Five Layers of Cloudiness
After receiving the Buddha’s teaching, Ananda and the assembly, with their doubts and delusions dispelled, all awoke to Reality. They felt a lightness of body and mind which they had never known before. Again, weeping gratefully, Ananda prostrated himself at the feet of the Buddha, and then with his knees knelt and palms joined together respectfully, he said, “O the Supreme and Immaculate King of Treasures, you have opened my mind so kindly with all means of expedients and encouragements, leading us out of the dark ignorance which had been drowning us in the seas of suffering!
“World-Honored One, after receiving such priceless Dharma, I realize that the Wonderful Bodhi Mind of the Tathagata Store is pervading throughout all ten directions and encompassing all lands of the pure, majestic Kingdoms of Absolute Reality. And the Buddha has also helped me realize that mere erudition is of no merit, far less useful than actual practice. I am like a homeless wanderer suddenly bestowed a splendid mansion by a Divine King. The mansion is all mine now, yet I still have to find a door to enter. I only hope that the Buddha will further direct us wanderers in the dark how to give up the Small Vehicle, how to embark on the journey towards the Ultimate Nirvana, how to subdue our diehard old habits of clinging to worldly objects and senses, how to master Dharani, and how to attain the wisdom and vision of the Buddhas!”
Having said this, Ananda made a full prostration, and together with the whole assembly, waited single-mindedly for the Buddha’s compassionate instruction.
Then the Buddha, taking pity on the entry-level Hearers, on the Sages who had not yet reached a stage where they could abide in Bodhi completely with ease, also on the future beings who would be born in the Late Age of Dharma, he instructed Ananda and the assembly: “Since you are determined to tirelessly devote yourselves to attain the Bodhi Mind and the Wonderful Samadhi of the Buddhas, you must first understand two defining factors in the attainment of the Buddha Mind. What are they?
“The first is the subjective mind in meditation – your resolve. Ananda, if all of you wish to leave the Lesser Vehicle behind and enter the Vehicle of the Bodhisattvas so as to realize the wisdom and vision of the Buddhas, you must examine your resolve, which is the basis of your practice, by asking yourselves this question – is my resolve compatible to the ultimate ideal I want to achieve, or is it not?
“If your resolve is based on the worldly mind (which is subject to birth and death), then you will fail in your quest for the Buddha Vehicle, which is beyond birth and death. Therefore, you should shine the light of observation on all phenomena of the material world, which are subject to change and decay. Ananda, which worldly matter does not perish? Yet no one has ever heard that space perishes. Why? Because emptiness is uncaused and hence unconditioned, so it is not subject to decay and death.
“While in your body, what is solid is the element of earth, what is moist is the element of water, what is warm is the element of fire, and that which moves is the element of wind. Because of the entanglements of these four primary elements, your originally pure and perfect enlightened mind is divided into seeing, hearing, feeling and thinking. Hence from start to finish your mind is clouded by the five turbid conditions.
“What is turbidity, Ananda? Let us take the example of water. In its original state the water is pure and clear, while things like dust, soil, ashes and sand are solid and opaque. The properties of these two kinds are incompatible by nature. If a person tosses some dirt into clear water, the dirt will lose its solidity and the water loses its transparency, resulting in a clouded state called turbidity. Your five layers of turbidity come into being in the same way.
“Ananda, as you look into space throughout the ten directions, your perception and the emptiness are inseparable. Without your visual awareness the space would not be able to identify its own substance. Without space your seeing would have nothing to register its awareness. Once the two get entangled though, it gives rise to some deluded formation, which is the first layer, called ‘the turbidity of time.’
“Your body is composed of four elements, which divide your mental awareness into seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, which further get entangled with water, fire, wind and earth to bring about the second layer of falseness, called ‘the turbidity of perception.’
“Further, the habitual functions of recollection and discrimination in your mind give rise to knowledge and opinions, from which the six defiling objects manifest. Without these objects, your mind-consciousness would have no attributes, and without your perception of them, the objects would have no identity. But once your mind-consciousness and the objects get entangled with each other, the third layer of falseness then comes about, called ‘the turbidity of afflictions.’
“And as your knowledge and views constantly wish to carry on functioning in the world, there is endless arising and ceasing throughout day and night, generating karmic forces moving you to various places. Such entanglement between your thoughts and your karma brings about the fourth layer of falseness, called ‘the turbidity of individual being.’
“Originally your seeing, hearing, and other awareness were of the same nature, but now all the defiling objects have divided them, forcing your consciousness to become differentiated. Although the six sense-consciousnesses still share a fundamental awareness, their functions are in opposition and therefore the harmony is lost. From this entanglement comes about the fifth layer of falseness, called ‘the turbidity of life.’
“Ananda, if you want your seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing return to become ONE with the eternal, blissful, and truthful Buddha Mind, you must put an end to the root cause of samsara, and abide in the innermost nature of mind, which is pure and perfect, neither arising nor ceasing. Let the purity of your true nature naturally dispel the illusions and delusions, which always arise and subside and repeat. Let the original state of enlightenment be the basis of your practice.
“The realization of this source of bright enlightenment, which neither arises nor ceases, is called ‘the mind-ground of cause’. And the attainment and final certification to the perfect enlightenment is called ‘the ground of fruition’.
“We may take the example of purifying muddy water with a still container to explain the process: over time in complete calmness, the sand and dirt will settle to the bottom. When the clear water appears, it is called the initial subduing of transitory afflictions. When the mud is completely removed from the water, it is called the complete eradication of fundamental ignorance.
“Once the mental clarity is purified to its very essence, no matter what happens in the world, nothing bothers you. Everything is in accord with the pure and perfect Nirvana.”
阿难及诸大众。闻佛示诲。疑惑销除。心悟实相。身意轻安。得未曾有。重复悲泪。顶礼佛足。长跪合掌。而白佛言。无上大悲。清净宝王。善开我心。能以如是种种因缘。方便提奖。引诸沉冥。出于苦海。世尊。我今虽承如是法音。知如来藏。妙觉明心。遍十方界。含育如来十方国土。清净宝严妙觉王刹。如来复责多闻无功。不逮修习。我今犹如旅泊之人。忽蒙天王赐以花屋。虽获大宅。要因门入。惟愿如来。不舍大悲。示我在会诸蒙暗者。捐舍小乘。必获如来无余涅槃。本发心路。令有学者。从何摄伏畴昔攀缘。得陀罗尼。入佛知见。作是语已。五体投地。在会一心。伫佛慈旨。
尔时。世尊哀愍会中缘觉声闻。于菩提心未自在者。及为当来佛灭度后。末法众生发菩萨心。开无上乘妙修行路。宣示阿难。及诸大众。汝等决定发菩提心。于佛如来妙三摩提。不生疲倦。应当先明发觉初心。二决定义。云何初心二义决定。阿难。第一义者。汝等若欲捐舍声闻。修菩萨乘。入佛知见。应当审观因地发心。与果地觉。为同为异。阿难。若于因地。以生灭心为本修因。而求佛乘。不生不灭。无有是处。以是义故。汝当照明诸器世间。可作之法。皆从变灭。阿难。汝观世间可作之法。谁为不坏。然终不闻烂坏虚空。何以故。空非可作。由是始终无坏灭故。则汝身中。坚相为地。润湿为水。暖触为火。动摇为风。由此四缠。分汝湛圆妙觉明心。为视为听。为觉为察。从始入终。五叠浑浊。云何为浊。阿难。譬如清水。清洁本然。即彼尘土灰沙之伦。本质留碍。二体法尔。性不相循。有世间人。取彼土尘。投于净水。土失留碍。水亡清洁。容貌汩然。明之为浊。汝浊五重。亦复如是。阿难。汝见虚空遍十方界。空见不分。有空无体。有见无觉。相织妄成。是第一重。名为劫浊。汝身现抟四大为体。见闻觉知。壅令留碍。水火风土。旋令觉知。相织妄成。是第二重。名为见浊。又汝心中忆识诵习。性发知见。容现六尘。离尘无相。离觉无性。相织妄成。是第三重。名烦恼浊。又汝朝夕生灭不停。知见每欲留于世间。业运每常迁于国土。相织妄成。是第四重。名众生浊。汝等见闻元无异性。众尘隔越。无状异生。性中相知。用中相背。同异失准。相织妄成。是第五重。名为命浊。阿难。汝今欲令见闻觉知。远契如来常乐我净。应当先择死生根本。依不生灭圆湛性成。以湛旋其虚妄灭生。伏还元觉。得元明觉。无生灭性。为因地心。然后圆成果地修证。如澄浊水。贮于净器。静深不动。沙土自沉。清水现前。名为初伏客尘烦恼。去泥纯水。名为永断根本无明。明相精纯。一切变现。不为烦恼。皆合涅槃清净妙德。
Buddha Mind 