Why Does One with a Single Thought of Pure Faith Have No Four Marks, No Dharma Marks, and No Non-Dharma Marks?

Those who have pure faith in the Buddha's teaching that "if one sees that all marks are not marks, then one sees the Tathāgata" have very complete faith-faculty (śraddhā-indriya), having already planted deep roots of goodness and merit at the places of immeasurable tens of millions of Buddhas. To attain pure faith, none can do so without personally realizing the vajra mind (vajra-citta) and emptying the four marks and the mark of dharmas. Only after personal realization can one be free of doubt regarding dharmas and non-dharmas; only then is one's faith pure. Realized faith is pure faith. Faith prior to personal realization harbors varying degrees of doubt and is thus not pure and not clean. After personally realizing the vajra mind, there will be no mark of self, no mark of person, no mark of sentient being, and no mark of life span in one's mind, for one directly observes that all these marks are illusory appearances conjured up by the vajra mind, and therefore all are empty.

The four marks are comparatively coarse and shallow, and the wisdom of observation they require need not be too deep and subtle. The mark of dharmas is even more subtle than the four marks, requiring deeper and more refined wisdom of observation. Therefore, the wisdom of no four marks is shallower than the wisdom of no mark of dharmas, belonging to the prajñā wisdom of the three stages of the ranks of faith, while "no mark of dharmas and also no mark of non-dharmas" belongs to the consciousness-only seed-wisdom attained after entering the bhūmis. The four marks fall within the scope of sentient beings' five aggregates (pañca-skandha). Although the mark of dharmas does not exceed the scope of the five aggregates, it is extremely subtle and difficult to observe—for example, all worldly customs and conventions, all rules, regulations, laws, and institutions, all norms and standards of human conduct, the various ideas and concepts of humanity, the academic and technical knowledge of every discipline and field, all phenomena of the natural world, as well as the various principles of practice, concepts, ideas, and understandings within Buddhism—these marks of dharmas are too numerous, too vast, and too deep and subtle; many of them cannot even be articulated. All belong to the realm of consciousness-only seed-wisdom. And all these marks of dharmas are "not the mark of dharmas"—they are merely called the mark of dharmas.

For those who can give rise to pure faith in a single thought toward the profound dharma principles spoken by the Buddha, their minds are not only without the four marks; the mark of dharmas has also been broken through, and even the mark of non-dharmas has been broken through. Their minds are extremely pure, grasping at and attaching to no marks whatsoever, and their wisdom is very deep and sharp. Ordinary sentient beings who have not broken through the four marks may also believe the profound dharma principles spoken by the Buddha, but because they have not realized them, their minds harbor doubt; their faith is not realized faith, and so it is not very pure. Bodhisattvas who have only broken through the four marks have realized the Dharma and possess realized faith, but they still have the mark of dharmas not yet broken through; their realization is still insufficient and incomplete, and their faith is likewise not pure enough. Only when they break through the mark of dharmas and the mark of non-dharmas, when their minds are very empty and pure and attach to no marks, are they truly bodhisattvas of pure faith.

If there is grasping in a person's mind, then there are the four marks, for only with a self is there grasping—if there were no self, who would grasp? Therefore, as long as a person grasps at marks, there are the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span. If one grasps at the mark of dharmas, there are the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span; if one grasps at the mark of non-dharmas, there are the marks of self, person, sentient being, and life span. Therefore, a bodhisattva should not grasp at dharmas, nor should he grasp at non-dharmas. The Buddha said: The Dharma I teach may be likened to a raft—it must be used when crossing the water, but upon reaching the shore it must be abandoned; otherwise one cannot get onto the shore. When the Dharma is useful, use it; after personal realization, when it is no longer useful, it must be relinquished. Not only must the Dharma be relinquished, non-dharma must also be relinquished. If the mind contains dharmas or non-dharmas, it is not empty and pure, and one cannot reach the shore of nirvāṇa. Dharma is existence; non-dharma is nonexistence. Existence is wrong, and nonexistence is also wrong—since they are wrong, of course they must be relinquished. Once "right" and "wrong" are established and grasped, the four marks are not empty. Since existence is wrong, the nonexistence opposed to it is of course also wrong. All dharmas are "not dharma and not non-dharma"; only by departing from the four marks and cutting off the hundred wrongs is one ultimately and fully home. This chapter breaks through the mark of dharmas and the mark of non-dharmas.