Mind Empty and Free of Illness, Returning Home in Triumph

The seventh and sixth consciousnesses are formless and without marks, and the dreams they dream are also formless and without marks; so why is it that within a dream one can see people, things, and events that have form and marks? How can a formless, markless dream carry and support people, things, and events that have form and marks? The formless-markless and the formed-marked should be incompatible with each other; since they are incompatible, how can there be people, things, and events with form and marks within a dream?

By the same reasoning, the tathāgatagarbha is formless and without marks, the seven intrinsically existing great seeds are formless and without marks, and karmic seeds are formless and without marks—so how can all the dharmas they give birth to have form and marks? None of all dharmas falls outside the tathāgatagarbha; how can the formless, markless tathāgatagarbha carry and support all dharmas that have form and marks? How can the formless, markless tathāgatagarbha be compatible with all dharmas that have form and marks? Therefore it is said: regarding all dharma-marks, when they fall upon the eye they become a film over the eye; when they fall upon the ear they become a disease; when they fall upon the nose they become a disease; when they fall upon the tongue they become a disease; when they fall upon the body they become a film and disease; when they fall upon the mind they become a disease. Only when the seventh consciousness has become diseased does it see dharmas; if the seventh consciousness were without disease, where would all dharmas be? Therefore it is said: cultivation is precisely the removal of this film and disease—removing marks and eliminating grasping. Only when the mind is empty can the disease be cured; with the mind emptied, one returns home triumphant.

Whenever you become attached to dharma-marks, you must alert yourself: this is what is seen by a diseased eye with its film—I have contracted this film-disease, and I should eliminate it. If you proceed in this way, sooner or later one day the film-disease will be removed, and you will return to a normal state, no longer attached to marks. It turns out that none of us are normal people; it turns out that what we took to be normal is not normal—thus it is called normal. And the normality after returning to normal is also not normal—thus it is called normal. The liberation after normality is not liberation—thus it is called liberation. Such is the path of cultivation; anything other than this is not cultivation—thus it is called cultivation, a false cultivation.

Do not think that studying Buddhism and cultivating practice is about gaining something; rather, it is about removing something—the exact opposite of your former understanding. Whether you wish to gain the Dharma, gain fruits, gain honor, gain the great thousand worlds, gain a beautiful life, or gain a sublime retributive body and circumstantial rewards—no matter what you wish to gain, it is all deluded fantasy. You should extinguish all notions of existence and empty away every notion.