/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.21612156]

Q. I have left my home to become a monk, and my aspiration is to attain Buddhahood. How should I use my mind?
A. Buddhahood is attained when there is no mind which is to be used for the task.
Q. When there is no mind to be used for the task, who can ever attain Buddhahood?
A. By no-mind the task is accomplished by itself. Buddha, too, has no mind.
Q. The Buddha has wonderful ways and knows how to deliver all beings. If he had no mind, who would ever deliver all beings?
A. To have no mind means to deliver all beings. If he sees any being who is to be delivered he has a mind (yu-hsin), and is surely subject to birth and death.
Q.No-mind-ness is then already here, and how was it that Sakyamuni appeared in the world and left behind ever so many sermons? Is this a fiction?
A. With all the teachings left by him, the Buddha is wu-hsin (no-mind, non-conscious / beyond consciousness).
Q. If all his teachings come from his no-mind-ness, they must also be no-teachings.
A. To preach is not to preach, and not to preach is to preach.
Q. If his teachings come out of his no-mind-ness, is my working karma the ourcome of cherishing the idea of a mind (yu-hsin)?
A. In no-mind-ness there is no karma. But as long as you refer to working out your karma, karma is already here, and your mind is subjected to birth and death. How then can there be no-mind-ness in you?
Q. If no-mind-ness means Buddhahood, has Your Reverence already attained Buddhahood, or not?
A. When mind is not (wu), who talks about attaining Buddhahood? To think that there is something called Buddhahood which is to be attained, this is cherishing the idea of a mind (yu-hsin); to cherish the idea of a mind is an attempt to accomplish something that flows out ; this being so, there is no no-mind-ness here.
Q. If there is no Buddhahood to be attained, has Your Reverence the Buddha-function (dhyana-prajna)?
A. Where mind itself is not, whence its functioning?
Q. One is then lost in outer no-ness (wu); may this not be an absolutely nihilistic view?
A. From the first there is no viewer, no viewing, and no viewed; and who says this to be nihilist?
Q. To say that from the first nothing is, is this not falling into emptiness?
A. Even emptiness is not, and where is the falling?
Q. Both subject and object are negated (wu). Suppose a man were all of a sudden to make his appearance here and cut off your head with a sword. Is this to be considered real (yu) or not real (wu)?
A. This is not real.
Q. Pain or no pain?
A. Pain too is not real.
Q. Pain not being real, in what path of existence would you be born after death?
A. No death, no birth, and no path.
Q. Having already attained the state of absolute no-ness, one is perfect master of oneself; but how would you use the mind (yung-hsin), when hunger and cold assail you?
A. When hungry, I eat, and when cold I put on more clothes.
Q. If you are aware of hunger and cold, you have a mind (yung-hsin).

[Anonymous No.21612180]

A. I have a question for you: Has the mind you speak of as a mind (yu-hsin hsin) a form?
Q. The mind has no form.
A. If you already knew that the mind has no form, that means that from the first the mind is not, and how could you talk about having a mind?
Q. If you should happen to encounter a tiger or a wolf in the mountains, how would you use your mind?
A. When it is seen, it is as if it were not seen; when it approaches, it is as if it never approached; and the animal reflects no-mind-ness. Even a wild animal will not hurt you.
Q. To be as if nothing were happening, to be in no-mind-ness, absolutely independent of all things, what is the name of such a being?
A. Its name is Vajra the Mahasattva (Vajra the Great Being).
Q. What form has he?
A. From the first he has no form.
Q. Since he has no form, what is that which goes by the name Vajra the Great Being?
A. It is called Vajra the Great Formless One.
Q. What merits has he?
A. When your thoughts, just one of them, are in correspondence with Vajra, you are able to erase the grave offences you have committed while going through cycles of birth and death during Kalpas numbering as many as the sands of Ganga. The merits of this Vajra the Great One are immeasurable; no word of mouth can reckon them, no minds are capable of describing them; even if one lives for ages numbering as many as the sands of the Ganga, and talks about them, one cannot exhaust them.
Q. What is meant by "one being in one thought in correspondence with it"?
A. When one is non-conscious of both memory and intelligence, one is in correspondence with it.
Q. When both memory and intelligence are forgotten, who is it that interviews the Buddhas?
A. Non-consciousness means no-ness (wang chi wu). No-ness means Buddhahood (wu chi fo).
Q. To designate no-ness as no-ness is all very well, but why call it the Buddha?
A. No-ness is emptiness, and the Buddha too is emptiness. Therefore, it is said that no-ness means Buddhahood and Buddhahood no-ness.
Q. If there is not an iota of thing, what is it to be named?
A. No name whatever for it.
Q. Is there anything resembling it?
A. Not a thing resembling it; the world knows no compeer.