Commentary on the Sutra of the Compendium of Father and Son: Part 69

In the True Mind, There Are No Dharmas

Our true mind originally contains no dharmas whatsoever. The Heart Sutra states: There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no form, sound, scent, taste, touch, or dharmas; no realm of vision up to no realm of mind-consciousness; no Five Aggregates, no Eighteen Elements, no Four Noble Truths, no Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, no Six Perfections of the Bodhisattva, no wisdom and no attainment. Truly, it is far removed from all dharmas, devoid of all dharmas, tranquil, extinguished, and non-active. Yet our minds are filled with the Five Desires and Six Dusts, pursuing only the worldly dharmas of the Three Realms. Consequently, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness arise incessantly, and suffering is endless.

The more worldly dharmas one possesses, the greater the suffering, and the harder it becomes to 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, unable to attain liberation. Delighting in sound, one is bound by sound, unable to attain liberation. Delighting in taste, touch, or mental objects, one is bound and unable to attain liberation. Whether one feels attachment or aversion towards the objects of the Six Dusts, it is all affliction, all binding, preventing liberation, causing one to remain in the Desire Realm amidst distress, worry, and sorrow.

The true mind feels neither love nor delight, nor hatred nor aversion towards any dharma. Therefore, it is bound by no dharma whatsoever, eternally liberated, free from the suffering, worry, sorrow, and distress of birth and death. Where there is love and delight, one drifts through the Six Realms and suffers. The true mind feels no love or delight; it does not reside within the Six Realms, nor does it dwell amidst the objects of the Six Dusts to suffer. Where there is an object to dwell upon, one is bound and cannot be liberated. Not dwelling upon any object, one departs and is liberated. Therefore, the goal of our practice is to gradually distance ourselves from all dharmas, like the true mind, emptying and purifying our own minds, and progressing towards Nirvana.