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One Should Give Rise to the Mind that Abides Nowhere (应无所住而生其心)
Footnotes below are generated by ChatGPT.
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English Translation:
Venerable Master Huilu wrote:
When one reaches the point where there is no subject and object, seeing all appearances is precisely your mind, and your mind is not apart from any appearances. In all phenomenon there is no opposition/dichotomy, because your mind does not cling. Employing this kind of skill, there is no such distinction as knower and what is known; it cannot be known by intellectual understanding. One cannot use wisdom to transform it into a single thought of knower and known.
Original Text: “慧律法师写： 达到没有能所，见一切相就是你的心，你的心不离一切相，任何的相都没有对立，因为你的心不着，用这种功夫，就是无所谓的知跟所知，不可智知，不能用智慧化作一念能知能所知”
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English Translation: “The five aggregates and all dharmas arise from causes and conditions; they mutually depend on each other and thus come into being.” This mutual dependence means that subject and object remain unceasing, that host and guest remain unceasing. Subject and object remain unceasing, host and guest remain unceasing. “Immediately illusory, immediately empty” - ‘illusory’ is dependent origination. Immediately illusory, immediately empty means that in the very moment, it is empty.
Original Text: “‘五蕴万法，因缘所生，相依相成’相依相成就是能所不断，主宾不断。能所不断、主宾不断。‘即假即空’假就是缘起。即假即空就是当下就是空。”
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English Translation: “When one awakens to true emptiness,” these ‘five aggregates’ of body—form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness—are true suchness. The ‘six entrances’ of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are likewise suchness. “All is such,” meaning all is the true suchness of one’s self-nature. “Afflictions are originally pure”—the five desires and six sense objects were originally pure. “No Way/path to cultivate” means there is no Way/path to cultivate; likewise, there is “no cessation to realize.” Because of suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path—this Way (Dao) is not something additionally cultivated; it is inherently complete in itself. There is no cessation to realize, for cessation is Nirvāṇa, which is neither arising nor ceasing and is called Nirvāṇa. When all suffering is completely extinguished, of course that is the state of Nirvāṇa; yet there is no Nirvāṇa to be attained.
Original Text: “‘若悟真空’这些‘五蕴’身，色受想行识是真如，‘六入’眼耳鼻舌身意也是如，‘一切皆如’一切都是真如自性，‘尘劳本净’这些五欲六尘本来就是清净，‘无道可修’无道可修，也‘无灭可证’因为是苦集灭道，道不修本自具足，无灭可证，灭就是涅槃，不生不灭叫做涅槃，整个苦全部都熄灭了，当然就是涅槃的境界，也没有涅槃可以证”
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English Translation: So-called “impermanence” refers to arising through causes and conditions and ceasing through causes and conditions—all dharmas are without self-nature. Being without self-nature is precisely dependent arising as unborn. All notions of gain and loss are illusions, and so too are suffering and joy.
Original Text: “所谓的‘无常’—是指因缘生，因缘灭，一切法无自性。无自性即是缘起无生，所有的得失观念皆是错觉，苦乐也是错觉”
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English Translation: Innate nature: not establishing a single dharma within it, thus it is called “the mark of emptiness.” Not actualizing even one dharma, thus it is called “the mark of reality.” Emptiness and reality are completely unified; this is the wondrously luminous true mind.
Original Text: “天性：于中一法不立，故名‘空相’。于一法不实，故名‘实相’。空实一如，是为妙明真心。”
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English Translation: All dharmas are originally empty, yet the mind is not nonexistent. Not nonexistent means wondrous presence. Existence is also not truly existent. Not existent is precisely presence—this is precisely true emptiness and wondrous presence.
Original Text: “一切法本空，心即不无，不无即妙有。有亦不有，不有即有，即真空妙有。”
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English Translation: There is no dharma, and there is no fundamental mind. Only then does one understand Mind-to-Mind dharma. Dharma is precisely not-dharma, and non-dharma is precisely dharma. Neither dharma nor non-dharma exists; therefore it is Mind-to-Mind dharma.
Original Text: “无法，无本心，始解心心法，法即不法，不法即法，无法无不法，故是心心法。”
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English Translation: Master Sikong Benjing said: “Seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are unhindered; sound, fragrance, taste, and touch, are in constant samādhi. Like a bird flying through the sky, there is neither grasping nor discarding, neither aversion nor affection. If one understands that in responding to circumstances there is originally no mind, only then is one named ‘Avalokiteśvara (Guanzizai, more literally: Observing In Freedom).’”
Original Text: “司空本净：‘见闻觉知无障碍，声香味触常三昧。如鸟空中只么飞，无取无舍无憎爱。若会应处本无心，始得名为‘观自在’。’”
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English Translation: Causes and conditions are originally empty; hence there is no need to sever or annihilate them. After seeing one’s nature, causes and conditions themselves are the Buddha-nature, so there is no need to sever or annihilate them.
Original Text: “因缘本空，故不须断灭，见性后因缘即是佛性，故不须断灭。”
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English Translation: The sounds of the stream are entirely the Buddha’s broad and long tongue; the colors of the mountains are without exception the pure body.
Original Text: “溪声尽是广长舌，山色无非清净身。”
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English Translation: Likes and dislikes, rights and wrongs—let them all go at once. Then the mind has no abode. When the mind has no abode, there is no mind. When there is no mind, there is also no “no mind.” Both existence and nonexistence are dispelled; both body and mind are completely exhausted. Because the body and mind are exhausted, all myriad phenomena vanish equally. The myriad phenomena have no form; they merge into their original oneness in darkness. Silently illuminating, there is nowhere the illumination does not reach, yet it is completely quiescent. Taking quiescence as its essence, its essence is without exception empty. This emptiness and quiescence are boundless, all-pervading throughout the dharma realm. Within the dharma realm’s dependent arising, all is naturally so: there is no place from which it comes, and no place to which it goes.
Original Text: “好恶是非，一时都放，则心无住处。心无住处，则无有心，即无有心，亦无无心，有无总无，身心具尽。身心尽故，泯齐万境。万境无相，合本一冥。冥然默照，照无不寂。以寂为体，体无不虚，虚寂无穷，通同法界。法界缘起，无不自然，来无所从，去无所至。”
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English Translation: Things themselves have coming and going, but seeing's nature has no coming or going.
Original Text: “物自有去来，见性无来去也。”
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English Translation: There is nowhere from which it comes and nowhere to which it goes. If there is no arising and ceasing, that is the Tathāgata’s pure meditation. All dharmas are empty and quiescent—that is the Tathāgata’s pure sitting.
Original Text: “无所从来，亦无所去，若无生灭，是如来清净禅，诸法空寂，是如来清净坐。”
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English Translation: The two empty natures are the essence. Knowing the two empty natures is liberation; one no longer generates doubt, which is then called its function.
Original Text: “二性空是体，知二性空是解脱，更不生疑，即名为用。”
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English Translation: Buddha-dharma is found in daily use: in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, in drinking tea or eating food, in speaking and asking questions, and in everything one does.
Original Text: “佛法在日用处，行住坐卧处，吃（喝）茶用饭处，语言相问处，所作所为处。”
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English Translation:
Layman Fu (Fu Dashi) composed a verse, saying:
“Night after night I sleep embracing the Buddha;
Every morning we arise together.
Whether sitting or getting up, we always follow each other;
In speaking or in silence, we dwell together.
Not even a hair’s breadth separates us;
Like a body and its shadow, we resemble each other.
If you wish to know where the Buddha goes,
It is precisely in this voice of mine.”
Original Text: “傅大士偈云：夜夜抱佛眠，朝朝还共起，坐起镇相随，语默同居止，纤毫不相离，如身影相似，欲识佛去处，只这语声是。”
Footnotes/Annotations (if any):
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Five Aggregates (五蕴): form (色), feeling (受), perception (想), formation (行), and consciousness (识).
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Six Entrances (六入): the six faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind—through which one perceives the world.
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Fu Dashi (傅大士): A famous lay Buddhist in Chinese history, also known as Fu Xi (傅翕), who composed influential verses on awakening.
Brief Explanation of Key Concepts
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Subject and Object (能所): Throughout these paragraphs, “subject and object” describes the dualistic functioning of mind—perceiver and perceived. Realizing “no subject and object” signifies a non-dual gnosis free from clinging and division.
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True Emptiness and Wondrous Presence (真空妙有): In Mahāyāna teachings, “true emptiness” does not imply mere nothingness but reveals a boundless potential that is termed “wondrous presence.”
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Dependent Arising (缘起): All phenomena arise interdependently due to causes and conditions, implying that nothing possesses an independent self-nature.
These passages emphasize direct insight into the nature of mind and phenomena: recognizing emptiness, non-duality, and natural ease in daily activities. They highlight that awakening is found not by discarding ordinary life but by seeing through the illusion of separation.
End of Translation
