爾時，世尊哀愍會中緣覺、聲聞，於菩提心未自在者，及為當來佛滅度後末法眾生發菩提心，開無上乘妙修行路，宣示阿難及諸大眾：「汝等決定發菩提心，於佛如來妙三摩提不生疲惓，應當先明發覺初心二決定義。云何初心二義決定？
At that time, the World-Honored One, having sympathy for all the solitary enlightened ones, the voice-hearers, and those in the assembly who had not yet become sovereign in their generation of bodhicitta, as well as those who would be born after the Buddha’s remainderless nirvāṇa and generate bodhicitta during the time of the Dharma’s ending, and he revealed the unsurpassable vehicle’s wondrous path of practice by instructing Ānanda and the others in the assembly saying, “You have all made a firm resolve and generated bodhicitta, and you have not wearied of your practice of the samādhi of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas. Therefore, you should now understand two definitive meanings (nītārtha) concerning the initial generation of bodhicitta. What are these two definitive meanings?”
1. The Turbidites
「阿難！第一義者，汝等若欲捐捨聲聞，修菩薩乘入佛知見，應當審觀因地發心與果地覺為同？為異？阿難！若於因地，以生滅心為本修因，而求佛乘不生不滅，無有是處。以是義故，汝當照明諸器世間，可作之法皆從變滅。阿難！汝觀世間，可作之法誰為不壞，然終不聞爛壞虛空。何以故？空非可作，由是始終無壞滅故。則汝身中堅相為地、潤濕為水、煖觸為火、動搖為風，由此四纏分汝湛圓妙覺明心，為視、為聽、為覺、為始，從始入終五疊渾濁。云何為濁？阿難！譬如清水，清潔本然，即彼塵土灰沙之倫，本質留礙，二體法爾性不相循，有世間人取彼土塵投於淨水，土失留礙水亡清潔，容貌汩然明之為濁，汝濁五重亦復如是。
“Ānanda! The first meaning is, all of you who wish to renounce being voice-hearers to practice in accord with the Bodhisattva Vehicle so that you can gain the wisdom and vision of the Buddhas must examine the ‘causal-ground’ (因地) of generating bodhicitta and the ‘fruit-ground’ (果地) of awakening. Is this causal-ground identical to the fruit? Is it different? Ānanda! If the mind that arises and ceases is the basis of your practice, then you will not be able to ride the Buddha’s Vehicle to where there is nothing that comes into being or ceases to be. For this reason, you should shine the light of your understanding on the phenomena of the world. Since all phenomena are subject to change and decay, how could any of them serve as a basis for the practice of Dharma? Ānanda! Observe that which is in the world. What does not decay? You never hear of space decaying. Why? Space is unconditioned, and, since it has never been, it is not subject to destruction. In your own body, what appears solid is the element Earth, what is moist is Water, what feels warm is Fire, and movement is Wind. Because these four are bound together, your perfect, wondrous Enlightened Mind that understands is divided into seeing (視), hearing (聽), sensory awareness (覺), and initiating (始). Hence, the five turbidities (濁, kaṣāya) come about as a result. What is a turbidity? Ānanda! It is just like clear water - pure and clear from the beginning - while dust, dirt, and sand are originally solid and opaque. The defining characteristics of these two things (clear water and solid earth) are incompatible. If someone took dirt and dust and put it into clear water, the dirt loses its solidity and the water loses its purity. Together they appear clouded or ‘turbid’. The weight of the five turbidities on you is also like this.”
「阿難！汝見虛空遍十方界，空見不分；有空無體、有見無覺，相織妄成，是第一重名為劫濁。汝身現摶四大為體，見聞覺知壅令留礙，水火風土旋令覺知，相織妄成，是第二重名為見濁。又汝心中憶識誦習，性發知見容現六塵，離塵無相離覺無性，相織妄成，是第三重名煩惱濁。又汝朝夕生滅不停，知見每欲留於世間，業運每常遷於國土，相織妄成，是第四重名眾生濁。汝等見聞元無異性，眾塵隔越無狀異生，性中相知、用中相背，同異失準，相織妄成，是第五重名為命濁。
“Ānanda! Look at the empty space throughout the field of the ten directions. Space and seeing are inseparable. If there were only space, there would be nothing to see, and if there were only seeing, there would not be anything to be aware of. Space and seeing are entanglements based on delusion. This is the weight of the first turbidity, time (kalpa).
Your body is composed of the four great elements. Your seeing, hearing, sensory awareness, and knowing are blocked by impediments, while water, fire, wind, and earth are the basis of sensory awareness. These entanglements based on delusion are the weight of the second turbidity, views (dṛṣṭi).
Furthermore, your mind is habituated to being in the present, thinking of the past, and preparing for the future. From this nature there comes forth the knowing and seeing of six objects. Without objects, there are no characteristics; and without anything to be aware of, there is no nature. These entanglements based on delusion are the weight of the third turbidity, afflictions (kleśa).
Further, night and day, you ceaselessly come into being and perish, always desiring to continue to experience the things of the world indefinitely through knowing and seeing. This karma leads to continual movement from one land to another. These entanglements based on delusion are the weight of the fourth turbidity, beings (sattva).
The fundamental natures of your seeing, hearing, and other senses do not differ from one another, but the six objects of perception separate them so that your awareness is forced to become differentiated. Although the six sense-consciousnesses share a single fundamental awareness, their functioning has become distinct. The consciousnesses and their objects are no longer in their correct relationship. These entanglements based on delusion are the weight of the fifth turbidity, lifespans (jiva).
「阿難！汝今欲令見聞覺知遠契如來常樂我淨，應當先擇死生根本，依不生滅圓湛性成，以湛旋其虛妄滅生，伏還元覺得元明覺，無生滅性為因地心，然後圓成果地修證。如澄濁水貯於淨器，靜深不動，沙土自沈清水現前，名為初伏客塵煩惱；去泥純水，名為永斷根本無明。明相精純，一切變現不為煩惱，皆合涅槃清淨妙德。
“Ānanda! You now wish to transform (遠契) your seeing, hearing, sensory awareness, and knowing into the permanent, blissful, True Self, and purity of the Tathāgata. To accomplish this, you must pull out the root of death and rebirth and rely on that pure and perfect nature that neither arises nor ceases. By the purity of that true nature, make disappear the distinction between the original state of enlightenment and the illusory state of what comes into being and ceases to be. With the nature that neither arises nor ceases as the causal ground of the mind, then there is complete realization of the fruit ground. Like the settling of turbid water in a pure container. If it is still and unmoving, sand and silt settle naturally, while clear water appears. As with the initial stages of subduing afflictions from transitory perceptions of objects, when the soil is removed, clear waters remain, as with fundamental ignorance being cut off forever. When things are bright and clear, anything that may happen will not cause affliction, everything being in accord with the pure and wondrous attributes of nirvāṇa.”
2. Space-Time and the Efficacy of the Senses
「第二義者，汝等必欲發菩提心，於菩薩乘生大勇猛，決定棄捐諸有為相，應當審詳煩惱根本，此無始來發業潤生誰作？誰受？阿難！汝修菩提，若不審觀煩惱根本，則不能知虛妄根塵；何處顛倒處尚不知，云何降伏取如來位？阿難！汝觀世間解結之人，不見所結，云何知解？不聞虛空被汝墮裂。何以故？空無相形，無結解故。則汝現前眼耳鼻舌及與身心，六為賊媒自劫家寶，由此無始眾生世界生纏縛故，於器世間不能超越。
“The second definitive meaning is, if you desire to generate bodhicitta, you must courageously dedicate yourself to practice in accord with the Bodhisattva Vehicle. You must decisively let go of all conditional characteristics. You should carefully examine the origin of your afflictions, which have created your karma and nurtured its growth since time without beginning. Who is it that creates this karma? Who is it that receives its retribution? Ānanda! In cultivating bodhi, if you do not examine and contemplate the origin of affliction, you will not be able to understand the illusory and distorted nature of the perceiving faculties and their objects. At what point did you become so inverted? If you do not know that, how can you expect to subdue your afflictions and reach the state of Buddhahood? Ānanda! Consider a worldly person who wishes to untie a knot. If they cannot see the knot, how will they know how to untie it? You have never heard of space being broken apart. Why? Space has no shape or form. Therefore, it can neither be tied together nor loosened. But now what manifests before your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind are like six thieves breaking into your house to steal your valuables. In this way, since time without beginning, beings of time-space (’being of the world’) are bound, and therefore cannot transcend the things of this world.”
「阿難！云何名為眾生世界？世為遷流，界為方位。汝今當知東西南北東南西南東北西北上下為界，過去未來現在為世；位方有十，流數有三。一切眾生織妄相成，身中貿遷，世界相涉；而此界性，設雖十方定位可明，世間秖目東西南北，上下無位中無定方，四數必明與世相涉，三四四三宛轉十二，流變三疊一十百千，總括始終六根之中，各各功德有千二百。
“Ānanda! What is meant by ‘beings of time-space’? ‘Time’ (世) denotes flux and change; ‘space’ (界) denotes location and direction. You already know that the directions are east, west, south, and north, southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest, above, and below, while time is divided into past, present, and future. Thus locations are ten-fold and the flow of time is three-fold. All beings become entangled in illusion and imagine a center of the body, and space and time become interconnected (相涉 xiāng shè). Although the nature of space can be defined as extending in ten directions, and can be clearly understood as such, to the eyes of the people of the world, only east, west, south, and north are taken into account. They do not consider above and below to be locations, rather they are indeterminate, while the four cardinal points are used to determine the rest. Space is therefore four-fold and, combined with time, which is three-fold, three times and four directions multiplied together make twelve. Multiplying these numbers in three stages; first, by each other, to make twelve, next by ten, and then again by ten, we reach a total of twelve hundred. Applying this to the six faculties of perception, we may measure the efficacy (’merit’) of each, with a total of twelve hundred signifying the greatest possible efficacy.”
「阿難！汝復於中克定優劣，如眼觀見後暗前明，前方全明後方全暗，左右傍觀三分之二，統論所作功德不全，三分言功一分無德，當知眼唯八百功德；如耳周聽十方無遺，動若邇遙諍無邊際，當知耳根圓滿一千二百功德；如鼻嗅聞通出入息，有出有入而闕中交，驗於鼻根三分闕一，當知鼻唯八百功德；如舌宣揚盡諸世間出世間智，言有方分理無窮盡，當知舌根圓滿一千二百功德；如身覺觸識於違順，合時能覺離中不知，離一合雙，驗於身根三分闕一，當知身唯八百功德；如意默容十方三世一切世間出世間法，惟聖與凡無不苞容盡其涯際，當知意根圓滿一千二百功德。
“Ānanda! You can further determine the degree of efficacy of each of the faculties of perception. Like the eyes and seeing. Behind there is only darkness, but in front there is light. In front it is totally bright, but behind it is totally dark. Left and right there is partial vision, therefore your capacity to see is effective by only two thirds. The overall efficacy, then, is incomplete, in that it functions in three directions but not in the fourth. You should know, the efficacy of the eye-faculty is only eight hundred.
Like the ears and hearing, which function in all ten directions without exception, near and far. When there is silence, hearing is unbounded. You should know, the efficacy of the ear-faculty is a full twelve hundred.
Like the nose and smelling. Breath moves in and out through the nose. But between inhaling and exhaling, the breath is lacking. Upon examination, we can say that the nose-faculty is lacking one of three aspects. You should know, the efficacy of the nose-faculty is only eight hundred.
Like the tongue and tasting, proclaiming wisely both worldly and world-transcending wisdom. Languages differ from place to place, but meaning knows no boundaries. You should know, the efficacy of the tongue-faculty is a full twelve hundred.
Like the body and awareness of contact, sensing pleasure and discomfort. Upon contact there is awareness, but not upon separation. Separation is singular, while contact is twofold. Upon examination, then, we may say that the body-faculty is lacking in one of three aspects. You should know, the efficacy of the body-faculty is only eight hundred.
Like the cognitive faculty silently including within its scope all worldly and world-transcending phenomena throughout all ten directions and all three periods of time, excluding neither the thoughts of sages nor the distorted thoughts of ordinary beings; it knows no boundary. You should know, the efficacy of the cognitive faculty is a full twelve hundred.”
Turning the Senses Around
「阿難！汝今欲逆生死欲流，返窮流根至不生滅，當驗此等六受用根，誰合？誰離？誰深？誰淺？誰為圓通？誰不圓滿？若能於此悟圓通根，逆彼無始織妄業流，得循圓通，與不圓根日劫相倍，我今備顯六湛圓明，本所功德數量如是，隨汝詳擇其可入者，吾當發明令汝增進。十方如來於十八界，一一修行皆得圓滿無上菩提，於其中間亦無優劣；但汝下劣未能於中圓自在慧，故我宣揚，令汝但於一門深入，入一無妄，彼六知根一時清淨。」
“Ānanda! You now wish to go against the flow of desire, which leads to birth and death. You wish to turn back the flow of the faculties until it arrives where there is neither arising nor ceasing. You should investigate how the six faculties function. Which ones function upon contact [with their objects]? Which ones function while separated? Which ones are deep, and which are superficial? Which ones lead to universal penetration (’pariniṣpanna’ 圓通)? Which are incomplete and do not? If you are able to discern which of your faculties can awaken to universal penetration, then you will be able to go against the beginningless karmic flow of woven delusions and attain universal penetration, accomplishing in a day the equivalent to a kalpa of practice that relies on an incomplete faculty. I have already given you a full explanation of the fundamental purity and perfect clarity of the six faculties, and I have now given numerical equivalents for the efficacy of each one. It is up to you to choose carefully which one to concentrate on. I will clarify this to increase your vigor. Tathāgatas throughout the ten directions, among the eighteen constituent elements, one by one they cultivated each, leading to their attaining of complete, supreme Bodhi. For them, none was superior or inferior. But because you are at a lower level and have not yet fully developed sovereign wisdom, independent of conditions, I have explained all this to you in detail so that you may choose one faculty as a gateway to entry into the profound (’deep’). Entering one, without delusion, all six faculties are purified at the same time.”
阿難白佛言：「世尊！云何逆流深入一門，能令六根一時清淨？」
“Ānanda addressed the Buddha saying, “World-Honored One! How can one go against the flow and profoundly enter a single gateway, purifying all six faculties at once?”
佛告阿難：「汝今已得須陀洹果，已滅三界眾生世間見所斷惑，然猶未知根中積生無始虛習，彼習要因修所斷得，何況此中生住異滅分劑頭數？今汝且觀現前六根，為一？為六？
The Buddha told Ānanda, “You have already attained the fruit of a śrota-āpanna (’stream-enterer’) and you have already abandoned the deluded views held by beings in the three realms. But you still do not understand the illusory habits (習, vāsanā) which you have accumulated in life after life since time without beginning. You must practice even more to severe these habits. How much the less to do you understand the subtle aspects of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Now, observe the six faculties. Are they one? Are they six?
「阿難！若言一者，耳何不見、目何不聞、頭奚不履、足奚無語？若此六根決定成六，如我今會與汝宣揚微妙法門，汝之六根誰來領受？」
“Ānanda! If you say they are one, why can’t the ears see? Why can’t the eyes hear? Why can’t the head walk? Why can’t the feet speak? If the six faculties are indeed six, as I explain this subtle, wondrous Dharma gateway to the assembly, which one of them is now receiving my instruction?”
阿難言：「我用耳聞。」
Ānanda replied, “I use the ears to hear.”
佛言：「汝耳自聞，何關身口？口來問義，身起欽承，是故應知非一終六，非六終一，終不汝根元一元六。阿難！當知是根非一非六，由無始來顛倒淪替，故於圓湛一六義生，汝須陀洹雖得六銷猶未亡一，如太虛空參合群器，由器形異名之異空，除器觀空說空為一，彼太虛空云何為汝成同不同？何況更名是一非一？則汝了知六受用根亦復如是。
The Buddha replied, “If it is your ears that hear it, are they not connected to your body and your mouth? It is the mouth that inquires about the teaching, and the body rises to receive it respectfully. Therefore, you should know, as to the idea that the faculties must be one if they are not six, or that they must be six if they are not one, or that fundamentally they are both one and six. Ānanda! You should know, the faculties are neither one nor six. In your inverted state, in which you have been sinking and undergoing change since time without beginning, you have thought of ‘one’ and ‘six’ within the framework of fundamental perfect clarity. You have attained the stage of a śrota-āpanna and have purified the six, but you have not done away with the one. Like trying to fit some space into a variety of containers. Containers differ in shape, so it is said that the spaces within them also differ in shape. Remove the containers and observe the space. You will say that the space has become one again. But how could space become unified or separated because of what you have done? Indeed, how could the space be said to be either one or not one? You should understand that the six faculties of perception are also like this.
由明暗等二種相形，於妙圓中粘湛發見，見精映色結色成根，根元目為清淨四大，因名眼體如蒲萄朵，浮根四塵流逸奔色；
"Due to the appearance (相形 xiāng-xíng) of two characteristics - brightness and darkness - within the wondrous perfect clarity, there arises a stickiness (粘 zhān) that generates seeing. The essence of seeing reflects upon colors and forms, consolidating them into a sensory root. The fundamental basis of this root is called the pure four elements, which is why the eye-organ is shaped like a grape. The superficial root of the four elements flows outward in pursuit of forms and colors.”
由動靜等二種相擊，於妙圓中粘湛發聽，聽精映聲卷聲成根，根元目為清淨四大，因名耳體如新卷葉，浮根四塵流逸奔聲；
"Due to the collision (相擊 xiāng-jī) of two characteristics - movement and stillness - within the wondrous perfect clarity, there arises a stickiness that generates hearing. The essence of hearing reflects upon sounds, gathering sounds to form a sensory root. The fundamental basis of this root is called the pure four elements, which is why the ear-organ is shaped like a newly curled leaf. The superficial root of the four elements flows outward in pursuit of sounds.”
由通塞等二種相發，於妙圓中粘湛發嗅，嗅精映香納香成根，根元目為清淨四大，因名鼻體如雙垂爪，浮根四塵流逸奔香；
"Due to the emergence (相發 xiāng-fā) of two types of characteristics - openness and blockage - within the wondrous perfect clarity, there arises a stickiness that generates smelling. The essence of smelling reflects upon fragrances, taking in fragrances to form a sensory root. The fundamental basis of this root is called the pure four elements, which is why the nose-organ is shaped like a pair of hanging claws. The superficial root of the four elements flows outward in pursuit of fragrances.”
由恬變等二種相參，於妙圓中粘湛發嘗，嘗精映味絞味成根，根元目為清淨四大，因名舌體如初偃月，浮根四塵流逸奔味；
"Due to the joining (相參 xiāng-cān) of two types of characteristics - bland and changing flavors - within the wondrous perfect clarity, there arises a stickiness that generates tasting. The essence of tasting reflects upon flavors, drawing flavors together to form a sensory root. The fundamental basis of this root is called the pure four elements, which is why the tongue-organ is shaped like a crescent moon. The superficial root of the four elements flows outward in pursuit of flavors.”
由離合等二種相摩，於妙圓中粘湛發覺，覺精映觸搏觸成根，根元目為清淨四大，因名身體如腰鼓顙，浮根四塵流逸奔觸；
"Due to the contingency (相摩, xiāng-mó, saṃsarga) of two types of characteristics - separation and union - within the wondrous perfect clarity, there arises a stickiness that generates tactile awareness. The essence of tactile awareness reflects upon touch, forming touch into a sensory root. The fundamental basis of this root is called the pure four elements, which is why the body-organ is shaped like a waist drum. The superficial root of the four elements flows outward in pursuit of tactile sensations.”
由生滅等二種相續，於妙圓中粘湛發知，知精映法覽法成根，根元目為清淨四大，因名意思如幽室見，浮根四塵流逸奔法。
"Due to the continuity (相續 xiāng-xù) of two types of characteristics - arising and ceasing - within the wondrous perfect clarity, there arises a stickiness that generates knowing. The essence of knowing reflects upon mental objects, embracing these objects to form a sensory root. The fundamental basis of this root is called the pure four elements, which is why the mind-organ is like seeing within a dark chamber. The superficial root of the four elements flows outward in pursuit of mental objects.”
「阿難！如是六根，由彼覺明有明明覺，失彼精了粘妄發光，是以汝今離暗離明無有見體，離動離靜元無聽質，無通無塞嗅性不生，非變非恬嘗無所出，不離不合覺觸本無，無滅無生了知安寄。汝但不循動靜、合離、恬變、通塞、生滅、暗明，如是十二諸有為相，隨拔一根脫粘內伏，伏歸元真發本明耀；耀性發明，諸餘五粘應拔圓脫，不由前塵所起知見，明不循根寄根明發，由是六根互相為用。
"Ānanda! These six faculties come into being out of the Awakened Mind when another understanding is added to that Awakened Mind. As a result, the essential understanding is lost and the faculties adhere to what is distorted, and each one assumes a different function. Therefore, if you were now to be deprived of both light and darkness, would your seeing continue to exist? If you were deprived of both sound and silence, would your hearing lose its fundamental characteristics? If you were deprived of both openness and blockage, would your capacity to smell continue to exist? If you were deprived of both the presence and the absence of flavors, would your capacity to taste continue to exist? If you were deprived of both contact and separation, would your sense of touch still exist? If you were deprived of both the coming into being and perishing of the objects of cognition, would your capacity for cognition still exist? All that you need to do is not allow your attention to be diverted by the twelve conditioned attributes of sound and silence, contact and separation, flavor and the absence of flavor, openness and blockage, coming into being and perishing, and light and darkness. Next, extricate one faculty by detaching (拔) it from its objects, and redirect that faculty inward so that it can return to what is original and true. Then it will radiate the light of the original understanding. This brilliant light will shine forth and extricate the other five faculties until they are completely free. If your six faculties are freed from the objects that they perceive so that the light of your understanding is not diverted into one or another of the faculties, then the light of your understanding will manifest through all the faculties so that all six of them will function interchangeably (互相 anyōnya).”
「阿難！汝豈不知，今此會中阿那律陀無目而見；跋難陀龍無耳而聽；殑伽神女非鼻聞香；驕梵鉢提異舌知味；舜若多神無身有觸，如來光中映令暫現，既為風質其體元無；諸滅盡定得寂聲聞，如此會中摩訶迦葉，久滅意根圓明了知不因心念。阿難！今汝諸根若圓拔已內瑩發光，如是浮塵及器世間諸變化相如湯銷氷，應念化成無上知覺。阿難！如彼世人聚見於眼，若令急合，暗相現前，六根黯然頭足相類，彼人以手循體外繞，彼雖不見，頭足一辯知覺是同，緣見因明暗成無見，不明自發則諸暗相永不能昏，根塵既銷，云何覺明不成圓妙。」
“Ānanda! You know, do you not, that here in this assembly there is Aniruddha, who is blind and yet can see; that the nāga Upananda is deaf and yet can hear; that the goddess of the River Ganges has no sense of smell and yet can discern fragrances; that Gavāṃpati's malformed tongue cannot taste, and yet he is aware of flavors; and that the spirit Śūnyatā is incorporeal but just now has a sense of touch — you can see him here temporarily as he is illumined by the light of the Tathāgata. By nature, however, he is as bodiless as the wind. And like all who abide in the samādhi of cessation and who have attained the stillness of a śrāvaka, here in this assembly, Mahākāśyapa, who long ago caused his cognitive faculty to cease, and yet without relying on the thinking mind, his understanding is clear and perfect. Ānanda! Once all your faculties are completely disengaged (拔), a pure brilliance will shine forth from within them. Then all coarse perceived objects — indeed all phenomena subject to change in the material world — will be transformed, just as ice is transformed when it melts in hot water. Then, responding in the time it takes for a single thought to arise, all phenomena will merge into your supreme awareness. Ānanda! Consider a worldly person who, seeing only with the eyes, quickly closes their eyes so that total darkness surrounds them. All six faculties will be enveloped in the darkness such that the eyes will not be able to distinguish the head from the feet on someone else's body. But the person is able to tell head from foot if they trace them with their hands. They can identify them as accurately as they would have done by using their eyes. Now, if visual awareness were dependent on the presence of light, they would have no visual awareness when immersed in darkness. But without light, they can still perceive. Total darkness need not prevent someone from being aware of distinctions among objects. In the same way, once your faculties and their objects have melted away, how could your awareness and understanding not become perfect and wondrous?”
阿難白佛言：「世尊！如佛說言，因地覺心欲求常住，要與果位名目相應。世尊！如果位中，菩提、涅槃、真如、佛性、菴摩羅識、空如來藏、大圓鏡智，是七種名稱謂雖別，清淨圓滿體性堅凝，如金剛王常住不壞；若此見聽離於暗明、動靜、通塞，畢竟無體，猶如念心離於前塵本無所有，云何將此畢竟斷滅以為修因，欲獲如來七常住果？世尊！若離明暗見畢竟空，如無前塵念自性滅，進退循環微細推求，本無我心及我心所，將誰立因求無上覺？如來先說湛精圓常，違越誠言終成戲論。云何如來真實語者？惟垂大慈開我蒙悋。」
Ānanda addressed the Buddha saying, "World-Honored One! As you have said, the awakened mind of the causal ground that seeks permanent abiding must correspond to the names and titles at the stage of fruition. World-Honored One! Realization of the fruit-ground is called by seven different names: Bodhi, Nirvāṇa, Suchness (bhūtatathhatā), Buddha Nature (buddhatā), Amalavijñāna (’Stainless Knowledge’), Empty Treasury of Tathāgatas (tathāgatagarbha), and the Great Perfect Mirror of Wisdom (Mahā-adarśana-jñāna). Although these seven names are different, their pure and perfect essential nature is firm and solid, like the Vajra King, permanently abiding and indestructible. If this seeing and hearing, when separated from light and darkness, movement and stillness, openness and obstruction, ultimately have no substance—just as the thinking mind has nothing to rely on when separated from its objects—how can we use this ultimate extinction as the cause of our practice to attain the Tathāgata's seven permanent fruits? World-Honored One! If seeing, when separated from light and darkness, is ultimately empty, just as thoughts lose their self-nature without objects, then carefully examining this back and forth, there fundamentally is no self or possessions of a self. What then can we establish as the cause for seeking supreme awakening? The Tathāgata previously spoke of the profound, pure, perfect, and permanent, but this contradicts your sincere words and makes them mere play. How can what the Tathāgata says be true? Please, with your great compassion, dispel my ignorance and delusion.”
True Hearing
佛告阿難：「汝學多聞未盡諸漏，心中徒知顛倒所因，真倒現前實未能識，恐汝誠心猶未信伏，吾今試將塵俗諸事當除汝疑。」
The Buddha told Ānanda, “You have great knowledge by hearing but you have yet to extinguish all outflows. Though you know the cause of your upset, yet when you find yourself in the presence of that cause, you fail to recognize it. Lest your trustfulness remain incomplete, I will now do something to remove your doubt.”
即時，如來勅羅睺羅擊鍾一聲，問阿難言：「汝今聞不？」
Thereupon, the Tathāgata ordered Rāhula to ring the bell and asked Ānanda, “Do you hear that, or not?”
阿難大眾俱言：「我聞。」
Ānanda and the great assembly all replied, “We hear.”
鍾歇無聲，佛又問言：「汝今聞不？」
When the bell was no more heard, the Buddha asked again, “Do you still hear, or not”
阿難大眾俱言：「不聞。」
Ānanda and the great assembly all replied, “[We] do not hear.”
時，羅睺羅又擊一聲，佛又問言：「汝今聞不？」
Then, Rāhula again rang the bell and the Buddha asked, “Now do you hear it, or not?”
阿難大眾又言：「俱聞。」
Ānanda and the great assembly all replied, “We all hear.”
佛問阿難：「汝云何聞？云何不聞？」
The Buddha asked Ānanda, “What is hearing? What is not hearing?”
阿難大眾俱白佛言：「鍾聲若擊則我得聞，擊久聲銷音響雙絕，則名無聞。」
Ānanda and the great assembly all addressed the Buddha saying, “If the bell is rung, we call it hearing. When the sound and its echo stop, then we call it not hearing.”
如來又勅羅睺擊鍾，問阿難言：「爾今聲不？」
The Tathāgata again ordered Rāhula to ring the bell and asked Ānanda, “And now is there sound, or not?”
阿難言：「聲。」
Ānanda replied, “There is sound.”
少選聲銷，佛又問言：「爾今聲不？」
A little later when it could no longer be heard, the Buddha asked again, “And now is there sound, or not?”
阿難大眾答言：「無聲。」
Ānanda and the great assembly replied, “There is no sound.”
有頃，羅睺更來撞鍾，佛又問言：「爾今聲不？」
Thereto, Rāhula came and rang the bell and the Buddha asked again, “And now is there sound, or not?”
阿難大眾俱言：「有聲。」
Ānanda and the great assembly together replied, “There is sound.”
佛問阿難：「汝云何聲？云何無聲？」
The Buddha asked Ānanda, “What is sound? What is no sound?”
阿難大眾俱白佛言：「鍾聲若擊，則名有聲，擊久聲銷音響雙絕，則名無聲。」
Ānanda and the great assembly addressed the Buddha saying, “When the bell is rung, there is sound and when both the sound and its echo stop, then this is called no sound.”
佛語阿難及諸大眾：「汝今云何自語矯亂。」
The Buddha said to Ānanda and everyone in the great assembly, “Why are you speaking so wildly?
大眾阿難俱時問佛：「我今云何名為矯亂？」
The great assembly and Ānanda then asked the Buddha, “How are we speaking so wildly?”
佛言：「我問汝聞，汝則言聞；又問汝聲，汝則言聲。惟聞與聲報答無定，如是云何不名矯亂？阿難！聲銷無響，汝說無聞，若實無聞，聞性已滅同于枯木，鍾聲更擊汝云何知？知有知無，自是聲塵或無或有，豈彼聞性為汝有無？聞實云無，誰知無者？
The Buddha said, "When I asked you about hearing, you spoke of hearing, and when I asked you about sound, you spoke of sound. Your answers about hearing and sound were inconsistent, so how could this not be called wild talk? Ānanda! When the sound ceases and there is no echo, you say there is no hearing. If there truly were no hearing, its nature would have perished like a withered log. Then when the bell is struck again, how would you know it? Your knowing of presence or absence pertains to the sound itself, which may be there or not, but how could the nature of hearing exist or not according to your discrimination? If hearing truly ceased to exist, who would know there was no sound?
是故，阿難！聲於聞中自有生滅，非為汝聞聲生聲滅，令汝聞性為有為無。汝尚顛倒惑聲為聞，何怪昏迷以常為斷。終不應言，離諸動靜、閉塞、開通說聞無性。如重睡人眠熟床枕，其家有人於彼睡時擣練舂米，其人夢中聞舂擣聲，別作他物，或為擊鼓、或復撞鍾，即於夢時自怪其鍾為木石響，於時忽寤遄知杵音，自告家人：『我正夢時，惑此舂音將為鼓響。』
Therefore, Ānanda! Sound itself undergoes arising and ceasing within hearing, but it is not that your hearing arises when sound arises or ceases when sound ceases, causing your hearing nature to exist or not exist. In your confusion, you mistake sound for hearing. No wonder that in your delusion you regard what is permanent as impermanent. You should never say that hearing has no nature apart from movement and stillness, obstruction and clearance.
Consider a person in deep sleep. If someone in the household pounds rice while they sleep, the sleeping person might hear the pounding sound in their dream, but mistake it for something else—perhaps the beating of a drum or the ringing of a bell. In the dream, they might wonder why the bell sounds like wood or stone. When they suddenly awaken, they immediately recognize the sound of the pestle and tell their family, 'While dreaming, I confused the pounding sound for a drum.'
阿難！是人夢中豈憶靜搖、開閉、通塞，其形雖寐聞性不昏，縱汝形銷命光遷謝，此性云何為汝銷滅？以諸眾生從無始來，循諸色聲逐念流轉，曾不開悟性淨妙常，不循所常逐諸生滅，由是生生雜染流轉；若棄生滅守於真常，常光現前，塵根識心應時銷落，想相為塵、識情為垢二俱遠離，則汝法眼應時清明，云何不成無上知覺？」
Ānanda! Does this person in their dream remember the conditions of movement and stillness, opening and closing, obstruction and clearance? Though their body sleeps, the nature of hearing remains clear. Even if your body perishes and your life-force departs, how could this nature be extinguished?
Since beginningless time, all beings have followed forms and sounds, pursuing the flow of their thoughts without awakening to their pure, wondrous, and permanent nature. Not abiding in what is permanent, they chase after birth and death, thereby continuing in the cycle of defilement through successive lives. If you abandon birth and death and dwell in true permanence, the light of permanence will manifest, causing the sense objects, sense faculties, and consciousness to immediately dissolve. Conceptual thinking is dust (想相為塵), and the essence of consciousness is impurity. When both are removed, your Dharma Eye will immediately become clear and bright. How could you not then realize supreme awakening?"