Clinging to Conventional Truth, Failing to Perceive Ultimate Truth: The Absence of the Path

Holding green rice shoots, I plant the entire field; lowering my head, I see the sky reflected in the water. Only when the mind-ground is pure and clear is it the Way; stepping back is originally moving forward.

These four lines all manifest that special, formless and markless Way, revealing the functioning of the tathāgatagarbha. Yet, those who have not awakened immerse their minds entirely in perceived states, pondering the meaning within, seeing people, seeing environments, and seeing events, moved by the scenery to a flood of emotions. In truth, pondering states is a grave error—there are truly no states to ponder. This poem expresses no state whatsoever—no people, no environment, no events—it is entirely a single word: the Way. I ask: Where is the Way? It is in all matters where people and environments interact; it is also upon people and within environments—omnipresent. But ordinary beings do not see the Way; they only see mundane appearances. Gold dust fills the sky, yet falling into the eye, it becomes an obstruction. Gold dust is not seen with the eyes; what is seen is merely dirt. Yet, experiencing it with the heart, it is all gold.

Someone says: "Aren't you speaking of 'evil emptiness' (惡取空) this way?" This is not 'evil emptiness'. 'Evil emptiness' denies even the existence of the Way that is the tathāgatagarbha, empties all dharmas entirely into nothingness—utterly devoid of anything, even causality—no cause, no effect, no precepts, with no restraint over any bodily, verbal, or mental actions. What these four lines demonstrate, however, is precisely the non-empty Way, the tathāgatagarbha—where there are no people, no environment, no events. Yet grasping at people, environments, and events is precisely grasping at emptiness. Because ordinary beings have not yet realized the Way, no view is correct. When grasping at people, environments, and events, how can they perceive the tathāgatagarbha or realize it?

Emptiness (śūnyatā) is the aim of both the Great and Small Vehicles. The five aggregates (skandhas) of form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness are empty of a person; the inner and outer objects of the six sense faculties (āyatana) are empty states—no person, no environment, hence no events. Only by emptying these false dharmas can one perceive that non-empty tathāgatagarbha. If one grasps at the dharma of emptiness, it obscures the eye of wisdom—how then can one perceive the non-empty tathāgatagarbha?