Eliminating Discrimination and Revealing the Essential Bodhi
Then Manjushri, the Dharma King, who took pity on the audience, rose from his seat in the midst of the great assembly, prostrated at the Buddha’s feet, placed his palms together respectfully, and said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, all people here have not awakened to the Tathagata’s teaching about the essence of reality as being both form and emptiness and as being neither of them. We think that if causal form and emptiness were the reality, then there would be an indication of it; if they were not the reality, then there would be nothing visible to be seen. It is not that our roots from former lives are inferior or deficient, but simply we do not understand and therefore we are confused and bewildered. May the Tathagata enlighten us and reveal to us exactly what things fundamentally are, and that there is neither ‘is’ nor ‘is not’ between object and the essence of seeing.”
是時文殊師利法王子。愍諸四眾，在大眾中，即從座起，頂禮佛足，合掌恭敬，而白佛言：世尊，此諸大眾，不悟如來發明二種精見色空。是非是義。世尊。若此前緣色空等象，若是見者，應有所指。若非見者，應無所矚。而今不知是義所歸。故有驚怖。非是疇昔善根輕鮮。惟願如來大慈發明，此諸物象，與此見精，元是何物，於其中間，無是非是。
The Buddha told Manjushri and the great assembly, “To all Tathagatas and all great Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, who abide in the state of Samadhi, seeing and the conditions of seeing, as well as all thoughts and all forms imaginable, are like flowers in the air – fundamentally empty. This seeing and its conditions are essentially the wonderful, pure, and bright substance of Bodhi (Enlightenment). How can there be ‘is’ and ‘is not’ in it? Manjushri, take yourself as an example, I now ask you this: Is there still another Manjushri who is and is not?”
佛告文殊，及諸大眾。十方如來。及大菩薩，於其自住三摩地中，見與見緣，并所想相。如虛空華，本無所有。此見及緣，元是菩提妙淨明體。云何於中有是非是。文殊。吾今問汝。如汝文殊。更有文殊是文殊者。為無文殊。
Manjushri replied: “No, World Honored One, I am the real Manjushri. There is no Manjushri who ‘is.’ If there were still another Manjushri who ‘is’ Manjushri, there would be two Manjushris. But my presence here does not mean that there ‘is no’ Manjushri either. In fact, neither the concept of ‘is’ nor the concept of ‘is not’ exists.”
如是世尊。我真文殊。無是文殊。何以故。若有是者，則二文殊。然我今日，非無文殊。於中實無是非二相。
The Buddha said, “And this is not only the case with seeing. Likewise, the objects (seen) and the emptiness are fundamentally the projections or manifestations of the wonderful, pure and bright Bodhi (Enlightenment), the perfect, true mind, which tend to be falsely perceived as form and emptiness, as well as seeing and hearing, just like a second moon is perceived with the misconception of real or unreal: which one ‘is’ the moon and which one ‘is not’ the moon? Manjushri, there is only one true moon, and within it there is neither a moon that ‘is’ nor a moon that ‘is not.’ Therefore, if you discern seeing and the objects seen and give rise to all kinds of mental creation, they are called false thoughts, and this act of wrong thinking will prevent you from getting out of the dual condition of ‘is’ and ‘is not.’ However, if you look into the innermost essence of the pure Mind, it will empower you to stay clear of the dualistic state.”
佛言：此見妙明，與諸空塵，亦復如是。本是妙明無上菩提淨圓真心。妄為色空。及與聞見。如第二月，誰為是月，又誰非月。文殊。但一月真。中間自無是月非月。是以汝今觀見與塵，種種發明，名為妄想。不能於中出是非是。由是真精妙覺明性。故能令汝出指非指。
Ananda said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, it is truly as the Dharma King has said: the nature of Enlightenment (Bodhi) pervades the ten directions: clear, everlasting, and by nature neither produced nor extinguished. How does it differ, then, from the concept of primordial profundity in the doctrine of Kapila, or from the teaching of the ascetics who throw ashes on themselves, or from the other externalist sects that say there is a ‘real self’ which pervades the ten directions?
“Also, in the past, the World Honored One gave a lecture on Mount Lanka explaining the principle thoroughly for the sake of Great Wisdom Bodhisattva and others: ‘Externalist sects always speak of natural existence, but I speak of causes and conditions, which is entirely different.’ Now as I look into this nature of Enlightenment, as self-existent, as beyond birth and death, and as apart from all falsehood and inversion, it seems to have nothing to do with either causes and conditions or the spontaneity advocated by others. Would you please enlighten us on this point, so that we could realize the true Mind, the bright nature of Enlightenment?”
阿難白佛言：世尊。誠如法王所說，覺緣遍十方界，湛然常住，性非生滅。與先梵志娑毗迦羅，所談冥諦，及投灰等諸外道種，說有真我遍滿十方，有何差別。世尊亦曾於楞伽山，為大慧等敷演斯義。彼外道等，常說自然，我說因緣，非彼境界。我今觀此覺性自然非生非滅，遠離一切虛妄顛倒，似非因緣，與彼自然。云何開示，不入群邪，獲真實心妙覺明性。
The Buddha said, “Now I have revealed the truth to you with such expedients, yet you do not awaken to it but mistake it for spontaneity. Ananda, if it were spontaneous existence, you would be able to distinguish the substance of such spontaneity. Now look into the wondrous seeing and see what is its self: Is it the bright light, the darkness, the emptiness, or the obstruction being itself?
“Ananda, if light is its self, you should not see darkness; if emptiness is its self, you should not see obstruction. Likewise, if darkness is its self, the nature of your seeing should cease to function when there is light, but why do you still see light?”
佛告阿難。我今如是開示方便，真實告汝。汝猶未悟，惑為自然。阿難。若必自然，自須甄明有自然體。汝且觀此妙明見中，以何為自。此見為復以明為自，以暗為自，以空為自，以塞為自。阿難。若明為自，應不見暗。若復以空為自體者，應不見塞。如是乃至諸暗等相以為自者，則於明時，見性斷滅，云何見明。
Ananda said, “Now I am certain that the nature of seeing is not spontaneous. I guess it is brought about by causes and conditions. But I am still not clear about it. I now ask the Tathagata to tell me how it accords with the nature of causes and conditions.”
阿難言。必此妙見，性非自然。我今發明，是因緣生。心猶未明，咨詣如來。是義云何，合因緣性。
The Buddha said, “You say it is causes and conditions. Let me ask you this: When you see things, the nature of seeing manifests – is it because of light that the seeing exists? Or is it because of darkness, emptiness, or obstruction that the seeing exists? If it is light that brings it into existence, you should not see darkness; if it is darkness, you should not see light. It is the same with emptiness and obstruction.
“Moreover, Ananda, does the seeing derive from the condition of light, or darkness, or emptiness, or obstruction?
“If it exists because of the condition of emptiness, you should not see obstruction; if it exists because of the condition of obstruction, you should not see emptiness. And it is the same with light and darkness. Therefore, you should know that the essential Bodhi is due to neither causes nor conditions, neither being nor nonbeing, neither reality nor unreality. It is identical with all things yet beyond all forms.
“How can you now think of it, use your mind to make distinctions, and express it with frivolous terminologies that are based on worldly sophistries? That is like grasping at empty space with your hand: you will only succeed in tiring yourself out. How could empty space possibly be grasped?”
佛言。汝言因緣。吾復問汝。汝今因見見性現前。此見為復因明有見，因暗有見，因空有見，因塞有見。阿難。若因明有，應不見暗。如因暗有，應不見明。如是乃至因空因塞，同於明暗。復次阿難。此見又復緣明有見，緣暗有見，緣空有見，緣塞有見。阿難。若緣空有，應不見塞。若緣塞有，應不見空。如是乃至緣明緣暗。同於空塞。當知如是精覺妙明，非因非緣，亦非自然，非不自然，無非不非，無是非是，離一切相，即一切法。汝今云何於中措心。以諸世間戲論名相，而得分別。如以手掌撮摩虛空，祇益自勞。虛空云何隨汝執捉。
Ananda asked, “If the nature of Enlightenment has neither causes nor conditions, why does the Buddha always tell the bhikshus that the nature of seeing exists because of the four conditions of emptiness, light, mind, and eye? What does that mean?”
The Buddha said, “Ananda, what I have said about all the worldly causes and conditions has nothing to do with the Supreme Truth. Ananda, I now ask you: When a person says that he can see, what does he mean by ‘seeing’ and ‘not seeing’?”
阿難白佛言：世尊，必妙覺性，非因非緣。世尊云何常與比丘。宣說見性具四種緣。所謂因空因明，因心因眼，是義云何。佛言：阿難。我說世間諸因緣相，非第一義。阿難。吾復問汝。諸世間人，說我能見。云何名見。云何不見。
Ananda replied, “By seeing, he means that due to the light of the sun, moon, or lamps, he can see all kinds of appearances. While in the absence of such light, he cannot see.”
阿難言：世人因於日月燈光，見種種相，名之為見。若復無此三種光明，則不能見。
“Ananda, if it is called ‘not seeing’ when there is no light, he should not see darkness either. If he sees darkness when there is no light, how can you call it ‘not seeing’? If you call it ‘not seeing’ when there is no light, you should also call it ‘not seeing’ when there is light and you do not see darkness. Thus, there would be ‘no seeing’ in both cases. But as we know, your seeing-nature never ceases for an instant, be it in light or darkness. Since there is seeing in both cases, how can you call it ‘not seeing’?
“Therefore, Ananda, you should know that when you see light, the seeing is not bright. When you see darkness, the seeing is not dark. When you see emptiness, the seeing is not empty. When you see obstruction, the seeing is not obstructed.
“Once you have realized these four aspects, you should also know that when your absolute seeing perceives the Essence of Seeing, the former is beyond the latter, and the latter cannot reach it. That being the case, how can you say that your absolute intuitive perception has something to do with either causes and conditions or spontaneity, or that it has something to do with both?
“You narrow-minded Hearers are so ignorant that you are unable to realize the purity and clarity of Reality. Now I will show you the Truth and you should consider it carefully, never allowing indolence and remissness to obstruct your Path to the profound Bodhi.”
阿難若無明時，名不見者應不見暗。若必見暗，此但無明，云何無見。阿難。若在暗時，不見明故，名為不見。今在明時，不見暗相，還名不見。如是二相，俱名不見。若復二相自相陵奪，非汝見性於中暫無。如是則知二俱名見，云何不見。是故阿難。汝今當知，見明之時，見非是明。見暗之時，見非是暗。見空之時，見非是空。見塞之時，見非是塞。四義成就。汝復應知。見見之時，見非是見。見猶離見，見不能及，云何復說因緣自然，及和合相。汝等聲聞，狹劣無識，不能通達清淨實相。吾今誨汝。當善思惟。無得疲怠妙菩提路。
Ananda said to the Buddha, “Although the Buddha has explained to us about causes and conditions, about spontaneity, and about mixing and uniting or the absence of mixing and uniting, we became more perplexed as we heard that seeing is not seeing. Please would you open our wisdom-eye further.” After saying this, he wept, prostrated himself at the Buddha’s feet and waited earnestly to receive the holy teaching.
阿難白佛言：世尊。如佛世尊為我等輩，宣說因緣，及與自然，諸和合相，與不和合，心猶未開。而今更聞見見非見，重增迷悶。伏願弘慈，施大慧目，開示我等覺心明淨。作是語已，悲淚頂禮，承受聖旨。
Buddha Mind 