Visual Awareness Does Not Move
Ananda and the others in the great assembly were all silent, since they had not understood what they had heard. However, they earnestly hoped to learn more. Putting their palms together, they waited with ardent expectation for the Buddha to speak again.
So the Buddha stretched forth one arm and opened His hand, which was as soft as cotton, revealing the wheel-shaped fine lines on his fingers, and addressed the great assembly: “After my awakening, I went to the Deer Park, where, for the sake of Ajnatakaundinya and the other four sages, and also for all of you, I said that the reason that beings have not become fully awakened, not even become Arhats, is because they are confused by afflictions. Those afflictions are like visitors and dust. Ajnatakaundinya, at that time, what in particular had caused the five of you to awaken and become sages?”
Ajnatakaundinya stood up and said respectfully to the Buddha, “Of all the elders here in this great assembly, I was the one who was given the name ‘Ajnata,’ meaning ‘one who understands,’ because I had come to realize what ‘visitor’ and ‘dust’ signify. It was in this way that I became a sage.
“Suppose a visitor stops at an inn for a night, once his stay is ended, he packs his bags and goes on his way. He’s not at leisure to remain. But if he were the innkeeper, he would not leave. By considering the difference between the visitor, who comes and goes, and the innkeeper, who remains, I understood that visitors signify transience.
“And let’s imagine a ray of morning sunlight shining through a crack in a door, revealing some dust motes in the air. In that case, the dust moves, while the air stays still. By considering the difference between the dust, which obscures the air as it moves, and the air, which remains still — I understood that dust signifies motion.”
The Buddha said, “So it is.” Meanwhile He made a fist with His wheel-lined fingers before He opened His hand and closed it again, and then He said to Ananda, “What did you just see?”
Ananda said, “I saw the Buddha open and close His hand over His resplendent wheel-lined palm.”
The Buddha asked Ananda, “Was it my hand that opened and closed, or was it your visual awareness that opened and closed?”
Ananda said, “It was the Buddha’s resplendent hand that opened and closed. Although I saw His hand open and close, my visual awareness neither opened nor closed.”
“What moved and what remained still?” The Buddha asked.
Ananda replied, “The Buddha’s hand moved, while my awareness was still – how could it have moved?”
The Buddha said, “So it is.”
Then from His wheel-lined palm the Buddha sent forth a ray of resplendent light that flew past Ananda to his right. Ananda immediately turned his head and glanced to the right. Then the Buddha sent a ray of light to Ananda’s left. Ananda turned his head again and glanced to the left. The Buddha then asked Ananda, “Why did you turn your head just now?”
Ananda said, “I saw the Buddha send forth a wondrous ray of light which flew past me on my right; then another ray flew past me on my left. My head moved as I looked to the right and to the left.”
“Ananda, when you glanced at the Buddha’s light and moved your head to the right and left, was it in fact your head that moved, or was it your visual awareness that moved?”
“It was my head that moved.” Ananda replied. “The nature of my visual awareness is still; how could it have moved?”
The Buddha said, “So it is.”
Then the Buddha told everyone in the assembly, “All beings need to understand that whatever moves is like the dust, and whatever doesn’t stay is like a visitor. Just now you saw that it was Ananda’s head that moved, while his visual awareness did not move. It was my hand that opened and closed, while his awareness did not open or close. If you take what moves to be your self and follow it everywhere in every thought, you bound to lose track of your true nature and act out of delusion. And because you lose touch with your mind’s true nature by identifying yourself with the objects you perceive, you keep on being bound to the cycle of birth and death and rebirth.”
阿难虽复得闻是言，与诸大众，口已默然，心未开悟。犹冀如来，慈音宣示，合掌清心，伫佛悲诲。
尔时世尊，舒兜罗绵网相光手，开五轮指，诲敕阿难，及诸大众：我初成道，于鹿园中，为阿若多五比丘等，及汝四众言： “一切众生，不成菩提，及阿罗汉，皆由客尘烦恼所误。”汝等当时，因何开悟，今成圣果？
时憍陈那，起立白佛：我今长老，于大众中，独得解名，因悟客尘二字成果。世尊！譬如行客，投寄旅亭，或宿或食 ；宿食事毕，俶装前途，不遑安住。若实主人，自无攸往。如是思惟，不住名客，住名主人，以不住者，名为客义。又如新霁，清旸升天，光入隙中，发明空中诸有尘相。尘质摇动，虚空寂然。如是思惟 ，澄寂名空，摇动名尘；以摇动者，名为尘义。佛言：如是！
即时如来，于大众中，屈五轮指，屈已复开，开已又屈。谓阿难言：汝今何见？阿难言：我见如来百宝轮掌，众中开合。佛告阿难：汝见我手众中开合。为是我手，有开有合？为复汝见，有开有合？阿难言：世尊宝手 ，众中开合。我见如来，手自开合，非我见性，有开有合。佛言：谁动谁静？阿难言：佛手不住 ，而我见性，尚无有静，谁为无住？佛言：如是！
如来于是从轮掌中，飞一宝光，在阿难右，即时阿难回首右盼。又放一光，在阿难左，阿难又则回首左盼。佛告阿难：汝头今日 ，何因摇动？阿难言：我见如来出妙宝光，来我左右，故左右观，头自摇动。阿难！汝盼佛光，左右动头，为汝头动？为复见动？世尊！我头自动 ，而我见性，尚无有止，谁为摇动？佛言：如是！
于是如来普告大众：若复众生，以摇动者，名之为尘；以不住者，名之为客。汝观阿难，头自动摇，见无所动 。又汝观我，手自开合，见无舒卷。云何汝今，以动为身？以动为境？从始洎终，念念生灭，遗失真性，颠倒行事，性心失真，认物为己 ，轮回是中，自取流转。
Buddha Mind 