Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son
Chapter One The Thirteenth Dream Simile
Original text: 佛言大王。譬若有人。于睡梦中。与诸宝媛。共相执持。是人觉已。忆念梦中。所受妙触。为实尔不。王言不也。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, suppose there is a person who, in a dream, engages in pleasure with many beautiful women. After this person wakes up, he keeps recalling the wonderful tactile sensations experienced in the dream. Does this matter truly exist? King Śuddhodana said: This matter does not truly exist.
After this person finishes the dream and wakes up, he still takes the events of the dream as real, remaining immersed in the dream, constantly recalling them, clinging with craving and unwilling to let go. This person lacks wisdom, not knowing that the dream is illusory and unreal. He should not be infatuated with unreal false appearances, pursuing illusory feelings and sensations; he should not be so deluded and inverted as to take the false as true. The feelings experienced in a dream are all illusory, let alone recalling the events of the dream after waking—the feelings are even more illusory.
Do the things recalled in the mind still exist? They no longer exist; otherwise it would not be called recollection. For example, recalling that the food just eaten was delicious—the food has already been eaten, the flavor no longer exists now, it is gone. No matter how one savors the memory, there is no actual effect, not even the slightest benefit; what has disappeared does not come back. A dream is even more illusory than a past real state; recollection only shows the mind's clinging and unwillingness to let go, immersing itself fruitlessly in illusory imagination, vainly wasting precious time and energy.
Take another example: recalling words someone once said—are those words still by one's ears now? There is no sound by the ear; past sounds, words once spoken, do not exist for the present and no longer have any effect. If one keeps grasping at those sounds without letting go, constantly calculating and clinging, that is illusion upon illusion. The very moment a sound exists it is already illusory, let alone one that has already disappeared—it is even more illusory and unreal. As for past states of the six sense objects, if they are said to still have any effect, that is actually just the false discrimination and thinking imagination produced in the mind, with the mind producing illusory feelings and attachments—in reality they no longer have any effect. What is past is past; clinging without letting go only adds afflictions in vain. In daily life, sentient beings feel that the myriad dharmas of the six sense objects are all very real, but in fact none of them is real; they are like illusory flowers in the sky and phantom shadows.
Since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have been like this, constantly pursuing things that are not real, ethereal and insubstantial, taking the illusory world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) as real, with deluded thoughts without end, only increasing their suffering. Seeing the dullness and suffering of sentient beings, all Buddhas give rise to compassion, appear in the world, proclaim the truth, transform and guide the deluded multitudes, causing them to leave the dark and dilapidated house of ignorance and turn toward the great path of liberation. Since the states of the five desires and six sense objects are as unreal as a dream, one should apply the mind to cultivating the Path. However much one applies the mind to the six sense objects, it is futile and useless, merely satisfying illusory desires. In essence, such desires are unnecessary, because for such desires one must do many meaningless things and create much evil karma. Without those desires for worldly dharmas, a sentient being would be a normal person, an awakened person, a pure person, a person without karmic obstructions and without afflictions.
Cultivating the Path is cultivating the mind. To cultivate the mind well, one must first recognize that one's own mind is illusory and unreal, and that the states of the six sense objects one clings to are illusory and unreal; then cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi) and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), so as to extinguish illusory craving, desires, thoughts, and feelings, and cut off the mind's afflictions and darkness of ignorance. Only thus can one be free from the suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra—this is the Hīnayāna method of practice. The Mahāyāna method of practice is to see the mind and attain realization, realizing the Ālayavijñāna, knowing where He operates, what functions He performs, how He performs them, how He gives birth to the five aggregates, how He unites with the deluded mind, how He produces the myriad dharmas, and how He manifests the conscious mind.
After realizing the Ālayavijñāna, one realizes His nature of neither arising nor ceasing, and at the same time knows that it is He who produced this "I," the body of the five aggregates. Therefore the five aggregates born of Him are empty, illusory, and conjured; the eighteen dhātus born of Him are empty and conjured, unreal. At the same time one also realizes the Hīnayāna fruit of emptiness. At the time of enlightenment, one not only attains the Mahāyāna fruit but also attains the Hīnayāna fruit. However, realizing the Hīnayāna fruit of emptiness does not necessarily mean simultaneously attaining the Mahāyāna bodhisattva fruit; but when one attains the Mahāyāna bodhisattva fruit, one definitely attains the Hīnayāna first fruit (srotāpanna) at the same time, and the karmic seeds of the three evil destinies are likewise eliminated.
Sentient beings have created much evil karma life after life. After enlightenment and attaining the fruits, they need not go to the three evil destinies to undergo retribution; undergoing some slight suffering among humans is enough. In future lives they may be born in heaven to cultivate, or cultivate among humans, and will not again fall into the three evil destinies. Unless the bodhisattvas have the ability and the power of vows to go to the three evil destinies to deliver sentient beings whose conditions have matured. For example, if a disciple has very deep roots of goodness but occasionally, through carelessness, creates karma leading to the three evil destinies and falls into them, a bodhisattva, if capable, can follow him into the three evil destinies to continue delivering him—this is the bodhisattva's resolve. But bodhisattvas descend to the three evil destinies not because of evil karma but because of the power of vows; their suffering is far lighter than that of the beings who go there by the power of karma, because bodhisattvas have wholesome vows.
Original text: 佛言大王。于意云何。是人所梦。执以为实。是智者不。王言。不也世尊。何以故。梦中毕竟。无有宝媛。况复有彼。美妙触耶。当知是人。徒自疲劳。都无所得。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, what do you think? If this person takes what he dreamed as truly existent and gives rise to attachment, is he wise? King Śuddhodana said: This person is not wise, World-Honored One. Why is this said? Because in the dream there are ultimately no beautiful women, let alone those wonderful tactile sensations—that is even more impossible. From this matter one should know that this person merely wearies his mind in vain, gaining no real benefit and obtaining nothing.
King Śuddhodana was quite awakened, knowing that in the dream there truly are no lovely women—not even people at all, let alone those wonderful tactile sensations; there are none whatsoever. In fact, in the daily life of sentient beings, all people, events, objects, and principles are the same as the states in a dream. In a dream all dharmas seem to exist, yet ultimately there is no substance; all is conjured, not real, without actual function. All Buddhas long ago awakened from the great dream of birth-and-death in the three realms, knowing that all dharmas ultimately do not exist, that their marks are all conjured and unreal; therefore they have cut off all craving and attachment, and not a single dharma remains in their minds.
How to recognize and understand that the five aggregates are as illusory and unreal as a dream? This must be understood and contemplated through two parts: the material body and the conscious mind. The material body is a flesh body constantly arising, ceasing, and changing, like a piece of wood. If there is no conscious mind operating on the material body, the body has no activities or functional effects. The first seven consciousnesses operating on the body constantly arise and cease, cease and arise, arising and ceasing like a whirling fire-brand. The seven consciousnesses are not real; only because the Ālayavijñāna constantly transmits the seeds of the conscious mind can the seven consciousnesses function. If the Ālayavijñāna does not transmit seeds, the seven consciousnesses do not function, and there are no functional effects of the five aggregates. The five-aggregate body as a whole is a combination, composed of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness; it is not real. Lacking any one of them, the five-aggregate body is incomplete. A living being aggregated from various causes and conditions is an illusory dharma, and is illusory in the very present moment—there is no need to deliberately imagine it as illusory.
In any moment of five-aggregate activity, if the Ālayavijñāna does not transmit the seeds of consciousness, the five-aggregate activity stops immediately, and there are no signs of life—such is the illusoriness of the material body. The five-aggregate body is like a robot: it is not autonomous but controlled. If there is no continuous supply of raw materials from the seed storehouse, the machine stops running. If the manas, this power switch, is not switched on, the raw materials cannot be transported to the material body, and the five-aggregate body still cannot operate. Such an illusory material body has not a bit of reality; its phenomenal existence merely dazzles the eyes and deludes the mind.
These conjured marks of constant arising and ceasing—ordinary beings and bodhisattvas, though unwilling to part with them, likewise cannot grasp them. Like the illusory scenes in a dream, the mark of a self, the mark of a person, the mark of a sentient being, and the mark of a life span—these four marks likewise have no real appearance, like objects in a dream. Real life is the same as a dream: there is no real "I" as a person, nor you as a person, no him, no sentient beings, no life span—all of these are illusory false marks. When one genuinely acknowledges and realizes this from within, one attains the fruit. And when one realizes that real life is the same as a dream, one has cultivated to the bodhisattva fruit of the stage of the ten dedications.
Among the five aggregates, the most used are the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. The sixth consciousness consists of all kinds of thoughts, views, feelings, experiences, and discriminations. For example, the mind that can listen to the Dharma is the sixth consciousness, the mind consciousness; the Dharma being expounded on the platform is the dharma object. When the manas contacts the dharma object, the Ālayavijñāna gives birth to the mind consciousness, which will think about and analyze what is heard, then give rise to initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra) and feelings of clarity or lack of clarity regarding the Dharma. Sentient beings live mainly by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; the first five consciousnesses are secondary. The five consciousnesses do not have so many and such complex mental activities; they only simply and roughly see, hear, smell, taste, and touch, while subtle discriminations, feelings, and thoughts belong mainly to the sixth consciousness. The manas is the consciousness that acts as the master; without the manas there is no sixth consciousness. The five-aggregate activities of sentient beings are dominated by these two consciousnesses, and cultivation mainly cultivates these two. When these two consciousnesses are completely transformed, the first five consciousnesses change, and only then can the functions of the eighth consciousness be fully displayed—then sentient beings become Buddhas.
So does cultivation cultivate the true mind or the deluded mind? The true mind needs no cultivation. When the ignorance of the deluded mind is completely severed and the afflictions completely severed, then the true mind restores its original face. When the seeds of evil karma are cleared out of the true mind, the true mind restores its own original face, and the sentient being is a Buddha. The reason sentient beings are not yet Buddhas now is that the Ālayavijñāna still contains the ignorance and defiled karma of the seven consciousnesses. Becoming a Buddha requires breaking through countless ignorances; realizing one principle breaks one ignorance; when ignorance is completely broken, the Buddha path is perfectly accomplished. Such is the path of cultivation.
After waking from a dream, still constantly recalling the dream and immersed in it—know that such a person wearies himself in vain and gains nothing; he merely lets the mind futilely consume energy, with no use at all. The mind consciousness covets illusory enjoyments and can only obtain temporary psychological comfort, with no actual benefit whatsoever. Being infatuated with people and events that do not exist—such mental experiences are too illusory. Since beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have clung like this to people, events, objects, and principles that do not truly exist, afflicting themselves. Outside, originally there is nothing at all; it is only the mind consciousness fantasizing and having deluded thoughts there. "The world originally has no troubles; mediocre people create troubles for themselves"—sentient beings are all mediocre people, taking external matters as real, and then the mind keeps churning and surging, though there is nothing to it; they merely seek out their own afflictions.
When one truly realizes that all dharmas are empty and markless, the mind no longer moves. When unmoving, the mind is pure and at ease; when unmoving, the mind attains the bliss of quiescent cessation—this is the greatest happiness, a happiness containing no afflictions at all. All joys contain afflictions: a happy family gathering is an affliction; marriage and childbirth are joyful yet are afflictions, and will also produce distress—not pure, not at ease. When one cultivates to the bliss of quiescent cessation, an unmoving mind has not a bit of affliction or agitation. Sentient beings now cannot imagine what mental state it is to be without the surging of afflictions and emotions; having truly tasted that blissful state, one would probably never again be willing to cling to any worldly state.
The Ālayavijñāna has not a trace of affliction and is always in the bliss of quiescent cessation. Why? Because He has no eyes and thus does not see, no ears and thus does not hear, no nose and thus does not smell, no tongue and thus does not taste, no body and thus does not feel touch, no mind and thus does not think of dharmas—He has no mental states whatsoever, yet He is no fool. One who has not realized the Ālayavijñāna can hardly appreciate the bliss of attaining meditative absorption (samādhi), which is utterly different in nature from the joy of family gatherings or the joy of promotion and wealth in the world. In the bliss of quiescent cessation there is none of all joys; none of the world's dharmas is seen, none clung to; there is no confusion, no turmoil—whereas the joys of the world are all within turmoil, not tranquil, afflicted and distressing.
Carefully contemplate the illusoriness of the conscious mind and attentively observe the arising-ceasing illusoriness of all worldly dharmas, and the mind will reduce its grasping at conditions, have fewer fantasies and wild thoughts; people's mental illnesses will decrease, neurasthenia and insomnia will lighten, and all kinds of ailments will diminish. Where do illnesses come from? One is the retribution of karmic actions from past lives; the other is produced by afflictions and deluded thoughts in this life. Sentient beings all seek out suffering for themselves. Once the principles are understood, the mind has no afflictions; when the principles are not understood, afflictions are layered upon layered and suffering is immeasurable—all self-sought, given by no one. All illnesses are illusory and conjured, with no place of coming; when an illness ceases, there is also no place of ceasing, because it is illusory. Once these principles are thoroughly understood, one can cure a hundred illnesses—no need at all for doctors of the body or doctors of the mind. All illness-obstructions arise illusorily and cease illusorily. Once the Buddha Dharma is penetrated, all dharmas are penetrated; having learned the Buddha Dharma well, all worldly dharmas are completely penetrated.
The bodily illnesses of worldly people, their mental illnesses, all the afflictions in the family, the troubles of work and career—all such things are the result of being wrapped up by one's own ignorance and karmic obstructions. Those who have not studied Buddhism do not understand these principles; those who have studied Buddhism but have not yet learned it clearly, who have not engaged in deep and detailed contemplation and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), are obstructed by their own ignorance. To truly understand the truths of the world, one must first understand oneself; afterwards all dharmas can be penetrated.
So when worldly dharmas are not penetrated, it is because the mind has knots and bonds; what needs untying is one's own mental knots, not resolving external states. Do not complain that the external forms are so seductive as to insist on disturbing your mind; rather reflect on why your mind is attracted by external forms, seized by external forms, why it insists on staining itself with external states. Is it that the external states want to bind and stick to you? No—it is that your own mind insists on grasping, and as a result is stuck by the states. Originally wanting to grasp the states, one ends up being grasped by the states; the five desires and six sense objects bind one tightly, life after life undergoing the suffering of poverty and transmigration, bound in the ocean of birth-and-death of the six paths of transmigration.
Contemplate where the myriad worldly dharmas come from, where the conscious mind comes from, how the five aggregates and the myriad worldly dharmas manifest, and one can attain the Mahāyāna bodhisattva fruit; then, like King Śuddhodana, accomplish the patience with non-arising dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti) and become a first-bhūmi bodhisattva—that would be even better. After attaining the first bhūmi, what fruit will one have when reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī)? Hearing Amitābha Buddha personally expound the profound Dharma of consciousness-only, one can quickly attain the bodhisattva fruits from the second to the eighth bhūmi. An eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva can, within a single thought, conjure a trichiliocosm; countless planets can instantly be conjured forth. Holding the earth in one hand and sentient beings in the other, he moves the beings to another galaxy without their perceiving it at all; when an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva opens his mouth, the waters of the four great oceans pour into his mouth, and fish, shrimp, dragons, and other beings do not know they have been sucked into the bodhisattva's belly, unable to detect it.
When this planet is about to be destroyed, an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva moves all the beings of this planet to another planet, and the beings do not know it. One billion earths, one billion Mount Sumerus, ten six-tier desire-realm heavens—all the celestial realms number one billion—one billion hells, one billion Yāma realms, one billion four great oceans, together constitute one trichiliocosm, extremely vast; an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva can manifest all of it.
The realms of the great bodhisattvas are very hard for sentient beings to imagine; when unable to imagine, it is hard to believe there are so many inconceivable things. In fact, when sentient beings' roots of goodness, merit, and conditions are truly all complete, realizing these dharmas is not difficult, let alone believing them. We must have faith in the Buddha and the Dharma, faith in the bodhisattvas, and also faith in ourselves. Diligently cultivate precepts, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom; merit is the foundation. We must constantly perfect and fulfill the provisions and conditions for practicing the bodhisattva path and being a bodhisattva, so that the causes and conditions for realization and enlightenment appear soon, and the aspiration to be a bodhisattva will be fulfilled.
Original text: 佛言大王。如是如是。愚痴异生。寡闻无智。于可意触。而生爱乐。心生染着。造如是业。身业三种。语业四种。意业三种。造作彼业。刹那迁谢。是业灭已。不依东方。南西北方。四维上下。中间而住。至命终时。见先所作。心想中现。如彼睡觉。忆梦中事。最后识灭。自业现前。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, it is indeed so. The ignorant differently-born ordinary beings, having little hearing and no wisdom, give rise to love and delight for the tactile states they enjoy, their minds become defiled and attached, and they create such karma: three bodily karmas, four verbal karmas, three mental karmas—evil karma appears. After creating these evil karmas, the karmic actions cease and pass away moment by moment; after the karmic actions cease, they do not abide depending on east, south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, up, down, or the middle. But at the time of death, one sees the deeds one once did appear in the mind, like this person waking from sleep yet recalling the events of the dream; when the last consciousness ceases, one's own karma manifests before one.
Ignorance is non-understanding: not knowing anything—not knowing what the five aggregates are, not knowing the five aggregates are illusory, not knowing the myriad dharmas are illusory, not knowing this false self is a combination, not knowing how to break through it, not knowing how to escape the transmigration of the six paths, not knowing how to attain the bodhisattva fruits, not knowing how to realize one's original face, the self-natured pure mind, and not even knowing how to become a Buddha—such are the ignorant and unenlightened sentient beings.
For a living being alive at present, when this span of life ends, in the next period he will be in another place, born again into the destiny corresponding to his habitual tendencies and karmic power. That the time, place, and material body have all changed is called "different"; after death, beings usually have their body, time, identity, place, and living space all changed. Hungry ghosts have the space of hungry ghosts, asuras have the space of asuras, hells have the space of hells, devas have the space of devas; animals are together with humans, also on the surface of this earth, but their living environments still differ. When the living environment changes and one switches to another life form, becoming another kind of living being, this is called "differently born" (pṛthagjana).
Sentient beings have little hearing and no wisdom because they do not listen to the sūtras and hear the Dharma; their seeing and hearing are scant, they do not understand the true meaning of the Buddha Dharma or the truths of the world, and therefore they have no wisdom. If one wants wisdom, one must listen much to the sūtras and hear much Dharma, penetrate deeply into the treasury of the sūtras, and only then can one produce wisdom as deep and broad as the ocean. Study much Buddha Dharma, believe and accept much of the Buddha's words; realize one principle, break one ignorance, have one less kind of ignorance; with body, mouth, and mind pure and without afflictions, the mind will be happy.
Ordinary beings with little hearing and no wisdom give rise to love and delight for agreeable touch. Agreeable touch is the bodily tactile feeling that makes the mind consciousness pleased and delighted, called wonderful touch. For example, the body touching soft clothing, warm sunshine, a comfortable bed—among these, the most important is the touch between man and woman; the desire realm is mainly a world established upon this touch. What the body faculty and body consciousness contact is called the touch object. For example, warm comfortable sunshine touching the body, cold or hot wind touching the body, soft or hard clothing touching the body—when the body consciousness has a sensation, it is called touch; the dharma touched is called the touch object. Also, being hungry or thirsty—the stomach's sensation is also touch; all these are touch objects. Again, for example, sitting for a long time and feeling fatigued—fatigue is also a touch object; when meditating the body feels tranquil and at ease (praśrabdhi), the body feels very comfortable—all these are touch objects.
Ordinary sentient beings most cling to pleasant tactile feelings, mainly the touch between man and woman. When man and woman touch each other, the mind gives rise to a mind of love and delight, of craving and attachment, and thus the mind is defiled. This is craving-love dominated by the mind consciousness, also including the eye and body consciousnesses, but mainly the feelings of the sixth consciousness. After the mind consciousness gives rise to defiled attachment, it creates karma; the step after the mind gives rise to love and delight is certainly creating karma, and karmic actions will appear. People without cultivation will produce the ignorant karmic actions of body, mouth, and mind; some cultivators, though sometimes inwardly defiled, do not create bodily or verbal karmic actions; the most cultivated do not even defile the mind. Of created karmic actions, bodily karma can create three: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; verbal karma has four: false speech, frivolous speech, divisive speech, and harsh speech; mental karma is three: greed, hatred, and delusion.
The three bodily, four verbal, and three mental karmas together make the ten karmas; body, mouth, and mind accord with and follow one another. After the ten evil karmas are created, these karmic actions cease moment by moment; the karmic seeds are transmitted out, function, and then cease; that moment's karmic action is gone, and finally the whole behavioral deed disappears, yet the karmic seeds are recorded and remain. Who records them? It is the Ālayavijñāna, which has given sentient beings immeasurable kindness, that records them, because He outputs seeds and then takes back the seeds; the karmic actions created by the seeds are thereby simultaneously stored in the Ālayavijñāna.
The Ālayavijñāna is impartial and selfless. He will not say the five aggregates were made by me, belong to me, and I must conceal their evil deeds—not recording karmic seeds no matter what evil the five aggregates do, not outputting karmic seeds, not letting the five aggregates have evil retribution. The Ālayavijñāna has no such mental conduct; He is honest and undeceiving like a video camera. All karmic actions created by the five aggregates are automatically recorded mechanically, without any selection, faithfully recording all behavioral deeds down to the smallest detail. After being recorded, they are stored as seeds in the substance of the mind; when the causes and conditions are complete, the karmic seeds are output, the seeds take root and sprout, there will be results, and retribution appears.
There are extremely many examples illustrating how the Ālayavijñāna faithfully actualizes the karmic results of sentient beings. For example, if A had an evil karmic affinity with B in a past life, and B is reborn this life into A's family, that counts as the seed sprouting when conditions mature; the child growing up counts as blossoming; when the time comes, B will harm and take revenge on A, and A's retribution appears. The preceding processes are all sprout, flower, branches, and leaves; when the retribution arrives, A may understand what this child came for—originally to collect a debt, to take revenge. Most people, even after undergoing the retribution, do not understand this principle; before it they had no awareness, not knowing at all there was such a special affinity. Because of the past life's evil affinity, the two people gathered in one place to settle the karmic seeds, and neither knew it.
Once upon a time, a man deliberately beat a mouse to death, and it happened that the mouse was a female mouse. After the female mouse died, unreconciled, she made an evil vow to take revenge; in a later life she was reborn as a woman. When the woman grew up, she met this man; the two fell in love at first sight, dated, and married. The two had changed their life circumstances, and because of the delusion of crossing the womb, neither recognized the other nor knew of their past-life affairs; it was karmic affinity that brought the two together. After marriage, this woman tormented the man for a whole lifetime, but did not take his life. The man was tormented painfully all his life. As long as the karmic seeds are not extinguished and the retribution not fully undergone, the two cannot separate.
Why is this so? Their karmic seeds are both stored in their respective Ālayavijñānas; when conditions are complete, the karmic seeds each manifest, taking root, sprouting, blossoming, bearing fruit, and the man was tormented by the woman for a lifetime; when the two met, neither expected such a result. Who decides these matters? Karmic affinity decides; the seeds stored in the Ālayavijñāna decide. Even the Ālayavijñāna does not decide; He does not manage this—He merely faithfully manifests the karmic seeds.
If sentient beings had deep affinities in past lives, when they meet this life and the Ālayavijñāna manifests the seeds, they will have special feelings toward each other. Even without meeting, merely hearing a voice, seeing writing or a photograph, one can feel some kind of past-life affinity—whether wholesome or evil affinity. Without meeting or speaking, there will be a peculiar feeling. Some, merely hearing a name, feel something special.
Those who formed very deep affinities with the Buddha in past lives, upon hearing the Buddha's name this life, have their inner emotions stir and the hairs on their body stand erect, showing they studied Buddhism for a long time in past lives and have deep affinity with the Buddha. Those with deep Buddha-affinity have strong responsive resonance upon hearing the Buddha's name, spontaneously studying Buddhism, recollecting the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), bowing to the Buddha, and praising the Buddha. Those who studied Buddhism only briefly in past lives have little reaction, quite flat. For example, this was so with Anāthapiṇḍada the Elder of Jetavana Vihāra in India during the Buddha's time: upon hearing the Buddha's name, as he walked along the road his skin kept forming goosebumps and his hairs stood erect. He was a Buddhist disciple with very deep roots of goodness; having just heard the Buddha's name, he wanted to hold a banquet to make offerings to the World-Honored One, and donated his Jetavana Grove to the Buddha as the Buddha's monastery.
Some people, as soon as they first encounter the Buddha Dharma, have the seeds of studying Buddhism from past lives completely manifest; they quickly plunge headlong into the Dharma and no longer care about worldly affairs—this is the power of seeds. It is the Ālayavijñāna that presents the matured karmic seeds. The mysteries herein are too many. Studying the Dharma, one can know much truth; not studying the Buddha Dharma, one is so ignorant as to only know how to create evil karma, and even after suffering loss and retribution does not know what happened, and the bitter karma of later lives cannot be exhausted.
After evil karma is created and ceases, the karmic seeds remain. The most fearsome thing is the karmic seeds. We may try praying to our own Ālayavijñāna not to record our evil karmic deeds, not to store evil karmic seeds, and see whether it works? It is utterly useless, because the Ālayavijñāna does not understand sentient beings' language, does not know the content of mental thoughts, and lacks the discriminating functional effects of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. Therefore the Ālayavijñāna is pure and undefiled, sternly impartial; so praying to Him is useless. One can only turn back and appeal to one's own mind: do not let one's mind be filled with greed, hatred, and delusion, and no longer create defiled karma out of greed, hatred, and delusion.
Where do the karmic actions of sentient beings' created karma go after ceasing? They do not abide depending on east, south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, up, down, or the middle. No place where karma disappears or exists can be found. If there were a place to store karmic actions, that would be terrible: wherever these karmas were stored, sooner or later one day they would erupt; whoever the karma follows is doomed. Karma has no place of storage, coming without a trace and leaving without a shadow. Although karmic actions have no place of storage, at the end of life, all the karma created in this life flashes rapidly through the mind; the mind consciousness can feel it all, discriminate it all clearly, the mind knows it all, missing nothing. At that time one knows where one is going, and therefore one deeply hopes one's relatives can help oneself escape from the karmic obstructions; but by then one can no longer speak or express oneself. When one reaches the intermediate state (antarābhava) and wants to tell one's kin, the two realms of the dead and the living are separated and communication is impossible—beings of two worlds do not share a language.
After consciousness ceases, this life ends and the dream of this human life comes to a full stop. Thinking about it now, real life really does seem like a dream. After the six consciousnesses cease, one transmigrates according to karma. Because the manas wants a five-aggregate body, the Ālayavijñāna cooperates to manifest the intermediate body. Persons of extreme goodness or extreme evil have no intermediate state: the extremely evil person falls into hell without an intermediate state—as soon as he breathes his last on this side, the hell body manifests; after the extremely good person dies, the deva's material body manifests, and he is directly born in heaven to enjoy blessings.
Once the hell body comes out, even if one regrets creating evil karma and wants to repent and remedy it, there is no opportunity. In the intermediate state one can still repent, and relatives may perhaps still remedy it somewhat; without an intermediate state there is no way, and the karmic seeds are fixed. Unless some person is quite awakened and repents in hell with the hell body—if the power is great enough and the mental strength very strong, he can also come out of hell. If his blessings are greater, after death Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva may be waiting for him at the gate of hell, teaching him repentance or a verse from the Buddha Dharma; if he can recite along, he can eliminate his hell karma and thereby come out of hell. Having received the bodhisattva precepts, if one falls into hell and knows which precept one violated, a single moment of repentance in the mind can also eliminate the karma and leave hell. So in our usual cultivation, we should accumulate much blessing and cultivate much wisdom; when undergoing evil retribution, there will be many opportunities for liberation. The fear is lacking merit, not knowing how to use the Dharma, not knowing how to repent one's karmic deeds. Listening much to the sūtras and hearing much Dharma gives more wisdom of liberation.
Original text: 大王。识为其主。业为攀缘。二种相因。初识生起。作业受报。皆不失坏。或趣地狱。或堕傍生。琰摩罗界。及阿修罗。若人若天。同分种类。相续不绝。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the Ālayavijñāna is the master of karma creation; the created karmic actions serve as the karmic condition. The Ālayavijñāna conditions upon the karmic actions—this is the cause and condition for the birth of the material body in the next life. When the initial conscious mind of the material body is born, having created karma in past lives, retribution begins in this life; creating karma and undergoing retribution—neither of the two decays. This person will necessarily proceed toward hell, the ghost destiny, the animal destiny, the asura destiny, as well as the human and deva destinies, and the five-aggregate body corresponding to the karmic actions continues to run on without interruption.
When the Ālayavijñāna combines with the karmic conditions, the initial consciousness of the next life arises. Once consciousness is produced, there is suffering feeling; retribution manifests, and only with feeling is retribution formally undergone. So is retribution undergone on the body or on the mind? Mainly the mind undergoes retribution, because only when the mind has feeling is it called undergoing retribution. If the material body has no conscious mind, however many kinds of suffering are imposed on it, the body does not feel suffering—there is no suffering feeling. So retribution is mainly undergone by the mind; only with a mind can one feel suffering and happiness; without a mind one cannot feel suffering or happiness.
It is like a table made of wood: it has no karmic retribution. However one acts upon the table, the table has no feeling whatsoever and undergoes no retribution. Because only with a mind is there feeling, retribution is undergone by the mind: the mind creates karma, the mind undergoes retribution—whoever creates it, that one undergoes it. Can the body create karma? If the body could create karma, a table could too, and a clay figure could too; but a clay figure has no mind—it cannot create karma nor undergo retribution; a dead person creates no karma and undergoes no retribution. But the mind that creates karma is arising-ceasing and changing, impermanent, perishable, and therefore not real. The conscious mind must rely on external conditions: only when the Ālayavijñāna transmits seeds does the conscious mind function; if the Ālayavijñāna does not transmit seeds, there is no conscious mind, and nothing can be done. If one who knows how to listen to this passage has complete conditions and blessings, he can not merely realize the Hīnayāna fruit but can fully realize the Mahāyāna fruit.
After the conscious mind is born, creating karma and undergoing retribution are both without loss or decay; they will not vanish without cause. After creating karma, retribution will certainly manifest; it is not that once the karma is created all is over. If one receives a hell material body, the body continues unbroken in hell; as long as the hell lifespan lasts, the conscious mind functions that long, undergoing suffering feeling that long. The eye consciousness functions on the same material body, the ear consciousness functions on the same material body, the mind consciousness functions on the same material body; when the material body is changed, these consciousnesses are changed, and the affairs of past lives are unknown, cannot be recalled—this is amnesia. Because the mind has changed, there is no cognition of past-life affairs.
Original text: 大王。最后识灭。名为死蕴。最初识起。名为生蕴。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, at the very end of life, when the conscious minds have all ceased, the five aggregates are called the aggregate of death; when the initial conscious mind is born, the five aggregates are called the aggregate of birth.
When a sentient being's present life ends, at the final moment when he breathes his last, the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind cease. After consciousness ceases it is the aggregate of death: the body, like wood, has no awareness and no life; it is then no longer the aggregate of birth, becoming a corpse like a wooden carving or clay sculpture—that is the aggregate of death. On the material body of the next life, the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are produced again, a complete living being appears, and there are the various functional activities of the five aggregates. If in the womb the six consciousnesses have not yet manifested, it is not yet a complete person. After four months, at six or seven months, when the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all present, only then is it a complete person. Before the conscious mind is produced it is not a living person, because without the conscious mind it is not a complete person; but neither is it a dead person, because the seventh consciousness and the Ālayavijñāna exist.
Therefore abortion counts as half-killing; it depends on how many months into pregnancy the abortion occurs—the degree of the killing offense differs. For abortions in the first six months, the fetus is not yet a complete living being, but there is still offense, only of differing magnitude; abortion after six months counts as complete killing of a person, because the fetus is already a complete living being. When the conscious mind has not yet been born, abortion does not yet count as killing a person, but there is certainly karmic offense.
For example, eating eggs: an egg is also not a complete living being, but the egg contains a fertilized ovum that will become a chicken, and there is also retribution. Eating eggs and eating chicken are two different retributions—a matter of greater or lesser offense. Although there is a fertilized ovum in the egg, it is not yet a complete living being; it has no five-aggregate activity. Only when it hatches into a chick is it a complete life; or just before it is about to emerge from the shell, it is already a complete living being—killing it then also counts as killing.
Therefore, when abortion is unavoidable, do it as early as possible: the earlier, the less pain for the fetus, because without conscious-mind activity it does not know pain; only after death, when the conscious mind returns to the intermediate state, does it know it has incarnated in vain, and there will certainly be resentment in the mind. When the fetus's mind consciousness has not yet been born, being aborted involves no pain. Only when it returns to the intermediate state and the conscious mind is produced again is there pain and resentment. Killing karma has many degrees of difference; according to whether the five aggregates are complete or not, one can judge one's own karma—what degree of offense it is.
The magnitude of offense also lies in the mental conduct, in the degree of hatred, whether there is a hating mind, whether there is a killing mind. For example, suppose a sack contains a complete living person, and someone unintentionally kills him, not knowing there is a person in the sack, thinking it is a lifeless object, and accidentally kills the person. This does not count as deliberate homicide, because it was unintentional; after death he will not fall into hell to undergo evil retribution. Even so, when he meets that person again in the future, he will also be unintentionally killed once by that person. In killing, one must see whether it is intentional or unintentional killing. Intentional killing is an evil mind, an evil mental nature—it is the offense of killing, the karma of killing a person. Unintentional killing has no evil in the mental nature and thus no offense, but there is still cause and effect.
On the other hand, if the sack contains a piece of wood or some object, not a person, and out of hatred one kills it as if it were another person—originally wood is not life, and killing it is just like chopping firewood; but because the mind harbors hatred and intent to kill, treating it as a person and killing it, it counts as the offense of killing a person, and this karma is great. Whether the offense is great or small lies in the state of mind. If with extremely great evil intent one stomps an ant to death, this offense is also great, because the hating mind is too heavy, unlike ordinary killing. Ordinary killing is sometimes unintentional, sometimes with a slight tinge of hatred—the retributions are all different. So in law, sentencing is also divided into intentional killing and unintentional killing, with different verdicts.
To summarize: cultivation is cultivating the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses. When the deluded mind is well cultivated and the mind becomes pure, when there are no evil karmic seeds in the Ālayavijñāna, one becomes a Buddha and completely restores one's original face. The karmic seeds contained in sentient beings' Ālayavijñānas now still have defilement and ignorance; the seven-consciousness mind has the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, whereas the Buddha's seven-consciousness mind is entirely pure, has already transformed consciousness into wisdom, and is utterly without self.
Original text: 大王。彼识起时。无所从来。灭无所至。其缘生时。无所从来。灭无所至。彼业生时。无所从来。灭无所至。大王。无有少法。从于此世。得至他世。何以故。自性空故。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, when the initial conscious mind arises, it has no place of coming; when it ceases, it has no place of going. When the conditions that give birth to the conscious mind arise, they have no place of coming; when they cease, they have no place of going. When the created karmic actions arise, they have no place of coming; when the karmic actions cease, they have no place of ceasing. Great King, there is not a single dharma that can pass from this world to the next world. Why is this so? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is empty.
When sentient beings are in the womb and several conscious minds are born, from where do they come to the body? Is there a place of coming? There is no place of coming, nor can one be found. When sentient beings' conscious minds cease, where do they cease to? There is also no place to go; no place of ceasing can be found.
After the conditions for the conscious mind are produced, the conscious mind comes forth; these conditions also come from nowhere and cease going nowhere. The birth of the conscious mind requires some auxiliary conditions; without auxiliary conditions the conscious mind cannot be born. For example, producing the eye consciousness requires nine conditions: light, space, faculty, object, attention (manaskāra), the dependence on discrimination, the dependence on defilement and purity, the fundamental dependence, and seeds. So the eye consciousness does not arise without cause; only when these nine conditions are all complete does the eye consciousness arise; if not complete, it cannot arise. Therefore in the womb the fetus has no eye consciousness, because in the womb there is no light and no space. The first consciousness born in the womb is the mind consciousness, because the conditions required for the mind consciousness's birth are fewer, so its birth is easier.
If there is no space and the hand is pressed right against the eyes, the eye consciousness cannot see the hand; if there is no sunlight or lamplight, the eye consciousness cannot see objects. When conditions are incomplete, the eye consciousness does not arise on the currently present form object. So only when causes and conditions are complete can the eye consciousness be produced. The eye consciousness arising in dependence on conditions is illusory and not autonomous; the eye consciousness cannot determine its own existence, because it has no autonomy.
The other consciousnesses are likewise. For example, the birth of the ear consciousness requires eight causes and conditions to be complete; apart from light, the other conditions are the same as those for the eye consciousness's birth and must all be complete for the ear consciousness to be born. The birth of the nose, tongue, and body consciousnesses requires seven conditions; apart from light and space, the other conditions must all be complete for them to be born. The birth of the mind consciousness requires five conditions: attention (manaskāra), manas, dharma object, Ālayavijñāna, and the seeds of the mind consciousness—fewer conditions than the five consciousnesses need, so it easily becomes manifest. The manas's birth requires only attention and the consciousness seeds of the seventh consciousness—even fewer conditions—so the manas is always manifest and very hard to cease; only when the manas no longer gives rise to attention toward the dharmas of the three realms and has severed craving-love for the three realms will the manas cease. Therefore, dharmas that can only be produced by the gathering of various causes and conditions are arising-ceasing dharmas, illusory dharmas, dharmas that are not self.
Take another example: a group formed by several people—this group is also illusory. If each of the several people leaves, there is no group. The group exists when said to exist and disperses when said to disperse; it is not autonomous. Aggregated when conditions are complete, it is illusory—exists when said to exist, does not exist when said not to exist, without reality. This group is a false name, a concept, merely using a term to express this state. This group is an illusory false name; it merely names the state of this group's aggregation "a group"—it is not real. Is A called the group, or is B called the group? Singly, none can be called the group; aggregated, it also cannot be called the group. It is merely giving a name to a false appearance arising from aggregation, for the convenience of verbal communication. All dharmas are like this—merely forcibly taking a name to express them.
By the same principle, the five aggregates are the same: the five aggregates are aggregated from various causes and conditions, a state of provisional existence. This state can be born, can vanish, can disperse; hence it is not real existence, not imperishable. When the various functions and effects of the five aggregates—the functions of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching—disperse, the five aggregates no longer exist; so the sentient being's five aggregates are also unreal. Analyzing the composition of the five aggregates is the same principle as analyzing the composition of a group. Actually, any name may be given to the five aggregates: name this form of five aggregates "human," name another form of five aggregates "ant" or "mosquito," for ease of discrimination—in substance they are all aggregates of the five aggregates. When the functions and effects of the five aggregates disperse and vanish, the sentient being no longer exists; so-called sentient beings are all conjured, provisionally combined five-aggregate bodies.
The Buddha said there is not a single dharma that comes from this world to the next world. One should believe the Buddha's words and know that nothing in this world can be taken along—only karma follows one. Since this is so, we must think carefully about what exactly we should do this lifetime to carry more wholesome karma and less or no evil karma. Since in this life we have had the fortune to encounter the Buddha Dharma and study and practice it, we must cherish this opportunity to learn Buddhism: do more meritorious deeds, cultivate more wholesome dharmas, apply the mind single-mindedly to the Buddha Dharma; it is enough if worldly dharma gets by. Carry more wholesome karmic seeds to future lives to be used for studying and practicing the Buddha Dharma, so that in the future one encounters the Buddha Dharma as early and quickly as possible and accomplishes the Buddha path.
But whether wholesome or evil karma, its nature is empty; it cannot be a master; it is ever arising and ceasing—arising with no place of coming, ceasing with no place of going, conjured and unreal. For example, taking a knife to kill a person: before the killing, this killing karma does not exist and has no place of coming; the act of killing also has no creator—the surface phenomenon is like something conjured by a magician; there is no karma creator. The act of killing is produced by the combined operation of the material body and the conscious mind, but the material body is illusory and the conscious mind is illusory—neither is real—so the five aggregates' action is not real. Moreover, once the act of killing comes forth, it vanishes without a trace in an instant. Therefore the very deed of action is empty, yet it leaves behind karmic seeds.
And the karmic seeds themselves are also empty: coming from nowhere, ceasing going nowhere, from nothing at all to nothing at all. After retribution is undergone, the karmic seeds will also vanish without a trace. Karmic seeds are also empty and illusory. If karmic seeds were not illusory, then after retribution is undergone, or after repentance, the seeds should not be able to disappear; if the seeds could not disappear, sentient beings should undergo retribution forever, endlessly—the killer should undergo retribution in hell forever, should be slaughtered by people forever, without end.
Therefore it can be said that all offenses and merits, all karmas, are illusory: coming from nowhere, going nowhere. Even so, all meritorious karma will in the end cause sentient beings to gradually proceed toward buddhahood, until finally accomplishing the Buddha fruit; all offensive karma will in the end cause sentient beings' suffering to be inexhaustible and their lamentation unceasing. Pondering back and forth, only the Ālayavijñāna is real and unchanging, unborn and unceasing, ever existent; all other dharmas are empty and conjured, arising moment by moment, ceasing moment by moment, arising and ceasing countless times faster than lightning.
Original text: 如是了知。初识初识空。自业自业空。身识身识空。若灭灭空。若生生空。轮回轮回空。涅槃涅槃。皆自性空。无有作者。亦无受者。但随世俗。之所显示。非第一义。作是说也。
Explanation: One should know thus the initial consciousness and the emptiness of the initial consciousness, know one's own created karmic actions and the emptiness of the karmic actions, know the body consciousness and the emptiness of the body consciousness. Know thus: if all dharmas arise, their arising is empty; if all dharmas cease, their ceasing is also empty. One must also know transmigration and the emptiness of transmigration, know nirvāṇa and the emptiness of nirvāṇa. The creation and flowing of karmic actions have no doer and no experiencer; all dharmas are merely displayed in accordance with worldly discriminations—on the level of ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya), such statements would not be made.
The initial consciousness arising on the next life's material body is also empty; the created karmic actions are also empty; the body consciousness is also empty. If this dharma is also extinguished, this extinguishing dharma itself is also empty—where is there a real extinguishing dharma? Is there a fixed principle by which dharmas cease? No—all is empty. The birth of the next life's consciousness—the arising dharma of its birth is also empty; where are there fixed, unchanging rules and principles of birth? None—it is empty; all dharmas are born just like this. Sentient beings transmigrating in the six paths—as humans, devas, animals, hungry ghosts—their transmigration is also empty. If transmigration were not empty, beings should transmigrate forever, unable to attain liberation, unable to become Buddhas, and cultivation would be useless.
That sentient beings can sever transmigration and escape transmigration shows that transmigration is empty—there is no real imperishable dharma of transmigration. When even oneself is not real, is there a real dharma of transmigration? No—all is empty, all illusory. If nirvāṇa is attained and the worldly dharmas of the three realms are extinguished—the five aggregates extinguished, the eighteen dhātus extinguished, body extinguished, mind extinguished, feelings extinguished, thoughts extinguished, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions extinguished—all extinguished, leaving only the Ālayavijñāna, neither arising nor ceasing, pure and quiescent—this state is called nirvāṇa. This state in which the five aggregates and eighteen dhātus are all extinguished is itself also empty, also subject to arising-ceasing change, not forever unchanging. The state of nirvāṇa also comes from nowhere and goes nowhere; there is no one who enters nirvāṇa and no one who exits nirvāṇa—no doer, no experiencer.
So nirvāṇa is not real existence; nirvāṇa is a manifestation of a tranquil state, as unreal as the clamorous phenomena of the world—it is conjured. This state is also empty; only the Ālayavijñāna is not empty; all the rest is empty. Nirvāṇa has no mark; even the state of emptiness is empty; this emptiness does not exist apart from the Ālayavijñāna.
All dharmas have no doer and no experiencer. When one realizes the fourth fruit of arhatship and enters nirvāṇa, there is no person who realized the fourth fruit, no arhat who entered nirvāṇa, no arhat enjoying the bliss of quiescence—who experiences the bliss of quiescence of nirvāṇa? Can this person be found? In nirvāṇa there is no person, no arhat; if there were, it would not be nirvāṇa. The arhat's material body has ceased, the conscious mind has ceased, the five aggregates' functions have ceased, the phenomena of the eighteen dhātus have ceased; therefore in nirvāṇa there is no arhat, no one experiencing the bliss of quiescence.
Original text: 大王当知。诸根如幻。境界如梦。一切诸法。皆悉空寂。此名空解脱门。空无空相。名无相解脱门。若无相者。则无希求。名无愿解脱门。若能了此。三解脱门。与空共行。菩提先道。广大如法性。究竟如虚空。于此譬喻。当如是知。
Explanation: Great King, you should know that the six faculties are like conjurations and the various states are like a dream. All dharmas are entirely empty and tranquil—this is called the door of liberation of emptiness (śūnyatā-vimokṣa-mukha). The dharmas being empty yet without a mark of emptiness is called the door of liberation of signlessness (ānimitta-vimokṣa-mukha). If all dharmas have not even a mark, one should give rise to no aspiration or seeking—this is called the door of liberation of wishlessness (apraṇihita-vimokṣa-mukha). When the three doors of liberation of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness thus exist together with emptiness, walking the path toward nirvāṇa, one should cultivate and study thus. To seek nirvāṇa, one must first know that all dharmas are the dharma realm of ultimate reality, all the one true dharma realm of the Ālayavijñāna, pervading the bounds of empty space in the ten directions. Regarding these similes, one should know thus.
