眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成

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Dharma Teachings

29 Aug 2019    Thursday     1st Teach Total 1878

The Five Dharmas, Three Svabhāvas, Eight Consciousnesses, and Two Anātmans

The Five Dharmas: name, appearance, discrimination, right knowledge, and suchness; the Three Natures: the imaginary nature, the dependent nature, and the perfected nature; the Eight Consciousnesses: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness, manas-consciousness, and ālaya-consciousness; the Two Selflessnesses: selflessness of person and selflessness of phenomena. All these dharmas can be subsumed under the Five Dharmas: the imaginary nature belongs to name, the dependent nature belongs to appearance, the perfected nature belongs to suchness, the first seven consciousnesses belong to discrimination, the eighth consciousness belongs to the perfected nature, and the two selflessnesses belong to right knowledge.

The dependent nature of the six consciousnesses is also name; all seven consciousnesses are name and also possess the nature of discrimination. The five aggregates are name; all dharmas except the eighth consciousness are name; the five sense faculties and six sense objects are appearance. The seven consciousnesses are discrimination; upon realizing the truth of the Dharma, one attains right knowledge; the eighth consciousness belongs to suchness.

Right knowledge is also possessed by the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses; upon seeing the path, one attains right knowledge, which varies only in degree of correctness. When there is no inversion, it is correct. Different degrees of non-inversion correspond to different degrees of correctness.

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
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