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

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Dharma Teachings

04 Oct 2018    Thursday     3rd Teach Total 873

Whatever the manas is, that is what the "I" of the five aggregates is

After the mind consciousness ceases, what remains is the "self" that sentient beings take to be themselves. This self is the true root of birth and death in saṃsāra, endowed with all ignorance and all afflictions. Because of this self, there are the boundless kalpas of suffering retribution and painful feelings in future lives, as well as all the wholesome and unwholesome karmic actions and karmic seeds of future lives, together with all the various causes, conditions, and karmic results.

Whatever this self is like, that is what I am like. If this self has no ignorance, then I have no ignorance; if this self has no afflictions, then I have no afflictions. If I take rebirth with a self free of ignorance, I am a Buddha; if I take rebirth with a self free of afflictions, I am an arhat, a bodhisattva who has attained the bhūmis; if I take rebirth with a self endowed with all afflictions, I am a thoroughgoing ordinary being; if I take rebirth with a self in which wholesome dharmas predominate, I am a good person.

Whatever the original appearance of this self is, that is what I am. May this self be free of all afflictions, thereby sparing me many kalpas of time spent in cultivation. May this self have more wholesomeness than unwholesomeness, so that I will have more wholesome retribution and less unwholesome retribution. I do not wish for this self to lack wholesome dharmas or to be discordant with wholesome dharmas; I wish for this self to be endowed with all wholesome dharmas.

I wish for this self to have no self-view; I wish for this self to have no self-grasping; I wish for this self to have no self-conceit; I wish for this self to have no greed, hatred, or delusion; I wish for this self not to be self-righteous; I wish for this self to remove all ignorance; I wish for this self to be endowed with all wholesome dharmas; I wish for this self to be complete in merit; I wish for this self to have vast wisdom; I wish for this self to completely transform consciousness into wisdom; I wish for this self to be utterly without self; I wish for this self to be endowed with loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; I wish for this self to have vast power of aspiration; I wish for this self to have compassion for all and never abandon a single sentient being; I wish for this self to be endowed with immeasurable virtues and abilities; I wish for this self to become the refuge of all sentient beings.

In short, I wish for this self to be exactly as I hope: to sever all evil and be endowed with all goodness.

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
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All Dharmas Are for the Use of the Manas, the Seventh Consciousness

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The state of nirvāṇa is manifested and displayed by the tathāgatagarbha

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