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English Translation:
Dialogues with Teacher Nan Huai-Chin and Teacher Hong: Let the Ten Thousand Dharmas Prove No-Self
Haiming: “Teacher Shakyamuni took a vow under the tree: ‘Until I attain Bodhi, I will not rise from this seat.’ After experiencing seven days under the tree, he recognized that ‘All sentient beings possess the wisdom and virtuous characteristics of the Tathāgata; it is only because of false thinking and attachment that they cannot attest to it.’ Please explain, how must one sit in meditation to be able to see as the Buddha saw?”
Teacher Nan: “Pay attention now! Does ‘not rise from this seat’ mean a person is sitting in meditation? These four words are so beautiful. To use our local Chinese slang: ‘I [Laozi] will just die right here today; I’m not getting up. I’ll just die sitting right here and be done with it.’ Have you thought about why you meditate? You think every day about meditating to become a Buddha; is asking for the Buddha’s Knowledge-Vision [$zhi \ jian$], as you put it, not false thinking and attachment?”
Haiming: “Hmph, but I am studying Buddhism!”
Teacher Nan: “Is studying Buddhism not false thinking?”
Haiming: “Since it is false thinking, then I won’t meditate; it’s not like I absolutely have to meditate!”
Teacher Nan: “Isn’t that also attachment?”
Haiming: “Then would it be okay if I simply don’t meditate?”
Teacher Nan: “That is also attachment!”
Haiming: “Then is it okay if I don’t study Buddhism at all?”
Teacher Nan: “Even more attached! Saying yes won’t do, saying no won’t do, not saying whether it is or isn’t won’t do either; this isn’t right, that isn’t right, and not right is even more not right. Then what should I do?”
Teacher Nan: “Hey, that’s it! Haiming. Disregard whether it is, disregard whether it isn’t, disregard both is and isn’t. This is precisely ‘this seat’—sitting and cutting off the ten directions, a wall standing a thousand fathoms high, secretly turning the seven wheels, marvellously transcending illusory appearances. It is just this.”
Two
Haiming: Teacher Nan discussed that “it is not a person sitting in meditation,” but rather “sitting and cutting off the ten directions.” I am very puzzled; please explain what “sitting and cutting off the ten directions” means?
Teacher Hong: Haiming, the Dharma transmitted by Teacher Nan cannot be achieved by people of small capacity, nor can it be comprehended by the cerebral types, nor is it as wordy as you are—counting breaths, observing the mind, visualizing this and that... there is no such wordiness. It is a sudden transcendence and direct entry, marvellously revealing the original landscape.
Haiming: Yes, these visualization methods of mine were added later; I only wanted them to be of some use on the therapeutic level.
Teacher Hong: Haiming, who is thinking about adding some things? Who is thinking about therapy? Look! There is a “self” coming out to work, isn’t there? It is not a person sitting in meditation! What does that mean? Do you think it is really *you* sitting in meditation? If there is a “self” sitting in meditation, you definitely won’t be able to sit. This “effort of mine” to maintain your upright posture—the mudra will skew and collapse, the spine will bend and slant, the legs will also bend and slant, right?
Haiming: It is indeed so. The harder I try to sit, the more uncomfortable it is.
Teacher Hong: Effort is not wrong. The mistake lies in having a “self.” When you are sitting in meditation, this kind of effort is called Buddha-action, the behavior of a Buddha. It is not a person sitting in meditation; it is the True Human Body of the entire Dharma-realm of the ten directions (intrinsic nature) sitting in meditation. What is the True Human Body of the entire Dharma-realm of the ten directions? It is Buddha! Buddha is meditating; it is Buddha-action. You think it is our human body sitting a little; try using ordinary worldly effort to sit and see—you can’t do it, you absolutely can’t do it! Is this kind of effort the same as our effort in daily life? The level, the dimension is completely different; that level, that dimension is completely different, do you know? In the human world, there are various efforts for fame and profit, right? Working hard to get into college, working hard to get a PhD, working hard to get a good job, working hard to gain a lot of prestige... Various worldly efforts and this time of “Just Sitting” [*shikantaza*]—the level of that effort is completely different, a difference of heaven and earth! Therefore, the absolute value of “Just Sitting” lies here.
Haiming: Please discuss what the absolute value of “Just Sitting” is?
Teacher Hong: Good, now I will explain the important part again. This Just Sitting has three main points, right? Body, mouth, and mind. How to arrange the body; as for the mouth, just close the mouth and that’s right. Gently close it and that’s right; do not speak. This mind, the problem lies in the mind. Now everyone knows, that mind, as soon as a thought arises in the heart, it passes; as soon as it arises, it passes; arising and ceasing without end, right? We already know this; this is called a physiological phenomenon, the inherent activity of life. We have no way to control it; forcefully suppressing it is incorrect. It comes up naturally, just like the heartbeat and breathing; I have said this many times. The problem is that as soon as the first thought arises, we think of this thought in various ways... This is not a false thought; this is precisely the representation of life, the manifestation of life’s vitality, a physiological phenomenon. We call it “Right Thought,” not false thought. Or, we call it “No-Thought.” We speak of No-Thought, but actually we are speaking of precisely this thought. Or what else is it called? “The unarisen single thought.” “Un-” represents the reality of the entire ten directions. “Arisen” is the real, natural thought of the whole universe and the ten directions; “the unarisen single thought.” Regardless of how many names there are, it is anyway the first thought. Ordinarily, when we conduct ourselves and handle affairs, do we have to engage with thoughts? If you don’t engage with thoughts, how can you live? If we don’t engage with thoughts, there is no life. We couldn’t speak, couldn’t eat, couldn’t walk, couldn’t look at things, right? Without engaging with thoughts, we have no way to live. When you are Just Sitting, at this time, you can refrain from engaging. Because you are sitting there, no one is disturbing you, and you won’t disturb others, right? That effort of not engaging—listen clearly, not engaging with it is not using consciousness to not engage; if you think “I don’t want to engage with it,” this movement of thought itself, that intent, intent, that consciousness distinguishing has no power—so we make an effort, we call it “effort.” In Zen records, this is often expressed as “awareness of contact” [*juechu*]; especially Sawaki Kodo often uses “awareness of contact” [*kakusoku*] to express it; the effort not to engage, that “effort.” This “effort,” you must be very careful, is not thinking. Using your brain is useless. This “effort” is expressed in maintaining your upright posture. If the mudra skews and collapses, the spine bends and slants, hey, I know you have started to engage. The effort not to engage is you keeping the body’s posture upright. If you make an effort like this, you can refrain from engaging; not engaging with the first thought, and then it disappears just like that. Then another new first thought comes up again; you maintain the effort, do not go to engage with it, and then the new thought that came up disappears again; this is roughly what the effort of the mind in “Just Sitting” is like. You think it is our human body sitting a little, wanting not to engage with the first thought; try using ordinary worldly effort to sit and see—you can’t do it, you absolutely can’t do it! The value lies right here; the level, the dimension is different!
Haiming: Then what is the reality of the entire ten directions that you speak of like? What is the original face? What is the original landscape?
Teacher Hong: First, you must understand what the reality of the ten directions is *not*, what the original landscape is *not*!
First point, this is not something used by thinking (intellectual, imaginary); many people don’t know that this is not for thinking. “Oh my, what is our original landscape, our luminosity [*guāngmíng*]? What is our fundamental nature, Buddha-nature?” That is using thinking.
Second point, it is also not something you can feel! So when sitting in meditation, comfortable states, some light, spiritual power, lightness—those are all feelings! You must be very careful; not only can it not be imagined, but our ordinary human sensory organs cannot feel it! How can the original landscape be felt? To feel it is already the level of the human world; you don’t need to make effort in a different [human world] level. So saying “how to go feel it, how to do this and that...” hey, hearing it is just funny. Get this clear, then making effort like this, when you are “Just Sitting” like this, the immediate present is transcending in a single leap to enter the Tathāgata ground; Buddha is in Buddha-action. A person sitting like this is called “acting Buddha”; this kind of behavior, this kind of sitting is called Buddha-action, acting Buddha. Otherwise, usually when you say an angry thought comes and you try your best not to engage with it, can you do it? Because you haven’t undergone this effort of a different dimension! I am talking about “effort,” not thinking; it’s not that knowing Buddhist studies, or bowing a bit, praying, etc.—those seeking methods of the human dimension—can seek and obtain it! Only when you sit up there, perform Buddha-action, and sit with the behavior of a Buddha, can you have the ability in daily life to slowly go and get angry, and appreciate what your anger looks like. Oh, it turns out this is the predetermined human physiological habit taking us along like this; you will know immediately, and then you can refrain from giving rise to a second thought, refrain from engaging with it, and you can watch your anger. This ability is not something ordinary effort in the human world can achieve. So one talks about scholarship well, talks about Buddhism very well, but when this teacher returns home, in the company, at work, his performance is sometimes worse than someone who doesn’t study Buddhism. Why? He misunderstood; he misunderstood and thought the Buddha-dharma is cultivated through thinking, through thoughts, reasoning out this and that principle with the mind. Alas, that ability not to engage with the first thought is not something ordinary effort in the human world can achieve; only those who sit know.
Third point, then the person sitting says, “I sit like this, the effort of not wanting to engage with the first thought, I will sit”—hey, a thought of “I will sit” has been added in, and it’s ruined, gone. So it is called the sitting of no attainment and no realization. Then many people hear “no attainment and no realization” and say, then I don’t want it, why study Buddhism? Look, he always falls into the human level to think about studying Buddhism, so of course he can’t sit well, so of course he doesn’t want to learn. Only those willing to believe in this absolute value, who are in communication with the teacher’s qualifications, and who truly sit themselves—only that is Buddha-action. Is there anything else? It is just like this. So sitting meditation is so different; it is Buddha performing Buddha-action; otherwise, you have no way to deal with birth, old age, sickness, and death in the human world; you can’t block them, because you want to engage with the first thought. How not to engage? Hey, just like this; “meditation” is “Just”, “Just” is “meditation”.
Haiming: In Vipassanā, I start by focusing on the incoming and outgoing breath, and at the same time, in the moment of establishing right mindfulness at the tip of the nose, the state of mind is oneness. When ideas and thoughts come, I can also be aware of the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of these ideas and thoughts without judgment; arising and immediately ceasing; but it seems there is always a “me” watching there, listening there, being aware there?
Teacher Hong: The Buddha said in the Āgama Sutras: “Seeing is just seeing; hearing is just hearing.” Our six roots [senses] are originally free and at ease. So when sitting in meditation, just sit like this; the six roots themselves come and go freely in a natural state. Absolutely do not go and manage them; do not even manage the not-managing. In short, there is not a “you” watching there or listening there. Therefore, sitting Zen is letting the ten thousand dharmas prove there is no you, not having a “you” come to prove there is no you. The key lies precisely in this point; absolutely do not get it wrong. Because when *you* yourself go to prove there is no you, you already have a “self” going to prove it; can this still be called forgetting the self? Probably not!
Haiming: Then how to let the ten thousand dharmas prove there is no self? And what do the ten thousand dharmas refer to?
Teacher Hong: The Buddha said in the Āgama Sutras: “The forms seen, the sounds heard, the smells sniffed, the flavors tasted, the cold and heat felt, the thoughts coming and going. These ten thousand dharmas are telling you everywhere: there is no self! There is no self!” For example, if you sit for a long time, the legs will be numb; of course they are numb, because you don’t usually meditate; this is a natural relationship. You say, “Now I come to practice, I want to sit well, I don’t want to let it get numb, I must endure it”; sitting like this is already playing the game of “self.” You don’t usually practice meditation, so sitting for a while will cause numbness; that is of course; because this is a dharma arisen from conditions. Practice is about forgetting this self—the false self. Absolutely do not play with this “self” to practice.
I will explain this key point again and again; I hope you don’t take “me” to forget “me.” Many people think that when meditating, it is correct only if there are no thoughts, so when there are many thoughts during meditation, they feel “my thoughts are flying around like this, it’s bad, I want to eliminate them.” Let me ask you, is this correct? You think, “I am a diligent person, my meditation skill is good, how come there are so many thoughts today? Don’t want them! Don’t want them!” Actually, if you sit like this and think like this, you are already messing around yourself, showing off yourself. Here, please reflect carefully yourself; when a thought comes, do you know that thought is about to come? When a thought goes, does it ask you if it can go when it wants to go? Right? Because thoughts themselves do not belong to you! They are dharmas arisen from conditions. You don’t know what thought is going to come, and you don’t know when it runs away. So only after the thought has come do you know: “Ah! A thought”; that is your distinguishing consciousness knowing it after the fact. If you still think there is a “you” knowing, that is your own false thinking. This is the so-called fundamental ignorance; practice is for the sake of resolving this fundamental problem.
When thoughts come and go during meditation, you absolutely must not think there is an unmoving one knowing your thoughts coming and going, and think this is correct. Thinking there is an unmoving one facing a coming and going thought, as if there are two separate thoughts—that is incorrect. Actually, the thought that comes is itself the function of your Dharmakāya. Many people don’t know this and mistakenly think there is a “self” that knows the thought comes and the thought goes. When brightness comes, knowing brightness; when darkness comes, knowing darkness; that unmoving one is the real one—alas! Wrong! This is the teaching of external paths. You have an unmoving one in your concepts, take this unmoving one as a treasure, and then feel this is correct. Isn’t that something you imagined? If there is no you, what do you still want that unmoving one for!
The six functions of our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all moving freely and at ease within the true reality of no-self. We just misunderstood, taking that which can distinguish and think as “me.” Actually, it itself is just the function of the Dharmakāya. This thing called distinguishing and thinking is too sharp; as soon as the function of distinguishing arises, we automatically take the one that can distinguish as “me.” Actually, the mind organ is the same as the eye organ and ear organ; whatever condition is encountered, that “presence” [zai] is all reality. When you encounter a stone, it is a stone; when you encounter a bun, it is a bun; you don’t wait until after saying the two names “stone” and “bun” to know it is a stone or a bun, do you! The differentiation of words and language is the activity of distinguishing consciousness after the fact. Before this, the stone is present, the bun is present; that presence, before the distinguishing consciousness has moved, is itself already clearly distinguished. “Non-distinguishing differentiation” means this. If “self” is not added in, our mind organ is originally clearly distinct.
When our eyes encounter an appearance, the appearance and the seeing are a function of one body. By the same principle, the arising of a thought and that knowing of no-self are also a function of one body. Therefore, the thought that comes is itself the function of your mind organ; actually, it is your reality. It is enough if practice can know this. If you can understand this—oh, you have improved; when you sit in meditation, you won’t be afraid of the coming and going of thoughts, because the thought itself is your reality. Do you think there is another thought that can let you know? Impossible! Because in the immediate present of every moment, subject and object, organ and dust [object], mind and environment, thought and you—originally cannot be separated; always functioning simultaneously, arising simultaneously, ceasing simultaneously. They are originally one body. It is we who forcefully separate one thing into two to explain it; this is cleverness after the fact, consciousness distinguishing after the fact.
Pow! (Sound of slapping the table). Delusion is also because of this, thinking “Ah! I heard him slap the table.” Enlightenment is also because of this, “Oh! Oh! Oh! It turns out it’s not you knocking there and me listening here; the sound and the one able to listen are one thing.” Pow! (Sound of slapping the table). Enlightenment is also this; delusion is also this. The same sound, one delusion and one enlightenment. It’s not that after enlightenment you hear this sound as a different sound, or as ordinary people think, that enlightenment equals entering samadhi where nothing is heard—then you might as well be a stone. This also doesn’t mean that after you are enlightened, you will see a bun as a diamond, a thatched hut as a palace, or a toilet as a hotel. It’s not like that; that is mental illness!
Haiming, where does the delusion lie? If one takes a relative form-appearance as a form-appearance that truly exists there; and here with me, there is also truly a “me” seeing that form-appearance—this is delusion. And enlightenment is that the misrecognition of the false self is gone. It is not that over there a relative form-appearance truly exists; rather, it is signless yet manifesting that appearance. The appearance of “non-existent yet existing” manifests. And here with me, it is also just a “non-existent yet existing” existence born of conditions; it is not that there is truly an existence called “me.” The function that can see and the appearance that is seen are both “without self-nature” facing “without self-nature,” arising from conditions and ceasing from conditions. This is the so-called “dharmas arisen from conditions are entirely without self-nature.” If you get this clear, seeing the same way, listening the same way, all of this is Dharmakāya; manifesting when meeting conditions, immediately arising and immediately ceasing, transforming without obstruction.
A person who has not seen the nature will always think “I” heard that sound. “I” and the sound are mutually separated; “I” (the organ) and the external existence (dust) are always relative and isolated. Like this, there is no way to become a Buddha forever, nor is one a good student of the Buddha. If there is a “me” seeking the Buddha-dharma—“I bowed and will receive blessings,” “I want to become a Buddha,” “I want to become enlightened.” Practicing the Path in this way, you are always cultivating that false self. The result will be that the more you practice, the more and bigger your self-view becomes, and the further you are from the Path.
The authentically transmitted Zazen is so important; it can let everyone discover their true self. How to discover it? It is not “me” going to know, going to discover that this is not me. If you do this, you are already taking a false self wanting to discover the true self.
Then what to do? —Let the six roots sit immovably.
The six roots are originally just that real, moving there in suchness; this is the so-called “the sixfold divine function is empty yet not empty.” So natural. This is a necessary relationship. This means that only in the immediate present of truly sitting Zen will one realize that our mind’s capacity is originally very vast, with infinite applications. The six roots—eyes seeing forms, ears hearing sounds, nose smelling fragrances, tongue knowing tastes, body knowing touch, mind knowing dharmas—all actions and movements are Dharmakāya. The six roots originally have no obstruction, no love and no hate, equanimously arising and ceasing according to conditions, all naturally liberated.
Shakyamuni Buddha personally said, if you can truly let the ten thousand dharmas prove there is absolutely no you, sitting Zen honestly like this, practicing like this, you only need as short a time as an ant running from the tip of your nose to your forehead to surpass sitting for ten years or a hundred years using a “self.” If you use yourself to seek the Dharma, there is no way even in ten billion years, no way forever. Because there is a “you” wanting to become a Buddha!
Haiming: Understood. Thank you.
Teacher Hong: So regarding Just Sitting, you can clearly know the first thought coming up; our physiological habit is that we will definitely go to engage. This is not that you are bad, not that you are not good; this is the inherent physiological habit of human nature that makes everyone definitely go to engage, because we all live like this. Only Just Sitting, sitting like this, sitting that is sitting in sitting, sitting with no attainment and no realization—only then can it manifest, only then is it the original landscape, only then is it the original deity Buddha. Transcending in a single leap to enter the Tathāgata ground; it is the immediate present. If you engage there, look, the mudra is messed up, the waist is also bent and slanted, the head is also askew, the body also moved—all carried away by that feeling. Feeling is a worldly matter; how can the original landscape be talked about by one’s own worldly feelings, or imagined by the secretions of the human brain? That is truly too arrogant. Our original landscape is not that narrow; it is boundless and immeasurable; no matter how you think, you cannot think it through; no matter how you feel, you cannot feel it; it is just like this. People later on, because they are not used to it, definitely want the human habit to move; based on the requirements of human physiological habits, they demand this and that, thinking this is practice—then there is no way, one can only throw you a few visualization methods. Those are expedient means, none are ultimate. This directness is it; transcending in a single leap, the original landscape manifests before you, empty brightness reflecting itself. Reflecting itself—not something you thought up, not something you got from feeling, oh; be very careful!
The most important sentence is: this behavior is not sat by a human, it is sat by a Buddha! If you sit there just like a human again, that is simply slandering the Buddha-dharma. If you sit, just sit the Buddha’s sit, perform the Buddha’s behavior; otherwise there is no need at all; it’s good enough to sit there and be cool, right? Lying on the sofa and being cool is so much better. So the immediate present is Buddha-action, the behavior of Buddha. This way, one does not engage with the second thought. Being unmoving towards objects—how can it be that easy? Human physiological habits are terrible; are you all clear? The merit of sitting once like this is boundless and immeasurable, because this merit is not of the human world, so it is called boundless and immeasurable; do not again use the worldly “measure” to measure a boundless and immeasurable; do not misunderstand again.
Teacher Hong: I want to say one more point; you must remember, as soon as you use the brain, you will take it as “real,” and as soon as you use the brain, you will also create “false.” This immediately falls into the two sides (extreme views). Do not play little tricks with the brain. Do not use human conscious thinking to measure the Buddha-dharma! Thoughts themselves have no subject-that-observes or object-that-is-observed; thoughts have no division of root and branch, no division of nature and appearance. You and the external world, mind and matter, are also the same; mind and matter are oneness, originally oneness, so it is marvellous practice, marvellous practice on the ground of fruition. Whatever the mind thinks of, let it be whatever; disregard it completely; there isn’t even a person who disregards it, because the mind-thought itself is you yourself. The dharma gate of “Just Sitting” is the authentically transmitted method of sitting Zen. The immediate present of sitting is practicing the dignified conduct of Buddha, is the conduct of Buddha. The immediate present without false thinking is the behavioral mode of Buddha, so this is called the Dharma Gate of Great Peace and Joy.
Haiming: palms joined in respect.
Three
Haiming: Please discuss the absolute value of “Just Sitting” from the perspective of Yogācāra (Consciousness-Only)?
Teacher Nan: Haiming, do not rigidly cling to those Yogācāra vocabulary words; if you just turn Yogācāra into scholarship to research, you might as well just do your job well. Teacher Hong came to me to learn the Dharma, generating the resolve to awaken the direct perception [*pratyakṣa*] of his own mind; this is something that needs to be sat out with body and bones crushed. The first five consciousnesses are the direct perception of the eighth Alaya-consciousness [*ālayavijñāna*]. This is a key!! You must pay attention. Therefore, in the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra*, Bodhisattva Maitreya told Bodhisattva Asaṅga, the first section recorded is the “Stage Associated with the Body of the Five Consciousnesses.” This is a key here.
The Alaya-consciousness is one body with our spirit, physiology, body, spirit, and this world of the three thousand great thousand worlds. Before an ordinary person becomes a Buddha, it is called Alaya-consciousness; suppose one truly becomes a Buddha, it is not called Alaya-consciousness—what is it called, do you know? Tathāgatagarbha consciousness, Tathāgatagarbha consciousness. Its state transforms into the Great Mirror Wisdom; it is just the Alaya-consciousness. It can store all seeds; is it like this? Is the Buddhism you hear like this? Good, yes, you nodded, you approved me. So this function of life, the Alaya-consciousness turning into this body of ours—the first five consciousnesses are direct perception. So you sit in meditation; I tell you, if you take the Yogācāra, the Dharma-character route: legs crossed, isn’t life and death placed there unmoving? Did you go to kill living beings? No. Did you go to steal? No. Did you go to engage in sexual affairs between men and women? No. Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct are all gone; direct perception is placed there ready-made. Two hands form the meditation mudra and are placed well; eyes also do not look, do not look at light, do not look at false thoughts either. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body—direct perception is placed well. There is only one problem; the sixth consciousness—the heck with it; if you love to distinguish, then distinguish; if you don’t distinguish, then don’t distinguish; distinguishing is non-distinguishing, non-distinguishing is distinguishing; Svaha, to hell with you. I disregard consciousness, and then this consciousness naturally becomes a bit clearer. You just recognize clearly, this is the direct perception of consciousness. Now I place it; here everything is unmoving. So I tell you to walk: upright, head looking straight ahead, eyes placed well, don’t look around randomly. The direct perception of the first five consciousnesses is displayed ready-made. Do not add inference [*anumāna*]; do not give rise to the distinguishing mind, and it is ready-made; it is settled. Then when you get up on the seat, cross your legs—hmm, don’t disturb me. “I want to meditate, enter samadhi, get rid of false thoughts.” Ruined; it is all coming from inference, not direct perception. Inference is all distinguishing mind. So your scholarship is very good; like me speaking now, it is inference. Moving thoughts, giving rise to intention and moving thoughts; so Zen tells you, “moving thoughts implies deviation”; it comes from inference. The Buddha speaking the Dharma is also from inference; without using inference, how could he speak so many sutras to save sentient beings? Then after speaking, just pick it up—use inference; put it down—it is direct perception. It’s just that simple.
Haiming: Then what is non-perception [fallacy, *abhāsa*]?
Teacher Nan: Direct perception, inference, non-perception. What is non-perception? Chaotic thinking, incorrect views, fantasy states—these all belong to non-perception. Chaotic thinking, without reason. So there is a lot of non-perception in human life; doing scholarship, writing books—like those big scholars, they all have works. These scholarship and books are all produced by inference. Practice is the state of direct perception; the first five consciousnesses, this body, are all direct perception. Mountains, rivers, and the great earth. Look at the Zen patriarchs saying: “The myriad images are dense and arranged, round and bright, free and at ease”; this is the state of direct perception. What in the world is not lovable? So people asked Shakyamuni Buddha, “Others who became Buddhas all have Pure Lands; you are in this Saha world, why is it so ugly?” He said, “Where?” Look, the Buddha pressed his hand down, and everyone saw the Saha world was so beautiful; there was no purity and no defilement. Direct perception, inference, non-perception. Three Realms: Nature Realm [*Xing Jing*], mountains, rivers and the great earth, the entire Dharma-realm, are all a Nature Realm of the Tathāgatagarbha.
Haiming: What are the Three Realms?
Teacher Nan: Realm with Substance [*Dai Zhi Jing*]; we have this body, have this thinking, habits; each is the seed of the Alaya-consciousness giving rise to current activity [manifestation]; the current activity of this life transforms into future seeds; they all come with substance. So when I was young, when people asked about Yogācāra, “Is dreaming also a Realm with Substance?” I said, “Yes.” A Yogācāra scholar stood up and said, “You spoke wrong, dreams are not Realm with Substance.” I said, “Don’t mess around. I am clear.” With Substance—there is True Realm with Substance and False Realm with Substance. True Realm with Substance is the self-grasping of the seventh consciousness bringing up the seeds of the eighth Alaya-consciousness. That is how scholarship talks. We are talking about doing the work [practice]; we must strip off the outer coat of scholarship and come to the reality. When we start sitting, sometimes states you didn’t think of appear. How did they come? Do you think it is supernatural power? Do you think it is kundalini deviation (fire rising, demons entering)? Don’t be afraid; it is the shadows of your habits from past lives. Renewing in the quietude, in the [quietude], merely solitary images floating up. Seeds of the Alaya-consciousness, nothing special. This way you can handle it easily. But you say is it right? Right. If you attach, it is wrong; if you don’t attach, it is right. Nature Realm, Realm with Substance—what other realm has not been explained? The Solitary Image Realm [*Du Ying Jing*]—let’s talk about it.
Haiming: What is the Solitary Image Realm, and how to utilize the Solitary Image Realm?
Teacher Nan: The Solitary Image Realm is the function of the sixth consciousness. The Sixth Dalai Lama, who went out to be romantic, had love poems. He spoke of meditation, oh, spoke so well, so frankly. Tibetan text: Entering samadhi, cultivating visualization, the Dharma eye opens He meditated, praying for the Three Jewels to descend to the spiritual platform. When starting to sit, visualizing Manjushri Bodhisattva, the Buddhas of the ten directions appear in visualization. Entering samadhi, cultivating visualization, the Dharma eye opens Praying for the Three Jewels to descend to the spiritual platform In the visualization, when were the Holy Ones ever seen? The result was that visualizing Manjushri couldn’t be visualized; thinking of Cundi Bodhisattva or Buddha—none could be visualized. Not invited, the lover comes on her own No need to recite mantras, and no need to think; that lover, the shadow of that beloved appeared. Look how frankly he spoke. When moving, cultivate stopping; when quiet, cultivate observation The vivid lover hangs before the eyes If this mind could be shifted to study the Path— Suppose this mind could be turned around, the sixth consciousness twisted around to study the Path. What difficulty would there be in becoming a Buddha in this very body?
Haiming: I have received the teaching.
Teacher Nan: Three Realms and Three Cognitions [*pramāṇas*] have all been explained; the purpose of explaining them is for you to pay attention in practice. I am not lecturing you on Buddhism; I am most unwilling to lecture on scholarship. Teacher Nan says, I have the qualifications to lecture; which branch of learning in the world haven’t I studied? Of course I haven’t mastered them all, but I don’t look up to them. Only one branch of learning, I dare not brag about: how to meditate and become a Buddha, how to personally attest to the Path and become a Buddha oneself. This I dare not brag about. That must be real; as for that kind of scholarship, whatever science, philosophy, religion you like—it’s very easy, what does that count for? They all come from the state of inference; they are all born of false thinking.
