The Profound Meaning of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (Second Edition)

Chapter Four  The Orthodox Doctrine of the Great Vehicle, Three

This chapter mainly discusses how bodhisattvas break the four marks and eradicate the view of self with regard to persons, which is the fundamental root and correct path of Mahāyāna bodhisattva practice, and is most crucial; hence this chapter is called the Orthodox Doctrine. Bodhisattvas teach, transform, and liberate the sentient beings of the three realms—the four forms of birth, the nine realms of existence, and the twenty-five classes of beings—so that all of them enter Nirvāṇa without remainder; yet they should also not give rise to thought that is not in accord with reason, thinking that these sentient beings were liberated by me, that I have delivered so many sentient beings. If a bodhisattva thinks this way, he is not a true bodhisattva. A true bodhisattva should use the prajñā wisdom of ultimate reality that he has realized to break the four marks, with no mark of self, no mark of person, no mark of sentient being, and no mark of life span in his mind.

How Bodhisattvas Subdue Their Minds

Original text: 佛告须菩提。诸菩萨摩诃萨应如是降伏其心。

Explanation: The Buddha said to Subhūti: All bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should subdue their own minds in this way.

"Mahā" in Chinese means "great." The great bodhisattvas in the sūtras generally refer to bodhisattvas who have seen the mind and attained realization and above, possessing the virtues of the wise. Strictly speaking, only bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis and above can be called great bodhisattvas, great bodhisattvas of the Dharma body, who have realized one portion or more of the Buddha's Dharmakāya, possess one portion or more of the wisdom of patience with the non-arising of dharmas, possess one portion or more of the wisdom of the varieties of paths, and possess the virtues and mental disposition of the noble ones; they are also called partial realization of buddhahood.

The Buddha said that bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should subdue their own minds in this way, and the mind that can be subdued must be the deluded mind. The true mind has never given rise to thoughts and notions; it has no views or ideas, does not grasp at the six sense objects of the three realms, does not create bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and is pure and free of afflictions; therefore there is no need to subdue Him. The deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, however, has ignorance and afflictions, always clings to marks and grasps at the myriad dharmas of the six sense objects, and has the view of self and self-grasping with regard to persons, and the view of self and self-grasping with regard to dharmas; therefore it needs to be subdued, its ignorance eradicated, so that the virtuous function of wisdom can arise.

To subdue the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, one must understand the functions and roles of the seven consciousnesses. The eye consciousness sees form, discriminating coarse marks such as blue, yellow, red, and white, long and short, square and round, large and small; the mind consciousness simultaneously discriminates fine marks such as good and bad, beautiful and ugly, charm and temperament, and in this process feelings of liking and disliking, of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness arise, and then bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear. The ear consciousness hears sounds, discriminating the pitch, distance, and direction of sounds; the mind consciousness simultaneously discriminates categories, meanings, and so forth, producing mental actions such as craving and aversion, and there are feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and then bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear. The nose consciousness smells scents, discriminating fragrant and foul odors and their directions; the mind consciousness simultaneously discriminates the types and degrees of the scents, giving rise to mental actions of liking and disliking, producing feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and then bodily, verbal, and mental actions appear.

The tongue consciousness tastes flavors, discriminating sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy; the mind consciousness discriminates the types of food, their quality, and the degree of flavor, producing a mind of liking and disliking, giving rise to feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and then bodily, verbal, and mental actions are produced. The body consciousness feels contact with objects, discriminating cold and heat, hunger and thirst, fullness, softness and hardness, and so forth; the mind consciousness simultaneously discriminates dharma objects such as fatigue, tranquility, comfort, tiredness, and sleepiness, giving rise to mental actions of liking and disliking, and there are feelings of suffering, happiness, or neither-suffering-nor-happiness, and then bodily, verbal, and mental actions are produced. The mind consciousness discriminates together with the five sense consciousnesses, and can also discriminate on its own—recalling the past, planning the future, analyzing, inferring, and judging—giving rise to feelings of suffering, happiness, sorrow, joy, and neutral feeling, and producing the next bodily, verbal, and mental actions.

The manas is also mind; it is without shape and without any appearance, and is also called the formless faculty. It has existed since beginningless kalpas and ceases when an arhat enters Nirvāṇa without remainder. It is the consciousness of self-grasping; from beginningless kalpas it has constantly grasped at self, taking all dharmas as "I" and "mine," grasping at the functions of the first six consciousnesses as its own, grasping at the functions of the eighth consciousness as its own, with greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong view ceaselessly manifesting; it is the root of karma creation, always directing the six consciousnesses to act according to its own habits. Practice is mainly about cultivating and transforming the manas. The manas is transformed once after enlightenment upon entering the first bhūmi, transformed once again at the eighth bhūmi, and at buddhahood is completely transformed into the wisdom of equality, while the mind consciousness becomes the profound observing wisdom, the first five consciousnesses become the wisdom of accomplishing what is to be done, and the eighth consciousness becomes the great mirror-like wisdom. If one can eradicate the self-grasping nature of the manas and no longer grasp at self, then at the end of life one will extinguish one's own five aggregates and eighteen realms and enter Nirvāṇa without remainder. What the Buddha said should be subdued is precisely these seven deluded minds.

Original text: 所有一切众生之类。若卵生。若胎生。若湿生。若化生。若有色。若无色。若有想、若无想。若非有想非无想。我皆令入无余涅盘。而灭度之。

Explanation: All classes of sentient beings whatsoever—whether egg-born or womb-born beings, or moisture-born and transformation-born beings, or beings with form and beings without form, or beings with perception, without perception, and neither with perception nor without perception—I will cause them all to enter Nirvāṇa without remainder and liberate them.

The sentient beings of the three realms are divided into four forms of birth, nine realms of existence, and twenty-five kinds. Egg-born refers to sentient beings who do not dwell in a mother's womb and are not born from parents; the manas carries the Ālayavijñāna directly into the eggshell, and when external conditions such as temperature are complete, the embryo grows and breaks out of the shell, like chickens, ducks, snakes, and birds. Womb-born refers to beings who, in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), with the manas carrying the Ālayavijñāna, are conceived into the mother's womb; when the six faculties have grown and matured, they emerge from the womb. Womb-born includes all humans, most animals, some classes of ghosts, and some asuras. Moisture-born refers to beings of meager merit born under certain conditions of temperature and humidity (such as in damp soil and air by watersides and seashores), such as various insects and bacteria, and some asuras;

Transformation-born refers to those who can be born through transformation, such as the devas of the various heavens, beings of other lands, non-human beings of the ghost and spirit classes, hell beings, some classes of asuras and a small portion of animals, and bodhisattvas and arhats with superknowledge. Beings with form refers to beings of the desire realm and form realm who possess a material body. The material body is also called the aggregate of form—the physical form from the moment of conception as a fertilized egg until birth and finally perishing. Because the Ālayavijñāna and the first seven consciousnesses uphold it, the material body has various bodily, verbal, and mental actions and activities; this is called the aggregate of form; otherwise it would be a corpse and an inanimate thing, like plants and minerals.

The desire realm includes the six heavens, the human world, and the three evil destinies; the form realm has eighteen heavens—the thirteen heavens from the first dhyāna heaven to the fourth dhyāna heaven, plus the five Pure Abodes, including the Heaven of No Affliction (Avṛha), the Heaven of No Heat (Atapa), the Heaven of Good Vision (Sudṛśa), the Heaven of Good Appearance (Sudarśana), and the Heaven of No Perception (Asaṃjñi). Anāgāmins of the third fruit cultivate in the five Pure Abodes, and after eradicating the last afflictions and the craving for the three realms, they attain the fourth fruit of arhatship, either entering Nirvāṇa without remainder, or turning their minds toward the Great Vehicle and taking rebirth again to learn the bodhisattva path. Other beings cultivating in the five Pure Abodes, after becoming weary of the material body, abandon the material body and ascend to the formless realm.

The formless realm has four heavens: the Heaven of Infinite Space, the Heaven of Infinite Consciousness, the Heaven of Nothingness, and the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. "Formless" means without a material body and without material dharmas; beings have only the mind consciousness, the manas, and the Ālayavijñāna existing, with the mind abiding unmoving in meditative concentration. Beings of the formless realm also cultivate the contemplation of emptiness, with the aim of entering Nirvāṇa without remainder. But the principle of emptiness they rely on is not ultimate, and they cannot cultivate their way out, remaining in the transmigration of the six realms. This is like the Buddha's non-Buddhist teacher Udraka Rāmaputra, who attained the highest meditative concentration, the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception, and thought that having no perception in this concentration was the state of nirvāṇa; in fact, in that concentration there was still extremely subtle perception. As long as there is a deluded mind, one cannot transcend the three realms and cannot attain liberation. After the Buddha attained the Way, he originally intended to deliver his teacher, but with the divine eye he saw that he had already been born into the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception and would not emerge from that concentration again; the Buddha sighed and said: after he descends from that heaven, he will fall into the three evil destinies and suffer.

When the Buddha was about to enter parinirvāṇa, there was an old non-Buddhist practitioner, 120 years old, who had been Ānanda's father for five hundred lifetimes, and who had also attained the concentration of neither perception nor non-perception. The Buddha had Ānanda summon the old man, and told him that in that concentration there was still subtle perception, and that that most subtle perceiving mind was also not the self; extinguishing it, one could transcend the three realms, attain liberation, and end birth and death. Upon hearing this, the old man immediately realized the fourth fruit of arhatship, and said to the Buddha: "I cannot bear to see the Buddha enter parinirvāṇa; I will go first," and having spoken, he entered Nirvāṇa without remainder. Nirvāṇa without remainder means that a being has eradicated the view of self and self-grasping, no longer has any grasping, and is willing to abandon his own five aggregates and eighteen realms; thus suffering has nothing further to depend on, and one departs from suffering and casts off suffering; having extinguished all suffering, one attains liberation and transcends the three realms, with no self remaining. Bodhisattvas liberate the beings of the four forms of birth, nine realms of existence, and twenty-five classes in the three realms, teaching and transforming them to become arhats of the fourth fruit, ending birth and death, so that at the end of life they can all enter Nirvāṇa without remainder and attain liberation.

Original text: 如是灭度无量无数无边众生。实无众生得灭度者。

Explanation: The World-Honored One continued, saying: Bodhisattvas, having in this way liberated immeasurable, countless, boundless sentient beings, in reality not a single sentient being has been liberated—though they deliver, no one is delivered.

Having liberated so many sentient beings, yet not one has been liberated—what does this mean? "Liberation" means entering Nirvāṇa without remainder as just explained, that is, completely abandoning and extinguishing the self of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms of the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses; then there are no sentient beings. With the five aggregates one is a sentient being; without the five aggregates one is not called a sentient being; without the eighteen realms one is also not called a sentient being—that is, no sentient being has been delivered, and the Ālayavijñāna left alone is also not a sentient being. Thus not a single sentient being has been delivered, and no sentient being has attained liberation. Even when the five aggregates and eighteen realms have not been extinguished, there is likewise no sentient being, because the appearance of the five aggregates and eighteen realms is illusory and transformed; their existence is false existence, not real existence. There is no "sentient being" among sentient beings to speak of—all are the appearance of the tathāgatagarbha, all are the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha itself needs no delivering; so although immeasurable numbers of sentient beings are liberated, in reality not one has been. Bodhisattvas should deliver sentient beings in this way, without the thought of delivering sentient beings.

The Criterion for Distinguishing a Bodhisattva from a Non-Bodhisattva

Original text: 何以故。须菩提。若菩萨有我相人相众生相寿者相。即非菩萨。

Explanation: Why is this said? Subhūti, if a bodhisattva still has in his mind the mark of self, the mark of person, the mark of sentient being, and the mark of life span, then he is not a bodhisattva.

This is the criterion for distinguishing a bodhisattva from a non-bodhisattva. The Diamond Sutra takes whether or not one has the four marks as the benchmark for distinguishing a bodhisattva from a non-bodhisattva. This means that if a bodhisattva has delivered sentient beings, but inwardly believes that there is an "I" who delivered sentient beings, that "I" did such deeds, that "I" exerted effort, that "I" benefited sentient beings, that "I" have merit and virtue, and thus takes credit arrogantly with blazing arrogance, then the mark of self appears in his mind. This is clearly the thinking of an ordinary person; this person has an "I" in his mind and has not eradicated the view of self—he is an ordinary person, not a bodhisattva.

If this person believes that these sentient beings were all transformed and delivered by him, that those sentient beings have all received the benefit of the Buddha-dharma, that all sentient beings should be grateful to him, revere him, repay him, should all obey his commands and submit to his leadership, then the mark of sentient being also simultaneously appears in his mind. This is clearly the thinking of an ordinary person; this person is an ordinary person, not a bodhisattva. A true bodhisattva inwardly has the emptiness of the three wheels; he has no mark of self and does not dwell on thoughts like "I am very capable" or "I delivered sentient beings"; he has no feeling of bestowing grace; he has no mark of sentient being and does not dwell on the thought that real sentient beings were delivered by him and received his benefit; nor does he have the undertakings, the process of delivering, or the merit and virtue involved in his delivering of sentient beings.

The matter of delivering sentient beings is delivering without delivering; no matter how much work a bodhisattva does, his mind remains empty and still, as if he had done nothing, letting go as soon as it is done. He will not keep it constantly on his mind as a burden, use it to command others, manipulate others, or demand repayment. Nor will he treat it as a bargaining chip for gaining worldly benefits, engaging heavily in fame, reputation, and offerings, seeking worldly supremacy—"I want to be first, I want to be the only one"—at all times it is always "I, I, I"; without "me" nothing can be accomplished; worse still, excluding and suppressing all who are not of his kind—then the mark of person appears in his mind, and he is even less a bodhisattva. One whose ordinary-person marks are full-blown is a full-blown ordinary person.

Whether a person is a bodhisattva or a non-bodhisattva is revealed in all his words, deeds, and actions; his inner thoughts together with his outer conduct are the true portrait of a person. Even if he tries to conceal it, he cannot conceal it completely, because the "I" in the mind cannot be concealed; given any opportunity, it will always poke its head out. Those who have not eradicated the view of self, lacking experience, find it hard to discern; those who have eradicated the view of self see through it at a glance—it cannot fool those who have been through it, cannot fool those with clear eyes. Therefore, not only is the Śūraṅgama Sūtra a demon-revealing mirror, the Diamond Sutra is equally a demon-revealing mirror: one who has the four marks is not a bodhisattva, not a noble sage; only one without the four marks is a true bodhisattva, a true sage. This is the most basic criterion of discernment.

What Is the Mark of Self?

The self that sentient beings believe in is taking the five aggregates and eighteen realms as the self, believing them to be real; in fact they are not. The five aggregates include the aggregate of form, the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of volitional formations, and the aggregate of consciousness. The aggregate of form is the physical body, from the fertilized egg after conception, growing into a fetus, infant, child, youth, young adult, middle-aged person, and elderly person's body; it is constantly changing, arising and ceasing; whatever has the phenomenon of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing is impermanent, false, illusory, and suffering—it is not the real self.

The aggregate of feeling is feeling, mainly referring to the mind consciousness being able to feel suffering, happiness, and neither-suffering-nor-happiness. There is feeling when the eyes see form, feeling when the ears hear sounds, feeling when the nose smells scents, feeling when the tongue tastes flavors, feeling when the body feels contact, feeling when the mind thinks of dharmas; these feelings arise and cease ceaselessly. When suffering feelings are many, the mind becomes numb and no longer feels the suffering, and it becomes a feeling of neither-suffering-nor-happiness. When suffering decreases a little, the mind feels happy—for example, being beaten thirty strokes a day, if one day it decreases to fifteen strokes one feels happy; when happiness is abundant it is no longer happy, becoming neither-suffering-nor-happiness. The aggregate of feeling disappears at death, in coma, in the concentration of no perception, in the cessation of perception and feeling, and in dreamless sleep; it is impermanent and changing, arising and ceasing, suffering—it is not the real self.

The aggregate of perception is taking marks upon the mind as perception—discerning, discriminating, planning, intending, deliberating, and judging; in short, it is ideation. There is perception in five situations: when the eyes see form there is perception, discerning blue, yellow, red, and white, long and short, square and round, coarse and fine, with mental analysis, deliberation, and judgment. When the ears hear sounds there is perception, discerning the pitch, coarseness, and distance of sounds, male voices, female voices, animal sounds, cosmic sounds, the sounds of valleys and rivers, and simultaneously analyzing, inferring, judging, and planning; when the nose smells scents there is perception, discerning the types, degrees, directions, and distances of fragrant and foul odors, with analysis, deliberation, judgment, planning, and intending; when the tongue tastes flavors there is perception, discerning sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and so forth; when the body feels contact there is perception, and thinking of dharmas is even more so perception. This aggregate of perception ceases at death, in coma, in the concentration of no perception, in the cessation of perception and feeling, and in dreamless sleep; it is arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, illusory, unreal, and suffering; what is suffering is not the self.

The aggregate of volitional formations refers to the flow of time, the transformation of space, the change of location, including the actions of body, speech, and mind; all moving, non-static activities belong to the aggregate of volitional formations—breathing, heartbeat, pulse, the flow of blood, the movement of limbs, coming and going, stopping and moving, speech, and mental activities, and all such activities. Seeing form with the eyes is action; hearing sounds with the ears is action; smelling scents, feeling contact with the body, and thinking of dharmas are all the aggregate of volitional formations; it ceases at the time of entering nirvāṇa and at the precise moment of death; it too is arising and ceasing, changing moment by moment, impermanent, illusory, suffering, and unreal—therefore it is not the self.

The aggregate of consciousness includes the six consciousnesses: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind consciousnesses, mainly performing the function of discrimination and discernment. The eye consciousness discerns the appearance of form objects, the coarse part, while the mind consciousness simultaneously discerns the fine marks; the ear consciousness discerns sound objects, discriminating the general, coarse part, while the mind consciousness simultaneously makes fine discriminations; the nose consciousness smells scents, discerning coarse marks, while the mind consciousness discerns fine marks; the tongue consciousness tastes flavors, discerning coarse marks, while the mind consciousness discerns fine marks; the body consciousness feels contact, discerning coarse marks, while the mind consciousness discerns fine marks. The aggregate of consciousness ceases in dreamless sleep, coma, the concentration of no perception, the cessation of perception and feeling, and the precise moment of death; it is arising-and-ceasing, changing, impermanent, illusory, suffering, and unreal—therefore it is not the self. In short, the five aggregates are arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, suffering, and not-self.

The eighteen realms include the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses. The six faculties are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind faculties. The eye faculty is divided into the gross faculty and the supreme faculty, composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; the grape-like organ on the outside of the body is called the gross faculty, also the external eye faculty. The occipital cortex at the back of the brain, connected by the eye's transmission nerves and governing vision, is the supreme faculty, on which the eye consciousness depends, and there the eye consciousness arises. If the supreme faculty is damaged, even if the eye faculty is intact, one cannot see form—this is called being blind despite open eyes. The eye faculty is created in the embryonic stage by the tathāgatagarbha absorbing the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind (nutrients) from the mother's body; it is a dharma of arising and ceasing, an impermanent dharma, an illusory dharma, and suffering—therefore it is not-self.

The ear faculty is divided into the gross faculty and the supreme faculty; the one on the outside of the body that everyone can see, shaped like a newly folded leaf, is called the gross faculty. The cerebral cortex at the back of the brain, connected by transmission nerves and governing hearing, is called the supreme faculty, on which the ear consciousness depends, and there the ear consciousness arises. The ear faculty is created in the embryo by the tathāgatagarbha absorbing nutrients from the mother's body. It is a dharma of arising and ceasing, an impermanent dharma and illusory dharma, suffering and not-self.

The nose faculty is divided into the gross faculty and the supreme faculty; the gross faculty is on the surface of the body, like a pair of olfactory bulbs or a hanging pendant, and is the receptor for odors; after smelling, the odor is transmitted by the olfactory nerves to the cerebral cortex, where the nose consciousness arises, and only then can fragrant and foul be discriminated; the cerebral cortex at the back of the brain is the supreme faculty, governing smell, on which the nose consciousness depends. The nose faculty is also created by the tathāgatagarbha in the embryonic stage; it is arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, illusory, and suffering—it is not the self.

The tongue faculty is composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, transformed and generated by the tathāgatagarbha in the embryonic stage, divided into the gross faculty and the supreme faculty. On the outside of the body, visible upon opening the mouth, the half-moon-shaped one is the gross faculty, the receptor for taste, transmitted by the taste nerves to the cerebral cortex, where the tathāgatagarbha generates the tongue consciousness to discriminate the various taste objects; the cerebral cortex at the back of the brain is the supreme faculty. The tongue faculty is arising-and-ceasing, illusory, and impermanent; it is suffering, and it is not-self.

The body faculty is created by the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, an aggregation of thirty-six constituents: twelve external features—hair, body hair, nails, teeth, eye discharge, tears, saliva, spittle, feces, urine, grime, and sweat; twelve bodily vessels—skin, flesh, blood, muscle, sinews, vessels, bones, marrow, fat, grease, brain, and membranes; twelve internal organs—liver, gallbladder, intestines, stomach, spleen, kidneys, heart, lungs, raw viscera, cooked viscera, red phlegm, and white phlegm. The skin, muscles, and even the organs of each part all have sensation, transmitted by nerves to the spinal cord and then to the cerebral cortex, where the body consciousness is produced and only then can contact be felt. The cerebral cortex is the supreme faculty, located at the back of the brain; if this part is damaged, the entire body becomes paralyzed and the person becomes a vegetable. The gross faculty is like a barrel of flesh, visible to the human eye, and is called the gross faculty. The body faculty is arising-and-ceasing in nature, impermanent, illusory, and suffering—therefore it is not-self.

The manas is a spiritual entity, it is mind, not matter; it has existed since before beginningless kalpas and ceases when an arhat enters nirvāṇa. It is constantly conjoined with afflictions; all its mental activity is "I" and "mine"; it possesses the constant, examining, deliberating function of discernment; it constantly grasps the first six consciousnesses as the self outside, and constantly grasps the eighth consciousness as the self within—it is the defiled manas. Moment by moment it deliberates and acts as the master, making decisions, with very strong grasping nature; it relies on the six consciousnesses to discriminate specific sense objects, and is the root cause of delusion and karma creation. Only through cultivation, transforming its defiled nature into a pure nature and eradicating its grasping at self completely, can liberation be attained. It too is arising-and-ceasing in nature, impermanent, empty, and suffering—it is also not the self.

Next are the six objects of form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and dharma. Form objects are divided into outer form objects and inner form objects. Outer form objects are composed of the combination of the four great element seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind, including the inanimate universe—the Mount Sumeru, the heavenly palaces of the various heavens, the seven golden mountains, the four great oceans, the four great continents, and so forth—created jointly by the tathāgatagarbhas of beings of common karma; it is the living environment of sentient beings. Only with an environment can beings with karmic affinity be born into it to receive karmic retribution; when the conditions cease, the inanimate universe will gradually be destroyed, and beings will be reborn into other inanimate worlds with which they have affinity. Therefore outer form objects are arising-and-ceasing, changing, and impermanent; they are illusory dharmas, empty and not-self.

Inner form objects: a being's tathāgatagarbha, through the eye faculty contacting outer form objects, transforms and generates an identical shadow signal, which is transmitted through the retina and visual nerves to the cerebral cortex, forming a false form identical to the outer form—this is the inner form object, also a shadow, not real matter. Real material form cannot contact the eye faculty, nor can it be transmitted through the retinal nerves to the back of the brain. Moreover, if the eye faculty could contact physical forms, it would certainly be damaged—for example, if the eye faculty contacts a knife tip, the eye would certainly be stabbed by the knife tip; when the eye contacts fire, the eye would certainly be burned by the fire; when the eye contacts sand, the sand would blind the eye. Therefore the inner eye faculty does not contact physical forms yet sees; what it contacts are the four great element particles radiated by the forms—they are shadows.

This principle is similar to that of a video camera: outer forms are turned into inverted images in the machine through the camera, and upon a glance by the naked eye they become upright images, and one feels one has seen the real form object; in fact those are shadows and photographs, just like the form objects seen on television. Sentient beings have never, since beginningless kalpas, seen the real outer form objects. Therefore the inner form objects that sentient beings see are illusory and empty, also suffering and not-self.

Sound objects are divided into outer sound objects and inner sound objects. Outer sound objects, such as those produced by the universe, valleys, rivers, and various materials, are jointly transformed and created by the tathāgatagarbhas of beings of common karma according to conditions and karmic conditions; sound objects produced by beings are transformed and generated by each being's own tathāgatagarbha. They are also composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; they are material, arising and ceasing, illusory, impermanent, empty, and suffering—they are not-self. Inner sound objects: the tathāgatagarbha, through the ear faculty contacting outer sound objects, manifests identical shadows, which are transmitted through the ear's nerves to the cerebral cortex, the supreme faculty; faculty and object contact, and the tathāgatagarbha produces the ear consciousness to discriminate the sounds. In fact, this sound is manifested by one's own tathāgatagarbha; it is false, illusory, arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, and suffering—it is not-self. This principle is similar to a tape recorder: the sounds we hear from a tape recorder all resemble the real sounds outside the recorder, but in fact they are only images.

Scent objects are divided into outer scent objects and inner scent objects. Outer scent objects are composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, jointly transformed and created by the tathāgatagarbhas of sentient beings of common karma according to karma and conditions; the scent objects of a being's own body are transformed and created solely by that being's own tathāgatagarbha. Inner scent objects: the tathāgatagarbha, through the nose faculty contacting outer scent objects, manifests similar shadows, which are transmitted through the nose's nerves to the cortex at the back of the brain, contacting the nose's supreme faculty; the tathāgatagarbha produces the nose consciousness to discriminate—in fact it is only discriminating a false image. Outer and inner scent objects are both arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, empty, and suffering—they are not the self; sentient beings do not know this and grasp at them unceasingly.

Taste objects are divided into outer taste objects and inner taste objects. Outer taste objects are material, composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, jointly transformed and created by the tathāgatagarbhas of beings of common karma according to karma and conditions; they are arising-and-ceasing and mutating, impermanent, illusory, and suffering—therefore they are not-self. Inner taste objects: the tathāgatagarbha, through the tongue faculty, contacts outer taste objects and manifests similar shadows, which are transmitted through the tongue's nerves to the cerebral cortex, contacting the tongue's supreme faculty; the tathāgatagarbha produces the tongue consciousness, and there is the function of discrimination; what is discriminated is only an illusory false appearance. Inner taste objects are illusory, impermanent, suffering, and not-self.

Touch objects are divided into outer and inner touch objects. Outer touch objects are composed of the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, jointly transformed and created by the tathāgatagarbhas of beings of common karma according to karma and conditions; they are arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing, impermanent, illusory, and suffering—therefore they are not-self. Inner touch objects: the tathāgatagarbha, through the body contacting outer touch objects, produces similar shadows, which are transmitted through the nerves to the back of the brain, contacting the body's supreme faculty; the tathāgatagarbha produces the body consciousness to discern. Inner touch objects are arising-and-ceasing, illusory, impermanent, suffering, and not-self. Sentient beings, ignorant, mistakenly take them as real and grasp at them unceasingly.

Dharma objects are also divided into outer dharma objects and inner dharma objects. Outer dharma objects are composed of the subtle particles of the four great elements; they are the visible forms, expressive forms, and non-expressive forms manifested upon the five sense objects—forms included within the realm of dharmas (dharma-āyatana-rūpa)—jointly manifested by the tathāgatagarbhas of beings of common karma. Outer dharma objects are then transmitted together with the five sense objects into the supreme faculty, transformed by the tathāgatagarbha into inner dharma objects, contacting the manas, and then the tathāgatagarbha produces the consciousness accompanied by the five senses to discriminate the inner dharma objects. Therefore outer and inner dharma objects are all illusory, arising-and-ceasing, impermanent, and suffering—they are not-self.

And the six consciousnesses are the aggregate of consciousness—the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind consciousnesses—all born from the tathāgatagarbha when the six faculties contact the inner six objects. If the manas is not interested in the six objects, the tathāgatagarbha does not give birth to the six consciousnesses, and there are phenomena of indifference—seeing yet not seeing, hearing yet not hearing. When one enters the concentration of no perception or the cessation of perception and feeling, the mind consciousness also does not manifest, and sentient beings know nothing, without a trace of discrimination.

In summary of the above, all the dharmas of sentient beings' five aggregates and eighteen realms are arising-and-ceasing and illusory. The body of the five aggregates is like a puppet in a shadow puppet play, an electric doll, a character in an animated film, like the image of a cat or dog formed by clouds in the sky, like the characters on television—extremely unreal. Sentient beings, ignorant, are lost and attached within it, falsely creating bodily, verbal, and mental karma, unable to escape the transmigration of the six realms. If one wishes to transcend the sea of suffering of transmigration, one should often, according to the above content, engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and contemplate the illusoriness of the five aggregates and eighteen realms; then one can realize the fruits of the Small Vehicle, and even awaken and enter the Mahāyāna dharma path, realizing the true tathāgatagarbha.

From the mark of self, it can be seen that the mark of person and the mark of sentient being are also impermanent, suffering, empty, and not-self—all are illusory.

Manifestations of the Mark of Self Produced by the View of Self

A person's sense of achievement, sense of pride, arrogance, and sense of inferiority, and so forth—these feelings, sensations, and perceptions all belong to feeling and the aggregate of feeling, existing in dependence on the view of self. If there is no view of self, these feelings disappear and the self is empty. These feelings also all belong to the mark of self, within which the mark of person and the mark of sentient being are also involved, as well as the mark of life span. Therefore, whether a person has eradicated the view of self can be completely seen from these marks; to one who has eradicated the view of self, these phenomena are very obvious and easy to judge. Those who have not eradicated the view of self, by understanding the content and manifestations of the view of self and the mark of self, can also make a rough judgment.

The mark of self and the view of self are both manifested through a person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions; this cannot be hidden, and there is no way to hide it—how can the deeply rooted self be hidden? Unless there are no bodily, verbal, and mental actions, but this cannot be done. Everyone who considers themselves already without self, already having eradicated the view of self, can examine their own mark of self accordingly—whether it exists or not, whether it is light or heavy; even if very slight, it is still the mark of self. My feelings and perceptions are divided into those of the material body and those of the mind—bodily feeling and mental feeling—all are marks of self; whether there is self or no self can be judged from the marks. A person with subtle marks of self is not far from eradicating the view of self; for a person with coarse and heavy marks of self, eradicating the view of self is very difficult. Everyone should frequently examine the self in their own mind—is it light or heavy, and has it changed through cultivation?

If a person has not even eradicated the view of self that should be eradicated for the first fruit, with such a severe mark of self, it is impossible for him to see the mind and realize the nature in the Great Vehicle, let alone have the realization and fruits of the three stages of the wise and the bodhisattvas of the bhūmis; these virtues will not be possessed. Do not look at what he says or teaches; look at his actual behavior in daily life, how he specifically responds to people and situations. A person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions are the most real and best reflect a person's virtue and character; even if what is said sounds perfectly reasonable, it can all be faked and deceptive, and cannot be fully trusted.

For one who has eradicated the view of self, the mark of self will certainly correspondingly diminish and disappear; in dealing with people and affairs there is no self—low-key and sincere, equal toward others, never thinking oneself nobler and more special than others, or others baser and lowlier than oneself. This mind of equality is spoken of in terms of the emptiness of the mark of self and the mark of person, and is not yet ultimate; for bodhisattvas of the first bhūmi and above, the manas undergoes the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, attaining the wisdom of equality, and that mind of equality is purer and more surpassing than the equality of the Small Vehicle. One who has eradicated the view of self and is already without self has no mark of self, person, or sentient being; his mind is empty; in dealing with people and affairs he is reserved, low-key, and modest, not outwardly expansive, not fond of self-display, without pride or sense of achievement, not needing others' flattery, praise, or worship; whether others look up to him or look down on him makes no difference—he absolutely does not act in a high-profile manner. All who act in a high-profile manner and love to boast about themselves have the view of self and the mark of self.

Many people's view of self is very heavy; they all fear the disappearance of the self, so they rack their brains to find a sense of existence, constantly establishing the value of the self—all these are very obvious marks of self. For such people, eradicating the view of self is very difficult, and the hope in this life is slim. Some people who contemplate not-self, when they contemplate some signs of not-self, become afraid that the self will disappear, inwardly feeling that having no self would be terrible—how could it do for me to disappear? How then could I grasp at this world? So they dare not continue contemplating not-self.

At this time one needs patience, and must slowly, in a winding and roundabout way, immerse and persuade oneself (the manas). Since beginningless kalpas, relying on and grasping this "I" has become very habitual; if the manas suddenly feels it can no longer rely on and grasp it, fear will arise. Contemplative practice must proceed slowly; eradicating the view of self requires the manas to have a process of acceptance, a buffer, before it can accept not-self. Cultivation has a transition period, and the length of the transition period depends on one's own effort of immersion. To quickly pass through the transition period, one should repent of the sins created since beginningless kalpas through self-grasping, frequently recite the Śūraṅgama Mantra or perform prostration repentance rituals, seeking the blessings and protection of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Study the theory of emptiness more, contemplate the principle of emptiness more, and slowly immerse oneself.

Characteristics of the Mark of Self

In the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, the World-Honored One described the subtle mark of self: For example, there is a person whose whole body is harmonious and comfortable, whose four limbs are all relaxed, whose body and mind are tranquil, extremely tranquil, suddenly forgetting the existence of the body, not even knowing the orientation in which the body is situated. At this time, if the body is gently pricked with a needle, pain is immediately felt, and one involuntarily feels "I hurt"—then the mark of self appears in the mind. Sentient beings all involuntarily believe the body is the self, the perceiving mind is the self, the five aggregates are the self; this is a very subtle mark of self, universally present in sentient beings.

The mark of self spoken of in the Diamond Sutra includes both coarse and subtle, with the coarse and heavy mark of self as the main focus; the relatively coarse and very coarse marks of self are universally complete in sentient beings. The mark of self manifested by ordinary people who have not eradicated the view of self is present at all times and places, especially obvious, yet all are unaware of it, without awakening—whether they study Buddhism or not. Among those who study and cultivate Buddhism, the view of self and mark of self are also very serious; in order to highlight the self, they readily consider themselves extraordinary, superior to others, always intentionally or unintentionally misunderstanding that they have realized the fruits, seen the mind, and so forth, propagating this everywhere without any evidence, hoping to receive others' reverence and special regard, feeling that they have finally surpassed others, finally held their heads high, and thus becoming extremely proud, arrogant, and conceited, regarding everyone with contempt, behaving badly—all these are manifestations of the complete mark of self, within which there are also the mark of person and the mark of sentient being. As long as there are the mark of person, the mark of sentient being, and the mark of life span, there must be the mark of self; where there is the mark of self there must be the latter three marks—the four marks cannot be separated.

The mark of self is often closely connected with the mark of person, and hence there are mutual comparisons and contrasts, hence jealousy, competition, disputes, quarrels, and even all kinds of wars. Wars between nations arise when the individual marks of self and person converge into collective marks of self and person; the competition and disputes among various groups are also like this—the small self becomes the big self, the mark of self becomes larger, and its force of action also becomes greater; it looks as if the individuals are all without self, but in fact it is all the mark of self.

In the secular world the mark of self is even more pronounced. Worldly people generally take power, fame and fortune, status, position, honor, class, wealth, and other such badges as the mark of self, deeply mired in them, grasping without letting go; for the sake of false face, for the sake of being looked up to by others, they will pay any price, extremely concerned with others' gazes and evaluations. And they do their utmost to display their advantages and uniqueness to others, in order to gain others' envy and satisfy their own vanity. Such examples are too numerous to list—they are everywhere—so I will not cite them. In this there is the participation of the mark of person; otherwise one would not care about others' gazes and evaluations. Because of the mark of self, for the sake of that so-called self, there is endless greed, anger, and delusion, indulging fully in the pleasures of the five desires; the six faculties and five senses never rest for a moment; even when asleep, one is still thinking of wealth, sex, fame, and food. Ordinary people are just like this, without the slightest lofty aspiration, craving the low-level five desires—making money and enjoying themselves, and that is all.

In short, because ordinary people have the mark of self, all their bodily, verbal, and mental actions revolve around the mark of self and fully display the mark of self. If there is no mark of self, there are not so many greedy desires, life is much simpler, there is not so much contrivance, and many matters automatically cease—without mind there are no affairs, without desire there is no seeking; bodily, verbal, and mental actions are very low-key, no longer willing to show off, display the self, or make oneself the center. Whether or not a person has the mark of self in their mind will be involuntarily revealed in their words and deeds—it cannot be concealed, cannot be faked, because the deep-seated habits cannot be suppressed.