REVIEW OF SESSION 1-3
Session 1 = Ānanda gives seven possible locations of the mind, all of which the Buddha refutes.
Session 2 = The Buddha opens and closes his fist, demonstrating how the conditional mind that ‘thinks’ is not the true Mind. Ājñāta-kāuṇḍinya explains ‘transient dust’ that moves, versus the ‘host’, which has nowhere to go.
Session 3 = The Buddha tells King Presenajit about ‘true seeing’ which does not age or die. The Buddha then points his finger down and then points up at the Moon, but Ānanda does not understand how the ‘external world’ can be his true Mind, mistaking the finger to be the Moon, he misses both.
“Sentient beings 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.
The Orignal, Bright, Wonderous, True Mind
Chapter 3 (conclusion)
- Ānanda still does not understand - Of all objects appearing before him, none are his seeing. Seeing cannot be located. - Of all objects appearing before him, none are not his seeing, for how else are they seen.
- Mañjuśrī appears, representing a movement from ‘śrāvaka’ Dharma to Bodhisattva Dharma - “The two-fold revelation of the form and emptiness of the essence of seeing, which has the meaning of neither being nor not being.” - Mañjuśrī just ‘Mañjuśrīs’, there is no one who ‘is’ Mañjuśrī.
- Ānanda inquires about dependent-origination Q: “The inherent existence of awakened understanding neither arises nor ceases, is far beyond all falsehood and inversions, as if it is neither dependently originated nor self-existing inherently. How can it be revealed without becoming erroneous?” - The Buddha responds by asking about seeing and its relation to: 明 - Light 暗 - Dark 空 - Space 塞 - Obstruction A: “The wonderous brightness of the essence of awakening is neither cause(d) nor condition(al), is neither inherently existent, nor not inherently existent, is without being neither, nor, and is without ‘is’ or ‘is not’. Being free of all characteristics and therefore [free of] all things (dharmas). How can you now think of it and use the frivolous terminology of the world to distinguish it?
- “When one sees seeing, one sees what is not seeing. Seeing free of seeing, seeing cannot reach. How can you speak of dependent-origination, inherent existence, and unification (和合)?
This session covers:
Hsuan Hua translation, p. 66-78 of the book (p. 123-134 of the pdf)
Luk translation, p. 39-47 of the book (p. 69-79 of the pdf)
Goddard translation, p.142-149