What is the Acceptance of Non-Arising?

Non-arising (anutpāda) has two meanings. One meaning refers to the fact that although the worldly phenomena of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) appear, on the surface, to arise and cease, in essence they are empty and non-arising; arising is merely an illusory false appearance — arising yet non-arising. This cognitive wisdom is the wisdom of realizing the selflessness of persons (pudgala-nairātmya) in the five aggregates. Accepting that the five aggregates are without self is a great wisdom, called the patience of non-arising (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti) — this is the Hīnayāna patience of non-arising. The other meaning of non-arising refers to the truth of the dharma realm, the tathāgatagarbha, which is non-arising, primordially existent, and neither arising nor ceasing. Being able to accept that the tathāgatagarbha is non-arising is an even greater wisdom, also called the patience of non-arising — this is the Mahāyāna patience of non-arising. When the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna non-arising are observed together, one knows that all dharmas, both worldly and transcendent, are non-arising, all are nirvāṇa in tranquility (śānta); not a single dharma confronts the mind, and even those who confront the mind and those who do not are also non-arising.

Why is it called "patience" (kṣānti)? Previously, one always believed the five aggregates were truly and solidly existent; although they could arise and cease, one felt that the phenomena of arising and ceasing were also real, not knowing that the five aggregates are non-arising. Now, having realized from both the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna perspectives that the five aggregates are empty and without self, being able to accept this extremely difficult-to-comprehend principle and patiently bear it requires great wisdom. Without wisdom, one cannot endure and accept it; therefore, patience is a kind of wisdom.

To attain the patience of non-arising in the Hīnayāna, one needs to study and cultivate the principle of the Four Noble Truths, engaging in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the five aggregates to eradicate the view of self and realize the emptiness of the five aggregates and their selflessness. Although the phenomenon of emptiness exists, this emptiness is also empty, and therefore it too is non-arising. If a Hīnayāna practitioner can accept this principle, it is called the patience of non-arising. The wisdom realm of this patience of non-arising is somewhat inferior and coarser than the Mahāyāna patience of non-arising, and even lower and shallower than the patience of non-arising dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti) realized by bodhisattvas on the bhūmis.

The Mahāyāna patience of non-arising is the wisdom realm of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas who realize the fundamental mind, the tathāgatagarbha. At the moment of sudden enlightenment into the tathāgatagarbha, one also suddenly awakens to the principle that the five aggregates are non-arising; both the tathāgatagarbha and the five aggregates are non-arising. When the mind bears, accepts, and patiently acknowledges this principle, the wisdom of the patience of non-arising emerges. Previously, one did not know that within the operation of the five-aggregate body there exists a tathāgatagarbha that neither arises nor ceases; now one knows that the tathāgatagarbha exists. But before realization, this was merely intellectual understanding; only after realization does one know that the fundamental mind truly does not arise — this is true knowledge. Along with this true knowledge, one also realizes that the five aggregates are produced by the tathāgatagarbha and exist in dependence upon it. The five aggregates arise and cease, and the karmic actions they create are stored as seeds in the tathāgatagarbha; only after those seeds take root and sprout in later lives do new five aggregates come into being. Therefore, the tathāgatagarbha cannot cease; being unceasing, it is of course not a dharma that is produced.

Patience (kṣānti) means to endure, to accept, to acknowledge; it also means to abide peacefully. Patience under insult means to endure and accept others' humiliation without striking back. The patience in the four aids to enlightenment (nirvedhabhāgīya) means that in the mind one accepts, acknowledges, and admits that the grasping subject and grasped object are empty, that the five grasping aggregates are empty, and that the eighteen dhātus are empty. The patience in the patience of non-arising and the patience of non-arising dharmas also carries this same meaning: having accepted, acknowledged, and admitted that all dharmas are non-arising and without self, there is no longer any resistance or doubt in the mind — this is the manifestation of great wisdom having been born.