iii} Someone asks:
Since this is a phrase to receive and guide people of dull faculty, [I am] not sure what dharma you speak of then to receive those of superior faculty?
{4iii-a} Teacher says:
If it's a person of superior faculty, where else is there another person [that he/she could] rely on? To find even his own self is already unattainable, what more a special dharma to be regarded with passion3? Isn't it seen mentioned in the teachings what the status of the various dharmas4 is?
.
It is not indicated in the Chinese text just who are the people asking Teacher Huangbo these questions. It might be just one person, or it might be various monks from the monastery Huangbo was hosted in who are doing so. As such, I've simply translated the queries as someone asks.
'Participating in zen and studying the way' (參禪學道) is a phrase commonly used to refer to zen practice/cultivation.
Passion is usually related to impassioned vijnana, which is considered a dualistic mode of knowing/consciousness.
This is a quote from the Surangama Sutra where the eighteen realms are said to be originally the tathagarba-nature, and that with regards to the status of the various dharmas, they are dependently arisen and ultimately unattainable.
云若如此。則都不要求覓也。師云。若與麼則省心力。云如是則渾成斷絕不可是無也。師云。阿誰教他無。他是阿誰。爾擬覓他。云既不許覓。何故又言莫斷他。師云。若不覓便休。即誰教爾斷。爾見目前虛空作麼生斷他。
.
{4iv} Someone asks:
If like this, then not a single thing should be sought and looked for?
{4iv-a} Teacher says:
If so, mental energy is saved.
{4v} Someone asks:
Then, it is annihilating and terminating everything, no? It is nothing?
{4v-a} Teacher says:
Who says it is nothing? What is it that you are set looking for?
{4vi} Someone asks:
Since looking for is not permitted, why then do you say not to annihilate it?
{4vi-a} Teacher says:
If it's no looking for, it's just no looking for. That's it. Who told you to annihilate? You see the empty space right now? How are you going to annihilate it?
云此法可得便同虛空否。師云虛空早晚向爾道。有同有異。我暫如此說。爾便向者裏生解。云應是不與人生解耶。師云。我不曾障爾。要且解屬於情。情生則智隔。云向者裏莫生情是否。師云。若不生情。阿誰道是。
.
{4vii} Someone asks:
Then the attainment of this dharma is identical to empty space, right?
{4vii-a} Teacher says:
Does empty space from day till night tell you that it is identical to or it is different from [this dharma]? I simply made a provisional saying, then you give rise to an interpretation of it.
{4viii} Someone says:
[Your saying] shouldn't have allowed people to give rise to interpretation.
{4viii-a} Teacher says:
I have never obstructed you. Wanting to interpret belongs to passion, and when passion arises, jnana1 is partitioned.
{4ix} Someone asks:
Regarding what you've just said, [I] shouldn't give rise to passion about it, right?
{4ix-a} Teacher says:
If there is no arising of passion, who will say 'yes'?
.
In Buddhism, jnana means 'proper knowing/cognition'. When jnana is supposedly partitioned due to passion, it is called vijnana - which can mean 'divided or dualistic knowing/consciousness'.
問纔向和尚處發言。為甚麼便言話墮。師云。汝自是不解語人。有甚麼墮負。 問向來如許多言說皆是抵敵語。都未曾有實法指示於人。師云。實法無顛倒。汝今問處自生顛倒。覓甚麼實法。云既是問處自生顛倒。和尚答處如何。師云。爾且將物照面看。莫管他人。又云。秖如箇癡狗相似。見物動處便吠。風吹草木也不別。
.
{5i} Someone asks:
Just when [words] are spoken to Upadhyaya1, why immediately say those spoken words have fallen [into failure]?
{5i-a} Teacher says:
You are not a person who understands the meaning of the sayings. What is there to fall into failure?
{5ii} Someone asks:
Up till now your many sayings are all just oppositional phrases. Is there no actual dharma to instruct people?
{5ii-a} Teacher says:
The actual dharma has no inversion/confusion, but from your question itself is born inversion/confusion. What actual dharma is there to seek?
{5iii} Someone asks:
Since it is from the question itself that inversion/confusion is born, what about Upadhyaya's answer?
{5iii-a} Teacher says:
You should treat it like a thing to reflect the face and see. Don't concern yourself with other people.
{5iii-b} Teacher also says:
Just be like a crazed dog. Upon seeing the movement of things, start barking immediately, discriminating not even if it's the wind blowing the grass or the tree.
.
Upadhyaya is an honorific Buddhist title used to address learned monks. In ancient China, titles are often used to address someone of seniority, instead of the person's name or the pronoun 'you'. Here, Upadhyaya refers to zen teacher Huangbo Xiyun.
又云。我此禪宗從上相承已來。不曾教人求知求解。只云學道早是接引之詞。然道亦不可學。情存學解卻成迷道。道無方所名大乘心。此心不在內外中間。實無方所。
.
{5iii-c} Teacher also says:
This zen lineage of ours, from its early heritage till now, has never taught people to seek knowledge or to seek interpretation/explanation. It is only said that 'studying the way' is a phrase to initially receive and guide [people]. But the way cannot actually be studied. Should there be remnant of passion to study and to interpret, it becomes the bewitching way.
The way has no direction and no location; it is named the great vehicle's1 mind. This mind is neither inside nor outside nor in-between. It is really without direction and location.
.
The great vehicle is commonly known as Mahayana Buddhism.
第一不得作知解。只是說汝如今情量處。情量若盡心無方所。此道天真本無名字。只為世人不識迷在情中。所以諸佛出來說破此事。恐汝諸人不了。權立道名。不可守名而生解。
.
{5iii-d}
First and foremost, do not make any knowledge or interpretation. What's only to be said is that of your passion-measurement. Should your passion-measurement come to an end, the mind is without direction and location. This is the natural true way, originally without a name.
But it's just because worldly people do not recognise it and are bewitched in the midst of passion, that the various Buddhas manifest to break this news to everyone. [And because the Buddhas] worry that you people do not understand, the name 'way' is thus nominally established. So do not hold on to name and give rise to interpretation.
故云。得魚忘筌。身心自然達道。識心達本源故號為沙門。沙門果者。息慮而成不從學得。汝如今將心求心。傍他家舍秖擬學取。有甚麼得時。
.
{5iii-e}
Therefore it is said: Having gotten the fish, forget the bamboo trap1 - the body-mind [thus] arrives spontaneously at the way; the vijnana-mind [thus] arrives at its original source. This is hence known as sramana2.
The fruit of sramana is accomplished through resting all concerns; it is not attained through studying. Now you are using the mind to seek the mind, relying on other people's homestead in the hope of clinging to [something] of your studies, when then will you ever attain?
.
This is a quote from the book of Zhuangzi - Miscellaneous Chapters. The meaning is similar to that of 'abandoning the raft upon reaching the other shore' as found in Buddhist scriptures like the Alagaddupama Sutta.
Sramana typically refers to renunciation or monkhood in Chinese Buddhism .
古人心利纔聞一言便乃絕學。所以喚作絕學無為閒道人。今時人只欲得多知多解。廣求文義。喚作修行。不知多知多解翻成壅塞。唯知多與兒酥乳喫。消與不消都總不知。三乘學道人皆是此樣。盡名食不消者。所謂知解不消。皆為毒藥。
.
{5iii-f}
The ancient ones have sharp minds. Upon hearing a single word, studying is terminated. They are therefore addressed as leisurely wuwei way-farers who have terminated studying1.
[But] people nowadays only wish to attain more knowledge and more explanatory interpretations. Seeking widely the meaning of such words, they call [their seeking] practice, realising not that having more knowledge and more interpretations would lead instead to crammed congestion. These people think only of feeding the child more and more milk, not considering at all if the milk is digested away or not2.
Students-of-the-way in all three vehicles are like this. They are all named people of indigestion3. This is what's meant as - knowledge and interpretation undigested, all becoming poisonous medicine.
.
Leisurely wuwei way-farers who have terminated studying is a quote from zen teacher Yongjia Xuanjue's 'Song of Realising the Way'. The term wuwei can mean 'non-striving' or 'purposeless'. It is a Taoist term commonly used to refer to the unconditional purposeless functioning of the way (Dao/Tao).
This is a reference to a story in the Mahayana Parinirvana Sutra where a mother who had fed her child too much milk was very worried that her child would die. Upon meeting the Buddha, the Buddha told the mother that, because she did not plan and consider the matter of indigestion, she had indeed given her child too much milk. But the Buddha also assured the mother that what's eaten by her child would soon be digested and would go on to enhance his life. The Buddha then predicted that the child would grow up to be an active man, such that whatever which was formerly difficult to digest would become easy; milk alone as food would then no longer be enough to sustain him. This story is also used by the Buddha to highlight the point of his sravaka disciples being like the mother's child, unable to digest the dharma of what's eternal, and so suffering and impermanence are taught first. Only when these sravakas become perfect in merit will they then be able to take on the Mahayana (great vehicle) sutras, and be able to also appreciate nirvana as constant, blissful and self.
I have translated 食不消 (shi bu xiao) here simply as 'indigestion'. But literally, the term can mean 'food still left undigested'. It can be helpful to note that 消 (xiao) has both the meaning of 'digest' as well as 'vanish/eliminate'. So a possible implication of Huangbo's teaching here is that, whatever food that has been consumed should be digested till everything of it has vanished and been eliminated.
盡向生滅中取。真如之中都無此事。故云。我王庫內無如是刀。從前所有一切解處。盡須併卻。令空更無分別。即是空如來藏。如來藏者。更無纖塵可有。即是破有法王出現世間。
.
{5iii-g}
[You] can try exhaustively to grab hold [of something] from within arising and passing-away, [but] there can be no such matter in the tathata1. Therefore it is said: There is no such sabre in my imperial storehouse2.
All former interpretations should be wiped away to allow emptiness to be without any discrimination at all. This then is the empty tathagata-garbha3 where not even the tiniest bit of dust can exist. This then is the existence-destroying king of dharma appearing in the world.
.
Tathata is usually translated as 'thusness' or 'suchness' in English.
This is a reference to a story from the Mahayana Parinirvana Sutra where a poor man and a prince were friends. The man – having seen the prince's sabre – craved and coveted it. But soon, the prince had to flee the country for some reason, and the man thus started mumbling about the sabre in his dreams night after night. People who heard the man's mumbling soon brought him before the king where he denied being in possession of the prince's sabre. When asked to describe the sabre, the man said it was shaped like a mountain goat's horn. The king then laughed, saying there never was such a sabre in his imperial storehouse, so how could the man have seen the prince wearing it, much less be in possession of it. The king soon died and someone else inherited the throne. When this new heir asked his ministers if they had ever seen such a sabre in the imperial storehouse, the ministers replied yes and described it as shaped like a mountain goat's horn. A search was thus made for this sabre, but it was never been found. After some time, the prince who had fled the country returned finally to inherit the throne. Upon his ascension to kingship, the same question was put forth to the ministers – if they had ever seen the sabre. They all replied they had seen it before. When asked to describe, some ministers said the sabre’s colour was pure like lotus flower, some said it was shaped like a goat's horn, some said its colour was red like bonfire and some said it was like a black serpent. This new king laughed, saying, "None of you have ever seen the true appearance of my sabre."
Tathagata, which means 'the one thus come', is one of Buddha's many titles. Garbha can mean 'womb, embryo, seed or treasury'. Combined together, the term tathagata-garbha generally refers to the Buddha-nature within all beings.
亦云。我於然燈佛所。無少法可得。此語只為空爾情量知解。但銷鎔表裏情盡。都無依執。是無事人。三乘教網。秖是應機之藥。隨宜所說臨時施設。各各不同。但能了知即不被惑。第一不得於一機一教邊守文作解。何以如此。實無有定法如來可說。我此宗門不論此事。但知息心即休。更不用思前慮後。
.
{5iii-h}
It's also said: I have attained not the least bit of dharma from Dipankara Buddha1. This saying is meant to empty your interpretive knowledge that's based on passion-measurement.
When the dissolution of both surface and underlying passion is complete, when there is no more dependence and attachment [to anything], this is a person who has no concern. The three vehicles' web of teachings is thus just medicine used in responding to situation - saying what's appropriate at the moment, setting up and dispensing provisional expedients.
[Though the provisional expedients] vary and are dissimilar, with complete understanding, there won't be any confusion. What's important is not to cling onto the words at the side of these situational teachings and make interpretations [out of them]. Why is this so? Because there are actually no fixed dharmas that the Tathagata can say. This school of ours do not discuss such matters. One just needs to know to rest the mind, that's it. There's not a need to think and worry back-and-forth.
.
This is a reference to the Diamond Sutra. Dipankara Buddha is one of many Buddhas of the past.
問從上來皆云。即心是佛。未審即那箇心是佛。師云。爾有幾箇心。云為復即凡心是佛。即聖心是佛。師云。爾何處有凡聖心耶。云即今三乘中說有凡聖。和尚何得言無。師云。三乘中分明向爾道。凡聖心是妄。爾今不解。返執為有。將空作實。豈不是妄。妄故迷心。汝但除卻凡情聖境。心外更無別佛。
.
{6i} Someone asks:
Since the beginning, everyone has been saying 'this mind is Buddha'. I am not sure which one of 'this mind' is Buddha?
{6i-a} Teacher says:
How many minds do you have?
{6ii} Someone asks:
So, there is this mundane mind which is Buddha, and this holy mind which is Buddha, right?
{6ii-a} Teacher says:
Where is it that you have mundane or holy mind?
{6iii} Someone asks:
It is taught presently in the three vehicles that there is the mundane and there is the holy; why does Upadhyaya say there aren't?
{6iii-a} Teacher says:
It is clearly stated to you in the three vehicles that minds of mundaneness and holiness are delusionary. But right now you still don't understand, clinging instead [to the belief] that they exist. To regard the empty as substantially real, isn't that a delusion? It is because of delusion that the mind is bewitched. But once you eliminate away the passion of mundaneness and the visaya1 of holiness, there just won't be a Buddha separate from the mind anymore.
.
Visaya is sense-object, or sense-sphere (which denotes the range of the senses and their objects), or content of experience.
祖師西來直指一切人全體是佛。汝今不識。執凡執聖向外馳騁。還自迷心。所以向汝道。即心是佛。一念情生即墮異趣。無始已來不異今日。無有異法故名成等正覺。
.
{6iii-b}
The ancestral teacher (Bodhidharma) came from the west, directly pointing to everyone that all is Buddha. But as of now you still don't understand, clinging to mundaneness, clinging to holiness, dashing outwardly in search, thus bewitching your own mind in the process. Hence it is said to you that 'this mind is Buddha'.
Yet in arising passion with a single thought, 'this' then falls into differentiation. Since beginningless past till now, there has never been a difference [to 'this']. Devoid of any dharma of differences, it is therefore named accomplishment of the right and proper awakening.
云和尚所言即者。是何道理。師云。覓什麼道理。纔有道理便即心異。云前言無始已來不異今日。此理如何。師云。秖為覓故。汝自異他。汝若不覓。何處有異。云既是不異。何更用說即。師云。汝若不信凡聖。阿誰向汝道即。即若不即。心亦不心。可中心即俱忘。阿爾便擬向何處覓去。
.
{6iv} Someone asks:
What is the logic of 'this [mind]' which the Upadhyaya speak of?
{6iv-a} Teacher says:
What logic are you searching for? Once there is logic, there is already differentiation of 'this mind'.
{6v} Someone asks:
[But] earlier you said that 'since beginningless past till now, there has never been a difference'. What does it mean then?
{6v-a} Teacher says:
It is because of searching that therefore you yourself [make] a differentiation. If you don't make a search for, where is it that's different?
{6vi} Someone says:
Since there is no difference, what is the point of saying 'this' then?
{6vi-a} Teacher says:
If you don't believe in mundaneness and holiness, who would then speak to you about 'this'?1 Should this not be 'this', mind also would not be 'mind'. When both 'mind' and 'this' are forgotten as such, where about can you thus propose to make a search for?
.
According to Huangbo here, it seems like 'this mind is Buddha' is an expedient teaching for those who believe in the dichotomy of mundaneness and holiness.
問妄能障自心。未審而今以何遣妄。師云。起妄遣妄亦成妄。妄本無根。秖因分別而有。爾但於凡聖兩處。情盡。自然無妄更擬。若為遣他。都不得有纖毫依執。名為我捨兩臂必當得佛。云既無依執。當何相承。師云。以心傳心。云若心相傳。云何言心亦無。師云。不得一法名為傳心。若了此心。即是無心無法。云若無心無法云何名傳。師云。汝聞道傳心。將謂有可得也。所以祖師云。認得心性時。可說不思議了了無所得。得時不說知。此事若教汝會。何堪也。
.
{7i} Someone asks:
If delusion can obstruct one's own mind, what can I do from now on to dispatch delusion?
{7i-a} Teacher says:
Activating delusion to dispatch delusion can also become a delusion. Fundamentally, delusion is without basis. It's only because of dichotomization that it appears. So if you simply end the passion at both poles of mundaneness and holiness, naturally there won't be any delusion being set up. Hence if it is to dispatch delusion, there must not be the slightest bit of dependent clinging at all. This is called 'Sacrificing both my arms, I will surely attain Buddhahood1'.
{7ii} Someone asks:
Since there is no dependent clinging, how can the heritage2 continue?
{7ii-a} Teacher says:
Mind is used to transmit mind.
{7iii} Someone asks:
If it is through a transmission of mind, why is it said that 'even mind is absent'?
{7iii-a} Teacher says:
Not attaining a single dharma is called transmission of mind. Should such a mind be realised, it is then absent of mind and absent of dharma.
{7iv} Someone says:
If it is absent of mind and absent of dharma, why is it called transmission?
{7iv-a} Teacher says:
Upon hearing 'transmission of mind', do you take it that there's something to be attained? Therefore the ancestral teacher said: The recognition of mind-nature, can be said to be inconceivable; completely and utterly without attainment of anything, such an attainment [of no-attainment] has no speaking of knowing3. Should such a matter be realised by you, what [actually] happens?
.
This is a reference to the Lotus Sutra where a Bodhisattva burned away both his arms as an offering to Buddha Candrasuryavimalaprabhasasri's parinirvana. The assembly of devas, humans, asuras and other bodhisattvas were troubled and distressed on seeing his missing arms. The armless Bodhisattva then made this bold vow in front of everybody: "Sacrificing both my arms, I will surely attain the golden body of Buddha. If what I said is true and not false, then allow my arms to be restored as before." And after the Bodhisattva had made his vow, the arms were indeed spontaneously restored.
Heritage here should be referring to the zen lineage. Unlike other Buddhist schools which based their teachings on certain sutras and sastras, the zen school claims not to be based on any text. So the person here is probably asking Huangbo just how zen teaching can be passed on (to continue the heritage) if it is not dependent on anything at all.
This is supposedly a gatha spoken by the Indian 23rd Zen Ancestral Teacher Haklenayasas to the 24th Zen Ancestral Teacher Simhabodhi.
問秖如目前虛空。可不是境。豈無指境見心乎。師云。甚麼心教汝向境上見。設汝見得。只是個照境底心。如人以鏡照面。縱然得見眉目分明。元來秖是影像。何關汝事。云若不因照。何時得見。師云。若也涉因。常須假物。有什麼了時。汝不見他向汝道。撥手似君無一物。徒勞謾說數千般。云他若識了照亦無物耶。師云。若是無物。更何用照。爾莫開眼寱語去。
.
{8i} Someone asks:
In allowing what is present now to be like empty sky, isn't that still a visaya1? How can there be a seeing of mind in the absence of visaya?
{8i-a} Teacher says:
What is the mind that instructs you to see it through visaya? Assuming you can see it, it is still only a visaya reflective of the mind. Like someone using a mirror to reflect his face. Even if facial features are clearly seen, it is still fundamentally a projected manifestation. What business does it have with you?
{8ii} Someone asks:
If it's not because of reflection, how can seeing [of mind] ever be attained?
{8ii-a} Teacher says:
If causes are going to be involved, there will be constant reliance on things. When is this ever going to end? Don't you see [me] telling you by opening [my] hand to show there isn't anything at all, rather than making lots of fancy speeches futilely over and over again?
{8iii} Someone asks:
And if the person, through reflection, succeed in recognising that there isn't anything at all, what then?
{8iii-a} Teacher says:
If there isn't anything at all, what reflection is there to use? You better don't go sleep-talking with your eyes open.
.
Visaya is sense-object, or sense-sphere (which denotes the range of the senses and their objects), or content of experience.
上堂云百種多知。不如無求。最第一也。道人是無事人。實無許多般心。亦無道理可說。無事散去。
.
At the hall assembly lecture, [Huangbo] said:
The hundred varieties of erudition cannot be compared with no-seeking. This is first and foremost. A way-farer is a person with no concern, who actually does not have any of the many types of mind, who also doesn't have any logic or reason to speak of.
Disperse now with no concern.
問如何是世諦。師云。說葛藤作什麼。本來清淨何假言說問答。但無一切心即名無漏智。汝每日行住坐臥一切言語。但莫著有為法。出言瞬目盡同無漏。
.
{10i} Someone asks:
What is conventional truth1?
{10i-a} Teacher says:
Why talk about kudzu2? What's originally clear and pure does not depend on words-and-speeches or questions-and-answers. Just be without all possible minds; this is then called jnana with no-asrava3. Every day, in moving-standing-sitting-reclining and talking, just do not be attached to conditioned dharmas. Then your verbal utterance and blinking of eyes will all be equivalent to no-asrava.
.
There are two types of truth mentioned in Buddhism - that of conventional truth and that of ultimate truth. Conventional truth describes reality through the dualistic experience of a seemingly substantial world. Ultimate truth describes everything as empty.
Kudzu is a climbing and coiling vine. It climbs over trees and shrubs, and can grow so fast that it kills them by heavy shading. It is generally considered an invasive plant and a noxious weed.
Jnana can mean proper knowing. Asrava can mean influx, leaking, canker or defilement. So jnana with no-asrava can mean a proper knowing that is untainted and uncorrupted by any defilement.
如今末法向去。多是學禪道者皆著一切聲色。何不與我心心同虛空去。如枯木石頭去。如寒灰死火去。方有少分相應。若不如是。他日盡被閻老子拷爾在。
.
{10i-b}
In these days of the Degenerate-Dharma Age1, most students of the way and zen are all attached to sights and sounds. Why not allow your own mind to accompany mine, to be identical to that of empty sky, to be like that of withered wood and rock, to be like that of cold ash and dead fire? Then there can be some small bit of resonance. For if not, there will be that someday when you would be tortured continuously by old Yama2.
.
Degenerate-Dharma Age is the third of the three ages of Buddhism. The first is the Right-Dharma Age and the second is the Resembling-Dharma Age.
Yama is the lord of hell who judges the dead in Buddhist cosmology. He is also said to rule over all of samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth), such that the phrase "escaping Yama's influence" also means "escaping samsara".
爾但離卻有無諸法。心如日輪常在虛空。光明自然不照而照。不是省力底事。到此之時無棲泊處。即是行諸佛行。便是應無所住而生其心。此是爾清淨法身。名為阿耨菩提。
.
{10i-c}
If you just be free of all dharmas of existence and non-existence, with mind like a round sun constantly in the empty sky, this radiant clarity will naturally be without shining to thus shine. Doesn't this save energy? When it is as such, nestlessness is thus the practice of the Buddhas' practice. This is the mind that arises without any place to dwell in1. This is your clear-pure dharmakaya2 that is called anuttara-samyak-sambodhi3.
.
Very likely it is from Kumarajiva's translation of Diamond Sutra that Huangbo quoted this line to refer to the 'clear-pure dharmakaya' or 'clear-pure mind'. Because Kumarajiva's translation is the only version of Diamond Sutra which gives the name 'clear-pure mind' to the mind that arises without any place to dwell in. The name 'clear-pure mind' is not found in other versions of that sutra.
Dharmakaya refers to the dharma body of Buddha.
Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi means unsurpassed right and perfect awakening.
若不會此意。縱爾學得多知。勤苦修行。草衣木食。不識自心盡名邪行。定作天魔眷屬。如此修行。當復何益。
.
{10i-d}
If the meaning of this is not understood, even if you attain great erudition from studying, [even if you] diligently practise asceticism - wearing only grass clothes and eating only plants/fruits - without recognising your own [clear-pure] mind, they are all called improper practices which will definitely make one a member of Mara's1 family. What benefit then can there be in practising so?
.
Mara is a demon who’s supposedly also the lord of the highest heaven in the Desire realm. He is known in Buddhism for tempting Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) to leave his seat under the bodhi tree. He first sent his three daughters to seduce the Prince, then sent his army of demons to threaten the Prince. When both of these attempts failed, he tried to claim the seat of enlightenment for himself by saying his accomplishments were greater than that of the Prince's. His army of demons immediately roared in support, yelling "I am Mara's witness! I am Mara's witness!" Yet when Mara asked if the Prince had any witness to his accomplishments, the Prince simply touched the earth with his right hand. And it was with earth as witness that Mara and his army disappeared from the Prince.
志公云。佛本是自心作。那得向文字中求。饒爾學得三賢四果十地滿心。也秖是在凡聖內坐。不見道。
.
{10i-e}
Zhigong1 said: Buddha is fundamentally the working of your own mind; how can it be sought for in written words? Even if you have learned to attain all minds of the three virtues2, the four fruits3 and the ten bhumis4, it is still only sitting within the [domain of] mundaneness and holiness. There is no seeing of the way.
.
Zhigong refers to zen teacher Baozhi, who during Emperor Wu's reign of Liang dynasty, was honoured as the national teacher. According to Zutang Ji (祖堂集Anthology of the Ancestral Hall), Zhigong was the Buddhist monk who told Emperor Wu to prepare for and to welcome the coming of Bodhidharma to the state of Liang. After the fateful meeting between Emperor Wu and Bodhidharma, he was also the one who told the Emperor that Bodhidharma was actually the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) who's here to transmit the Buddha's mind seal.
According to Avatamsaka Sutra, the three virtues refer to the 'ten stages of dwelling', the 'ten stages of conduct' and the 'ten stages of transference'. For those who are embarking on the practice of the three virtues, they are considered mundane but virtuous people. For those who have completed these three-set of ten stages and are embarking on the practice of the ten bhumis (the ten stages of bodhisattva development), they are considered holy/noble people. Only the stage of perfect awakening is considered Buddha, transcending the dualistic domain of mundaneness and holiness.
The four fruits refer to the four noble stages taught in the sravaka vehicle. The first stage is sotapanna (stream-entry). The second stage is sakadagami (once-returner). The third stage is anagami (non-returner). The fourth stage is arahant.
The ten bhumis refer to the ten stages of bodhisattva development.
諸行無常是生滅法。勢力盡箭還墜。招得來生不如意。爭似無為實相門。一超直入如來地。為爾不是與麼人須要向古人建化門廣學知解。志公云。不逢出世明師。往服大乘法藥。
.
{10i-f}
All sankharas annica1. This is the dharma of origination and cessation. When the force of the momentum ends, the arrow falls back down in return, resulting in an unfavourable birth in the next life. How can this be compared to the gate of non-causal reality, which upon passing through, allows one to enter directly into the Tathagata-land2?
It is because you are not a person [who can pass through the gate of non-causal reality] that you rely on [the words of] ancient ones to construct gates of education instead,learning extensively those interpretive/conceptual knowledge3. [But it is as] Zhigong said:Without meeting a world-transcending sharp-eyed teacher, the dharma medicine of the great vehicle is taken in vain4.
.
'All sankharas annica' is one of three marks of dharma in Buddhism. It means 'all conditioned phenomena/formations are impermanent'.
This is a direct quote from zen teacher Yongjia Xuanjue's 'Song of Realising the Way'.
This likely refers to the study of texts authored by the ancient ones, like that of Buddhist sutras and sastras (treatises/commentaries).
This should be read in connection with the earlier quote of Zhigong - "Buddha is fundamentally the working of your own mind; how can it be sought for in written words?" So though the teachings of the great vehicle are written in words and can be extensively studied, without the assistance of a world-transcending sharp-eyed teacher, these worded teachings would not work in curing us of our sickness. We would probably end up accumulating more conceptual knowledge instead.
爾如今一切時中行住坐臥。但學無心。久久須實得。為爾力量小不能頓超。但得三年五年或十年。須得箇入頭處自然會去。為爾不能如是。須要將心學禪學道。佛法有甚麼交涉。
.
{10i-g}
As of now, at all times, whether in moving-standing-sitting-reclining, you just need to learn no-mind. This need of yours to keep [grasping on to] substantial obtainment will persist for a long while because your strength is small. [You would] still be unable to make that sudden transcendence.
However, in three to five years or ten years, an entry-point should be attained. Then naturally [you] would realise it. So it's only when you are not as such that studying zen and studying the way are regarded as necessary. [But] what have these actually got to do with the Buddha-dharma?
故云。如來所說皆為化人。如將黃葉為金止小兒啼。決定不實。若有實得。非我宗門下客。且與爾本體有甚交涉。故經云。實無少法可得。名為阿耨菩提。
.
{10i-h}
Therefore it is said: All the sayings of Tathagata are for converting/transforming people. Just like how yellow leaves are regarded as gold to stop the child's crying1, they are not real actually. If there is any actual attainment, it is then not a guest of our [zen] school. For what has it got to do with your fundamental basis? Therefore the [Diamond] Sutra states: There is actually not the slightest bit of dharma which can be attained. This is called anuttara-samyak-sambodhi2.
.
This is in reference to the chapter on children in Mahaparinirvana Sutra where Buddha talked about parents using yellow leaves to stop their children's crying.
Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi means unsurpassed right and perfect awakening.
若也會得此意。方知佛道魔道俱錯。本來清淨皎皎地。無方圓無大小無長短等相。無漏無為無迷無悟。了了見無一物。亦無人亦無佛。大千沙界海中漚。一切聖賢如電拂。一切不如心真實法身。從古至今與佛祖一般。何處欠少一毫毛。既會如是意。大須努力盡今生去。出息不保入息。
.
{10i-i}
If the meaning of this is understood, then there will be knowing that [attaining] to Buddha's way or demon's way are both wrong. The ground is originally clear-pure and luminous, with neither characteristics like boundary nor size nor length. There is no asrava1, no causality, no delusion, no enlightenment.
Thoroughly seeing not a single thing at all, there are also no people and no Buddha as well. All the great world-systems2 [like countless] sand [in the Ganges river] are but bubble foams in the ocean. All the [appearances of] holy sages are but flashes of lightning [in the sky]3. None are as real as the mind or the dharmakaya, which since ancient time till now has been the same as that of the Buddha's and the Ancestors', lacking not even the slightest strand of hair anywhere.
Once the meaning is realised as such, [you] must work hard, dedicating your life absolutely to it. For with every out-breath, there is no guarantee of another in-breath4.
.
Asrava can mean influx, leaking, canker or defilement.
In Buddhist cosmology, one thousand worlds make up one small world-system. One thousand small world-systems make up one medium world-system. And one thousand medium world-systems make up one great world-system. So according to such a calculation, one great world-system would consist of one billion worlds.
This is yet another quote from zen teacher Yongjia Xuanjue's 'Song of Realising the Way'.
This is a line implying the impending nature of death. We are never sure when we would breathe our last.
問六祖不會經書。何得傳衣為祖。秀上座是五百人首座。為教授師。講得三十二本經論。云何不傳衣。師云。為他有心是有為法。所修所證將為是也。所以五祖付六祖。六祖當時秖是默契。得密授如來甚深意。所以付法與他。汝不見道。法本法無法。無法法亦法。今付無法時。法法何曾法。若會此意。方名出家兒。方好修行。
.
{11i} Someone asks:
The Sixth Ancestor (Huineng) didn't know [how to read] sutra books, why was he given the robe to become an Ancestor? [Shen] Xiu the Elder was chief of five hundred people [in the monastery]. He was appointed the teaching instructor and was capable of lecturing on thirty-two sets of sutras and commentaries. Why was the robe not passed to him?
{11i-a} Teacher says:
Because mind is existent for [Shen Xiu] and [what he taught] are conditioned dharmas. His practices and verifications are thus all conditioned too. Therefore the Fifth Ancestor (Hongren) entrusted [the dharma] to Sixth Ancestor (Huineng). The Sixth Ancestor was only in silent accord at that time, having received in secret the ultimate depth of the meaning of Tathagata1, the dharma was therefore entrusted to him.
{11i-b}
Don't you see it said: "Dharma is originally the dharma of no-dharma, yet the no-dharma dharma is still a dharma. When at this moment of entrusting no-dharma, is any dharma ever a dharma2?" If the meaning of this is realised, then one can be called a renunciant/monk, then there can be proper practice.
.
This probably refers to the event where the Fifth Ancestor Hongren gave a coded signal to Huineng to meet at midnight. During the secret rendezvous, Hongren taught Huineng the Diamond Sutra, and Huineng upon hearing the line of "the mind which arises without any place to dwell in" was fully awakened.
This is supposedly a gatha Shakyamuni uttered when he transmitted the dharma to Kasyapa.
若不信云何明上座走來大庾嶺頭尋六祖。六祖便問。汝來求何事。為求衣為求法。明上座云。不為衣來。但為法來。六祖云。汝且暫時斂念。善惡都莫思量。明乃稟語。六祖云。不思善不思惡。正當與麼時。還我明上座父母未生時面目來。明於言下忽然默契。便禮拜云。如人飲水冷煖自知。某甲在五祖會中。枉用三十年工夫。今日方省前非。六祖云。如是。
.
{11i-c}
If [you] don't believe, what is it said when Ming the Elder travelled to the peak of the Dayu mountain range to find the Sixth Ancestor?
The Sixth Ancestor asked [Ming]: "What is it you've come seeking for? Are you seeking the robe or are you seeking the dharma?"
Ming the Elder said: "I am not here for the robe. I am here for the dharma."
The Sixth Ancestor said: "Then for now, collect and restrain your thought. With regards to good and bad, all are not to be calculatedly deliberated upon."
Ming followed as was told.
The Sixth Ancestor said: "Without thinking of good, without thinking of bad, right at this instant, return me the face of Ming before he was born of his parents."
Upon these words, Ming suddenly was in silent accord. He then made his prostration and said: "Like a person drinking water, warm or cold, only he himself knows. When I was among the gathering of the Fifth Ancestor's [students], I wasted thirty years of practice. It's only today that I realise my past mistake."
The Sixth Ancestor said: "Yes."
到此之時方知祖師西來直指人心見性成佛不在言說。豈不見。阿難問迦葉云。世尊傳金襴外別傳何物。迦葉召阿難。阿難應諾。迦葉云。倒卻門前剎竿著。此便是祖師之標榜也。甚生阿難三十年為侍者。秖為多聞智慧。被佛訶云。汝千日學慧。不如一日學道。若不學道。滴水難消。
.
{11i-d}
It is only when [you are] as such, that there can be knowing the Ancestral Teacher's (Bodhidharma's) coming from the West - directly pointing to people's mind, seeing the nature to become Buddha - all are not in verbal words.
Isn't it seen when Ananda asked Kasyapa: "Other than the transmission of the golden robe, what other things did the World-Honoured One separately transmit to you?"
"Kasyapa called Ananda over. Ananda responded. And Kasyapa said: "Knock down the flagpole erected in front of the gate1."
{11i-e}
These are examples the Ancestral Teachers set. This is why Ananda, having served the Buddha for thirty years, was only regarded as widely-informed of knowledge and wisdom. He was scolded by the Buddha: "Your thousand days of learning wisdom are nowhere compared to a single day of learning the way. If the way is not learned, [you] would have difficulty digesting even a single drop of water away."
.
A flagpole is usually erected to denote the site as a Buddhist place of awakening/enlightenment or to indicate that Buddhist teachings are ongoing in that site.
問如何得不落階級。師云。終日喫飯未曾咬著一粒米。終日行未曾踏著一片地。與摩時無人我等相。終日不離一切事。不被諸境惑。方名自在人。更時時念念不見一切相。莫認前後三際。前際無去今際無住後際無來。安然端坐任運不拘。方名解脫。努力努力。此門中千人萬人。只得三箇五箇。若不將為事。受殃有日在。故云。著力今生須了卻。誰能累劫受餘殃。
黃檗山際禪師傳心法要終
.
{12i} Someone asks:
How can one not fall into steps and levels?
{12i-a} Teacher says:
Throughout the day, eat without ever biting on a single grain of rice. Throughout the day, walk without ever stepping on a single patch of land. At all times, be absent of characteristics like that of self and others. [It's only when] one is not apart from all phenomena throughout the day yet also not deluded by the various visaya, one can then be called a person of autonomy who in every moment and every thought has no seeing of all characteristics. Don't recognise the three times1 bounded by before and after. What's before has no leaving, what's now has no staying, what's after has no coming. Sit properly and peacefully; allow the functioning to be without fetter. Only then is this called liberation.
{12i-b}
Work hard, work hard. Of the thousand and ten thousand people in this [zen] school, only three or five attain. If this matter is not regarded seriously, the day of calamitous suffering awaits. Therefore it is said: Put strength in settling it within this lifetime, for who can undergo the extraneous calamities throughout consecutive kalpas?
.
The three times are past, present and future.
.
End of <Essential Dharma of Mind Transmission> by Zen Teacher Duanji of Huangbo Mountain
Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (阿耨菩提) means the unsurpassed right and perfect awakening.
Asrava (漏) can mean influx, leak, canker or defilement.
Bhumi (地) means 'ground' or 'stage'. The ten bhumis refer to the ten stages of bodhisattva development in Buddhism. There are detailed descriptions to each of these bhumis in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Bodhi (菩提) can mean 'awakening' or 'enlightenment'.
Bodhimanda (道場) is a place of awakening or enlightenment.
Bodhisattva (菩薩 ) is often used to refer to practitioners/beings of Mahayana Buddhism who have generated bodhicitta - the compassionate wish to attain awakening/enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. It can also refer to practitioners of the six paramitas.
Bodhi-way (菩提道) is the way of awakening or enlightenment.
Buddha (佛) a title which means 'the awakened or enlightened one'.
Buddha's vehicle (佛乘) is the one-vehicle that will lead a person to Buddhahood.
Degenerate-Dharma Age (末法) is the third of the three ages of Buddhism. The first is the Right-Dharma Age and the second is the Resembling-Dharma Age.
Devas (天) refer to heavenly gods.
Dharma (法) can mean 'Buddha's teaching', 'phenomenon' or 'sense object of the mental faculty'.
Dharma-gates (法門) can mean 'methods' or 'teaching devices'.
Dharmakaya (法身) means 'dharma-body', which is one of three bodies of Buddha.
Dipankara Buddha (然燈佛) is one of the many Buddhas of the past.
Eighteen realms (十八界) include the six realms of the sense roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and intellect/manas), the six realms of the sense dusts (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and dharma) and the six realms of the vijnanas (eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness and mental-consciousness). These eighteen realms cover all phenomena, and hence is synonymous to everything.
Four fruits (四果) refer to the four noble stages taught in the sravaka vehicle. The first stage is sotapanna (stream-entry). The second stage is sakadagami (once-returner). The third stage is anagami (non-returner). The fourth stage is arahant.
Four great-elements (四大) are earth (representing the quality of solidity or attractive force), water (representing the quality of liquidity or relative motion), fire (representing the quality of heat or energy) and air/wind (representing the quality of expansion or repulsive force).
Great vehicle (大乘) is commonly known as Mahayana Buddhism.
Icchantika (闡提) is one who does not attain to nirvana. According to the Lankavatara Sutra, there are two types of icchantika. The first type is those who have forsaken their good roots by slandering the Mahayana Buddhist sutras or by saying wicked stuff. These are people who do not follow the vinaya (Buddhist rules and precepts) and thus do not attain to nirvana. The second type of icchantika is those Bodhisattvas who vow not to attain nirvana until all sentient beings have done so.
Jnana (智) means 'proper knowing/cognition'. When jnana is supposedly partitioned due to passion, it is called vijnana - which can mean 'divided or dualistic knowing/consciousness'.
Kalpa (劫) also known as aeon, is the period of time spanning the formation of a world/universe through to its destruction.
Kasyapa (迦葉) more commonly known as Mahakasyapa, was a key disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha. After the painirvana of Sakyamuni, Kasyapa was supposedly the one who became leader of Buddha's many surviving monks and nuns. He was reputed to have presided over the First Buddhist Council where 500 senior monks gathered together to recite and memorise the Buddha's teachings in an attempt to preserve them.
Kleshas (煩惱) are mental afflictions that cloud the mind's nature. They are usually translated as defilements, taints or poisons.
Manas (意) is the sixth sense root, also known as the mental faculty or intellect.
Mara (天魔) is a demon who's supposedly also the lord of the highest heaven in the Desire realm. He is known in Buddhism for tempting Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) to leave his seat under the bodhi tree. He first sent his three daughters to seduce the Prince, then sent his army of demons to threaten the Prince. When both of these attempts failed, he tried to claim the seat of enlightenment for himself by saying his accomplishments were greater than that of the Prince's. His army of demons immediately roared in support, yelling "I am Mara's witness! I am Mara's witness!" Yet when Mara asked if the Prince had any witness to his accomplishments, the Prince simply touched the earth with his right hand. And it was with earth as witness that Mara and his army disappeared from the Prince.
Nibbida (厭離) is a turning away due to disillusionment and disenchantment. One is not enchanted by the illusory object anymore.
Nirmanakaya (化身) means 'transformation -body', which is one of three bodies of Buddha.
Nirvana (涅槃) can mean the cessation of samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth) or the cessation of dukkha (suffering/unsatisfactoriness). It can also mean quiescence.
Paramitas (度) can mean 'perfections' or 'crossings-over to the shore of enlightenment'. The six paramitas are these six practices: generosity (dana), discipline (sila), endurance (kshanti), vigour (virya), meditation (dhyana) and wisdom (prajna).
Pratyekabuddha-vehicle (緣覺乘) is the solitary-buddha or condition-awakener way, through which the contemplation of the conditions of dependent-origination lead one to awakening.
Sambhogakaya (報身) means 'reward -body', which is one of three bodies of Buddha.
Samsara (輪迴) usually refers to the Buddhist concept of rebirth, whereby a being goes on continuously in a cycle of birth-and-death-and-birth-and-death...
Seeing-hearing-sensing-knowing (見聞覺知) is short for the six phenomena of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling/touching and knowing/ideating. They are functions of the six vijnanas (consciousnesses) attributed to the sense roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, manas/mental-faculty) when they are in contact with their respective sense objects.
Sentient beings (眾生) typically refer to beings that originated from the aggregation of causes and conditions. These beings continuously experience the cycle of birth-and-death.
Six passions (六情) refer to the six sense roots that have impassioned consciousnesses.
Six sense dusts (六塵) are sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and dharma (mental-object).
Six sense roots (六根) are eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and manas (intellect or mental-faculty).
Six-ways (六道) refer to the six samsara ways of existence: hellish-being (naraka), hungry ghost (preta), animal (tiryag), human (manusya), demi-god (asura) and heavenly-being (deva).
Skandhas (蘊) mean aggregates or heaps. There are five types of skandhas: rupa (material-form/four-great-elements), vedana (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral feelings), sanna (perception), sankhara (mental construction) and vijnana (consciousness).
Sramana (沙門) typically refers to renunciation or monkhood.
Sravakas (聲聞) mean 'sound-hearers'. Sravakayana - the way or vehicle of the sound-hearers - is considered one of three modes of Buddhist practice.
Sravaka-vehicle (聲聞乘) is the sound-hearer way, through which the Buddha's oral teachings on the four noble truths lead one to awakening.
Tathagata (如來) which means 'the one thus come', is one of Buddha's many titles.
Tathagata-garbha (如來藏) generally refers to the Buddha-nature within all beings.
Tathata (真如) can mean 'as it is' or 'as such'. It is often translated as 'suchness' or 'thusness' in English.
Ten bhumis (十地) refer to the ten stages of bodhisattva development in Buddhism. There are detailed descriptions to each of these bhumis in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Three vehicles (三乘) in Chinese Buddhism refer to the three ways in which a person can arrive at awakening/enlightenment. The first is the sravaka-vehicle (sound-hearer way), through which the Buddha's oral teachings on the four noble truths lead one to awakening. The second is pratyekabuddha-vehicle (solitary-buddha or condition-awakener way), through which the contemplation of the conditions of dependent-origination lead one to awakening. The third is bodhisattva-vehicle, through which the practice of six paramitas for the benefit of all sentient beings lead one to awakening.
Three-world/life (三世) refer to the previous world/life, the present world/life and the future world/life.
Trikaya (三身) refers to the three bodies of Buddha - Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya.
Upadhyaya (和尚) is an honorific Buddhist title used to address learned monks. In this text, Upadhyaya refers to zen teacher Huangbo Xiyun, because in ancient China, titles are often used to address someone of seniority, instead of the person's name or the pronoun 'you'.
Vijnana (識) can mean 'divided or discriminated knowing/knowledge'. It is usually translated as 'consciousness' in English. The six basic vijnanas are eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness and mental-consciousness.
Visaya (境) is sense-object, or sense-sphere (which denotes the range of the senses and their objects), or content of experience.
Yama (閻) is the lord of hell who judges the dead in Buddhist cosmology. He is also said to rule over all of samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth), such that the phrase "escaping Yama's influence" also means "escaping samsara".
Zhigong (志公) refers to zen teacher Baozhi, who during Emperor Wu's reign of Liang dynasty, was honoured as the national teacher. According to Zutang Ji (祖堂集 Anthology of the Ancestral Hall), Zhigong was the Buddhist monk who told Emperor Wu to prepare for and to welcome the coming of Bodhidharma to the state of Liang. After the fateful meeting between Emperor Wu and Bodhidharma, he was also the one who told the Emperor that Bodhidharma was actually the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) who's here to transmit the Buddha's mind seal.