The Realm and Environment Turn with the Mind

The three realms are mind-only, and the myriad dharmas are consciousness-only; both the impure land and the pure land are manifested by mind alone and transformed by consciousness alone. Transforming the mind can transform one's realm, but one can only transform one's own realm, not the realms of others. The realm is a mark within each person's own tathāgatagarbha mind, unrelated to others. When one cultivates and transforms one's mind to purity, the inner object-aspect realm one perceives is transformed, and of course the external object-aspect realm one attracts can also become pure. When the conscious mind is transformed, all realms are transformed along with it.

The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says that our Sahā world is an evil world of the five turbidities, full of hills, pits, and bumps, filthy and defiled. Śāriputra suspected that this was caused by the World-Honored One's mind not being pure while practicing the bodhisattva path. But the World-Honored One said: It is because your own minds are not pure that you have attracted an impure world and land; it is not that my mind is impure. In my view, the Sahā world is extremely pure. What the World-Honored One said is truthful speech. In the World-Honored One's view, the Sahā world is indeed as pure and undefiled as the land of bliss (sukhāvatī). Because sentient beings have defilements within their minds, the world they perceive is impure. The Buddha's mind is pure, so everything He perceives is pure—all is the nature of His undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). To prove this principle, the World-Honored One pressed the ground with His toe, and immediately the ocean-seal radiance of the World-Honored One shone forth, and instantly the Sahā world transformed into a realm as adorned and pure as the land of bliss, supremely excellent. This is the world as seen by the Buddha, the world manifested by the Buddha's mind.

The World-Honored One likewise lives and dwells together with sentient beings, yet the realm He perceives is different from that of sentient beings—both the direct retribution and the circumstantial retribution are different. Although outwardly He appears the same as sentient beings, in reality sentient beings and the Buddha are separated by an immense distance, because their minds are not pure. Therefore, when we cultivate to make our minds purer, our perception of external things becomes relatively more accurate, and the manifested realm changes—that is because the realm of thought within the mind has changed. Due to ignorance, sentient beings have inverted views and mistaken cognition of the world; their bodily, verbal, and mental actions are impure, and they will attract impure realms. After cultivating until the mind is pure, the realms and environment can be transformed according to the mind, and everything perceived becomes a pure land—that is what is manifested by one's own tathāgatagarbha mind.