The Objective Realm and Environment Turn in Accordance with the Mind

The three realms are mind-only, and the myriad dharmas are consciousness-only; both the impure land and the pure land are manifested by mind alone and transformed by consciousness alone. Transforming the mind can transform one's realm of experience, but one can only transform one's own realm, not that of others. The realm of experience is a representation within each person's own tathāgatagarbha mind and has nothing to do with others. When one cultivates the mind and transforms it to purity, the inner representation of the realm one perceives changes accordingly, and of course the outer representation that one attracts can also become pure. When the conscious mind transforms, all realms of experience transform along with it.

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says that our Sahā world is an evil world of the five turbidities, full of hills, pits, and bumps, filthy and defiled. Śāriputra suspected that this was due to the World-Honored One's mind not being pure while He practiced the bodhisattva path. But the World-Honored One said: It is because your own minds are not pure that you have attracted an impure world and land; it is not that my mind is impure. In my view, the Sahā world is utterly pure. What the World-Honored One said is truthful speech: in the World-Honored One's view, the Sahā world is indeed as pure and undefiled as the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī). Because sentient beings have defilements within their minds, the world they perceive is impure; the Buddha's mind is pure, and everything He perceives is pure—all is the nature of His undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). To prove this principle, the World-Honored One pressed the ground with His toe, and the World-Honored One's ocean-seal radiated light; instantly the Sahā world transformed into a majestically pure realm, supremely excellent, just like the land of bliss. This is the world as seen by the Buddha, the world manifested by the Buddha's mind.

The World-Honored One likewise lives and dwells together with sentient beings, yet the realm He perceives is different from that of sentient beings—both the direct retribution and the circumstantial retribution are different. Although outwardly He appears the same as sentient beings, in reality sentient beings and the Buddha are separated by an immense distance, because their minds are not pure. Therefore, when we cultivate and make our minds a bit purer, our perception of external things becomes relatively more accurate, and the realm that manifests changes—that is because the inner realm of thought has changed. Due to ignorance, sentient beings hold inverted views and have mistaken cognition of the world; their bodily, verbal, and mental actions are not pure, and so they attract impure realms of experience. Once one cultivates until the mind is pure, the realm and environment can be transformed according to the mind, and everything perceived becomes a pure land—that which is manifested by one's own tathāgatagarbha mind.