The Distinction Between the True Mind and the Deluded Mind

Original text from the Shurangama Sutra: Even if you eliminate all seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, and internally maintain an abstruse state of leisure, this is still the dust of dharmas (dharma-dust), an illusory manifestation discriminated by the mind. I do not command you to grasp this as not being the mind. But you should minutely scrutinize within your mind: if, apart from the preceding dust, there exists a discerning nature, that is truly your mind.

Explanation: Even if, during the process of sitting in meditation cultivating samadhi, you enter into concentration, eliminate all seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing—neither seeing, hearing, sensing, nor knowing—and internally maintain a state of leisurely inactivity, pure, quiet, clear, and lucid, this state is still the dust of dharmas (dharma-dust). It is the illusory dust realm discriminated by your solitary consciousness. I do not necessarily insist that you regard this state as not being your own true mind. However, you should further engage in subtle scrutiny within your mind, carefully discerning between the true mind and the deluded mind. What then is your true mind? If it can depart from all the dust realms presently within the mind, and this mind still possesses a discerning nature, still functions, then this mind is your true mind, not the deluded mind.

What does it mean to "depart from the preceding dust and still possess a discerning nature"? This "preceding dust" refers to the realms of the six dusts (objects of the senses), including the inner six dust realms of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas (mental objects). The dust of dharmas includes the empty, vacant, and silent dust of meditative concentration states, various solitary shadow realms, dream states, states of mental derangement, etc. Only that mind which can still exist, still possessing a discerning nature, after departing from all these six dust realms, is your true fundamental mind. What kind of discerning nature is this? It differs from the six consciousnesses discerning the six dusts, and differs from the mental consciousness discerning the realm of dharma-dust. The true mind does not discern the realms of the six dusts or dharma-dust. It does not discern whether things are pure or impure, empty or not empty, with thought or without thought, comfortable or uncomfortable, clear or unclear—these are all contents discriminated by the mental consciousness. That is to say, what knows these contents is the mind of consciousness, not the fundamental mind, the Tathagatagarbha. The true mind primarily discerns the content of the seeds (bija). This discerning nature is very difficult to observe before the consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom (jnana).

In the Shurangama Sutra, the Buddha specifically instructs us that the pure deluded mind within a state of concentration is not the fundamental true Tathagatagarbha. This passage is the World-Honored One reprimanding those who mistake the guiding star (misguided practitioners); they mistake the dust realm of concentration for the true suchness mind-essence, the Tathagatagarbha. They do not realize that this state of concentration is a conditioned dharma subject to arising and ceasing—non-existent before, existing later, and then ceasing again. It is fundamentally ungraspable and uncontrollable. It is not the fundamental mind, the Tathagatagarbha, which is unborn, unceasing, un-increasing, and un-decreasing. It is not the Tathagata Buddha, who is originally pure without you needing to specially purify Him. Does the Tathagata Buddha require you to purify Him and then recognize Him? Was He originally impure?

If, during meditation, your mind becomes pure for a while, seeming to neither see nor hear, even if you eliminate all seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, and the mind is pure, quiet, and without any affairs—this is still your conscious mind discriminating the dust realm of concentration. It is the deluded mind entering a profound state of meditative absorption (dhyana), not the fundamental mind, the Tathagatagarbha. The true mind is that which can exist apart from all dharmas you discriminate, apart from purity and quietness, apart from the distinctly clear solitary awareness, apart from clarity and distinctness, apart from brightness and lucidity—all these dust realms—while itself continuously existing, possessing its own unique kind of discerning nature, yet not discriminating worldly dharmas and appearances. The dust realm without deluded thoughts, where not a single thought arises, is not the dharma appearance discriminated by the eighth consciousness (Alayavijnana), the Tathagata. Therefore, the discerning mind at this time is not the true self-nature.