眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成
眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成
This sutra is the most foundational among Mahāyāna sutras, because the sutra states that it was preached by the World-Honored One to the assembly at the Great Lecture Hall on Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain about ten years after He attained buddhahood. It is the first sutra the World-Honored One expounded when He turned from teaching the Hīnayāna dharma to the Mahāyāna dharma, which shows that this sutra is the foundation of the Mahāyāna dharma, serving to inspire faith—inspiring the assembly's confidence in the Mahāyāna Buddha-dharma, leading them to accept the tathāgatagarbha dharma, and enabling sentient beings to believe that each of them possesses the subtle and profound tathāgatagarbha within their own body. When sentient beings have unwavering faith in the dharma that they possess the tathāgatagarbha, the faith stage of a bodhisattva is cultivated to completion, and thereafter they enter the abiding stage, beginning to cultivate the bodhisattva's six pāramitās in preparation for seeing the mind and perceiving the nature.
How does the five-aggregate body of sentient beings exist? How does the five-aggregate body of sentient beings proceed to future lives? How does the five-aggregate body of sentient beings transfer karma to the next life? How does the five-aggregate body of sentient beings disappear and cease? To know all the secrets of the five-aggregate body, one must study this Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness. The entire book explains how the Ālayavijñāna sustains the body, how it departs from the body, how it takes rebirth elsewhere carrying feelings and perceptions, how it migrates to another material body, how it receives the material body of the next life, how it operates in accordance with the body, the state of leaving the present material body and receiving the karmic retribution of a future body, how it enters the womb, how it sustains karma, and so forth, thereby fully revealing the functions and roles of the Ālayavijñāna within the five-aggregate body, and telling sentient beings how vital the Ālayavijñāna is to the transmigration and operation of life—without the Ālayavijñāna there would be no five-aggregate bodies of the three times, nor the material universe (the inanimate world); the Ālayavijñāna is the sovereign of the five-aggregate world and the principal consciousness of sentient beings' lives. Therefore, understanding the Ālayavijñāna is extremely important, and realizing the Ālayavijñāna is even more important.
The origin of this sūtra is that the World-Honored One knew that His father, King Śuddhodana, had matured his wholesome roots, and so He expounded the Mahāyāna dharma to him so that he might attain ultimate liberation. In this selected exposition, the main focus is on explaining the last four fascicles of the sūtra, the most important portion, in which the Buddha teaches the Dharma to King Śuddhodana. In the sūtra, the World-Honored One uses various dream similes to warn King Śuddhodana that all faculties are like illusions and realms are like dreams, and that he should not crave worldly power and pleasures, for upon waking from a dream nothing exists; he should cultivate the path early so as to be liberated from afflictions and attain nirvāṇa. Using dream similes, He illustrates that all dharmas are utterly empty and quiescent, leading one to enter the three doors of liberation: emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. Every dream simile taught by the World-Honored One in the sūtra reveals that the self-nature of all dharmas is empty, with neither coming nor going, and thus there is no need to grasp any of them; in this way sentient beings can be awakened, no longer sinking and floundering in this dream-like world creating karma of greed, hatred, and delusion. After hearing the Dharma, King Śuddhodana diligently cultivated practice and ultimately realized the Way.
The Heart Sutra is the essence of the Prajñā Sutras and is deeply beloved by the vast numbers of Buddhist learners. Given the profundity of this sutra's teachings, the breadth of its transmission, and its importance to the vast numbers of Buddhist practitioners, it is necessary to provide a comprehensive and in-depth explanation and analysis of this sutra on the basis of a thorough understanding of prajñā, so as to guide the vast numbers of Buddha-sons toward a comprehensive understanding of the five aggregates themselves and the true features of the dharmadhātu, to realize the true meaning of prajñā as soon as possible, to develop the great wisdom of prajñā in Buddha-sons, and to attain liberation and ease of mind. For those who cultivate practice in accordance with this sutra, after understanding the real characteristics of the five aggregates and realizing that the five aggregates are all empty, their body and mind become increasingly liberated, and their wisdom becomes ever deeper and sharper; like the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, their minds are free of obstructions, they become ever more at ease, and they gain the ability to cross over all the suffering and peril of birth and death. May more and more people depart from inverted dreams and delusions and reach the other shore of ultimate nirvāṇa!
This book collects the Dharma-transmission verses of seven Buddhas as well as those of the patriarchs of India and China, explaining them so that sentient beings may understand what exactly the Dharma lineage transmitted by the Buddhas is and what the fundamental basis of Buddhist practice and realization is. Selected passages from the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch are excerpted for explanation, enabling sentient beings to understand the purport of the Platform Sutra and thereby clarify the goals and direction of seeing the mind and practice-realization. The book also presents related teachings given by past Chan masters on investigating Chan and awakening to the Way, allowing students to understand the scenery before and after enlightenment as well as the essence of Chan. Finally, passages from several Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras such as the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra are excerpted for explanation, in order to resolve sentient beings' doubts about the Buddhist sūtras and to guide everyone to delve deeply into the sūtras and correctly understand their meaning.
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