Detailed Instructions pt 1

[Vajradhara]

Namaste all,

i post to sustain my own understanding. any benefit derived thereof is due to your own good karma ripening. IMAHO!

If we are to discuss the conditions of this great matter, although it is originally inherent in everyone, actually complete in each individual, lacking nothing at all, nevertheless for beginningless ages the seeds of the root of attachment, subjective ideas and emotional thinking have become so deeply ingrained as habits that they block and cover the subtle light and thwart its real true function. Living totally within the shadows of subjective ideas of body, mind, and the world, you therefore flow in the waves of birth and death.

When Buddhas and Zen masters appear in the world, everything they say, all their various techniques, expounding Dharma and the teachings, are without exception tools for breaking attachments according to the situation; basically, there is no real doctrine to give people. So-called cultivation is just clearing away the reflections of force of habit and false thinking, according to ones own mind; insofar as effort is applied to this, it is called cultivation.

If false thinking suddenly stops for an instant, and you see through your own mind, the vastness of its original perfect light, the purity of its original state, no thing in it at all, this is called awakening. There is nothing to be awakened or cultivated other than this mind.

Because the substance of mind is like a mirror, the reflections of subjective thinking climbing around on objects are just dust and dirt on the true mind. That is why it is said, "The forms of thought are dust, the feelings of consciousness are dirt." If false thoughts are melted down, the original substance itself appears: it is just like polishing a mirror - when the dirt is cleaned off, clarity appears.

It is naturally like this, but we humans have accumulated eons of ingrained habits that have become hard and fast; the roots of self-love are deep and hard to pull out.

In the present life, if we have the fortune to know for ourselves what is intrinsic through the inner influence of inherent insight outwardly inspired by good friends, so we aspire to understand and shed birth and death, to tear out the very root of immeasureable ages of birth and death all at once, how could this be a small matter?

If you are not a person of great power and capacity who can bear it alone and plunge right in with a single word, it is truly the most difficult thing there is. When an ancient said that it is like opposing ten thousand people all alone, he wasn't fooling!

On the whole, in this final age of the teaching, there are many practiconers, but few who succeed in genuine appreciation and application; there are many who waste power and few who attain power. Why is this? Generally speaking, because they have not taken a direct approach; they just use their subjective feelings to evaluate things based on previously learned opinions, intellectual interpetations and verbal expressions. Suppressing random thoughts, they work at the gateway of shadows of light. First they take mysterious words and marvelous sayings of ancient people and store them in their chests, making them out to be real doctrines, taking them for their own knowledge and vision, not knowing that it is utterly useless in this context.

That is precisely what is meant by the saying "Reliance on others for understanding blocks the gateway of ones' own awakening."

Now, if you are ready to do the work, first you must set aside intellecutal interpetations and just work precisely on one thought, certain faith in the original purity of your own mind. Completely untrammled, round and bright, it fills the universe. Originally there is no body, mind, world, and no false ideas or emotional thinking. This one thought, itself orginally unconceived, manifests all sorts of objects, all illusory, unreal - they are only reflections appearing in the true mind.

 

[Vajradhara]

Re: Detailed Instructions pt 2

continued...

When you see through them in this way, then in the emergence and disappearance of wandering thoughts you can see for sure at a glance where thoughts arise and where they pass away. Focus your effort in this way and no matter what wandering thought may occur, the moment you confront them they shatter, melt and crumble away. Do not go along with them, and don't continue them. This is what Yung-chia meant when he said "It is essential to cut off the continuing mind."

After all, the insubstantial drifting mind is fundamentally rootless; under no circumstances should you make it out to be something real lying in your chest. The moment it appears, repudiate it; once you repudiate it, then it vanishes. Don't try to suppress it, for you will go along with it, making it like a gourd bobbing on water.

You just need to set body, mind and the world to one side, and bring up this one thought, simply and precisely, like a precious sword across the sky - whether Buddha or devil, you cut them off equally, like cutting through tangled threads, pushing them to the side to move ahead - so-called direct, forward mindfulness of reality as such. Straightforward mindfulness involves no thought; if you can observe without thought, you can be said to be heading for the wisdom of Buddhas.

The very first inspiration to practice requires certain faith in teaching of mind alone. Buddha said the triple world is only mind, myriad things are only consciousness. So many Buddhist teachings only explain this saying, clearly enabling every individual to believe in it. The two main roads of the ordinary mortal and teh sage are simply the two routes of confusion and awakening within ones' own mind. All good and bad causes and effects are totally ungraspable outside this mind.

Our subtle essence is natural; originally it is not in the domain of realization, so how can it get lost? Now, when we say it is lost, that just means one does not understand there is originally not a single thing in ones' own mind, and one has not realized the orginal emptiness of body, mind and world; being obstructed by them, it is said to be lost. Operating only with the fluctuating mind thinking subjectively, taking that for truth, people therefore take all sorts of illusions associated with objects of the six senses to be realites.

Now when you aspire to go against the current and attain transcendence, it is totally essential to shed your previous knowledge and understanding completely. No knowledge or technique is applicable - it is just a matter of seeing right through your own present body, mind and world: all are illusory reflections of ephemeral light manifested in your own mind, like images in a mirror, like the moon reflected in water.

Look upon all sounds as like wind passing through the trees; look upon all objects as like clouds floating through the sky, all of them illusory, unreal things. Not only are external things like this; your own minds' subjective notions and emotional thinking, the seeds of the roots of all attachments, forces of habit, and psychological afflictions, are empty, ephemeral, illusory, unreal.

Looking deeply in this way, whenever a thought arises be sure to check where its' going. Don't let it go too easily, and don't be deceived or deluded by it. When you work in this way, you are approaching true attentiveness. Other than this, if you spread out mysteries and marvels, knowledge and views, techniques and methods to linger over, you are completely out of touch.

So, the fact is that explaining how to do the work is also just an expedient. It's like the use of military force: weapons, being instruments of ill-omen, are only to be used when it cannot be avoided. Similarly, when the ancients spoke of bringing up sayings to study Zen, it was all because they could not help but do so.

Although there are many kung-an (koan), the saying "Find out who is really invoking the name of Buddha." is the one with which it is most easy to attain power in the midst of worldly toils. Whilst it is easy to attain power with it, nevertheless, it is like a piece of tile used to knock on a door; in the end it is to be discarded, though not without putting it to use once.

To employ this to do work right now, you must trust it completely, rely on it steadily, and persevere on it continuously. Be sure not to vacillate; it won't do to be like this today and like that tomorrow, worrying you won't get enlightened, or disliking this as not mysterious or marvelous - these thoughts and calculations are all obstructions. It is necessary to explain them away first, so doubts and worries do not arise on specific occassions.

 

[Vajradhara]

Re: Detailed Instructions pt 3

continued....

When you have done the work to the point where you have attained some power, and external objects do not enter in, but there are afflictions inside the mind arsing arbitrarily in unruly ways - it may be desireous thoughts coming out, or psychological turmoil, or hangups of all sorts, tiring your mind and sapping your energy, beyond your control - these are seeds of forces of habit, stored in your repository consciousness over incalcuable ages, now coming out under the pressure of the work.

It is absolutely necessary that this point be distinctly clear. You must see through these phenomena to begin with and pass right through them. Be sure not to be trapped by them, be sure not to fiddle around with them and be sure not to take them for realities. Just clarify your spirit, exert yourself, and pluck up your courage: take up the saying you are looking into, and use it to chase away these thoughts when they arise. There are originally no such things in us - ask where they come from, and ultimately what they are; be sure to see what they come down to.

Keep on pushing like this and you'll simply make ghosts and spirits weep; you'll obliterate tracks and traces. Strive to drive them all into extinction, not leaving any at all. Apply effort in this way, and you'll naturally see some good news. The moment you push all the way through, all errant thoughts will fall away at once, like the shadows of flowers in the sky dropping, like the wave of a mirrage settling.

Once you've gone through this, you'll gain immeasureable ease and comfort, immeasurable freedom. This is the beginner's empowerment; it is not considered a mysterious marvel.

Now, when you reach ease and freedom, still do not become joyful. If you become joyful, the demon of joy will stick to your mind and add yet another kind of obstacle.

If you come to forces of habit and seeds of the root of attachment that are so firmly rooted deep in the unconscious that a saying can exert no effect on them, then look into where the minds' perception cannot reach.

If you can't do anything yourself, then perform prostrations before Buddhas, recite scriptures and practice repentence. You also need to inwardly hold the essence of sacred mantras, relying on the esteric symbols of Buddha to dispel these obstacles. Becuase the esoteric mantras are all impressions of the indestrutible mind of Buddhs, when we use them it is like weilding a diamond club, smashing everything into atomic particles. The secret of the mind seal of the Buddhas and Zen masters since high antiquity is not beyond this. Therefore it is said that the Buddhas of the ten directions hold the essence of mantra, attaining unexcelled universal true enlightenment.

In the schools of Zen masters, it was feared that this would fall into common emotion, so it was kept secret and not spoken of; it's not that it wasn't used. This should be done on a regular basis; over a long period of time it becomes pure and mature, and very much power is gained. Just refrain from wanting or seeking spiritual experiences.

~Han-shan.


Han-shans name means "Cold Mountain". he lived during the late Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 and is widely considered to be the foremost Buddhist monk of his era.

i've posted some of his poetry around the site, for which he's quite well known.

interested readers are directed to this URL:
http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/mahayana-writings/heart-sutra-commentary.htm

to read his commentary on the Prajaparamita Sutra (Heart Sutra).