Questions and Answers on Abiding in No Place

Question: How can one abide nowhere in daily life? Is it that when the six consciousnesses engage with the six sense objects, one does not discriminate?

Answer: This is purely a method of cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi) and subduing afflictions. If you wish to accord with wisdom, then when the six faculties contact the six sense objects, you should engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the illusory and unreal nature of the six sense objects, understanding that the realms of the six sense objects are shadows manifested by the tathāgatagarbha—things in the mirror of the tathāgatagarbha, belonging to the tathāgatagarbha, being the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and not truly existent realms. Only by giving rise to such a thought is this right mindfulness, which accords with the wisdom of suchness, can free one from the bondage of sense realms, and can bring liberation of mind (cetovimutti).

Abiding nowhere is the result. When cultivation reaches its end, the mind of the seven consciousnesses becomes as tranquil (praśama) as the tathāgatagarbha, and one becomes a Mahāyāna bodhisattva beyond training (aśaikṣa). Many people who study Buddhism, the more they learn, the more they abide somewhere: not only do they fail to reduce their grasping and afflictions, and fail to reduce their worldliness, they even add the bondage of worldly dharmas, increasing afflictions and grasping. This is the result of studying the Dharma while having forgotten the bodhi mind, the result of studying the Dharma with worldly aims and seeking.

Question: This may be the most definitive teaching on "abiding nowhere, yet giving rise to the mind." Abiding nowhere with regard to the six sense objects—not dwelling in the six sense objects—does not hinder the discernment of the six sense objects; after discerning, one simply leaves no trace. Because all six sense objects are mirror images of the eighth consciousness, a person with wisdom knows that it is impossible to abide in mirror images, and even abiding is non-abiding. If one is a person who has seen the true mind, one can accomplish the transformation of the basis as tathāgatagarbha, the consciousness whose nature is non-abiding. The question is: does "abiding nowhere, yet giving rise to the mind" refer to before or after enlightenment? Please enlighten us, Master.

Answer: Finding that mind which inherently abides nowhere is seeing one's true mind and attaining enlightenment. After enlightenment, one continually observes, in the operation of the five aggregates of body and mind, the non-abiding nature of the eighth consciousness when it gives birth to the five aggregates of body and mind, and observes the non-abiding nature of the eighth consciousness when it gives birth to and sustains the six sense objects. Only then does the mind of the seven consciousnesses realize that such a mind is tranquil, that it is the mind of the Buddha. The seven consciousnesses then compare themselves against it, and are gradually nurtured and influenced by the eighth consciousness; thus, in worldly activities, they also gradually abide nowhere with regard to the realms of the six sense objects, and the mind becomes more and more tranquil. This is the post-enlightenment transformation of the basis toward the tranquil, non-abiding eighth consciousness—the genuine transformation of the basis after true realization. It is not a transformation of the basis done at the time of intellectual understanding/interpretive awakening; only when the transformation of the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) is accomplished can one become an enlightened one. This is a great misunderstanding—there is no such thing as attaining enlightenment only after intellectual understanding and subsequent transformation of the basis.