Only Through the Perfect Fusion of the Two Truths Can One Attain Unobstructed Penetration

The land of bliss (Sukhāvatī) is the Pure Land of mind-only, manifested by the mind. Does this mean that the land of bliss does not truly exist—and does this non-existence amount to saying that there is no land of bliss at all?

On the phenomenal level, the land of bliss exists; it belongs to worldly existence, even though worldly existence is also empty and illusory. The Buddha described the excellence and adornment of the land of bliss in the Amitābha Sūtra, proving that the land of bliss exists and is not a product of imagination. However, the land of bliss is also transformed by mind alone; it is a Buddha-land within the one true dharma realm, and it is also the Pure Land within the mind of every sentient being. The one true dharma realm is the most real world—the world of sentient beings' tathāgatagarbha—and no dharma lies outside the tathāgatagarbha. The land of bliss exists phenomenally; the phenomenal realm is the worldly truth (saṃvṛti-satya), existing in dependence upon the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. It is the excellent Buddha-land established by Amitābha Buddha during his bodhisattva stages in the causal ground, through the making of great pure vows, established in order to gather in and receive sentient beings. Yet the land of bliss is also a conjured manifestation, summoned forth by the wholesome karma of the bhikṣu Dharmākara; it did not exist before but now exists, and therefore it is an illusory, arising-and-ceasing, false appearance.

No worldly dharma can negate the existence of its phenomenal realm. For example, our body of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) exists phenomenally—this cannot be denied—yet in substance it is empty, conjured forth by the true mind; it is an empty, illusory worldly dharma, and therefore unreal. Although the five aggregates are illusory, arising and ceasing, and empty, one still cannot deny their phenomenal existence, nor their function within the worldly truth. By the same reasoning, the land of bliss is also conjured forth by Amitābha Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), and is jointly manifested by the tathāgatagarbhas of all the sentient beings in the land of bliss. That which arises from nothing into existence, produced later, is an illusory, provisional existence. Even so, one cannot deny the phenomenal existence of the land of bliss, nor its existence within the worldly truth.

Apart from the true mind, all dharmas are things within the true mind, all transformed by the true mind, and are therefore subject to arising and ceasing; only the true mind neither arises nor ceases. Although the land of bliss will exist for an extremely long time, it nevertheless possesses the nature of arising, ceasing, and change; it cannot exist eternally like the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha. For forty-nine years the Buddha taught the Dharma from two aspects: the worldly truth and the ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya). The worldly truth is phenomenal existence, and this existence is provisional and illusory; the ultimate truth is non-existent phenomenally, yet existent in substance—it is the true mind of suchness. Because the ultimate truth exists in substance, it can give rise to the illusory and provisional existence of worldly phenomena.

In studying Buddhism and cultivating practice, we must not lean toward one side and negate the other; both are important. Only by understanding the principle of the ultimate truth can we transform the inversions of the worldly truth, correct our former ignorant and narrow cognition, and thereby attain great wisdom and perfect the Buddha-way. If one acknowledges only the worldly truth and not the ultimate truth, one cannot escape the cycle of birth and death; if one acknowledges only the ultimate truth and denies the worldly truth, then that ultimate truth has no actual function or meaning, and sentient beings would be unable to cultivate.

When one's study of Buddhism reaches ultimate completion, both truths can be perfectly mastered without obstruction; if one truth is not mastered, neither is mastered. And once the ultimate truth is thoroughly understood, one can gradually master the worldly truth as well. Only by perfectly and completely fulfilling both truths can the mundane and supramundane dharmas be perfectly mastered without obstruction. The final result is that the five aggregates and the seven consciousnesses undergo a thorough and ultimate transformation, all ignorance is extinguished, and the five aggregates and seven consciousnesses attain their greatest and most perfect function.