English translation first, Chinese original below.

Once You Establish an “I,” All Your Practice Gets Stuck

By Venerable Master Huilu

What is the state of mind of those who have realized their original mind and seen their true nature? The ancient great masters have several descriptions—try to experience them yourself. The state of mind of someone who has attained great enlightenment and realized their true nature is this: they effortlessly capture and subdue afflictions and ignorance. This is truly remarkable. What does it mean to effortlessly capture and subdue? It means that they can seize their afflictions and ignorance without the slightest effort. Why? Ultimately empty and unobtainable/ungraspable, they do not cling to appearances.

As for us now, we say: “I want to eliminate self-grasping, afflictions, ignorance.” We spend ten, twenty, thirty years on this, without understanding the pure self-nature, ending up battered and bruised. We have prostrated to the Buddha for ten or twenty years, yet our afflictions remain, our attachments persist. We recite sutras every day, constantly trying to suppress… You need to pay attention: my left hand represents ignorance, my right hand represents reciting the Buddha’s name. Sentient beings recite the Buddha’s name like this: “Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha…” (As the master speaks, he raises the index and middle fingers of his right hand straight up, places his left palm on the fingertips of his right hand, pushing upward with each recitation.) What happens with ignorance? It gets stuck, you see?

They earnestly want to practice, but they do not realize that the Dharma itself is empty in its very essence and do not understand the principle of signlessness. They are eager to practice and are very diligent, bowing to the Buddha 24 hours a day, desperately seeking rebirth in the Pure Land. Yet when they encounter situations, they are more attached, more afflicted, more contentious than anyone else, always reciting: “Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha…” Ignorance covers them; they have not seen their true nature; ignorance blocks them. The practice we need to do now is like this, understand? Remove ignorance, and the realization of true nature will surge upward. (As the master speaks, he lifts his left palm off his right hand, and the right hand thrusts straight up.)

What is the state of mind of great enlightenment? The state of mind of great enlightenment is seeing the eternal within the very instant; eternity and the instant are non-dual. The instant is our mode of consciousness; eternity is also a mode of consciousness. We speak of eternity in relation to the instant, and of the instant in relation to eternity. Once we break the attachment to this instant, eternity fundamentally does not exist. The true eternity is that all phenomena are empty in their very essence.

What is the state of mind of great enlightenment? Entering among thousands as if entering an uninhabited realm, understanding that all phenomena are manifestations of the mind, without any real substance to attain. All phenomena are merely reflections projected by the mind, lacking any substantial reality. Yet we sentient beings are just the opposite—we believe that these circumstances are real and cling to them desperately. This very thought is mistaken. Even when we give rise to the thought of seeking the Buddhadharma, it is also mistaken! Because the Buddhadharma is inherently complete; the self-nature is inherently complete. Sentient beings err because they cannot depart from this starting point, so they are entirely mistaken!

Whenever we speak, it is always “I,” isn’t it? You can see it anytime, anywhere: “I did this, I did that…” As soon as this moving point of “I” becomes attached, it’s ruined! Then life, the universe, turmoil, troubles, conflicts—all come forth. Therefore, it is said: “The entire Dharma Realm is Buddha; adding one petty person creates the ‘I’.” Just by adding this “I,” getting stuck on the concept of “I,” one becomes a petty person.

Once you establish an “I,” that’s it! All your practice gets stuck. What is the state of mind of great enlightenment? It is to live every minute and every second of your phenomenal world with a heart of the universe — that is great enlightenment. What is the state of mind of great enlightenment? It is that where phenomena arise, there they are quiescent and extinct. Can you realize this? That is, in this world, nothing has ever truly happened. When encountering all kinds of suffering and adverse situations, there is no sense of [myself] being wronged or suffering. One understands that dependent origination and emptiness are unobtainable/ungraspable. Dependent origination is without self-nature; all dharmas are unborn. This is what all the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times have proclaimed: Dependent arising is non-arising.