Anyone who wishes to see their true nature will not succeed by racing outward in search of it; nor will they succeed by turning inward and trying to think it out. For both are the deluded mind, setting up images and shadows. As the sūtra says, “Know one’s own mind as it truly is.” This is indeed the fundamental key to seeing one’s true nature and attaining Buddhahood. Practitioners should know that we all inherently possess the Tathāgata’s undefiled wisdom-nature; everything is already complete. It is only because we have long been deluded and have forgotten the source that we sink and drift through the six realms.
Those who are deluded delude themselves. Because the cognitive consciousness takes charge, they become deluded and therefore do not see their own true nature. If the mind does not arise, there are no images and shadows; where there are no images and shadows, delusion cannot take hold. Where this deluded, condition-dependent mind ceases is the true mind; it is Buddha. They are the same thing, not two. Thus it is said that afflictions are themselves bodhi. Yet practitioners must not take this lightly, thinking that it is nothing much.
Those who can truly believe and accept this have, in the presence of countless Buddhas, planted many wholesome roots and accumulated immeasurable merit and virtue; only then are they fit to receive it. Do not doubt this. In the previous installment, I told you all: begin with no-mind. When resting quietly, let the mind have no affairs; when active, let there be no clinging mind toward affairs. It is like a boat crossing the great ocean: though it rises and falls amid the waves, its fixed compass must not lose its direction. Whether in activity or stillness, the true essence, clear and quiescent, is fundamentally unmoved.
Since everything is already complete, as stated above, there can be no question of difficulty or ease. Yet for those of spiritual intelligence, seeing is not difficult; what is difficult is to see and then be able to believe deeply. More difficult still is, having faith, to dare to take it up oneself. Harder yet is not to take it lightly and pass it over carelessly. Hardest of all is not to forget it twenty or thirty times each day, thereby increasing its power.
Is there any matter in human life more important than this? Worldly people bustle through an entire lifetime for no more than a livelihood. Even if they obtain satisfaction, it is no more than the brief appearance of an udumbara flower.
Even those as exalted as emperors cannot avoid decaying along with the grasses and trees. How can this compare with this matter, which, once resolved, resolves all matters and bears upon life after life? A verse from the Diamond Sūtra says: “Though the seven treasures of the three thousand worlds are indeed abundant, once exhausted, they ultimately return to arising and ceasing.” If we awaken here, we directly realize bodhi at once. What spirit this is! What joy and exhilaration! Therefore, for practitioners who have not seen their true nature, it is as though they have not yet escaped a pit of fire; sooner or later, they will have a share in the three lower realms. How can they fail to feel deep urgency and fear?
As for the high and low, poverty and prosperity, success and failure in human life, these were settled long ago by prior causes and conditions; there is nothing that cannot be resolved. Yet to miss the great matter of this life because of minor concerns of livelihood is truly not worthwhile. Moreover, none of the affairs of the world obstruct the Way; it is precisely amid busy, vexing, and disorderly circumstances that one should train.
Do not take it lightly: this is the method of diligent practice before seeing one’s true nature. Do not forget it: this is the method of safeguarding realization after seeing one’s true nature. Do not deliberately attend to it: this is the method of following conditions and nurturing the Way upon entering the stage of effortless functioning. Dharma gates are immeasurable, but in a single phrase they may be summed up: see one’s true nature. Therefore, apart from seeing one’s true nature, it is not Buddhadharma. One must clearly distinguish the genuine from the false, urgently take up the supreme teaching, and directly recognize it. Above all, be honest, open, and spiritually alert. The years do not wait for us; do not mislead yourselves.
