Saṃyuktāgama (864)

Original text: 如是我聞：一時，佛住舍衛國祇樹給孤獨園。尔時，世尊告諸比丘：若比丘若行、若形、若相，離欲、惡不善法，有覺有觀，離生喜樂，初禪具足住。彼不憶念如是行、如是形、如是相，然於彼色、受、想、行、識法；作如病、如癰、如刺、如殺、無常、苦、空、非我思惟，於彼法生厭、怖畏、防護；生厭、怖畏、防護已，以甘露門而自饒益，如是寂靜，如是勝妙，所謂捨離，餘愛盡、無欲、滅盡、涅槃。

To learn Buddhism and cultivate practice to attain liberation, one must first recognize and realize that the five aggregates are phenomena subject to decay and complete cessation; only afterward can one cultivate the Mahāyāna dharma by investigating Chan, recognizing and realizing that the five aggregates are all empty and are neither identical to nor different from the tathāgatagarbha. The preceding foundation must be laid well; one must actually cultivate practice in order to subdue the self and subdue afflictions, so that the mind attains liberation. Without this foundational part, the later Mahāyāna dharma is like a castle in the air—one cannot subdue the self, cannot eradicate afflictions, and may even increase afflictions.

The afflictions of the five aggregates all arise from taking the five aggregates as a true self. If one does not break through the five aggregates, does not clearly recognize their arising-and-ceasing, mutable nature, and their actual not-self nature, one will continue to grasp at the five aggregates and create the karma of birth and death.

If one directly takes the five aggregates to be the eighth consciousness, to be the functions and activities of the eighth consciousness, then when creating unwholesome karma, one will shield oneself by saying: the five aggregates are the eighth consciousness; creating unwholesome karma is also done by the eighth consciousness, and everything the eighth consciousness does is illusory, with no cause and effect—yet in the end one cannot change one's own mind and remains the same as before. Whenever any affliction arises, if one always says that affliction is bodhi, that there is no mark of affliction, that it is all the liberated mark of the bodhi mind, then one cannot change one's own mind; the afflictions remain as before, and the unwholesome retribution is endless. When one cannot uphold the precepts, one says that the eighth consciousness originally need not uphold precepts, that there are no precepts to uphold, and that clinging to the marks of precepts is also birth and death—the result of such perverse grasping at emptiness is that one will never be able to uphold the precepts and cannot attain liberation. When liberation is mentioned, someone immediately retorts, "I do not seek liberation." But the eighth consciousness is originally liberated and unbound, so of course it does not seek liberation—can your seven consciousnesses and the body of the five aggregates be equated with the eighth consciousness? Are they also originally liberated, requiring no seeking?

Learning Buddhism is originally for obtaining the amṛta of the Buddha-dharma, removing the obscuration of ignorance, and attaining liberation. What is the result of learning and cultivating in this way? It only increases ignorance and increases afflictions—how can liberation be attained? The Buddha-dharma is like amṛta, like good medicine; one must know how to take it properly. If taken incorrectly, it is like drinking poison. When amṛta turns into poison, whose fault is it?