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

The root of sentient beings' suffering lies in perceiving unreal marks and taking them to be real, and thus constantly grasping without letting go. This inevitably gives rise to feelings of suffering, and when one feels that the marks cannot be grasped, the mind becomes even more distressed. Therefore, the fundamental solution to the problem of suffering is to see the true and real marks, to break through the false and illusory marks, and from then on to no longer falsely grasp at the false. Only in this way can one attain liberation and be free from feelings of suffering. When perceiving marks, if the perception is endowed with correct knowledge and view, without mistaken views or wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), one will no longer grasp at false and illusory marks, and thus suffering will not arise. Naturally, one will be free from the marks while amid the marks and attain liberation.

How can one see the true marks and no longer perceive erroneous marks? One must recognize the essence and foundation of marks, so that one's knowledge and view do not fall into worldly dharma-marks. By breaking through the worldly appearance of dharma-marks, one will see, from the surface to the core, the foundation and essence of dharma-marks, and thus no longer hold erroneous views. Only by seeing correctly and truly will one know that dharma-marks are fundamentally not to be grasped; only then can one be free from the marks while amid the marks, the grasping mind can be extinguished, and one will attain liberation and ease, thenceforth free from affliction and distress.

How can one break through the worldly appearance of dharma-marks? First, we must know what worldly dharma-marks there are: the various forms, sounds, scents, tastes, and tangibles defined by the worldly, and within these various dharma-marks, the various shapes, substances, flavors, and worldly functions. Sentient beings all regard the various functions and flavors of dharma-marks as truly existent, and therefore greedily cling to them without letting go. Yet whether the object of greed is obtained or not, it is suffering; pleasure is suffering, and sorrow and resentment are also suffering. Not a single feeling is not suffering, churning the mind, leaving it without tranquility or coolness—this is suffering.

Do these worldly dharma-marks truly exist? In a dream, everything seems real, but only upon waking do we know it was all false and unreal. Only after personally realizing the Dharma and awakening does one know that all perceived marks are not real; they are all illusory, subject to arising, ceasing, change, impermanence, and illusion. Since worldly dharma-marks are impermanent, they are therefore empty and unattainable—something that cannot be obtained even when sought. Since worldly dharma-marks are empty and unattainable, they are suffering; what is empty and unattainable entails suffering—it is the mark of suffering. Since worldly dharma-marks are impermanent, suffering, and empty, they are not the self and cannot belong to the self. To regard impermanent dharmas of arising, ceasing, and change as the self is an erroneous and unreasonable view, a foolish one. Only by extinguishing such unreasonable views can one attain right view, and only then will one no longer grasp at dharma-marks. Without grasping, the mind can attain liberation, ease, and coolness.

How can one see the true marks, so that one's knowledge and view do not fall into worldly dharma-marks? We should understand that all worldly dharma-marks are generated, transformed, and created by the fundamental mind, the tathāgatagarbha. Thereafter, the tathāgatagarbha conditions these dharma-marks and discerns them. However, the tathāgatagarbha does not perceive the worldly appearance of these dharma-marks; what it perceives are the seed-combination marks of the dharma-marks. It only knows the arrangement states of the various seeds within these dharma-marks, and it continually discerns the karmic seeds, constantly adjusting the proportional structure of the various seeds according to those karmic seeds, adjusting the distribution of the seeds. In this way, the dharma-marks continually change in accordance with the karmic seeds, karmic conditions, or the deliberation (manasikāra) of the manas.

Because the tathāgatagarbha perceives seeds and not worldly marks, it cannot distinguish form, sound, scent, taste, tangible objects, or dharmas; its mind makes no discriminations regarding worldly dharmas. Its mind is thus pure and without afflictions, and it does not create afflictive karma of birth and death, so there is no suffering of birth-and-death saṃsāra. If we wish to free ourselves from the suffering of segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa) and transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa), we should likewise be like the tathāgatagarbha, extinguishing the worldly dharma-marks in our minds and seeing the true meaning and essence of dharmas. In this way, the mind will become ever purer, ever closer to the Buddha's mind, until finally our wisdom equals that of the Buddha, abiding in nirvāṇa with no abiding place, abiding in the land of eternal tranquil light, quiescent and unconditioned.

Since all worldly dharma-marks do not truly exist, why can sentient beings still perceive them? This is of course due to sentient beings' ignorance: upon the true marks they give rise to false views and false perceptions, then give rise to false volitional actions, create false karma, reap false retribution, and undergo the false suffering of saṃsāra. For example, when a torch is rapidly whirled, sentient beings—due to ignorance—do not see the torch but see a circle of fire that does not exist. They take the circle of fire to be truly existent and grasp at it without letting go, and thus there is the suffering of birth-and-death saṃsāra. It is the same when sentient beings perceive worldly dharma-marks: because of ignorance, they take marks that do not exist to be truly existent, while failing to see the true dharmas that truly exist. Due to mistaken and inverted views, karma of birth and death arises, and the suffering of saṃsāra continues unceasingly.

For example, in the heat of summer, water vapor reflects onto a sandy beach. Because a deer is thirsty and its mind is confused, it sees a river covering the beach where there is nothing at all, and so it runs toward it to grasp the river water, only to find nothing there upon arrival. Such ignorant false perception gains sentient beings nothing, yet because they grasp at illusory marks, they attract the delusion, karma, and suffering of birth and death—how worthless! Therefore, breaking through ignorance and seeing the real marks is the most crucial of crucial matters in our cultivation, and also our ultimate goal. As long as one sees the real marks, ignorance will be broken through, illusory marks will gradually cease, and gradually one will no longer grasp at illusory marks or create karma of birth and death. When delusions are exhausted and karma dissolved, one returns to the ocean of one's own self-nature's sarvajña—the one true dharmadhātu—and thenceforth abides in quiescent nirvāṇa.