Choosing One Faculty as the Portal of Meditation
“The second defining factor in the attainment of the Buddha Mind is renouncement. If you really are determined to cultivate the Bodhisattva Vehicle and realize the Bodhi Mind, you must decisively renounce everything that has conditioned attributes. You should thoroughly examine the source of your afflictions, which have been generating karma and perpetuating samsara. Who is it that starts it all and endures it through ever since the beginningless time?
“Ananda, during your practice, if you do not inquire into the root of your afflictions, you will never see through the illusory and distorted nature of your perceptions and their objects. If you don’t even know at what point you become disoriented, how can you overcome it and attain enlightenment? It is like someone trying to untie a knot, if they don’t even see where the knot is, how can they untie it?
“I have never heard of anyone untying empty space, because emptiness has no distinctions, so there are no knots to untie. But now your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind are making distinctions to separate you from your true nature, your Buddha Mind. They’re like conspirators introducing thieves into your own house to steal away your most valuable. Ever since the beginningless time, beings have been bound up with the world of time and space in this way and unable to transcend.
“Ananda, how do we define ‘beings and the world of time and space’? ‘Time’ means change and flux, ‘space’ means direction and location. You already know that east, west, south, north, southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, above and below are space. Past, future, and present are time. Space has ten directions, while time has three periods. All beings come into being due to false interactions, constantly moving about in time and space, being caught in a web of delusion and illusion.
“Although there are ten directions in space and the location for each is clearly defined, people in the world only recognize the east, west, south and north as primary and disregard the above, the below, and the intermediate ones. Therefore, let us say that space is fourfold, time is threefold, the entanglement of the three times together with the four directions results in twelve. As the flux and change of discriminative thoughts occurring thrice (regarding the past, present and future), covering the whole field of activity, the constant twelve further multiplies, and the efficacy of each faculty of perception may reach as great as twelve hundred.
“Ananda, you can thereby measure the degree of efficacy for each of the six sense organs. The eye-faculty, for instance, can see what’s in front but not behind. The front is totally light, while the back is completely dark. The peripheral vision can cover about two-thirds on both sides. So the overall efficacy of the eyes is incomplete, functioning in only three directions but not the fourth. We may say the efficacy of the eye-faculty is eight hundred.
“Now consider the ear-faculty. It can hear all ten directions without exception, be it far or near, be it a moving sound or the boundless silence. Therefore, the efficacy of the ear-faculty is a complete twelve hundred.
“Now consider the nose-faculty, through which the breath moves in and out, but without a point of contact in between each inhaling and exhaling. Since it is lacking one of three aspects, its efficacy is only eight hundred.
“Consider how the tongue-faculty can propagate all the mundane and transcendental wisdoms. Languages differ from place to place, but meanings know no boundary. Hence the efficacy of the tongue-faculty is a complete twelve hundred.
“Consider how the body can feel touch, registering it as pain or pleasure. When the contact is made, it is aware of the touch; when the contact is lost, the awareness is lost. So, the lack of contact is a single quality, while contact has a dual aspect. Upon such examination, we can say the efficacy of the body-faculty is only eight hundred, since it is deficient in one of three aspects.
“Now consider how the mind silently takes in all mundane and transcendental phenomena of all ten directions and all three periods of time. Absolutely nothing is excluded, be it extraordinary or ordinary. Therefore, the efficacy of the mind is a complete twelve hundred.
“Ananda, now that you wish to go against the samsaric current of desire that leads to endless cycles of birth and death, you must then trace back to the faculties through which the current flows, until you reach the very source and realize a state of neither arising nor ceasing.
“Therefore, you should investigate how the six faculties function – which ones function through contact, which ones function without contact; which ones are more easily employed in the practice of reversion, which ones are less easily employed; which ones are best suited for spiritual breakthrough, which ones are not as fully efficacious.
“If you can find the most efficacious faculty, then you can go upstream against the current that carries all the delusion and karma, in which you have been immersing ever since the beginningless time. One day of practice through a fully efficacious faculty is far better than eons of practice relying on a less efficacious faculty.
“Now I have revealed to you the fundamental perfect clarity of the six faculties and the numerical equivalents for their respective efficacy. It is up to you to choose one to focus your practice on. I will explain more to help you move forward.
“The Buddhas in ten directions attained perfect Bodhi by means of one or another of the eighteen realms of sense. For them, none of the eighteen objects of meditation was superior or inferior. But since you are at a lower level and have not yet perfected the Supreme Wisdom that is independent of conditions, I have made it possible for you to choose one faculty as a doorway to enter and go deep. Once you have entered that one faculty and left behind all delusion and distortion, all the other sense organs will be purified as well.”
Ananda asked the Buddha, “World Honored One, how can I go against the samsaric current through one doorway to reverse outflows and purify all the six senses of perception at the same time?”
The Buddha said to Ananda, “Although you have realized the state of Stream Entry (Srota-apanna) and are freed from the bondage of worldly views held by beings in the three realms of existence, you are not yet fully clear about the subconscious habits which you have accumulated since the beginningless time. The eradication of these habits can only be done by practice and training. You will need to be even more diligent when dealing with the numerous subtleties of their arising, lingering, changing, and ceasing.
“Now contemplate the six sense organs further – are they one or six? If they’re one, why can’t you see with your ears, hear with your eyes, walk with your head and speak with your feet? If they’re six, which one of them is receiving my instruction now as I show this subtle, wonderful Dharma-door to you all?”
Ananda replied, “I use my ears to listen.”
The Buddha said, “If it is your ears alone hearing it without relation to your body and mouth, then how come you ask questions about it with your mouth and display veneration with your body? Therefore, this is not a case where they must be six if they’re not one, and they must be one if they’re not six. We simply cannot say that they are fundamentally one or six, nor can we say that they are neither one nor six.
“Ananda, since beginningless time you have been submerging in delusion and illusion that you are embedded with the concept that there is ‘one’ and there is ‘six’. As a sage at the entry level, you may have eliminated the six, but you have not done away with the one.
“It is like filling emptiness into vessels of different shapes, then naming the emptiness with the shape of each vessel, and then saying it is the same again getting rid of the containers.
“How can emptiness become the same or different, or be named one or other than one because of your limited views? The same is true of the six sense organs – they are just like the void in different containers.
“When light, darkness and the like reveal each other and adhere to the originally pure and perfect mind, the perception of seeing occurs. The essence of seeing reflects form, and the two become so entangled with each other that they give rise to a root organ, the essence of which originally is composed of the four primary elements in their pure state, but now it is named eye-faculty and shaped like a grape. Hence the organ of seeing is now composed of four defiling elements and restlessly chasing after visible objects.
“When movement, stillness and the like contrast with each other and adhere to the originally pure and perfect mind, the perception of hearing occurs. The essence of hearing reflects sound, and the two become so entangled with each other that they give rise to a root organ, the essence of which originally is composed of the four primary elements in their pure state, but now it is named ear-faculty and shaped like a curly new leaf. Hence the organ of hearing is now composed of four defiling elements and in constant search of sound.
“When openness, blockage and the like alternate with each other and adhere to the originally pure and perfect mind, the perception of smelling occurs. The essence of smelling reflects odor, and the two become so entangled with each other that they give rise to a root organ, the essence of which originally is composed of the four primary elements in their pure state, but now it is named nose-faculty and shaped like a pair of talons. Hence the organ of smelling is now composed of four defiling elements and in constant search of smell.
“When flavor, insipidity and the like alternate with each other and adhere to the originally pure and perfect mind, the perception of tasting occurs. The essence of tasting reflects flavor, and the two become so entangled with each other that they give rise to a root organ, the essence of which originally is composed of the four primary elements in their pure state, but now it is named tongue-faculty and shaped like a crescent moon. Hence the organ of tasting is now composed of four defiling elements and in constant pursuit of taste.
“When contact and separation alternate with each other and adhere to the originally pure and perfect mind, the perception of touching occurs. The essence of touching reflects sensation, and the two become so entangled with each other that they give rise to a body, the essence of which originally is composed of the four primary elements in their pure state, but now it is named body-faculty and shaped like a drum. Hence the body-faculty is now composed of four defiling elements and in constant pursuit of touch.
“When creation, destruction and the like alternate with each other and adhere to the originally pure and perfect mind, the functioning of cognition occurs. The essence of cognition reflects dharma – mental objects, and when dharma and cognition become entangled with each other they give rise to a mind organ, the essence of which originally is composed of the four primary elements in their pure state, but now it is named mental faculty and perceived as a dark room. Hence the mental faculty is now composed of four defiling elements and in constant pursuit of mental objects.
“Ananda, because understanding is added to the original enlightenment, the six sense organs then cling to delusion, losing their pure essence and luminosity.
“Therefore, suppose you’re to be deprived of both light and darkness, you wouldn’t have the capacity to see; suppose you’re to be deprived of both sound and silence, you wouldn’t have the capacity to hear; suppose you’re to be deprived of both openness and blockage, you wouldn’t have the capacity to smell; suppose you’re to be deprived of both flavor and flavorlessness, you wouldn’t have the capacity to taste; suppose you’re to be deprived of both contact and separation, you wouldn’t have the sense to touch; suppose you’re to be deprived of both creation and vanishment, you wouldn’t have the capacity for cognition.
“So, all you need to do is not to follow the twelve worldly conditioned phenomena – sound and silence, contact and separation, flavor and flavorlessness, openness and blockage, creation and destruction, light and darkness. Choose any one of your six sense organs, disengage it from its objects (both inner and outer adhesion), redirect it inwardly to its primordial source, and it will radiate the light of the original, pure and perfect understanding. This brilliant light will shine forth and completely purify the other five faculties too, and you will be totally freed from the delusion created by the sense data.
“This light of innate brilliance follows none of the knowing/seeing influenced by objects before you and none of your sense organs. Simply, the light manifests through all the faculties and thus all six of the faculties will function interchangeably.
“Ananda, as you know, here in the assembly, Aniruddha is blind and yet he can see, Upananda is deaf and yet he can hear, the goddess of the River Ganges has no sense of smell and yet she can discern fragrances, Gavampati has a malformed tongue and yet he knows flavors, and the spirit Sunyata is as bodiless as the wind and yet he is illuminated by the light of the Buddha, so that you can see him now. And all those who have long ago eradicated the roots of all cognitive activities, who have attained the Samadhi of Stillness and Cessation, such as Mahakasyapa here – they simply abide in the Perfect Wisdom with no more thinking.
“Ananda, once all your sense faculties are completely rooted out, an inner pure light will appear. All transient sense data as well as all the changing conditions of the material world, like ice melted by hot water, will merge into one Supreme Bodhi instantly.
“Ananda, if someone who sees only with his eyes closes his eyes, darkness will surround him, enveloping his six faculties from head to toe, but he will still be able to tell the head and toes apart using his hands to trace them, as accurately as using his eyes. Therefore, total darkness needs not prevent him from distinguishing among objects. Likewise, once your six senses and their objects have been eradicated, your awareness and understanding will only become perfect and pure.”
第二义者。汝等必欲发菩提心。于菩萨乘。生大勇猛。决定弃捐诸有为相。应当审详烦恼根本。此无始来发业润生。谁作谁受。阿难。汝修菩提。若不审观烦恼根本。则不能知虚妄根尘。何处颠倒。处尚不知。云何降伏。取如来位。阿难。汝观世间解结之人。不见所结。云何知解。不闻虚空被汝堕裂。何以故。空无相形。无结解故。则汝现前眼耳鼻舌。及与身心。六为贼媒。自劫家宝。由此无始众生世界。生缠缚故。于器世间。不能超越。阿难。云何名为众生世界。世为迁流。界为方位。汝今当知东西南北。东南西南。东北西北。上下为界。过去未来。现在为世。位方有十。流数有三。一切众生。织妄相成。身中贸迁。世界相涉。而此界性。设虽十方。定位可明。世间只目东西南北。上下无位。中无定方。四数必明。与世相涉。三四四三。宛转十二。流变三叠。一十百千。总括始终。六根之中。各各功德。有千二百。阿难。汝复于中。克定优劣。如眼观见。后暗前明。前方全明。后方全暗。左右傍观。三分之二。统论所作。功德不全。三分言功。一分无德。当知眼惟八百功德。如耳周听。十方无遗。动若迩遥。诤无边际。当知耳根。圆满一千二百功德。如鼻嗅闻。通出入息。有出有入。而阙中交。验于耳根。三分阙一。当知鼻惟八百功德。如舌宣扬。尽诸世间出世间智。言有方分。理无穷尽。当知舌根。圆满一千二百功德。如身觉触。识于违顺。合时能觉。离中不知。离一合双。验于舌根。三分阙一。当知身惟八百功德。如意默容。十方三世。一切世间出世间法。惟圣与凡。无不包容。尽其涯际。当知意根。圆满一千二百功德。阿难。汝今欲逆生死欲流。返穷流根。至不生灭。当验此等六受用根。谁合谁离。谁深谁浅。谁为圆通。谁不圆满。若能于此悟圆通根。逆彼无始织妄业流。得循圆通。与不圆根。日劫相倍。我今备显六湛圆明。本所功德。数量如是。随汝详择其可入者。吾当发明。令汝增进。十方如来。于十八界。一一修行。皆得圆满无上菩提。于其中间。亦无优劣。但汝下劣。未能于中圆自在慧。故我宣扬。令汝但于一门深入。入一无妄。彼六知根。一时清净。
阿难白佛言。世尊。云何逆流深入一门。能令六根一时清净。
佛告阿难。汝今已得须陀洹果。已灭三界众生世间见所断惑。然犹未知。根中积生无始虚习。彼习要因修所断得。何况此中生住异灭。分剂头数。今汝且观现前六根。为一为六。阿难。若言一者。耳何不见。目何不闻。头奚不履。足奚无语。若此六根决定成六。如我今会。与汝宣扬微妙法门。汝之六根。谁来领受。
阿难言。我用耳闻。
佛言。汝耳自闻。何关身口。口来问义。身起钦承。是故。应知非一终六。非六终一。终不汝根元一元六。阿难。当知是根非一非六。由无始来。颠倒沦替。故于圆湛。一六义生。汝须陀洹。虽得六销。犹未亡一。如太虚空。参合群器。由器形异。名之异空。除器观空。说空为一。彼太虚空。云何为汝成同不同。何况更名是一非一。则汝了知六受用根。亦复如是。由明暗等二种相形。于妙圆中。粘湛发见。见精映色。结色成根。根元目为清净四大。因名眼体。如蒲萄朵。浮根四尘。流逸奔色。由动静等二种相击。于妙圆中。粘湛发听。听精映声。卷声成根。根元目为清净四大。因名耳体。如新卷叶。浮根四尘。流逸奔声。由通塞等二种相发。于妙圆中。粘湛发嗅。嗅精映香。纳香成根。根元目为清净四大。因名鼻体。如双垂爪。浮根四尘。流逸奔香。由恬变等二种相参。于妙圆中。粘湛发尝。尝精映味。绞味成根。根元目为清净四大。因名舌体。如初偃月。浮根四尘。流逸奔味。由离合等二种相摩。于妙圆中。粘湛发觉。觉精映触。搏触成根。根元目为清净四大。因名身体。如腰鼓颡。浮根四尘。流逸奔触。由生灭等二种相续。于妙圆中。粘湛发知。知精映法。览法成根。根元目为清净四大。因名意思。如幽室见。浮根四尘。流逸奔法。阿难。如是六根。由彼觉明。有明明觉。失彼精了。粘妄发光。是以汝今离暗离明。无有见体。离动离静。元无听质。无通无塞。嗅性不生。非变非恬。尝无所出。不离不合。觉触本无。无灭无生。了知安寄。汝但不循。动静合离。恬变通塞。生灭暗明。如是十二诸有为相。随拔一根。脱粘内伏。伏归元真。发本明耀。耀性发明。诸余五粘。应拔圆脱。不由前尘所起知见。明不循根。寄根明发。由是六根互相为用。阿难。汝岂不知。今此会中。阿那律陀。无目而见。跋难陀龙。无耳而听。殑伽神女。非鼻闻香。骄梵钵提。异舌知味。舜若多神。无身有触。如来光中。映令暂现。既为风质。其体元无。诸灭尽定。得寂声闻。如此会中。摩诃迦叶。久灭意根。圆明了知。不因心念。阿难。今汝诸根若圆拔已。内莹发光。如是浮尘。及器世间。诸变化相。如汤销冰。应念化成无上知觉。阿难。如彼世人聚见于眼。若令急合。暗相现前。六根黯然。头足相类。彼人以手循体外绕。彼虽不见。头足一辨。知觉是同。缘见因明。暗成无见。不明自发。则诸暗相永不能昏。根尘既销。云何觉明。不成圆妙。
Buddha Mind 