All dharmas arise from the thoughts of the mind.

All dharmas are subject to arising and ceasing, impermanent, suffering, and empty; all dharmas are like illusions and conjurations; all dharmas are like dreams and dew; all dharmas are like wind and shadows; all dharmas are like bubbles and foam. No matter how you grasp and cling, in the end it is still empty, empty, empty—apart from emptiness there is only emptiness. Better to sit quietly in a tranquil courtyard and watch the winds and clouds arise: watch all dharmas come, watch all dharmas go; watch all dharmas arise, watch all dharmas fall; watch all dharmas be born, watch all dharmas perish. But do not let your mind follow all dharmas in arising and ceasing, do not let it follow all dharmas in coming and going, and do not grasp or cling to any dharma. All dharmas are all dharmas, and you are you; all dharmas are fundamentally not all dharmas—therefore you must empty your mind.

Wherever there are people in the Saha world, there are affairs; where there are affairs, there are disputes and gossip. Matters and disputes are perfectly normal for ordinary beings; if you feel they are abnormal and should not exist, then you are no longer an ordinary being. To an ordinary being, matters and disputes are just matters and disputes. But for one whose mind is empty, seeing matters and disputes, they are not matters and disputes: such a person may see that matters and disputes arise, cease, change, and are impermanent, suffering, and empty; or see that matters and disputes are like illusions and conjurations; or see that matters and disputes are like shadows and echoes; or see that matters and disputes are like dreams and dew; or see that matters and disputes are themselves bodhi; or see that matters and disputes are themselves the Path; or see that matters and disputes are themselves suchness (tathatā); or see that matters and disputes are themselves the Buddha-nature. In that case, where are there still matters and disputes? Where is there still turmoil?

The world is originally at peace; it is your mind that is not at peace, and so all dharmas become unpeaceful. Great turmoil in the world arises from your mind, and so you must take responsibility for the world's great turmoil. Yet you have stirred up the world's great turmoil and simply cannot bear that responsibility—what to do? Practice! Extinguish the mind! Extinguish the mind's greed, hatred, and delusion; extinguish the mind's meddlesomeness; extinguish the mind's disputes and gossip; extinguish the marks upon the mind; extinguish the mind's grasping and clinging. Then what matters and disputes remain? Is the world not quiet? At peace? Empty? Purify your mind, and you purify all dharmas, purify the world, purify sentient beings—is this not then delivering sentient beings? Is this not then accomplishing a Pure Land? This is practice; this is the result of practice; this is the merit of practice. What more is there to seek? What is there to grasp? What is there to cling to?