Patriarch's Teachings: Direct Interpretation
Chapter 4: A Brief Explanation of the Sixth Patriarch's Five "How Unforeseen Is Self-Nature (svabhāva)" Statements
When the Sixth Patriarch attained great enlightenment and realized the true mind, he observed the operation of the true mind and, deeply moved, spoke the five characteristics of the self-nature of true suchness, as follows:
何期自性本自清净；何期自性本不生灭；
何期自性本自具足；何期自性本无动摇；
何期自性能生万法。
The five "how unforeseen is self-nature (svabhāva)" statements above are the enlightenment verse the Sixth Patriarch spoke when he heard the Fifth Patriarch expound the Diamond Sutra to him and attained the Way, showing that his enlightenment was very deep and very thorough. Among them, "self-nature is intrinsically pure" is realizing the pure essence of the tathāgatagarbha's substance; "self-nature is originally unborn and unceasing" is realizing the unborn and unceasing essence of the tathāgatagarbha's substance; "self-nature is intrinsically complete" is realizing the tathāgatagarbha's nature of containing and being complete with the seeds of all dharmas; "self-nature is fundamentally unmoving" is realizing the tathāgatagarbha's nature of not changing itself along with the myriad dharmas—according with conditions yet unchanging, unchanging yet according with conditions; "self-nature can produce the myriad dharmas" is realizing the tathāgatagarbha's nature of being able to give birth to all dharmas.
These few words of the Sixth Patriarch prove that at the moment of enlightenment he already possessed the wisdom of specific characteristics, and at that time could already observe the tathāgatagarbha giving birth to the world of the five aggregates, and that within the operation of the five aggregates the tathāgatagarbha does not move or turn along with them. This wisdom is very deep; only with the foundation of realization over many past lives and many kalpas could realization in this life be so swift and so deep. The specific explanations are as follows:
1. How Unforeseen Is Self-Nature (svabhāva) — It Is Intrinsically Pure
So this self-nature mind is originally pure just as it is; it is not made pure by later artificial cultivation. Why is the self-nature tathāgatagarbha originally pure? Because He does not face the specific appearances of the six sense objects, does not know what the six sense objects are, and does not distinguish the good and bad, right and wrong, long and short, square and round of the six sense objects. Therefore, in operating the six sense objects, He never gives rise to the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion, nor does He give rise to thoughts and imaginings, nor make decisions on His own. When He cognizes karmic seeds, He also does not know that this karmic seed is wholesome and that one is unwholesome; although He cognizes them, He still does not know good from bad. Therefore He makes no choice among karmic seeds, and only thus can He impartially actualize karmic cause and retribution. After cognizing the karmic seeds, He follows along with them, outputting the seeds of the four great elements and the seven great elements, creating Buddha bodies, human bodies, hell bodies, and heavenly palaces, and also creating filthy things; wholesome or unwholesome, beautiful or ugly, He treats all alike without discriminating, creating and upholding all of them.
His mind is so pure, naturally and thus (dharmatā) operating all dharmas without discriminating right and wrong, good and ugly. He knows where to send the seeds of the four great elements, in what proportion, how much, and for how long—He knows all of it. He also knows when to create what material form; for example, when sentient beings are in the mother's womb, when the head should be formed, the ears, the nose, and so on, where to form them, in which position to place them, what shape, what color—He knows all of it, yet toward all these dharmas He gives rise to no discrimination.
Let us consider how strange He is, and how mysterious—for countless kalpas He has been operating just like this. He knows where to place the hands when creating sentient beings' bodies, what the internal organs look like and how big they are, what the skin is like—He naturally creates them all one by one. The body of the five aggregates—whether creating a human, an animal, or a hungry ghost—He can create it just like that according to the karmic seeds, without the slightest error or confusion. That is how marvelous He is.
The marvelousness of the tathāgatagarbha is simply inconceivable. He can instantly manifest the trichiliocosm (three-thousand great-thousand worlds) and countless emanated mind-made bodies. To instantly accomplish countless mind-made bodies and create a trichiliocosm, He must instantly output the seeds of the four great elements from countless mind-substances. The number of seeds of the seven great elements in His mind-substance is uncountable and unimaginable. For example, when an eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva gives rise to one thought to multiply bodies without number, the tathāgatagarbha immediately manifests countless material bodies; if the eighth-bhūmi bodhisattva gives rise to one thought to manifest a trichiliocosm, the tathāgatagarbha can also immediately manifest a trichiliocosm—in the time of a finger-snap, the trichiliocosm is manifested, and countless emanated bodies can also be created simultaneously. How exactly does the tathāgatagarbha transmit the four great seeds of earth, water, fire, and wind? So fast, so swift—we simply cannot conceive of this matter. But no matter how many trichiliocosms and how much material form He creates, the tathāgatagarbha never craves or clings—utterly pure.
2. How Unforeseen Is Self-Nature (svabhāva) — It Is Originally Unborn and Unceasing
So the self-nature pure mind is originally unborn and unceasing; it was not brought into being by later artifice, and later artifice cannot destroy Him either. The substance of the self-nature tathāgatagarbha is unborn and unceasing. Why is He unborn? Because the tathāgatagarbha need not be born; He exists originally. Within the world and beyond the world there is no dharma that gave birth to Him; He does not depend on any dharma to exist, while all dharmas depend on Him in order to exist. Whether other dharmas exist or not, He exists by Himself, unaffected. The tathāgatagarbha never ceases; He cannot vanish of His own accord, and there is no dharma that can destroy Him. He is a vajra, indestructible body.
If the tathāgatagarbha could cease, then all dharmas would vanish entirely along with Him, without remainder; the sentient beings' five aggregates and eighteen realms would immediately be extinguished, not even a shadow remaining; the worlds of the ten directions would immediately disappear, and no worlds would exist at all—not even silence itself. After all dharmas are extinguished, how would the tathāgatagarbha be born? Is there any dharma that could give birth to the tathāgatagarbha? There is no dharma whatsoever that can give birth to the tathāgatagarbha, because the world no longer exists and not a single dharma exists; the tathāgatagarbha could not be born. If the tathāgatagarbha is not born, all dharmas will never be born again. From then on, truly there would not even be silence, not even dead stillness or empty stillness, not even empty space. Therefore the tathāgatagarbha is neither born nor ceasing.
3. How Unforeseen Is Self-Nature (svabhāva) — It Is Intrinsically Complete
So the self-nature pure mind is originally complete with all dharmas, lacking not a single one, and therefore according with conditions can give birth to all dharmas. Why is this so? The seeds of all dharmas are within the tathāgatagarbha, all complete, not one dharma missing. The tathāgatagarbha contains the seeds of all dharmas—whatever dharma is needed, that dharma is there: wholesome dharmas, unwholesome dharmas, neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome dharmas, Buddhist dharmas, non-Buddhist dharmas, the dharmas of the five aggregates, the dharmas of beings of the six realms, the dharmas of the worlds of the ten directions, all dharmas within the three realms—He can output the seeds of all these dharmas, and then give birth to all dharmas in accordance with the seeds.
How can the mind consciousness contemplate that the tathāgatagarbha is intrinsically complete with all dharmas, contains all dharmas, and manifests all dharmas? First one must realize the tathāgatagarbha; after realizing it, one has the great wisdom of prajñā, and can then, within meditative concentration, little by little observe the tathāgatagarbha's operation within the body of the five aggregates, and thereby contemplate the birth of the worldly dharmas of the five aggregates. When one sees the mind and realizes the tathāgatagarbha, one knows how the tathāgatagarbha functions; observing His operation gradually, one comes to know that He has such-and-such dharmas, that He has such-and-such other dharmas, that He has wisdom in this respect and wisdom in that respect, that He operates in this way here and in that way there, that He produces this dharma in this way and that dharma in that way.
After enlightenment, one gradually comes to know what the tathāgatagarbha's functions, virtues and capacities, and nature and function (svabhāva-vyāpāra) are, and the wisdom of subsequent attainment arises. When the wisdom of subsequent attainment is perfectly complete, the wisdom of the varieties of paths is born; one realizes more and more of the functions and operations the tathāgatagarbha possesses; one realizes more and more of the functions and operations of all the seeds of dharmas He contains, until finally all of them are realized; one also comes to know how these seeds transform into the trichiliocosm and how they create sentient beings; upon contacting any dharma in the world, one knows its ins and outs and all the details of its internal operation. At this point one possesses the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) and perfectly becomes a Buddha.
At the time of buddhahood, there is not a single dharma in the world or beyond the world that He is ignorant of—He knows them all, because the Buddha has realized all the seeds of all dharmas and knows them all. When the Buddha sees a certain person, He completely knows without remainder that person's whole story—his situation from beginningless kalpas past and his situation after beginningless kalpas—not missing a single minute detail: why this person has his present retribution, what retributions he will have in the future, what retributions he had in the past, what people and events he has experienced, what family and relatives he has, what karmic actions he has performed since beginningless kalpas—the Buddha knows it all; there is not a single dharma the Buddha does not know.
How many leaves a very large tree has, the tree's historical age, its growth rings, the various circumstances of its growth—the Buddha knows it all. When it rains in the trichiliocosm, the Buddha knows the total number of raindrops; the Buddha knows the roots of goodness, merit, timing and conditions, and the arising thoughts of every sentient being in the worlds of the ten directions. The Buddha knows when each sentient being's roots of goodness will mature; the Buddha knows when to teach what dharma to certain people and how to guide and transform them.
The Buddha knows what requests sentient beings have, why they transmigrate through birth and death in the six realms, when and where they transmigrate to—the Buddha knows all the dharmas in the world. Even if the Buddha has not been a human being and does not come into the world as a human, He still knows everything among humans. All human science and technology—the principles of manufacturing and operating cars, airplanes, rockets—are trivial matters, not worth mentioning. Whether humans do science, research, or invention, the Buddha need not do any of it, nor need He deliberate; He knows everything completely, because the Buddha has the wisdom of direct perception.
For humans to manufacture an airplane, rocket, or spaceship is already high technology, yet the Buddha can manifest a great-thousand world in a single thought, including all the material forms within it—let alone things like human airplanes and rockets; all of them can be manifested in one thought of the Buddha. Therefore, as long as one can study and practice Buddhism and one's merit is complete, all the seeds of dharmas contained in the tathāgatagarbha can be transformed into all dharmas, and all dharmas will manifest. But such practice requires eradicating all craving and attachment; not craving or clinging to any dharma of the three realms, one then possesses great merit, and all dharmas will manifest perfectly at will. The more one craves, the narrower one's mind becomes, the less complete one's blessings, the poorer one is. The more one gives, the more one gains; without giving, no gaining. Only by letting go of everything can great wisdom and great merit appear, and the five aggregates can be complete with all dharmas; finally, all the seeds of dharmas in the tathāgatagarbha can be used at will.
4. How Unforeseen Is Self-Nature (svabhāva) — It Is Fundamentally Unmoving
Who would have thought that the self-nature does not move or turn along with the myriad dharmas; because it does not waver along with the myriad dharmas, it is forever suchness immovable (tathatā-acalita) before all states. The tathāgatagarbha operates within the myriad dharmas of the three realms and never shifts His mind with changes of circumstances. When joyful events appear, He is not joyful; when loathsome events appear, He is not disgusted; when the five aggregates get angry, He is not angry; when the five aggregates get rich and promoted, or lose wealth, suffer hardship, or fall into hell, He has no opinion about it—all of this has nothing to do with Him. When any dharma arrives, He is unmoved. Why? Because He does not know what the six sense objects are; He does not specifically discriminate the good and bad, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong of the six sense objects; He does not know how the six sense objects are, does not know good from bad—He is a mind that does not know good from bad—and therefore He does not waver with the good or bad of circumstances.
If He knew good from bad, He would sway left and right with them and waver. If He knew good from bad, He would surely give rise to thoughts and mental activity: for example, if the seven consciousnesses wanted to kill someone, He could not let them kill, and might even extinguish the seven consciousnesses; if the seven consciousnesses wanted to commit evil karma and He knew it, He would say this is not good and could not let them commit evil karma; when pleasant sounds came and unpleasant sounds came, He would waver with them, moving and turning with the six sense objects. But since He does not discriminate the six sense objects, He does not move or turn with them. When the seven consciousnesses are thirsty, He is not thirsty; when the seven consciousnesses drink water and quench their thirst, He feels nothing—all of this has nothing whatsoever to do with Him.
Although the tathāgatagarbha can operate upon all dharmas, He never moves or turns along with any dharma and gives rise to no thoughts; His mind does not turn with circumstances. But do our seven consciousnesses turn with circumstances? Of course they do. When the material body is well, the seven consciousnesses are in one state; when the material body is unwell, they are in another state. When liked things appear, the seven consciousnesses are in one state; when disliked things appear, they are in another state. Our sixth and seventh consciousnesses thus drift and sway with the six sense objects, while the tathāgatagarbha has never wavered—He will never waver.
When the seven consciousnesses study Buddhism, feeling that studying the Buddha's dharma can attain liberation and has real benefit, that the Buddha's dharma is truly wonderful—the tathāgatagarbha has no feeling about it at all; the matter of studying Buddhism and attaining liberation has nothing to do with Him, so He does not study Buddhism along with them. When the seven consciousnesses commit evil karma, He does not commit evil karma along with them. When the seven consciousnesses fall into hell and suffer, He does not suffer. When the seven consciousnesses are born in heaven enjoying blessings, He is indifferent and does not enjoy along with them. He is forever unmoved toward all dharmas—neither delighted, nor hateful or disgusted.
When sentient beings fall into hell, He will not say, "Hurry up and get out of this hellish place"—He has no such thought. If He had such a thought, He would simply leave the material body at once and be done with it. But He never abandons sentient beings; because He does not know good from bad, He forever follows sentient beings without leaving them. He does not even know that sentient beings' material bodies are hell bodies; He has no such concept in His mind, does not know the suffering of hell—completely neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā).
5. How Unforeseen Is Self-Nature (svabhāva) — It Can Produce the Myriad Dharmas
Who would have thought that the self-nature pure mind can give birth to the myriad dharmas, and that all dharmas are born from Him. That the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the myriad dharmas and the five aggregates can only be directly observed after realizing the tathāgatagarbha; before realization, it is all verbal learning, guessing, and conjecture. After seeing the mind, when directly observing the tathāgatagarbha's operation within the body of the five aggregates, one can observe how the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the five aggregates, how it gives birth to the seen forms, how it gives birth to the heard sounds, how form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas are each born—and then one knows how the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the myriad dharmas. That the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to the trichiliocosm cannot be observed for quite a long time after enlightenment; only bodhisattvas after the bhūmis, with profound and extremely profound wisdom of the varieties of paths, can gradually observe it—and by then one does not know to which bhūmi one has already cultivated.
After enlightenment, one can only observe little by little that the tathāgatagarbha can give birth to the five aggregates, to the eighteen realms, and the general situation of the birth of the material body; anything more specific cannot be observed. Many profound dharmas cannot be observed in a short time; one must cultivate until one has deeper wisdom before one can observe some of them. After attaining the bhūmis—first, second, third, fourth bhūmi and beyond—the dharmas observed become more and more numerous, more and more subtle, more and more vast; finally, when all are observed, one becomes a Buddha.
The dharmas one can observe right after enlightenment are all very coarse and shallow. As wisdom and meditative concentration increase, the dharmas observed become ever more profound and subtle; the deeper the wisdom, the more profound, subtle, and specific the dharmas comprehended and observed. Without wisdom, one can only understand the general outline and cannot be profound or subtle at all. Profound and subtle dharmas represent profound and subtle great wisdom.
When there is no wisdom within and one's practice has not yet entered the gate, speaking dharma is just shouting empty slogans, with no concrete point of entry for practice; because one has not cultivated it, having no experience of concrete practice and no wisdom, one can only shout empty slogans and speak impractical words. After one has genuinely cultivated through it and walked that stretch of road, one can have a very clear route and can lead others to walk along behind, able to guide others step by step in concrete practice—then there is no need at all to shout slogans anymore.
The above is a brief explanation of the Sixth Patriarch's five "how unforeseen is self-nature (svabhāva)" statements. If anyone feels they have attained enlightenment, they can compare against the Sixth Patriarch's enlightenment verse to check whether what they realized is consistent with the Sixth Patriarch's realization; only thus can they avoid misunderstanding, and not mislead themselves and others.
