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Q: By what means can the gateway of our school be entered?
A: By means of the dana paran-iita.
Q: According to the Buddha, the Bodhisattva path com-prises six
paramitas. Why, then, have you mentioned only the one? Please
explain why this one alone provides a sufficient means for us to
enter.
A: Deluded people fail to understand that the other five all
proceed from the dana paramita and that by its practice all the
others are fulfilled.
Q: Why is it called the dana paramita?
A: ‘Dana’ means ‘relinquishment’.
Q: Relinquishment of what?
A: Relinquishment of the dualism of opposites.
Q: Which means?
A: It means total relinquishment of ideas as to the dual nature
of good and bad, being and nonbeing, love and aversion, void and
nonvoid, concentration and distraction, pure and impure. By giving
all of them up, we attain to a state in which all opposites are
seen as void. The real practice of the dana paramita entails
achieving this state without any thought of ‘now I see that
opposites are void’, or’now I have relinquished all of them’. We
may also call it ‘the simultaneous cutting off of the myriad types
of con-current causes’; for it is when these are cut off that the
whole Dharma-nature becomes void; and this voidness of the
Dharma-nature means the nondwelling of the mind upon anything
whatsoever. Once that state is achieved, not a single form can be
discerned. Why? Because our self-nature is immaterial and does not
contain a single thing (foreign to itself). That which contains no
single thing is true reality, the marvelous form of the
Tathagata-it is said in the Diamond Sutra: ‘Those who relinquish all forms
are called "Buddhas" (enlightened ones).’ Q: However, the Buddha
did speak of six paramitas, so why do you now say they can all be
fulfilled in that one? Please give your reason for this.
A: The Sutra of the Questions of Brabma says: ‘Jala-vidya, the
elder, spoke unto Brahma and said, Bodhi sattvas by relinquishing
all defilement’s (klesha) may be said to have fulfilled the dana
paramita, also known as ‘total relinquishment’; being beguiled by
nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the sila paramita, also
known as ,observing the precepts’; being hurt by nothing, they may
be said to have fulfilled the kshanti paramita, also known as
‘exercising forbearance’; clinging to nothing, they may be said to
have fulfilled the virya paramita, also known as ‘exercising zeal’;
dwelling on nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the dhyana
paramita, also known as ‘prac-tising dhyana and samadhi’; speaking
lightly of nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the praina
paramita, also known as ‘exercising wisdom’. Together, they are
named’the six methods’."’ Now I am going to speak about those six
methods in a way which means precisely the same - the first entails
relinquishment; the second, no arising (of perception, sensation,
etc); the third, no thinking; the fourth, remaining apart from
forms; the fifth, non-abiding (of the mind); and the sixth, no
indulgence in light speech. We give different names to these six
methods only for convenience in dealing with passing needs; for,
when we come to the marvellous principle involved in them all, we
find no differences at all. So you have only to understand that, by
a single act of relinquishment, everything is relinquished; and
that no arising means no arising of anything whatsoever. Those who
have lost their way have no intuitive understanding of this; that
is why they speak of the methods as though they differed from one
another. Fools bogged down in a multiplicity of methods revolve
endlessly from life span to life span. I exhort you students to
practise the way of relinquishment and nothing else, for it brings
to perfection not only the other five paramitas, but also myriads
of dharmas (methods).
II. Q: What are the ‘three methods of training (to be performed)
at the same level’ and what is meant by per-forming them on the
same level?
A: They are discipline (vinaya), concentration (dhyana) and
wisdom (prajna)."
Q: Please explain them one by one.
A: Discipline involves stainless purity. Concentration involves
the stilling of your minds so that you remain wholly unmoved by
surrounding phenomena. Wisdom means that your stillness of mind is
not disturbed by your giving any thought to that stillness, that
your purity is unmarred by your entertaining any thought of purity
and that, in the midst of all such pairs of opposites as good and
evil, you are able to distinguish between them without being
stained by them and, in this way, to reach the state of being
perfectly at ease and free of all dependence. Furthermore, if you
realize that discipline, concentration and wisdom are all alike in
that their substance is intangible and that, hcnce, they are
undivided and therefore one - that is what is meant by three
methods of training performed at the same level.
12. Q: When the mind rests in a state of purity, will that not
give rise to some attachment to purity?
A: If, on reaching the state of purity, you refrain from
thinking ‘now my mind is resting in purity’, there will be no such
attachment.
Q: When the mind rests in a state of void, will that not entail
some attachment to void?
A: if you think of your mind as resting in a state of void, then
there will be such an attachment.
Q: When the mind reaches this state of not dwelling upon
anything, and continues in that state, will there not be some
attachment to its not dwelling upon anything? A: So long as your
mind is fixed solely on void, there is nothing to which you can
attach yourself. if you want to understand the nondwelling mind
very clearly, while you are actually sitting in meditation, you
must be cognizant only of the mind and not permit yourself to make
judge-ments - that is, you must avoid evaluations in terms of good,
evil, or anything else. Whatever is past is past, so do not sit in
judgment upon it; for, when minding about the past ceases of
itself, it can be said that there is no longer any past. Whatever
is in the future is not here yet, so do not direct your hopes and
longings towards it; for, when n-iinding about the future ceases of
itself, it can be said that there is no future. 18 Whatever is
present is now at hand; just be conscious of your nonattachment to
every-thing - nonattachment in the sense of not allowing any love
or aversion for anything to enter your mind; for, when miinding the
present ceases of itself, we may say that there is no present. When
there is no clinging to any of those three periods, they may be
said not to exist. Should your mind wander away, do not follow it,
whereupon your wandering mind will stop wandering of its own
accord. Should your mind desire to linger somewhere, do not follow
it and do not dwell there, whereupon your mind’s questing for a
dwelling place will cease of its own accord. Thereby, you will come
to possess a nondwelling mind - a mind which remains in the state
of nondwelling. If you are fully aware in yourself of a nondwelling
mind, you will discover that there is just the fact of dwelling,
with nothing to dwell upon or not to dwell upon. This full
awareness in yourself of a mind dwelling upon nothing is known as
having a clear perception of your own mind, or, in other words, as
having a clear perception of your own nature. A mind which dwells
upon nothing is the Buddha-mind, the mind of one already delivered,
bodhi-mind, uncreate mind; it is also called ‘realization that the
nature of all appearances is unreal’. It is this which the sutras
call ‘patient realization of the uncreate’.19 If you have not
realized it yet, you must strive and strive, you must increase your
exertions. Then, when your efforts are crowned with success, you
will have attained to understanding from within yourself - an
understanding stemming from a mind that abides nowhere, by which we
mean a mind free from delusion and reality alike. A mind disturbed
by love and aversion is deluded; a mind free from both of them is
real; and a mind thus freed reaches the state in which opposites
are seen as void, whereby freedom and deliverance are obtained.
13. Q: Are we to make this effort only when we are sitting in
meditation, or also when we are walking about? A: When I spoke just
now of making an effort, I did not mean only when you are sitting
in meditation; for, whether you are walking, standing, sitting,
lying, or what-ever you are doing, you must uninterruptedly exert
your-selves all the time. This is what we call ‘constantly abiding’
(in that state).