How to Realize the Empty and Tranquil Mind Mentioned in the Dharma Gate of Guanyin's Ear Faculty Perfect Penetration

The Guanyin ear-faculty perfect penetration dharma gate cultivated by Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, within meditative concentration (samādhi), contemplated emptiness (śūnyatā), continuously breaking through false dharmas. This mode of practice requires extremely deep meditative concentration and extremely powerful prajñā wisdom; lacking either one, the Guanyin ear-faculty perfect penetration dharma gate cannot be accomplished. This method of practice consists in continuously excluding, within extremely deep meditative concentration, all arising-and-ceasing, unreal false dharmas, until there remains one so-called thing that truly cannot be excluded, that truly cannot be emptied—and that is the true mind, the tathāgatagarbha.

This method of practice is excellent, but most people—perhaps everyone—cannot cultivate to this degree. One reason is that they cannot develop such deep meditative concentration; another is that they cannot possess such deep prajñā wisdom of emptiness (śūnyatā), and thus cannot realize this mind of emptiness through samādhi. Furthermore, their aspiration is not vast enough, and their roots of goodness and merit are insufficient to sustain such practice. When realization is not attained, the misunderstanding of prajñā emptiness becomes very great. With the roots of goodness of us sentient beings in this Sahā world, success in this practice is impossible; even the initial emptiness is very hard to realize. One may have a similar understanding of prajñā wisdom, but meditative concentration is a hard benchmark, the most actual cultivation of practice—it cannot be achieved through mere understanding.

Therefore, excluding all false dharmas within meditative concentration is something ordinary people cannot do: one must not only empty the self of persons but also empty the self of dharmas. After all have been excluded and emptied, what finally remains is an unemptyable, tranquil true mind. Nowadays no one can cultivate to this degree. When only the tranquil mind remains, the mind of emptiness (śūnyatā) is realized. But then, who realizes this tranquil mind? Who recognizes that tranquil true mind? There still must be a "who"—without this "who" it will not work. This "who" is also empty and is also to be excluded, yet one must still make use of this empty "who" that ought to be broken through, in order to discover our inherently possessed tranquil mind-substance, the tathāgatagarbha. Such practice breaks through false dharmas rather than annihilating them—one simply does not acknowledge them as real—and then uses the false, unreal mind consciousness and manas to realize that unbreakable true mind. Without the false mind consciousness and manas, one cannot see the mind and attain enlightenment.

What does this tranquil mind refer to? It refers to the fact that its substance is tranquil: without form and without marks, invisible to the eyes, inaudible to the ear faculty, unsmellable to the nose faculty, untasteable to the tongue faculty, untouchable by the body, and neither feelable nor thinkable by the mind consciousness. What then should be done? Through studying the prajñā sūtras, one comes to understand the nature of the true mind and the characteristics of its operation—and the true mind's operation is its functioning within the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). After understanding this, one must then do the work of meditative concentration and investigation, single-mindedly and perseveringly investigating within the operation of the body of the five aggregates; only then can one realize the tranquil mind.

The ear-faculty perfect penetration dharma gate is not a pure dharma gate of cultivating concentration, but the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. On the foundation of the four dhyānas and eight samāpattis, it includes the profound Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha dharma. Within meditative concentration, one relinquishes arising-and-ceasing false dharmas all along the way—everything must be relinquished except the tathāgatagarbha, which cannot be relinquished. All mental activities must be relinquished, including the mind that empties and the dharmas that are emptied, as well as all kinds of emptiness. Without wisdom, this dharma gate simply cannot be cultivated. By cultivating this gate one can reach Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva's thirty-two response bodies; whether in meditative concentration, wisdom, or meditative absorption (samādhi), one rivals all the Buddhas—of course it is supremely perfect penetration. The closer a dharma is to the ultimate, the more definitive it is, the more supreme it is, the harder it is to cultivate.

Practicing non-self, eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attaining purity of the dharma eye, and emptying the body of the five aggregates—this meditative absorption (samādhi) is the simplest and easiest. How many people can guarantee they will realize it before the end of their lives? If I were not propagating the Dharma and cultivated the ear-faculty perfect penetration exclusively, I could not cultivate it successfully either. Even if one could attain the fourth dhyāna, one still might not succeed; even if one possessed the realization of the consciousness-only seed-wisdom (āśraya-parāvṛtti-jñāna) of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva, one still might not succeed. After succeeding, becoming an equal-enlightenment bodhisattva like Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva—there will be no such person in the Sahā world. If even the first contemplation in the Contemplation Sūtra (Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra) cannot be accomplished, then there is nothing more to talk about. Whatever one says is just saliva—what use is it?

The first contemplation in the Contemplation Sūtra—have you all been practicing it for several years now? Not a single person has reported on the results of their practice. Only by accomplishing the third contemplation can one guarantee rebirth in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) at the end of life. If even the first contemplation is this difficult, what to say of the third contemplation? What to say of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva's ear-faculty perfect penetration dharma gate? Even cultivating the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) of the desire realm is that difficult, and the first dhyāna is even more difficult—what to say of the fourth dhyāna? And still less, the meditative concentration needed for cultivating the ear-faculty perfect penetration. If even attaining the srotāpanna fruit is nowhere in sight, seeing the mind is even harder, to say nothing of the consciousness-only seed-wisdom of bodhisattvas on the bhūmis—what to say of cultivating Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva's ear-faculty perfect penetration dharma gate? Nearly half the people in the world can talk at great length about theory, but as for genuine practice—cultivating to a certain degree—truly only a few can be found in this world. This is the characteristic of the Dharma-ending age in the Sahā world.