Questions and Answers on Non-Abiding

Question: How can one abide in nothing (abide nowhere) in daily life? Is it that when the six consciousnesses engage with the six sense objects, one does not discriminate?

Answer: This is purely a method of cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi) and subduing afflictions. If one wishes to accord with wisdom, then when the six faculties contact the six sense objects, one should engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the illusory and unreal nature of the six sense objects, understanding that the realms of the six sense objects are shadows manifested by the tathāgatagarbha—objects in the mirror of the tathāgatagarbha, belonging to the tathāgatagarbha, being the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and not real existent realms. Only by giving rise to such a mental intention is it right mindfulness; it accords with the wisdom of ultimate reality, can free one from the bondage of sense realms, and can attain liberation of the mind.

Abiding in nothing is the result. When cultivation reaches its end, the mind of the seven consciousnesses becomes as tranquil (praśama) as the tathāgatagarbha, and one becomes a Mahāyāna bodhisattva beyond training (aśaikṣa). Many people who study Buddhism, the more they learn, the more they abide in things; not only do they fail to reduce grasping and afflictions, fail to reduce worldliness, they even increase the bondage of worldly dharmas, increasing afflictions and grasping. This is the result of studying the Dharma while having forgotten the bodhi mind, the result of studying the Dharma with worldly aims and seeking.

Question: This may well be the most definitive teaching on "abiding in nothing, yet giving rise to the mind." Not abiding in the six sense objects, not dwelling on the six sense objects, does not hinder the discernment of the six sense objects; after discerning them, one leaves no trace. Because all six sense objects are mirror images of the eighth consciousness; a person with wisdom knows that one cannot abide in mirror images, and even abiding in them is non-abiding. If one is a person who has seen the mind, one can transform the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) toward the non-abiding consciousness-nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The question is: does "abiding in nothing, yet giving rise to the mind" refer to before enlightenment or after enlightenment? Please, Master, give your instruction.

Answer: Finding that mind which inherently abides in nothing is seeing the mind and attaining realization. After realization, one continuously observes, in the operation of the five aggregates of body and mind, the non-abiding nature of the eighth consciousness when it gives birth to the five aggregates of body and mind; one observes the non-abiding nature of the eighth consciousness when it gives birth to and holds the six sense objects. Only then do the seven consciousnesses feel that such a mind is truly tranquil (praśama), truly the mind of a Buddha. Thereupon the seven consciousnesses take it as a standard, gradually being perfumed by the eighth consciousness, and in worldly activities they too gradually abide in nothing with regard to the realms of the six sense objects, the mind becoming ever more tranquil. This is the post-enlightenment transformation of the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) toward the tranquil, non-abiding eighth consciousness—the genuine transformation of the basis after true realization. It is not that one first has an intellectual understanding and then transforms the basis; only when the transformation of the basis succeeds does one become a truly realized one. This is a great misunderstanding—there is no such thing as attaining realization only after transforming the basis following intellectual understanding.