From The Sutra of Hui-Neng, Grand Master of Zen: With Hui-Neng's Commentary on the Diamond Sutra. Everything italicized is from the Diamond Sutra proper, the rest is Hui-Neng's commentary. Let me know what you guys think of Hui-Neng's commentary.
Thus I liberate innumerable, countless, infinite beings through extinction, while in reality there are no beings attaining liberation through extinction.
"Thus" refers to the foregoing teaching; liberation through extinction is great release. Great release means afflictions, habit energies, and all karmic obstructions are completely extinct, with no remainder. This is called great liberation.
Innumerable, countless, infinite beings originally have their own individual afflictions of all kinds, greedy and angry bad karma: if this is not removed, they can never attain release. Therefore Buddha said, "Thus I liberate innumerable, countless, infinite beings through extinction."
When all confused people have realized their own essential nature, for the first time they will know Buddha does not entertain a self-image, and possesses no knowledge of his own -- when did he ever liberate beings?
It is just because ordinary people do not see their own original mind that they do not know what the Buddha meant -- they cling obsessively to the external appearances of things and do not arrive at the uncreated inner truth.
Those who are not free of egotistic personality are called "beings." If you detach from this illness, in reality there are no "beings" to attain liberation through extinction. Therefore it is said, "When there is no errant mind, you manifest enlightenment; samsara and nirvana are originally equal." What liberation through extinction is there?
u/Nimtrix1849 Thoughts:
"Thus" is the teaching, what about "not thus". Thomas Cleary has something to say about that:
To "study thus" means to receive communication directly from objective reality. To "study it as not thus" means to detach from subjective notions of reality.
Here, we reach the conclusion of the last part. To attain release, we must remove all of our individual afflictions. How? by realizing our own self-nature, turning the light backwards where there is no self-image, to the very buddha-nature within us all. As Hui-Neng says, this buddha-nature does not entertain a self-image at all, then who liberates beings?
Caught in egotistic personality, we are beings. When we're not caught, then what are we?
Submitted June 10, 2019 at 07:05PM by Nimtrix1849 http://bit.ly/2I52lH6
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