Wednesday, 14 November 2018

When one knows all forms to be empty,‭ then birth is identical with no-birth.

The Patriarch said to the assembly,‭ "All of you should believe that your mind is Buddha,‭ that this mind is identical with Buddha.‭ The Great Master Bodhidharma came from India to China,‭ and transmitted the One Mind teaching of Mahayana so that it can lead you all to awakening.‭ Fearing that you will be too confused and will not believe that this One Mind is inherent in all of you,‭ he used the Lankavatara Sutra to seal the sentient beings' mind-ground.‭ Therefore,‭ in the Lankavatara Sutra,‭ mind is the essence of all the Buddha's teachings,‭ no gate is the Dharma-gate.‭

'Those who seek the Dharma should not seek for anything.‭' Outside of mind there is no other Buddha,‭ outside of Buddha there is no other mind.‭ Not attaching to good and not rejecting evil,‭ without reliance on either purity or defilement,‭ one realizes that the nature of offence is empty:‭ it cannot be found in each thought because it is without self-nature.‭ Therefore,‭ the three realms are mind-only and 'all phenomena in the universe are marked by a single Dharma.‭' Whenever we see form,‭ it is just seeing the mind.‭ The mind does not exist by itself; its existence is due to form.‭ Whatever you are saying,‭ it is just a phenomenon which is identical with the principle.‭ They are all without obstruction and the fruit of the way to bodhi is also like that.‭ Whatever arises in the mind is called form; when one knows all forms to be empty,‭ then birth is identical with no-birth.‭ If one realizes this mind,‭ then one can always wear one's robes and eat one's food.‭ Nourishing the womb of sagehood,‭ one spontaneously passes one's time:‭ what else is there to do? Having received my teaching,‭ listen to my verse:‭

The mind-ground is always spoken of,‭

Bodhi is also just peace.‭

When phenomena and the principle are all without obstruction,‭

The very birth is identical with no-birth.‭"

(Source: Sun-Face Buddha: The Record of Ma-tsu)



Submitted November 15, 2018 at 02:11AM by McNubbitz https://ift.tt/2zTQ1Ew

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