Review of Session 1 and 2
Session 1 - The Buddha challenges Ānanda to find the location of his mind. - Ānanda gives seven possible locations, all of which the Buddha refutes.
Session 2 - Then the Buddha shows a fist and emits light rays to demonstrate the ‘original bright’ Mind. The Buddha explains that the mind that searches and ‘thinks’ is not the true Mind and, although the eyes reveal forms, the nature of seeing comes from the mind, not the eyes.
Ājñāta-kāuṇḍinya explains ‘transient dust’, which moves like a guest, vs. the true Mind that is like a ‘host’ which has nowhere to go.
The Bright Original Mind
- King Prasenajit, on the anniversary of his father’s death, inquires about the Ground of Mind that neither arises nor ceases. - The Buddha explains that the true nature of seeing does not perish
- Ānanda inquires about inversion (viparyaya) - The Buddha uses a gesture of pointing down and pointing up to demonstrate ‘inverted’ conditional thinking vs. the ‘upright’ Ground of Mind - Ānanda has doubts: “My realization of this is from appearances of the sound of your voice and from the conditional mind. How can it be the Ground of Mind?”
- The Buddha uses the, now famous, ‘finger pointing at the Moon’ analogy - Mistaking the finger for the moon, you miss both the Moon and the finger
- The Buddha introduces eight categories of existent things: 明還明日 Brightness, which returns to the sun 暗還黑月 Darkness, which returns to the dark moon 通還戶牖 Clearance, which returns to doors and windows 擁還牆宇 Being ‘hemmed in’, which returns to walls and eves 緣還分別 Conditionality, which returns to differentiation 頑虛還空 Spaciousness, which returns to emptiness 欝垮還塵 Dingyness, which returns to dust 清明還霽 Pure brightness, which returns to clear skies
- Ānanda still does not understand how the ‘external world’ could be his True Mind -The Buddha points directly at the Mind, apophatically speaking - Ānanda asks, if this seeing is ‘me’ does it expand outside and contract inside? - The Buddha uses the analogy of a ‘square of space’
- “All sentient beings, from a time without beginning, are confused about things, being turned around by external objects they lose their Original Mind, and as a consequence they see large and they see small. If they are able to turn objects around, they will be the same as the Thus Come One, body and mind perfectly bright at the immovable site of enlightenment, the tip of each hair containing worlds of the Ten Directions.
This session covers:
Hsuan Hua translation, p. 48-65 of the book (p. 104-122 of the pdf)
Luk translation, p. 24-38 of the book (p. 52-68 of the pdf)
Goddard translation, p.131-142