爾時，阿難在大眾中即從座起，偏袒右肩右膝著地，合掌恭敬而白佛言：「我是如來最小之弟，蒙佛慈愛，雖今出家猶恃憍憐，所以多聞未得無漏，不能折伏娑毘羅呪，為彼所轉溺於婬舍，當由不知真際所指。唯願世尊大慈哀愍，開示我等奢摩他路，令諸闡提隳彌戾車。」作是語已，五體投地。及諸大眾傾渴翹佇，欽聞示誨。
At that time, Ānanda rose from his seat among the great assembly, uncovered his right shoulder, knelt upon his right knee, reverently joined the palms of his hands and addressed the Buddha saying, “I am the Thus Come One’s youngest cousin and because of his great affection, I left home and was allowed to be his disciple, but I have presumed on his compassion and so, though hearing much, I have not attained [a state] without outlfows. I was unable to overcome the kapila spell which has turned me around, causing me to visit a house of prostitution. All because I failed to understand the Limit of Reality (bhūta-koṭi). I only wish that the World-Honored One would be compassionate enough to reveal to us the path of śamatha, for the benefit of all us destructive icchantikas (’un-covertables’) and mlecchas (’barbarians’).” After saying this, he prostrated himself with knees, elbows and head on the ground. Then he stood up in reverent silence, with the whole assembly keenly awaiting instruction.
The Buddha’s Fist
爾時，世尊從其面門放種種光，其光晃耀如百千日，普佛世界六種震動，如是十方微塵國土一時開現；佛之威神令諸世界合成一界，其世界中所有一切諸大菩薩，皆住本國合掌承聽。
Then the World-Honored One emitted all kinds of light from his forehead, light as brilliant as hundreds and thousands of suns, universally illuminating Buddha worlds that shook in six ways. Thus worlds as uncountable as the dust from throughout the Ten Directions appeared. All those world were then united into one world by the the Buddha awesome spiritual powers, wherein each of the great bodhisattvas, while staying in his own realm, brought his palms together to listen to the Dharma.
佛告阿難：「一切眾生從無始來種種顛倒，業種自然如惡叉聚，諸修行人不能得成無上菩提，乃至別成聲聞、緣覺，及成外道、諸天魔王及魔眷屬，皆由不知二種根本，錯亂修習，猶如煮沙欲成嘉饌，縱經塵劫終不能得。云何二種？阿難！一者無始生死根本，則汝今者與諸眾生，用攀緣心為自性者；二者無始菩提涅槃元清淨體，則汝今者識精元明，能生諸緣緣所遺者。由諸眾生遺此本明，雖終日行而不自覺，枉入諸趣。
The Buddha told Ānanda, “All living beings, without beginning, come to have all kinds of inverted views (viparyaya) because of karmic seeds which are like clusters of rūkṣas (rudrākṣas). This is why practitioners fail to realize unsurpassable Bodhi, but achieve only the states of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, heretics, deva māra kings, or deva māra minions, all because they do not know the two kinds of root causes, thereby practicing wrongly. Just like cooking sand hoping for fine dinning, after kalpas as countless as dust motes, it could never be attained. What are those two kinds? Ānanda! The first is the beginningless root cause of birth and death, whereby you and all sentient beings now [mis]take the object-oriented (ālambana) mind to be self-nature. The second is the beginningless, originally pure substance of awakened cessation (Bodhi-nirvāṇa), which is now the originally bright essence of your consciousness, which gives rise to all conditions, conditions for getting lost. As all sentient beings lose this original brightness, though it’s always there throughout the day’s activities, they are unaware, and ignorantly enter the [rebirth] destinies.”
「阿難！汝今欲知奢摩他路願出生死，今復問汝。」
“Ānanda! You now want to know about the path of śamatha through which to escape from birth and death, I must ask you a question.”
即時，如來舉金色臂屈五輪指，語阿難言：「汝今見不？」
Then, the Thus Come One held up his golden hued arm and bent his five wheeled fingers, saying to Ānanda, “Do you see this, or not?”
阿難言：「見。」
Ānanda said, “I see.”
佛言：「汝何所見？」
The Buddha said, “What do you see?”
阿難言：「我見如來舉臂屈指，為光明拳，曜我心目。」
Ānanda said, “I see the Thus Come One raise his arm and bend his fingers, making a shining fist that dazzles my mind and eyes.”
佛言：「汝將誰見？」
The Buddha said, “How do you see it?”
阿難言：「我與大眾同將眼見。」
Ānanda said, “I and the great assembly use the eyes to see it.”
佛告阿難：「汝今答我。如來屈指為光明拳，耀汝心目，汝目可見。以何為心，當我拳耀？」
The Buddha told Ānanda, “You have now said to me, the Thus Come One bends his fingers to make a shining fist that dazzles your mind and eyes. Your eyes can see. What is this mind that my fist dazzles?”
阿難言：「如來現今徵心所在，而我以心推窮尋逐，即能推者，我將為心。」
Ānanda said, “As the Thus Come One now asks about the mind, and as I search exhaustively with the mind, I am able to deduce that that [which searches] is the mind.”
佛言：「咄！阿難！此非汝心。」
The Buddha said, “Hey! Ānanda! This is not your mind.”
阿難矍然避座合掌，起立白佛：「此非我心，當名何等？」
Ānanda stared with astonishment, brought his two palms together, rose from his seat and asked, “If this is not my mind, what is it?”
佛告阿難：「此是前塵虛妄相想惑汝真性。由汝無始至于今生認賊為子，失汝元常故受輪轉。」
The Buddha told Ānanda, “This is false perceptive thinking from external objects (’dust in space’), that deludes your True Nature. Since beginningless time you have mistaken a thief to be your own child, losing (sight of) your original eternality and therefore turning in the round [of birth and death].”
阿難白佛言：「世尊！我佛寵弟，心愛佛故令我出家，我心何獨供養如來，乃至遍歷恒沙國土，承事諸佛及善知識，發大勇猛，行諸一切難行法事皆用此心；縱令謗法永退善根亦因此心。若此發明不是心者，我乃無心同諸土木，離此覺知更無所有。云何如來說此非心？我實驚怖，兼此大眾無不疑惑，唯垂大悲開示未悟！」
Ānanda addressed the Buddha saying, “World-Honored One! I am the Buddha’s youngest cousin whose mind so admired the Buddha that I left home. My mind, which serves and makes offerings to Thus Come Ones throughout lands as countless as the sand grains of the Ganges River, honors all Buddhas and good spiritual guides, generates great courage, and practices all the difficult to practice dharmas; all using this mind. Even if I now slander the Dharma, causing my good roots to weaken forever, it would also be because of this mind. If this illumination is not the mind, I would have no mind and would be like the earth or a log. Beyond this knowledge and awareness, there is nothing. Why does the Thus Come One now say that it is not mind? I am truly frightened, and this assembly as well cannot avoid being doubtful and suspicious. Please show us your great compassion and enlighten us!”
爾時，世尊開示阿難及諸大眾，欲令心入無生法忍，於師子座摩阿難頂而告之言：「如來常說諸法所生唯心所現，一切因果世界微塵因心成體。阿難！若諸世界一切所有，其中乃至草葉縷結，詰其根元咸有體性，縱令虛空亦有名貌，何況清淨妙淨明心性一切心而自無體？若汝執悋分別覺觀，所了知性必為心者，此心即應離諸一切色、香、味、觸，諸塵事業別有全性，如汝今者承聽我法，此則因聲而有分別，縱滅一切見聞覺知，內守幽閑猶為法塵分別影事，我非勅汝執為非心，但汝於心微細揣摩，若離前塵有分別性即真汝心；若分別性離塵無體，斯則前塵分別影事，塵非常住若變滅時，此心則同龜毛兔角，則汝法身同於斷滅，其誰修證無生法忍？」即時阿難與諸大眾默然自失。
At that time, wanting to cause their minds to achieve patient tolerance for the birthlessness of dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti), the World-Honored One made a revelation to Ānanda and the great assembly from his lion seat, touching Ānanda’s head with his hand and saying, “The Thus Come One has always said that all dharmas are manifestations of mind only, and that all causes and effects, from worlds to dust motes, are produced by the mind. Ānanda! Take everything that exists in the world, down to the grass and leaves, and investigate their roots, they all have some substantive nature. Even empty space has its name and appearance. How could the pure, marvelously bright nature of the Mind of everything be without its own substance? If you insist that the nature of the knowledge derived from differentiating awareness is actually the mind, this mind should then have its own nature independent of all visible forms, scents, flavors, and tangible objects. As you now listen to my Dharma, you hear my voice because you differentiate. Even if you put an end to seeing, hearing, and all sensational awareness and preserve inner quiet, the shadow of differentiated things (dharma) remains. I am not insisting that this is not mind, but you should examine it carefully and minutely. If you leave behind differentiated sense data, is what remains really your mind? If this differentiating nature ceases with sense data, this is merely the shadow of your differentiation of them, for sense objects are not permanent and when they transform and cease to exist, this mind turns out to be just turtle fur and rabbit horns, and, since your Dharma Body (Dharmakāya) can so easily cease to be, who will then cultivate the realization of the patient tolerance of birthlessness?” When Ānanda and the great assembly heard this, all those present were completely bewildered.
佛告阿難：「世間一切諸修學人，現前雖成九次第定，不得漏盡成阿羅漢，皆由執此生死妄想誤為真實。是故汝今雖得多聞不成聖果。」
The Buddha told Ānanda, “All practicing students in the world, even after they have realized the nine successive states of concentration still cannot extinguish outflows and so fail to become arhats, because they cling to false perceptions of birth and death which they mistake for True Reality. For this reason, though you have heard much, you have not developed the holy fruit.”
阿難聞已，重復悲淚五體投地，長跪合掌而白佛言：「自我從佛發心出家，恃佛威神，常自思惟無勞我修，將謂如來惠我三昧，不知身心本不相代，失我本心，雖身出家心不入道，譬如窮子捨父逃逝，今日乃知雖有多聞，若不修行與不聞等，如人說食終不能飽。世尊！我等今者二障所纏，良由不知寂常心性。唯願如來哀愍窮露發妙明心，開我道眼。」
After hearing this, Ānanda, in bitter tears, prostrated himself with all five points on the ground (i.e. his head, knees and elbows on the ground, knelt and brought his two palms together, saying, “After I left home to follow the Buddha, I relied on the transcendental power of the Buddha. I always thought that I could dispense with practice since the Thus Come One would bestow samādhi upon me. I did not know that he could not be a substitute for my body and mind. I have lost my original mind and, although I have ‘exited’ home, I have not entered the Way. Just like a destitute child who has run away from their father. I only realize now that, in spite of hearing much, if I do not practice it, it’s as if I had not heard it, like someone who speaks of food, it will never satisfy their hunger. World-Honored One! I am caught by the two hindrances because I do not know the nature of the still and permanent Mind. I only wish that the Thus Come One would be compassionate enough to reveal the wondrous Bright Mind and open my Eye of the Way.”
The Buddha asks about seeing
即時如來從胸卍字涌出寶光，其光晃昱有百千色，十方微塵普佛世界一時周遍，遍灌十方所有寶剎諸如來頂，旋至阿難及諸大眾。告阿難言：「吾今為汝建大法幢，亦令十方一切眾生，獲妙微密性淨明心得清淨眼。阿難！汝先答我見光明拳，此拳光明因何所有？云何成拳汝將誰見？」
Thereupon the Thus Come One, from the spiral symbol on his chest, sent out a radiant precious light which illuminated Buddha lands throughout the Ten Directions as countless as dust and which, after shining on the heads of all Thus Come Ones everywhere, returned to Ānanda and the great assembly. The Buddha then said to Ānanda, “I now hoist the banner of the Great Dharma for you, and cause all sentient beings throughout the Ten Directions to realize the pure and bright Mind of profound and subtle nature and attained purified [Dharma] Eyes. Ānanda! You just told me that you saw my shining fist. The brightness of this fist, how did it come to be? Why did it become a fist, and how did you see it?”
阿難言：「由佛全體閻浮檀金赩如寶山，清淨所生故有光明，我實眼觀五輪指端屈握示人，故有拳相。」
Ānanda replied, “The substance of the Buddha’s golden hued body is like a mountain of jewels. Born of such purity, with such brightness. It was truly my eyes that saw five wheeled fingers form a fist which was shown to everyone, therefore there was ‘fist-ness’ (the characteristic ‘fist’).”
佛告阿難：「如來今日實言告汝，諸有智者要以譬喻而得開悟。阿難！譬如我拳，若無我手不成我拳；若無汝眼不成汝見。以汝眼根例我拳理，其義均不？」
The Buddha told Ānanda, “The Thus Come One will truthfully tell you, for the wise are awakened by examples and analogies. Ānanda! It’s like my fist. If I had no hand, I could not make a fist. If you had no eyes, would you then not be able to see? Is there any meaningful connection between your eyes and my fist?”
阿難言：「唯然，世尊！既無我眼不成我見，以我眼根例如來拳，事義相類。」
Ānanda replied, “There is, World-Honored One! In the same way that if I had no eyes I would not be able to see, there is a meaningful analogy between my eyes and the fist of the Thus Come One.”
佛告阿難：「汝言相類，是義不然。何以故？如無手人拳畢竟滅；彼無眼者非見全無。所以者何？汝試於途詢問盲人：『汝何所見？』彼諸盲人必來答汝：『我今眼前唯見黑暗，更無他矚。』以是義觀，前塵自暗，見何虧損？」
The Buddha told Ānanda, “What you said, as you said it, is incorrect. For what reason? A handless man will never make a fist, but someone without eyes is not entirely without sight. How so? When you meet a blind person and ask, ‘What do you see?’ that blind person would certainly reply to you, ‘My eyes see only darkness before me, nothing more.’ Think about the meaning of there being an object of darkness. How has sight been lost [completely]?
阿難言：「諸盲眼前唯覩黑暗，云何成見？」
Ānanda replied, “The eyes of the blind seeing nothing but darkness before them, how can this be seeing?”
佛告阿難：「諸盲無眼唯觀黑暗，與有眼人處於暗室，二黑有別？為無有別？」
The Buddha asked Ānanda,, “Is there any difference between the darkness seen by a blind man in front of him and that seen by a man who is not blind when in a totally dark room? Are these two darknesses different? Are they not different?”
「如是，世尊！此暗中人與彼群盲，二黑校量曾無有異。」
[Ānanda replied], “So it is, World-Honored One! There is no difference between the two darknesses”
「阿難！若無眼人全見前黑，忽得眼光還於前塵，見種種色名眼見者；彼暗中人全見前黑，忽獲燈光，亦於前塵見種種色，應名燈見。若燈見者，燈能有見自不名燈，又則燈觀何關汝事？是故當知燈能顯色。如是見者是眼非燈，眼能顯色，如是見性是心非眼。」
[The Buddha said], “Ānanda! If a blind man who previously saw only darkness suddenly recovers his sight and sees every thing before him clearly, if you say that it is his eyes which see, then when someone in darkness suddenly lights a lamp which enables them to see what is before them and all kinds of forms, you should say that it is the lamp that sees. If a lamp can see things itself, it should not be called a lamp. And if the lamp is seeing, it has no relation to you. For this reason you should know, the lamp can reveal forms. And so, seeing comes from the eyes not from the lamp, and likewise, the eyes can reveal forms but the nature of seeing comes from the mind, not from the eyes.”
阿難雖復得聞是言，與諸大眾口已默然心未開悟，猶冀如來慈音宣示，合掌清心佇佛悲誨。
Although Ānanda and the assembly had heard these words, they remained speechless. As they did not awaken to the Teaching, they brought their palms together and waited for the Thus Come One’s further instruction with their minds set on hearing it.
Ājñāta-kāuṇḍinya explains the meaning of ‘transient dust’
爾時，世尊舒兜羅綿網相光手，開五輪指，誨勅阿難及諸大眾：「我初成道於鹿園中，為阿若多五比丘等及汝四眾言：『一切眾生不成菩提及阿羅漢，皆由客塵煩惱所誤。』汝等當時因何開悟今成聖果？」
At that time, the World-Honored One held up his tala-webbed shining hand, straightened his five wheeled fingers to give instruction to Ānanda and the great assembly and asked, “When I first attained the Way, in the Deer Park (Mṛgadāva) park I told Ājñāta-kāuṇḍinya and his group of five bhikṣus as well as you monks, nuns and devotees, ‘All sentient beings fail to realize Bodhi and become arhats, being misled by the afflictions of ‘transient dust’ (āgantu-kleśa). At that time, what caused you to awaken and achieve the fruit of a sage?”
時，憍陳那起立白佛：「我今長老於大眾中獨得解名，因悟客塵二字成果。世尊！譬如行客投寄旅亭，或宿或食，食宿事畢，俶裝前途不遑安住；若實主人自無攸往。如是思惟不住名客、住名主人，以不住者名為客義。又如新霽清暘昇天光入隙中，發明空中諸有塵相，塵質搖動虛空寂然。如是思惟澄寂名空，搖動名塵，以搖動者名為塵義。」
Then, Ājñāta-kāuṇḍinya rose from his seat and replied to the Buddha, “Among that great assembly, I was the elder who received the name ‘liberation’ because I awakened to the meaning of the two words ‘transient dust’ (āgantu) and achieved the fruit. World-Honored One! It is just like a traveler who is transient, who has been given a task and stops at an inn to pass the night or eat something. When they are done eating and have finished their stay they pack their bags and continue on their way. They are not at leisure to stay. But if it were the host of the inn, they have nowhere [else] to go. Therefore, my thinking is that what does not stay is called transient, and what stays is called host. The meaning of ‘transient’ is that it does not stay. Again, it’s like when the sun rises in a clear sky after the rain and light enters through a crack, dust particles appear to move about in the light whereas the empty space is still and does not move. Therefore, my thinking is that the meaning is that which is still is called empty [space] and that which moves is called dust. Consequently, that which moves is called dust.”
佛言：「如是。」
The Buddha replied, “So it is”
即時，如來於大眾中屈五輪指，屈已復開，開已又屈，謂阿難言：「汝今何見？」
Then the Thus Come One bent, straightened, and rebent his five wheeled fingers before the great assembly and asked Ānanda, “What did you see?”
阿難言：「我見如來百寶輪掌眾中開合。」
Ānanda replied, “I saw the Thus Come One open and close his ‘hundred jewel wheel lined’ fist.”
佛告阿難：「汝見我手眾中開合，為是我手有開有合？為復汝見有開有合？」
The Buddha asked Ānanda, “You saw my fist open and close. Was is my fist that opened and closed, or was it your seeing that opened and closed?”
阿難言：「世尊！寶手眾中開合，我見如來手自開合，非我見性自開自合。」
Ānanda replied, “World-Honored One! Your jewel hand opened and closed. I saw the Thus Come One’s hand open and close myself. It was not the nature of seeing itself that opened and closed.”
佛言：「誰動誰靜？」
The Buddha asked, “Which one moved and which was still?”
阿難言：「佛手不住，而我見性尚無有靜，誰為無住。」
Ānanda replied, “The Buddha’s hand was not still, however the nature of my seeing is beyond a state of stillness. How could it move.”
佛言：「如是。」
The Buddha replied, “So it is.”
The Buddha shoots light rays
如來於是從輪掌中飛一寶光在阿難右，即時阿難迴首右[辦-力+目]，又放一光在阿難左，阿難又則迴首左[辦-力+目]。佛告阿難：「汝頭今日何因搖動？」
Thereupon the Thus Come One sent out from the wheels on his palm a radiant ray of light to Ānanda’s right, and Ānanda turned to the right to look at it. Then he sent out another ray to Ānanda’s left, and Ānanda turned to the left to look at it. The Buddha then asked Ānanda, “Why did your head move just now?”
阿難言：「我見如來出妙寶光來我左右，故左右觀，頭自搖動。」
Ānanda replied, “I saw the Thus Come One send out radiant rays of light to my right and left, I turned to look at them, and so my head moved.”
「阿難！汝[辦-力+目]佛光左右動頭，為汝頭動？為復見動？」
“Ānanda! As you turn to the right and left to look at the Buddha-light, is it your head that moves, or is it your seeing that moves?”
「世尊！我頭自動，而我見性尚無有止，誰為搖動。」
“World-Honored One! It is my head that turns, however the nature of my seeing is beyond a state of being stopped. How could it move?”
佛言：「如是。」
The Buddha said, “So it is.”
於是如來普告大眾：「若復眾生，以搖動者名之為塵，以不住者名之為客，汝觀阿難頭自動搖見無所動，又汝觀我手自開合見無舒卷，云何汝今以動為身、以動為境，從始洎終念念生滅，遺失真性顛倒行事，性心失真認物為己，輪迴是中自取流轉？」
The Thus Come One then declared to the great assembly, “Sentient beings should know that what moves is known as dust. That which does not stay is known as transient. You have seen Ānanda whose head moved of itself whereas his seeing was unmoved. You have also seen my fist which opened and closed of itself whereas his seeing neither expanded nor contracted. Why do you still regard the moving as your body and environment, and so, from start to finish, arising and ceasing in thought-moment after thought-moment, lose your true nature by participating in inverted actions, losing Mind’s true nature by mistaking (illusory) objects as self and thus turning about on the wheel (of saṃsāra) from self attachment.”
爾時，阿難及諸大眾聞佛示誨身心泰然，念無始來失却本心，妄認緣塵分別影事，今日開悟如失乳兒忽遇慈母，合掌禮佛，願聞如來顯出身心真妄虛實現前生滅與不生滅二發明性。
At that time, Ānanda and the assembly, having heard the Buddha’s words, their bodies and minds became calm and composed and they thought that, since the time without beginning, they had lost their original minds by wrongly clinging to the shadows of differentiated conditional dust and that they had only now awakened to all this, like lost babies who had not suckled for some time and suddenly saw their loving mothers. They brought their palms together to thank the Buddha and wished to hear the Thus Come One reveal that which transcends the dualities of body and mind, truth and ignorance, falsehood and reality, the manifestations of birth and death, and that which does not arise and cease, bringing forth this bright nature.