Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (69)

There Are No Dharmas Whatsoever in the True Mind

In our true mind, there originally are no dharmas whatsoever. The Heart Sutra says: 无眼耳鼻舌身意，无色声香味触法，无眼界乃至无意识界；无五蕴、无十八界、无四圣谛、无十二因缘、无菩萨六度、无智也无得，truly far removed from all dharmas, with no dharmas whatsoever, quiescent and unconditioned. Yet our minds are filled with the five desires and six sense objects, and what we pursue are all worldly dharmas of the three realms; therefore joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness never cease, and the suffering we undergo is endless.

The more worldly dharmas one possesses, the more suffering one experiences and the less one can attain liberation; we are thus bound by the suffering of birth and death. Delighting in form, one is bound by form, bound by the physical body, and cannot attain liberation; delighting in sounds, one is bound by sounds and cannot attain liberation; delighting in tastes, tangibles, and mental objects, one is bound by them and cannot attain liberation. Whether one likes or dislikes the realms of the six sense objects, it is all affliction, all bondage, without liberation, and one will remain in the desire realm in suffering, sorrow, and grief.

The true mind has neither delight nor aversion toward any dharma; therefore it is not bound by any dharma, is forever liberated, and has no sorrow, grief, suffering, or distress of birth and death. If there is delight, one must drift through the six paths of rebirth undergoing suffering; the true mind has no delight, is not within the six paths, and does not dwell in the realms of the six sense objects undergoing suffering. If there is a realm in which to dwell, one is bound and cannot be liberated; not dwelling on any realm, one departs from it and is liberated. Therefore the goal of our study and cultivation should be like the true mind: gradually to be able to depart from all dharmas, purifying and emptying the mind, and turn toward nirvāṇa.