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.”
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.
“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?”
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.
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.
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.”
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?”
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.”
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.
阿难白佛言。世尊。如佛说言。因地觉心。欲求常住。要与果位名目相应。世尊。如果位中。菩提涅槃。真如佛性。庵摩罗识。空如来藏。大圆镜智。是七种名。称谓虽别。清净圆满。体性坚凝。如金刚王。常住不坏。若此见听。离于暗明。动静通塞。毕竟无体。犹如念心。离于前尘。本无所有。云何将此毕竟断灭。以为修因。欲获如来七常住果。世尊。若离明暗。见毕竟空。如无前尘。念自性灭。进退循环。微细推求。本无我心。及我心所。将谁立因。求无上觉。如来先说湛精圆常。违越诚言。终成戏论。云何如来真实语者。惟垂大慈。开我蒙吝。
佛告阿难。汝学多闻。未尽诸漏。心中徒知颠倒所因。真倒现前。实未能识。恐汝诚心犹未信伏。吾今试将尘俗诸事。当除汝疑。即时。如来敕罗睺罗。击钟一声。问阿难言。汝今闻否。
阿难大众俱言。我闻。钟歇无声。佛又问言。汝今闻否。阿难大众俱言。不闻。时。罗睺罗。又击一声。佛又问言。汝今闻否。阿难大众又言。俱闻。
佛问阿难。汝云何闻。云何不闻。阿难大众俱白佛言。钟声若击。则我得闻。击久声销。音响双绝。则名无闻。如来又敕罗睺击钟。问阿难言。尔今声否。阿难言。声。少选声销。佛又问言。尔今声否。阿难大众答言。无声。有顷。罗睺更来撞钟。佛又问言。尔今声否。阿难大众俱言。有声。佛问阿难。汝云何声。云何无声。阿难大众俱白佛言。钟声若击。则名有声。击久声销。音响双绝。则名无声。佛语阿难。及诸大众。汝今云何自语矫乱。大众阿难。俱时问佛。我今云何名为矫乱。
佛言。我问汝闻。汝则言闻。又问汝声。汝则言声。惟闻与声。报答无定。如是云何不名矫乱。阿难。声销无响。汝说无闻。若实无闻。闻性已灭。同于枯木。钟声更击。汝云何知。知有知无。自是声尘。或无或有。岂彼闻性为汝有无。闻实云无。谁知无者。是故。阿难。声于闻中。自有生灭。非为汝闻声生声灭。令汝闻性为有为无。汝尚颠倒。惑声为闻。何怪昏迷。以常为断。终不应言。离诸动静。闭塞开通。说闻无性。如重睡。人眠熟床枕。其家有人于彼睡时。捣练舂米。其人梦中。闻舂捣声。别作他物。或为击鼓。或复撞钟。即于梦时。自怪其钟为木石响。于时忽寤。遄知杵音。自告家人。我正梦时。惑此舂音将为鼓响。阿难。是人梦中。岂忆静摇开闭通塞。其形虽寐。闻性不昏。纵汝形销。命光迁谢。此性云何为汝销灭。以诸众生从无始来。循诸色声。逐念流转。曾不开悟性净妙常。不循所常。逐诸生灭。由是生生杂染流转。若弃生灭。守于真常。常光现前。尘根识心应时销落。想相为尘。识情为垢。二俱远离。则汝法眼应时清明。云何不成无上知觉。
阿难白佛言。世尊。如来虽说第二义门。今观世间解结之人。若不知其所结之元。我信是人。终不能解。世尊。我及会中。有学声闻。亦复如是。从无始际。与诸无明。俱灭俱生。虽得如是多闻善根。名为出家。犹隔日疟。惟愿大慈。哀愍沦溺。今日身心。云何是结。从何名解。亦令未来苦难众生。得免轮回。不落三有。作是语已。普及大众。五体投地。雨泪翘诚。伫佛如来无上开示。
尔时。世尊怜愍阿难。及诸会中诸有学者。亦为未来一切众生。为出世因。作将来眼。以阎浮檀紫光金手。摩阿难顶。即时。十方普佛世界。六种振动。微尘如来住世界者。各有宝光。从其顶出。其光同时于彼世界。来祇陀林。灌如来顶。是诸大众。得未曾有。于是阿难。及诸大众。俱闻十方微尘如来。异口同音。告阿难言。善哉。阿难。汝欲识知俱生无明。使汝轮转生死结根。惟汝六根。更无他物。汝复欲知无上菩提。令汝速登安乐解脱。寂静妙常。亦汝六根。更非他物。
阿难虽闻如是法音。心犹未明。稽首白佛。云何令我生死轮回。安乐妙常。同是六根。更非他物。
佛告阿难。根尘同源。缚脱无二。识性虚妄。犹如空花。阿难。由尘发知。因根有相。相见无性。同于交芦。是故。汝今知见立知。即无明本。知见无见。斯即涅槃。无漏真净。云何是中更容他物。
尔时。世尊欲重宣此义。而说偈言。
真性有为空 缘生故如幻
无为无起灭 不实如空花
言妄显诸真 妄真同二妄
犹非真非真 云何见所见
中间无实性 是故若交芦
结解同所因 圣凡无二路
汝观交中性 空有二俱非
迷晦即无明 发明便解脱
解结因次第 六解一亦亡
根选择圆通 入流成正觉
陀那微细识 习气成暴流
真非真恐迷 我常不开演
自心取自心 非幻成幻法
不取无非幻 非幻尚不生
幻法云何立 是名妙莲花
金刚王宝觉 如幻三摩提
弹指超无学 此阿毗达磨
十方薄伽梵 一路涅槃门
于是。阿难及诸大众。闻佛如来无上慈诲。祇夜伽陀。杂糅精莹。妙理清彻。心目开明。叹未曾有。
Buddha Mind 