How to See the True, Remove the False, and Break Through Ignorance

The root of sentient beings' suffering lies in seeing signs that are not in accord with reality—that is, seeing signs untruly—and in grasping at signs. When one feels that a sign cannot be grasped, suffering and distress arise in the mind. Therefore, the fundamental solution to the problem of suffering is to see true signs: not seeing false signs, counterfeit signs, or empty signs. When seeing signs, one's view must be correct, endowed with right view and correct knowledge, without mistaken views or wrong views; then one will no longer wish to grasp, and thus suffering will not arise. Of course, one is then liberated with regard to signs.

How can one see true signs and not mistaken signs? One must recognize the substance and root of signs, so that one's view does not fall into worldly dharma-signs. By breaking through the worldly appearance of dharma-signs, one will see, from the surface to the interior, the root and substance of dharma-signs. In this way there will be no mistaken views. Seeing rightly and truly, one will know that dharma-signs are fundamentally not to be taken up; being detached from signs while amid signs, the grasping mind is extinguished, and one is liberated, at ease, without affliction or distress.

How does one break through the worldly appearance of dharma-signs? First, we must know what worldly dharma-signs there are: the various forms, various sounds, various scents, various tastes, and various tangibles defined by the worldly, and within these various dharma-signs, the various shapes, various substances, various flavors and charms, and various worldly functions. Sentient beings all take these various functions and charms as truly existent, and so they greedily cling without letting go. Whether the object of greed is obtained or not obtained, it is suffering; joy is suffering, and sorrow and resentment are also suffering. Not one of all feelings is anything but suffering; all of them churn the mind, leaving it without tranquility or coolness. This is suffering.

Do these worldly dharma-signs truly exist? If they truly existed, they would not be born, would not change, would not grow old and worn, and would not disappear and perish. It is evident now that all worldly dharma-signs are impermanent, all arising and ceasing, all subject to change. Since worldly dharma-signs are impermanent, they are empty and unobtainable—cannot be gotten. Since worldly dharma-signs are empty and unobtainable, they are suffering; being empty and unobtainable entails suffering—that is the mark of suffering. Since worldly dharma-signs are impermanent, suffering, and empty, they are not the self, nor can they belong to the self. To take impermanent dharmas of arising, ceasing, and change as the self is a mistaken and unreasonable view, a foolish notion. Eliminate and extinguish this notion, gain right view, neither taking nor clinging, and one gains liberation—free, at ease, and cool.

How can one see true signs, so that one's view does not fall into worldly dharma-signs? We should understand that all worldly dharma-signs are produced, transformed, and created by the fundamental mind, the tathāgatagarbha; thereafter the tathāgatagarbha conditions these dharma-signs and discerns them. However, the tathāgatagarbha does not see the worldly appearance of these dharma-signs; what it sees are the combinations of seeds of the dharma-signs. It only knows the arrangement states of the various seeds within these dharma-signs, and it also continually discerns karmic seeds, constantly adjusting the proportional structure of the various seeds according to the karmic seeds, adjusting the distribution states of the seeds. In this way, the dharma-signs continually change in accordance with the karmic seeds or with the deliberation (manana) mental factor of the manas.

Because the tathāgatagarbha sees seeds and not worldly signs, it does not know form, sound, scent, taste, tangible, or dharma; its mind makes no discriminations of worldly dharmas, so its mind is pure and without afflictions, does not create karma of birth and death, and has no suffering of birth-and-death saṃsāra. If we wish to free ourselves from the suffering of segmented birth-and-death and the suffering of transformational birth-and-death, we must also be like the tathāgatagarbha, extinguishing the worldly dharma-signs in our minds and seeing the true truth and substance of dharmas. In this way the mind will become ever purer, ever closer to the Buddha-mind, and finally become equal to the Buddha's, abiding in non-abiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa), abiding in the land of perpetual stillness and light, in quiescent cessation and nonaction.

Since all worldly dharma-signs do not truly exist, why can sentient beings still see them? This is due to the ignorance of sentient beings: upon the true signs they give rise to false views and false thoughts, then give rise to false actions, create false karma, reap false retribution, and undergo false saṃsāra. For example, it is clearly a torch being waved rapidly, but due to ignorance, sentient beings do not see the torch; instead they see a ring of fire that does not exist. Taking the ring of fire as truly existent, they grasp at it without letting go, and thus there is the suffering of birth-and-death saṃsāra. It is the same when sentient beings see worldly dharma-signs: because of ignorance, they take signs that originally do not exist as truly existent, while the true dharmas that originally do exist they do not see. Due to mistaken and inverted views, there is karma of birth and death, and the suffering of saṃsāra is unceasing.

For example, in summer when the weather is hot, water vapor reflects onto a sandy beach. Because a thirsty deer is parched and its mind is deranged, it sees a river covering the beach where there is nothing at all, and so it goes to grasp at it, only to find, upon drawing near, that there is nothing there. Ignorant false seeing causes sentient beings to gain nothing at all, yet because they grasped at false signs, they incur the afflictions, karma, and suffering of birth and death—how worthless! Therefore, breaking through ignorance to see true reality is the most important of the important in our cultivation, and our ultimate goal. As long as one has seen true reality, ignorance is broken through, false thoughts will gradually cease, one will gradually no longer grasp at false signs and no longer create karma of birth and death; when afflictions are exhausted and karma dissolved, one returns to the ocean of one's own nature's sarvajña (omniscience), the one true dharma realm, in quiescent nirvāṇa.