Patriarch's Teachings: Direct Interpretation

Chapter 7: Explanations of Passages and Paragraphs from Buddhist Sutras (I)

I. In the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra), the Buddha said: 是法住法位，世间相常住。

Explanation: Dharma refers to the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. He fundamentally abides nowhere: He is not within the three realms, not outside the three realms, yet also not apart from the three realms. He does not abide on the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma within the three realms, does not abide on the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and does not abide on the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind consciousness. He does not abide on the aggregate of form, nor on the aggregates of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness. Of all the dharmas within the three realms, the tathāgatagarbha does not abide on even a single one. Outside the three realms there are no dharmas; if there were dharmas outside the three realms, they would belong within the three realms. Only where there are no dharmas is it beyond the realms; outside the three realms, where there are dharmas there are realms. Yet the tathāgatagarbha is also not apart from the three realms, because all dharmas of the three realms are transformed, generated, and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. Where there are dharmas of the three realms, there is the tathāgatagarbha; yet the tathāgatagarbha is not mixed together with the dharmas of the three realms—each does not reside within the other. Thus the tathāgatagarbha abides precisely in this manner of abiding nowhere, supremely venerable. His whereabouts no one can reach, let alone abide there—this is due to the difference in status.

The marks of the world constantly exist. The functions and activities of the tathāgatagarbha are to continuously manifest the worldly dharmas of the three realms. As long as sentient beings possess the seeds of the three-realm world, the tathāgatagarbha will inevitably continuously manifest the dharma-marks of the three-realm world. It is evident that sentient beings in the world are boundless and the seeds of the three realms are immeasurable, so the tathāgatagarbha of each sentient being will forever transform and create the three-realm world, endlessly, without a day of rest. Therefore these marks of the world can necessarily exist forever. Although the marks of the world can exist forever, within a certain period of time, in a certain locality, these worldly marks still arise and cease—arising and passing away, passing away and arising, arising and ceasing endlessly—and these phenomena of arising and ceasing will continue to exist forever. Viewed from the long kalpas of distant history, these phenomena of arising and ceasing are constantly present; but viewed from individual entities and from segmented periods of time, these worldly marks are subject to arising and ceasing, are impermanent, are not eternally existent, and are not real.

For example, take a certain person A: his tathāgatagarbha is unborn and undying, eternally existent, and even if person A studies and practices the Buddha-dharma, he cannot, like an arhat, enter nirvāṇa without remainder and extinguish himself. Therefore person A's seeds of the three-realm world will never be cut off, and person A's tathāgatagarbha will forever transform and create person A's various five-aggregate bodies. When this life's five-aggregate body of person A perishes, in the next life his tathāgatagarbha will transform and create another five-aggregate body of person A, called person B; in the future it will also produce person C, person D, and so on, endlessly. Thus person A's countless five-aggregate bodies will forever appear and exist in the three-realm world—this is called the marks of the world constantly existing and abiding. But each of person A's five aggregates is subject to arising and ceasing, impermanent, not the true person A; they are all merely temporary, false appearances.

Each successive period of five-aggregate life is called segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa). After cultivating to the stage of an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva, the phenomenon of segmented birth-and-death no longer exists, and the lifespan of the five-aggregate body becomes very long, as if there were no more birth and death; but there is still transformational birth-and-death (parināma-maraṇa), for within the tathāgatagarbha there are still vipāka seeds, and the phenomenon of birth and death has not truly disappeared and ended. Up until the buddha stage, when all the arising-and-ceasing seeds within the tathāgatagarbha are completely exhausted and there is no more birth and death, the tathāgatagarbha at the buddha stage is truly permanent and unchanging—this is called permanence, bliss, self, and purity, the ultimate great nirvāṇa. Even so, with immeasurable great compassionate mind, the Buddha, pitying sentient beings, within the state of no birth and death does not hesitate to provisionally manifest birth and death, transforming and creating countless five-aggregate worlds, performing great buddha-deeds within a dream, delivering immeasurable sentient beings to leave birth and death. Therefore the Buddha does not truly extinguish Himself into parinirvāṇa, but will forever manifest the three-realm world as well as immeasurable buddha-lands, letting the marks of the world constantly exist and abide, thereby benefiting and bringing joy to sentient beings endlessly.

The dharma and the marks of the world spoken of here are certainly distinct; otherwise the World-Honored One would not have spoken of them separately. The marks of the world lack self-mastery and autonomy, arising, ceasing, changing, and impermanent—why then does it say here that they constantly exist? Dharmas that arise and cease impermanently must rely upon an unborn, undying, permanently abiding dharma in order to continuously arise, change, and perish. As long as this permanently abiding dharma does not perish, the world will forever continue arising and ceasing without end. Individual marks of the world exist for a time and then perish, yet the totality of worldly marks always continues to exist—all of this owes to the unborn, undying, permanently abiding dharma, the eighth consciousness.

The eighth consciousness is different from the marks of the world; He is not mixed together with them, forever abiding in a state of pure nirvāṇa. No matter how the marks of the world arise, cease, and change, He does not participate in them—suchness is immovable (tathatā-acalita); He does not move His mind along with worldly marks, undergoing any changes, having any afflictions or ignorance. Therefore the dharma of the eighth consciousness's own substance forever abides unmoving in the pure, undefiled state of nirvāṇa, and the worldly marks that He generates, relying on Him, will also forever continuously arise and perish—the worldly phenomena do not perish.

II. In the Complete Enlightenment Sutra, the Buddha said: 彼知觉者。犹如虚空。知虚空者。即空华相。亦不可说言知觉性。有无俱遣。是则名为。净觉随顺。何以故。虚空性故。常不动故。如来藏中。无起灭故。无知见故。如法界性。究竟圆满。遍于十方故。是则名为。因地法行。菩萨因此。于大乘中。发清净心。末世众生。依此修行。不堕邪见。

Explanation: "That which knows and perceives" refers to the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses, which have knowing and perceiving. The seven consciousnesses are generated by the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha; therefore it is said that the deluded mind has no self-nature—it is a generated, illusory dharma, as unreal as empty space, fundamentally possessing nothing. And the knowing that knows perception to be like empty space is like a flower-appearance within empty space, utterly unobtainable; nor can it be said that this knowing has its own real perceiving nature—it is all the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. Having perception and lacking perception—both of these views must be dispelled, because they are the perception and viewpoints of the deluded perceiving mind, not the wondrous luminous true mind; within the wondrous luminous true mind there is neither nothing nor something.

Yet one also cannot say sentient beings have no perception, because the false appearance of perception still exists; nor can one say the perceiving nature truly exists—the perceiving nature is not real but illusory; in actuality it is all the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, the functional essence and activity of the tathāgatagarbha. On the surface there appears to be the perceiving nature of a deluded mind, but in reality there is not. Understanding the perceiving nature in this way is according with the perfect enlightened nature of the pure tathāgatagarbha mind. Why is this said? Because the nature of the tathāgatagarbha is like the nature of empty space: it does not face the six sense objects, and therefore toward the states of the six sense objects it does not exercise thought, without any mental activity. Within the six sense objects the tathāgatagarbha has no arising and ceasing: when the six objects arise He does not arise, when the six objects cease He does not cease. Toward the dharmas of the three-realm world, the tathāgatagarbha also has no views or opinions, no assertions.

The tathāgatagarbha is pure, perfect, and pervades all dharma realms. From sentient beings to the buddha stage, all ten dharma realms have the tathāgatagarbha, pervading the sentient beings of the three realms and nine stages, also pervading sentient beings' eighteen realms of the six faculties, six objects, and six consciousnesses—nowhere is it absent, nowhere is it not present. Pervading the worlds of the ten directions is the one true dharma realm, which is the nature of the tathāgatagarbha. While at the bodhisattva stage before becoming buddhas, sentient beings should contemplate and accord in this way with the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and then they can give rise to pure faith in unsurpassed bodhi. Sentient beings of the degenerate age who cultivate in accordance with this, according with the perfect enlightened nature of the tathāgatagarbha, can be free from wrong views and inverted views, no longer taking any dharma whatsoever—the perceiving mind of the seven consciousnesses, the five aggregates and eighteen realms, any dharma of the three-realm world—as real, and thus will not transmigrate through birth and death following wrong views.

III. The True Meaning of "Cultivating Illusion with Illusion" in the Complete Enlightenment Sutra

Among worldly and world-transcending dharmas, only the tathāgatagarbha is not illusion, not conjured forth by other dharmas; it is real and not false, originally existent, self-existent, unborn and undying. Apart from the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha, all other dharmas, including the worlds of the ten directions, are entirely conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha. Whether the five-aggregate bodies of the buddhas, the Sambhogakāya Buddha or the Nirmāṇakāya Buddha, all are conjured forth by the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). All dharmas of sentient beings, apart from the tathāgatagarbha, are entirely conjured forth by their own tathāgatagarbha.

Who is it that studies Buddhism and cultivates practice? Let us see: does the tathāgatagarbha study Buddhism and cultivate practice? The tathāgatagarbha neither studies Buddhism nor cultivates practice, because He perfectly and completely possesses all dharmas—He is the Dharmakāya Buddha. What studies Buddhism and cultivates practice are the illusory dharmas of the five aggregates and the seven consciousnesses, the deluded mind. The methods used are precepts, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom; precepts, concentration, and wisdom are also dharmas, also generated by the Buddha's undefiled consciousness, the true suchness mind. It is the sentient beings' seven-consciousness mind that cultivates, and what is cultivated is the seven-consciousness mind—this is called cultivating illusion with illusion. When the seven-consciousness mind is cultivated to remove all ignorance, perfectly possessing all pure and complete wisdom, with merit and wisdom perfectly complete, one becomes a Buddha.

The sixth and seventh consciousnesses that can cultivate, as well as the five aggregates, are illusory; cultivating with these deluded minds is cultivating with illusion. The dharmas cultivated are illusory dharmas; all dharmas of cultivating to buddhahood are illusory dharmas. Having become a Buddha, the dharma of becoming a Buddha is also illusory, also a dharma manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. Fundamentally there is no dharma of becoming a Buddha; when we wish to cultivate, the tathāgatagarbha will conjure forth these methods of cultivation, conjured forth in reliance upon the teachings of the buddhas of the ten directions. After becoming a Buddha, the dharma of becoming a Buddha is no longer of use—the dharma of becoming a Buddha is an illusory dharma.

The dharma gates of cultivation—whether precepts, concentration, and wisdom, whether the Chan school, the Pure Land school, or the Consciousness-Only school, whether the Āgama path of liberation—are all conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha according to the principles taught by the Buddha. One simply uses the illusory mind of the seven consciousnesses to cultivate; the cultivation is also cultivating these illusory dharmas of body and mind, cultivating the illusory dharma of becoming a Buddha. All of this cultivation, in the end, achieves an illusory dharma. Finally, when the conjured sixth and seventh consciousnesses are all transformed to purity, with no more ignorance, there will be the ultimate transformation of consciousness into wisdom—this method of cultivation is cultivating illusion with illusion.

The Complete Enlightenment Sutra speaks of it as wood producing a wedge, as wood producing fire, and when fire comes out the wood is exhausted—cultivation is just like this, all illusory dharmas, using one illusion to replace another illusory dharma; of course there are still great differences between illusion and illusion. The dharma of becoming a Buddha is transforming both the sixth and seventh consciousnesses into wisdom, the "Honored One of the Two Perfections" of merit and wisdom, using this illusory dharma to replace the illusory dharma of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses' ignorance, to replace the illusory dharma of transmigration through birth and death in the six paths; using the dharma of becoming a Buddha to replace sentient beings' illusory dharmas of immeasurable birth, death, and afflictions, to replace the illusory dharmas of sentient beings' segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death—this is called cultivating illusion with illusion.

IV. Original text of the Complete Enlightenment Sutra: 善男子。但诸菩萨。及末世众生。居一切时。不起妄念。于诸妄心。亦不息灭。住妄想境。不加了知。于无了知。不辨真实。彼诸众生。闻是法门。信解受持。不生惊畏。是则名为。随顺觉性。善男子。汝等当知。如是众生。已曾供养。百千万亿。恒河沙诸佛。及大菩萨，植众德本。佛说是人。名为成就。一切种智。

Explanation: This refers to the self-abiding realm of the tathāgatagarbha; it describes the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, not a state that the seven-consciousness mind should abide in. The nature of the tathāgatagarbha is: at all times, He never gives rise to deluded thoughts, and He also never extinguishes the deluded mind of the seven consciousnesses. The tathāgatagarbha is manifest in all states of deluded thought, but the tathāgatagarbha never knows these states of deluded thought; the tathāgatagarbha also does not know that He does not know these states of deluded thought, and regarding His own not-knowing, the tathāgatagarbha never discriminates its reality, not knowing that He has such a nature. Only bodhisattvas possessing the wisdom of the varieties of paths can understand these subtle and profound natures of the tathāgatagarbha; therefore this is the according-with-enlightened-nature of bhūmi bodhisattvas.

Recognizing and accepting this state of the tathāgatagarbha nature is cultivation; one who truly reaches this state is a Buddha. That is a world of principle, the realm of the tathāgatagarbha; the perceiving mind of great bodhisattvas cannot achieve this, let alone ordinary beings. As stated above, "hearing this dharma gate"—this is a dharma gate, the tathāgatagarbha dharma gate. Being able to have faith in, understand, accept, and practice this tathāgatagarbha dharma gate is the according-with-enlightened-nature of bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis; only bhūmi bodhisattvas can truly understand and accord with it. When according with this enlightened nature reaches perfection, it is the perfect enlightened nature of all buddhas. At this point, this sentient being has already made offerings to hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of buddhas and great bodhisattvas, and only then can he realize omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), perfectly accomplishing the buddha path.

The above is explained from the perspective of the tathāgatagarbha. If explained from the perspective of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, the above state is the profound state of meditative concentration and wisdom of great bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis. When cultivating to the stage of attaining the bhūmis, the bodhisattvas' sixth and seventh consciousnesses have already transformed consciousness into wisdom, possessing a considerable degree of the consciousness-only wisdom of the varieties of paths. At this time the bodhisattvas' sixth and seventh consciousnesses have long since ceased giving rise to deluded thoughts—mainly the manas no longer gives rise to deluded thoughts, and the mind consciousness then has no deluded thoughts to give rise to. But the sixth and seventh consciousnesses must still function; there is a deluded mind that must operate. For the sake of benefiting themselves and others and delivering sentient beings, the bodhisattvas do not extinguish the deluded mind, thinking nothing and doing nothing; they also often abide in states of deluded thought. But within the states of deluded thought, the bodhisattvas are without mind; they do not deliberately know this state, and regarding the deluded states they do not know, they also do not discriminate whether they are real states or deluded states—such is the bodhisattvas' mindlessness with deep concentration and wisdom.

The higher one cultivates, the closer the sixth and seventh consciousnesses approach the mind-nature of the tathāgatagarbha, and the further they depart from the consciousness-nature of ordinary beings' sixth and seventh consciousnesses. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses of great bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis are of wisdom-nature, deeply knowing the illusory unreality of states; therefore they are often without mind toward states, without arising thoughts. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses of ordinary beings and bodhisattvas at the stage of the faiths and abidings are of consciousness-nature; their cognition of states is not yet deep and thorough, they may even fail to see through them, and therefore they have thoughts, ideas, and aspirations; analyzing, comparing, judging, and making all kinds of discriminations about states, giving rise to mental activity—all because they cannot see through. The less they can see through states, the more ideas they have, the more complicated their thinking, the more matters they have, the busier they are, the more disputes there are, and the more karmic obstructions and afflictions there are. The more afflictions and karmic obstructions, the less clearly they see states—thus the vicious cycle; such are people of low wisdom.

V. Original text of the Complete Enlightenment Sutra: 善男子。云何我相。谓诸众生心所证者。善男子。譬如有人。百骸调适。忽忘我身。四支弦缓。摄养乖方。微加针艾。则知有我。是故证取。方现我体。善男子。其心乃至。证于如来。毕竟了知。清净涅槃。皆是我相。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Good men, what is the mark of self? What are the manifestations and characteristics of the mark of self? The mark of self is that mark which sentient beings' conscious mind can realize and grasp, can know. Good men, it is like a person whose hundred bones, muscles, and sinews are all extremely comfortable, without any disharmony or discomfort; thereupon this person forgets the existence of the physical body, with no feeling of the body in the mind; the four limbs are all relaxed, and he does not even know where the body is, with no information or thoughts about the body. At this time, if a fine needle is gently used to prick his body, he immediately knows of his body's existence, and thereby realizes and grasps the self—the notion of "my body" appears. Good men, even when the mind realizes the Tathāgata and ultimately knows the pure nirvāṇa, this is all the mark of self.

This passage spoken by the Buddha shows that the mark of self is very subtle. Coarse marks of self arhats can realize and also eradicate, but extremely subtle marks of self can only be realized and eradicated when one has cultivated to the stage of bhūmi bodhisattvas. The mark of self here refers to sentient beings' extremely subtle knowing-nature toward themselves and toward all dharmas. As long as there is a knowing—no matter what is known, no matter how subtle what is known is, no matter how fine the knowing—it is the mark of self; without self there is no knowing. Recognizing and accepting this knowing-nature is the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi); grasping this knowing-nature is self-grasping, which can also be called dharma-grasping; dharma-grasping is subtle self-grasping. Having recognized this knowing-nature, there is ignorance, there are karmic formations, there is transformational birth-and-death, and one cannot attain ultimate nirvāṇa.

If sentient beings say "I have attained the fruit," recognizing and grasping the mind-appearance that can attain the fruit, this realizing-grasping nature, that is the mark of self, that is the view of self. If someone says "I am enlightened," recognizing and grasping this mind-appearance capable of enlightenment, that is the self-mind, the view of self. If sentient beings think "I am good, I am the best; he is bad, he is the worst," then there is the mark of self, the view of self. With this view of self, one will create karmic formations of birth and death, and there will be segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death, unable to attain liberation and nirvāṇa. If someone considers himself superior to others and thereby constantly exalts himself and belittles others, this is a severe mark of self, a coarse mark of self, with heavy karmic formations of birth and death, and the three evil destinies cannot be avoided. If someone racks his brains to conceal his own shortcomings and weaknesses, that is a severe mark of self; if someone racks his brains to expose and attack others, that is likewise a severe mark of self—all are coarse and heavy marks of self, with a heavy view of self, and the three evil destinies cannot be avoided.

All bodily formations, verbal formations, and mental formations are marks of self; without recognizing and grasping there is no view of self; having recognized and grasped, there is view of self and self-grasping. Behavior of shielding one's faults and engaging in strife involves the mark of self; the various expressions on the face are marks of self—such as embarrassment, blushing, awkwardness, shyness, joy, anger, and hostility all involve the mark of self. All evil and unwholesome actions have the mark of self; most sentient beings' wholesome actions also have the mark of self. The wholesome actions of the sages are natural and spontaneous, effortlessly performed, without the mark of self; within all the Buddha's bodily, verbal, and mental actions there is no mark of self.

VI. Original text of the Complete Enlightenment Sutra: 居一切时不起妄念，于诸妄心亦不息灭，住妄想境不加了知，于无了知不辨真实。

Explanation: This refers to the state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā of the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha is always in meditative concentration, never emerging from concentration; therefore He never gives rise to thoughts. Because He is not a deluded dharma, He also has no deluded thoughts of deluded dharmas, nor would He wish to extinguish the deluded seven-consciousness mind. The tathāgatagarbha manifests the realms conjured up by the seven consciousnesses' deluded thoughts, yet does not know that they are states of deluded thought, and regarding His own not-knowing He does not discriminate either, not knowing whose not-knowing it is.

VII. Original text of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra: 信为道源功德母，长养一切诸善根。

Explanation: Sentient beings enter the path through faith. People who have not yet begun to study Buddhism do not believe in the Buddha or in cause and effect, and thus cannot enter the gate of Buddhism to study the dharma. Those who have faith in the Buddha, because it is not right faith, still cannot truly cultivate, nor do they wish to resolve the problems of afflictions and birth and death, let alone seeing the mind and seeing the nature. All this is because their faculties are shallow, their faith in the Buddha is of short duration, their faculty of faith is not deep, their power of faith insufficient, and their motivation for cultivation insufficient, so that their cultivation remains at a very superficial level.

Faith has many levels: blind faith, reverent faith, admiring faith, and right faith. The vast majority of Buddhist practitioners are at the stage of cultivating their faith in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, that is, the stage of the ten faiths. This stage begins with blind faith in the Buddha and requires cultivation of over ten thousand kalpas, or even longer; only when the wholesome roots accumulated in this way are deep can there be right faith—faith that the Buddha has immeasurable merit and wisdom, faith that there are buddhas and buddha-lands in the worlds of the ten directions, faith that one has the tathāgatagarbha and can become a Buddha, faith that all sentient beings have the tathāgatagarbha and can all become buddhas. At this point the cultivation of the bodhisattva at the stage of the ten faiths is complete, and he transitions to the cultivation of the bodhisattva at the stage of the ten abidings, beginning to cultivate the bodhisattva's six pāramitās, preparing for seeing the mind and seeing the nature, becoming a bodhisattva of true meaning.

If this person is still miserly and greedy, unwilling to practice generosity/giving/almsgiving (dāna), and has not yet begun to cultivate the content of the first abiding, then he still belongs to the ordinary bodhisattva at the stage of faith. The length of time required for each stage of a bodhisattva's cultivation varies entirely from person to person, so it is not at all easy to perfect the faculty of faith and the power of faith. If in this life one has studied Buddhism for a long time yet remains in a superficial state of surface-level cultivation, unable to deeply study the prajñā scriptures, then one's faculties from past lives are shallow; one can only slowly lay one's own foundation and cultivate right faith in the Buddha-dharma—others' impatience will not help.

When the ten stages of faith are perfectly cultivated, one has faith that one has true suchness and buddha-nature, faith that all sentient beings can become buddhas, faith that there are immeasurable buddhas in the worlds of the ten directions, faith in the Mahāyāna scriptures, and sincere faith that the Three Jewels abide in the world. Then one cultivates the ten stages of abiding: the first abiding mainly cultivates generosity/giving/almsgiving (dāna), the second abiding cultivates precepts, the third abiding cultivates patience, the fourth abiding cultivates diligence, the fifth abiding cultivates meditative concentration (samādhi), and the sixth abiding cultivates prajñā. Attaining enlightenment and seeing the mind is the seventh abiding, non-retrogression on the path of bodhi—the non-retrogressing avaivartika bodhisattva spoken of in the Amitābha Sutra. When one attains the illusion-like contemplation, contemplating that all dharmas are like conjured illusions, unreal, the ten stages of abiding are complete, and one enters the cultivation of the ten stages of conduct. Attaining the mirage-like contemplation, seeing everything as illusory like a mirage, the ten stages of conduct are perfectly complete, and one enters the ten stages of dedication. Attaining the dream-like contemplation and possessing one portion of the wisdom of the varieties of paths, one enters the first bhūmi, enters the Tathāgata's family, and becomes a noble one.

VIII. Question: The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that eighth-bhūmi bodhisattvas can know how worlds form and how they perish, yet the Sūtra on Neither Increase nor Decrease says that the view that the world has a beginning and an end is a wrong view. Does the world, in the end, have formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness?

Answer: Original text of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, "Chapter on the Ten Bhūmis," Part 4 of 22:【菩萨摩诃萨。至第八地。从大方便慧生。无功用心。在菩萨道。思惟诸佛智慧势力。知世界生。世界灭。世界成。世界坏。知以何业因缘集故世界成。何业因缘灭故世界坏。】

Original text of the Sūtra on Neither Increase nor Decrease:【舍利弗。依毕竟无涅槃见复起六种见。此六种见与无涅槃见。不相舍离犹如罗网。何谓六见。一者世间有始见。二者世间有终见。三者众生幻化所作见。四者无苦无乐见。五者无众生事见。六者无圣谛见。】

In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the Buddha spoke in accordance with the supreme truth of the tathāgatagarbha: worlds have the four stages of formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness; formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness exist in dependence upon the tathāgatagarbha, and even existence is false existence—on the surface of appearances there is existence, but in essence it is all the emptiness/voidness (śūnyatā) of the tathāgatagarbha. Eighth-bhūmi bodhisattvas, with effortless mind, can truly and thoroughly see the formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness of worlds, clearly seeing by what accumulated karmic causes and conditions worlds form and arise, and also clearly seeing by what dissolution of causes and conditions worlds are destroyed. This shows that the formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness of worlds exist on the level of appearances, that these phenomena exist in worldly conventional dharma.

This passage in the Sūtra on Neither Increase nor Decrease says that sentient beings have the annihilatory wrong view in their minds, believing that ultimately there is no nirvāṇa-mind, the tathāgatagarbha—that the tathāgatagarbha does not exist and is not real. From this annihilatory view arise six kinds of wrong views; the arising of the six wrong views comes from the annihilatory wrong view of ultimate emptiness that denies the real existence of the tathāgatagarbha. Because they deny that there is a tathāgatagarbha that gives birth to all dharmas, they believe that the world does not need a tathāgatagarbha, and that the phenomena of formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness naturally exist; these phenomena are truly existent, naturally occurring phenomena, not conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha. In short, these six wrong views are products of the annihilatory view that denies the tathāgatagarbha.

IX. A Brief Explanation of Volume Two of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra

Original text: 尔时大慧菩萨摩诃萨白佛言。世尊。世尊修多罗说。如来藏自性清净。转三十二相入于一切众生身中。如大价宝。垢衣所缠。如来之藏常住不变。亦复如是。而阴界入垢衣所缠。贪欲恚痴不实妄想尘劳所污。一切诸佛之所演说。

Explanation: Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Mahāmati asked the World-Honored One: "World-Honored One, in the sutras You have said that the tathāgatagarbha is intrinsically pure in its self-nature, yet transforms the thirty-two marks and enters into the bodies of all sentient beings, like a precious gem wrapped in a defiled garment. The tathāgatagarbha abides permanently and unchangingly, yet it is wrapped in the defiled garments of the aggregates, sense fields, and sense spheres, stained by greed, hatred, delusion, unreal imaginings, and afflictive toil—this is what all buddhas proclaim." Just so, the tathāgatagarbha, though wrapped in the defiled garments of the five aggregates, twelve entrances, and eighteen realms, and stained by the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, as well as various unreal imaginings and afflictive toil, is the dharma proclaimed by all buddhas; all buddhas proclaim the tathāgatagarbha in this way.

Original text: 云何世尊同外道说言。我有如来藏耶。世尊。外道亦说有常作者。离于求那。周遍不灭。世尊。彼说有我。佛告大慧。我说如来藏。不同外道所说之我。大慧。有时说空。无相。无愿。如实际。法性。法身。涅槃。离自性。不生不灭。本来寂静。自性涅槃。如是等句。说如来藏已。如来应供等正觉。为断愚夫畏无我句。故说离妄想无所有境界如来藏门。

Explanation: Why does the World-Honored One, like the non-Buddhists, say "I have the tathāgatagarbha"? World-Honored One, the non-Buddhists also say there is a permanent creator, apart from conditions, pervading all and imperishable. World-Honored One, they too speak of a self, just as the World-Honored One speaks of a self. The World-Honored One told Mahāmati: The tathāgatagarbha I speak of is not the self spoken of by the non-Buddhists. Mahāmati, when I speak of the tathāgatagarbha, I sometimes speak of the emptiness-mind (śūnyatā), signlessness (without worldly marks), wishlessness (without aspirational mind), suchness-as-reality (conforming to reality, the true principle), dharma-nature (the true reality and substantiality of all dharmas), dharmakāya (the dharma body that gives birth to all dharmas), nirvāṇa (the tranquil mind), the unborn and undying mind, original tranquility (fundamentally not discriminating the six sense objects, the mind without clamor), nirvāṇa by nature (possessing an unborn, undying self-substance)—these and other terms all refer to the tathāgatagarbha.

I use these terms to describe the tathāgatagarbha in order to speak for those foolish ordinary beings who fear the loss of self, and to dispel their fear, I proclaim the tathāgatagarbha dharma gate, proclaiming these alternative names of the tathāgatagarbha (the meaning of each name indicates that the tathāgatagarbha truly exists; when ordinary beings know this, they need not fear annihilation from no-self). For these foolish ordinary beings I proclaim the tathāgatagarbha dharma gate free of all delusive imaginings, the tathāgatagarbha dharma gate without any states of the six sense objects.

Those foolish and unlearned ordinary beings, fearing annihilatory emptiness and voidness, fearing that there is no self within the five aggregates and that death ends everything once and for all—the Tathāgatas, Arhats, and Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the ten directions therefore proclaim the tathāgatagarbha dharma gate to sentient beings, saying that within the five aggregates there is a self, there is the tathāgatagarbha; the tathāgatagarbha is free of delusive imaginings, without any states of the six sense objects, abiding within sentient beings' five aggregates, permanently abiding and imperishable. In fact, sentient beings' tathāgatagarbha is not yet the true self, for it still contains defiled seeds of arising, ceasing, and change that have not been eliminated; it does not yet fully possess the nature of self, and its karma is not yet pure; but it is the precursor of the true self after buddhahood, and therefore is provisionally called the self.

Original text: 大慧。未来现在菩萨摩诃萨。不应作我见计着。譬如陶家于一泥聚。以人工水木轮绳。方便作种种器。如来亦复如是。于法无我。离一切妄想相。以种种智慧善巧方便。或说如来藏。或说无我。以是因缘故。说如来藏。

Explanation: Mahāmati, bodhisattva mahāsattvas of the future and the present should not cling to a self like that of the non-Buddhists and hold such a view of self. The self clung to by the non-Buddhists is a self of arising and ceasing formed by causes and conditions, not a real and indestructible self. It is like a potter who, from a lump of clay gathered together, using human labor, water, a wooden wheel, rope, and other expedient means, makes various vessels. These vessels are all without self, unreal—such is the non-Buddhists' self, a false self compounded of various dharmas.

The Tathāgata likewise, like the bodhisattva mahāsattvas, has no clinging to a view of self. Regarding dharmas without the nature of self, free of all marks of delusive imagination, with various wisdoms and skillful expedient means, He calls this dharma-appearance either the tathāgatagarbha or the dharma of no-self; with such causes and conditions He proclaims the tathāgatagarbha dharma.

The five aggregates are not the self, and the tathāgatagarbha before buddhahood is also not the self—all are without self. Within the tathāgatagarbha there exist the arising-and-ceasing dharma seeds of the seven consciousnesses, so it is not the true self, and at this time the tathāgatagarbha also lacks the nature of self. Bodhisattvas should not take the tathāgatagarbha as the self and cling to it, because the tathāgatagarbha lacks the kind of self-nature that the seven consciousnesses have, and it is conjoined with sentient beings' ignorance, afflictions, and delusive imaginings; the karmic seeds it contains still undergo arising, ceasing, and change, and it is not yet a completely pure, unchanging self.

Original text: 不同外道所说之我。是名说如来藏。开引计我诸外道故。说如来藏。令离不实我见妄想。入三解脱门境界。希望疾得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。是故如来应供等正觉。作如是说。如来之藏。若不如是。则同外道。是故大慧。为离外道见故。当依无我如来之藏。

Explanation: The World-Honored One said: The tathāgatagarbha I speak of is not the self spoken of by the non-Buddhists; the self the non-Buddhists speak of is a consciousness-mind generated by various causes and conditions. In order to reveal and guide the non-Buddhists who take the conscious mind as the self, I proclaim the tathāgatagarbha dharma, letting the non-Buddhists depart from the unreal delusive imagination of the view of self in the conscious mind, and enter the realm of the three doors of liberation of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, hoping they will quickly attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore the Tathāgata, Arhat, and Perfectly Enlightened One proclaims the tathāgatagarbha dharma in this way. If it were not proclaimed thus, it would be identical to the non-Buddhists' self. Therefore, Mahāmati, in order to depart from the non-Buddhists' wrong views, one should rely upon the selfless tathāgatagarbha to cultivate and study.

The tathāgatagarbha truly exists, really exists; only the tathāgatagarbha before the buddha stage is a mind-substance without the nature of self, while the tathāgatagarbha after buddhahood is a mind-substance with the nature of self, called the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna), in which the mind-substance no longer has defiled karmic seeds, having become a pure mind-substance possessing the nature of permanence, bliss, self, and purity. This is the true self, the pure self, the complete and thorough self; therefore in the Buddha-dharma there is a self, but in the non-Buddhist teachings there is no self.

X. Original text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: （佛说）大慧。诸识有三种相。谓转相业相真相。大慧。略说有三种识。广说有八相。何等为三。谓真识现识。及分别事识。

Explanation: The Buddha said: All consciousnesses have three kinds of characteristics: one is the characteristic of transmigration, which can transmigrate all dharmas forth—this refers to the seventh consciousness, the manas; one is the characteristic of karmic retribution, displaying the appearance of the wholesome and unwholesome retribution of karmic formations—this refers to the six consciousnesses; one is the true characteristic, unborn and undying, able to truly give birth to and manifest all dharmas—this refers to the eighth consciousness.

The Buddha said: Mahāmati, briefly speaking there are three kinds of consciousness; extensively speaking there are eight kinds of characteristics. What are the three kinds of consciousness? One is the true consciousness, a consciousness that truly exists with real functions and activities, unborn and undying—this refers to the eighth consciousness; one is the manifesting consciousness, which can manifest all dharmas and can lead the eighth consciousness to give birth to all dharmas—this refers to the seventh consciousness, the manas; one is the consciousness that discriminates the affairs of the six sense-object realms—this refers to the six consciousnesses, which can discriminate the six sense-object realms of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharma.

Original text: 大慧。譬如明镜。持诸色像。现识处现。亦复如是。大慧。现识及分别事识。此二坏不坏。相展转因。大慧。不思议薰。及不思议变。是现识因。大慧。取种种尘。及无始妄想薰。是分别事识因。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Mahāmati, it is like a bright mirror that can hold and reflect all forms and images. When the seventh consciousness directly presents all the dharmas manifested by the eighth consciousness, directly perceiving all dharmas, it is also like this. Mahāmati, the manifesting consciousness of the seventh consciousness and the discriminating consciousness of the first six consciousnesses—of these two consciousness-minds, one can pass through innumerable kalpas to future lives without being destroyed, and the other is a consciousness-mind that can perish anytime and anywhere and cannot reach future lives; these two consciousness-minds are the sequential causes for the appearance of all dharma-marks, the direct cause being the eighth consciousness.

Mahāmati, the six consciousnesses are perfumed by the states of the six sense objects, and in turn perfume the seventh consciousness; this perfuming is also inconceivable, subtly and imperceptibly wrongly teaching and guiding the seventh consciousness, causing the seventh consciousness to increase its view of self and wrong view/false view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), to grasp all the more at the three-realm world, unable to extinguish itself—this is one cause of the seventh consciousness's ceaseless generation. Another cause of the seventh consciousness's non-extinction is that the eighth consciousness, with the collected karmic seeds, continuously transforms the dharmas of the three-realm world, causing the seventh consciousness to cling without letting go, continuously giving birth to the five aggregates, so that birth and death continue without end.

Mahāmati, because the mind consciousness grasps at various sense objects and refuses to let go, the mind consciousness itself will continuously arise—this is one cause of the mind consciousness's arising. Another cause is that from the moment of its birth, the mind consciousness has been continuously perfumed by the manas's beginningless delusive imaginings, induced by the manas, continuously discriminating and grasping at sense objects, continuously creating karma; the mind consciousness must therefore continuously arise and cannot cease.