《紫阳真人悟真篇拾遗》

Some students of the Dao (the Way) do not understand the principles of mind and nature, and devote themselves solely to refining the Golden Elixir (Jindan, a core term of Neidan, or internal alchemy). As a result, the Way of nature and life is not fully cultivated, the capacity of the mind is never opened wide, and a division between self and the myriad things remains. How, then, could such a person reach perfect penetration and transcend the Three Realms?

The scriptures say that there are ten kinds of immortals who cultivate within the human world, making their resolve firm and their essence pure, so that their lifespans reach tens of millions of years. But if they do not cultivate the samadhi of right enlightenment (a meditative absorption abiding in true awakening), then once their blessings are exhausted they will again drift through the various realms of existence. Hence Maitreya Bodhisattva's Verses on the Diamond Sutra says: "Even after a million kalpas of practice, one still returns in the end to emptiness and extinction." For this reason, the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality) first guides people through the learning of nature and life as practiced by immortals, then speaks of the wondrous functions of the buddhas to extend spiritual powers, and finally points to the true suchness and enlightened nature (the real, unchanging nature of awakening), dispelling illusion and returning to the ultimate source of stillness and emptiness.

Six Verses on the Ground of Nature

Buddha-nature knows no "this" or "that," no distinction or difference; it is like a thousand lamps together revealing a single light. Add something to it, and it does not overflow; remove attachments, and it suffers no harm. Whether one grasps or discards, one goes astray; even if it is burned or set adrift, it is not hindered. The functions of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing cannot be grasped by conjecture or calculation.

This subtle essence fills worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and the myriad phenomena cannot veil it. Once one has realized the true Dharma eye of perfect penetration, one knows that the Three Realms lie within one's own mind.

Look for it, and no form can be seen; yet when it is called, it responds. Do not suppose this sound is merely an echo in a valley: without a valley, where would the echo come from?

There is one luminous function that contains hearing, seeing, sensing, and knowing; all external conditions rely on it to manifest their workings. Yet if even this ever-abiding luminous essence cannot be taken as a substantial thing, then on what could the four functions of hearing, seeing, sensing, and knowing be made to rest?

Without moving a single step, one can arrive at the Western Heaven (the Western Pure Land of Buddhism); seated in one place, the worlds of the ten directions lie before one's eyes. A light appearing behind the crown of the head is still an illusion. The final line of the original, "蕾买生．足底未为仙," appears to be corrupted or to have lost characters, so its meaning cannot be determined.

The root of seeking immortality and cultivating the Way lies in realizing the state of original non-arising. If there is originally no arising, why fear extinction? What the eyes see is not necessarily better than what the ears have heard, and spoken explanation is no match for personal experience.

No Sin, No Merit

Walking all day, yet there is no fixed "walker"; sitting upright all day, yet there is no fixed "sitter." One cultivates goodness without clinging to merit, but one must never take this to mean that doing evil carries no guilt. If a practitioner has not yet illuminated the mind (realized the original mind), they should not cling to these few sentences and act recklessly. After death they will still face King Yama and will inevitably suffer the punishments of hell, such as the cauldron of boiling water and the grinding of the body.

The Three Realms Are Only Mind

The Three Realms (the Desire Realm, the Form Realm, and the Formless Realm) are manifested by the mind alone, and this is a subtle truth. The myriad things cannot simply be called "this" or "that": there is no thing that is not within the mind, and no thing that is an independent, fixed "self."

Seeing Things Is Seeing the Mind

Seeing things, one can understand the mind through them; without things, the mind has nothing through which to appear. The mind manifests in all circumstances, whether open or obstructed, and the true mind is everywhere. If an understanding of clinging and discrimination arises, it only produces inverted views. To face circumstances without being moved by thoughts is what reveals the state of a Bodhisattva.

Perfect Penetration

Having realized true emptiness, one knows that emptiness is not the emptiness of annihilation. When the nature of the mind is complete and clear, where could it fail to interpenetrate freely? The sense faculties (roots), the objects they contact (dust), the mind, and all phenomena have no fixed, unchanging substance. Only then does one know that the marvelous function of the mind is the same as that of the Buddha.

Let It Be

Countless circumstances intermingle before one's eyes. If one clings and discriminates, inverted views will form. To face circumstances without being moved by thoughts is what reveals the state of a Bodhisattva.

Perfect Penetration

Having realized true emptiness, one knows that emptiness is not the emptiness of annihilation. When the nature of the mind is complete and clear, where could it fail to interpenetrate freely? The sense faculties, the objects they contact, the mind, and all phenomena have no fixed, unchanging substance. Only then does one know that the marvelous function of the mind is the same as that of the Buddha.

Let It Be

Countless circumstances intermingle before one's eyes; let them move or be still, be clamorous or calm. The complete and clear power of concentration and wisdom remains forever unstained, like a lotus growing from the water, whose blossom remains pure in itself.

The Precious Moon

A precious moon hangs high in the void, its clear radiance illuminating all lands without hindrance. Try to gather the moonlight, and it will not collect; try to brush it aside, and it will not part. Say it is in front, and it does not advance; say it is behind, and it does not retreat. That place is not far, and this place is not near; on the surface it is not outside, and within it is not inside. Within sameness there is difference, and within difference there is sameness. I ask you: do you understand the principle of this puppet-like transformation?

Verse on the Heart Sutra

The five aggregates, the truths, the sense faculties and their objects, emptiness and form: none of these phenomena can be fixedly described. When inverted views are exhausted, the tranquil and serene original substance appears.

Self and Others, Also Called Equalizing Things

I am no different from others; it is only that people's minds make their own distinctions. People divide the near from the distant, but I draw no line between you and me. Whether a being lives in the water, on the land, or flies through the air, I regard all equally and see them as one body. Whether noble or lowly, honored or humble, I look upon each as I would my own head and feet. I do not yet have a real "I," so how could there be a real "you"? Neither you nor I exist, just as many bubbles finally dissolve back into the water.

On Reading Chan Master Xuedou's Collected Verses of the Patriarchs' Heroes (Zuying ji)

A single drop of Dharma water from Caoxi (the lineage of Huineng, Sixth Patriarch of Chan) split into hundreds and thousands of branches; it illuminates past and present, clear and without obstruction. Lately some students of the Way have not sought out the source and have mistaken shallow pools of standing water for the sea. Master Xuedou (the Chan master's name) understood the true meaning, and like thunder shaking the heavens, he proclaimed the Dharma and beat the Dharma drum. Like a lion king roaring from his cave, he made the hundred beasts and every wrong view tremble in fear.

Sometimes he wrote verse and sometimes he taught, guiding those who had lost their way with earnest words. His language was plain and frank, his principles profound, like the striking of jade and metal, its sound echoing through the ages. Sadly, the deluded chase after outer things, cling instead to words and names, and busy themselves analyzing terms.

True Suchness and real nature (the true, unchanging nature) are by nature wordless: they have neither high nor low, nor any boundary; they are neither form nor emptiness, nor some entity that sets the two against each other. The dust motes and buddha-lands of the ten directions (all worlds in every direction) are perfectly fused, like a single bright moon.

True meditative absorption (samadhi) never distinguished between speaking and not speaking. It can be neither grasped nor abandoned. If one meets all phenomena without letting the mind dwell on them, this is the true law of the Tathagata. It is only to eliminate the myriad appearances that one deliberately uses "truth" as a remedy; if deluded thoughts do not arise, the very idea of "truth" will instead veil one's nature. Only one who reaches non-attachment to both truth and delusion has attained the unobstructed true mind.

When the mind is unobstructed, one is free; once awakened, sins accumulated over a long time vanish at once. Without deliberate effort, one realizes bodhi (awakening) and is forever released from the sea of birth and death.

My teacher's practice was deep and his words were fluent, and he remained in the world as a model. Last night I summoned him, threaded his nose onto my staff, and asked him, "What is the highest truth (the First Principle)?" He answered, "Whatever is put into words is slander."

An Explanation of Precepts, Meditation, and Wisdom (Sila, Samadhi, Prajna).

Precepts (jie), concentration (ding), and wisdom (hui) are the wondrous functions of the Buddhist teaching. Although the Buddha spoke of these principles, those who have not yet grasped them often still cling to the literal words. Here I offer a brief explanation, in the hope that it may help people toward awakening.

When neither the inner mind nor the outer world is clung to, and no thought arises, this is called "precepts." When the nature of awareness is complete and luminous, and inside and out are transparent and clear, this is called "concentration." When one responds to things as circumstances arise, and the use of this response is subtle and inexhaustible, this is called "wisdom."

Precepts, concentration, and wisdom depend on one another and perfect one another, each serving in turn as substance (ti) and function (yong). If precepts are taken as the substance, then concentration and wisdom are its function; if concentration is taken as the substance, then precepts and wisdom are its function; if wisdom is taken as the substance, then precepts and concentration are its function. These three have never been separate, not even for a moment. It is like the sun, which can shine only by means of its light, while the light becomes manifest only through shining. Without light there can be no shining, and without shining there can be no manifestation.

Tracing them back to the root, precepts, concentration, and wisdom all come forth from one and the same original nature, just as light and illumination both come from one and the same sun. Even "one" cannot be clung to as truly existent, so how could there really be "three"? When both three and one are let go, one returns to a realm of clear stillness and quiet.

Verse on "This Very Mind Is Buddha"

Buddha is mind, and mind is Buddha; yet mind and Buddha are, at root, both empty names and appearances. If one can understand that there is no Buddha to cling to and no mind to cling to, this is the true Suchness Dharmakaya Buddha (the Buddha-body in accord with Suchness, without form or mark).

The Dharmakaya Buddha has no fixed shape; it is like a complete mass of light that embraces all phenomena. The substance that has no substance within form is the true substance; the mark that has no mark within form is the true mark. It is neither form, nor emptiness, nor non-emptiness; neither moving nor still, neither coming nor going; without distinction, yet not entirely identical; to speak of it as existing or as not existing both fail to grasp it. It is hard to seize and hard to relinquish, hard to hear with the ear or see with the eye.

Inside and out, it is perfect and luminous, penetrating everywhere: a Buddha-land can be contained in a single grain of sand, and a single grain of sand contains a vast world; one body and mind and ten thousand bodies and minds are the same as one another. To grasp this, one must understand "the Dharma is without mind" (not clinging to any dharma, and not fixing the mind in any place). Not being stained by attachment and not falling into obstruction is pure practice. Facing all manner of good and evil, no longer giving rise to a clinging, contriving mind: this is to take refuge in Namo, and it is also the principle that Kashyapa (Mahakashyapa, a disciple of the Buddha) realized.

Song of Gathering Pearls

You have always had a precious pearl hidden in the lining of your robe, perfectly round, luminous, and of the finest quality. But you do not know to look for it within yourself, and so you keep counting the treasures of others. Counting another's treasures does you no good in the end and only wastes your mental energy. Why not recognize the treasure you already possess? Its value surpasses tens of millions of taels of gold.

This pearl's radiance is vast, illuminating the whole three-thousand-great-thousand world system (the immense extent of the world in the Buddhist view of the cosmos). It has never lost a single hair's breadth of its light; it has only been hidden by drifting clouds. Once you recognize this mani pearl (the wish-fulfilling jewel, often used as a metaphor for the pure, perfectly luminous original nature), who would still cling to a body as illusory as foam, or to things as unreal as flowers in the sky? The Buddha's pearl and your pearl are not different, and so my own nature returns to the ocean of Buddha-nature.

The pearl is not a real pearl, nor is the ocean a real ocean. A mind open and unburdened can embrace the vastest of worlds. Even when the dust and turmoil of the world fill your eyes, your concentration and wisdom remain complete, clear, and constantly at ease. It is neither emptiness nor form; inside and out it is bright and transparent, without obstruction. The functioning of the six supernormal powers (the six extraordinary kinds of wisdom and ability described by practitioners) is inexhaustible, benefiting oneself and others alike, with far-reaching effect.

Once you have seen and understood, all matters are settled. Without clinging to scholarship or contrivance, you follow things as they are throughout the day. Your mind rests as calm as that of an infant who has not yet shown its thoughts; in movement or stillness you go along with circumstances, attached to no fixed method.

There is no need to deliberately cut off deluded thoughts, nor to grasp at true ones, for the mind that distinguishes true from false is itself part of worldly toil. Since ancient times, the myriad phenomena have had no fixed, unchanging form, and it is precisely within formlessness that the Dharma body (the body beyond form, representing the nature of awakening) appears. The Dharma body is the natural Buddha-nature of true suchness. It is neither person nor thing. It fills the space between heaven and earth, yet is so profound that it cannot be put into words, seeming at once to exist and not exist, elusive and hard to fathom.

It is untouched by defilement, and its light shines forth of itself. Of all phenomena, none does not arise from the mind; if the mind does not stir, the phenomena it gave rise to dissolve. From this one can understand that sin and merit have no fixed form to begin with.

Do not cling to the Buddha, and do not cling to the teaching; the wise will see this clearly for themselves. When such a person speaks, it is like the roar of a lion (a metaphor for proclaiming the truth with power), not like a wild ox quarreling over arising and ceasing.

Song on Dispelling Confusion in Meditative Concentration

The mind-nature described by "Tathagata Chan" is like the surface of water: when its essence is still, the wind and waves subside of themselves. Whether at rest or in action, the mind stays clear and pure, so practice is not limited to sitting alone in meditation. Some people today value only seated meditation as a way to gain realization, without knowing that everything depends on seeing one's nature (recognizing one's original nature). Nature is made manifest within insight, and insight is settled within nature. Once concentration is established, the functioning of wisdom is inexhaustible, and this is what is called the spiritual power of all the buddhas. If you try to investigate this mind-nature and its functioning, you will find only that it resembles the empty space of the ten directions. Nothing exists in that space, and there is no realm of the faint, the elusive, and the dimly glimpsed. Since such realms cannot be found, searching for them deliberately only leads you astray. Even the words "going astray" should not be clung to as a proof. Original emptiness is like open space from the start, so what is there to gain or lose, to seek or be sought?

Simply put down all attachments and concepts, and put down even the thought "I am clearing them away," until purity is complete and nothing remains. Then, suddenly, perfect brightness appears of itself, and you are no different from the buddhas. The physical body is like a shackle that binds a person. A practitioner should "soften the light and mingle with the dust" (not showing one's sharpness, but blending into ordinary life), acting in all things without a clinging mind. Why then bother over right and wrong, or honor and disgrace? The body is only a temporary dwelling, like an inn. Its master is called "Vairocana" (Vairocana Buddha, often regarded as the representative of the Dharma-body Buddha). Vairocana neither comes nor goes, and from this we know that birth and death are also nothing to hold on to.

Someone asks, "What is Vairocana?" Nothing that has form or appearance is Vairocana. Take the leaves and specks of dust before your eyes: one cannot say they are the same as one another, nor that they are different, nor that each stands alone. Look at each speck and each leaf, and every one can manifest Shakyamuni and Kashyapa (the Buddha and his disciple, here standing for the awakened). If you see the myriad things as all different, it is like ten thousand sounds each ringing on its own. If you see them as one, it is like a single wind gathering them all together. If you want to recognize the mani jewel (the pearl that reflects all appearances, standing for original nature or awareness), do not suppose you must first obtain some particular teaching before you can understand.

When a person is ill, they rely on medicine for a cure. Once the illness is gone, what use is the medicine? When the mind is deluded, it needs the light of a teaching. Once the mind is awakened, there is no need to cling to the teaching either. It is like a dim mirror that is wiped clean, so that the grime disappears of itself. The teachings were set up in response to the illnesses of the mind and are not ultimately real. This is why one must leave behind every form, and the state beyond form is called the utmost truth, the unsurpassed.

If you wish to adorn the Buddha-land (to make the pure land of the Buddha pure and splendid), you should practice compassion equally toward all and relieve those who suffer. Your original vow to arouse bodhicitta (the aspiration for awakening and for the benefit of all beings) must be deep and sincere, yet you must not cling to outward forms or to what you gain. Only then can you be called complete in both merit and wisdom, and in the future you may receive a Buddha's prediction (the Buddha's prophecy of one's future attainment). If even a speck of attachment remains, as small as a grain of dust, you have no affinity with the awakening of the buddhas.

Looking back at ordinary people, we see that through delusion and clinging they are all stained by emotional attachment and habit. Because their craving and desire run so deep, they keep turning through the rounds of rebirth among the four kinds of beings: those born from the womb, from eggs, from moisture, and by transformation. One who studies the Way must be bold and resolute, keeping the mind from being pulled about by feeling, as hard as iron. Even parents, wife, and children should be understood as no different in essence from other beings. Always keep a mind that is round and bright, not stirred to greed by things that attract desire. If you cling to none of the myriad phenomena, there is no need to distinguish heaven from hell.

When you have reached this point, you will know that "my life is in my own hands." Nature neither rises nor falls in empty space and is not bound by birth and death. You may enter and leave the lands of all the buddhas without ever leaving the original mind of bodhi. The Bodhisattva Guanyin has thirty-two manifested forms (the different shapes she takes according to what beings need). I too have found confirmation in them, and I can transform and appear in inconceivable ways. All of this comes from a nature that is free and unbound.

I am a mindless Chan traveler, and I make no distinctions or choices in anything. In the past I was like a black ox, and now my whole body has turned white. Sometimes I sing and laugh to myself, and others say I am out of my mind. How would they know that though I wear coarse cloth outside, I carry a priceless treasure within? If you heard me speak further about emptiness, I fear you would swallow it whole like a date and be unable to digest it. This truth can be truly understood only by a buddha, so how could an ordinary person see through it merely from outward words?

There are also those so-called honored guests of Chan who only argue with their tongues and compete in questions and answers. They boast of how quickly they reply, yet they do not know the master of the mind-nature at all. They are looking only for the branches and leaves and do not know how to seek the root. When the root is found, the branches and leaves flourish of themselves, and without the root they cannot last. Even if they boast of holding the spirit pearl (the precious jewel of awakening), they have still not removed their clinging to self and other, and they remain a thousand miles from the wondrous awakening of the spiritual source.

Such people are both pitiable and laughable. They study the Way for many years, yet think highly of themselves and refuse to ask others for guidance, so they waste their lives in vain. Their dullness and obtuseness come from wrong views and heavy karmic habits. If they do not awaken in this life, how can they escape sinking in the next?

Laughable, this heart of mine: dull and coarse as a stubborn stone, muddled and bewildered all day long, content wherever it finds itself, letting the ten thousand things arrange themselves as they will. I do not understand cultivation, yet I do not deliberately create transgressions. I have helped no one, and I have not benefited myself. I keep no precepts and cling to no taboos. I know nothing of ritual and music, and I do not practice benevolence and righteousness. When others ask what I am able to do, I have nothing to say: I know nothing at all.

When hungry, I eat; when thirsty, I drink; when sleepy, I sleep; when awake, I walk about. When hot, I wear thin clothes; when cold, I pull up the blanket. My mind holds no anxious deliberation, and so there is neither sorrow nor joy. I do not regret the past or scheme for the future, and I harbor no stray thoughts or attachments. Life and death, honor and disgrace, appear to me like travelers passing by on a journey. Why should trees and forests or birds be brought in for comparison?

When things come, I do not deliberately block them; when things depart, I do not hold them back. I neither avoid nor invite; I neither praise nor slander. I do not despise the ugly, nor do I envy the beautiful. I do not dwell in a quiet and tranquil dwelling, nor do I keep far from the bustling marketplace. When I come across meat, I eat it; when I come across wine, I drink until drunk. I do not discuss the rights and wrongs of others, nor do I boast that I am in the right. I do not place special value on the noble and honored, nor do I look down on the poor, humble, or weak. Toward those close to me and those I resent, toward the old and the young, toward those within the household and those outside it...

In the external world, one regards gain and loss, honor and insult, frugality and ease with an even eye. The mind makes no distinction among them and calmly meets them all with the same principle. One does not rush ahead to chase good fortune before it arrives, nor does one invite calamity. One responds only after being stirred, and acts only after being pressed. If one does not fear the blade, why fear tigers and rhinoceroses? Things are called by different names according to their kinds, so why cling to the names?

The eyes do not go chasing after forms, and sounds do not enter the ears of their own accord. Every form that can appear is illusory and unreal. The bodies and voices of men and women are not fixed, unchanging substances. When one understands that form and appearance have no independent, solid reality, one is no longer stained by them and no longer clings to them or craves them. One then wanders free and unhindered, and nothing can burden the self.

The light of wondrous awakening (subtle enlightenment) is complete and flawless. It illuminates inside and outside, embraces heaven, earth, and the four directions, and knows no near or far. Though this brilliance is called light, it is not light in the ordinary sense. It is like the moon reflected in water, hard to grasp and hard to take up as a comparison. One who understands this subtle function rises above the ordinary realm. If someone asks about its essential teaching, it is nothing more than this.

Twelve Poems to the Tune of Xijiang Yue

Delusive thoughts need not be forcibly suppressed, and why seek the true nature outside oneself? The original source, one's own nature, is the same as the nature cultivated by all the Buddhas, so why be bound by which comes first, delusion or awakening? Once awakened, one can become a Buddha in an instant. If one remains deluded, one sinks and drifts through rebirth for a long time. If a single thought can accord with true practice, it can wipe away offenses as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

Originally there was no birth and no death, and the two were only reluctantly set apart. Sin and merit likewise have no fixed root, and has the subtle essence ever increased or diminished because of them? I have a bright mirror that was luminous from the start. It grew dim only because dust covered it. Today I polish and wipe it clean, and it can reflect heaven and earth. The myriad phenomena appear clearly, with nowhere to hide.

My nature is in communion with the nature of all the Buddhas, and the nature of the Buddhas in every direction is just the same. The bright moon hangs high and shines on the cold spring, and one moon appears in a thousand pools. When it is small, it is so small that not even a hair's breadth can be discerned. When it is vast, it fills the three thousand great thousand worlds (the vast world-system of Buddhist cosmology). It is not limited by high or low, yet it appears according to whether the place is square or round. So why speak of long or short, deep or shallow?

All things and all dharmas appear transcendent, and nothing can conceal them.

My nature is in communion with the nature of all the Buddhas, and the nature of the Buddhas in every direction is just the same. The bright moon hangs high and shines on the cold spring, and one moon appears in a thousand pools. When it is small, it is so small that not even a hair's breadth can be discerned. When it is vast, it fills the three thousand great thousand worlds (the vast world-system of Buddhist cosmology). It is not limited by high or low, yet it appears according to whether the place is square or round. So why speak of long or short, deep or shallow?

When we speak of the gateway to the Dao (法门, famen), it is a method, yet it has no fixed method; it is called emptiness, yet emptiness is not absolute nothingness. Sitting in stillness without speaking is, at root, no different from speaking in ordinary daily life. Consider a person in a dream: how could they know they are dreaming?

One experiences Wuwei (non-action) within action, and continues to cultivate without claiming any merit. Cultivation is like fruit that turns red of its own accord once ripe; there is no need to ask how it should be planted or how its ripening should be hastened.

Good and evil are merely thoughts that vanish in an instant, and neither flourishing nor decline need be taken to heart. Whether things are bright or dim, hidden or manifest, let them change as they will. Follow your actual needs: eat when hungry, drink when thirsty. When the Shen (spirit) is calm and clear and dwells constantly in stillness, there is no harm in singing and chanting outside of seated meditation. The mind is like a pool of green water, clear and deep; if the wind stirs the surface or startles the fish, let it happen naturally.

When facing the external world, there is no need to forcibly suppress thoughts. "Bodhi" (awakening) is only a provisional name. Form and emptiness, light and darkness, are fundamentally equal, and the distinction between true and false should not be clung to as two wholly separate entities. Once the Way is realized, the present moment is itself the Pure Land (a realm of purity), and there is no need to seek it in Tianzhu (the ancient Chinese name for India) or Caoxi (the site of the Chan school's ancestral temple). Who says the Land of Ultimate Bliss must lie in the west? When one understands thoroughly, the meaning of Amitabha Buddha is revealed within oneself.

As for the "marks of person, self, sentient beings, and lifespan," there is no need to cling to distinctions between self and other, or high and low. The Dharmakaya (the true nature that pervades all things and is not bound by form) illuminates everything universally, and within it there is no fixed "I" or "you"; every thought can reveal the distinction between sameness and difference. What is seen is not necessarily as it appears, and what is heard is not necessarily mistaken. Each function proceeds on its own without obstructing the others, so how could birth and death truly bind you?

If one practices giving while clinging to a particular notion, the karmic reward will not go beyond the heavens and the human realm. Such practice is like shooting an arrow up at the floating clouds: the arrow will eventually fall once its force is spent. A better approach is to realize the true nature of Wuwei (the real nature free from clinging and contrivance), return to simplicity and purity, and let external circumstances no longer stir one's emotions or nature. Following one's natural spontaneity, one attains the "forbearance of the non-arising of phenomena" (a state of abiding in the truth that all things neither arise nor perish).

Once the fish and the rabbit are caught, the bamboo trap and the snare can be forgotten; the raft for crossing the river and the ladder for ascending to heaven should be put down once one has arrived. This means that words and methods of practice are tools for guiding people and should not be clung to. Before awakening, one needs the help of language; after awakening, one knows that language cannot fully express the truth. Even the "four-line verse" belongs to the principle of Wuwei, so why deliberately exclude it?

After awakening, one need not pursue extinction single-mindedly, but may guide, as conditions allow, those who remain deluded. When encountering ordinary wrong views, one can also go along with the other person and help them, leading them toward the true principle through skillful means. Practice should perfect the "five eyes, three bodies, and four wisdoms" and cultivate the "six perfections and ten thousand practices" (the various practices of Mahayana Buddhism). Like a bright and perfect Mani jewel (a wish-fulfilling gem), it benefits both sentient beings and oneself.

I have seen some people who discuss one's inherent nature only with grand and empty talk, eager to respond to others and show off their quickness. They also say things like "the Five Eyes, Three Bodies, Four Wisdoms, Six Perfections, and Ten Thousand Practices" (a series of Buddhist terms concerning wisdom, stages of attainment, and methods of practice), as though they had already perfected every one of them. They compare perfect wisdom to a bright mani jewel (a jewel said to produce treasures at will), claiming that it can benefit both other beings and oneself.

I have seen some people who discuss one's inherent nature only with grand and empty talk, eager to respond to others; yet once they meet with various circumstances, they fall into confusion and bewilderment. How are they any different from fools? What one speaks of should be put into practice; only then are words and deeds in accord. If one can use the sword of wisdom to cut away delusion and affliction, this is what is called the right wisdom of the Tathagata (a title of the Buddha).

If you wish to realize the wondrous way of non-arising (the principle of being free from the bonds of arising and ceasing), it is best to experience your own true mind directly. The true mind has neither form nor sound; the pure Dharmakaya (the body that embodies pure nature) can only be known within the heart. This Way is not something separately obtained outside the mind, nor should one cling to some particular place within the mind to seek it. Let go of attachment to both extremes and return to the Middle Way. To truly see this is called the highest grade.