The joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains of human life are merely the functioning of the mind.

All contrived actions are likewise the functioning of the mind.

When the Buddha liberates sentient beings, he simply wishes people to awaken—

that is, to bring forth another mind upon the mind and understand the meaning of human life.

Jue means perceiving the illusory transformations of circumstances; wu means awakening to the deluded conditions of one’s own mind.

Externally, one is neither deluded nor enticed by circumstances; internally, one is not turned about by the deluded mind.

One clearly understands that one inherently possesses an autonomous and independent essential nature.

Though one may be momentarily confused and act recklessly, the moment one awakens, one returns to the original state.

What are called joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains, and all things whatsoever are but dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows.

No longer being deceived by them—this is the great spirit of autonomy and independence.

The Buddha did not claim that this capacity belonged to the Buddha alone; rather, it is inherent

in all people, whether wise or foolish, great or small. The true spirit of the Buddhadharma lies precisely here.

In life, if one wishes to resolve this great matter, reliance on the Buddha’s guiding power

accounts for one or two parts, while reliance on one’s own effort accounts for eight or nine parts.

To think of relying entirely on the Buddha, or to insist on relying solely on oneself without following

the Buddhadharma—both are great superstitions, and such a person is not a child of the Buddha.

When the Buddha spoke of cause and effect, it was not that cause and effect came into existence only with the Buddha.

When the Buddha spoke of equality, it was not that equality came into existence only with the Buddha.

The Buddha said that sentient beings and the Buddha are fundamentally nondual.

Nonduality is equality.

Sentient beings themselves are originally equal, yet they deliberately make themselves unequal.

With regard to external appearances, there are naturally distinctions of great and small, high and low, beautiful and ugly.

Where there is difference, there is no equality.

Yet all phenomena arise and cease through conditions, appearing and vanishing like illusions, equally unreal.

This is equality. Therefore, equality is real, and inequality is illusory.

Yet worldly people always cling to forms, and over time this becomes habitual.

They have long forgotten the truth of equality. Only those who are awakened are not bound by this.

They are able to form their own vision and realize this truth through reasoning.

They awaken to the fact that all sentient beings are non-dual with oneself in essential nature.

Why then must I necessarily be good and right, while others must necessarily be bad and wrong? Those

who do not understand this truth of equality first establish the view of self and other.

I want to be well off; you need not be.

If I have money, I am prosperous; if you have no money, you are poor.

They do not realize that this is a matter of money itself—what does it have to do with the person?

If I give my money to you, I become poor and you become prosperous.

Even if I do not give it to you, once I spend it all, I too become poor.

Money is fundamentally an external form, utterly unreliable.

But the habit of worrying over gain and loss has persisted so long that people want to hold on to it forever,

forgetting the truths of cause and effect and equality.

Thus there is much strife, even to the point of slaughter and plunder, and people endure countless sufferings in vain.

The true spirit of the Buddhadharma is precisely to shatter this deluded view of yours.

Once a person holds this deluded view, delusion piles upon delusion.

The greater one's power, the greater the force of delusion.

The more people are deluded, the more numerous the groups of the deluded.

Step by step, it evolves until it reaches the extreme of confusion, and then people instead say that the Buddhadharma is superstition.

Everything in the world is nothing other than a lesson shown to me.

The myriad transformations of human affairs are telling me of impermanence and constant uncertainty—teaching me not to cling rigidly.

All evil karma in the world arises from nothing other than attachment to self.

The most miserable people in the world are those who are obstinate and self-righteous, always insisting

that they are not wrong, remaining deluded to the very end, never awakening even at death.

When we look at them, we see that they are truly suffering.

They themselves suffer too—suffering from not knowing their own suffering.

But do we ourselves truly understand? As bystanders we see clearly, but when it is our turn to be

tempted by vanity, wealth, and profit, perhaps we too will be just as obstinate and self-righteous.

Therefore, the Buddha wants you to awaken thoroughly.

Master Zhu only said that one should not be enticed by external things, but he did not understand why.

hat external things actually are — they are the deluded conditions of one's own mind.

If one does not begin with the mind, one will never thoroughly attain the true spirit of the Buddhadharma.

Buddhism and the Buddhadharma originally had no distinction—what is taught is the Dharma.

But by now, what can be seen is only the outer form of Buddhism, while the truth of the Buddhadharma remains unclear.

Among the fourfold assembly of the Buddha's disciples, the best close their doors and cultivate in

solitude, paying no heed to the sufferings of society.

The middling ones crave the limelight and diligently perform meritorious deeds with attachment to form.

The lowest commit every manner of wrongdoing and stop at nothing.

Among those who study Buddhism, some are utterly lifeless, while others are grotesque and bizarre.

Society sees only harm and no benefit from them—how can people be expected to have faith? Now it

has gone a step further: even those who used to cultivate in solitude can no longer keep their doors shut.

They rush about in all directions and have even less time to introduce the true spirit of the Buddhadharma to society.

Thus it drifts further and further away, and people's doubts grow ever deeper.

This is the decline of Buddhism.

Although Buddhism has suffered many years of ruin and decay, the latent power of the Buddhadharma's spirit has not diminished or changed.

On the contrary, it expands day by day.

Those who wish to investigate the truth grow more numerous by the day.

This is the reaction of people's inner anguish, which has invisibly split Buddhism and the Buddhadharma apart.

People of knowledge naturally do not cling to the formal solemnity of Buddhism, but rather revere the spiritual freedom of the Buddhadharma.

The meritorious deeds performed with attachment to form were originally a skillful means to guide beginners through the door.

Fundamentally, the Buddha did not grasp at forms.

He wanted people to awaken themselves.

The most orthodox approach is to benefit both oneself and others and to turn enemies into friends.

let them be tamed of their own accord, to enable each person to see clearly their own Original Face,

and to use great wisdom to assist great compassion in the work of saving the world.

First, one must not be greedy.

If one can refrain from grasping at forms, the culture of corruption will naturally die out.

Second, one must not harbor hatred.

If one can regard all with equal compassion and understand the meaning of mutual aid, the habits of

deceit, cruelty, and slaughter will naturally cease. Third, one must not be ignorant.

If one can elucidate the truth, open the great wisdom of awakening, and shatter superstition,

then obstinacy, self-righteousness, and deluded recklessness will naturally diminish.

In short, transformation must come from within, of one's own accord.

From this it is clear: there is no person without a mind, and mind itself is Buddha.

There is no mind without principle, and principle itself is Dharma.

The great function of the Buddhadharma lies not in contending for the prestige of Buddhism's own

facade or in comparing itself with other religions, but in enabling each person to awaken to the

truth for themselves and to learn the Buddha's spirit of equal salvation for all.

Salvation does not lie in the satisfaction of food, clothing, and shelter, but in enabling every person to enjoy food, clothing, and shelter equally.

For food, clothing, and shelter sustain this body, and this body sustains the great compassionate mind.

What is needed is to carry out the great work of compassion for the benefit of all beings—not arh

ats who are like scorched sprouts and withered seeds, but bodhisattvas who practice wisdom and compassion in tandem.

This is precisely in accord with the spirit of equality advocated in the present age.

If there are those who remain obstinate and self-righteous, they will naturally be abandoned by all.

They will fall without being struck, serving as a great example and a great lesson for the world. This is the true spirit of the Buddhadharma.

The Buddhadharma emphasizes practical action and naturalness.

First subdue oneself and attain the power of concentration.

Through the power of concentration, the power of discernment increases, and physical strength naturally grows stronger.

These are the three powers of human life.

Use these three powers to handle all undertakings in society, and you will naturally find ease and mastery.

In the present situation of violent storms and tempests, without the support of mental power, one will surely be swept away by external circumstances.

Take, for example, those who are corrupt. By nature, they do not wish to be corrupt.

It is only because of the temptations of their environment, the lack of hope for the future, the

terror looming before their eyes, and their own lack of inner grounding that they are driven down the path of corruption.

Greed is an inferior propensity inherent in everyone; corruption is a momentary deluded act.

One person sets the example, and the multitude follows suit, until it becomes an open epidemic.

If we wish to reform this inferior propensity, we must first enable people to awaken.

Once their livelihood is stable, this tendency will naturally cease. This is the true spirit of the Buddhadharma.

One person's greed can draw many others into greed.

When greed becomes the standard, the pit of desire is naturally impossible to fill, and it will inevitably lead to many people being oppressed and left without food.

It will inevitably lead to many people being oppressed and left without food.

Conversely, what one gains through greed is fundamentally unreliable.

If one had known the danger of greedy gain earlier, one would never have gone so far as to walk the path of self-destruction.

The words "peace and safety" mean that only when everyone is at peace can I be safe.

If there is even one person who is not at peace, there is one force of reaction—and that is one's own danger.

I have often said that when the world is truly at peace, locks and safes will no longer be needed.

When these two things are employed, it means that the mind is filled with suspicion and jealousy, and fear of retaliation surrounds one on all sides.

That reaction is inequality—inequality of both mind and matter.

And the primary cause of inequality is still greed. The primary cause of greed is still fear.

The primary cause of fear is non-awakening.

Because of non-awakening, one cannot see the truth clearly and is unwilling to give.

The Buddha taught all dharmas with giving as foremost. Giving means letting go.

Not only should money and material things be given away—even one's own deluded views should be given away.

Broaden your vision; do not stubbornly cling to inferior views.

When everyone has food to eat, that is my supreme insurance and greatest peace. Therefore, giving is the greatest spirit of the Buddhadharma.

The Buddhadharma simply seeks to turn worldly affairs upside down.

For a moment, let go of what I cling to and see how it is.

Take what I value and regard it as worthless, and see how it is. Do not love what I love.

Relinquish what I grasp. Cease to find astonishing what astonishes me.

Then suffering is cut off of itself, and one becomes flexible and adept in all dealings, smooth and clear in every direction.

The sorrows and joys, sufferings and pleasures of human life are merely functions of the mind; all contrivances are likewise functions of the mind. The Buddha liberates sentient beings only to enable people to awaken, to bring another mind to bear upon the mind, and to understand why human life is as it is.

Awakening means sensing the illusory transformations of one's circumstances; realization means realizing that one's own mind is conditioned by delusion. Outwardly, one is not beguiled or enticed by circumstances; inwardly, one is not tossed about by the deluded mind. One understands that one naturally possesses an autonomous and independent essential nature. Though one may temporarily act deludedly in confusion, with a single awakening one returns to one's original nature. So-called sorrow, joy, suffering, pleasure, and everything else are all like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows; one is no longer deceived by them. This is the great spirit of autonomy and independence. The Buddha does not claim that Buddhahood is his own exclusive function; it is a function inherently possessed by all people, whether worthy or foolish, great or small. Herein lies the true spirit of the Buddhadharma.

To resolve this great problem of human life, one may borrow the Buddha's guiding power for one or two parts, but must rely on one's own efforts for eight or nine parts. To wish to depend entirely on the Buddha, or to insist on relying solely on oneself without depending on the Buddhadharma—both are great superstitions; neither is the way of a Buddhist disciple.

When the Buddha teaches cause and effect, it is not that cause and effect exist only because there is a Buddha. When the Buddha teaches equality, it is not that equality exists only because there is a Buddha. The Buddha teaches that sentient beings and Buddhas are originally nondual. Nonduality is equality: sentient beings themselves are originally equal, yet they deliberately make themselves unequal.

In terms of outward appearances, there are naturally all kinds of differences—large and small, high and low, beautiful and ugly. Difference means inequality. Yet all appearances arise and cease through conditions; they illusorily arise and illusorily disappear, and are equally unreal. This is equality. Thus equality is real, while inequality is illusory. But worldly people always cling to appearances, and after a long time this becomes habitual; they have long forgotten the truth of equality.

Only awakened people are not bound by this. They can form their own distinctive understanding and infer this truth from reason: the essential nature of all sentient beings is nondual with my own. Why must I necessarily be good and right, while others must necessarily be bad and wrong? Those who do not understand this truth of equality first establish the view of a personal self: I must be good; you need not be good.

I am rich because I have money; you are poor because you have none. They do not understand that this is a matter of money—what does it have to do with the person? If I give you my money, I become poor and you become rich. Even if I do not give it to you, once I have spent it all, I too become poor. Money is originally an outward appearance and fundamentally cannot be relied upon. But the habit of fearing gain and loss has endured for so long that people seek to preserve it forever, forgetting the truths of cause and effect and equality. Thus they struggle all the more, even resorting to killing and plundering, and suffer vainly all kinds of misery. The true spirit of the Buddhadharma is to shatter this deluded view.

Once people have this deluded view, they become deluded again and again. The greater their power, the greater the power of their delusion; the more deluded people there are, the more deluded groups there are. Step by step, this develops to the utmost extreme of confusion, and they instead call the Buddhadharma superstition.

Everything in the world is a lesson shown to me. The various illusory changes in human affairs tell me of all the uncertainties of impermanence; they teach me not to cling stubbornly. All evil karma in the world arises from attachment to self. The most miserable people under heaven are those who are obstinately self-righteous, always believing themselves to be right, remaining deluded to the end, and failing to awaken even at death.

When we see another person, we see that he truly suffers; he himself also suffers, because he does not know his own suffering. But do we ourselves truly understand? As bystanders, we may understand; yet when it is our own turn to be lured by vanity, wealth, and profit, we may likewise become obstinate and self-righteous. Therefore, the Buddha requires us to awaken thoroughly. Master Zhu merely said that one should not be enticed by external things, but he did not know what external things are: they are the delusive conditions arising from one’s own mind. Unless one begins with the mind, one will never thoroughly attain the true spirit of the Buddhadharma.

Buddhism and the Buddhadharma originally are not different: what Buddhism teaches is precisely the Dharma. Yet at present, what can be seen is only the outward form of Buddhism, while the truth of the Buddhadharma remains uncomprehended. Among the fourfold Buddhist community, the highest shut themselves away to cultivate on their own and do not concern themselves with society’s suffering; those in the middle like to seek the limelight and diligently perform merit-making with form; those at the bottom commit adultery and evil deeds, stopping at nothing.

Among those who study Buddhism, some are lifeless and dispirited, while others put on bizarre and affected airs. Society sees only their harm and not their benefit. How, then, can people be expected to have faith in Buddhism?

Now things have gone a step further: even those who cultivate on their own can no longer remain behind closed doors. They rush about everywhere and have even less time to introduce the true spirit of the Buddhadharma to society. Thus they grow ever further apart, and people’s doubts grow ever deeper. This is the decline of Buddhism.

Although Buddhism has suffered much devastation over many years, the latent power of the Buddhadharma’s spirit has not diminished in the least; on the contrary, it expands day by day. More and more people wish to investigate the truth. This is a reaction to the distress in people’s hearts, which has invisibly separated Buddhism from the Buddhadharma.

Those with understanding naturally do not prize Buddhism’s formal adornments, but respect the freedom of the Buddhadharma’s spirit. The merit-making with form in the Buddhadharma was originally an expedient means of guiding those who have only just entered the gate.

At root, the Buddha does not cling to appearances, but requires people to awaken for themselves. The most authentic tradition is to benefit both oneself and others, to turn enemies into friends, and to let them be tamed of their own accord, so that everyone realizes their own Original Face. One should support great compassion with great wisdom and undertake the work of saving the world. First, one must not be greedy. If one can refrain from clinging to appearances, the prevailing tendency toward corruption will naturally disappear.

Second, do not give rise to anger. If one can regard all with equal compassion and understand the meaning of mutual assistance, the habits of deceit, cruelty, and killing will naturally cease. Third, do not be deluded. If one can elucidate the truth, open up great awakening and wisdom, and break through superstition, then the conduct of obstinately following one’s own views and acting perversely and deludedly will naturally diminish. In sum, people must be transformed of their own accord. Thus, there is no one without mind, and mind itself is Buddha.

There is no mind without principle, and principle itself is Dharma. The great function of the Buddhadharma does not lie in contending over Buddhism’s outward prestige or debating the merits and faults of other religions. It lies in enabling each person to awaken to the truth for themselves and to learn the Buddhist spirit of equality in saving the world.

Salvation does not lie in the satisfaction of food, clothing, and shelter, but in enabling everyone to enjoy food, clothing, and shelter equally. Food, clothing, and shelter sustain this body, and this body sustains the mind of great compassion. One must undertake work that benefits the many through great compassion—not become an arhat like scorched sprouts and rotten seeds, but become a bodhisattva in whom wisdom and compassion operate together. This accords precisely with the egalitarianism advocated in the present age. If there are people who are obstinate and self-righteous, they will naturally become alienated from all and collapse without needing to be struck down, serving as a great warning and lesson for everyone under heaven. This is the true spirit of the Buddhadharma.

The Buddhadharma values practical action and naturalness. First, restrain yourself and acquire the power of meditative stability. From the power of meditative stability, the power of discernment increases, and physical strength naturally grows stronger. These are the three powers of human life. Use these three powers to meet all the undertakings of society, and one will naturally handle them with ease. Amid today’s turbulent situation, without the sustaining power of the mind, one will certainly be swept along by external circumstances.

Take those who engage in corruption. By nature, they do not wish to be corrupt; but because they are tempted by their circumstances, see no hope for the future, face immediate fears, and lack self-mastery, they are driven onto the road of corruption. Greed is an inferior tendency inherent in everyone; corruption is a momentary deluded act. One person sets the example, and everyone else imitates it, until it becomes an openly prevailing epidemic. If this inferior tendency is to be transformed, people must first become aware of it. Once their livelihood is secure, this tendency will naturally cease. This is the true spirit of the Buddhadharma.

One person’s greed can induce many others to be greedy. If greed is taken as the foundation, the abyss of desire naturally cannot be filled, and many people will inevitably be forced into having no food to eat. In reaction, what one has gained through greed proves fundamentally unreliable. If one had known early on the dangers of greedy gain, one would not have gone so deeply down the road of self-destruction.

The two characters ping’an, “peace and security,” mean that everyone must be treated equally before I can be secure. If even one person is treated unequally, there will be a reaction, and that reaction is a danger to oneself. I have often said that when the world attains genuine peace and security, locks and safes will no longer be needed. Once these two things are needed, people are already harboring suspicion and jealousy, and fear reactions on every side.

Such reaction is inequality: both minds and material things are unequal. Yet the chief cause of inequality is greed. The chief cause of greed is still fear. The chief cause of fear is lack of awakening. Because of this lack of awakening, people do not clearly perceive principle and are unwilling to give.

In teaching all dharmas, the Buddha places foremost importance on giving. Giving means letting go. Not only money and possessions should be given away; even my deluded views should be given away. Broaden your outlook, and do not stubbornly cling to inferior views. If everyone has food to eat, that is my supreme insurance and greatest happiness. Therefore, giving is the greatest spirit of the Buddhadharma.

The Buddhadharma merely seeks to turn worldly affairs around. Set aside for the moment what I cling to, and see what happens. Treat lightly what I regard as important, and see what happens. Do not love what I love; relinquish what I grasp; do not be astonished by what astonishes me. Then suffering naturally ceases, and one becomes flexible and adept in handling every situation.