Also see:
1) The Doctrine of No Mind by Bodhidharma (无心论)
2) Also, explanation of Bodhidharma by Dzogchen dharma teacher Abhaya Devi Yogini in Way of Bodhi
3) Some translations and commentaries of Bodhidharma's texts by John Tan can be found at Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma on the Inseparability of Awareness and Conditions
Bodhidharma is the first Ch'an/Zen Patriarch, the founder of Ch'an Buddhism in China (that later became Zen Buddhism in Japan).
A short biography:
Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during
the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter
of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. Wikipedia
This is a very good text and highly recommended reading:
THE ZEN TEACHINGS OF BODHIDHARMA
Translated by Red Pine 1987
Available at: http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Ancestors/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/THE%20ZEN%20TEACHINGS%20OF%20BODHIDHARMA.htm
Being
a Chinese myself and a Chinese reader, having read the Chinese version,
I am not very satisfied with this English translation (a lot of
liberties are taken, see my comments below), but still it is a nice
attempt and the best we have yet in English, probably.
[6:28 PM, 11/27/2020] Soh Wei Yu: I'm reading through and listening to master hui lu explanation of bodhidharma texts
[6:28 PM, 11/27/2020] Soh Wei Yu: http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Ancestors/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/THE%20ZEN%20TEACHINGS%20OF%20BODHIDHARMA.htm
[6:28
PM, 11/27/2020] Soh Wei Yu: I think its very nice. Focus is on
realizing mind, then all is mind and realise no mind [Soh: as in, anatta
insight]
[8:31 PM, 11/28/2020] John Tan: Yes. Good site.
[8:33 PM, 11/28/2020] Soh Wei Yu: U mean the whole website or the bodhidharma page?
[8:36 PM, 11/28/2020] John Tan: Bodhidharma
Zen Master Hui Lu's commentaries on Bodhidharma's teachings (in Chinese):
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EkJXQ6YFaA
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-jWjTpalCI
Zen Master Hong Wen Liang's commentaries on Bodhidharma's teachings (in Chinese):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzHwyukP9oI&list=PLoaBO83c0CKIiffpte7aHvEgFD-izxqNi&index=7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8de49k1HA&list=PLoaBO83c0CKIiffpte7aHvEgFD-izxqNi&index=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O862VcRo_PU&list=PLoaBO83c0CKIiffpte7aHvEgFD-izxqNi&index=9
I just wrote to Mr. J today:
Right,
they [consciousness and universe] are one and the same not because they
both refer to some truly existing unchanging substance and substratum,
but because no such 'unchanging substance and substratum' could be found
other than a mere name designated upon presencing manifestation.
In the Bodhidharma text:
"At
this, the disciple all at once greatly awakened and realized for the
first time that there is no thing apart from mind, and no mind apart
from things. All of his actions became utterly free. Having broken
through the net of all doubt, he was freed of all obstruction."
--> reducing everything to mind is nondual, but anatta is also realising 'no mind apart from things'.
Bodhidharma
said, "Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything
real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn’t exist. Mortals
keep creating the mind, claiming it exists. And Arhats keep negating the
mind, claiming it doesn’t exist. But bodhisattvas and Buddhas neither
create nor negate the mind. This is what’s meant by the mind that
neither exists nor doesn’t exist. The mind that neither exists nor
doesn’t exist is called the Middle Way.
If you use your mind to
study reality, you won’t understand either your mind or reality. If you
study reality without using your mind, you’ll understand both. Those who
don’t understand don’t understand understanding. And those who
understand, understand not understanding. People capable of true vision
know that the mind is empty. They transcend both understanding and not
understanding. The absence of both understanding and not understanding
is true understanding Seen with true vision, form isn’t simply form,
because form depends on mind. And mind isn’t simply mind, because mind
depends on form. Mind and form create and negate each other. That which
exists exists in relation to that which doesn’t exist. And that which
doesn’t exist doesn’t exist in relation to that which exists. This is
true vision. By means of such vision nothing is seen and nothing is not
seen. Such vision reaches throughout the ten directions without seeing:
because nothing is seen; because not seeing is seen; because seeing
isn’t seeing. What mortals see are delusions. True vision is detached
from seeing. The mind and the world are opposites, and vision arises
where they meet. When your mind doesn’t stir inside, the world doesn’t
arise outside. When the world and the mind are both transparent, this is
true vision. And such understanding is true understanding."
Bodhidharma
also said, "But this mind isn’t somewhere outside the material body of
four elements.Without this mind we can’t move. The body has no
awareness. Like a plant or stone, the body has no nature. So how does it
move? It’s the mind that moves. Language and behavior, perception and
conception are all functions of the moving mind. All motion is the
mind’s motion. Motion is its function. Apart from motion there’s no
mind, and apart from the mind there’s no motion. But motion isn’t the
mind. And the mind isn’t motion. Motion is basically mindless. And the
mind is basically motionless. But motion doesn’t exist without the mind.
And the mind doesn’t exist without motion. Theres no mind for motion to
exist apart from, and no motion for mind to exist apart from. Motion is
the mind’s function, and its function is its motion. Even so, the mind
neither moves nor functions, the essence of its functioning is emptiness
and emptiness is essentially motionless. Motion is the same as the
mind. And the mind is essentially motionless. Hence the Sutras tell us
to move without moving, to travel without traveling, to see without
seeing, to laugh without laughing, to hear without hearing, to know
without knowing, to be happy, without being happy, to walk without
walking, to stand without standing. And the sutras say, "Go beyond
language. Go beyond thought." Basically, seeing, hearing, and knowing
are completely empty. Your anger, Joy, or pain is like that of puppet.
You search but you won’t find a thing."
"Once you know this,
walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen. To
know that the mind is empty is to see the Buddha. The Buddhas of the ten
directions" have no mind. To see no mind is to see the Buddha."
John
Tan wrote in 2011 to someone who just realised anatta, "Next step is
not to stagnate in no-self and engage wholly and completely into actions
and activities then "satori" has no entry or exit; when the thunder
claps, the whole of "satori" is actualized!"
It is also the same realisation expressed here,
"At that point, is the observer—awareness—other than the
observed—stillness and movement—or is it actually that stillness and
movement itself? By investigating with the gaze of your own awareness,
you come to understand that that which is investigating itself is also
no other than stillness and movement. Once this happens you will
experience lucid emptiness as the naturally luminous self-knowing
awareness. Ultimately, whether we say nature and radiance, undesirable
and antidote, observer and observed, mindfulness and thoughts, stillness
and movement, etc., you should know that the terms of each pair are no
different from one another; by receiving the blessing of the guru,
properly ascertain that they are inseparable. Ultimately, to arrive at
the expanse free of observer and observed is the realization realization
of the true meaning and the culmination of all analyses. This is called
“the view transcending concepts,” which is free of conceptualization,
or “the vajra mind view.”
"Fruition vipashyana is the correct realization of the final conviction of the nonduality of observer and observed."
Khamtrul Rinpoche III. The Royal Seal of Mahamudra: Volume One: A
Guidebook for the Realization of Coemergence: 1 (p. 242). Shambhala.
..........
p.s. my own translation from 1 year ago:
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Soh, I also like Bodhidarma . Coincidentally I was reading him and I separated these two passages that somehow sounded strange to me. I am curious about how this is written in Chines. Both passages, indeed, reminds one of Advaita based ideas.From the Wake-Up Sermon:Here Bodhidarma is quoting (not criticizing): "And the Nirvana Sutra says, "All mortals have the buddha-nature. But it’s covered by darkness from which they can’t escape.Our buddha-nature is awareness: to be aware and to make others aware. To realize awareness is liberation," Everything good has awareness for its root. And from this root of awareness grow the tree of all virtues and the fruit of nirvana. Beholding the mind like this is understanding"and..."Worship means reverence and humility it means revering your real self and humbling delusions."6 CommentsComments
又《涅槃经》云:“一切众生悉有佛性,无明覆故,不得解脱。”佛性者,即觉性也。但自觉觉他,觉知明了,则名解脱。故知一切诸善,以觉为根;因其觉根,遂能显现诸功德树。涅槃之果德,因此而成。如是观心,可名为了。And The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "All sentient beings have buddha-nature, but due to being obscured by ignorance, they are unable to be liberated." What is termed Buddha-nature is the nature of awakening/awareness. Simply to be self-awakened and awaken others, to clearly comprehend awake-knowing, is named liberation. One should know that all virtues have awareness/awakeness as its root; from this root of awakening/awareness, thereupon it is able to manifest various trees of merits. The merit of nirvana is thus accomplished. By contemplating mind as such is understanding/knowing(My comments: It should be noted that the 'awareness' here is actually more like the sanskrit term 'vidya' or the Tibetan term 'rigpa', which means more precisely - the knowledge of one's nature, although often incorrectly or inadequately translated as 'awareness'. Rather than simply the plain clarity aspect of our nature, the full understanding of our nature, the full maturation and ripening of vidya/awakening/rigpa includes the understanding of the *empty* and lucid nature of mind. Thus translating this as 'awareness' is a rather misleading way of translation that lends it towards Advaitic misinterpretations, and a better term would be 'knowledge' or 'awakeness' or something of that manner)夫礼者敬也,拜者伏也,所谓恭敬真性,屈伏无明,名为礼拜。礼 (courteous) is respect, 拜 is to submit/surrender (礼拜 is usually meant bow in veneration). What is known as respecting true nature, giving up/submitting/surrendering ignorance, is called "bowing in veneration".The term real self (真我) does not occur in Bodhidharma's text
(Update: in the instances where the term 'real self' appears in the English translation, they are actually to be accurately translated as 'true nature' or 'true suchness' instead. 由彼染心,障真如体故。is translated as "their impure mind obscures their real self" by Red Pine, but its actual meaning is "due to defiling mind, obscuring the body of true suchness". Bodhidharma did not hold the view of a self or atman, nor did he use those terms throughout his teachings.)2Yea,Soh, thanks for the hassle. I thought so. I imagined it should be a misinterpretation/mistranslation of ideograms. Its a matter of coherency with the rest of the text.1Buddhi (Sanskrit: बुद्धि) is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit root Budh (बुध् ), which literally means "to wake, be awake, observe, heed, attend, learn, become aware of, to know, be conscious again".)...Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from *budh, to be awake, to understand, to know. The same root is the basis for the more familiar masculine form Buddha and the abstract noun bodhi.1- Reply
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Geovani GeoSoh, and/or other Chinese speaking dudes here. In the beginning of the Breakthrough Sermon, the first page ends as "(...)because their impure minds obscure their real self". I am interested in the expression "real self". Bellow I will post the original in Chinese for this first page. I wonder how would you translate this last expression.Soh Wei YuGeovani Geo I think I replied you on that beforeBut I need time to find out where i posted it in atr blogGeovani GeoSoh Wei Yu, I think it was another passage. I am trying to post the image of the Chinese textSoh Wei YuPrevious discussion http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../bodhidharmas-zen...Bodhidharma's Zen TeachingsAWAKENINGTOREALITY.COMBodhidharma's Zen TeachingsSoh Wei YuAs for your particular quote: "(...)because their impure minds obscure their real self"Soh Wei Yu由彼染心,障真如体故。Because of impure mind, 障 obscure 真 true 如 suchness 体 essenceIn other words, "due to impure mind, the essence of true suchness is obscured"Soh Wei YuBodhidharma never spoke a word about real self throughout all his texts. Always focused on no mind and anatta and emptiness.Usually the badly translated text is referring to 'true suchness' when incorrectly translating as real self.


![bodhicittavivarana_translation_by_thupten_jinpa [Ayurveda Healing Arts Institute - Ayurvedic Distance Learning of Medicine Buddha Healing Center]](https://external.fsin1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQA5NzpiZ8x6wa9-&w=128&h=128&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ayurveda-institute.org%2Fayurvedic-medicine-online-course%2Flib%2Ftpl%2Fdokuwiki%2Fimages%2Flogo.png&cfs=1&_nc_cb=1&_nc_hash=AQAm7JwQjmxWbsH0)
Also see:
1) The Doctrine of No Mind by Bodhidharma (无心论)
2) Also, explanation of Bodhidharma by Dzogchen dharma teacher Abhaya Devi Yogini in Way of Bodhi
3) Some translations and commentaries of Bodhidharma's texts by John Tan can be found at Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma on the Inseparability of Awareness and Conditions
I don't understand emptyness. What I realize is that awareness is aware. So from the side of awareness, there is no world. Nothing is happening. Awareness aware off is what the world is made out of. So emptyness, I think, is when all there is , is Mind, awareness. I am looking upp the word 'emptynes'on this site before I ask questions on facebook. I need to do the work first.