Visual Awareness Does Not Perish
Having heard the Buddha’s teachings, Ananda and the great assembly all felt calm and serene, their bodies at ease and their minds in peace. They realized that since beginningless time they had strayed from the primordial mind. They had been mistaken about conditioned objects, and they had made distinctions about mental formations, which are empty in essence. Now they all had awakened, and each was like a lost infant suddenly reunited with its loving mother. Putting their palms together and bowing to the Buddha, they couldn’t wait to hear the Buddha reveal the contrasting qualities of body and mind — what is true and what is false, what is real and what is insubstantial, what comes into being and then ceases to be, and what neither comes into being nor perishes.
Then King Prasenajit stood up and said to the Buddha, “Before I became a disciple of the Buddha, I met Katyayana and Vairatiputra, both of whom said that when this body dies, we cease to exist and become nothing. That very nothingness itself is what they called ‘Nirvana’. Now, though I have met the Buddha, I am still wondering about what they said. How can I come to realize the true and fundamental mind that neither comes into being nor perishes? I believe those in this great assembly who still have outflows all wish to hear the answer too.”
The Buddha said to the king, “Now I ask you, is your body as indestructible as Vajra, or is it subject to decay?”
The king answered, “World-Honored One, this body of mine will keep on changing till it perishes in the end.”
The Buddha said, “Great King, you have not perished yet. How is it that you know you will perish?”
“World-Honored One, my body is impermanent and subject to decay, although it has not perished yet.” The king said, “But now, upon reflection, I can see that each one of my thoughts just fades away, followed by a new thought which also does not last, like fire turning into ash, constantly dying away, forever perishing. By this I am convinced that my body, too, must perish.”
The Buddha said, “So it is, you are in your declining years. How do you look now, compared to when you were a boy?”
“When I was a child, my skin was firm and smooth, and I was full of vital energy in my prime. But now in my later years, as old age presses upon me, my body has become withered and weary. My vital spirits are dulled, my hair is white, my skin wrinkled. Not much time remains for me. How can all this compare to the prime of life?”
The Buddha said, “Great King, your body’s appearance cannot have deteriorated suddenly.”
The king replied, “World-Honored One, the changes have in fact been so subtle that I hardly noticed. I’ve reached this point only gradually through the passing of the years. In my twenties, I was still young, but I already looked older than when I was ten. My thirties marked a further decline from my twenties, and now, at sixty-two, I look back on my fifties as a time of strength and health.
“World-Honored One, as I observe these subtle transformations, I realize that the changes wrought by this descent toward death are evident not only from decade to decade; they can also be discerned in smaller increments. Examining more closely, one can see that changes happen year by year even. In fact, such changes happen every month. But how could they occur from month to month only? These changes must be happening day by day. And if one contemplates this deeply, one can see that there is change from moment to moment, constantly, along with each successive thought. Therefore, I know that my body will keep on changing till it perishes.”
The Buddha said, “Observing these changes — these never-ceasing transformations — you know that you must perish. But do you also know that when you perish, something in you does not perish with you?”
Putting his palms together, King Prasenajit replied to the Buddha, “Indeed I do not know.”
The Buddha said, “I now will reveal to you what it is that neither comes into being nor perishes. When you first saw the River Ganges, how old were you?”
The king replied, “I was three when my mother took me to pay respects to the goddess Jiva. When we went past a river, I knew that it was the Ganges.”
The Buddha said, “You said that when you were in your twenties, you already looked older comparing to when you were ten. Year after year, month after month, day after day, until you have reached sixty now, there have been always changes about your looks along with each thought coming and going. Now consider this: when you were three years old, you saw the river for the first time; ten years later, when you were thirteen, what was the river like?”
The king replied, “It looked the same when I was thirteen as it did when I was three, and even now, when I am sixty-two, it is still the same.”
The Buddha said, “Now you are mournful that your hair is white and your face more wrinkled than when you were in your youth. But when you look at the Ganges now, is your visual awareness any different from when you saw the river in your boyhood?”
The king replied, “No difference, World-Honored One.”
The Buddha said, “Great King, your face is wrinkled, but the essential nature of your visual awareness is not wrinkled. What is subject to wrinkle is subject to change. What is not subject to wrinkle does not change. Anything that changes will perish. But what never changes neither come into being nor perish. In other words, the essential nature is free of birth and death. So, you really have no need to be concerned with what Maskari Gosaliputra and others have said about total annihilation after death.”
The king believed every word he had heard to be true, and he now realized that when the life of this body ends, another life form begins. He and the entire assembly were elated at having gained a new understanding.
尔时阿难，及诸大众，闻佛示诲，身心泰然。念无始来，失却本心，妄认缘尘分别影事。今日开悟，如失乳儿，忽遇慈母。合掌礼佛 ，愿闻如来，显出身心真妄虚实，现前生灭与不生灭，二发明性。
时波斯匿王，起立白佛：我昔未承诸佛诲敕，见迦旃延、毗罗胝子，咸言：此身死后断灭，名为涅槃。我虽值佛，今犹狐疑 。云何发挥，证知此心不生灭地？今此大众，诸有漏者，咸皆愿闻。
佛告大王：汝身现在，今复问汝：汝此肉身，为同金刚，常住不朽？为复变坏？世尊！我今此身，终从变灭。佛言：大王！汝未曾灭，云何知灭？世尊！我此无常变坏之身，虽未曾灭 。我观现前，念念迁谢，新新不住，如火成灰，渐渐销殒，殒亡不息。决知此身，当从灭尽。佛言：如是！大王！汝今生龄 ，已从衰老，颜貌何如童子之时？世尊！我昔孩孺，肤腠润泽；年至长成，血气充满。而今颓龄，迫于衰耄，形色枯悴，精神昏昧，发白面皱，逮将不久 ，如何见比充盛之时？佛言：大王！汝之形容，应不顿朽？王言：世尊！变化密移，我诚不觉，寒暑迁流，渐至于此。何以故？我年二十，虽号年少，颜貌已老初十岁时；三十之年，又衰二十 。于今六十，又过于二，观五十时，宛然强壮。世尊！我见密移，虽此殂落，其间流易，且限十年。若复令我微细思惟，其变宁唯一纪二纪 ？实唯年变；岂唯年变？亦兼月化；何直月化？兼又日迁。沉思谛观，刹那刹那，念念之间，不得停住。故知我身，终从变灭。
佛告大王：汝见变化，迁改不停，悟知汝灭；亦于灭时，汝知身中有不灭耶？波斯匿王合掌白佛：我实不知。佛言：我今示汝不生灭性。大王！汝年几时 ，见恒河水？王言：我生三岁，慈母携我谒耆婆天，经过此流，尔时即知，是恒河水。佛言：大王！如汝所说，二十之时，衰于十岁 ；乃至六十，日月岁时，念念迁变。则汝三岁，见此河时，至年十三，其水云何？王言：如三岁时，宛然无异 ；乃至于今，年六十二，亦无有异。佛言：汝今自伤发白面皱，其面必定皱于童年。则汝今时观此恒河，与昔童时观河之见，有童耄否？王言：不也 ！世尊！佛言：大王！汝面虽皱，而此见精，性未曾皱。皱者为变，不皱非变。变者受灭；彼不变者，元无生灭。云何于中受汝生死？而犹引彼末伽黎等，都言此身死后全灭。
王闻是言，信知身后，舍生趣生；与诸大众，踊跃欢喜，得未曾有。
Buddha Mind 