Once the Flowers Vanish, They Never Return

Sūtra: Pūrṇa said: "If this wondrous awareness — originally wondrous, aware, and bright — is no different, neither more nor less, from the Tathāgata's own mind, why would mountains, rivers, and the great earth ever suddenly arise from it at all? And now that the Tathāgata has attained this wondrous, empty, bright awareness, will mountains, rivers, and their habituated afflictions ever arise again?"

Commentary: Pūrṇa, directly addressed, clings to the notion that sentient beings' own causal nature has a beginning, and so doubts whether the Buddha's own fruit-virtue might likewise have an end. He says: if this wondrous, bright substance of awareness possessed by sentient beings is, from the start, of itself wondrous, with no obstruction of any world in it at all; of itself aware, with no confusion of any sentient being in it at all; of itself bright, with no darkness of any karma-fruit in it at all — and is, moreover, perfectly equal, one and the same, with the Tathāgata's own mind, returned to its root and origin — then the Buddha's mind, set against the mind of a sentient being, is not increased by the slightest hair's breadth; and a sentient being's mind, set against the Buddha's mind, is not diminished by the slightest hair's breadth either.

"Why would mountains, rivers, and the great earth ever suddenly arise from it at all": "suddenly, for no reason" means with no cause, no basis at all. Sentient beings, from the very first, with no basis at all, falsely wished to add brightness to awareness, and so fell from confusion into ever-deeper confusion, falseness compounding upon falseness — from false delusion, false karma arose; dependent on false karma, false retribution was summoned — and so mountains, rivers, and the great earth, the circumstantial world of retribution, including empty space, suddenly arose; and every conditioned appearance, the direct retribution of sentient beings, together with karma's own fruit, likewise arose. All of this from the originally true mind, suddenly giving rise to every kind of false phenomenon.

The passage above clings to the notion that sentient beings' own causal nature has a beginning; this passage doubts whether the Buddha's own fruit-virtue might have an end. Hence the challenge: "now that the Tathāgata has attained this wondrous, empty, bright awareness" — "wondrous emptiness" means the wondrous nature's own true emptiness, filling everything, pure, admitting nothing else at all, restored to its own substance where nothing exists at all, like a wish-fulfilling pearl; "bright awareness" means this same wondrous, bright, original enlightenment, empty, spiritual, and radiantly clear, penetrating the whole Dharma-realm through and through, restored to its own naturally illuminating substance, like a great, round mirror. This is no different at all from sentient beings' own wondrous, aware brightness, before mountains and the rest of these phenomena ever arose. Sentient beings have already given rise to falseness out of truth — but now that the Tathāgata has turned falseness back into truth, when will mountains, rivers, and the great earth as a world, sentient beings as conditioned appearance, and karma's own fruit built up from habituated affliction, ever arise again?

This challenge is entirely the same as Bodhisattva Vajragarbha's third challenge in the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment: "First: if every sentient being has, at root, already accomplished the buddha-path, why is there still, even now, every kind of ignorance? Second: if this ignorance is something sentient beings inherently possess, on what basis does the sūtra still speak of them as originally having already accomplished buddhahood? Third: if beings of every kind throughout the ten directions have, at root, already accomplished the buddha-path, and ignorance arises only afterward, then when will every one of the Tathāgatas give rise to every kind of affliction all over again?" The point of the challenge is entirely the same. What differs is only that the earlier challenge speaks in terms of affliction as the cause of suffering, while this one speaks in terms of direct and circumstantial retribution as the fruit of suffering — both, alike, cases of falseness arising out of truth.

Sūtra: The Buddha said to Pūrṇa: "It is like a confused person in a village who mistakes south for north — does this confusion exist because of confusion itself, or does it come out of understanding?" Pūrṇa said: "Such a person's confusion arises neither because of confusion nor because of understanding. Why? Confusion has, at its root, no cause of its own — how could it be 'because of confusion'? And understanding does not produce confusion — how could it be 'because of understanding'?" The Buddha said: "Suppose that, while this confused person is still confused, someone who understands suddenly points out the directions and sets him straight. Pūrṇa, what do you think — even though he was once confused, would he ever become confused about this same village again?" "No, World-Honored One." "Pūrṇa, it is exactly the same with the Tathāgatas of the ten directions. This confusion has no root; its nature is, in the end, empty. It was never truly there to begin with — it only seemed as though awareness had become confused. Once awareness recognizes the confusion, the confusion vanishes; and awareness itself never again produces confusion."

Commentary: This raises the analogy. "The confused person" is one confused about direction, standing for a sentient being in whom ignorance has already arisen; "the village" is a settled place where people dwell together, standing for the tathāgatagarbha; "mistaking south for north" — south never actually turns into north — stands for how, in confusion, falseness arises out of truth, while the true substance itself never changes: truth never actually becomes falseness, and falseness's own nature is, at root, empty.

This determines that confusion comes from nowhere at all. Hence the question: does this confusion exist because of confusion itself, or come out of understanding? Pūrṇa answers that this confused person's confusion arises neither from confusion nor out of understanding — and explains why himself. "Confusion has, at its root, no cause of its own": this confusion refers to that very first single thought of ignorance falsely stirring, which becomes the cause of every phenomenon — every phenomenon exists because of ignorance, while ignorance itself has no further cause behind it at all, hence "no root"; and, further, having no substance of its own — its own substance not even attainable — how could one say it exists "because of confusion"? There is simply no principle by which a thing could cause itself to arise from itself. "Understanding does not produce confusion": understanding and confusion stand as direct opposites — understanding is exactly not confusion, confusion is exactly not understanding; being direct opposites, neither could possibly give rise to the other — how, then, could one say it comes "out of understanding"? Just as brightness and darkness stand opposed, how could one say darkness arises because of brightness?

Question: "In the doctrine itself, falseness arises out of truth — so why, in the analogy, is it not allowed that confusion comes out of understanding?" Answer: "The doctrine itself does not actually allow that truth is capable of giving rise to falseness either — it only says that falseness arises dependent on truth, the way a reflection appears dependent on a mirror, never that the mirror's own substance itself generates the reflection." Pūrṇa's answer here, based strictly on the analogy, is entirely correct — yet, measured against the doctrine itself, it is proof enough that Pūrṇa has not yet fully penetrated the doctrine. Confusion stands for ignorance; understanding stands for original enlightenment. Ignorance does not exist because of ignorance, nor does it come out of original enlightenment — this is the correct principle.

This determines that ignorance, once ended, never arises again. The Buddha says: while that person confused about the village is still mistaking south for north, someone who understands, capable of distinguishing south from north correctly, suddenly points it out clearly, bringing about full understanding, so that south is no longer mistaken for north. Hence the question to Pūrṇa: in your own understanding, even though this confused person was once confused about this same village, would he, once shown clearly and brought to understanding, ever become confused about it again? He answers: "No, World-Honored One!" The Buddha asks this precisely so that the doctrine may be grasped by way of the analogy.

Matched to its meaning: the confused person corresponds to a sentient being in whom ignorance has arisen, falseness arising out of truth; while still in this confused state, he suddenly encounters a Buddha — "the person who understands" being exactly the greatly awakened Buddha — who points things out for him, bringing about awakening: awakening to the fact that truth was never, at root, mixed with falseness, and severing ignorance entirely. And so this sentient being turns falseness back into truth, and is never confused again. This applies the analogy directly: the Tathāgatas of the ten directions, perfect and complete in the three aspects of awakening, are likewise never confused again, once awakened.

This explains the earlier point in full. "This confusion has no root" means ignorance itself has no substance — its nature, examined to the very bottom, is originally empty, exactly like confusion about direction, having no further cause behind it at all. "It was never truly there to begin with — it only seemed as though awareness had become confused": this should not be read as meaning that, before a sentient being ever became false, there was, originally, no ignorance at all — rather, it means that, in the past, while a sentient being remained in that confused state, there was, in fact, originally no ignorance there either — it was merely something that seemed, at the time of confusion, like a falsely-arisen awareness. Being called merely "seeming," it was never genuinely real at all, since ignorance has no substance of its own. It is exactly like confusion about direction: at the very moment of being confused about direction, there was, originally, no confusion to be found there at all — merely something that seemed, at that moment, like a falsely-arisen awareness, mistaking south for north. "Once awareness recognizes the confusion, the confusion vanishes; and awareness itself never again produces confusion": the buddhas, at the causal stage, encountering a good teacher's instruction that ignorance has no substance, give rise to wisdom and observe directly, recognizing that ignorance is false, its constant substance itself empty — and so ignorance within the mind is thereupon dissolved, since true awareness's own nature never, in fact, contained any ignorance at all. As a later passage puts it: "the madness in the mind of Yajñadatta subsides of itself, and this subsiding is itself bodhi." Once awakened, ignorance never arises again — exactly like the person confused about direction, who, once shown clearly by someone who understands, is never confused again. The two lines above describe how, at the moment of confusion, it merely seemed to exist; these two lines describe how, after awakening, it is forever gone — meaning that, even at the very moment of confusion, there was, in fact, no confusion to be found there at all — how much less, then, after awakening, could confusion ever arise again?

Sūtra: "It is also like a person with an eye disease, seeing flowers in empty space: once the disease is cured, the flowers vanish from that space. Suppose there were a foolish person who, at that very place in empty space where the flowers had vanished, waited for the flowers to appear again. What do you make of such a person — foolish, or wise?" Pūrṇa said: "Space originally has no flowers in it at all — it was only a falsely perceived arising and ceasing. Seeing the flowers vanish from space is already an inversion; to command them to appear again would be truly, madly foolish. Why, then, ask whether such a madman is foolish or wise?" The Buddha said: "Just as you have understood it. Why, then, do you ask: when will the Tathāgatas' own wondrous, aware emptiness ever again give rise to mountains, rivers, and the great earth?"

Commentary: The Zhèngmài commentary says: as the passage above shows, Pūrṇa asked for the detailed account of how the ten thousand phenomena arise and continue, and the Tathāgata answered that ignorance is the root of this arising and continuing. Now, in the section above, the Buddha first used an analogy to show that this ignorance, already answered as its root, was always empty from the start — not something that only becomes empty once investigated and severed. And here he uses a further analogy to show that the ten thousand phenomena themselves, just asked about, are, even now, simply nonexistent — neither absent before and present now, nor present now and absent later. The Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment's own answer to a similar challenge uses this same analogy, with the eye disease compared to ignorance, the flowers to the ten thousand phenomena, and empty space to the true substance. This sūtra, having already used the analogy of confusion about direction for ignorance, and going on to use gold ore and wood for the true substance, uses this flower-in-space analogy solely for the ten thousand phenomena — that is, exactly the three continuities discussed earlier.

This raises the analogy: a person with a diseased eye sees flowers in empty space. Space originally has no flowers in it at all — the diseased eye falsely perceives them; once the disease is cured, the flowers vanish from that space. Not only is seeing the flowers in space a false perception, but seeing them vanish from space is likewise a false perception. Why? The diseased eye sees flowers in space that were never, in fact, born at all — and, never having arisen, what, then, could possibly cease? Seeing them arise and seeing them cease are, alike, equally false. Suppose, then, an unwise, foolish person, at that very place in empty space where the flowers had vanished, were to wait for those same space-flowers to appear again.

The diseased person stands for a sentient being possessing ignorance, who, by the power of ignorance, converts the inherently possessed light of wisdom into a false perception capable of seeing, and sees, within the very nature of true emptiness, a world, sentient beings, and karma-fruit. Space stands for true emptiness; the flowers in space stand for mountains, rivers, and every conditioned appearance. Once ignorance is extinguished, the ten thousand phenomena are, all of them, empty — but one should understand that the ten thousand phenomena were, in fact, always empty from the start, not waiting for ignorance to be extinguished before becoming empty: even while ignorance and its false perception were present, when were body, mind, and world ever genuinely real at all? Exactly like the flowers in space, not waiting for the eye disease to be cured before vanishing — at the very moment the diseased eye sees these flowers, their very substance is already empty; when were they ever actually born at all? All of this comes down to nothing but a sentient being possessing ignorance falsely seeing something as though it existed, within what was, in truth, never there to begin with. Mountains, rivers, the great earth, and every conditioned, habituated affliction, even while sentient beings remain in confusion, were never, in fact, genuinely produced at all — so, now that the Tathāgata has attained this wondrous, empty, bright awareness, ignorance and its delusion entirely exhausted, the principle of true emptiness fully revealed, how could they possibly arise again? Hence the analogy of a foolish person, at that place in space where the flowers had vanished, waiting for them to appear again — Pūrṇa is doing exactly the same thing.

This determines the point directly: the Buddha has Pūrṇa examine closely whether the person waiting for the flowers to reappear is foolish or wise. Pūrṇa answers that space originally has no flowers in it at all, their arising and ceasing being nothing but the diseased eye's own false perception — standing for the fact that, within the true nature of true emptiness, there were, originally, no such phenomena as mountains and the great earth at all; it was only ignorance's own false perception that made them seem to arise in confusion and cease in awakening. Seeing the flowers vanish from space is already an inversion and a clinging; to command the flowers to appear again shows this person to be truly, madly foolish — standing for the fact that seeing these phenomena as dissolving falseness and returning to emptiness is already an inverted discrimination — so how does asking the Tathāgata when these phenomena will arise again differ at all from waiting for the flowers to reappear?

This applies the analogy directly: since Pūrṇa's own answer to the analogy is not mistaken, the Buddha turns it back on him as a challenge — since you already understand that commanding the flowers to appear again is truly, madly foolish, why do you still go on asking: now that the Tathāgata has attained this wondrous, empty, bright awareness, when will mountains, rivers, and the great earth ever be produced from it again? "Wondrous awareness, bright emptiness" carries the same principle as Pūrṇa's own earlier phrase, "wondrous emptiness, bright awareness" — no difference between them. "Awareness" points to original enlightenment's own illuminating substance, belonging to the virtue of wisdom; "emptiness" points to true emptiness's own still substance, belonging to the virtue of severing — both together always possessing this same wondrous brightness, so "wondrous awareness, bright awareness" and "wondrous emptiness, bright emptiness" may be spoken either way, interchangeably. Only once the Buddha's own virtue of wisdom is ultimate, all five abidings of affliction exhausted, and his virtue of severing ultimate, both kinds of death forever ended, does this title properly apply.

Sūtra: "Further, it is like gold ore, in which pure gold is mixed with dross: once this gold has been made entirely pure, it never again becomes mixed with dross. Or like wood turned to ash: it never again becomes wood. The Tathāgatas' own bodhi and nirvāṇa are exactly the same."

Commentary: The two analogies in the section above illustrate that the false cause and false fruit are, of themselves, never truly produced at all — not something that only ceases once buddhahood is attained. The two analogies in this section illustrate that true wisdom and true severing are, from the start, never subject to change at all — not something that only comes into being once buddhahood is attained. And if even sentient beings, while still in a state of confusion, have a false nature that is, at root, empty, truly unborn — how much more so the buddhas, who have already realized the ultimate fruit, uniquely wondrous, true, and constant: could this possibly still be subject to change?

"Gold ore": since gold is present within the ore, it is called "gold ore." "Mixed" means that pure gold is mixed together with dross within the ore — its own essential, true substance unchanging, standing for the substance of wisdom being unchanging. "Once this gold has been made entirely pure": through the effort of mining and smelting, the dross entirely removed, the gold becomes purely, entirely essential. "It never again becomes mixed with dross": once it has become the substance of pure gold, it never reverts to ore again — standing for the effort put into the virtue of wisdom, cultivating practice to remove delusion; once delusion is purified and wisdom perfected, without duality, without any further mixture, the virtue of wisdom accomplished, ignorance never arises again. Wood stands for affliction; ash stands for nirvāṇa. Wood cannot turn into ash of itself — it must be burned by fire before it becomes ash; fire stands for wisdom — affliction cannot, of itself, realize nirvāṇa either, but must, through wisdom, sever affliction, escape birth and death, and realize nirvāṇa. Once the virtue of severing is accomplished, affliction never arises again — hence the analogy of never again becoming wood.

This applies the analogy directly: the Tathāgatas of the ten directions, having already realized the ultimate fruit of awakening, their realized virtue of wisdom, bodhi, ultimately unchanging, exactly like pure gold no longer mixed with dross — having already transformed affliction into bodhi, they never again have any affliction at all, exactly like pure gold never again reverting to ore. The Tathāgatas' own realized virtue of severing, nirvāṇa, ultimately never subject to arising, exactly like wood burned into ash — having already transformed birth and death into nirvāṇa, they never again undergo birth and death, exactly like wood turned to ash never again becoming wood — hence "exactly the same."

This passage applying the analogy may also be read as a single, combined analogy with a single, combined meaning: gold stands for bodhi and nirvāṇa — though not produced by cultivation, they must nonetheless be revealed through cultivation; once accomplished, they are accomplished forever, never changing again — like pure gold, though gold from the very start, only becomes fully realized once smelted, and, once pure, remains pure forever, never reverting to ore again. Wood stands for affliction and birth and death — though themselves illusory, illusion is used to remove illusion, and, once extinguished, they are extinguished forever, never arising again — like wood turned to ash: wood, burned by fire, is entirely turned to ash, and, once entirely gone, is gone forever, never becoming wood again.

Sūtra: Pūrṇa, you further asked: earth, water, fire, and wind, in their basic nature, interfuse perfectly and pervade the whole Dharma-realm — doubting that the natures of water and fire do not destroy one another, and asking further how empty space and the great earth, both pervading the Dharma-realm, could possibly hold each other without contradiction.

Commentary: The section above has already resolved the doubt about the three continuities; this section now shows further why the five great elements interfuse. In the "empty" tathāgatagarbha discussed earlier, each appearance was gathered back into nature, phenomenon entirely principle, phenomenon posing no obstruction to principle — leaving nothing to doubt there. But in the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha, appearance arises from nature, and, once appearance is vividly present, how could one phenomenon pose no obstruction to another? Hence Pūrṇa's earlier doubt about how the five great elements interfuse — and so, in this teaching of the empty-and-non-empty tathāgatagarbha, the Buddha fully reveals why there is no obstruction at all, dissolving this question rooted in clinging to appearance.

Sūtra: "Pūrṇa, it is like empty space: its own substance is not any one of the various appearances, and yet it does not refuse to let all of them manifest within it. And why is this? Pūrṇa, that great empty space: lit by the sun, it is bright; gathered with clouds, it is dark; stirred by wind, it moves; cleared after rain, it is transparent; thickened with mist, it is turbid; laden with dust, it becomes a haze; and, settled over water, it casts a reflection."

Commentary: This is an analogy for the empty-and-non-empty tathāgatagarbha. Empty space's own substance having no appearance illustrates the "empty" aspect; not refusing any appearance illustrates the "non-empty" aspect. Combined, this illustrates an unchanging substance capable of following every condition — examined closely, though its function follows conditions, its substance remains, from the start, unchanged; empty space remains exactly as it always was.

The Zhèngmài commentary says: without first clarifying how the various teachings treat the relationship between nature and appearance, delusion and awakening, one cannot appreciate the depth of Pūrṇa's own doubt, nor the subtlety of the Buddha's resolution of it. The two kinds of unobstructed principle are matters that gods, humans, and the Lesser Vehicle alike are, without exception, entirely deluded about — and even the Dharma-characteristics and Emptiness-refuting schools never fully penetrate them either. The Dharma-characteristics school holds that true suchness does not follow conditions, and that appearance is not identical with nature; the Emptiness-refuting school, having refuted appearance, speaks only of the twofold emptiness of appearance and nature — a negation with nothing positively stated, never actually arriving at speaking of appearance as identical with nature. How, then, could either fully express the meaning of non-obstruction? This sūtra's own perfect principle, speaking of the four categories, holds that every appearance is entirely nature; speaking of the seven great elements, holds that every nature is entirely appearance, and, moreover, that each and every one pervades everywhere, without any obstruction whatsoever — this already surpasses even the Great Vehicle's own initial teaching. Yet Pūrṇa, still clinging to the Lesser Vehicle's old view of phenomena, insists that the great elements originally obstruct one another — granting, perhaps, that the tathāgatagarbha's own emptiness could be said to be unobstructed, but insisting that, once fully equipped with the great elements, obstruction between them must inevitably follow. And so the Tathāgata's resolution of this doubt does not merely explain that nature, not yet manifested, is unobstructed, but goes on to explain, in detail, that appearance, once manifested, is likewise unobstructed — how much more so, then, nature not yet manifested, which could hardly be obstructed at all? Hence this section's discussion of nature's own non-obstruction is quite brief, while its explanation of appearance's own non-obstruction is far more extensive.

The first line poses the question to be answered — asking after the meaning of great empty space's own unchanging substance, following conditions. "That great empty space" — vast, open, empty, without any appearance at all — stands for the tathāgatagarbha's own unchanging substance, pure and unmoved from the start, its "empty" aspect; "lit by the sun" and what follows stands for the tathāgatagarbha's own function, following conditions, appearing in accordance with karma, its "non-empty" aspect. The sun and the rest are seven conditions; brightness and the rest are seven appearances — empty space's own substance, being none of these appearances, brightness, darkness, and the rest, is nonetheless able, following conditions, to take on these appearances, never refusing to let brightness and the rest manifest within it. These seven appearances need not be matched one-for-one with the seven great elements — they are meant only to illustrate the seven great elements in a general way.

Sūtra: "What do you think? These various appearances, differing from place to place — do they arise because of those conditions? Or do they exist because of space itself? If they arise from those conditions, Pūrṇa: consider the time when the sun shines — since this brightness belongs to the sun, the whole world in every direction ought equally to take on the sun's own color — so why, then, does one still see, within that same space, a distinct, round sun? And if this brightness belongs to space itself, then space itself ought to shine of its own accord — so why, then, in the middle of the night, or when clouds and mist gather, does no light or brightness arise at all? You should know that this brightness is neither the sun's nor space's own — and yet it is not separate from either space or the sun."

Commentary: The first line poses the challenge. The section above illustrated nature and appearance together, but had not yet shown that appearance is false, having no fixed reality of its own — hence this challenge: what do you think — do these seven appearances arise from those conditions, or exist because of space itself? If from conditions, this falls into causes-and-conditions; if from space itself, this falls into spontaneity — empty space illustrates the tathāgatagarbha's own nature, unchanging while following conditions, falling into neither of these two positions.

Let us, for the moment, examine this in terms of the sun: if one claims that, when the sun shines, this brightness belongs to the sun, then the empty space of the whole world in every direction ought equally to take on this same single, solar color, before one could properly call it "the sun's brightness" — so why, then, does one still see, within that same space, a distinct, round sun? Everything outside this round sun — is it not also the brightness of space's own substance? Why, then, should it belong exclusively to the sun's own brightness? And if one claims that, when the sun shines, this brightness belongs to space itself, then, space's nature being constant, this brightness ought to shine constantly as well — so why, then, in the middle of the night, when clouds and mist gather, does one see only darkness, with no light or brightness arising at all?

This states the correct meaning: one should know that the appearance of brightness does not belong exclusively to the sun, since one still sees, within that same space, a distinct, round sun; nor does it belong exclusively to space either, since no light or brightness arises in the middle of the night. And, further, one should know that this appearance of brightness never departs from space, since everything outside the sun is space itself; nor does it depart from the sun, since without the sun there would be no brightness at all. "Neither the sun's nor space's own" stands for water, fire, and the rest not being genuinely real, mere universal conceptual construction; "not separate from either space or the sun" stands for the five great elements only seeming to exist, dependently arisen. Once one knows they are not genuinely real, yet only seem to exist, they must, of themselves, be perfectly interfused, without obstruction — what room is there, then, for destroying one another or not, holding each other or not?

Sūtra: "The true, wondrous, bright awareness is exactly the same: if you take hold of it through emptiness and brightness, then emptiness manifests; if earth, water, fire, and wind each, in turn, bring their own brightness to light, then each, in turn, manifests; and if all are brought to light together, then all manifest together. How could they all manifest together? Pūrṇa, it is like the sun's reflection appearing in a body of water: if two people watch the sun's reflection in the water and then walk off in different directions, east and west, each will find the reflected sun following him — one to the east, one to the west, with no fixed original position to appeal to. One should not then object: 'If this sun is one, how can it go two separate ways? And if the two suns are genuinely two, how did they ever appear as only one?' Such an objection only tangles itself in false premises, with nothing solid to stand on."

Commentary: In the received text, before this passage, there appear two sections — "observing that appearance is, at root, false" and "observing that nature is, at root, true" — which, examined closely, ought properly to follow right after the analogy is given, applying it directly to the doctrine, as is the sūtra's own regular practice elsewhere. As printed, however, these two sections fall between the analogy and its application, awkwardly cutting the flow of thought in two — very likely a copying error introduced sometime after the original translation. Master Jiaoguang, noticing this same problem, moved these two sections to follow directly after "tangles itself in false premises, with nothing solid to stand on," placing the doctrinal application right after the analogy — achieving the best of both. Here, accordingly, the passage applying the analogy to the doctrine is likewise moved forward — at the risk of an unpardonable presumption, for which the reader's understanding is humbly asked.

"The true, wondrous, bright awareness" means exactly this same true suchness, this wondrous, aware, bright mind — matched to the analogy of that great empty space. It, too, is unchanging while following conditions, perfectly interfused, without obstruction — just as space, following the sun and the other seven conditions, manifests brightness and the other seven appearances. The true mind is, originally, none of the five great elements, and yet is able, following conditions, to manifest the appearance of all five.

"If you take hold of it through emptiness and brightness, then emptiness manifests; if earth, water, fire, and wind each, in turn, bring their own brightness to light, then each, in turn, manifests": these five lines describe each, in turn, being brought to light and each, in turn, manifesting — meaning the five great elements manifesting in different places, or at different times. The two lines that follow describe all being brought to light together and all manifesting together — that is, in the same place, at the same time. As for the word "brightness," Master Jiaoguang's own gloss — that it carries the sense of "in accordance with karma" — is the best reading. "You," though addressed to Pūrṇa, is meant to include beings of all nine realms. "If you take hold of it through emptiness and brightness": as when a bodhisattva, in accordance with pure karma tied to emptiness, manifests a body of empty space; or an arhat realizes the one-sided emptiness of nirvāṇa; while an ordinary being, in accordance with defiled karma tied to emptiness, manifests the base of infinite space, and so on. Taking hold of it through earth: a bodhisattva manifests the adorned land of true reward; an ordinary being manifests a tainted, impure land. Taking hold of it through water, fire, or wind: an arhat manifests water pouring from the upper body and fire from the lower; a bodhisattva manifests a compassionate wind sweeping everywhere, to relieve sentient beings of their feverish affliction; an ordinary being manifests the three calamities of water, fire, and wind.

"And if all are brought to light together, then all manifest together": as when a heavenly being sees water as a jeweled ground of lapis lazuli, fit to walk upon; a human being sees water as water, fit to drink; and a hungry ghost sees water as fire, unable to drink it however great the thirst — each and every case nothing but a response summoned in accordance with karma, manifesting simultaneously. What manifests in this way is neither produced by causes and conditions, nor simply possessed by the tathāgatagarbha's own nature, and yet never departs from causes and conditions or from the tathāgatagarbha's own nature either.

The five lines above, describing each in turn being brought to light and manifesting, are dependently arisen, only seeming to exist — though false, they do not yet fully show falseness turning and twisting back on itself. The two lines describing all being brought to light together and manifesting together, universal conceptual construction rather than genuine reality, are what fully demonstrate this self-tangling falseness — hence the question is raised again, to match the analogy of appearance's own falseness. "It is like the sun's reflection appearing in a body of water" stands for a single tathāgatagarbha nature already complete with the nature of every great element. "Two people watch the sun's reflection in the water and then walk off in different directions, east and west" stands for sentient beings, each depending on this same tathāgatagarbha nature, yet each following their own differing karma; just as the two people, walking east and west, each see a sun following them, this stands for each being summoning, in accordance with their own karma, a differing manifestation of the great elements. "With no fixed original position to appeal to": walking east, walking west, the sun has, from the start, no single, fixed, real position that it actually manifests from at all — having no fixed reality is exactly what is meant by appearance's own falseness.

This explains exactly what is meant by falseness turning and twisting back on itself. One should not object — the sun's reflection in the water is one, so why does each of the two see a sun following him? Or — since each, walking separately, sees the reflection as two, why does the water show only a single reflection? This is precisely a case of manifesting simultaneously, with "one" and "two" both unsettled. "Turning and twisting" means exactly this: if one says it is one, each person walking separately sees two — so "one" is false; if one says it is two, the water itself shows only one — so "two" is false as well. Argue it one way or the other, and it comes down to nothing but universal conceptual falseness, with, in the end, no true principle to appeal to as solid ground. Master Guoshan says: watching together shows it to be one, yet knowing it to be two shows this "one" to be false; walking separately shows it to be two, yet this very fact proves that "two" is likewise false.

Sūtra: "Observing appearance, it is, at root, false, with nothing that can be pointed to and definitively stated. This is exactly like inviting flowers in space to bear fruit in space as well — how, then, could one still press the question of whether they destroy one another? Observing nature, it is, at root, true — nothing but this same wondrous, aware brightness. This wondrous, aware, bright mind was never, to begin with, water or fire at all — how, then, could one still ask whether they fail to hold one another?"

Commentary: This concludes and restates the correct meaning: the great elements are, in appearance, false, and, in nature, true. It concludes first in terms of appearance: just as the earlier appearance of brightness was neither the sun's nor space's own, and yet not separate from either, so too, by this same pattern, the appearance of the great elements is, from the start, false — each in turn brought to light and manifesting, or all together brought to light and manifesting, in every case nothing but appearing in accordance with karma, each only seeming to exist, never genuinely real, with nothing that can be pointed to and definitively stated. It is exactly like flowers in empty space, which never existed there at all — a diseased eye sees them as though they existed, while a healthy eye sees they never truly did. To insist there is something here that can be pointed to and definitively stated would be like clinging to these space-flowers as genuinely real — one layer of confusion; and to press further, demanding to know whether they destroy one another, would be like inviting these same space-flowers to bear fruit as well — confusion doubled upon confusion.

Question: "This teaches that the great elements are false in appearance and pose no obstruction — but why, then, does one actually observe, in the world, water and fire destroying one another, and earth failing to hold either space or water?" Answer: "Examined even in terms of actual fact, there is, in truth, neither destruction nor failure to hold one another. Every kind of oil in the world, for instance, properly belongs to the great element of water, and yet each and every kind also possesses the great element of fire within it — set alight, it burns at once. Within the great element of earth, the great element of space is likewise present — dig down a foot into the earth, and a foot's worth of empty space appears; dig down a fathom, and a fathom's worth of empty space appears. And, among the various metals, nothing exceeds gold in earth's own solid, obstructive nature — and yet, smelted, it turns entirely to liquid. What destruction, what failure to hold one another, is there in any of this? Examined in terms of underlying principle, the destruction and mutual exclusion one seems to observe among the great elements is, in every case, nothing but sentient beings' own clinging mind, falsely perceiving — never, in fact, real at all. Just as when clouds race past, the moon seems to move; or when a boat sails on, the shore seems to shift — does the moon, or the shore, actually move at all? Once one understands that the five great elements are, at root, empty, this false clinging, this false perception, is broken through all at once."

This concludes in terms of nature: continuing from the earlier point that empty space's own substance is not any appearance, one now observes directly that the nature of the great elements is, at root, the one true reality, originally without any appearance at all — nothing but this single, wondrous, aware, perfectly bright, true mind, which is exactly the tathāgatagarbha mind. "Never, to begin with, water or fire at all": originally none of the great elements at all; and, the great elements themselves not even present, who is left to speak of destroying or failing to hold one another? This wondrous, aware, bright mind, originally none of the great elements, is nonetheless able to manifest all of them — exactly like a bright mirror, able to manifest every image, while itself, originally, being none of those images at all.

Sūtra: Pūrṇa, you take form and emptiness to be pushing against and displacing each other within the tathāgatagarbha — but the tathāgatagarbha itself simply becomes form, or becomes emptiness, as the occasion requires, pervading the whole Dharma-realm; and so, within it, wind moves, space is still, the sun shines, clouds darken. Sentient beings, confused and troubled, turn their backs on awareness and unite with dust — and so the dust and toil of affliction is drawn forth, and there comes to be the appearance of the world.

Commentary: Because Pūrṇa has heard the Buddha teach that the great elements are perfectly interfused, without obstruction, he releases his earlier doubt but immediately raises a new one: why, then, does one actually observe obstruction? Here the Buddha shows the very origin of this obstruction, dissolving this question rooted in clinging to appearance. "You take" traces this back to its origin: true suchness, following defiled conditions, gives rise to this — because of that very first single thought of ignorance falsely stirring, dimming and obscuring the true nature into emptiness, and, further, because of the seeing-portion, darkness congealing into form. Because of this form and emptiness, pushing and displacing each other within the tathāgatagarbha's own nature, wherever form is seen, it pushes against emptiness, and wherever emptiness is seen, it pushes against form. And the tathāgatagarbha, following conditions, responding to this false mind, gives rise to a coarse circumstance, pervading the whole Dharma-realm — and sentient beings, failing to realize this is false, cling to it as genuinely real; and this clinging is what becomes obstruction.

Within the tathāgatagarbha, originally without any appearance at all, the one true Dharma-realm, one falsely perceives wind's own agitated movement and space's own settled stillness, movement and stillness thereby set apart as opposites; and the sun's own brightness and the clouds' own darkness, brightness and darkness thereby pushing against each other — these four given here as examples standing for earth failing to hold space, water and fire destroying each other, and every other instance of dust and toil filling one's view. "Confused and troubled": being unaware of the tathāgatagarbha's own true, empty principle is "confusion"; giving rise to the marks of the three subtle and four coarse stages is "trouble," failing to penetrate through to the fact that every appearance is false — these two characters belong to delusion. "Turn their backs on awareness and unite with dust": though never actually turning their backs on their own inherently possessed awareness-nature, it is as though they had; though never actually uniting with these false, dust-laden appearances, it is as though they had — creating every kind of karma thereby; this line belongs to karma. "And so the dust and toil of affliction is drawn forth, and there comes to be the appearance of the world" belongs to the fruit of suffering. This is exactly the tathāgatagarbha's own nature, following defiled conditions, appearing in accordance with karma.

Sūtra: I, myself, have united this wondrous, unborn, unceasing brightness with the tathāgatagarbha, and the tathāgatagarbha is nothing but wondrous, aware brightness, perfectly illuminating the whole Dharma-realm — and so, within it, one becomes countless, and countless become one; the small appears within the large, the large within the small; unmoving from the place of practice, it pervades the worlds of the ten directions; the body contains the ten directions' boundless empty space; upon the tip of a single hair, a jeweled king's realm appears; seated within a single mote of dust, the great Dharma-wheel turns. Dust extinguished, awareness united — and so true suchness, the wondrous, enlightened, bright nature, comes forth.

Commentary: This addresses Pūrṇa's earlier doubt — why does the Tathāgata alone attain non-obstruction? Here the Buddha shows the very origin of this non-obstruction: true suchness, following pure conditions, gives rise to this. "I" is the Buddha's own self-reference — using true awareness's own wondrous, bright, unborn, unceasing sense-faculty nature as the root cause of practice, turning one's back on the dust and toil of false phenomena, uniting with the tathāgatagarbha's own nature, turning the light inward, illuminating back on itself, freeing oneself from dust and returning to the faculty's own root, subduing falseness and returning to original truth, bringing forth this original, bright radiance — wisdom's own light perfectly illuminating, seeing that every appearance is empty, the one truth alone standing revealed. And the tathāgatagarbha's own nature, no longer hidden by false appearance, is thereby able to interfuse that false appearance entirely — every appearance entirely nature, every falseness exactly truth — nothing but this wondrous, pure, original enlightenment's own utterly still, bright mind, perfectly illuminating the one true Dharma-realm; one returns to this pure, unmoved-from-the-start mind, and attains its whole substance!

Having attained this whole substance, one becomes able, within the one true Dharma-realm, to give rise, in accordance with this substance, to two kinds of unobstructed function: first, the unobstructed interpenetration of principle and phenomena; second, the unobstructed interpenetration of phenomena with one another. "One becomes countless, and countless become one" illustrates the first; "the small appears within the large, the large within the small" illustrates the second. "One" is the one true Dharma-realm's own principle; "countless" is the differentiated phenomena of the ten dharma-realms. Or again: "one" is the one mind; "countless" is the ten thousand phenomena — the one mind capable of giving rise to the ten thousand phenomena is "one becomes countless"; the ten thousand phenomena being nothing but the one mind is "countless become one." "One becomes countless" means phenomena are formed in dependence on principle, principle posing no obstruction to phenomena — the one posing no obstruction to the many. "Countless become one" means principle is revealed through phenomena themselves, phenomena posing no obstruction to principle — the many posing no obstruction to the one — together forming the dharma-realm of principle and phenomena unobstructedly interpenetrating, the gate of "one and many mutually containing each other" among the ten profound gates.

"The small appears within the large, the large within the small": like a foot-wide mirror capable of showing a thousand-mile view — the mirror need not be enlarged, nor the view shrunk down; measured against the view, the mirror, small as it is, is able to show a large appearance within it; measured against the mirror, the view, large as it is, still shows a small appearance — mirror and view alike being nothing but phenomena; the mirror contains the view with room to spare, and the view remains in the mirror exactly as it is, neither obstructing the other at all — forming the dharma-realm of phenomena unobstructedly interpenetrating with one another, the gate of "vastness and narrowness each at ease" among the ten profound gates.

The first four lines show the appearance of principle and phenomena unobstructedly interpenetrating. "Unmoving from the place of practice" is exactly the tathāgatagarbha's own unmoving principle of true suchness. This principle is able to pervade the worlds of the ten directions, including empty space; phenomena themselves extend horizontally across every buddha-land, and vertically encompass all ten dharma-realms. "Unmoving from the place of practice" is this single principle's own whole substance, able to pervade the worlds of the ten directions, present within each and every phenomenon — exactly as a single quantity of gold can be shaped into countless vessels, with not a single vessel that is not entirely gold. Measuring "unmoving from the place of practice" against the worlds of the ten directions is "one becomes countless." "The body contains the ten directions' boundless empty space": the body here is the dharma-body, which takes principle as its very body. "Contains" means to encompass; the ten directions' boundless empty space, including the world itself, is exactly phenomena. This body is likewise this single principle's own whole substance, able to contain the ten directions' boundless empty space — wholly encompassing every phenomenon whatsoever, with nothing left outside it at all, exactly as spring encompasses every flower, a thousand shades of crimson and purple all, alike, spring itself. Measuring the ten directions' own empty space against this single body is "countless become one."

"Upon the tip of a single hair, a jeweled king's realm appears": the four lines that follow show the appearance of phenomena unobstructedly interpenetrating with one another. A single hair is the very smallest instance of direct retribution; the jeweled king's realm is the buddha-land of the treasure of the Dharma-king, that is, a single buddha-world of a great trichiliocosm, the very largest instance of circumstantial retribution — that this buddha-land can appear upon the tip of a single hair takes direct retribution to encompass circumstantial retribution; measured from the hair's own tip against the buddha-land, the buddha-land is not diminished at all — this is "the small showing the large," the narrow posing no obstruction to the vast. "Seated within a single mote of dust, the great Dharma-wheel turns": a mote of dust is the very smallest instance of circumstantial retribution; "turning the Dharma-wheel" means manifesting one's whole body and teaching the Dharma, the body being the very largest instance of direct retribution — that the whole body sits within a single mote of dust, opening a Dharma-assembly and turning the Dharma-wheel, takes circumstantial retribution to encompass direct retribution; measured from the body against the mote of dust, the dust encompasses the body's own form, and yet the mote of dust is not enlarged at all — this is "the large showing the small," the vast posing no obstruction to the narrow.

This concludes, once more, the very origin of this non-obstruction, standing as the direct opposite of what happens with sentient beings. Sentient beings turn their backs on awareness and unite with dust, and so the dust and toil of affliction is drawn forth, and there comes to be the appearance of the world — the originally true nature thereby turned into an originally false appearance, so that what poses no obstruction comes to obstruct after all. But I extinguish dust and unite with awareness, extinguishing this false dust and toil, and so true suchness, this wondrous, pure, original enlightenment's own utterly still, bright nature, comes forth. Sentient beings, confused and troubled, turn the whole of this true nature into false appearance; the Tathāgata, through cultivation and realization, interfuses this false appearance with true nature entirely — phenomenon exactly principle, every appearance entirely nature — and so attains both kinds of unobstructed dharma-realm. What room is there, then, for any of the great elements to destroy or fail to hold one another at all?

Sūtra: And the tathāgatagarbha, this original, wondrous, all-encompassing mind, is neither mind, nor emptiness, nor earth, water, wind, nor fire; neither the eye, the ear, nose, tongue, body, nor mind; neither form, nor sound, fragrance, flavor, touch, nor mental phenomena; neither the element of eye-consciousness, and so on, through neither the element of mind-consciousness. Neither ignorance, nor the ending of ignorance, and so on, through neither old age, nor death, nor the ending of old age and death. Neither suffering, nor its origin, nor its cessation, nor the path, neither wisdom, nor attainment. Neither giving, nor moral discipline, nor diligence, nor patience, nor meditation, nor wisdom, nor the very crossing to the far shore. And so on, through neither the Tathāgata, nor the Worthy One, nor the Perfectly, Universally Awakened One, neither great nirvāṇa, neither permanence, nor bliss, nor self, nor purity.

Commentary: This section and the one before it both depend on the same tathāgatagarbha mind's own substance, yet differ in their emphasis: the section above emphasized the sense of following conditions; this section emphasizes the sense of remaining unchanged. This is nothing but the one true Dharma-realm, complete with all ten dharma-realms, and yet none of the ten dharma-realms at all — departing from both "is" and "is not," being, at once, both "is" and "is not" — a single mind fully manifesting the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha, these three aspects never departing from this single mind, perfectly interfused to the utmost degree of subtlety. This is exactly the true, ultimate nature within the ultimate truth the Buddha promised to teach, exactly the one vehicle's own ground of quiescent extinction, the Tathāgata's own hidden cause, and, in truth, sentient beings' own buddha-nature. This mind is, in itself, neither deluded nor awakened, and yet is what both delusion and awakening depend on: in terms of being, in itself, neither deluded nor awakened, how could sage or ordinary being even exist? — hence all ten dharma-realms are, alike, negated, and it is the "empty" tathāgatagarbha. In terms of being what delusion and awakening depend on, distinctions inevitably follow — hence all ten dharma-realms are, alike, affirmed, and it is the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha. In terms of doubly negating and doubly illuminating at once, it is the "empty-and-non-empty" tathāgatagarbha.

Now, first fully manifesting the "empty" tathāgatagarbha: though the tathāgatagarbha's own nature follows both defiled and pure conditions, it is never altered by either delusion or awakening — the tathāgatagarbha remains, exactly as before, originally wondrous, "wondrous" meaning exactly unchanging. Read together with "all-encompassing mind," this means: the original, inherently wondrous, perfectly complete, pure mind — exactly like a wish-fulfilling pearl. This mind establishes not a single phenomenon at all — exactly what the Sixth Patriarch meant by "originally, there is not a single thing" — hence what follows negates all ten dharma-realms, one by one.

The first three phrases negate the seven great elements: "neither mind" negates the great elements of seeing and consciousness; "neither emptiness" and the two phrases that follow negate the remaining five great elements, belonging to material phenomena. The remaining phrases negate the eighteen elements — that is, negate the four categories of aggregates, entrances, fields, and elements. Negating the five sense-faculties and six sense-objects negates the aggregate of form; negating the mental faculty, the seventh consciousness, and the six consciousnesses negates the aggregates of sensation, perception, formations, and consciousness; and, further, negating the eye and the other faculties negates the six sense-entrances; together with negating form and the other objects, negates the twelve sense-fields; and together with negating the six consciousnesses, negates the eighteen elements. On this basis, the tathāgatagarbha is not any worldly phenomenon at all.

This passage matches, term for term, the Heart Sūtra's own list — yet the word "neither" here and the word "no" there differ slightly in meaning. That sūtra speaks by way of the power of contemplative prajñā, illuminating and seeing that, within the true emptiness of ultimate reality, there is no worldly phenomenon to be found; this sūtra speaks by way of the original mind itself, needing no effort at all — originally none of the seven great elements or four categories, none of these conditioned phenomena at all. All of this negates worldly phenomena — that is, the tathāgatagarbha is not any of the six ordinary, defiled destinies' phenomena at all.

What follows next negates transcendent phenomena — that is, the tathāgatagarbha is not any of the four sagely, pure paths' phenomena either. This first negates the pratyekabuddha's own teaching — the twelve links of dependent origination, having both a forward-flowing gate and a reverse-cessation gate. The Buddha, teaching this Lesser Vehicle doctrine for pratyekabuddhas, divides cause and effect across three lifetimes — the three paths of delusion, karma, and suffering — flowing onward without cease, turning endlessly through the wheel: hence the "forward-flowing gate." The "reverse-cessation gate" means severing these twelve links, returning to the ultimate truth, extinguishing birth and death.

The twelve links: (1) ignorance, not understanding the principle of the emptiness of self, belonging to delusion; (2) formations, the karmic action created in dependence on this delusion — these two, the causes belonging to a past life; (3) consciousness, the eighth consciousness at the moment of entering the womb in this present life; (4) name-and-form, mind and matter combined after entering the womb; (5) the six entrances, the six sense-faculties as the place the six sense-objects enter, after birth; (6) contact, the six sense-faculties meeting the six sense-objects in early childhood, before any pleasure or displeasure yet arises; (7) sensation, receiving external objects as one grows older, capable now of pleasure or displeasure — from consciousness through here, the five effects belonging to this present life; (8) craving, love and hatred arising in the mind after receiving an object; (9) grasping, taking up or rejecting, arising from this love and hatred; (10) becoming, the karmic cause now fixed, once taking-up and rejecting are settled — craving, grasping, and becoming being the three causes of this present life, in turn summoning two further effects in a future life; (11) birth, summoned by the delusion and karma of this present life into a future rebirth; (12) old age and death, referring to the future life's own passage from birth to old age and death. These twelve links, each causing the next in turn, flow onward without cease — "ignorance conditions formations, formations condition consciousness," and so on, through "becoming conditions birth, birth conditions old age and death." The reverse-cessation gate is the method of practice: ignorance ceasing, formations cease; formations ceasing, consciousness ceases — and so on, through birth ceasing, old age and death cease. A pratyekabuddha of sharp faculties, hearing the Buddha teach this once, understands at once that ignorance is the very root of birth and death, and takes up severing ignorance as the starting point — like someone felling a tree who cuts straight at its root: the root severed, the tree falls of itself.

This passage, too, matches the Heart Sūtra. Note the extra word "brightness" before "ignorance" — this is exactly the same "brightness" as in "the nature of awareness is necessarily bright": because of this very insistence on adding brightness to awareness, ignorance comes to be. This original mind, not a single thought yet stirred, is thus neither brightness nor ignorance, and so on, through neither old age nor death. This takes the forward-flowing and reverse-cessation gates and separates them out, citing only the first link of each chain and leaping directly to its last, for the sake of easy comprehension. Note that "the ending of old age and death" mentioned here means only the ending of segmented birth-and-death, not yet the ending of birth-and-death by transformation. On this basis, the tathāgatagarbha is not the pratyekabuddha's own teaching either.

Next, the sūtra negates the śrāvaka's own teaching: the four noble truths — suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path — a Dharma-gate the Buddha taught for beings of the Lesser Vehicle's own capacity. The truth of suffering: the suffering fruit of birth and death in the world. In human terms, briefly, eight sufferings: the suffering of birth, of old age, of sickness, of death, of separation from what one loves, of meeting with what one hates, of not getting what one seeks, and of the five aggregates blazing fiercely. In terms of the three realms, divided into three sufferings: for beings of the five destinies, the suffering of suffering; for heavenly beings up through the third dhyāna, the suffering of decay; for those in the fourth dhyāna and above, the suffering of formations. The Buddha teaches: this is suffering — you should know it.

The truth of origin: the cause of suffering, affliction, in the world — grasping at a self, both discriminated and innate, gathered and accumulated within sentient beings' own minds, its nature being to summon retribution. The Buddha teaches: this is origin — you should sever it. The truth of cessation: the transcendent fruit of bliss, nirvāṇa, translated "unborn, unceasing" — exactly what the two lesser vehicles realize, distinct from the ultimate nirvāṇa without any residue at all. The Buddha says: this is cessation — you should realize it. The truth of the path: the transcendent cause of bliss, the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment in all — the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right exertions, the four bases of supernatural power, the five roots, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the eightfold noble path. Among the four noble truths, this one is the most essential. The Buddha says: this is the path — you should cultivate it. The disciples, hearing the Buddha's own voice teaching the four noble truths, cultivate the path and realize its fruit — hence called "śrāvakas," "hearers."

"Neither wisdom, nor attainment": this refers to the wisdom and principle realized by the Lesser Vehicle — neither the wisdom of the emptiness of self, nor the attainment of the principle of the emptiness of self. Within the original mind, not only are conditioned phenomena to be negated, but unconditioned phenomena as well, since the tathāgatagarbha mind belongs to neither the conditioned nor the unconditioned. On this basis, the tathāgatagarbha is not the śrāvaka's own teaching either.

This negates the bodhisattva's own teaching. This passage uses the Sanskrit terms throughout — the first six are the six perfections, the last is "crossing to the far shore." Dāna translates as "giving," of three kinds: giving of material goods; giving of the Dharma; and giving of fearlessness. Śīla translates as "upholding precepts," likewise of three kinds: gathering in the moral codes; gathering in wholesome practices; and benefiting sentient beings — this Great Vehicle precept-keeping governing not only body and speech, but the mind as well. Vīrya translates as "diligence" — vigorous effort without slackening, advancing without retreat, pressing bravely forward across every perfection and every practice alike.

Kṣānti translates as "patience." "Patience" means to bear, to endure, able to accept and receive submissively — no easy matter. Briefly, its forms number six: patience through sheer strength, enduring an insult without contesting it; patience through reversal, blaming not the other but oneself, thinking of it as repayment for a past life; patience through forgetting, suffering an insult without the slightest concern — these first three not yet grasping the underlying principle, called "patience in practice." Patience in principle likewise has three forms: patience through contemplation, observing with wisdom that one's own self was never truly there to begin with, and so what trace of the insult itself could remain; patience through joy, meeting an insult with a joyful mind, since it perfects one's own capacity for patience; and patience through compassion, pitying the very person giving the insult for their foolishness and blindness to cause and effect, and vowing to save them — as when our own founding teacher Śākyamuni, having his body cut to pieces by King Kalī, felt no anger at all, and vowed that, upon becoming a buddha, he would save this very king first.

Dhyāna translates as "quiet contemplation" — this "contemplation" is not ordinary discursive thought, but right reflection. There is mundane dhyāna, transcendent dhyāna, and the supreme, transcendent-of-the-transcendent dhyāna — exactly the samādhi by which the Buddhas of the ten directions attain bodhi, named the Great Buddha's Crown, King Śūraṅgama.

Prajñā translates as "wisdom" — there is the prajñā of the written word; the prajñā of contemplative illumination; and the prajñā of ultimate reality, exactly the wondrous, pure, bright mind revealed by the ten displays in this sūtra, and the tathāgatagarbha nature harmonized through the four categories and seven great elements. These first six are the practice pursued toward the fruit, belonging to cause. Pāramitā translates as "crossing to the far shore," the principle pursued, belonging to fruit. This shore is birth and death; the far shore is nirvāṇa. Bodhisattvas of the provisional teaching, cultivating these same practices, call them merely "the six perfections" rather than "the six pāramitās," since what they cultivate cannot depart from appearance, never attaining the emptiness of the three wheels — giver, gift, and recipient. These six pāramitās take prajñā as their guide — only through prajñā can one depart from appearance and reach the far shore at all. This, too, belongs to what is brought about through following pure conditions — while the original mind needs no cultivation or realization at all, hence all of it is here negated. On this basis, the tathāgatagarbha is not the bodhisattva's own teaching either.

"And so on, through neither the Tathāgata, nor the Worthy One, nor the Perfectly, Universally Awakened One, neither great nirvāṇa, neither permanence, nor bliss, nor self, nor purity": this negates the Tathāgata's own teaching. "And so on" points back to the six pāramitās just cultivated, capable of leading from cause to fruit — there is no arbitrary leap here, but a direct continuity. The three phrases "neither the Tathāgata, nor the Worthy One, nor the Perfectly, Universally Awakened One" negate the very buddha realized; the four phrases beginning "neither great nirvāṇa" negate the very Dharma realized. Tathāgata translates as "thus come," possessing the three bodies. Arhat translates as "worthy of offerings." Samyaksaṃbuddha translates as "correct, universal knowing." These three are the first three of the buddhas' own ten epithets. Great nirvāṇa is exactly the great ocean of quiescent extinction the Buddha realizes, translated "unborn, unceasing," since both kinds of death are forever ended; also translated "perfect quiescence." This is the general term for the fruit of buddhahood; the two lines that follow name the four virtues nirvāṇa possesses, in particular.

The Zhèngmài commentary says: "permanence" means not only that both kinds of death are forever ended, but also that worldly appearance itself is ever-abiding, ultimately firm and unshaken; "bliss" means not only being far removed from every suffering of birth and death, but also attaining an inconceivable liberation, enjoying boundless dharma-bliss; "self" means not only realizing the true dharma-body, vast as empty space, but also that mountains, rivers, and the great earth are, in their entirety, the manifestation of Vairocana himself; "purity" means not only this wondrous, pure substance of principle, free of every defilement, but also that this purity pervades everywhere. Though this passage appears to negate only nirvāṇa, the fruit of severing, it in fact negates bodhi, the fruit of wisdom, as well.

The Buddha, the sage of the ultimate fruit, bodhi and nirvāṇa the ultimate fruit-dharma — why, then, are these too negated? As the Diamond Sūtra says: "what is called the Buddha-dharma is exactly not the Buddha-dharma." And the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment says: "the wondrous, perfect mind of enlightenment has, at root, neither bodhi nor nirvāṇa, neither becoming a buddha nor not becoming one." This original mind is no different at all from this same wondrous, perfect mind of enlightenment — hence even the Buddha-dharma itself is here negated. On this basis, the tathāgatagarbha is not the Buddha's own teaching either. Taken together, all ten dharma-realms are, alike, negated: negating the six ordinary destinies' own dharma-realms shows that the "empty" tathāgatagarbha cannot be defiled by any defiled phenomenon; negating the four sagely paths' own dharma-realms shows that it cannot be purified by any pure phenomenon either — this is what is meant by "filling everything, pure, admitting nothing else at all" — the meaning of true emptiness.

Sūtra: Because of being negated in every one of these ways, mundane and transcendent alike, the tathāgatagarbha is exactly this original, bright, wondrous mind. It is exactly mind, exactly emptiness, exactly earth, water, wind, and fire; exactly the eye, the ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; exactly form, sound, fragrance, flavor, touch, and mental phenomena; exactly the element of eye-consciousness, and so on, through exactly the element of mind-consciousness. Exactly ignorance, and the ending of ignorance, and so on, through exactly old age, exactly death, and the ending of old age and death. Exactly suffering, exactly its origin, exactly its cessation, exactly the path, exactly wisdom, exactly attainment. Exactly giving, exactly moral discipline, exactly diligence, exactly patience, exactly meditation, exactly wisdom, exactly the very crossing to the far shore. And so on, through exactly the Tathāgata, exactly the Worthy One, the Perfectly, Universally Awakened One, exactly great nirvāṇa, exactly permanence, exactly bliss, exactly self, exactly purity.

Commentary: The first two lines connect what came before to what follows: "mundane" means the six ordinary destinies, "transcendent" means the four sagely paths. "Negated in every one of these ways": because the "empty" tathāgatagarbha's own still, quiescent substance, pure and unmoved from the start, establishes not a single phenomenon at all, it is thereby able to become the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha, affirmed in every phenomenon's own function — exactly like a wish-fulfilling pearl, whose substance is neither blue, yellow, red, nor white, and is thereby able, following conditions, to manifest any color at all.

"The tathāgatagarbha is exactly this original, bright, wondrous mind": precisely because its own inherently wondrous, still substance is, throughout, none of these phenomena, it is thereby able to give rise to its own original, bright, illuminating function, universally becoming exactly every phenomenon. "Original, bright" means this inherently bright, illuminating function — like a wish-fulfilling pearl, whose light already contains this illuminating function within it. And calling this "wondrous mind" shows precisely that this function is contained within the substance itself, never a function fixed in mere existence.

What follows now affirms all ten dharma-realms as exactly this same tathāgatagarbha: not only exactly the four sagely paths, but exactly the six ordinary destinies as well — defiled and pure alike included, sage and ordinary being alike equal, the seven great elements and eighteen elements all, alike, exactly this tathāgatagarbha mind. Hence the twenty-five sages, each cultivating by way of one of these, all, alike, realize perfect penetration — that is, realize entry into the tathāgatagarbha mind itself. Every phenomenon and appearance here matches exactly the "empty" tathāgatagarbha's own list, with only "neither" changed to "exactly" throughout: this affirms worldly phenomena; this affirms the pratyekabuddha's own teaching; this affirms the śrāvaka's own teaching; this affirms the bodhisattva's own teaching; this affirms the Tathāgata's own teaching. All ten dharma-realms above lie nowhere outside the one true Dharma-realm; every phenomenon of these ten dharma-realms takes, as its own substance, nothing but the tathāgatagarbha mind's own substance. Apart from this mind, not a single fragment of anything at all could be found — this is what is meant by every speck of dust interpenetrating every other, every phenomenon perfectly penetrating every other, the one truth unmoved, its application without limit — exactly like a wish-fulfilling pearl, universally manifesting every color — the meaning of true non-emptiness.

Sūtra: Because of being affirmed in every one of these ways, mundane and transcendent alike, the tathāgatagarbha is exactly this original, wondrous, bright mind's own source. It departs from both "is" and "is not" — and is, at once, both "is" and "is not."

Commentary: "Because" points to the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha's own function, perfectly illuminating, universally manifesting following conditions, abandoning not a single phenomenon, affirmed in every one of the ten dharma-realms, mundane and transcendent, sage and ordinary being alike — and follows directly from the "empty" tathāgatagarbha discussed before it, being the very reason it becomes the "empty-and-non-empty" tathāgatagarbha. "The tathāgatagarbha is exactly this original, wondrous, bright mind's own source": the "empty" tathāgatagarbha called "inherently wondrous," with emphasis on the word "wondrous"; the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha called "originally bright," with emphasis on the word "bright"; combined here as "inherently wondrous, inherently bright" — and, since this brightness and wondrousness are inherently possessed by one's own mind, called "the mind's own source." "Source" means exactly "root": substance and function both manifest at once, stillness and illumination not two — precisely revealing the perfectly interfused middle way, doubly negating and doubly illuminating together. Like a wish-fulfilling pearl: speak of it as existing, and it is a single stretch of purity, not the faintest speck of dust to be found; speak of it as empty, and every appearance stands clearly distinct, manifesting universally wherever conditions call. This is precisely what is meant by true emptiness never obstructing wondrous existence, wondrous existence never obstructing true emptiness — this is the original mind.

This is exactly the middle way, the first principle of ultimate meaning, the true, ultimate nature within the ultimate truth, and exactly the one vehicle's own ground of quiescent extinction. "Departs from both 'is' and 'is not'" — departing from the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha's own "is exactly" every phenomenon is departing from existence; departing from the "empty" tathāgatagarbha's own "is not" any phenomenon is departing from emptiness — doubly negating both extremes, to reveal the one mind's own substance, never fixed in either. "Is, at once, both 'is' and 'is not'": "is" all ten dharma-realms illuminates the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha, illuminating existence; "is not" all ten dharma-realms illuminates the "empty" tathāgatagarbha, illuminating emptiness — doubly illuminating both extremes, to reveal the one mind's own function, mutually interfusing emptiness and existence together.

This sūtra, from Ānanda's setting aside falseness to seek truth, asking the Buddha to bring forth his own wondrous, bright mind, has been revealing exactly these three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha as a single mind, from the very start. The Buddha began by pointing this out from the eye-faculty, the ten displays fully revealing its truth, the two kinds of false seeing briefly dissecting its falseness; then, from within the sense-faculty, extended and broadened this, universally harmonizing the four categories, thoroughly interfusing the seven great elements. Ānanda and the assembly, each coming to know for themselves that mind pervades the ten directions, ever-abiding, never perishing — this was awakening to the "empty" tathāgatagarbha in its proper sequence, already accomplishing the sudden meaning, though the perfect meaning had not yet been revealed.

Then, through Pūrṇa's question about the causes of the three continuities, the Tathāgata answered that "the nature of awareness is necessarily bright" is the very fault behind them — revealing the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha in its proper sequence. At this point, substance and function had already both been supplied, the perfect meaning already showing through, though not yet fully manifested. Then, in answering Pūrṇa's challenge about how the five great elements interfuse, the Buddha showed the twofold unobstructed principle of nature and appearance — as for nature's own boundless, inconceivable, wondrous function, and appearance's own thoroughly interfused, inconceivable, wondrous substance, these had still not yet been fully revealed. Only now, contrasting the two kinds of dependent origination by way of the deluded-or-awakened mind, and fully manifesting the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha's own nature by way of the original mind, has the revelation of principle reached this point — one may say it has penetrated through to the very bottom of the Dharma's own stream, exhausted the very source of the ocean of nature.

Yet this one mind, complete with the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha, is exactly the Śūraṅgama samādhi — something every single being already inherently possesses, deluded and unaware of it. One must give rise to śamatha's own subtle, secret contemplation before perfect awakening can occur. In the first three fascicles, the Buddha brought Ānanda and the assembly to know for themselves that this mind pervades and fills the ten directions, ever-abiding, never perishing — this was the achievement of subtle, secret contemplation. In these fascicles, on account of Pūrṇa's own questions, the Buddha taught the causes of the three continuities, and the reason the five great elements interfuse, gathering everything back into the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha, brought to their ultimate point in the one mind — illuminating fully to the very source of mind, every single phenomenon ultimately firm and unshaken. Only now may one truly believe that Śūraṅgama is one's own self-nature's own inherent, natural samādhi, not something brought about through cultivation at all.

Sūtra: How could it be that beings of the three modes of existence in the world, and śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas beyond the world, using the mind's own capacity to know, could ever measure and gauge the Tathāgata's own unsurpassed bodhi — or, using the world's own language, ever enter the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing?

Commentary: "How could it be" expresses a reproach. "Beings of the three modes of existence in the world": the three modes are the existence of desire, of form, and of formlessness — that is, the three realms. "World" here refers to the sentient world of the three modes of existence; together with those who have transcended the three realms, the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas — that is, the two vehicles beyond the world, who have already awakened to the principle of the emptiness of self — combined together, ordinary beings and the Lesser Vehicle.

"Using the mind's own capacity to know, could ever measure and gauge the Tathāgata's own unsurpassed bodhi": using this deluded, discriminating mind, one wishes to measure and calculate the Tathāgata's own realized, unsurpassed bodhi — the ultimate fruit of the threefold wisdom's perfect awakening. As the Lotus Sūtra says: "the wisdom I have attained is subtle, wondrous, and foremost of all" — exactly this same three-aspect tathāgatagarbha as a single mind the Buddha has realized. This mind is known by no consciousness, measured by no ordinary mind — only suchness's own wisdom can possibly unite with it — how, then, could the discriminating, knowing mind ever falsely presume to measure and gauge it at all?

"Using the world's own language, ever enter the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing": using the world's own language of causes-and-conditions, spontaneity, combination, non-combination, mutual destruction, and failing to hold one another, one wishes to enter the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing. This "Buddha's own knowledge and seeing" does not refer to the threefold wisdom and fivefold eye the Buddha has attained, but to this same one mind, complete with the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha, already possessed within sentient beings' own six sense-faculties. "Unsurpassed bodhi" above speaks in terms of the fruit; "the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing" here speaks in terms of the cause — revealing that this one mind is equal between sentient beings and buddhas alike. This causal mind is exactly the Tathāgata's own hidden cause — only a great, perfect understanding fully opened can possibly unite with it. How, then, could one hope to enter it using merely the world's own language?

This passage means: this original, wondrous, aware mind, whether spoken of at the causal stage of original enlightenment or at the fruit-stage of wondrous enlightenment, is, in either case, inconceivable. As the ancients said: "atop Sumeru's own summit, discussion has never once been permitted; only at the second peak down do the patriarchs allow a little conversation." Question: "The Buddha's own knowledge and seeing plainly names the Buddha — why, then, is it spoken of here in terms of sentient beings' own causal stage?" Answer: "The Lotus Sūtra says: 'the Buddha appears in the world for the sake of one great cause and condition alone.' The first of these is to open sentient beings' own Buddha-knowledge-and-seeing, that they may attain its purity. This is enough to show that the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing is exactly this unborn, unceasing nature sentient beings already inherently possess within their own six sense-faculties."

In an old story, someone once asked a good teacher: "What is the Buddha?" The teacher answered: "In the eye, it is called seeing; in the ear, hearing; in the nose, smelling; in the tongue, tasting; in the body, sensing; in the mind, knowing." This points to the sense-faculty's own nature as exactly the Buddha's knowledge and seeing. Sentient beings, though inherently possessing this already, have each buried it beneath the dust and defilement of the world — hence the Buddha's purpose in opening up this inherently possessed Buddha-knowledge-and-seeing, that it may attain its purity.

The second reason is to show sentient beings the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing. In this very sūtra, the Buddha's own pointing to Ānanda's eye-faculty — unmoving, unchanging, never lost, having nowhere to return to, down through "seeing seeing itself is not seeing" — is exactly this showing of the Buddha's knowledge and seeing. The third reason is to bring sentient beings to awaken to the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing. In this sūtra, the Buddha, for Ānanda's sake, points this out beginning from within the sense-faculty, then goes on to harmonize the ten thousand phenomena, bringing this one mind, complete with the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha, to its purest point. The fourth reason is to bring sentient beings to enter the path of the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing — this is exactly this sūtra's own aim: to bring Ānanda, on the strength of this perfect understanding, to give rise to perfect cultivation, and attain perfect realization, proceeding directly to unsurpassed bodhi.

"The Buddha's own knowledge and seeing," now shown to point to the sense-faculty's own nature, is not something unique to our own Buddha — the Buddhas of the ten directions are all exactly the same. A later passage, in fascicle 5, has the Buddhas of the ten directions, all speaking with one voice, tell Ānanda: "Excellent, Ānanda! Now, if you wish to know the very root of the knot that binds you to birth and death, it is nothing but your own six sense-faculties, and nothing else; and if you further wish to know unsurpassed bodhi, it is likewise nothing but your own six sense-faculties, and nothing else." Ānanda asks the Buddha about this, and the Buddha explains: "establishing knowing upon knowing and seeing is exactly the root of ignorance; knowing and seeing with no further knowing established upon them is exactly nirvāṇa, undefiled, true, and pure" — this, too, plainly points to the sense-faculty's own nature as exactly the Buddha's own knowledge and seeing.

Sūtra: "It is like the qín, the sè, the kōnghóu, and the pípá: though each possesses a wondrous sound within it, without a skillful hand to play it, that sound could never be brought forth at all. You, and every sentient being, are exactly the same. This treasured, aware, true mind is, in each and every one of you, perfectly complete — just as, when I press my own finger to the strings, the ocean-seal samādhi's own light is brought forth at once. Yet you, the moment you raise a single thought, find the dust and toil of affliction arising first instead — all because you have never diligently sought the unsurpassed path of awakening, but, cherishing instead the Lesser Vehicle, have been satisfied with the smallest attainment."

Commentary: This raises the analogy. The qín is named for restraining excess and desire, to return to proper elegance — three feet six inches long, representing the year's three hundred sixty days, twelve markers representing the twelve pitch-standards, originally five strings representing the five notes. The sè is named for its rustling clarity, its sound clear and soft, with twenty-five strings. The kōnghóu has fourteen strings, made by the musician Shi Yan, its sound arising, as it were, from emptiness itself. The pípá has four strings, played by pushing the hand forward and drawing it back, named for this very motion of the fingers. These four kinds of stringed instrument all illustrate the ordinary being, the non-Buddhist practitioner, the śrāvaka, and the pratyekabuddha, each possessing this same wondrous substance, the one mind complete with the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha — this substance already complete with wondrous function, just as the instrument already possesses a wondrous sound within it; yet, without a skillful hand to play it well, no sound can ever be brought forth — illustrating that, though ordinary beings and the Lesser Vehicle already possess this tathāgatagarbha mind, complete with wondrous function, without a wondrous wisdom to unite with this same principle, that wondrous function, too, will never be brought forth at all.

This applies the analogy directly: the first line refers to ordinary beings, non-Buddhist practitioners, and the two vehicles. "This treasured, aware, true mind" is exactly the tathāgatagarbha mind — this mind's own nature of awareness is wondrously bright, exactly like a wish-fulfilling pearl, its substance inherently wondrous, its function inherently bright, substance and function perfectly interfused — this is what is meant by the "true mind." Ordinary beings and the two vehicles each already possess, perfectly complete, this same mind — if only there were a wondrous wisdom present, its wondrous function would necessarily be brought forth. "Just as, when I press my own finger to the strings, the ocean-seal samādhi's own light is brought forth at once": the Buddha here offers himself as the example — the Buddha, possessing this wondrous wisdom, has realized this wondrous mind's own substance, and, in accordance with this substance, gives rise to its function. The ocean-seal samādhi is exactly the Buddha's own mind-samādhi; the Avataṃsaka's own "Worthy Head" chapter says: "sentient beings' own forms and images, each differing from the next, their karmic actions and voices likewise beyond number — all of this, every one, is able to manifest, through the awesome, spiritual power of the ocean-seal samādhi." One should understand from this that a settled, still mind takes shape in response to whatever it meets — exactly as the still, clear surface of the ocean reflects every image within it — hence this name.

The Buddha's own mind, the ocean-seal samādhi's light brought forth, this great function now manifest, illuminates and breaks through every falseness, returns to the very source of mind, realizes unsurpassed bodhi to its utmost, and illuminates and sees that beings across all nine realms equally possess this same Buddha-knowledge-and-seeing. "Yet you, the moment you raise a single thought, find the dust and toil of affliction arising first instead": this refers to Pūrṇa, and to ordinary beings and the two vehicles — though equally possessing this tathāgatagarbha mind, containing this wondrous function within it, lacking this wondrous wisdom, this wondrous function is never brought forth; the moment a single thought is raised, every phenomenon discriminated is taken as existing outside the mind, taken as genuinely real — and so the dust and toil of affliction is drawn forth, and there comes to be the appearance of the world.

This traces the cause of why this wondrous function is never brought forth, and the dust and toil of affliction is drawn forth instead: because, at the very start of resolving one's mind, one never gives rise to the mind diligently seeking unsurpassed bodhi. Sanskrit bodhi translates as "the path of awakening," the very buddha-path realized by our great, awakened World-Honored One. But cherishing instead the Lesser Vehicle, easy to cultivate and easy to realize — even should you succeed in exhausting every outflow, beyond further training, complete with the six supernatural powers, attaining a certain omniscience, this still belongs only to the phantom city's own false treasure, a firefly's dim light of lesser wisdom — and you, satisfied with this smallest attainment, thereby lack this wondrous wisdom, unable to bring forth this wondrous function — how does this differ at all from the qín and sè, unable to bring forth their wondrous sound without a skillful hand to play them?

Sūtra: Pūrṇa said: "My own treasured, aware, perfectly bright, true, wondrous, pure mind is, together with the Tathāgata's own, without any difference, equally perfect and complete. And yet I, in the past, encountered beginningless false thought, and have long remained caught in the cycle of rebirth; now, having attained the sagely vehicle, I have still not reached its very end. The World-Honored One, by contrast, has entirely and perfectly extinguished every falseness, uniquely wondrous, true, and constant. I dare to ask the Tathāgata: for what reason do all sentient beings come to have this falseness at all, obscuring their own wondrous brightness of themselves, and undergoing this long submersion?"

Commentary: Pūrṇa, having heard earlier that the ten thousand phenomena arise and continue on account of ignorance, now wishes to search out ignorance's own cause, meaning to strive in cultivation to sever it. He does not realize that, while every other falseness can indeed have its cause traced, this ignorance alone, being the very root of every falseness, has no further cause behind it at all. Earlier, in the passage on the confused person mistaking south for north, the Buddha had already made clear that this confusion — that is, ignorance — has no root at all, its nature ultimately empty; Pūrṇa still has not fully grasped this, and asks about it again here. Pūrṇa's own intention, having just been reproached by the Buddha for never diligently seeking unsurpassed bodhi, cherishing instead the Lesser Vehicle, satisfied with the smallest attainment, is now to turn from the Lesser Vehicle toward the Great, seeking out the cause of falseness, uprooting it and stopping it at its very source, hoping thereby to reach the ultimate end of the sagely vehicle.

"Pūrṇa said: my own... together with the Tathāgata's own": this compares himself directly with the Buddha, the true mind being equal between them — and, by the same reasoning, all buddhas and sentient beings alike. "Treasured, aware, perfectly bright, true, wondrous, pure mind": exactly the Buddha's own earlier phrase "treasured, aware, true mind," here adding four further qualities. This original enlightenment's own true mind, likened to a wish-fulfilling pearl, is called "treasured awareness"; its substance, perfectly complete and pure, untouched by a single speck of dust, still belongs to the "empty" tathāgatagarbha; its function, bright and thoroughly illuminating, leaving not a single phenomenon out, still belongs to the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha; "wondrous" doubly illuminates both extremes, emptiness and existence, and "pure" doubly negates both extremes — still belonging to the "empty-and-non-empty" tathāgatagarbha. This one mind, complete with the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha, is, between myself and the Tathāgata, without any difference, equally perfect and complete — sentient beings and buddhas equal alike.

"And yet I, in the past, encountered beginningless false thought, and have long remained caught in the cycle of rebirth": this narrates his own long confusion — "in the past" refers to a time long ago, when truth first gave rise to falseness, and he came to be misled by this same beginningless false thought. "Beginningless false thought" is exactly ignorance: ignorance is called "confusion," also called "folly" — spoken of as "beginningless ignorance," it names the very first mark of folly itself; spoken of as "beginningless false thought," it names the stirring mark within this same confusion. Pūrṇa, a follower of the Lesser Vehicle, knows only the six consciousnesses — how could he know of this beginningless ignorance, this false thought? Having heard the Buddha's earlier answer, teaching that "the nature of awareness is necessarily bright; mistakenly, this becomes 'awareness that is bright,'" this ignorance born of false brightness, this false thought born of false awareness, is exactly this fundamental false thought, falseness compounding upon falseness — hence the sudden arising of world, sentient beings, and karma-fruit. "Have long remained caught in the cycle of rebirth" receives the earlier passages on sentient-being continuity and karma-fruit continuity.

"Now, having attained the sagely vehicle, I have still not reached its very end": how fortunate to have, in this present life, encountered the Tathāgata, and, following the Dharma, cultivated and studied, realized the sagely vehicle — this being exactly the fourth fruit, beyond further training, nirvāṇa with residue remaining, ignorance still fully present, not yet reaching nirvāṇa without residue, the ultimate fruit of awakening. "The World-Honored One, by contrast, has entirely and perfectly extinguished every falseness, uniquely wondrous, true, and constant": "every falseness" refers to false delusion, false karma, and false retribution, the three hindrances entirely and perfectly extinguished without remainder — exactly nirvāṇa, the fruit of severing; alone attaining this wondrously aware true mind, delusion purified, wisdom perfected, true and constant, unchanging — exactly bodhi, the fruit of wisdom. This directly compares himself with the Buddha: in terms of their root, this treasured, aware, true mind is, between them, without any difference, equally perfect and complete; in terms of their outward trace, nirvāṇa with residue versus its ultimate completion stand worlds apart — nothing but the obstruction caused by this same subtle delusion of ignorance.

This directly seeks the cause of falseness. He dares to ask the Tathāgata: for what reason do sentient beings throughout the ten directions come to have this beginningless false thought, obscuring, of themselves, this wondrous, pure, perfectly bright true mind, complete with the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha, and undergo this long submersion in the cycle of rebirth — coming to diverge into two, when they were, originally, no different at all from the Tathāgata?

Sūtra: The Buddha said to Pūrṇa: "Though you have dispelled your doubt, some remaining delusion is not yet exhausted. Let me now ask you further, by way of an ordinary matter drawn from the world before us. Have you not heard? In the city of Śrāvastī there was a man named Yajñadatta. One morning, quite suddenly, he took up a mirror to look at his own face, and, delighting in the head he saw reflected in the mirror, with its eyebrows and eyes so clearly visible, he flew into a rage at his own actual head for failing to show him its own face and eyes — and, convinced that he had become some kind of goblin or demon, he ran off in a mad panic, for no reason at all. What do you think — for what reason did this man run off in a mad panic, for no reason at all?" Pūrṇa said: "This man's own mind simply went mad — there is no other reason for it at all."

Commentary: "Though you have dispelled your doubt": Pūrṇa's first doubt, about the cause of how the ten thousand phenomena arise and continue, has already been dispelled; his second doubt, about why the five great elements interfuse, has likewise already been dispelled; and knowing, further, that his own treasured, aware, true mind is, together with the Buddha's own, without any difference, his greater doubts, then, are already dispelled. "Some remaining delusion is not yet exhausted": there still remains a delusion about the cause of falseness not yet exhausted — failing to grasp that falseness, at root, has no cause at all, he still wishes to force out an answer, meaning to strive in cultivation to sever it. The Buddha, wishing to uproot this remaining doubt, specifically draws on an actual event as an analogy, so that the doctrine may be grasped by way of the analogy.

This raises the analogy and settles the point directly. Hence the question: have you not heard, in the city of Śrāvastī, of this man named Yajñadatta — translated "received at the shrine," since his parents prayed to the spirits at a shrine for his birth, and so he was named accordingly. One morning, quite suddenly, taking up a mirror to look at his own face, delighting in the head he saw reflected in the mirror, its eyebrows and eyes so clearly visible, he instead flew into a rage at his own actual head, for failing to show him its own face and eyes, and, convinced he had become some kind of goblin or mountain demon, ran off in a mad panic, for no reason at all. This event is cited here solely for the sake of this particular line as an analogy: running off in a mad panic stands for ignorance, that very first single thought falsely stirring; "for no reason at all" stands for ignorance having no cause at all. Hence the question to Pūrṇa: in your own understanding, for what reason did this man run off in a mad panic, for no reason at all? He answers: this man's own mind simply went mad — his own mind, of itself, for no reason at all, went mad, and there is no other reason for it at all. The Buddha wishes him to examine and awaken to this for himself, grasping the doctrine by way of the analogy.

Sūtra: The Buddha said: "This wondrous, aware, bright, complete substance — originally complete, bright, and wondrous — once something is called false, how could it possibly have a real cause at all? And if it did have a real cause, how could it still be called false? Ever since, false thought upon false thought, each in turn causing the next, confusion piling upon confusion, through kalpas as numerous as dust motes — even the Buddha's own clarification cannot make it turn back on itself."

Commentary: This applies the point that ignorance has no cause to the analogy of running off in a mad panic for no reason at all. This passage states directly that there is no cause at all: the first two lines raise the true substance depended on — falseness arises dependent on truth; though truth is what falseness depends on, truth itself never actually gives rise to falseness.

"This wondrous, aware, bright, complete substance — originally complete, bright, and wondrous": "awareness" here is exactly the treasured, aware, true mind, complete with the three qualities of wondrousness, brightness, and completeness — that is, exactly the one mind, complete with the three aspects of the tathāgatagarbha. "Wondrous" is the still substance, belonging to the "empty" tathāgatagarbha; "bright" is the illuminating function, belonging to the "non-empty" tathāgatagarbha; "complete" is substance and function both manifest at once, belonging to the "empty-and-non-empty" tathāgatagarbha. These three aspects are exactly the original mind, hence all three qualities are, alike, inherent from the start, needing no cultivation at all, originally free of any falseness.

"Once something is called false" and the three lines that follow: once something is named "false," it is, naturally, not real — how, then, could it have a real cause at all? And if it did have a real cause, it would, naturally, have a real substance of its own — how, then, could it still be called "false"?

This explains that the cause of falseness cannot be stated, being beginningless. "Ever since, false thought upon false thought" refers to this beginningless false thought, falseness compounding upon falseness, each in turn depending on the one before, the three subtle and four coarse marks each, in turn, depending on the ones prior. "Confusion piling upon confusion": the first "confusion" here is exactly beginningless ignorance; the second refers to the three subtle and four coarse marks. A point worth clarifying here: are beginningless ignorance and beginningless false thought one and the same, or two different things? One should understand: beginningless ignorance is the very first mark of folly — that is, non-awakening, confusion itself; beginningless false thought is the very first mark of stirring — neither strictly one, nor strictly two. The true mind is like the ocean's own water; ignorance is like the wind; false thought is like the water's own stirring motion. Water, in itself, does not stir — it stirs because of the wind; the appearance of wind and the appearance of water never actually separate from each other. The water's motion comes from the wind; the wind's motion is seen through the water — so the wind's motion is exactly the water's motion, and the water's motion is exactly the wind's motion; ignorance and false thought are, likewise, neither strictly one nor strictly two. Wherever truth is confused, that is exactly ignorance; wherever something merely seeming is clung to, that is exactly false thought. The treatise says: "because of non-awakening, mind stirs" — non-awakening is beginningless ignorance, and mind's stirring is beginningless false thought, both present at one and the same moment, neither one having any first mark that can be found at all — hence "beginningless."

"Through kalpas as numerous as dust motes": precisely because of this delusion of false thought and ignorance, karma is initiated and its retribution received — cause summoning fruit, birth and death never resting, passing through kalpas as numerous as dust motes. Though the Buddha has clarified this in every possible way, every falseness has, as its cause, this same ignorance, and yet the Buddha cannot trace ignorance itself back to any further cause. Why? Because ignorance has no cause at all — hence it cannot be stated.

Sūtra: "This being so, the cause of confusion exists only because of confusion itself — and, once one recognizes that confusion has no cause at all, this falseness has nothing left to depend on, and there is not even any arising of it to be found, let alone anything to be extinguished. Those who have attained bodhi are like a person now awake, telling of what happened in a dream: however lucid and clear his mind may be, by what possible means could he ever take hold of an object from within that dream and hand it to someone else? How much more so, then, given that it has no cause at all, originally possessing nothing whatsoever — exactly like that man Yajñadatta in the city: was there ever any real cause or condition behind his terror over his own head, running off in a panic? The moment his madness subsided, his head was found to be exactly where it always was — not obtained from anywhere outside himself at all. And, even while his madness had not yet subsided, when was his head ever actually lost in the first place? Pūrṇa, the nature of falseness being exactly as I have described, on what basis could it be said to exist at all?"

Commentary: This explains that the substance of falseness, never truly born, cannot be taken hold of at all. "Exists only because of confusion itself" should not be read as meaning that confusion gives rise to further confusion — confusion does not give rise to confusion, so how could one say it "exists because of confusion itself"? This cause of falseness, precisely because of confusion and delusion, failing to realize it has no cause at all, constantly comes to seem as though it exists — not genuinely real, but merely seeming to exist. As an earlier passage put it: "it was never truly there to begin with — it only seemed as though awareness had become confused." "And, once one recognizes that confusion has no cause at all, this falseness has nothing left to depend on": if one recognizes that confusion, at root, has no cause of arising at all, then the cause of falseness is, at root, nonexistent, and the substance of falseness is likewise empty — hence it has nothing to depend on, and there is not even any cause for falseness's own arising to be found — what, then, would there be left to extinguish? This says that, while sentient beings remain in confusion, this confusion was never, at root, actually born at all; and, when the buddhas cultivate and realize the path, this same confusion is not actually extinguished either, since the substance of falseness is, at root, empty.

"Those who have attained bodhi" refers to the buddhas who have already attained the fruit of unsurpassed bodhi, the long night's dream broken through — like a person now awake from a dream, telling of what happened within it: however lucid and clear his mind may be, by what possible means could he take hold of an actual object from within that dream and hand it to someone else, since the dream's own scene was, from the start, empty, never possessing anything real at all? The Buddha is exactly the same: the five abidings of affliction, his own dream, broken through, like a person now awake, complete with the threefold wisdom. Just as his mind is lucid and clear, teaching sentient beings about ignorance and false thought is exactly like a person now awake describing a dream — however much he may describe it, by what possible means could he take hold of the substance of this falseness and hand it to someone else?

"How much more so" takes up the dream analogy just given: if even an object from within a dream cannot be taken hold of, how much more so this false thought, which, from the start, has no cause at all, this substance of falseness, which, from the start, possesses nothing whatsoever. "That man Yajñadatta in the city: was there ever any real cause or condition behind his terror over his own head, running off in a panic?" — this shows terror arising of itself, with no cause behind it at all; his losing his head and running off in a mad panic matches this same point that the cause of falseness is, at root, empty. "The moment his madness subsided, his head was found to be exactly where it always was — not obtained from anywhere outside himself at all": even while his madness had not yet subsided, at the very moment he was running about in a panic searching for his head, when was his head ever actually lost at all? — this matches the point that the substance of falseness is likewise empty. The head here stands for truth; the madness for falseness. Master Jiaoguang notes: had his head truly ever been lost and regained, this could not properly be called "madness" at all — matched to the doctrine, had wondrous awareness truly ever been lost and regained, this could not properly be called "falseness" at all. Here, its subsiding was never anything obtained from outside himself, and, before it subsided, nothing was actually ever lost either — proof enough that the substance of falseness never, in truth, existed at all.

This explains that the very substance and nature of ignorance and false thought, being exactly as described, cannot even be found to begin with — so how, then, could one possibly go on seeking its cause? Hence: "on what basis could it be said to exist at all?"

Sūtra: "You need only stop following after discrimination, and the three continuities — world, karma-fruit, and sentient beings — with their three conditions severed, will no longer give rise to their three causes. And then, within your own mind, the very madness of Yajñadatta will subside of itself — and this subsiding is itself bodhi. This supremely pure, bright mind, originally pervading the whole Dharma-realm, is never obtained from anyone else — why, then, should you need such toil and labor, such painstaking effort, to cultivate and realize it?"

Commentary: Pūrṇa, having reached the fourth fruit, has already broken through his clinging to a self, yet his clinging to phenomena still remains — hence his two earlier doubts. The Buddha has answered each in turn, tracing everything back to that very first single thought of ignorance as the fault — and so Pūrṇa now seeks out the cause of this falseness, meaning to strive in cultivation to sever it. The Buddha answers, once more, that the cause of falseness is, at root, empty, and its substance is likewise empty — why, then, painstakingly seek to cultivate its severing at all? And so he tells him: you need only stop following after discrimination, and that alone will suffice!

"Stop following after discrimination" is exactly the very starting point for cultivating the great Śūraṅgama samādhi. This "discrimination" is exactly the false mind capable of discriminating, belonging to the nature of universal conceptual clinging; "the world" and the rest that follow are exactly the false circumstance discriminated, belonging to the dependently-arisen nature, established in dependence on ignorance's own fundamental false phenomena. What is dependently arisen is, like an illusion, empty in its very substance — not only is the dependent phenomenon itself empty, but the ignorance it depends on is, at root, empty as well. Hence simply not following after this false circumstance, and not giving rise to this discriminating, false mind, is exactly emptying out every instance of universal conceptual clinging. Once these three kinds of conditioning mind are severed, present action no longer perfumes the seed, and the very causes capable of giving rise to the three continuities likewise no longer arise — the seed itself no longer sprouts! Exactly like a tree fallen, its root severed, never growing again. Or again, like grain, wheat, and beans: their seeds serve as cause, but water and soil must serve as condition before they can sprout at all — now, with these three conditions severed, it is as though there were no water or soil: though the seed remains, it has no way to sprout.

Earlier, Yajñadatta's own terror over his head, running off in a panic, stood for beginningless ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of every false phenomenon — and now, these three conditions severed, their three causes no longer arising, cause and condition alike cut off entirely, this fundamental ignorance within your own mind will subside of its own accord, its very madness settling to rest. The Zhèngmài commentary says: the word "subside" carries a double sense, both suppression and severance — in the sense of suppression, it means the completed mind of the ten faiths, perfectly suppressing ignorance; in the sense of severance, it means the final mind of equal enlightenment, forever severing ignorance.

The four lines "and this subsiding is itself bodhi" and what follows show falseness extinguished, truth revealed — realization without anything realized, attainment without anything attained. "This subsiding is itself bodhi": note the word "itself" — the very moment the false mind is stilled is exactly the very moment the true mind stands revealed, exactly as clouds part to reveal the moon, original enlightenment emerging from its own entanglement, the threefold wisdom's perfect awakening, this supremely pure, bright mind being exactly the very substance of bodhi — incomparably supreme, pure and undefiled, its light illuminating everywhere, originally pervading the whole Dharma-realm. This mind, while confused, was never truly lost, though it seemed lost; and, once realized, there is nothing gained that was not already had, and yet it counts as gaining — this is one's own inherently possessed family treasure, never obtained from anyone else.

This supremely pure, bright mind attained here carries two senses as well — "initial resolve" and "ultimate completion" — set against the earlier "perfect suppression" and "perfect severance." Perfect suppression of ignorance belongs to the stage of the ten faiths, breaking through one grade of ignorance, ascending to the abiding of initial resolve — this is bodhi at the level of initial resolve. Perfect severance of ignorance belongs to the final mind of equal enlightenment, breaking through all forty-two grades of ignorance entirely, realizing the ultimate fruit of wondrous enlightenment — this is bodhi at the level of ultimate completion.

For an ordinary being of great resolve, possessing sudden faculties, though still at the stage of contemplative practice, perfectly suppressing the five abidings of affliction, personally beholding this bodhi, this supremely pure, bright mind, is no different at all from what is realized at the levels of initial resolve or ultimate completion. As a patriarch said: "simply leave deluded conditions behind, and one is, just as one is, already a buddha" — exactly this mad mind subsiding all at once, this subsiding itself being bodhi. It is only revealed through this subsiding, never produced by it — it is one's own inherently possessed, naturally given truth.

"Why, then, should you need such toil and labor, such painstaking effort, to cultivate and realize it?": this concludes by reproaching the very intention to strive in cultivation. Since the true mind is already inherently possessed, and ignorance is, at root, empty, there is no falseness left to sever, and no truth left to attain — why, then, should such toil and labor be needed at all? The Buddha's own point is: once one can simply understand that falseness is, at root, empty, falseness empty and truth revealed — why should one need to search out the cause of falseness, and toil painstakingly at severing it, hoping thereby to realize entry into truth at all?

This passage belongs to the sudden teaching's own Dharma-gate, pointing directly to the single, topmost step: no cultivation, no realization — this must be well understood, and not misread. There are always those of a reckless, false wisdom who, clinging only to the notion that bodhi is already inherently possessed, that mind itself is exactly Buddha, dismiss cultivation and realization altogether — turning the finest ghee into poison! One should understand: buddhahood, though already so, must still be cultivated; delusion, though originally empty, must still be severed. Cultivation and realization are not, then, simply absent — and yet defilement is, in the end, never actually attained either. Cultivation without cultivation, and yet cultivation is exactly no cultivation; severance without severance, and yet severance is exactly no severance — only this accords with this sūtra's own teaching of complete-meaning cultivation and realization. "Stop following after discrimination" is exactly cultivation without cultivation; "the very madness will subside of itself" is exactly severance without severance; "this supremely pure, bright mind, originally pervading the whole Dharma-realm" is exactly realization without realization.

Sūtra: "It is like a man who has a wish-fulfilling jewel sewn into the lining of his own robe, without knowing it is there — reduced to poverty, wandering to distant lands, begging and running about. Though genuinely destitute, he never actually lost the jewel. When a wise person suddenly points it out to him, every wish comes true, and he becomes greatly wealthy — only then realizing that this wondrous jewel was never obtained from anywhere outside himself."

Commentary: The man stands for the ordinary being and the Lesser Vehicle; the robe stands for ignorance, both fundamental and derivative; the wish-fulfilling pearl stands for bodhi, this supremely pure, bright mind. "Without knowing it is there": the true mind, covered over layer upon layer by coarse and fine affliction alike, is confused, unaware of itself — never truly lost, though it seems lost. "Reduced to poverty, wandering to distant lands" stands for the phantom city of the three realms: "poverty" meaning destitute, possessing no Dharma-treasure, referring to the two vehicles sunk and stuck within this same phantom city, never bringing forth their own free, wondrous function; "exposed" meaning laid bare, with nowhere to shelter or take refuge, referring to ordinary beings sunk and drowning within the three realms, never finding a place to settle their own body and establish their own life. "Begging and running about": begging for the small benefit of tainted or untainted merit — though genuinely destitute, the pearl was never actually lost, standing for the fact that, though this wondrous function pervading the whole Dharma-realm was never brought forth, this true, bodhi mind was never actually lost either. The first four lines illustrate that, though truth is inherently possessed, it is unrecognized; the last four illustrate that, though truth remains within confusion, it is never actually lost.

"When a wise person suddenly points it out to him, every wish comes true, and he becomes greatly wealthy — only then realizing that this wondrous jewel was never obtained from anywhere outside himself": the wise person stands for the Buddha; pointing out the pearl stands for the Buddha's own teaching, pointing to the true mind. If one can suddenly awaken to this original mind, and, in accordance with this substance, give rise to its function, becoming greatly wealthy — this stands for this supremely pure, bright mind, originally pervading the whole Dharma-realm. "Only then realizing that this wondrous jewel was never obtained from anywhere outside himself" stands for the fact that, though truth is now awakened to, there is nothing actually gained — matching, in the analogy, the pearl, though the man was destitute, never actually being lost; and, since nothing was ever lost, there is nothing gained either — matching, in the doctrine, "never obtained from anyone else."

This section teaching immediate subsidence is exactly the perfect, sudden teaching's own point: knowing that truth is inherently possessed, and understanding that falseness is, at root, empty. Simply subsiding from madness, without any toil or painstaking effort at all, is exactly cultivation without cultivation — entirely the same point as the ear-faculty's own perfect penetration, the complete-meaning method of cultivation and realization, where this same subsiding from madness is concerned. Turning hearing back upon one's own nature, turning one's back on dust and uniting with awareness, is exactly this same "not following after discrimination," the three conditions cut off all at once. Untying the six knots in sequence, from coarse to fine, from shallow to deep, hearing entirely exhausted with nothing left to abide in, emptiness and awareness both perfected to the utmost, arising and ceasing both extinguished, arriving directly at quiescent extinction manifest — this is exactly the three causes no longer arising, the very madness of Yajñadatta within one's own mind subsiding of itself, this supremely pure, bright mind, originally pervading the whole Dharma-realm, functioning in accordance with its own substance, attaining great freedom — matching, in the analogy, the pearl sewn into the man's own robe, found exactly where it always was, every wish coming true, becoming greatly wealthy — the same as Avalokiteśvara attaining the two supreme qualities and bringing forth the three compassionate functions.

As for Pūrṇa's own capacity, one beyond further training, though his clinging to a self is already broken through, his clinging to phenomena remains unsevered — he, too, must begin from this same subsiding of madness. First breaking through the discriminating clinging to phenomena, no longer following after the arising of the three conditions — world, karma-fruit, sentient beings — the innate clinging to phenomena, together with these, ceases to arise, and only then do the three causes fail to arise at all, the very madness of Yajñadatta within his own mind subsiding of itself! The two words "not following" are exactly the effort behind this subsiding of madness — the same meaning as the Buddha's own earlier teaching on practice: "set aside what arises and ceases, and hold fast instead to what is ever-true and constant." The teaching of the empty-and-non-empty tathāgatagarbha, showing why everything interfuses, is complete. Together with the non-empty tathāgatagarbha discussed before it, the direct answer to Pūrṇa is complete.