The Emptiness of Mind Is the Mark of Buddhist Attainment

If one believes all dharmas are truly existent, the mind cannot be empty; this is ignorance. If you regard any single dharma as real, that dharma will obstruct you, becoming dust in your mind—this thought itself is the delusion of ignorance. Even the desire to attain Buddhahood, if regarded as a real dharma, is still ignorance. Only when all ignorance is utterly eradicated, when everything is emptied and not a single dharma remains in the mind, is one equal to the Tathagatagarbha, and only then can Buddhahood be attained. If, at the final stage of practice, there remains a mind seeking Buddhahood, or if the dharma of attaining Buddhahood resides in the mind, Buddhahood cannot be achieved. Only when all dharmas are empty within the mind—formless, wishless, and non-active—is there true accomplishment.

Prior to the eighth ground, a bodhisattva's mind is predominantly conditioned. Upon reaching the eighth ground, the mind becomes unconditioned and empty, truly non-active and effortless. Even when making offerings to the Three Jewels or engaging in deeds for sentient beings and Buddhism, the mind remains empty; only then does the Buddha bestow the prediction of Buddhahood. When the mind is not empty, as with bodhisattvas before the seventh ground, despite performing vast conditioned virtuous deeds, diligently making offerings to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the Buddha will not bestow the prediction of Buddhahood. This is because the mind remains conditioned and non-empty, incongruent with the unconditioned nature of the Tathagatagarbha, and ignorance is still profound. Even if you make offerings to the Buddha for countless lifetimes, offering all the jewels of a trichiliocosm to the Three Jewels, the Buddha will not bestow the prediction, let alone if you engage in mundane conditioned dharmas.

However, engaging in these conditioned dharmas increases one's merit, thereby accumulating the provisions for the wisdom of Buddhahood, which enables wisdom to grow. Therefore, one cannot say, "Since all dharmas are empty, I will cultivate no merit at all," for then the mind remains unempty, and the sense of self persists. Without the support of merit, the true wisdom of emptiness will not arise. Even if one believes a certain dharma is empty, without realization, it is not true emptiness; in action and deed, one remains unempty.

Since the path of practice is to recognize and realize the emptiness of all dharmas, when engaging in activities, one should not think that more deeds yield more merit—this is not so. When liberating sentient beings, one should not think that guiding more beings yields more merit—this is also not so. In truth, through engaging in bodhisattva deeds like liberating sentient beings, one increases personal merit, cultivates compassion, and continuously diminishes the self, extinguishing self-attachment, allowing the mind to grow increasingly empty, increasingly discerning, and increasingly unattached to appearances. Only when the mind is empty to a certain degree is there true accomplishment and great capability.

The amount of merit is not necessarily proportional to the quantity of deeds performed or the number of beings liberated. What matters is the degree of emptiness of mind and the level of unconditionedness attained while engaging in these activities. Therefore, the true practitioner does not constantly rack their brains over how many followers to influence, believing that such scale signifies the greatest achievement. Rather, it is the depth of understanding of all dharmas and the degree of mental emptiness during this process that truly represent one's realization of the Dharma. This is the standard by which to measure one's merit and assess one's bodhisattva stage. Thus, do not cling to appearances. The emptier and more unconditioned the mind is regarding appearances, the deeper the realization of the Dharma and the higher the stage. Observe the mind's engagement through appearances; therefore, in practice, never grasp or cling to any appearance.

Even if you conduct a hundred Dharma assemblies in a year, guiding millions of beings, write a hundred books, or make offerings of hundreds of millions to the Three Jewels, these are all conditioned dharmas. Using them to generate inner attachment and arrogance is the mark of self. Clinging to appearances, the more attached the mind, the less empty it becomes, and the lower the stage and realization. Without understanding this principle, one will frantically engage in and compete over conditioned dharmas: "I am stronger than all," "I am more capable than all," "I am first," "I am unique." All such so-called achievements are entirely bound to appearances, entirely conditioned, entirely attached—the mind not empty at all. This is the karma of birth and death. The more one engages, the less empty the mind becomes, the deeper the ignorance, and the further from liberation.

Some may engage in fewer deeds but possess the wisdom of emptiness, seeing through the essence of all things, unconfused by phenomena, not trapped in appearances. With profound wisdom of emptiness, they naturally inspire those around them to empty their minds and not cling to appearances. Thus, the quality of liberating beings is high. If a bodhisattva's mind is not empty, how can the minds of their followers be empty? If the bodhisattva clings to appearances, those who follow will cling even more, thus acting contrary to the path, incongruent with the Dharma. Therefore, cultivating the path means breaking through appearances, eradicating the ignorance within one's own mind. Clinging to appearances is dharma attachment, which is also the root of birth and death.

The scope of dharma attachment is vast—any form of clinging is dharma attachment, including the self-attachment to the five aggregates, and the more subtle, extensive dharmas beyond the five aggregates; attachment to any of these constitutes dharma attachment. How to break dharma attachment? First, one must realize the Tathagatagarbha and cultivate the wisdom of consciousness-only. Then, observe whether all dharmas truly exist or possess inherent autonomy. Through profound and subtle observation, one discovers that all dharmas are born from the Tathagatagarbha dependent on certain conditions—all are arising, ceasing, and illusory, lacking inherent reality, autonomy, or independence. In essence, they are all functions of the Tathagatagarbha, a single dharma within the one true Dharma realm, entirely operated by the Tathagatagarbha, with nothing to grasp or cling to. Thus, the mind loosens, no longer grasping, and dharma attachment is broken.

Since the secular world lacks substantial conditioned appearances, what is there to engage in? When the mind is ultimately empty, Buddhahood is attained. When the ignorant clinging to each dharma is extinguished, there is nothing left to crave or grasp. The path to breaking dharma attachment is exceedingly long, spanning from the first ground to Buddhahood—two great asamkhyeya kalpas. The first great asamkhyeya kalpa breaks self-attachment; the second continuously breaks dharma attachment. Merely severing the view of self requires a long journey, illustrating the difficulty of practice and the depth of ignorance and attachment in the mental faculty.

All clinging—self-attachment and dharma attachment—is the attachment of the mental faculty. Since the mental faculty clings thus, one must break its attachments. First, one must break the mental faculty's views of self and dharma, severing its ideological entanglements—thus cutting off the mental faculty's views of self and dharma. All views regarding the reality of dharmas must be gradually dismantled; only then can attachment diminish and cease. When attachment is utterly extinguished, ignorance completely severed, and the mind wholly empty, Buddhahood is attained.

The mark of accomplishment in practice lies in the degree of mental emptiness, in how much ignorance and wrong views have been eradicated. When one sees through the emptiness of all dharmas' characteristics, observing how they are empty, selfless, non-autonomous, unreal, arising, ceasing, and changing, the mind becomes empty. Thus, one no longer wishes to engage in meaningless conditioned dharmas. Within the mind, there is no appearance, no wish, and no action—aligning with the Tathagatagarbha, one becomes a Tathagata Buddha.