8th Translation of One Thought Traveller's articles :)

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5b4d23f60102e0eu.html

于彼无相处,安稳又安稳
(2012-03-29 09:34:55)

At That Place of No-Form, It is Calm and Steady.

问:真心和妄心是什么关系?真心有哪些性质或者说真心有哪些功能呢?

Question: What is the relation between True Mind and False Mind? What characteristics/nature does True Mind have, or what kind of functions does the True Mind have?

1
不管真心妄心,反正人人只有一心。分真分妄,正是妄想之一。

1. No matter True or False Mind, anyway all men only have one mind. Discriminating between true and false is a form of delusional thinking.

2
妄心是什么?你所之思维运动、想三想四等皆是它;真心在哪里?凡你能找到的皆是妄心,不见它的踪影。

2. What is False Mind? Whatever thought movements, thinking this and that, is it; Where is True Mind? Whatever you are able to find are false mind, (you) do not see a trace of it.

3
离开妄心之外没有一个独立的真心。妄心真心相待而言,为除众生疑故,众佛菩萨假设施名句,立真以息妄,教人清净解脱。

3. Apart from false mind there is no independent true mind. False mind and true mind are spoken in dependence on each other, for the purpose of removing sentient beings’ doubts, the various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas established false names, established the True/Real to extinguish the False, teaching people about the tranquil liberation.

4
心不居停在身心的任何一处,但也不离它任何一处。于色身之中,小如微尘之细胞,其亦有觉;于妄心之内,状如无影之受念,心亦能知。

4. Mind does not reside at any spot of the body and mind, yet it also isn’t separate from any spot of it. Amidst the physical body, even a cell as tiny as a micro-dust, that also has awareness; in the false mind, even if a thought or feeling is shaped like tracelessness (formless?), the mind is still able to know.

5
心没有任何形象,任何所感受到它,若光若明,若动若静,若大若小,若周若遍等,皆不是其相。

5. Mind does not have any image, whatever that can be felt, whatever/whether the brilliance, movement, quiescence, large or small, all-pervasiveness etc, are not its image.

6
一切法无形象,心也不例外;一切法皆缘起,心也不例外。

6. All dharmas are without image, mind is also likewise; all dharmas are dependently arisen, mind is not otherwise.

7
一切见闻觉知,皆是真心之功能;一切思维举动,皆是妄心之现形。

7. All seeing, hearing, perceiving and knowing, are the functions of True Mind; all thoughts and movements are the revelations of false mind.

8
不要立真心为主,真心并不真;不要弃妄心为奴,妄心即是真心。

8. Do not establish True Mind as the Master, True Mind is not True/Real; do not discard the false mind as slave, False Mind is the True Mind.

9
不管真心是什么、叫什么或怎么样,它离不开五蕴;离开五蕴后没有一个叫心的东西——不管真心还是妄心。

9. No matter what True Mind is, or what it is called or what is it like, it is not apart from the five aggregates; apart from the five aggregates there is nothing that could be called mind – regardless whether it is True Mind or False Mind.


10
莫管它真心妄心,但去悟一切法无我,一切人无我,于诸法无我处,涅槃寂静。

10. Do not care about True Mind/False Mind, but go and realize that all dharmas are empty of self, all person/subject are empty of self, and at the no-self of all dharmas, (attain) Nirvana quiescence.

11
实证三法印,解佛之妙心;于彼无相处,安稳又安稳。

11.  Verify the three dharma seals, understand the marvelous mind of Buddha; at that place of no-form, it is calm and steady.


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Comments:

Today I wrote in Dharma Connection, "Citta (Mind) is not an entity but a process, and does not exist apart from the aggregates, nor does it exist apart from dependent origination (be it the afflicted twelve links of D.O. or the general D.O. that applies to both tainted and untainted experience). There is no citta apart from specific mental experience, and although mind is primordially pure this is only actualized by the insight of anatta since the sense of self would prevent the direct seeing of what mind actually is in its direct immediacy and purity."

Also,
Venerable Hui-Feng nicely explained the difference between the view of "atman" and "mindstream" (as taught by Buddha) in the Dharmawheel forum:

"In short:

"self" = "atman" / "pudgala" / "purisa" / etc.
--> permanent, blissful, autonomous entity, totally unaffected by any conditioned phenomena

"mind" = "citta" / "manas" / "vijnana" / etc.
--> stream of momentarily arising and ceasing states of consciousness, thus not an entity, each of which is conditioned by sense organ, sense object and preceding mental states

Neither are material.

That's a brief overview, lot's of things to nit pick at, but otherwise it'll require a 1000 page monograph to make everyone happy.

You'll need to study up on "dependent origination" (pratitya-samutpada) to get into any depth to answer your questions."


Update:

V. said, "I don't really resonate with True Mind and False Mind ... it is a little bit confusing when he is saying
"All seeing, hearing, perceiving and knowing, are the functions of True Mind; all thoughts and movements are the revelations of false mind."

If one studies the mind sees it is not like that... But this is my perception, i don't agree with diving the mind in "true" and "false"...."

I replied, "The point though, is that true mind and false mind are just convenient conventional designations, in the end "False Mind is the True Mind.", true mind is not real (it is empty of self or substance), and true mind is not other than dependently originated aggregates."
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