Eradicating Any Residue of the False
“Ananda, although you have understood that the bright nature of basic Enlightenment does not come from causes and conditions and is not by nature spontaneous, you have not yet realized that the enlightened source is produced neither from mixing and uniting nor from a lack of mixing and uniting.
“Ananda, I must now ask you a question. Since you hold that all false thinking mixes and unites with causes and conditions, and you wonder whether the thoughts of a Bodhi mind also arise from such mixing and uniting. If they do, does your essence of perception mix with light or darkness, with clarity or obstruction? If it mixes with light, when the latter appears and you see it, where does it mix with your seeing? Since your seeing is clear, where can you find such mixture? If it is not the seeing, why do you see light? If it is the seeing, how can you see your own seeing? Since your seeing is complete by itself, how can it be mixed with the light? Since light is complete by itself too, where can it contain your seeing? Therefore, seeing and light differ, and if they are mixed up, even the word ‘light’ would cease to exist; in other words, such a mixture would suppress the light. Consequently, your concept of a mixture of seeing with light is wrong, and so is a mixture of seeing with darkness, clarity and obstruction.
“Again, Ananda, does the essence of your perception unite with light, darkness, clarity and obstruction? If it unites with light, then when light vanishes and be replaced by darkness, the seeing should not unite with the latter, but why do you still see darkness? When you see darkness, if your seeing does not unite with it, then when it unites with light, you should not see light as well. If light is not seen, then when there is light, do you know that it is light and not darkness? Likewise, a union of the seeing with darkness, clarity and obstruction is equally false.”
阿難。汝雖先悟本覺妙明，性非因緣，非自然性。而猶未明如是覺元，非和合生，及不和合。阿難。吾今復以前塵問汝。汝今猶以一切世間妄想和合，諸因緣性，而自疑惑，證菩提心和合起者。則汝今者妙淨見精。為與明和，為與暗和，為與通和，為與塞和。若明和者，且汝觀明，當明現前，何處雜見，見相可辨，雜何形像。若非見者，云何見明。若即見者，云何見見。必見圓滿，何處和明。若明圓滿，不合見和。見必異明。雜則失彼性明名字。雜失明性，和明非義。彼暗與通，及諸群塞，亦復如是。復次阿難。又汝今者妙淨見精，為與明合，為與暗合，為與通合，為與塞合。若明合者，至於暗時，明相已滅，此見即不與諸暗合，云何見暗。若見暗時，不與暗合，與明合者，應非見明。既不見明，云何明合。了明非暗。彼暗與通，及諸群塞，亦復如是。
Ananda asked, “World Honored One, as I consider it now, the source of this wonderful enlightenment never mixes or unites, neither with any conditioned mundane object nor with the mind’s speculation. Is that the case?”
阿難白佛言：世尊。如我思惟，此妙覺元，與諸緣塵，及心念慮，非和合耶。
The Buddha said, “You now speak of not mixing and not uniting. Do you mean that this essence of seeing does not mix with light, darkness, clarity and obstruction? If so, then when you see the light, there should be a demarcation line between seeing and light. Now look carefully and tell me where the fields of light and of your seeing are, and where their boundaries are? If you do not see where light is, then your seeing will not reach it; if so, you will not even know where the light is, and how can there be a border line? It is the same with darkness, clarity and obstruction.
“Again, do you mean that this essence of seeing does not unite with light, darkness, clarity and obstruction? If it does not unite with light, then both the seeing and light are in opposition. So your seeing would not perceive anything where there is light; then how can you cause them either to unite or not? It is the same with darkness, clarity and obstruction.
佛言：汝今又言覺非和合。吾復問汝。此妙見精非和合者，為非明和，為非暗和，為非通和，為非塞和。若非明和，則見與明，必有邊畔。汝且諦觀，何處是明，何處是見，在見在明，自何為畔。阿難。若明際中必無見者，則不相及，自不知其明相所在，畔云何成。彼暗與通，及諸群塞，亦復如是。又妙見精，非和合者，為非明合，為非暗合，為非通合，為非塞合。若非明合，則見與明，性相乖角。如耳與明，了不相觸。見且不知明相所在，云何甄明合非合理。彼暗與通，及諸群塞，亦復如是。
Buddha Mind 