Yeah, that is something I learnt recently about formless. Form
is limited, formless is unlimited. Actually I don't quite
understand till the shifu said for instance a container which
is empty will have space to contain more things than a
container which is already full. I find Master 星云 will use
many simple examples to tell us the actual meaning of
formless. People like me can only understand if shifu uses
examples like the container or else I will keep thinking
how can formless be unlimited.
心有所住 is limited, 心无所住，处处是家, everywhere is your home.
This metaphor only manage to describe the space-like
characteristic of pure awareness. But this is the relative nature
of mind, not the ultimate nature of mind which is its emptiness.
Many mix them up. The relative, space-like nature of awareness is
experienced even in the I AM phase. However, it is important to
first have glimpse of pure awareness (the I AM phase), then proceed
on to further insights like non-dual, Anatta and Emptiness.
H.H.Dalai Lama:
http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2009/07/happiness-karma-and-mind.html
(Excerpt)
Through the gates of the five sense organs a being sees, hears,
smells, tastes and comes into contact with a host of external
forms, objects and impressions. Let the form, sound, smell, taste,
touch and mental events which are the relations of the six senses
be shut off. When this is done the recollection of past events on
which the mind tends to dwell will be completely discontinued and
the flow of memory cut off. Similarly, plans for the future and
contemplation of future action must not be allowed to arise. It is
necessary to create a space in place of all such processes of
thought if one is to empty the mind of all such processes of
thought. Freed from all these processes there will remain a pure,
clean, distinct and quiescent mind. Now let us examine what sort of
characteristics constitute the mind when it has attained this
stage. We surely do possess some thing called mind, but how are we
to recognize its existence? The real and essential mind is what is
to be found when the entire load of gross obstructions and
aberrations (i.e. sense impressions, memories, etc.) has been
cleared away. Discerning this aspect of real mind, we shall
discover that, unlike external objects, its true nature is devoid
of form or color; nor can we find any basis of truth for such false
and deceptive notions as that mind originated from this or that, or
that it will move from here to there, or that it is located in
such-and-such a place. When it comes into contact with no object
mind is like a vast, boundless void, or like a serene, illimitable
ocean. When it encounters an object it at once has cognizance of
it, like a mirror instantly reflecting a person who stands in front
of it. The true nature of mind consists not only in taking clear
cognizance of the object but also in communicating a concrete
experience of that object to the one experiencing it.* Normally, our forms of sense cognition, such
as eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, etc., perform their
functions on external phenomena in a manner involving gross
distortion. Knowledge resulting from sense cognition, being based
on gross external phenomena, is also of a gross nature. When this
type of gross stimulation is shut out, and when concrete
experiences and clear cognizance arise from within, mind assumes
the characteristics of infinite void similar to the infinitude of
space. But this void is not to be taken as the true nature of mind.
We have become so habituated to consciousness of the form and color
of gross objects that, when we make concentrated introspection into
the nature of mind, it is, as I have said, found to be a vast,
limitless void free from any gross obscurity or other hindrances.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that we have discerned the subtle,
true nature of the mind. What has been explained above concerns the
state of mind in relation to the concrete experience and clear
cognizance by the mind which are its function, but it describes
only the relative nature of mind.
There are in addition several other aspects and states of mind.
In other words, taking mind as the supreme basis, there are many
attributes related to it. Just as an onion consists of layer upon
layer that can be peeled away, so does every sort of object have a
number of layers; and this is no less true of the nature of mind as
explained here; it, too, has layer within layer, slate within
state.
All compounded things are subject to disintegration. Since
experience and knowledge are impermanent and subject to
disintegration, the mind, of which they are functions (nature), is
not something that remains constant and eternal. From moment to
moment it undergoes change and disintegration. This transience of
mind is one aspect of its nature. However, as we have observed, its
true nature has many aspects, including consciousness of concrete
experience and cognizance of objects. Now let us make a further
examination in order to grasp the meaning of the subtle essence of
such a mind. Mind came into existence because of its own cause. To
deny that the origination of mind is dependent on a cause, or to
say that it is a designation given as a means of recognizing the
nature of mind aggregates, is not correct. With our superficial
observance, mind, which has concrete experience and clear
cognizance as its nature, appears to be a powerful, independent,
subjective, completely ruling entity. However, deeper analysis will
reveal that this mind, possessing as it does the function of
experience and cognizance, is not a self-created entity but Is
dependent on other factors for its existence. Hence it depends on
something other than itself. This non-independent quality of the
mind substance is its true nature which in turn is the ultimate
reality of the self.
