《真藏经要诀》

Once there were five poor people who constantly harbored arrogance in their hearts. They did not believe in the scriptural teachings, and even went so far as to destroy the gate of the Three Treasures—Dao (the Way), Jing (scripture/classic), and Master. They did not believe that all sentient beings possess the true nature of the Dao; they did not believe that sentient beings can obtain the subtle wonders of the scriptural Dharma; they did not believe that sentient beings can realize the realm of no-self and stillness. Nor did they believe that sentient beings can equally cultivate the Dharma of the Great Vehicle; they did not believe that sentient beings can realize the unborn and the undying; they did not believe that the minds of sentient beings are as vast as the great ocean; they did not believe that sentient beings can equally practice the Way of the Celestial Worthy; and they did not believe that sentient beings are originally an aggregation of great emptiness.

Because of such disbelief, they come to suffer grave illness. In life and after death—whether walking, standing still, sitting or lying down, eating and drinking, or breathing—they are in every case sunk in a condition like a prison of darkness. All good men and good women ought each to reflect upon this, and must not give rise to a mind of disbelief. If for a time one cannot yet understand thoroughly, so long as one can maintain an upright mind and refrain from slander, the merit thereby gained will still be deep, broad, and long-lasting.

Why is this so? Because the Dharma has no fixed form or appearance, nor any fixed and unchanging prescription; the Dharma is able to bring people to liberation. One should understand that an upright mind is itself the place of practice for cultivating the Dao. When the mind does not cling to the various things, one can enter all manner of subtle and still realms; not clinging to birth and death, one can enter the precious realm of the true; not clinging to grasping and discarding, one can give rise to wisdom; not clinging to anger and delusion, one can attain liberation; not clinging to craving and desire, one can comprehend the treasure of the Dharma; not clinging to right and wrong, one can set foot upon the correct path; not clinging to sound and visible form, one can enter the field of merit (the realm in which blessings and virtue are cultivated); not clinging to the six faculties (the six senses—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—and their functions), one can enter the realm of non-outflow (in which merit is no longer dissipated and afflictions are left far behind); not clinging to the five aggregates (the five factors that constitute a person’s bodily and mental experience), one can obtain vast wisdom; not clinging to the four great elements (earth, water, fire, and wind, the four constituent factors), one can obtain spiritual powers.

This Dharma gate is exceedingly subtle; even if one expounded it until the kalpa were exhausted, one could not finish. If a person is of keen natural endowment and readily awakened, then even if only a little is briefly spoken, that person can realize the Great Vehicle and understand the unsurpassed Dao. If one can receive and uphold it with faith, skillfully set aside discriminating attachment and wash away the defilements of the mind, the merit obtained will be deep, broad, and long-lasting, beyond all reckoning.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: One need not leave body and mind, and liberation can still be attained. Those who attain liberation enter the still and silent realm of cultivation in Wuwei (non-action), accord with the attestation of the true teaching, understand the causes and effects of the three times—past, present, and future—and at last accomplish the unsurpassed fruition. The mind-nature of living beings can be liberated, and the body can likewise be liberated. The mind may be compared to the words of instruction, and the body to the written characters that carry those teachings. Following the path of the written word and of practice, one can enter into accord with the true teaching, understand the causality of the three times, and accomplish the unsurpassed fruition. Both the mind-nature and the body of living beings can be liberated. The mind is the spoken teaching, and the body is the written text; inquiring into the characters one by one, one at last forgets even the traces of instruction. Comprehending these characters, one enters the gate of liberation and realizes the unsurpassed Dao (the Way).

The Youth of Good Sound (Shanyin Tongzi) asked the Celestial Worthy for instruction: I do not understand why it is said that the minds of living beings are the spoken teaching and their bodies the written text. The minds of living beings are filled with ignorance, and their bodies are like nets bound about by darkness. How can living beings be made to study this ignorant mind and pursue this dark net, and thereby attain the Dao? Living beings are ignorant in mind and do not know that by learning one can attain the Dao; without learning, one cannot attain the Dao. Yet if what is studied is an ignorant mind, one likewise cannot attain the Dao. Why is this? Because to study ignorance by means of ignorance means that the nature of ignorance cannot be brought forth—how, then, can one accomplish the Dao? Living beings, ignorant in mind, do not understand how to learn, and so they cannot accomplish the Dao through learning. This is like fire hidden in wood: the fire will not kindle of itself, but must be drawn out by someone drilling the wood. Although ignorance lies in the minds of living beings, they must also rely on a teacher’s guidance before they can awaken and understand. Please explain this principle to me.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: “All dharmas are originally pure; they neither arise nor cease. Why, then, are some sentient beings able to attain the Dao (the Way), while others lose the Dao? Why is it that some sentient beings, though bewildered by ignorance, can still attain the Dao through study, while others, harboring deluded thoughts, attain the Dao without study? Dharma has no fixed and unchanging inherent nature, and in the end there is no independent ‘self.’ Since sentient beings are originally without distinction, why raise these questions?

“The words I speak are meant to guide sentient beings to recognize the true Dharma. If one can realize that the dharma-nature to which the words point is originally empty and still, one may be liberated thereby. Words are only an expedient, intended to lead people to recognize the true Dharma and the true sound. One who truly awakens to the Dharma-sound (the teaching of the true Dharma) knows that there is no dharma that can be clung to as something realized, cultivated, studied, obtained, or received. That realm is utterly pure; the myriad things blend seamlessly into one another, and yet one cannot say that there is only a single kind of existence.”

Practitioners of the “two vehicles,” the hearers and the solitary realizers, heard these words and were alarmed and uneasy, feeling they had nothing on which to rely. At that moment those present suddenly understood and grasped the purport of the Mahayana (the Buddhist teaching that emphasizes the universal deliverance of all sentient beings): all is equal, and there is no discrimination. They took refuge in the true Dharma, let go of their attachment to bodily form and to the self, bowed in reverence, and departed.

All sentient beings cling to the things of the world that arise and perish; they love life and loathe death. Although in their hearts they seek long life, they create the karma that brings death upon them and do not observe the precepts. Even if their lives are very long, they are no different from an old tree. As for those who keep the precepts, what will become of them after death… This passage of the scripture appears to have a lacuna or a corrupt character at the point marked “死补,” and the original meaning cannot be determined.

All sentient beings cling to things that have form and arise through deliberate action. They love life and loathe death. Although in their hearts they wish to seek long life, they continually create karma that brings death upon them, and they do not uphold the precepts. Even if they thereby obtain longevity, they are no more than an old tree—how do they differ from ordinary people? If one can uphold the precepts, after death one may be enrolled among the celestial officials, ascend as an immortal, and enjoy freedom and ease. Even those who occupy high stations such as emperor or one of the Three Dukes, so long as they uphold the precepts in their conduct, can after death ascend as immortals and obtain joyful freedom.

Nothing under Heaven can endure forever; only the Dao (the Way) and De (Virtue/Power) neither arise nor cease. All sentient beings are born from the Dao and likewise return to the Dao; every karmic condition runs through this and returns to one and the same source. It is like a mother who bears a child, yet the child is unfilial, abandons her, commits offenses in every direction, and in the end falls into the net and suffers punishment. The mother longs for the child until grief seems to tear her very vitals, yet the child never understands and continues to bear the suffering in person, in pain beyond endurance. When sentient beings are inverted and deluded and forget their original nature, it is precisely so.

The Mysterious Teaching of the Great Vehicle (the Great Vehicle teaching of Daoism) instructs beings and bestows grace according to their differing capacities, yet sentient beings know nothing of it at all. Although they do not perceive it, the teaching still guides and delivers them in accordance with their capacities, so that all beings are nourished, leave the realm of suffering, and enter peace and joy, never departing from the True Treasury (Zhenzang, the true source inherent in all things). When beings are deluded, they falsely take the myriad things to be truly existent, yet they can never awaken within the True Treasury. Why is this? Because the nature of the Dharma is real; if one clings to the “existence” that appears within the True Treasury, that “existence” is an accumulation of every kind of suffering—that is, affliction.

When I observe all things, they are expressions of great wisdom: there is no arising or ceasing and no affliction; coming and going are equal, and entering and leaving are equal. For those of lesser capacity, the practice of generosity is itself equality. For those of middling capacity, cultivating the precepts until one no longer clings to them is equality. For those of superior capacity, employing wisdom until one clings neither to wisdom nor to the self is equality. When beings enjoy happiness yet do not cling to the happiness they receive, this is equality; when beings undergo karmic retribution yet cling neither to karma nor to its recompense, this is equality. All dharmas are equal, yet there is no fixed “equality” to which one might cling. Precisely because there is no clinging, it is called the Great Dao.

One ought to study the Great Vehicle diligently and skillfully cultivate three kinds of wisdom. The first is to accumulate expedient methods with skill, and to be adept at removing the disturbances of external dusty realms. The second is to cut off the entanglements of affliction that various actions bring, so that one is not governed by external conditions. The third is to seek the source of the equality of things—that is, true reality—all the way to the sanctuary of the Dao (the place where the Dao is realized).

After one has realized original nature and returned to the source, the two views can always be clearly distinguished; the three karmas (actions of body, speech, and mind) no longer revolve; the four great elements (earth, water, fire, and wind) remain thoroughly open; the five aggregates (the five factors that constitute the person and experience) suddenly grow clear; the six sense faculties (the six senses) remain undefiled; the seventh consciousness manifests of itself; the eight correct practices (the eight modes of right conduct) reach no-self; and the nine kinds of virtuous conduct continue without end. Worthies of antiquity and sages of later ages have all attained the Dao by cultivating in this way. From this one should know that the True Treasury is the most fundamental of all. The bodily nature of every sentient being is originally pure, and the true Dao of Heaven lies hidden within it; this is what is called the True Treasury.

If someone expounds the Zhenzang Jing (scripture of the True Treasury), that person’s merit is inconceivable, and they will be able to see my Dharma-body and accomplish the unsurpassed Dao. If, with faith, one can set aside all other distracting thoughts, one will obtain the eye of the Dao, see clearly the causes and conditions of the three times (past, present, and future), and reach equality without obstruction.

Some people abandon the body, even going so far as to destroy it; some cast themselves forth to feed tigers; some burn the body with fire; and others, though constrained by karmic cause and effect, still seek blessings by giving the body away. Such merit is shallow and cannot bring spiritual power to fulfillment. Why? Because they lack wisdom and have not penetrated the truth. Attending only to their own realization, seeking, and attainment, and clinging to a self, they are in fact binding themselves and falling into the obstruction of ignorance. If the force of karma is not eliminated and the various karmas draw one another along, how can one be liberated?

Contemplating the True Treasury is the foremost practice. At the outset one begins with breath-counting (counting the breaths in order to settle the mind) and discovers that neither thoughts nor the dharmas of the mind can come to rest. Since they cannot rest, there is no dharma that is fixed and unchanging. Once one understands that there is no fixed dharma, the wisdom of seeing the Dao can manifest; and the wisdom of seeing the Dao is precisely the recognition of one’s original self, which neither arises nor ceases.

Not to recognize one’s original self is like a person who walks along the roadside and picks up a lost box. Opening it, he sees an image in a mirror and takes that image to be the owner of the box; in fright he bows and apologizes, then drops the box and goes away. When sentient beings are deluded, abandoning the real to chase the false and discarding the root to pursue the branches, it is precisely so.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) said: The body and mind of every sentient being contain principles without limit. These principles are called the Jingfa, the Dharma of the Jing (scripture/classic), and they are also called the Faju, the aggregation of dharmas—the place where the various meanings of the Dharma are gathered. Why is this so? People understand these principles differently, and so different names have arisen. Spoken of from the side of delusion, they are called sentient beings, birth and death, the aggregation of suffering, and inversion, and they are also called seeking outwardly.

Why is this called delusion? Because sentient beings cannot understand the truth, it is called delusion. Sentient beings therefore do not recognize themselves. In fact, immeasurable meanings of the Dharma lie within their own persons, and they are fully endowed with the realm of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the Three Pure Realms spoken of in Daoism. When sentient beings go astray, they seek outwardly. They neither believe in the true Dharma nor seek good friends—those who can guide them in cultivating the Dao (the Way)—and for this reason they are called sentient beings. They allow the meanings of the Dharma to be lost and submerged in the world, and through kalpa after kalpa they never come to understand.

If one meets a good knowing one, a person who can point out the true Dao, this shows that conditions have been accumulated in the past and that merit and virtue have also been planted. By believing in the true Dharma and seeking good friends, one can turn delusion into awakening. Why is this so? Causes sown in the past ripen into the fruits of today. Now, having met the Celestial Worthy and heard him reveal the profound and secret Dharma of the unsurpassed True Treasury (Zhenzang, the inner treasury of truth), one can understand the conditions of the past and realize the karmic fruit of this present life. If you wish to seek the Dharma, you should first seek it within yourselves. Only then can you see the secret meanings of the Dharma and broadly open the True Treasury. When this treasury of the Dharma gathers and orders the various meanings of the Dharma, it can embrace principles without bound or end.

The Youth of Wisdom-Power (Huili tongzi) said: Although I have heard the sage’s teaching, I still cannot fully understand. I do not know what the Dao is, what the Dharma is, what the teacher is, or what aggregation is, and so I earnestly ask you to explain this for me.

The Celestial Worthy replied: What you ask is how to seek the True Treasury from within your own person and see the meanings of the Dharma. Now clarify your mind and Shen (spirit) and become still, and I will explain it to you in detail. The bodily nature of all sentient beings is originally pure, and the Dao of Tianzhen, natural genuineness—the naturally pure and true Great Dao—lies hidden within it. This is called the True Treasury.

The Celestial Worthy said further: If one does not believe that the Three Treasures (Sanbao)—what Daoism commonly calls the Dao, the Jing, and the teacher—are present in one’s own root nature, does not believe that all sentient beings possess the nature of the Celestial Worthy, and does not believe that all dharmas are quiescent and that the bodily nature of sentient beings is pure, then one cannot recognize that the Dao of Tianzhen lies hidden within oneself, and that this is the True Treasury.

The Celestial Worthy (Tianzun) spoke again: Not believing that the human mind is originally complete in the Three Treasures—the Dao (the Way), the Jing (scripture/classic), and the Master, which Daoism venerates—not believing that all beings possess the same nature as the Celestial Worthy, not believing that all phenomena are ultimately quiescent and without marks, and not believing that, through countless kalpas (an immensely long span of time), beings, though appearing in every kind of form, undergo no true arising or ceasing: all of these are disbelief. Such disbelief is called slandering the true Dharma, destroying the true Dharma, and cutting off the true Dharma. Once the true Dharma is cut off, one wanders in the cycle of birth and death and is certain to fall into hell, with little chance of escape.

You must be careful and not seek outwardly. Do not cling to the form of the body: the true body of the Celestial Worthy pervades every land, yet is not bound by any fixed form; if one does not cling to bodily form, one can realize neither arising nor ceasing. The majestic marks and excellent features of the Celestial Worthy are not found somewhere apart from beings, nor do they fill empty space apart from beings; the true hidden treasure—the inner true Dao and the jewels of the Dharma—likewise does not lie outside beings.

Good men, do not give rise to a mind of disbelief. Words spoken by the Celestial Worthy himself can never be in error. The Youth of Good Sound (the hearer of the teaching in the scripture) touched his head to the ground and bowed once more, showing that he received the teaching in faith and would practice it as instructed.