The First of Ten Wrong States – Believing That There Is Attainment
“Ananda, when the good practitioner has, in the cultivation of Samadhi, put an end to the skandha of mental formations, he sees that those subtle yet lively vibrating resonances, which are the shared foundation from which all life come forth, which have been the deep and imperceptible links and nodes that hold together the intricate net of his retributive karma accumulated over past lifetimes, are suddenly obliterated and thus the interaction is interrupted. He is now on the verge of realizing a great dawning in the sky of Nirvana, as if the rooster gazing at the first light appearing in the eastern sky after he has done the crowing. His six sense faculties are all quiescent, no more racing about, with everything inside and outside merging into a profound clarity. Entering without entering, the observer and the observed are one.
“Thus, without being drawn into any of them, he reaches a deep understanding of how the twelve categories of beings throughout the ten directions are born into their various categories. His consciousness has now become one with the worlds throughout the ten directions. The great dawning in the sky remains, and what was heretofore obscure is now revealed. This is the region of the consciousness skandha.
“He has attained unity with the categories of beings, but if they beckon him, he does not follow them. He has eliminated the distinctions of the six faculties and succeeded in uniting and opening them. The functions of his faculties of seeing and hearing are now interchangeable, performing separately or together, with complete clarity. All the worlds in the ten directions, as well as his own body and mind, are crystal clear inside and out. This is the end of the consciousness skandha. He can now transcend the turbidity of lifespans. Contemplating how the consciousness skandha arises in the first place, he sees that the deluded mental activities about existence or nonexistence are its source.
“Ananda, you should know that the good practitioner, after having completely emptied the mental formation skandha and returned the consciousness skandha to its source, he has now ended both coming to be and ceasing to be, although he has not perfectly realized the subtle wonder of Nirvana. At this point, he can make his sense faculties unite or open, separately or jointly. His consciousness is connected to all the categories of beings in the ten directions, as though he and they become one body, as though he is now able to enter the perfect source of it all. But if he thereby concludes that what he is returning to is the true and permanent cause of everything, that he has realized the ultimate truth, then he falls into the mistaken notion about what serves as the cause and what comes as the effect. Kapila and his Sankhya philosophy (which sees the universe in a dualistic way, as being comprised of two things – consciousness and nature, and that one should return to the so-called ‘the truth of the Unmanifest’) will become his companion. Confused about the Bodhi of the Buddhas, the practitioner wanders off from the Path of the Buddhas’ Right Knowledge and Proper Views.
“This is the first wrong state, where the practitioner has something in mind to achieve and attain, which therefore leads him to stray far away from perfect enlightenment, to turn his back on the City of Nirvana, and ultimately to sow the seeds of being reborn as a follower of wrong paths.
阿难！彼善男子修三摩地行阴尽者，诸世间性，幽清扰动同分生机，倏然隳裂沉细纲纽。补特伽罗酬业深脉，感应悬绝。于涅槃天，将大明悟 ，如鸡后鸣，瞻顾东方，已有精色。六根虚静，无复驰逸，内外湛明，入无所入。深达十方十二种类受命元由，观由执元，诸类不召。于十方界已获其同，精色不沉，发现幽秘 ，此则名为识阴区宇。若于群召，已获同中，消磨六门，合开成就，见闻通邻，互用清净。十方世界及与身心，如吠琉璃，内外明彻 ，名识阴尽。是人则能超越命浊，观其所由，罔象虚无颠倒妄想以为其本。
阿难当知，是善男子，穷诸行空，于识还元，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。能令己身，根隔合开，亦与十方诸类通觉 ，觉知通[淴-心+日]，能入圆元。若于所归立真常因，生胜解者，是人则堕因所因执，娑毗迦罗所归冥谛 ，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第一，立所得心，成所归果。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生外道种。
Buddha Mind 