The Function Mark

Next, the function mark should be understood. This pure nature has two functions: first, giving rise, amid the suffering of saṃsāra, to revulsion; second, giving rise to aspiration and delight toward the bliss of nirvāṇa. Without this pure nature, neither of these two functions could be accomplished. Hence the sūtra says: "World-Honored One! Without the tathāgatagarbha, there would be no revulsion toward the suffering of saṃsāra, nor any mind of aspiration and delight." For this reason, sentient beings of undetermined destiny give rise to these two functions: with respect to the suffering of saṃsāra, taking the perception of its faults as their basis, they give rise to a mind of revulsion; and with respect to the bliss of nirvāṇa, taking the perception of its virtues as their basis, they give rise to wish, seeking, delight, and aspiration.

Wish, seeking, aspiration, and delight are four distinct states of mind — how do they differ? The first, wish, is called faith. Faith is of four kinds: faith that it exists, faith that it is inconceivable, faith that it can be attained, and faith that it possesses immeasurable virtue. Second, seeking: in order to attain this dharma, the mind constantly and diligently seeks it, without ever retreating or regretting. Third, delight: this is the discernment between the skillful and the unskillful means — the skillful means being nirvāṇa, the unskillful means being saṃsāra. To discern nirvāṇa without seeking to realize it too hastily, and to discern saṃsāra without seeking merely to abandon it — this is called delight. Fourth, aspiration: from this moment forward, one makes a vow that, throughout the whole of the future, will constantly gather in all sentient beings without ever once forsaking them, so that whatever path one follows is entirely absorbed into the ocean of the vow for enlightenment. For one's own benefit, one does not abandon nirvāṇa; for the benefit of others, one does not abandon saṃsāra — hence there are two contemplations: contemplating the fault of suffering with respect to saṃsāra, and contemplating the virtue of bliss with respect to nirvāṇa. It is the person belonging to the pure portion who, by means of this pure nature, is able to accomplish this contemplation. "Pure portion" refers to three things: the portion of merit, the portion of liberation, and the portion of penetration.

The portion of merit refers to how wholesome roots from former lives bring about this present body, complete with every faculty, fit to serve as a vessel for the Dharma. The portion of liberation refers to how, having already sown the seed of virtue, one is able to bring about the fruit of liberation in a future life. The portion of penetration refers to how, by means of the noble path, one is able to penetrate suchness. These together are called the pure portion. It is by taking this pure portion as condition and this pure nature as cause that a person accomplishes this contemplation — it is not without cause and condition. If it were accomplished without these two, even the icchantika, who has no nature for nirvāṇa, ought to be able to attain this contemplation. Yet the icchantika, precisely because he lacks it, shows us that it must depend on cause and condition before it can manifest at all.

This pure nature, though unstained by adventitious defilement, may still, among the three vehicles, not yet have given rise to faith and delight in the one vehicle; furthermore, one may not yet have come to attend upon good spiritual friends, and so has not yet come into accord with the four noble wheels. As to these four wheels: first, dwelling in a land in accord with the Dharma; second, relying on a good spiritual friend; third, subduing one's own body and mind; fourth, having planted wholesome roots in former lives. "Wheel" carries three senses: causing what has not yet been attained to be attained, and what has been attained not to be lost; being able to convey, from here to there, from another's continuum to one's own and back; and being able to bear one from saṃsāra all the way to nirvāṇa.

As to the first, dwelling in a good place: this refers to the place where good people, able to cultivate correct practice, dwell. If one dwells there and constantly sees such a person, one thereby attains an awakened intention — "awakened" meaning insight, and "intention" meaning a wholesome mind. Hence the Buddha's verse says: "Without knowledge, without a good teacher, an evil friend ruins correct practice — as when a spider falls into milk, and the milk itself turns to poison." This is what is meant by dwelling in a land in accord with the Dharma. As to the second, drawing near a good spiritual friend: a good spiritual friend has seven qualities. As the verse says: "Able to give, weighty, trustworthy, able to teach, able to endure, teaching what is profound, one who is a good friend settles the disciple in a good place." The seven qualities are: able to give, since giving wins others' affection; because loved, respected; because respected, trusted; because trusted, able to teach; because able to teach, able to endure outside criticism; because able to endure, able to teach what is profound, for the benefit of one's friends; and by teaching this profound Dharma, able to settle one's friends in a good place. Whoever possesses all seven is fit to be relied upon as a good spiritual friend. To summarize these seven, they come down to three: love and compassion, intelligence, and forbearance. Lacking even one, one is not a good spiritual friend — compassion without intelligence is like parents who, though they love their sick child, cannot cure the illness; intelligence without loving compassion is like a hostile physician who will not treat another's illness; and without forbearance, one's own practice is deficient, undermining the other two as well. Though the qualities are seven when separated out, together they come down to no more than three: giving, being respected, and being trusted belong to compassion; being able to teach and teaching what is profound belong to intelligence; being able to endure belongs to forbearance; and settling the disciple in a good place draws on all three together. Intelligence shows freedom from ignorance, forbearance shows a difference from the ordinary person, and threefold compassion shows a difference from the two lesser vehicles. Only the World-Honored Buddha possesses all three of these virtues in full, and so is fit to be sentient beings' true good spiritual friend. As to the third, subduing one's own body and mind: this means practicing in accord with the correct teaching — a mind free of distraction while listening, free of disdain while reflecting, and free of inversion while cultivating. If one does not subdue one's own body and mind, a good place and a good friend will be of no use at all. As to the fourth, having planted wholesome roots in former lives: this refers to cultivating wholesome roots for the sake of the portion of liberation. The wholesome roots are faith, discipline, learning, generosity, and wisdom. Faith means never departing from right mindfulness of the Three Jewels; discipline, never departing from the wholesome path; learning, hearing the Dharma oneself and causing others to hear it correctly, becoming a fit vessel for the Dharma complete with the three kinds of wisdom; generosity, of two kinds, giving material things in the past, which now diminishes craving, and giving the Dharma, which now lightens ignorance; and wisdom, meaning that this person, having already reflected upon the Three Jewels and the Four Noble Truths in a former life, attains in this life a worldly right view, extending even to the wisdom of exhaustion and of non-arising. Even a person who possesses these three wheels will, lacking wholesome roots from former lives, be born in this present life without the five faculties complete, and will instead be born into one of the eight adverse conditions. Hence, without wholesome roots from former lives, the preceding three wheels would be of no further use at all.

Taking these four aspects together, they are likened to the four parts of a wheel. Lacking even one, the wheel cannot be complete, and the name "liberation" could never be established. It is by the coming together of these four dharmas that the path of liberation can be attained — like a wheel that is able to convey and to turn; once liberation itself is reached, this function of the wheel is no longer needed. It is like the wheel of a sage-king, complete with four parts — hub, rim, spokes, and axle. Lacking any of these four, the wheel could not be complete. For this reason, so long as one has not yet come into accord with all four wheels, neither the contemplation of revulsion toward saṃsāra nor the contemplation of the virtue of nirvāṇa can be accomplished.

Hence the sūtra says: the icchantika, though fallen into the assembly fixed toward wrong destiny, nonetheless possesses two bodies — the fundamental dharmakāya, and the body that arises in accordance with intention. The Buddha's sun-like light of wisdom illuminates both these bodies: the dharmakāya being the principle of suchness itself, and the body arising in accordance with intention arising precisely from this principle. The Buddha's light of wisdom, out of compassion for the icchantika's two bodies, serves two purposes: to let the dharmakāya be brought forth, and to let his practice be sustained and extended in cultivating the path to enlightenment — and it is on this basis that the contemplation is accomplished. There is, further, a sūtra that says: icchantika beings decisively have no nature for final nirvāṇa. If this is so, do these two sūtras not contradict one another? To reconcile them: one is of definitive meaning, and the other of provisional meaning — hence they do not, in fact, contradict one another. To say that buddha-nature exists is the statement of definitive meaning; to say it does not exist is the statement of provisional meaning. Hence the Buddha's teaching that one who does not have faith and delight in the Mahāyāna is called an icchantika is spoken in order to make sentient beings abandon that very state of mind, and so it is said that, while remaining an icchantika, there is decisively no liberation. But that there could be a sentient being possessing an inherently pure nature who could never attain liberation — this has no basis at all. Hence the Buddha, observing that all sentient beings possess this nature, teaches that they will, in time, decisively attain the pure dharmakāya.

Hence the sūtra says in verse: "The wise proceed in due sequence, practicing again and again, ever more finely, removing the defilements from within themselves, as a goldsmith refines gold." "The wise proceed in due sequence" shows that such a person has genuine understanding, practices without inversion, and is able to learn step by step in proper order. "Again and again" means never once setting the practice aside, constantly refining and pursuing it oneself. "Ever more finely" means proceeding from the subtle to the manifest, as one cultivates, ever more finely, the wisdom of hearing, reflecting, and meditating. "Removing the defilements from within themselves" means gradually eliminating the heavier and lighter afflictions of ignorance, so that the inherently pure nature is at last permanently revealed. Hence it is said to be just like a goldsmith able to refine gold, removing all its dross, until the pure gold's own radiance is attained.