What does it mean to not recollect the Dharma and not recollect the marks of the Dharma?

Original text of the Buddha Treasury Sūtra: 复次舍利弗。若有比丘教余比丘。比丘汝当分别观察诸法。亦复莫念法相。是比丘如是修习。心无系著。则能通达诸法一相。所谓无相。是人犹尚不生法相。况我人相。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Śāriputra, if there is a bhikṣu who can teach other bhikṣus, saying: Bhikṣu, you should skillfully discriminate and observe all dharmas, and yet, while discriminating and observing all dharmas, you should not fall into the appearances of those dharmas, should not define dharmas as dharmas, and should not be mindful of the appearances and characteristics of dharmas. If this bhikṣu cultivates in this way, his mind will be free from bondage, and he will be able to penetrate the single mark of all dharmas, namely the mark of no-mark. Such a person does not even give rise to the mark of dharmas, let alone the mark of self and the mark of a person.

Why is it said that one observes all dharmas yet should not be mindful of the marks of dharmas? Because as long as one observes all dharmas correctly and in accordance with reason, one will know that dharmas are not dharmas—that all dharmas are empty, all are without marks, and there are no dharmas with real substance. For example, when observing material form, one knows that form is empty and illusory, without real substance, and that there is no real form; that is, there is no mark of form. Therefore one should no longer attach to the mark of form, no longer define it as some material form, and no longer take up its name and appearance. When observing sounds, scents, tastes, and tangibles, one should observe in the same way: correct observation in accordance with reason will reveal that these dharmas are fundamentally not sounds, scents, tastes, or tangibles; they are all empty and illusory, without real substance. Therefore one should no longer attach to the marks of sounds, scents, tastes, tangibles, and dharmas, and should no longer be mindful of the marks of these dharmas.

After cultivating in this way continuously, the mind no longer attaches to dharmas or to the marks of dharmas. With no dharmas in the mind, it becomes empty, is no longer bound by dharmas, and attains the truth of the path; then one will penetrate that all dharmas are empty and without marks. From then on, such a person's mind does not even contain the marks of dharmas—how could there be the mark of self and the mark of a person? Because self and person are just one kind among all dharmas; if dharmas do not exist, self and person have even less ground to arise.

Original text: 舍利弗。于意云何。念法相者。是人能灭一切法不。不也。世尊。舍利弗。如树无根。能有枝叶华果实不。不也。世尊。

如是。舍利弗。若人不得诸法根本。是人能生诸法相不。不也。世尊。舍利弗。若人不得不念法相。是人能灭一切法不。不也。世尊。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Śāriputra, what do you think? Can a person who is mindful of the marks of dharmas extinguish all dharmas? Śāriputra said: No, World-Honored One. The Buddha said: Śāriputra, for example, if a tree has no root, can it produce branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit? Śāriputra said: No, World-Honored One.

The Buddha said: Thus it is, Śāriputra. If a person cannot find the root and substance of all dharmas, can this person give rise to the marks of dharmas in his mind? Śāriputra said: No, World-Honored One. The Buddha said: If a person cannot obtain the root and substance of dharmas, and is not mindful of the marks of dharmas, can this person extinguish all dharmas? Śāriputra said: No, World-Honored One.

This passage explains the principle that all dharmas neither arise nor cease. Why do dharmas not arise? Because dharmas have no root, have no substance, are empty and illusory, and cannot be obtained. Why do dharmas not cease? Because dharmas are empty and fundamentally do not exist; since they have no real existence, how could they be extinguished? Who could extinguish emptiness? Since dharmas are empty, who conjured them up? It is the source of all dharmas, the tathāgatagarbha, that conjured up all dharmas. Because dharmas are conjured, they are empty, unobtainable, neither arising nor ceasing. Arising is a false appearance, and ceasing is equally a false appearance—how could false appearances have arising and ceasing? This passage sounds rather perplexing and mind-bending, but after seeing the path, one will suddenly awaken and understand it clearly.

Original text: 是人不得于法。不得法相。不得于灭。亦不分别无生无灭。是人尔时不生不灭。不名得涅槃者。亦复不名无得涅槃。舍利弗。如是教者名善知识。第一义中。无善知识。无恶知识。

Explanation: The Buddha said: This person has no dharmas in his mind, nor the marks of dharmas; he does not extinguish dharmas or the marks of dharmas, and he does not discriminate the non-arising and non-ceasing of dharmas. At this time, this person's mind abides in non-arising and non-ceasing. Even so, one cannot say that this person has attained nirvāṇa, yet one also cannot say that this person has not attained nirvāṇa. Śāriputra, one who teaches in this way is a good spiritual friend. In the ultimate truth, there is fundamentally no good spiritual friend and no bad spiritual friend.

One who recognizes the empty and false appearances of all dharmas has no dharmas in his mind, and of course there are no appearances of dharmas either; he will not discriminate or grasp at the existence or nonexistence of dharmas. With the mind not attaching to the marks of arising and ceasing of dharmas, it is quiesced, and nirvāṇa is realized. Because dharmas are empty, there is also no dharma of nirvāṇa and no mark of dharmas; therefore it is not called nirvāṇa, nor is it called non-nirvāṇa. By the same reasoning, in the ultimate truth there are no dharmas, no good spiritual friends and bad spiritual friends, and no appearances of good or bad spiritual friends—all are empty.