Using the Bell’s Sound as Expedient Instruction on the One Mind
Ananda said, “World Honored One, as the Buddha has said, in the quest of Ultimate Enlightenment, the cause-ground must be compatible with the fruit-ground (one’s mental state should be aligned with the enlightened state). The ground of fruition has seven names – Bodhi, Nirvana, the Absolute, the Buddha-nature, the Immaculate Knowledge (Amalavijnana), the Empty Tathagata Store, the Perfect Mirror Wisdom – although the names are different, they are the same pure and perfect, enduring and indestructible, with an essence as eternal as the royal diamond.
“Since seeing has no independent nature in the absence of light and darkness, just like hearing and the other senses have no independent nature in the absence of motion and stillness, openness and blockage, or the discriminating mind ceases to exist in the absence of its thinking objects, how could they be used as the basis of meditation in one’s quest for the Tathagata’s seven-fold eternal fruition, the Supreme Bodhi?
“World Honored One, seeing is ultimately empty apart from light and darkness, and thinking has no independent nature apart from thinking objects – no matter how carefully and meticulously I search, I find no such thing as my thinking subject or my thinking object, what should I base my practice on then?
“It seems to me what the Buddha has just said contradicts the Buddha’s previous teachings. I beg the Buddha to set me free from my confusion.”
阿難白佛言：世尊。如佛說言，因地覺心，欲求常住，要與果位名目相應。世尊。如果位中，菩提、涅槃、真如、佛性、菴摩羅識，空如來藏，大圓鏡智，是七種名，稱謂雖別，清淨圓滿，體性堅凝，如金剛王，常住不壞。若此見聽，離於明暗動靜通塞，畢竟無體。猶如念心，離於前塵，本無所有。云何將此畢竟斷滅以為修因，欲獲如來七常住果。世尊。若離明暗，見畢竟空。如無前塵，念自性滅。進退循環，微細推求，本無我心及我心所，將誰立因求無上覺。如來先說湛精圓常。違越誠言，終成戲論。云何如來真實語者。惟垂大慈，開我蒙悕。
The Buddha said, “You have become knowledgeable by hearing, but you have yet to put an end to outflows. In your mind you understand the causes of delusion, yet in the presence of delusion you fail to recognize it. To help you fully cultivate faith and trust the teaching completely, I will make use of a mundane event to dispel your doubts.” Upon saying this, the Buddha instructed Rahula to strike the bell once. Then he asked Ananda, “Do you hear that?”
Ananda and the others in the assembly answered, “We hear.”
When the bell resumed silence, the Buddha asked again, “Do you still hear it?” The assembly replied they did not. Rahula struck the bell again and the Buddha asked, “Do you hear it now?” The assembly replied they did. The Buddha asked Ananda, “How is it that you heard and then not heard?”
Ananda and the others replied respectfully, “When the bell is struck, we hear. Once the reverberation dies away, we don’t hear.” The Buddha then instructed Rahula to strike the bell again, and asked Ananda, “Is there a sound now?”
Everyone answered that there was a sound. A moment later the Buddha asked again when the sound had faded, “And how about now?” Everyone answered that there was no sound. Then a moment later Rahula struck the bell again, and the Buddha asked again, “Is there a sound now?” Everyone said there was. “How is it that there was a sound and then there was not?” The Buddha asked.
Ananda and all others replied respectfully, “When the bell is struck, there is a sound. Once the reverberation dies away, there is no sound.”
The Buddha said, “Why did you give such unsound answers?” Ananda and the others asked, “How come they were unsound?”
The Buddha replied, “When I asked if you had hearing, you said you had hearing. Then when I asked if there was sound, you again affirmed there was sound. Was it hearing or sound? Your answers were flickering and unstable, that’s why I called them unsound. Ananda, you said you no longer heard the bell once its reverberation had stopped. But if there was really no more hearing, its nature would have ceased and be like just withered wood. Then how come you could hear it when the bell was struck again? You should know that existence and cessation concern only the sound (that whether it is present or not), rather than the nature of your hearing. If it really did cease, who would know there was no sound then?
“Therefore, Ananda, a sound may exist or cease to exist in your hearing, but hearing never comes into existence or non-existence because of the sound. In delusion you mistake the presence of sound for the creation of your hearing; you regard something permanent as transient. To sum up, the nature of hearing is unconditional – neither dependent on sound or silence, nor on obstruction or non-obstruction.
佛告阿難。汝學多聞，未盡諸漏，心中徒知顛倒所因。真倒現前，實未能識。恐汝誠心猶未信伏。吾今試將塵俗諸事，當除汝疑。即時如來敕羅侯羅擊鐘一聲。問阿難言。汝今聞不。阿難大眾，俱言我聞。鐘歇無聲。佛又問言。汝今聞不。阿難大眾，俱言不聞。時羅侯羅又擊一聲。佛又問言。汝今聞不。阿難大眾，又言俱聞。佛問阿難。汝云何聞，云何不聞。阿難大眾俱白佛言：鐘聲若擊，則我得聞。擊久聲銷，音響雙絕，則名無聞。如來又敕羅侯擊鐘。問阿難言。汝今聲不。阿難大眾，俱言有聲。少選聲銷。佛又問言。爾今聲不。阿難大眾，答言無聲。有頃羅侯更來撞鐘。佛又問言。爾今聲不。阿難大眾，俱言有聲。佛問阿難。汝云何聲，云何無聲。阿難大眾俱白佛言：鐘聲若擊，則名有聲。擊久聲銷，音響雙絕，則名無聲。佛語阿難及諸大眾。汝今云何自語矯亂。大眾阿難，俱時問佛。我今云何名為矯亂。佛言：我問汝聞。汝則言聞。又問汝聲，汝則言聲。唯聞與聲，報答無定。如是云何不名矯亂。阿難。聲銷無響，汝說無聞。若實無聞，聞性已滅，同於枯木。鐘聲更擊，汝云何知。知有知無，自是聲塵或無或有。豈彼聞性為汝有無。聞實云無，誰知無者。是故阿難。聲於聞中自有生滅。非為汝聞聲生聲滅。令汝聞性為有為無汝尚顛倒，惑聲為聞。何怪昏迷以常為斷，終不應言。離諸動靜閉塞開通，說聞無性。
“For instance, when someone sleeps soundly on his bed and someone in his household starts beating clothes or grinding rice, he may mistake the sound for drum beating or bell ringing, and he may wonder in his dream why the bell sounds like clothes being beaten or rice being ground. If suddenly he wakes up now, he will realize that it is actually the sound of rice-grinding and tell his family about his mistake. Ananda, how could this man in his deep sleep still be aware of stillness or disturbance, non-obstruction or obstruction? When his body is asleep, the enlightened nature of his hearing is present. When you die, the body perishes, its energy dissipates, but the enlightened nature moves on.
“Since the beginningless time all sentient beings have been carried along in their pursuit of sights and sounds, adrift in their streams of thought. Never have them awakened to the pure, profound and permanent nature. Instead of abiding in the constant and everlasting, they chase after birth and death. As a result, they are ensnared in deeper and deeper defilements and bound to the endless cycles of death and rebirth. If they could only turn away from samsara and simply abide in the everlasting Truth, the eternal Light will appear, and the sense-faculties, the sense-data, as well as the sense-consciousnesses will fade away and vanish.
“The objects of thinking are dust, and the feelings arisen from discriminating thoughts are impurities. If you completely disengage yourself from defiled thinking processes and defiled emotions, your Dharma-eye will appear bright and clear instantly. How could you not go on to realize Supreme Bodhi?”
如重睡人，眠熟床枕。其家有人，於彼睡時，擣練舂米。其人夢中聞舂擣聲，別作他物。或為擊鼓。或為撞鐘。即於夢時自怪其鐘為木石響。於時忽寤，遄知杵音。自告家人，我正夢時，惑此舂音將為鼓響。阿難。是人夢中，豈憶靜搖開閉通塞。其形雖寐，聞性不昏。縱汝形銷，命光遷謝，此性云何為汝銷滅。以諸眾生從無始來，循諸色聲，逐念流轉。曾不開悟性淨妙常。不循所常，逐諸生滅。由是生生雜染流轉。若棄生滅，守於真常，常光現前，根塵識心應時銷落。想相為塵，識情為垢，二俱遠離。則汝法眼應時清明。云何不成無上知覺。
Ananda said, “The Buddha has now explained the second defining factor in the attainment of the Buddha Mind, however, a person trying to untie a knot must first understand how the knot got tied up in the first place, otherwise he will not be able to untie it. World Honored One, I and others who still need to learn are exactly like that. Since beginningless time we have been adrift in cycles of birth and death because of ignorance. Even though we have now become well-learned and so-called monks, we are still subject to ignorance, which is like a malaria fever recurring every other day! World Honored One, please save us from drowning in this sea of afflictions! Please help us understand how the knots of our bodies and minds are tied and where we could begin to get them untied. Thus, all pitiful future generations may be freed from samsara too, never again falling into the three realms of conditioned existence!” Upon saying this, Ananda and all others in the assembly made sincere prostrations to the Buddha and eagerly awaited the supreme instructions.
阿難白佛言。世尊。如來雖說第二義門。今觀世間解結之人，若不知其所結之元，我信是人終不能解。世尊。我及會中有學聲聞，亦復如是。從無始際與諸無明，俱滅俱生。雖得如是多聞善根，名為出家，猶隔日瘧。惟願大慈，哀愍淪溺。今日身心，云何是結，從何名解。亦令未來苦難眾生，得免輪迴，不落三有。作是語已，普及大眾五體投地。雨淚翹誠，佇佛如來無上開示。
The Buddha took pity on Ananda and those in the assembly who still needed guidance, meanwhile wishing that they would in turn serve as guiding light for future beings. He extended His illuminating purple-golden hand to circle over the crown of Ananda’s head. Instantly, all worlds throughout all ten directions started to vibrate, and the countless Tathagatas in those worlds simultaneously radiated resplendent beams of light from their crowns, shining upon the crown of the Buddha as He was seated in Jetri Grove. No one in the assembly had ever witnessed something as magnificent as this before.
爾時世尊憐愍阿難，及諸會中諸有學者。亦為未來一切眾生，為出世因作將來眼。以閻浮檀紫金光手，摩阿難頂。即時十方普佛世界，種震動。微塵如來住世界者，各有寶光從其頂出。其光同時於彼世界，來祇陀林，灌如來頂。是諸大眾，得未曾有。
And then everyone in the great assembly heard countless Buddhas from ten directions declare with one voice (though in different languages): “Very well, Ananda, you ask about the knots – the inborn ignorance that keeps you tied up to samsara, and the answer is that your six senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking) are the knots. Yes, your six faculties of perception (and nothing more) are exactly the roots of endless birth and death. Also, you ask about where you can begin to get the knots untied, the answer is that through those same six faculties (and nothing else) you may quickly realize bliss, freedom, stillness, supreme Bodhi, and everlasting Nirvana.”
於是阿難及諸大眾，俱聞十方微塵如來，異口同音，告阿難言：善哉阿難。汝欲識知俱生無明，使汝輪轉生死結根，唯汝六根，更無他物。汝復欲知無上菩提，令汝速證安樂解脫寂靜妙常，亦汝六根，更非他物。
Ananda heard these Dharma words, but he did not fully understand. So he bowed and asked, “How can it be that the six senses are what binds us to samsara yet at the same time also what leads us to everlasting Bliss?”
阿難雖聞如是法音，心猶未明。稽首白佛。云何令我生死輪迴，安樂妙常，同是六根，更非他物。
The Buddha replied, “The faculties and their objects come from the same source. Bondage and liberation are not two different things. What binds is also what unbinds. All consciousnesses are by nature illusory, like flowers in air. Ananda, perceptions come from phenomena, and phenomena take on forms because of your sense faculties. Both phenomena and perceptions are mutually dependent, like reeds intertwining. Therefore, if you establish your perceptions based on the phenomena you see, it is the foundation of ignorance. Once you realize that perceptions and phenomena are both empty, you realize Nirvana, which is the pure nature of mind, free of outflows, without anything accessory being added to it.”
佛告阿難。根塵同源。縛脫無二。識性虛妄，猶如空華。阿難。由塵發知。因根有相。相見無性，同於交蘆。是故汝今知見立知，即無明本。知見無見，斯即涅槃無漏真淨。云何是中更容他物。
Then the Buddha spoke these verses to sum up the instructions:
“The true nature of mind is free from all phenomena –
Which are but illusions arisen from conditions.
The unconditioned is never born, nor does it ever perish.
All conditioned phenomena are unreal, like flowers in the sky.
We use words trying to speak the truth, but all words are false.
The unreal reveals the real, but both real and unreal are illusions.
Ultimately there is nothing ‘real’ and nothing ‘unreal’.
Therefore, how can there be so-called subject and object?
Neither is there difference between perceiver and the perceived –
They are like vines twisting around each other.
Tying and untying are one same act; entanglement and liberation share a common ground.
Both the saintly and the worldly walk the same path.
The vines do not actually exist, nor do they not exist.
Both ‘is’ and ‘is not’ cannot be true.
If you cling to delusion, you are in the dark;
Once you awaken to the light, you are free.
The six knots must be untied according to a certain sequence.
Once the six are untied, the one will vanish as well.
Choose one faculty to bring about the breakthrough.
Entering the subtle current and realizing the sublime Bodhi.
Old habits from the storehouse-consciousness rush forth like torrential falls.
Since the real yet unreal are easy to confuse, I refrain from speaking of it too often.
If you seek the mind with the discriminating mind,
Then what’s at heart not illusion becomes illusory as well.
If you stop seeking, then nothing is not illusory.
When not even the real arises, how could the unreal be established?
This Dharma is called the wondrous Lotus-flower, the precious Bodhi-gem.
Once you realize the Samadhi, where you see all things as illusion,
In a snap of a finger, you attain the state beyond all study.
This peerless Dharma is the One Path
That all Buddhas in all ten directions
Have walked to reach the gateway to Nirvana.”
Upon receiving the Buddha’s compassionate teaching, which imparted such luminous truths, so lucid and incisive, Ānanda and the others in the great assembly all rejoiced. Now their mind’s eye was opened to a whole new understanding that they had never seen before.
爾時世尊，欲重宣此義，而說偈言。
真性有為空 緣生故如幻 無為無起滅
不實如空華 言妄顯諸真 妄真同二妄
猶非真非真 云何見所見 中間無實性
是故若交蘆 結解同所因 聖凡無二路
汝觀交中性 空有二俱非 迷晦即無明
發明便解脫 解結因次第 六解一亦亡
根選擇圓通 入流成正覺 陀那微細識
習氣成瀑流 真非真恐迷 我常不開演
自心取自心 非幻成幻法 不取無非幻
非幻尚不生 幻法云何立 是名妙蓮華
金剛王寶覺 如幻三摩提 彈指超無學
此阿毗達磨 十方薄伽梵 一路涅槃門
於是阿難及諸大眾，聞佛如來無上慈誨，祇夜伽陀，雜糅精瑩，妙理清徹，心目開明，歎未曾有。
Buddha Mind 