A Meditative Study of Understanding and Enlightenment
Purna (Purnamaitreyaniputra) arose from his seat in the midst of the Great Assembly, with his right shoulder uncovered, kneeling on his right knee, putting his palms together respectfully, and said to the Buddha, “The Almighty World-Honored One has expounded the ultimate truth for the sake of all sentient beings, with such sublime eloquence! The Buddha often appoints me as the primary speaker of the Dharma, but now as I hear such subtle and profound teachings of the Dharma, I am like a deaf person trying to hear a mosquito from a hundred steps away, failing miserably to see, let alone hear.
“Although the Buddha’s clear expressions have dispelled our doubts, we still have not realized the ultimate meaning that could enable us to rise above all delusions. Among the enlightened ones, including those like Ananda who have not yet completely stopped the outflows of their habits, as well as those who have reached the stage of no outflows, everyone is still wondering about the Dharma taught by the Buddha today.
“World Honored One, if all the mundane sense organs, sense objects, skandhas, locations, together with realms, are non-exceptionally the Tathagata Store, then why do the mountains, rivers, and all other phenomena always arise, flow, change, end, and then repeat the cycle again perpetually?
“Also, the Buddha said that the basic natures of earth, water, fire and wind are perfectly interfused, tranquil and eternal, pervading throughout the Dharma Realm. But how could the earth contain water if its nature is so pervasive? And how would fire arise with the nature of water being so pervasive? Moreover, how could the natures of fire and water each pervade empty space without displacing one another? And since the nature of earth is solid, while the nature of emptiness is vacuous – how can they both pervade the Dharma Realm? I hope the Buddha will kindly clear the clouds of confusion that engulf us all.”
After saying that, Purna made a full prostration and respectfully awaited the Buddha to impart His unsurpassed, most compassionate teaching.
The Buddha addressed to Purna and all the Arhats in the Assembly who had ended their outflows and who had reached the level beyond study: “Today I will explain in depth the most supreme truth. May those of you who are Hearers or Arhats of a fixed nature who have not yet realized the two kinds of emptiness and all who are dedicated to the Superior Vehicle reach the tranquility of the One Vehicle, the true aranya, the most proper state of cultivation. Listen attentively and I will explain it for you.” Purna and all the others awaited expectantly and quietly.
The Buddha then began: “Purna, you have asked why in fundamental purity the mountains, rivers, and all the rest suddenly arise. Have you not often heard the Buddha expound upon the wonderful light of the enlightened nature and the bright wonder of fundamental enlightenment?”
Purna replied, “Yes, indeed, I have often heard the Buddha expound upon that subject.”
The Buddha said, “You speak of understanding enlightenment, but does the nature understand? If yes, is that called enlightenment? Or does enlightenment itself lack understanding, and so you speak of understanding enlightenment?”
Purna said, “If a lack of understanding could be called enlightenment, then there would be no understanding at all.”
The Buddha said, “Indeed, if there were no understanding at all, then there could be no understanding of enlightenment. If understanding is added, then that is not enlightenment. If no understanding is added, then there is no understanding. A lack of understanding, or in another word – ignorance, is not the lucid bright nature of enlightenment.
“Although the nature of enlightenment includes understanding, it’s redundant to say understanding enlightenment. Enlightenment is not understanding, as the latter involves setting up an objective. Once an objective is set up, you give rise to false subjective state, and suddenly discrimination appears from where there was originally neither sameness nor difference. Out of discrimination now comes difference, and what differs from that difference becomes sameness. Once sameness and difference both arise, here also comes something neither quite the same nor quite different.
“Such turmoil brings about weariness. Prolonged weariness gives rise to defilement. With weariness and defilement, everything becomes so murky and obscured, hence more weariness and more defilement, so on and so forth! The world of illusions comes into being through such unrest, while emptiness comes from serenity. In emptiness everything is sameness; in the world everything is distinction. Dwelling in a neutral state is the true practice.
“Adding the light of understanding to enlightenment outlines and highlights the darkness of the primordial emptiness, and the interaction between them brings about disturbance in the mind, which consequently propels the wheel of wind that sustains the world of perceptions and illusions.
“The disturbance generated by the persistent tension between the objective emptiness and the subjective light of understanding gives rise to a firm attachment to the light, which solidifies and hardens into the wheel of metal that preserves the earth.
“Thus, the wheel of metal comes from the attachment to the understanding, while the wheel of wind from the interaction between the light of understanding and the darkness of emptiness. Now with the wheel of wind and the wheel of metal rubbing against each other, the friction generates fire, which is highly transformative by nature.
“The flame of fire rises up and turns metal into liquid, hence the wheel of water comes into being and encompasses all realms in the ten directions. The meeting between rising fire and falling water brings about further formations – what is wet becomes the oceans, while what is dry becomes the continents. This is why sometimes fire rises from the seabed, and rivers and streams flow across the lands. Excessive fire over water results in the formation of mountains; rocks spark into flame when struck and melt into water when heated. Excessive earth over water results in in the growth of vegetation, while trees turn into earth when burned and exude water when squeezed.
“The interaction among these illusory four wheels in turn produces the seeds of causes and conditions, which perpetuate the continuity of this world of illusions.
“Further, Purna, you should know that delusion is due to the mistake of adding understanding to enlightenment – there is no other reason than this. Once the falseness is established, no ‘true’ understanding can ever transcend it. Because of that, hearing never goes beyond sound, and seeing is forever confined to form. All of the six faulty senses – vision, sound, smell, taste, touch, and cognition – are perceived through delusion in such way.
“Shared karma brings about entanglements: sentient beings are united or separate, being formed or transformed, all due to unenlightened activities. When a point of light is perceived, an illusory form arises; when an understanding is understood, a deluded view is generated. Different views result in hatred; compatible ways of thinking give rise to love. The flow of desire becomes a seed, the seed of thought grows into an embryo. The happenstance of intercourse leads to the entanglement of shared karma. From these causes and conditions, the kalaka, arbuda, and other fetal stages emerge and evolve.
“Therefore, the four forms of birth derive from corresponding causes: birth from an egg arises from thought, birth from a womb comes from emotion, the moisture-born are due to union, and the metamorphosis-born come about through separation. Emotion, thought, union, and separation go through further interchanges, and beings entrapped in karma go through different forms of birth and death accordingly. Thus, these causes and conditions perpetuate the continuity of samsara.
“Purna, thought and desire are tied together, and desires are so strong that no disengagement is possible. Hence in this world the births of parents, children, and grandchildren are forever successive and ceaseless, and the root of it all is desire and greed.
“Greed and desire feed on each other. Because greed is insatiable, the egg-born, womb-born, moisture-born, and metamorphosis-born tend to devour one another or are in turn devoured, according to the extent of their respective strength. The root of all this is the passion to kill.
“For instance, a human being eats a sheep, then the slaughtered sheep is reborn as a human, while the human in turn becomes a sheep when he dies. This pattern applies to all ten states of beings as they devour each other in an ever-repeating cycle of death and rebirth. This evil karma follows each of them to infinity. The root of all this is the desire to steal.
“If you are in debt to someone for having taken their life, they will want you to repay with your own life. Because of such causes and conditions, beings are entrapped in the cycles of birth and death through hundreds of thousands of eons.
“Likewise, if you admire my mind and I admire your looks, we will go through hundreds of thousands of eons being entrapped in mutual entanglement. The fundamental roots of all things are killing, stealing, and lust, which sustain the continuity of karma and retribution.
“Purna, all these three kinds of mixed-up continuity are due to adding understanding to the inherently perfect enlightenment. The additional understanding then gives rise to external manifestations – mountains, rivers, great lands, and all the other conditioned phenomena are consequently born of false views. Therefore, illusions and delusions are perpetuating in endless cycles, as on a turning wheel.”
尔时富楼那弥多罗尼子，在大众中，即从座起，偏袒右肩，右膝着地，合掌恭敬，而白佛言：大威德世尊！善为众生，敷演如来第一义谛。世尊常推说法人中，我为第一。今闻如来微妙法音，犹如聋人，逾百步外聆于蚊蚋 ，本所不见，何况得闻？佛虽宣明，令我除惑，今犹未详斯义究竟，无疑惑地。世尊！如阿难辈，虽则开悟，习漏未除。我等会中登无漏者，虽尽诸漏 ，今闻如来所说法音，尚纡疑悔。世尊！若复世间，一切根尘阴处界等，皆如来藏清净本然，云何忽生山河大地 ，诸有为相，次第迁流，终而复始？又如来说：地水火风本性圆融，周遍法界，湛然常住。世尊！若地性遍，云何容水？水性周遍，火则不生 。复云何明水火二性俱遍虚空，不相陵灭？世尊！地性障碍，空性虚通，云何二俱周遍法界？而我不知，是义攸往。惟愿如来宣流大慈，开我迷云，及诸大众。作是语已，五体投地，钦渴如来无上慈诲。
尔时世尊告富楼那，及诸会中漏尽无学诸阿罗汉：如来今日，普为此会，宣胜义中，真胜义性。令汝会中定性声闻，及诸一切未得二空，回向上乘阿罗汉等 ，皆获一乘寂灭场地，真阿练若，正修行处。汝今谛听，当为汝说！富楼那等钦佛法音，默然承听。
佛言：富楼那！如汝所言，清净本然，云何忽生山河大地？汝常不闻如来宣说，性觉妙明，本觉明妙。富楼那言：唯然 ，世尊！我常闻佛宣说斯义。
佛言：汝称觉明，为复性明，称名为觉？为觉不明，称为明觉？富楼那言：若此不明，名为觉者，则无所明 。佛言：若无所明，则无明觉；有所非觉，无所非明。无明又非觉湛明性，性觉必明，妄为明觉。觉非所明，因明立所 ，所既妄立，生汝妄能。无同异中，炽然成异，异彼所异，因异立同。同异发明，因此复立无同无异。如是扰乱，相待生劳 。劳久发尘，自相浑浊，由是引起尘劳烦恼。起为世界，静成虚空。虚空为同，世界为异。彼无同异，真有为法。
觉明空昧，相待成摇，故有风轮执持世界。因空生摇，坚明立碍，彼金宝者，明觉立坚，故有金轮保持国土。坚觉宝成，摇明风出，风金相摩，故有火光为变化性。宝明生润，火光上蒸，故有水轮含十方界。火腾水降，交发立坚，湿为巨海，乾为洲潬。以是义故，彼大海中，火光常起 ；彼洲潬中，江河常注。水势劣火，结为高山，是故山石，击则成焰，融则成水。土势劣水，抽为草木，是故林薮 ，遇烧成土，因绞成水。交妄发生，递相为种，以是因缘，世界相续。
复次富楼那！明妄非他，觉明为咎。所妄既立，明理不逾。以是因缘，听不出声，见不超色。色香味触，六妄成就，由是分开见觉闻知。同业相缠，合离成化。见明色发，明见想成 ，异见成憎，同想成爱。流爱为种，纳想为胎，交遘发生，吸引同业，故有因缘，生羯罗蓝、遏蒲昙等。胎卵 湿化，随其所应，卵惟想生，胎因情有，湿以合感，化以离应。情想合离，更相变易，所有受业，逐其飞沉 。以是因缘，众生相续。
富楼那！想爱同结，爱不能离，则诸世间，父母子孙相生不断，是等则以欲贪为本。贪爱同滋，贪不能止，则诸世间 ，卵化湿胎，随力强弱，递相吞食，是等则以杀贪为本。以人食羊，羊死为人，人死为羊，如是乃至十生之类，死死生生，互来相啖 ，恶业俱生，穷未来际，是等则以盗贪为本。汝负我命，我还汝债，以是因缘，经百千劫，常在生死。汝爱我心，我怜汝色 ，以是因缘，经百千劫，常在缠缚。唯杀盗淫三为根本，以是因缘，业果相续。
富楼那！如是三种颠倒相续，皆是觉明，明了知性，因了发相，从妄见生山河大地诸有为相，次第迁流。因此虚妄终而复始。
Buddha Mind 