The voidness axiom and the characteristics axiom are afraid that inexperienced students and people of shallow dispositions will become attached to the words of the texts and produce grasping. This is why the former negates names and the latter engages in lengthy expositions of aspects and functions. The nature axiom, on the other hand, gears itself to experienced students and those of superior faculties. This axiom forgets the words and recognizes substance, that is, points to Knowing.

40. No. 7: The difference between them concerning what is recognized as name and what is recognized as substance. This means that there are [many] names and [one] substance to both the buddha dharma and mundane dharmas. According to mundane expression, the great elements are no more than four. As the Zhilun says: “Earth, water, fire, and air are the names of the four things. Solidity, wetness, heat, and movement are the substance of the four things.”²¹¹ Now, let us discuss water.

Suppose someone asked: I am always hearing that when one settles it, it is clear; that when one stirs it up, it is cloudy; that when one dams it up, it stops; that when one releases it, it flows; that it has the potentiality to irrigate all living things and wash away all filth. What is this thing? (The question is phrased in terms of its [latent] power aspect.)²¹²

Answer: It is water. (The answer is in terms of its name.)

The stupid, upon recognizing this name, immediately say that they have understood, but the wise will further ask: What is water? ([They aim at] understanding its substance.)

Answer: Wetness is water. (This is pointing to the thing-in-itself.²¹³ This single word [“wetness”] is immediately definitive; no other word could be substituted for it. If one were to say that waves or ice or clear water or turbid water is water, how would that differ from the phraseology of his question?)

The buddha dharma is also like this. Suppose someone asked: I am always hearing the sutras say that delusion about it is stain; that awakening to it is purity; that letting it go is worldliness; that practicing it is noble; that it has the potentiality to produce all mundane and supramundane dharmas. What is this thing? (The question is phrased in terms of its [latent] power aspect.)

Answer: It is mind. (The answer is in terms of its name.)

The stupid, upon recognizing this name, will immediately say that they have understood, but those of wisdom will further ask: What is mind? ([They aim at] understanding its substance.)

Answer: Knowing is mind.²¹⁴ (This is pointing to its substance. This word [“Knowing”] hits the bull’s-eye; no other word is as appropriate. If one were to say that “neither nature nor characteristics” or “the potentiality for speech and movement,” etc., is mind, how would that differ from the phraseology of his question?)²¹⁵

By this we know that there is just one word for the name of water and just one for its substance and that all others [denote] its functions. Likewise, [there is just one word for the] name of mind and [just one for its] substance. The one word “wetness” penetrates to the inside of the myriad functions and aspects such as clear water, turbid water, etc. The one word “Knowing”²¹⁶ penetrates to the locus of the myriad functions and aspects such as passion, anger, friendliness, patience, good, bad, suffering, joy, etc. Today many of the people who train in Chan are skeptical, saying: “Bodhidharma just discussed mind. Why did Heze [Shenhui] speak of Knowing?” This sort of doubt is like saying: “Recently I have only heard that there is water in the well. Why today am I suddenly aware of wetness in the well?” You must be able to awaken to the realization that “water” is a name, that it is not wet, that being wet is water, not a name. You will then understand all the aspects such as clear water, turbid water, waves, and ice. By analogy “mind” is a name, not mind [the thing-in-itself]; “Knowing” is mind, not a name. You will then understand all the aspects such as real, unreal, stained, pure, good, and bad. The voidness axiom and the characteristics axiom are afraid that novice trainees and those of shallow dispositions will conform to the words [of the texts] to produce grasping, and so, [to counter this tendency, the voidness axiom] just designates names and then negates them, and [the characteristics axiom] just extensively engages in drawing out the meanings of aspects and functions. The nature axiom gears itself to trainees with long experience and those of superior faculties. Because [this axiom] has them forget words and recognize substance, it shows directly with the one word [“Knowing”]. (Bodhidharma said: “I point to one word to show directly.”²¹⁷ Later people did not understand his meaning and wondered what word is the one word. If some [such as Hongzhou people] say “the mind is buddha [jixin shi fo]” is the one word, this is four words. What name is the one word?) Once one has been able to recognize substance, he will in illumination examine the aspects and functions on top of substance, and, therefore, understand all of them.

The voidness axiom holds that all dharmas are included within the two truths, the worldly (origination by dependence) and the real (voidness). The nature axiom has three truths: nature (voidness); characteristics (origination by dependence); and self substance (true mind). The self substance is neither voidness nor form, etc.; it is the potentiality to be both. This corresponds to a mirror’s specific images, the voidness of those images, and the brightness or reflectivity of the mirror itself.

41. No. 8: The difference between them concerning the two truths and the three truths. All scholars know that the voidness axiom says that all dharmas, both mundane and supramundane, do not go beyond the two truths. There is no need for quotations to elucidate this.²¹⁸ The nature axiom, however, gathers up nature, characteristics, and the self substance [xing xiang ji ziti] and considers them together as the three truths.²¹⁹ It takes all dharmas that originate by dependence, such as forms, etc., as the worldly truth and takes [the truth that] conditions lack a self nature and [hence] all dharmas are void as the real truth. (This much is no different in terms of principle from the two truths of the voidness axiom and the characteristics axiom.) That the one true mind substance is neither voidness nor form [but] has the potentiality to be void and the potentiality to be form is the truth of the highest meaning of the middle path. This is like a bright mirror that also has three aspects. One must not call a green image in the mirror yellow. A beautiful [image] and an ugly one are different from each other. This is like the worldly truth. Because the images lack a self nature, every one of them is completely void. This is like the real truth. The substance [of the mirror], its constant brightness, is neither void nor green nor yellow [but] has the potentiality to be void and the potentiality to be green or yellow. This is like the truth of the highest meaning. This is just as the Yingluo,²²⁰ Dapin,²²¹ Benye,²²² and other sutras say. Therefore, the Tiantai lineage relies on these three truths and cultivates the three tranquilizations and three viewings,²²³ bringing to perfection the three virtues.²²⁴

Concerning the three natures, the voidness axiom holds that the completely imagined and the dependent-on-something-else are existence and that the completely perfected is voidness. All three are devoid of self nature or void. However, for the nature axiom, following the Huayan master Fazang, each of the three natures possesses a void aspect and an existent aspect.

42. No. 9: The difference between them concerning the voidness or existence of the three natures. The three are: the completely imagined nature²²⁵ (feelings of the unreal everywhere calculate a self and all dharmas and grasp them one after the other as really existent; it is like a foolish child’s seeing the images of the faces of people in a mirror and grasping them as being alive, solid, with flesh and bones, etc.); the arising-through-dependence-on-something-else nature²²⁶ (these grasped dharmas are in dependence upon a host of other conditions; they arise serving as a cause for each other, and, lacking a self nature, they are just unreal characteristics, like images in a mirror); and the completely perfected nature²²⁷ (the true mind of original awakening manifests itself at initial awakening, completely perfected, real, and constantly abiding, like the brightness of a mirror). The voidness axiom says: “Whenever the sutras discuss existence, it is according to the completely imagined and dependent-on-something else. Whenever they discuss voidness, it is the completely perfected nature. The three dharmas [= three natures] all lack [self-]nature.” For the nature axiom each of the three dharmas possesses a void aspect and an existent aspect.²²⁸ This means that the completely imagined exists in feelings, but not in principle; the dependent-on-something-else exists in characteristics, but not in the nature; and the completely perfected does not exist in feelings, but does in principle; does not exist in characteristics, but does in the nature.

The voidness axiom takes voidness as the buddha quality. The nature axiom holds that the self substance of the buddhas has real qualities, such as permanence, joy, self, purity, rays of light, etc.

43. No. 10: The difference between them concerning the voidness or existence of the buddha qualities. The voidness axiom, in speaking of the Buddha, takes voidness as his quality,²²⁹ [saying that] no dharma whatsoever exists that can be called awakening,²³⁰ that to see [the Buddha in terms of] form or seek him as sound is to walk a false path.²³¹ The Zhonglun says: “[The Tathagata] is not the aggregates and is not apart from the aggregates. This [the Tathagata] and that [the aggregates] do not exist in each other. If the Tathagata does not have aggregates, where is the Tathagata?”²³² Divorcing from all characteristics is called “all the buddhas.”²³³ For the nature axiom the self-substance of all the buddhas has permanence, joy, self, and purity,²³⁴ real qualities [such as] the ten bodies and the ten knowledges,²³⁵ and the [thirty-two] marks and the [eighty minor] signs²³⁶ that are like limitless shafts of light one after the other. The nature has existed from the outset; it does not await a karmic nexus.

Once the practitioner has accorded with the three teachings in order to realize the three Chan minds, then every thought will be a buddha thought, every poetic line a Chan line. One will sense that all strains of Chan are valid, that all coincide.

44. By specifying these ten differences, the two gates [of the voidness axiom and the nature axiom] are clarified. Although I have made divisions on characteristics of the teachings, do not²³⁷ stagnate on feelings. The three teachings and the three [Chan] axioms are the dharma of one taste. Therefore, one must first, according to the three types of buddha teachings, realize the Chan minds of the three [Chan] axioms, and only after that will both Chan and the teachings be forgotten, both mind and buddha calmed. When both are calmed, then thought after thought all is the buddha; there will not be a single thought that is not buddha mind. When both are forgotten, then line after line all is Chan; there will not be a single line that is not Chan teaching. When one is like this, upon happening to hear talk of [the Chan axiom of] cutting off and not leaning on anything, one knows that it eradicates grasping feelings of self. Upon hearing the words of [the Chan axiom of] stopping [thought of] the unreal and cultivating mind [only], one knows that it cuts off the habit energy of self. If grasping feelings are eradicated and the true nature revealed, then cutting off [and not leaning on anything] is an axiom that reveals the nature. If habit energy is exhausted and the buddha path completed, then [stopping thought of the unreal] and cultivating mind [only] is a practice to become a buddha. As to the voidness or existence of all-at-once and step-by-step, since there is no error anywhere, how could Hong[zhou], He[ze Shenhui], [Hui]neng, and [Shen]xiu not coincide? If you are capable of attaining this sort of comprehension, everything you say to others will be excellent devices, while everything you hear from others will be excellent medicine. Medicine is to disease just as comprehension is to grasping. This is why a former worthy said: “When you are grasping, word after word [in the texts] is a boil or a wart. When you comprehend, text after text is excellent medicine.”²³⁸ The one who comprehends understands that the three [Chan] axioms do not conflict with one another.

The step-by-step teaching is all three subdivisions of the first teaching (humans-and-gods, Hinayana, and dharma characteristics) and the second teaching (eradication of characteristics). The Buddha delivered these teachings for those of medium and inferior faculties. After their faculties had matured, he spoke for them the explicit teaching of the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra. The all-at-once teaching is divided into two types: the all-at-once of the Buddha’s responding throughout his teaching career to beings of the highest disposition and the all-at-once of the Buddha’s rite of transforming beings at the site of his enlightenment. Whenever during his long career the Buddha encountered a being of superior faculties he spoke the former, and the being in question all-at-once awakened on the spot. However, these superior persons at the outset still engaged in the type of step-by-step practice found in the first two teachings to rid themselves gradually of the habit energy inherited from past births. This type of all-at-once is found in “one part” of the Huayan Sutra and in the buddha-in-embryo sutras; it is identical to the third Chan axiom. Immediately after the awakening beneath the tree, for the sake of those of superior faculties, he spoke the all-at-once of the rite of transforming beings. This all-at-once is “one sutra” of the Huayan collection and the Treatise on the Ten Stages. The explicit teaching of the Lotus and Nirvana plus the all-at-once teaching of responding to beings of the highest disposition constitute the third teaching of my schema.

45. Question: You said earlier [in section 6]: “The Buddha spoke both the all-at-once teaching and the step-by-step teaching, while Chan opens both the all-at-once gate and the step-by-step gate.” I have not yet determined which within the three types of teaching are all-at-once and which step-by-step.

Answer: The principles of the dharma [run] from deep to shallow. I have already dealt fully with their three types. It is just that the teaching styles of the World-honored-one varied, and so there were all-at-once sermons conforming to principle and step-by-step sermons in accordance with the dispositions [of the audience]. Therefore, we use the additional terms “all-at-once teaching” and “step-by-step teaching.” It is not the case that there are separate all-at-once and step-by-step [teachings] outside the three teachings. “Step-by-step” means that, for the sake of those of medium and inferior faculties, those who at the time in question were not yet able to believe in and awaken to the excellent principle of perfect awakening, [the Buddha] spoke the previous humans-and-gods [teaching], the Hinayana, and up through the dharma characteristics (all the above being the first teaching) and the eradication of characteristics (the second teaching). He waited for their faculties to ripen and then spoke for them the complete meaning, that is, the Lotus, the Nirvana Sutra, etc. (This and the all-at-once teaching of responding to [beings of the highest] disposition, [which is explained] below, join together to constitute the third teaching. The all-at-once of the rite of transforming [beings explained below] totally subsumes the three kinds.²³⁹ The classifications of the teachings set up by the worthies of the western regions and this land from ancient times until today, such as the three periods and the five periods,²⁴⁰ are just one kind of the step-by-step teaching. They do not take in the Huayan and other sutras.)

There are also two [types of] all-at-once. The first is the all-at-once of responding to [beings of the highest] disposition, and the second is the rite of transforming [beings].²⁴¹ The all-at-once of responding to [beings of the highest] disposition [refers to those situations in which the Buddha,] having met a common person of superior faculties and sharp intellect, directly showed him the true dharma. As soon as he heard [the Buddha speak this type of all-at-once] he all-at-once awakened and gained the identical fruit of a buddha. As in the Huayan: “When one first raises the thought [of awakening], one attains unexcelled, perfect awakening.”²⁴² In the Perfect Awakening: “Practice is completion of the buddha path.”²⁴³ After that²⁴⁴ [these common persons of superior faculties use] the same practice gates [found] in the previous two teachings in order step-by-step to get rid of the habit [energy] of the common person and step-by-step reveal the qualities of the noble one.²⁴⁵ It is like a wind blowing over the great ocean so that it can no longer reflect images. If the wind all-at-once stops, the waves step-by-step cease, and the reflections reappear. (Wind is like feelings of delusion, ocean like the mind nature, waves like the depravities, and reflections like functions. These are arranged one after the other in the Awakening of Faith.)²⁴⁶ [This all-at-once of responding to beings of the highest disposition] is one part of the Huayan²⁴⁷ and such sutras as the Perfect Awakening, the Buddha Top-knot [= Heroic Progress Samadhi], the Secret Array, the Śrīmālā, and the Buddha-in-Embryo,²⁴⁸ over twenty sections in all. Whenever [the Buddha] encountered this disposition, he spoke this; it is not restricted to either the first or the last [part of his teaching career]. It is utterly identical to the Chan gate’s third axiom of directly revealing the mind nature.

The second, the all-at-once of the rite of transforming [beings], refers to [the occasion when] the Buddha first completed the path. For the sake of those who possessed superior faculties as a result of the conditions of past lives, he on one occasion [immediately after awakening] spoke all-at-once of nature and characteristics, phenomena and principle, the myriad depravities of sentient beings, the myriad practices of the bodhisattvas, the stages of the worthies and noble ones, and the myriad qualities of the buddhas. Causes suffuse the sea of effects; when one first [raises] the thought [of awakening], one attains awakening; and effects penetrate to the source of causes.²⁴⁹ Even when the stages are filled, one is still called a bodhisattva. [This second type of all-at-once] is only one sutra of the Huayan [collection]²⁵⁰ and the Treatise on the Ten Stages [Sutra]²⁵¹ and is called the perfect all-at-once teaching. None of the other [sutras or treatises] contains it. (A previously mentioned objection [in section 16] was that all-at-once awakening to become a buddha contravenes the sutras. Here I have now cleared this up.) The “all dharmas” spoken of by this [second type of all-at-once] is an “all dharmas” that fulfills the one mind, and the one mind is a one mind that fulfills “all dharmas,” nature and characteristics being perfectly fused and the one and the many existing in freedom. Therefore, buddhas and sentient beings penetrate each other; pure lands and filthy lands are completely fused; every single dharma includes within itself every other dharma; every single speck of dust includes the worlds, mutually penetrating and mutually identical; there is fusion without obstruction in the gates of the ten profundities, again and again without limit.²⁵² This is called the unobstructed dharma sphere.²⁵³

Now I will discuss all-at-once and step-by-step in terms of the varying dispositions of beings for awakening and practice. Among the Chan houses there are numerous variants for all-at-once and step-by-step. In these sometimes awakening refers to direct realization, sometimes to intellectual understanding of doctrine. It should be noted that these variants are working only from the perspective of the present life; from a rebirth perspective there is only step-by-step. Recently many have objected that all-at-once awakening followed by step-by-step practice is a contradiction. Actually, it is the most essential formulation.

46. Up until now all-at-once and step-by-step have both been spoken of according to the Buddha and in conformity with the teachings. The meanings [of all-at-once and step-by-step] are something quite different if we speak of them according to the dispositions [of beings] and in conformity with awakening and practice.²⁵⁴

Among the [Chan] houses listed previously [in section 12], some say: “One first relies on step-by-step practice [to accumulate] merit and then deeply all-at-once awakens.” (This is like chopping down a tree; slice after slice is step-by-step chopped away, until at a certain point it all-at-once falls. It is also like pointing towards a city far off in the distance; step-by-step one approaches, until, on a certain day, one all-at-once arrives.) Some say: “One relies on all-at-once practice to step-by-step awaken.” (This is like a person training in archery. “All-at-once” is that, [while releasing] arrows, he concentrates his attention right on the bull’s-eye. “Step-by-step” is that a long time elapses before [the arrows] first begin step-by-step to approach and finally hit the bull’s-eye. This is talking about girding mind for all-at-once cultivation; it does not imply that one is all-at-once finished with effortful practice.)

Some say: “One step-by-step practices and step-by-step awakens.” (This is like ascending a nine-storied platform. Step-by-step one ascends, and step-by-step one can see further and further into the distance. And so there is a poem that goes:

Wanting to investigate with the eye of a thousand li,

I went up one more story.)²⁵⁵

In all [three of these variants awakening] means [direct] realization awakening.²⁵⁶

Some say: “One must first all-at-once awaken and then should step-by-step practice.” This is in conformity with [intellectual] understanding awakening.²⁵⁷ (If we speak in conformity with the cutting off of hindrances, this is like the sun’s rising all-at-once but the frost’s melting step-by-step. If we speak in conformity with the perfecting of attributes, this is like the fact that, upon birth, a child all-at-once possesses four limbs and six senses and as it matures step-by-step perfects its will and functions.) Therefore, the Huayan says: “When one first raises the thought [of awakening], one attains perfect awakening.”²⁵⁸ Only after this are the three worthies and the ten [stages of] the noble one step-by-step cultivated and realized.²⁵⁹ If one practices without having awakened, it is not true practice. (Indeed, if it is not a practice that is in the true stream, there is no way to conform to truth. How could there be a practice to cultivate truth that does not itself arise from truth? Therefore, the sutra says that, without having heard this dharma, one will never realize truth, even if one practices the six perfections and the myriad practices for many eons.)²⁶⁰

Some say: “One all-at-once awakens and all-at-once practices.” This refers to those whose extra-high intellectual faculties (because their abilities are superior, they awaken) and joyful desire (because their desire is superior, they practice) are both superior. They hear once and have a thousand awakenings; they obtain the great dharani.²⁶¹ In one moment [there is] non-arising, the limit between before and after being cut off. ([In terms of] cutting off hindrances, this is like cutting a piece of silk; a myriad silk threads are all-at-once severed. [In terms of] cultivating attributes, this is like dyeing a piece of silk; a myriad of silk threads all-at-once takes on the color. Heze [Shenhui] said: “Having seen the substance of no mindfulness, one does not pursue the arising of things.”²⁶² He also said: “If for a single moment one is in conjunction with the original nature, eighty thousand perfection practices will at one time come into effect.”)²⁶³ The triple karma [of body, speech, and mind] of this person [of extra-high intellectual faculties] shines alone as something other people cannot reach. (The Jingang sanmei [jing] says: “The mind of voidness is immobile and endowed with the perfections.”²⁶⁴ The Lotus says: “The eyes and ears [given to you] at birth by your father and mother see through the three thousand worlds, etc.”)²⁶⁵ If we talk about this [variant] according to phenomenal manifestations [in the world], it is like the type [of Chan] of the Great Master Nuitou Yong.²⁶⁶ In this gate [of all-at-once awakening and all-at-once practice] there are two meanings [to awakening]. If one relies on awakening to practice, it is [intellectual] understanding awakening, but, if one relies on practice to awaken, it is [direct] realization awakening.

However, all of the above [variants] are propounded only from the perspective of the present life. If one infers from a distance about past lives, then it is just step-by-step with no all-at-once. What we see today as all-at-once has arisen through the step-by-step perfuming of many past lives.

Some say: “In the dharma there is neither all-at-once nor step-by-step; all-at-once and step-by-step lie in the dispositions [of beings].”²⁶⁷ Truly, this is correct. There is no concreteness to the words [“all-at-once” and “step-by-step”]; they have always just referred to dispositions. Who ever said that they are dharma substance? There are this many gates to the meanings of all-at-once and step-by-step, and every gate has meaning. This is not a case of forcing strained interpretations.²⁶⁸ How much more so for the Lanka Descent’s four step-by-step [similes] and four all-at-once [similes]!²⁶⁹ (The principles [of that sutra] are of the step-by-step practice and all-at-once awakening type.)

I still have not dared to speak of the complexities involved here. Recently I have come into frequent contact with discussants who just use the words “all-at-once” and “step-by step” without making any distinctions: that according to the teachings, there is the all-at-once and step-by-step of the rite of transforming [beings] and the all-at-once and step-by-step of responding to [beings of the highest] disposition; and that, according to people, there is the all-at-once and step-by-step of instructional devices, the all-at-once and step-by-step of ability for awakening, and the all-at-once and step-by-step of willpower for practice. These discussants just say: “To first all-at-once awaken and afterwards step-by-step practice seems to be contradictory.” But how can those who desire to remove doubt not see that the sun rises all-at-once, but the frost melts step-by-step; that a child is born all-at-once (possessing four limbs and six senses), but its will is established step-by-step (muscles, character,²⁷⁰ and the art of conduct are all perfected step-by-step); that when a fierce wind all-at-once ceases, the waves stop step-by-step; and that intellectual brightness comes into being all-at-once, whereas ritual and music are learned step-by-step. (It is like a highborn son or grandson who, when young, falls into dissipation and becomes a servant. In future lives he is unaware of his aristocratic lineage, but, at some point, he is able to visit²⁷¹ his noble father and mother. On that day he is completely an aristocrat, but the traces of his actions and his course of conduct cannot be all-at-once changed, and so he must step-by-step train.) This [all-at-once intellectual understanding awakening followed by step-by-step practice followed by direct realization awakening] we know to be the most essential of the aspects of all-at-once and step-by-step.

I originally envisioned a work (the Chan Prolegomenon) that would merely lay out the three teachings and three Chan axioms, the ten connections between Chan and the sutras, etc., but, in view of the variety and breadth of the available Chan literature, I decided to assemble the Chan writings and relevant sutra passages into a new basket (the Chan Canon). Such a basket will serve as a gate to all aspects of the path.

47. Although my original intention with this work was just to present the Chan explanations [that is, the three teachings and three corresponding Chan axioms, ten reasons why Chan is connected to the sutras and treatises, ten differences between the voidness axiom and the nature axiom, the chart, etc.], in view of the fact that Bodhidharma’s one [mind] axiom²⁷² is the pervasive substance of the buddha dharma and the [lines of verses] related by the [Chan] houses are so different from each other, I have now collected [all these Chan writings and relevant sutra passages] into one basket.²⁷³ Gathered together [these materials] will bring completeness to principle and phenomena and fulfill from beginning to end the gates to awakening, understanding, practice, and realization. Therefore, in presenting them [that is, the Chan explanations] it is necessary to give an exhaustive account of the ideas [behind them] and to make the bloodlines continuous, the roots and branches in the [correct] order. If one wishes to see the sequence of root and branches, one must first investigate thoroughly the above three types of all-at-once and step-by step sermons.²⁷⁴

From what root does the dharma discussed in the teachings come forth? Where is it now? Also, one must look up to view the various sermons of the Buddha [and ask] what event lies behind the original intention of this teaching. Then the entire great storehouse of sutras, from beginning to end, from root to branches, will at one time all of a sudden become clear. Moreover, as to the thorough investigation of where the dharma of the teachings comes from, originally it emanates from the substance of the one true mind of the World-honored-one, revolving until it reaches the ears of the people of this time, the eyes of the people of the present time. The principles [of the teachings] it speaks of also just emanate following conditions [from] the substance of the one true mind that both common persons and noble ones are grounded in,²⁷⁵ revolving to penetrate everywhere, penetrating to the center of the bodies of the minds of all sentient beings. If each just in his own mind quiets thoughts and does thinking practice [dhyana] according to principle, then just so [will this true mind] be revealed. (The Huayan says: “If just so you do thinking practice, just so it will be revealed.”)²⁷⁶

The intention of the Buddha was to show Knowing-seeing to all beings and have them awaken. The Huayan Sutra, delivered at the site of the enlightenment, proclaims the dharma sphere (the third teaching in my schema). Then, for beings of lesser faculties, sutras concerning the four truths, twelvefold origination by dependence, and the six perfections were delivered (the first teaching). Subsequently the Buddha spoke the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras (the second teaching). The Lotus and Nirvana, as the pinnacle of the step-by-step teaching, are no different in depth from the all-at-once Huayan.

48. Next, view the original intention of the Buddha’s sermons in the sutras. The World-honored-one himself [in the Lotus Sutra] says: “As to my original intention, I appeared in the world only for the sake of the one great task. The one great task is my desire to enable sentient beings to open buddha Knowing-seeing … entering on the path of buddha Knowing-seeing. Therefore, everything I do is always for the sake of the one task. I just show buddha Knowing-seeing to all sentient beings and make them awaken…. There is no second or third vehicle [of hearers and private buddhas]. The dharmas of all the buddhas of the ten directions and the three times are like this. Even though [the buddhas] have employed immeasurable and innumerable teaching devices and all sorts of metaphorical language in order to speak dharma to sentient beings, every one of these dharmas has been the one buddha vehicle.”²⁷⁷

[In the Huayan Sutra he says:] “Therefore, under the tree of awakening I first attained perfect awakening and everywhere saw all sentient beings attaining perfect awakening, up to and including everywhere I saw all sentient beings in complete nirvana.”²⁷⁸ (The “Chapter on the Arrangement [of the World Protectors]” of the Huayan says: “The Buddha was at the awakening site in the state of Magadha when he first attained perfect awakening. The ground was hard, as if made of diamond. The tree of awakening was tall and broad, inspiring in its majesty.”²⁷⁹ The “Chapter on the Arising [of the Tathagatas]” says: “When the Tathagata attained perfect awakening, everywhere he saw sentient beings, etc.”²⁸⁰ This is an exact quotation for the passage [above].)

[In the Buddha-in-Embryo Sutra he says:] “Everywhere I saw that all sentient beings, within the depravities of passion, hatred, and stupidity, possessed the wisdom of the Tathagata’s body, eternally free of impurities and endowed with all qualities and characteristics”²⁸¹ (text of the Buddha-in-Embryo Sutra).

[In the Huayan Sutra he says:] “There is not one sentient being who does not possess the wisdom of the Tathagata. It is just because of thought of the unreal and grasping that they cannot achieve realization of it. I desire to teach them the path of the noble ones, which will make them eternally free of thought of the unreal. Within their own bodies they will come to see the broad, great wisdom of the Tathagata, which is no different from me.”²⁸² (The text of the Huayan’s “Chapter on the Arising [of the Tathagatas].” I have merely changed the word “should [dang]” to the word “desire [yu]” in order to make the passage smoother. Also, the Lotus says: “My original vow was to enable all sentient beings to be no different from me.”)²⁸³

Thus, for the sake of these sentient beings, at the awakening site, in accordance with (falling tone) the Great Expanded Dharma Sphere [= Huayan Sutra], he announced the causation flower of the myriad practices by which the original nature is adorned, bringing to perfection the buddha fruit of myriad qualities: “Some, having planted good roots in past eons just as I have done, found me in the sea of eons. They were drawn to me by the four articles of attraction”²⁸⁴ (also the text of the “Chapter on the Arrangement”).

When they first saw my body (the body of Vairocana in the [lion’s] sport concentration) and heard my sermon (the above Huayan sermon), then they all believed, received, and entered into the wisdom of the Tathagata…. at the Jeta Grove [in Śrāvastī] I entered the lion’s sport concentration, and the great multitude all realized the dharma sphere, except those who had earlier practiced and trained in the Hinayana²⁸⁵ (The Buddha, at the Lotus assembly, said that in the past, at the Huayan assembly, five-hundred arhats [had acted] as if they were deaf and blind.²⁸⁶ They had neither seen the buddha realm nor heard the dharma of perfect fusion. [Those who had earlier practiced and trained in the Hinayana are] these [arhats]. Next, he said: “I will now enable them to hear this sutra and enter into buddha wisdom.”²⁸⁷ [Those who had earlier practiced and trained in the Hinayana] are those who, exactly forty years later, in the Lotus assembly, all received a prediction.)²⁸⁸ and those who had sunk into the waters of passion and love. (Also, the “Chapter on the Arising [of the Tathagatas]” says: “There are only two places where the wisdom of the Tathagata cannot create and extend benefit. These are [the followers] of the two vehicles [of hearers and private buddhas] who have fallen into the broad, deep pit of the unconditioned and those sentient beings who have destroyed their good roots and lack ability. They have sunk into the great sea of false views, passion, and desire. Nevertheless, [the Buddha] never deserted even these.”²⁸⁹ Comment: Those who are spoken of in the Huayan as having trained in the Hinayana, nevertheless, in the Lotus assembly received a prediction [of future buddhahood]. Even though they were not present at this [Lotus] assembly, [the Buddha] remembered them and gave them the prediction. This is what is meant by “never deserted.”)

[In the Lotus Sutra he says:] “The karmic roots of such sentient beings are dark and dull; they are attached to pleasure and blinded by stupidity, and it is difficult for them to cross to liberation. For three weeks I pondered this state of affairs: If I just praise the buddha vehicle to them, they will sink into suffering and be critical and unbelieving. For this they will speedily enter bad rebirth paths. If I teach the Hinayana to even one person, I will fall into being close-fisted and greedy. This is an impossible situation. It is impossible to put into effect an advance or a retreat. Thinking on the power of the teaching devices practiced by past buddhas, I remembered that all past buddhas had used the Hinayana to entice and only later enabled them to enter the ultimate one vehicle. Therefore, concerning the path I have now apprehended, I also should speak of three vehicles. While I was in such a state of pondering, the buddhas of the ten directions appeared, and the voice of [the god] Brahma consoled me: ‘Wonderful, Śākyamuni! You are the supreme teacher of the path. You have apprehended this unexcelled dharma, and, following all the buddhas, you will use the power of teaching devices.’ Having heard this consoling voice, in accordance with the intention of all the buddhas, I therefore began my way to Benares, where I turned the dharma wheel of the four truths, crossing over [to nirvana] five persons, including Kaundinya.”²⁹⁰

[In the Lotus Sutra he says:] “I step-by-step [went on to speak of the four truths] at up to a myriad places (like a sheep cart). Also, I spoke of the twelvefold origination by dependence to those who sought to become private buddhas (like a deer cart). I spoke of the six perfections to those who sought the Mahayana.”²⁹¹ (Like an ox cart. All these above correspond to the first teaching of cryptic meaning that relies on the nature to speak of characteristics. All of the above three carts stand outside the gate pointing into the house. They are one by one like the three vehicles of the provisional teaching, etc.) “Meanwhile I spoke the exceedingly deep perfection of wisdom. It rinsed clean the above arhats, advancing them to the status of small bodhisattvas. (This corresponds to the second teaching of cryptic meaning that eradicates characteristics to reveal the nature.) Step-by-step I saw their faculties ripen, and, subsequently, at Vulture Peak, [the site of the Lotus Sutra], I showed them the Knowing-seeing of the Tathagata and gave every one of them predictions of unexcelled, perfect awakening. (The ultimate one vehicle that is like a white ox-cart in the middle of a crossroads.²⁹² As to the differences between the oxcart Mahayana of the provisional teaching and the white ox-cart one vehicle of the real teaching, more that thirty sutras and treatises [of the third teaching] all have illuminating passages.) I openly showed the sameness of the dharma body of the three vehicles and entrance into the path of the one vehicle….”

[The Nirvana Sutra says:] “As I was about to extinguish and cross over [to nirvana] between the pair of śāla trees outside the town of Kuśinagara [the site of the Nirvana Sutra,] giving out a great lion’s roar, I revealed the eternally abiding dharma and spoke explicitly: ‘All sentient beings possess the buddha nature. Whatever has mind will certainly become a buddha. Nirvana is ultimately permanence, joy, self, and purity. All are enabled to dwell peacefully in the secret store house.’”²⁹³ (The Lotus gathers in the three vehicles, until the Nirvana Sutra gathers in all [sentient beings] in the six [rebirth] paths. This is because bringing the provisional into the real must be step-by step.)

[These two sutras] are no different from the lion’s sport [concentration] of the ocean assembly of the Huayan with the great assembly all-at-once [attaining] realization. (The Lotus and the Nirvana are the pinnacle within the step-by-step teaching and are no different in depth from the all-at-once teaching of the Huayan and others. They are all the third teaching that openly shows that the true mind is the nature.)

[The Fo yijiao jing says:] “Those whom I was to cross over [to nirvana] have already been crossed over. Those who have not yet attained crossing over have already created the karmic conditions for attaining crossing over.”²⁹⁴

Therefore, between the pair of śāla trees, I entered the great concentration of calm and returned to the root, to the source. Together with all the buddhas of the ten directions and three times, I eternally abide in the dharma sphere, which is forever calm and forever luminous.

I ask only that the reader match up the above sutra quotations with the three teachings and three Chan axioms. My basic assumption is that the teachings serve as legitimizing precedents for the Chan axioms.

49. Critique: The above three sheets [of the previous section] consist entirely of the Buddha’s own words as recorded in the sutras. I just jotted down [the appropriate passages,] and so I could not avoid adding or subtracting or changing two or three words at the points where [the passages] connect. (The one and a half lines that describe the Huayan site²⁹⁵ are the only ones that reveal the Buddha’s intention in terms of the sutra’s theme and are not the original words of the Buddha.) I request that [the reader] take these [passages] in which the Buddha himself relates his original intention to make distinctions among the previous three types of teachings and [Chan] axioms. How can anyone say that the provisional and the real are one and the same type? How can anyone say that the beginning and the end [that is, the Huayan Sutra at the beginning of the Buddha’s teaching career and the Nirvana Sutra at the end] are two dharmas? The Chan axioms are modeled on the teachings.²⁹⁶ Who would say this is not so? Indeed, my desire to bring [Chan and the teachings] together is grounded in this. Who has heard these words and still not rid himself of doubts? If [anyone] still clings to delusion, I cannot repeat myself.

The apparent contradiction between the Huayan’s proclamation that all beings are perfectly awakened and the Lotus’s talk about beings of dull faculties blinded by stupidity is conveniently explained in the Awakening of Faith. That text shows that the luminous dharma-sphere mind follows conditions of delusion to become beings undergoing rebirth and follows conditions of awakening to become buddhas. Even so, this one mind remains unchanging and indestructible. The one mind has two aspects, real and unreal, while those two aspects each have two further aspects. The real is subdivided into the immutable and the conditioned, the unreal into the void and the phenomenal. Because the real is immutable, the unreal is void (the gate of thusness). Because the real is conditioned, the unreal transmutes into phenomena (the gate of arising-disappearing). The two gates are identical.

50. Thus, in the quotations above [in section 48] the Buddha himself says: “I saw sentient beings attaining perfect awakening,” and he also says: “Their karmic roots are dull, and they are blinded by stupidity.”²⁹⁷ I would like to explain the apparent contradiction between these two passages. I fear that, with further quotations from buddha word [that is, the sutras], the texts will become intertwined [and hence too complicated]. From here onward I will begin to rely exclusively on [the Awakening of Faith of] the ancient patriarch Asvaghosa Bodhisattva.²⁹⁸ Clarifying both the delusion and the awakening of sentient-being mind, the root and branches, the beginning and end, he made everything reveal itself. He spontaneously showed that sentient beings who are identical to buddhas [dwell] miserably in rebirth process; that buddhas who are identical to sentient beings [dwell] calmly in nirvana; that habit energy that is identical to all-at-once awakening from moment to moment seizes objective supports; that all-at-once awakening that is identical to habit energy from thought to thought shines in the midst of awakening. Thus, we see that the contradictions in buddha word are not contradictions at all. In other words, the common persons of the six rebirth paths and the worthies and noble ones of the three vehicles are all rooted in the luminous, pure, one dharma-sphere mind, intrinsically awakened and shining like a treasure; everything is perfect and full and is never called either buddha or sentient being. It is just because this mind is luminous, excellent, free, and possesses no nature of its own that, following conditions of delusion and awakening, it creates karma, receives suffering, and consequently is called sentient being; and that it cultivates the path, realizes the real, and consequently is called a buddha. Also, even though it follows conditions, because it never loses its own nature, it is never unreal, never changes, is indestructible, is just the one mind, and consequently is called thusness. Therefore, this one mind always possesses two gates, but no gap between them has ever existed. Within only the conditioned gate, common person and noble one are not really existent. In other words, because from the outset there has been no awakening, we say that the depravities are beginningless. If one practices and realizes, the depravities will be cut off, and so we say that they have an end. However, in reality, there exists neither a separate initial awakening nor non-awakening. They are, ultimately, the same. Therefore, this one mind, by its very nature, has two principles, real and unreal, while these two principles each have two further principles. Therefore, [the one mind] always possesses the two gates of thusness and arising-disappearing. As to the two [further] principles of each of these, the real has the two principles of immutable and conditioned, while the unreal has the two principles of devoid of substance and phenomenal. This means that, because the real is immutable, the unreal from the outset is devoid of substance. This is the gate of thusness. Because the real is conditioned, unreal consciousness becomes phenomena. This is the gate of arising-disappearing. Because arising-disappearing is identical to thusness, the sutras employ such phrases as “neither buddha nor sentient beings,” “from the outset nirvana,” “characterized by constant calm.” Also, because thusness is identical to arising-disappearing, a sutra says: “The flow of the dharma body through the five rebirth paths is called sentient beings.”²⁹⁹

The storehouse consciousness found in common persons has two aspects, awakening and non-awakening. The latter is the root of beings caught up in the rebirth process. There are ten stages to this process of non-awakening. Below each stage I will append a running dream analogy in which a wealthy aristocrat falls asleep in his home and forgets who he is.

51. We have come to know that delusion, the common person, and awakening, the noble one, lie within the arising-disappearing gate. Within this gate, let me now clarify the two characteristics, the common person and the noble one. When the real and the unreal are in concord, neither one nor different, it is called the storehouse consciousness.³⁰⁰ This consciousness, present in common persons, from the outset has always possessed two principles, awakening and non-awakening. Awakening is the root of the worthies and noble ones of the three vehicles, while non-awakening is the root of the common persons in the six rebirth paths. I will now show that there are altogether ten levels to the process of being a common person. (I will now provide a dream analogy beneath each stage so that they can be read together.)

   1. All sentient beings possess the true mind of original awakening. (A wealthy nobleman, endowed with both virtue and wisdom, is inside his own house.)

   2. Having not yet met a good friend who opens up and shows [the path], inevitably from the outset there is non-awakening. (The nobleman falls asleep in his own house and forgets who he is. The treatise says: “Grounded in original awakening there is non-awakening.”)³⁰¹

   3. Thoughts arise as a natural consequence of non-awakening. (There is dreaming as a natural consequence of sleep. The treatise says: “Grounded in non-awakening, three types of characteristics are produced.”³⁰² This is the first.)

   4. Because thoughts have arisen, there is the characteristic of a seer [that is, a subject] (thought in a dream).

   5. Because there is a seer, an organ body and world falsely appear. (In his dream [the nobleman] sees himself in another place in [a condition of] poverty and suffering, and he sees all sorts of likable and dislikable phenomenal sense objects.)

   6. Unaware that these [that is, the organ body and world] have arisen from his own thoughts, he grasps them as real existents. This is called dharma grasping. (While in the dream he inevitably grasps the things that he sees in the dream as real things.)

   7. Because he has grasped dharmas as really [existent entities], just at that very moment he sees a distinction between himself and others. This is called self-grasping. (While dreaming he inevitably believes that the person who is in another place in [a condition of] poverty and suffering is his own person.)

   8  Because he clings to [the notion that] these four elements [of earth, water, fire, and air] constitute his own body, naturally [he falls into] desiring and loving sense objects that accord with his feelings, wanting to adorn the self, while [he falls into] hating and despising those sense objects that are contrary to his feelings, fearing that they will harm and vex his self. Stupid feelings make all sorts of calculations and comparisons. (This is the three poisons [of passion; hatred; and stupidity]. In his dream he also desires agreeable events in the other place and hates disagreeable events.)

   9. From this [emergence of the three poisons comes] the creation of good and bad karma. (In his dream he either steals and murders or practices kindness and spreads virtue.)

 10. Once karma comes into existence, it is impossible to escape. It is like the shadow trailing the form or the echo trailing the voice. Therefore, he receives a form of karma-bondage suffering in [one of] the six rebirth paths. (If in his dream he steals and murders, then he is apprehended, put into a wooden collar, and sent to prison. On the other hand, if he practices kindness and obtains rewards, he is recommended for office and takes up his position.)

The above ten levels rise step-by-step. The bloodline is continuous, its mode of operation very clear. If [the reader] will merely view mind in compliance with principle and study it, the sequence will be clearly visible.

There are also ten levels to the practice and direct realization-awakening that follow intellectual understanding-awakening. The ten levels of the awakening sequence begin at the end of the delusion sequence and work backwards, overturning the ten levels of delusion. However, the first level of awakening corresponds to both the first and second of delusion, while the tenth of awakening corresponds to the first of delusion. Of the remaining eight of awakening, each in reverse order successively flips over one of the eight of delusion, that is, delusion’s level ten to level three. At level one causes subsume effects; at level ten effects penetrate to the source of causes.

52. I will next explain the practice and realization that come after awakening. This too has ten levels. Overturn the unreal, and it is the real.³⁰³ This is because they are not separate dharmas. However, the principles of delusion and awakening are separate. The flow and counterflow sequences [that is, the delusion stages and the awakening stages] are different. The former is to be deluded about the real and pursue the unreal. It arises in sequence from the fine and subtle [characteristics of root ignorance], revolving toward the coarse [characteristics of branch ignorance].³⁰⁴ This [awakening sequence] is to awaken to the unreal and return to the real. Proceeding from the coarse and heavy, in opposite sequence it cuts off [each successive level of delusion], revolving toward the subtle. The wisdom necessary to overturn [each successive stage of delusion] proceeds from shallow to deep. The coarse hindrances are easily eliminated because shallow wisdom can overturn them. The subtle depravities are more difficult to get rid of, because only deep wisdom can cut them off. Therefore, these ten [of the awakening sequence] begin at the end [of the delusion sequence] and work backward, overturning and eradicating the former ten. It is just that there is a small discrepancy involving the first level of this [awakening sequence] and the first two levels of the former [sequence of delusion]. Below I will show this. The ten levels [of awakening] are:

   1. It is said there is a sentient being who meets a good friend. [The good friend] opens up and shows the true mind of original awakening spoken of above. He has heard of it in a past life, and thus, in the present life, is capable of awakening and understanding that (Had he not heard of it in a past birth, upon hearing of it in the present, he would certainly be unbelieving or would believe without understanding. Even though everyone has the buddha nature, some in their present [life] are unbelieving, and some are unawakened. This [refers to] this type.) the four elements are non-self; that the five aggregates are all void.³⁰⁵ He [comes to] believe in his own thusness and the qualities of the three jewels [of buddha, dharma, and monastic community]. (Because he believes one’s own mind has never been unreal, has never changed, we speak of thusness. Therefore, the treatise says: “When the self believes in its own nature, one knows that mind movement is unreal and that the [external] sense objects [spoken of] previously do not exist.”³⁰⁶ It also says: “The faith mind is of four types. The first is faith in the root, joyfully being mindful of thusness. The second is faith that the buddhas have immeasurable qualities, constantly being mindful of approaching to worship them. The third is faith that the dharma has great benefit, constantly being mindful of practicing it. The fourth is faith that the community can cultivate the correct practices that are of benefit to self and others, constantly taking joy in approaching [the community].”³⁰⁷ Awakening to the first stage of the former [that is, the first stage of delusion, the true mind of original awakening,] and overturning the second stage of the former [that is, non-awakening] constitutes the first stage.)

   2. He produces compassion, wisdom, and the vow, resolving to realize awakening. (To produce a mind of compassion is to desire to cross over sentient beings [to nirvana]. To produce a mind of wisdom is to desire to attain complete understanding. To produce a mind of the vow is to desire to cultivate the ten thousand practices as a complement to compassion and wisdom.)

   3. To the best of his ability he practices the gates of giving, precepts, forbearance, striving, and stopping-viewing, which makes the roots of faith grow. (The treatise says: “There are five practices that can perfect this faith.”³⁰⁸ Because stopping and viewing have been combined into one practice, the six perfections become just five.)

   4. The great thought of awakening arises from here. (At this point the three minds [mentioned] above open up. The treatise says: “The minds that are produced by the perfection of faith are of three types. The first is straight mind, because it is correctly mindful of the dharma of thusness. The second is deep mind, because it takes joy in cultivating all good practices. The third is the mind of great compassion, because it desires to pluck all sentient beings out of suffering.”)³⁰⁹

   5. He realizes that in the dharma nature there is no mind of stinginess, etc.³¹⁰ (“Etc.” refers to passion, hatred, lethargy, distraction, and stupidity.)

   6. Flowing along, he practices the six perfections. By the power of concentration and wisdom (initial practice is called stopping and viewing; completed, it is called concentration and wisdom), self and dharmas are both done away with. (When one first raises the thought [of awakening], one has already, according to the principle of the teaching, discerned that the two graspings [that is, grasped and grasper] are void. Now, because of the power of concentration and wisdom, one views that one’s own awakening is void.) There is neither self nor other. (Realization that self is void is the fifth [stage].) It is eternally void and eternally like an illusion. (Realization that dharmas are void is the sixth [stage]. Form is not different from voidness; voidness is not different from form.³¹¹ Therefore, it is eternally void and eternally like an illusion.)

   7. There is mastery over forms, and everything is in fusion. (When deluded, one does not realize that [forms] evolve from one’s own mind, and therefore there is no mastery. Now, due to the knowledge of dual voidness [of self and dharmas], one comprehends this, and therefore there is fusion.)

   8. There is mastery over mind,³¹² and there is nothing that is not illuminated. (Earlier he had ceased to see sense objects existing separately outside mind. Sense objects are mind only. Therefore, there is mastery.)

   9. Full of teaching devices, in a moment he is in conjunction.³¹³ Aware of the first arising of mind, mind has nothing to be characterized as first, and one is divorced from subtle thoughts. Mind is then eternally abiding, awakened to the origin of delusion. It is called ultimate awakening. (From first raising the thought [of awakening], he cultivates no mindfulness. Arriving at this point he attains perfection. Because of perfection, he enters the buddha position.)

 10. The mind having no mindfulness, there is no separate original awakening.³¹⁴ From the outset it is sameness, a single awakening, and so it is mysteriously in the basic, true, pure mind source. Its responsive functions are [limitless like] grains of sand [of the Ganges]. It exhausts the limit of the future; it is the constantly abiding dharma sphere. Touch anywhere and you have penetrated it. We call it the honored one of great awakening. No buddha is different from another buddha. They are the original buddha and do not arise anew each time. Therefore, they see everywhere all sentient beings equally attaining perfect awakening.

Therefore, delusion and awakening each have ten levels, flow and counter-flow overturning each other. Its mode of operation is very apparent. The first level of this [awakening sequence] corresponds to the first and second levels of the former [sequence of delusion], while the tenth level of this corresponds to the first level of the former. Of the remaining eight levels [of the awakening sequence], each in reverse order [successively] overturns and eradicates [one of] the eight levels of the former [that run from level ten down to level three]. In the first level one awakens to the original awakening of the first level of the former, overturning the non-awakening of the second level of the former. Previously, non-awakening perverted original awakening, real and unreal contradicted each other, and so they opened into two levels. Now, having awakened, they mysteriously tally.³¹⁵ Mysteriously tallying, they are in accord with one another, and because there is no separate initial awakening, they are combined into one. Also, if we were to adhere [strictly] to the flow and counterflow sequences, the first level of this would correspond to and overturn the tenth level of the former. At present within the gate of all-at-once awakening, by principle one must directly recognize the original substance, overturning the original delusion of the former, and so [the first level of awakening] corresponds to levels one and two of the former. (This is the discrepancy I mentioned earlier.) In the second level because of fear of suffering in the rebirth process one produces the three minds [that is, mind of compassion, mind of wisdom, and mind of the vow] to cross oneself and others over [to nirvana]. Therefore, it corresponds to the tenth level of the former, which is rebirth in the six paths. The third level, the cultivation of the five practices, overturns the ninth level of the former, the creation of karma. In the fourth level the three minds open up, overturning the eighth level of the former, the three poisons [of passion, hatred, and stupidity]. (The mind of compassion overturns hatred; the mind of wisdom overturns stupidity; and the mind of the vow overturns passion.)³¹⁶ The fifth level, realization that self is void, overturns the seventh level of the former, self-grasping. The sixth level, realization that dharmas are void, overturns the sixth level of the former, dharma-grasping. The seventh level, mastery over forms, overturns the fifth level of the former, sense objects. The eighth level, mastery over mind, overturns the fourth level of the former, a seer [or subject]. The ninth level, divorcing from thoughts, overturns the third level of the former, the arising of thoughts. Therefore, at the tenth level, becoming a buddha, “buddha” is not a separate substance; it is merely initial awakening, overturning the second level of the former, non-awakening, and combining with the first level of the former, original awakening. Initial and original are non-dual. They are just manifestations of thusness and are called dharma body and great awakening. Therefore, [level ten, becoming a buddha,] and initial awakening are not two substances. The discrepancy between the flow and counterflow sequences is right here. At [level] one, causes suffuse the sea of effects; at [level] ten, effects penetrate to the source of causes.³¹⁷ The Nirvana Sutra says: “The two, raising the thought [of awakening] and the ultimate, are not separate.”³¹⁸ The Huayan Sutra says: “When one first raises the thought [of awakening], one attains unexcelled, perfect awakening.”³¹⁹ [These sutras are speaking of] precisely this idea.

In order to aid the reader I have supplied a chart based upon the Awakening of Faith. At the top the chart reads “Sentient-Being Mind.” From there it separates into two paths, with red script indicating pure dharmas and black script impure dharmas.

53. The flow and counterflow [sequences] correspond to each other. The former and latter illuminate each other, and the principles of dharma are clear. Nevertheless, I am still beset by the fear that my text will not be immediately intelligible; that the intention will not be clear all-at-once; that the head and the tail will be cut off from each other; and that [the reader] will not get an overall view. I will now provide a chart that sketches out these things in order to make the common-person and noble-one sequences and the axioms of the great storehouse of sutras appear at a single time in the mind mirror [of the reader]. At the top-center position of this chart there are three words: “Sentient-Being Mind.” Reading downward from these three words, [the chart] separates into two paths. Red writing indicates pure, excellent dharmas; black writing indicates stained, impure dharmas. Investigate each item of the bloodline in detail. Red is for the labels³²⁰ that represent the ten-staged sequence of pure dharmas. Black is for the labels that represent the ten-staged sequence of impure dharmas. These labels are from the text of the root treatise [the Awakening of Faith], while the [captions under the labels in] small script is discussion of principles³²¹ in the text of the [root] treatise.

The chart of Sentient-Being Mind:

54.                                                                                          FIGURE 2.1

Examine yourself closely in light of the chart. The ten levels of non-awakening are like the progression of a disease. The ten levels of awakening are like a course of therapy directed by a medical doctor.

55. Examine in detail what has been related above and carefully view this chart. Compare self and others and think upon the noble ones and worthies. Are you the same as they or different? Are you in the unreal or the real? What gate am I in? What stage is a buddha in? Am I of a different substance [from a buddha]? Do we have a common source? Then spontaneously forego attachment to [yourself as] a common person, but do not pretend to [occupy] the stage of the noble ones; do not sink into the love view; do not be modest about the buddha mind.

NOTES TO FIGURE 2.1

1. I would like to thank William S. Jacobs for his kind assistance in drawing this chart. Zongmi has provided captions below certain labels in this chart. I have placed my translations of the captions in the following notes. Caption for “Sentient-Being Mind”: “The sutra says: The one real object means sentient-being mind…. Mind is of two types. One is true mind, and one is mind of the unreal.” The treatise says: “The term ‘dharma’ means ‘sentient-being mind.’ This mind includes all mundane and supramundane dharmas. Grounded in this mind, the Mahayana principles are revealed.” The sutra quotation is from the apocryphal sutra Zhancha shan’e yebao jing, T 17:907a4–b15. In this apocryphal sutra Earth Womb Bodhisattva for the sake of sentient beings during the end time of the dharma relieves them of the calamities of karmic obstacles and proclaims the deep meaning of the buddha dharma. He teaches the dharma of divining karmic recompense through using the form of a wooden wheel, a heterodox idea, and next teaches two types of viewing. The second fascicle shows similarities to the themes of the Dasheng qixin lun (Daizōkyō, 246–47). The treatise quotation here is Dasheng qixin lun, T 32:575c21–23; all treatise quotations in the chart are from this treatise.

2. Caption: “The treatise says: ‘This mind from the outset is intrinsically pure’ [T 32:577c2–3]. It is in a free and easy manner void and calm, complete Knowing awareness. It is like a virtuous, wise, and stern nobleman lying asleep in a hall of his own house. It is also like a tree stump in an empty field [that may seem like a ghost but is in reality void].”

3. Caption: “All dharmas are differentiated only on the basis of thought of the unreal. If one is free of thoughts, then no sense object has any characteristic” [T 32:576a9–10].

4. Caption: “The thusness of mind is the one dharma sphere, the totality of characteristics, the substance of the dharma gate. The mind nature neither arises nor disappears [T 32:576a8–9]. Also: “The mind nature is constantly in no mindfulness and so is called immutable” [T 32:577c5].

5. Caption: “Therefore, all dharmas from the outset are free of the characteristics of speech, free of the characteristics of the written word, free of the characteristics of objective supports of mind, ultimately sameness, without change, and indestructible. Because it is just one mind, we call it thusness” [T 32:576a10–13].

6. Caption: “From the outset one is not in conjunction with impure dharmas. This means that, free of all differentiated characteristics, there will be no thought of the unreal, and therefore one will not be in conjunction with discrimination of the unreal” [T 32:576a27–b4].

7. Caption: “[It is non-void] because there is the self substance endowed with the qualities of the nature free of the outflows [T 32:576a26]. Also: ‘Because the revealed dharma substance is void and without the unreal, it is the one mind. It is constantly abiding and immutable, perfectly endowed with purity and excellence’” [T 32:576b5–6].

8. Caption: “The treatise says: ‘Because of lack of comprehension of the one dharma sphere, suddenly thoughts arise. This is called ignorance’ [T 32:577c5–7]. Made impure by ignorance, there is this impure mind. Certainly, the organ body and sense objects in confusion [entail] discrimination and the pondering of objective supports. It is like a person who is lying asleep. In his dream he sees himself as poor and mean and in all sort of strange circumstances, and [he undergoes] all sorts of sorrows and joys. Also, it is like a delusive tree stump that is taken for the ghost of a person. These are not the same as a person that is not sleeping and a stump that is not delusive.”

9. Caption: “The markings above this point demonstrate the ranks of the chart. ‘Sentient-Being Mind’ is the buddha nature in bondage; the root treatise [Dasheng qixin lun] and the sutras view this as the buddha-in-embryo. And it is the gate of the principles. The [two sets of] two principles below, real and unreal, are the fundamental principles of the gate of thusness and the storehouse consciousness. The two pathways within the [‘Sentient-Being] Mind’ label are the nature (thusness) and characteristics (ālaya), the impure (all dharmas within the non-awakening rank) and the pure (all dharmas within awakening), that is, the dharma substance. Even at the time of delusion the pure, excellent functions without the outflows are merely hidden and not extinguished. Therefore, thusness and original awakening exist within the consciousnesses with the outflows. (The fact that all sentient beings possess the buddha nature is this principle.) At the time of awakening the contents of the consciousnesses with outflows most certainly do not exist. Therefore, the consciousness characteristics, thought of the unreal, karmic fruits, etc., of ignorance do not exist in the gate of thusness. Only the pure, excellent functions alone exist within the mind of thusness. It is called the buddha.”

10. In the stages of non-awakening below, the Hongzhi 6 (1493) Korean edition, which is identical to the 1576 Korean edition used by Kamata, has only stage no. 2 to stage no. 9. See Yanagida Seizan, ed., Kōrai-bon, Zengaku sōsho 2 (Kyoto: Chūbun shuppansha, 1974), 145. Kamata slightly revises this, making jue (Awakening) into stage no. 1 (probably influenced by Ui, 140, and T 48:410a, both of which make stage no. 1 benjue [Original awakening], thus creating ten steps rather than the nine of the Korean editions. I have made the first stage “[1. Original awakening].” Adding a no. 1 stage coincides with the text in section 52, which states: “Awakening to the first stage of the former [that is, the first stage of delusion, the true mind of original awakening] and overturning the second stage of the former [that is, non-awakening] constitutes the first stage.” Each of the nine stages from no. 2 to no. 10 has a caption:

   2. Non-awakening: “Delusion about the real. Not knowing the dharma of thusness as it really is.”

   3. Thoughts arise: “Because of non-awakening, thoughts naturally arise.”

   4. Seer [subject] arises: “Because of thoughts, there is the characteristic of a seer.”

   5. Sense objects appear: “Because of a seer, an organ body and world falsely appear.”

   6. Grasping of dharmas: “Because one does not know that sense objects arise from one’s own mind, one grasps them as really existent.”

   7. Grasping of self: “Because one grasps dharmas as definitely [existent], one sees a difference between ‘my own’ and ‘other’ and calculates that ‘my own’ is a self.”

   8. Passion, hatred, and stupidity: “Because of grasping of a self, one is greedy for sense objects that accord with one’s feelings, hostile toward sense objects that go against one’s feelings, and out of stupidity one makes calculations.”

   9. Creation of karma: “Because of bondage by the three poisons [of passion, hatred, and stupidity], there is the creation of good and bad karma.”

 10. Receiving recompense: “Karma having come into being, it is impossible to escape, and so one receives the suffering of karmic bondage in one of the six rebirth paths. Because the body that one has received is not something that can be severed, there is no antidote stage.”

11. Caption: “Having attained realization, in reality, [original awakening] is no different from initial awakening. This is because arising-disappearing from the outset is sameness, and there is but one identical awakening. As to cutting off lack of comprehension of the one dharma sphere aspect, from the first raising of the thought one trains in cutting off until arrival at the tathagata stage, where one ultimately divorces from the stage of divorcing from thoughts. In a moment of conjunction, one is aware of the first arising of mind, but mind has no characteristic first. One is divorced from subtle thoughts, and mind obtains an eternal abidingness” [T 32:576c2–4 and 576b24–26].

12. Caption: “Due to the perfuming [laid down by] hearing [dharma] in past lives one in the present encounters a good friend who shows that the mind of awakening from the outset is pure and awareness of the unreal from the outset void.”

13. Caption: “(1) Have faith in the root and joyfully be mindful of thusness; (2) have faith in the qualities of the buddhas and constantly be mindful of worshipping them; (3) have faith in the benefits of the dharma and constantly be mindful of practicing it; and (4) have faith in the correct practice of the community and constantly be mindful of approaching [the community].”

14. Caption: “Produce compassion, wisdom, and the vow, resolving to seize awakening.” In this and the previous caption Zongmi succinctly clarifies just what constitutes sudden awakening in his sudden awakening-gradual practice formula. Sudden awakening (dunwu) is a combination of faith (xin = śraddhā) and the mental attitude that aspires to buddhahood or bodhisattvahood (putixin = bodhicitta). Thus, Zongmi glosses a Chan term with classical Buddhist terminology.

15. Caption: “Dwell in quietude and correct thought and stop all sense objects; be correctly mindful of mind only and reflect [guancha] that there is nothing in the world for which one should be joyful. Be aware that prior thoughts have produced bad things; be capable of stopping later thoughts to make sure that they do not arise.”

16. Caption: “(1) Giving according to one’s lot; (2) precepts against the ten evils; if one has left home, then the practice of austerities; (3) forbearance concerning the depravities of others; (4) zeal without laziness; and (5) stopping and viewing.”

17. Caption: “The previous three minds of compassion, wisdom, and the vow now open up. The straight mind is correctly mindful of thusness; the deep mind takes joy in practicing good actions; and the mind of compassion desires to pluck out the sufferings of others” [T 32:580c6–9]. The Hongzhi 6 (1493) Korean edition (Yanagida, Kōrai-bon, 145) has “straight mind [zhixin],” which Kamata has transcribed as “true mind [zhenxin].”

18. This is the nature of the nature axiom (xingzong) or dharma-nature axiom (faxing zong). Caption: “In the principle of thusness profound understanding manifests itself, and one practices divorcing from characteristics. Because one knows that the nature substance is without stinginess, without impurity, free of hatred, free of laziness, and constantly bright, one accordingly practices giving, precepts, forbearance, striving, dhyana, and wisdom.” Zongmi’s gradual practice (jianxiu) is a combination of reflection, that is, thorough consideration or contemplation (guancha), plus the five practices of the Awakening of Faith and the six paramitas.

19. Caption: “At the stage of mind freedom one does not see really existent external sense objects, and therefore in the midst of everything one is free. There is nothing that is not illuminated. At the stage of freedom in forms one has already realized that sense objects are the manifestations of one’s own mind, and therefore within all forms one is in the fusion of freedom. Utilizing the power of concentration and wisdom, self and dharmas are both lost. (Because dharmas have no [self] nature, they are constantly void and constantly [like] an illusion. Because one is free of self grasping, there is neither self nor other.)”

20. Caption: “As to the functioning of thusness, the buddhas from the outset dwell in the stage of [karmic] causes. They practice the six perfections, transform sentient beings, and through great teaching devices and wisdom, eliminate ignorance. They see the original dharma body and spontaneously possess inconceivable karmic functions, penetrating everywhere. Sentient beings obtain benefit according to what they have seen and heard. Because it is grounded in what the minds of ordinary people and [the followers of] the two vehicles [hearers and private buddhas] see, it is called the magical-creation body. Because they do not know that [the magical-creation body is] a manifestation of the active consciousnesses, they see it [as if it is] coming from without and seize on the regularity of its forms. This is because they are not [yet] capable of exhaustive Knowing” [T 32:579b9–23].

21. Caption: “Relying on the bodhisattvas, from [the point at which] one first produces the thought [of awakening] up to and including what the mind of the tenth stage sees is called the enjoyment body. This body has immeasurable forms; its forms have immeasurable characteristics; and its characteristics have immeasurable good [marks]. The ground where one abides [due to karmic] recompense also has an immeasurable variety of ornamentation. There is no limit to what is revealed. It is inexhaustible. Because it is in all cases brought to perfection by the perfuming of actions free of the outflows and the perfuming of original awakening, and because it is endowed with immeasurable joyful characteristics, it is called the enjoyment body” [T 32:579b23-c1].

22. Caption: “Because the characteristics of the self substance of thusness have such aspects as the ray of light of great wisdom, the pervasive illumination of the dharma sphere, true Knowing, and permanency, joy, self, and purity, it is endowed with such inconceivable buddha dharmas that surpass the [number of] grains of sand in the Ganges. It is perfectly endowed and lacks for nothing and is called the dharma body of the Tathagata” [T 32:579a12–20].

Thus, the first ten levels [the non-awakening sequence] are: the dharma body medically treated by the sutras (the first level); an explanation of how the disease of the depravities arises (the next three levels); a step-by-step increase (dharma grasping and self grasping), up to and including arrival at the coarse [forms of ignorance] (the three poisons and the creation of karma); and the extinction of wisdom (receiving of retribution).

The second ten levels [the awakening sequence] are: taking the medicine of belief in the dharma body (the first three levels); curing the disease (the opening up of the thought of awakening); taking principle to correct dharmas (the six perfections); a step-by-step decrease (six through nine), up to and including arrival at full recovery (becoming a buddha).

It is like a person (the dharma body in bondage) who possesses all his faculties (qualities as numberless as the grains of sand of the Ganges) and is strong (constantly abiding, immutable, incapable of being rendered impure by the unreal). [He possesses] many talents (excellent functions as numberless as the grains of sand of the Ganges). Suddenly he contracts a disease (beginningless ignorance) that step-by-step increases (the next seven levels), up to and including expiration (the tenth level). Only his heart is warm (the no-outflows seeds of wisdom in the storehouse consciousness).³²²

Suddenly along comes a good doctor (the great, good friend), who knows that there is still life in him (sees that in the common person “mind is buddha”). [The doctor] has him swallow a divine prescription. (When they first hear [the dharma, people] are unbelieving, but after hearing it a few more times, they are not indifferent.) Suddenly he revives ([intellectual] understanding awakening). At first, he cannot yet speak (when people are newly awakened, their answers to the questions and objections of others do not yet hit the bull’s-eye) up to and including the stepby-step [return of his] speech (explaining and expounding the dharma). Step-by-step he becomes capable of traveling (the ten stages and the ten perfections).³²³ He arrives directly at a full recovery (becoming a buddha). He can once again practice all the skills he has mastered (the superknowledges, the rays of light, omniscience).

Compare the dharma one by one. How can there be any doubts that are not removed? Then you will know that the reason why sentient beings are incapable of functioning with the superknowledges is just that they are afflicted by the disease of karmic consciousness and the depravities. It is not that they do not yet possess the excellent qualities in the dharma body.

Recently, a stupid person objected: Once you have all-at-once awakened, you are a buddha. Why do you not give off rays of light?

[Answer:] How does this differ from commanding a sick man who is not yet fully recovered to resume his normal employment? Thus, the methodology of a worldly doctor is always first to feel the pulse. If he does not ascertain the severity of the disease, how can he know which prescription is correct? If he does not gauge the depth of the healing process, how can he talk about taking principle and applying it to a specific case? Dharma doctors are also like this.

Practitioners who have all-at-once awakened must to the very end engage in step-by-step practice. These days some people toss around Chan sayings about “no mind” in order to make light of learning, but they do not look into themselves to see if, in fact, they have attained this “no mind.” Many of them have not.

56. Therefore, I have now related in detail the delusion sequence of ten levels and the awakening sequence of ten levels. I have taken the sutras and treatises to bring together the three types [of teachings running from] shallow to deep. [With the chart and the canonical texts plus the threefold schema] facing each other, everything will be illuminated. It will be like laying your finger on your palm.³²⁴ Those who encourage trainees are themselves good at quieting mind. Practice is entrusted to the one gate of according with [the varying dispositions of beings]. Understanding must be comprehension of the unobstructed. And one must not consider the biased and limited, for then there will be confusion with nothing to serve as a guide. You must³²⁵ clearly investigate the stream and its source and make a distinction between beans and barley.³²⁶ You have to see differences in sameness and sameness in differences. Though a thousand variegated images are in a mirror, do not grasp some as beautiful and others as ugly. Though the mirror is uniformly bright, do not shun [the many colors of the images, such as] green and yellow. Even though a thousand utensils [are made out of] one piece of gold without a break between them, the thousand reflections [on the surface of] one pearl are from the outset unmixed. Establishing will and girding mind are equal [in their limitless scope] to the realm of space, but warding off of what is wrong and investigating thoughts lie within the smallest increment. When one sees a color or hears a sound, one must ponder whether or not it is like a reflection or an echo. With bodily movements and incipient thoughts, one must consider whether or not they are for the sake of the buddha dharma. With delicious food and coarse food, one must think over whether or not one is free of likes and dislikes. When it is hot or cool or freezing or warm, one must gaze into oneself concerning whether or not one is foregoing both avoidance and seeking out. [This pondering should proceed] up to and including profit, weakness, slander, glory, praise, criticism, suffering, and joy.³²⁷ Do a reverse illumination on yourself concerning these matters one by one. In fact, have you gotten the idea or not? If, when you consider, [it is apparent that] you have not yet gotten it in this way, then forms do not yet seem to be shadows, and sounds do not yet seem to be echoes. Suppose [someone] in fact all-at-once awakens; to the end he must step-by-step practice.³²⁸ Do not be like the poor man who, till the end of his days, counted the treasures of others, while he himself did not have a halfpenny. The Great Teacher, the sixth patriarch [Huineng] said: “The Buddha spoke of all dharmas in order to cross over all minds [to nirvana]; I lack all mind, so what need have I of all dharmas?”³²⁹ At the present time people just utilize such sayings to belittle learning [qing yu tingxue]. None of them ever gazes at whether or not he himself in fact has no mind. No mind means that the eight winds cannot move [mind]. Suppose habit energy is not yet exhausted and a thought of anger happens to arise; at that moment have no mind to strike or abuse the other. If a thought of greed happens to arise, at that moment have no mind that prays for acquiring [the coveted object]. Should one see another prosper and become famous, at that moment, have no mind that envies him or seeks to outdo him. At all times in oneself have no mind that is sorrowful or hungry or cold; have no mind that fears being despised by others, up to and including all these sorts of things. We can even call it “lacking all mind.” This is called cultivating the path. If you have obtained [the state wherein] toward agreeable and disagreeable sense objects you have no passion or hatred or desire or dislike at all, this is called obtaining the path. Do a reverse illumination on each of these. If you have a disease, apply an antidote. If you have no disease, there is no [need for] a prescription.

Question: Passion, hatred, etc., are void, and if we call it “lacking all mind,” what is the need for applying an antidote?

Answer: If you were now suddenly to contract a severe disease with pain and suffering, the fact that pain and suffering are void [could] be called “no disease,” and what need would you have for an antidote, the prescription? You must come to know that passion and hatred are permanently void, but they have the potentiality to produce karma. Karma is also void, but it has the potentiality to bring on suffering. Suffering is also void—[it is] just³³⁰ that it is difficult to bear. Therefore, in the previous chart [I divided the unreal into] devoid of substance and phenomenal. (It is like the fact that [at night] the tree stump [misperceived] as a ghost is completely void—[it is] just that it can startle people, [causing them to] run and fall to the ground, cracking open their foreheads.) You may hold that karma is void—[it is] just that in voidness karma is produced. You must come to know that the pain of burning in a hell is also void—[it is] just that in voidness there is pain. You might say: “Bear the pain!” But supposing right now someone burned you with fire and slit you with a knife. Why would you be unable to bear it? In viewing trainees on the path these days, [I must say that,] upon hearing even a word that contradicts their feelings, they cannot bear it. Would they consent to bear up under burning or slitting? (Nine out of ten of them are like this.)

Question: The Chan Prolegomenon alone is a sufficient guide for Chan practice. Why should it be necessary for anyone to go on and read the Chan literature collected in the Chan Canon?

Answer: Since the karmic diseases of beings are virtually infinite in number and variety, the Chan Canon is a useful repository of teaching devices to treat these diseases. The Chan Prolegomenon is like the headrope by which a fishing net, the Chan Canon, is hauled up from the sea with its catch. Those training alone do not need to study the whole of the latter; only those intending to become teaching masters must do so.

57. Question: Above you have presented the three types of teachings and the three axioms of Chan, the ten reasons why [Chan is connected to the sutras and the treatises], the ten differences [between the voidness axiom and the nature axiom], and the ten stages each of wheel turning and practice-realization. Of both principle and phenomena, there are none you have not exhausted. For investigating and testing the taste, [your Chan Prolegomenon] is sufficient to [enable one to pursue] mind cultivation. What need is there to go further and read the canonical sutras and Chan verses [that you have collected in the voluminous Chan Canon]?³³¹

Answer: The depravity diseases of sentient beings are each different and are equal in number to the grains of sand of the Ganges. How could there be only eighty thousand?³³² The teaching devices of the noble ones have innumerable gates. The nature and characteristics of the one mind have innumerable aspects. What is related above is just a holding up of the headrope [of a fishing net, that is, something that raises the essential points of a matter or a rule that ties everything together]. Even though in making this summary I have not gone beyond the things presented, if you use it, [you will experience] a thousand changes and ten thousand powers. The former wise ones and later eminent ones each have their strong points. The ancient noble ones and present-day worthies each have their beneficial [points]. Therefore, I have collected the good points of all the [Chan] houses and recorded the followers of their lineages.³³³ There are those that [make me] uneasy, but even those have not been altered.³³⁴ Only in those [passages] where there was a hiatus in meaning have I added a note to perfect it. Only in those where the phrasing was cumbersome have I added a note to elucidate it. Furthermore, at the head [of the section] on each [Chan] house I have added as a note a critique of its overall idea.³³⁵ The intention behind raising the headrope [of a fishing net] lies in spreading out the net. One should not discard the net and save the headrope. (The Huayan says: “Spread out the great teaching net, strain out the men and gods [as if they were] fish, and place them on the [other] shore of nirvana.”)³³⁶ The intention behind holding up the garment collar lies in putting on the garment. You should not throw down the garment and keep the collar. If I had just made a [Chan] collection [that is, a Chan Canon] without presenting [the three types of teachings, three axioms of Chan, ten reasons why Chan is connected to the sutras and treatises, etc., that is, without presenting a Chan Prolegomenon as a preface], it would have been like a net without a headrope. If I had just made a presentation [that is, just presented the Chan Prolegomenon as a preface] without the collection [of the Chan Canon], it would have been like a headrope without a net. Ponder the whole of it, but do not trouble yourself if there should be difficulties. Thus, those who conquer self and perfect themselves independently do not need to examine [the Chan Canon] from beginning to end. [But] if you wish to become a teacher of men, then you simply must comprehend the whole [of the Chan Canon]. When scholars who love learning open this [Chan Canon] and read it, they will certainly have to examine it in detail point by point. [They will have to ask themselves:] Which [Chan] axiom and which teaching [does such and such] principle [belong to]? If one uses [this Chan Canon] without mistakes, the whole thing will become excellent medicine. If one uses it in the wrong fashion, everything will become a return to the hateful. (The reading [of the word for “hateful”] is “wu.”)

I experienced some difficulty in deciding how to order the Chan Canon. Eventually I settled on the following order: the one axiom of Bodhidharma, the mind axiom; the literary productions of all the Chan houses; and, finally, excerpts from the sutras and treatises that “seal” the Chan axioms. The canonical excerpts total a little over ten rolls (out of the one hundred or so of the Chan Canon). May students and the patriarchs find my efforts in this work acceptable. If they do so, then I vow to hasten to meet the assembly of the buddhas.

58. Nevertheless, it was not easy to decide in what order I should arrange the collection [the Chan Canon]. According to Teaching Devices for Entering the Path,³³⁷ I should have first opened up original mind; next, penetrated both principle and phenomena; next, praised the surpassing excellence of the dharma and castigated worldly faults; next, encouraged practice; and, finally, illustrated the step-by-step gate of teaching devices to be used as antidotes. I wanted to arrange it according to this [schema], but then I realized that the zhao and mu temples³³⁸ of the [Chan] masters and their disciples would be upside down. As a companion [a Chan Canon arranged in this fashion] would not be a convenience. I refer to the fact that, after the sixth generation [of Huineng], most [masters of Chan] related the one reality, while the [first-generation] Great Teacher Bodhidharma, on the contrary, taught the four practices.³³⁹ It is not permissible to put the grandsons in the head section and the grandfather [Bodhidharma] in the final chapter. For several days I pondered this matter. I had wanted to place those outside the branches of the Bodhidharma lineage at the head [of the Chan Canon], but, in the case of the Chan that those houses taught and the principles they related, there have been no sanctioned masters for generations. They are not the constant path that pervades every region.

Some [of these Chan masters outside of the Bodhidharma fold] proceeded from the merit of cultivation and refinement to realization and then took that to show people. (Gunabhadra, Huichou,³⁴⁰ and Wolun³⁴¹ were of this type.) Some relied on listening to readings of the teachings of the sutras to produce understanding [that is, gave lectures on the sutras] and took that to embrace the multitude. (Chan Master Huiwen³⁴² was of this type.) Some corrected natures by sending down their traces, by the hour chastising the multitude for its delusions. (Zhi Gong,³⁴³ Great Master Fu,³⁴⁴ and Wang Fanzhi³⁴⁵ were of this type.) Some protected the dharma by their high moral conduct, becoming model monks for the entire country. (Yuan Gong³⁴⁶ of Mt. Lu was of this type.) As to the literary productions of these [non-Bodhidharma Chan masters], some are odes to the great path; some are laments for the deluded common person; some just explain principles [of the teachings]; and some just exhort practice. Some catch all the teachings, but, in the end, do not point south [that is, are not useful as a guide]. Some praise one gate in a biased manner and do not penetrate all phenomena. Although all of them are shadows and echoes of the Chan gate, reeds in the wind instrument [sheng huang]³⁴⁷ of the buddha dharma, if one were to rely exclusively on [any one of] them as the dharma of Śākyamuni, it would not do. (The teaching of Tiantai [Zhiyi]³⁴⁸ is broad and great. Even though it constitutes a comprehensive treatment, it also is not contained in this [Chan Canon] collection.)

Only the Bodhidharma lineage transmits by mind. Mind is the dharma source. What dharma is not included [in mind]? The Chan practice cultivated [in the Bodhidharma lineage] seems to be limited to one gate [of the five gates of the Awakening of Faith],³⁴⁹ but the mind axiom transmitted [in the Bodhidharma lineage in fact] penetrates the three instructions [of precepts, concentration, and wisdom]. Examine once again its first [patriarchs]. (The first were Kāśyapa and Ānanda.)³⁵⁰ They personally received [the mind transmission] from Śākyamuni. This was continued generation after generation, each [generation] passing it on in a face-to-face [encounter]. After thirty-seven generations, (It is said: “The western countries have had twenty-eight patriarchs.” They are enumerated in order in the preface to the Sixth Patriarch Transmission)³⁵¹ the patriarchate fell to me. (I sometimes think how fortunate I am to be a thirty-eighth generation successor of Śākyamuni.)

Therefore, as to the order of the present [Chan Canon] collection: First, I record Bodhidharma’s one axiom;³⁵² next come the miscellaneous writings of the [Chan] houses; and, lastly, I have copied out the noble teachings that seal the [Chan] axioms.³⁵³ As for the placement of the noble teachings last, it is like a worldly lawsuit document in which the clerk’s judgment comes first and the esteemed official’s judgment last.³⁵⁴ (Since I have copied out only those passages [of the sutras and treatises] that strike the bull’s-eye, [they amount to little] more than ten rolls.)³⁵⁵ Because within the various [Chan] lineages I have taken the chronological sequence of those of high and low status, the zhao and mu [ancestral temples],³⁵⁶ as my order, all-at-once and step-by-step within those will be mixed up. Principle and practice will intermingle, and, working in tandem, will loosen bonds. Spontaneously, mind will have no place to abide. (The Vimalakīrti says: “To covet the taste of dhyana is the bondage of the bodhisattva. To be born through [skill in] teaching devices is the release of the bodhisattva.”³⁵⁷ Further, the Yoga says that, when compassion and wisdom increase, together they release bonds.)³⁵⁸ Having completed the path of awakening and cultivation, the activities of release are thereupon of perfect penetration.

Next, as a bystander inspect all of the [Chan] houses in order to broaden your knowledge. Lastly, hold up and read the noble teachings in order to seal the whole of it. Relying on this, how could the true dharma not abide for a long time? Though in my ambition I have sought nothing, for my thought of protecting the dharma, may divine principle not bend me down. For my efforts in continuing the [Chan] succession, may the former patriarchs not cast me aside. For my kindness in dharma giving, may junior trainees not be ungrateful to me. If they are not ungrateful, and I am neither bent down nor cast aside, then I vow to hasten, together with those of the same karmic conditions, to meet the assembly of all the buddhas.

PROLEGOMENON TO THE COLLECTION OF EXPRESSIONS OF THE CHAN SOURCE SECOND ROLL ENDS