Keep Alert and Differentiate between Genuine and False Luminous Emptiness

 

Section Three: Get Along Well with Your Spirit

 

Keep Alert and Differentiate between Genuine and False Luminous Emptiness

 

      We can neither change the past nor predict the future, and even the present is outside our control, for the present does not stay. Therefore, don’t be obsessed with any deluded thought, and don’t let it lead you by the nose. Don’t get happy or sad about a deluded thought and don’t become greedy or resentful about it. The arising and ceasing of a deluded thought is like drawing a picture with your finger on the surface of the water. Once your finger is off the water, that which you have drawn disappears immediately, and the surface becomes even again.

 

In correct mindfulness, brightness and emptiness are inseparable: There is emptiness in brightness and brightness in emptiness; brightness is emptiness and emptiness brightness. When you are having tea, try to enter into an insightful state and savor the tea with that brightness, leaving everything else alone. When someone is angry with you, try to sympathize with and observe him with that brightness and keep your mind just as it is. Keep the state of emptiness unchanged, and you can use brightness to act according to conditions. Just stably abide in your original enlightenment which is both empty and bright and free from false thought. Try to stabilize that state and keep your true mind. Under no circumstances should you lose your true mind. Keep it whether you are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. However, don’t turn this remembering and maintaining into another kind of fetters. In the course of time, you will be well-trained and able to achieve brightness and ultimate liberation.

 

According to tradition, only the luminous emptiness after one sees one’s own nature can be counted as real wisdom. It is essentially different from pure visualization or mindfulness. I once said, visualization is still focusing attention, while luminous brightness is something that changes one’s life fundamentally rather than a perception or mental orientation. It is something innate in one’s life, the manifestation of the intrinsic luminous wisdom.

 

Seeing one’s own nature, essentially, is the ultimate wisdom that arises from no obstruction both in principle and in phenomena. The ignorant may have a perception similar to that of seeing one’s own nature, but it is not that.

 

A friend of mine once told me that I have complicated something that is simple. However, it’s not true. In Buddhist practice, there is both teaching and realization. Teaching refers to understanding principle, while realization refers to understanding phenomena and non-obstruction among phenomena. The understanding of principle means knowing theories and wisdom. It is absurd to substitute a certain perception for the infinite wisdom contained in the Buddhist canon. We need to know that not only humans but all animals may have a certain perception in a certain moment; however, they can’t, with their ignorance, see their own nature and attain buddhahood. Without the understanding of principle, there can be no ultimate realization.

 

A true practitioner must not only understand the fundamental principles, but give rise to wisdom and apply its marvelous functions to daily life. Those ignorant people who refuse wisdom, even if they may have perceptions similar to that of luminous brightness, are still far away from the genuine luminous brightness.

 

The “luminous brightness” achieved by a worldling by focusing attention is a mood; the luminous brightness realized by a sage is true wisdom. These two are vastly different, just as a sage who has entered into meditative concentration is essentially different from a hibernating wild boar. It is not a difference between a human and an animal, but a difference in mental state. For a sage in deep meditation, his wisdom is not asleep and it can give rise to many marvelous functions. On the other hand, a hibernating wild boar is in a dull, unconscious state and is aware of nothing.

 

Someone once asked, “When I stare blankly I think of nothing. Is this enlightenment of my mind?” Of course not. That is just a sort of dullness. You see your own nature only when the pure true mind shows up and when you can recognize and perceive it. The “nature” here means “self-nature,” which is a wisdom that transcends the discriminating mind.

 

The discriminating mind is a type of deluded mind. If the deluded mind is the waves on the sea surface, the true mind is the peaceful sea without any waves or ripples. The true mind and the deluded mind are the two manifestations of a single essence. Different people have different deluded thoughts. Some people want to make more money, and others want to get recognition from the whole world. No matter what kind of deluded thoughts you have, they are bound to become obstacles to the recognition and retaining of your true mind, just as you can’t see a clear and boundless sky when it is covered with dark clouds.

 

However, even if deluded thoughts arise, it doesn’t matter. When a thought arises, just let it be. It will be all right if you don’t follow it. When a leaf falls off the tree and carried away by the wind, you should not follow it. When it comes, let it come; when it goes, let it go. Eventually, the leaf will rot and become nutrition of the earth.

 

As the Diamond Sutra has it, “The past mind is unobtainable, the future mind is unobtainable, the present mind is unobtainable.” To be unobtainable means not to be attached. We can neither change the past nor predict the future, and even the present is outside our control, for the present does not stay. Therefore, don’t be obsessed with any deluded thought, and don’t let it lead you by the nose. Don’t get happy or sad about a deluded thought and don’t become greedy or resentful about it. The arising and ceasing of a deluded thought is like drawing a picture with your finger on the surface of the water. Once your finger is off the water, that which you have drawn disappears immediately, and the surface becomes even again. Likewise, although you have deluded thoughts, as long as you are not obsessed with them and not carried away by them, they will disappear naturally.

 

If we train ourselves this way in our daily life, we will have the opportunity to enter into luminous emptiness and realize the five kinds of cognition: nondiscriminating cognition, intelligence as the fundamental nature of the universe, cognition with unrestricted activity, marvelous observing cognition, and cognition of the equality of all things. You need to remind yourself at any time to keep the state of your true mind and be alert and relaxed at once – just like lying in the open country with your face toward the empty sky, feeling as if your body had disappeared.

 

What is alertness, then? It refers to observing and experiencing. Observing means paying attention to your own mind and not letting it be carried away by phenomena. Experiencing is merging your own life into this enlightened state and never losing it, as you will never forget to breathe.

 

In the beginning, you are not in the habit of maintaining your true mind. It happens that you often lose it. But don’t worry, for as long as you have acquired an alertness, you will soon be able to regain that state. In the course of time, you will be merged into that enlightened state forever. Then, you should speak as little as possible and concentrate on savoring and experiencing, and gradually, you will be rid of attachment.

 

Though I have eaten rice for fifty years, I actually haven’t chewed a single grain; though I have written millions of characters, I actually haven’t written anything; though I have visited innumerable places, I actually haven’t taken a single step. I have experienced all mundane matters,  but my mind has always stayed in that clear and tranquil state, no different from that of a new-born baby. For all these activities – eating, writing, walking, and experiencing – are illuminated by the nature of emptiness, thus a manifestation of the true mind; they won’t become attachments or concerns and won’t leave any trace in your mind.

 

Enter into a state of tranquility, alertness, concentration, experiencing, and relaxation, merge your everyday life – walking, standing, sitting, and lying down – into that brightness, and gradually you will be enlightened, and then be liberated, thus escaping suffering and attaining happiness, and obtaining absolute freedom.

 

Notice

 

Translated by non-professional volunteers, there would be some inaccuracies in the translation. You are welcome to offer us some advice for emendation. Please feel free to contact us.We also look forward to you joining our voluntary translation team.

 

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第三辑：与灵性好好相处

 

保持警觉，区别真假明空

 

人不能改变过去，不能预知未来，就连当下也不在人的控制之内，因为每个当下都在不断成为过去，想留也留不住。所以，对于所有的妄念，你都不要执著它，不要让念头牵着你走。不要因为妄念而快乐或忧愁，也不要因为妄念而贪婪或仇恨。妄念的生灭，就像用手指在水面上作画，手指一离开水面，所画之物就马上消失了，水面也会顷刻恢复平静。

 

正念中的明和空是不分的，明中有空，空中有明，明也是空，空也是明。喝茶的时候，进入洞察状态，用那“明”去品尝茶味，别的都不要管。当别人发怒的时候，用那份“明”去体会他，觉察他，自己的心也要如如不动。空灵的状态不变，“明”可随缘示相。你就安住在这种无念、明空的本觉中间，让这种定境变得越来越稳固，一直保持真心”，任何时候都不要丢失这个真心，在行、住、坐、卧间守住它，但不要把这忆持变成另外一种枷锁。久而久之，你就会训练有素，证得光明，得到究竟解脱。

 

按照传统的说法，见性后的明空才是真正的智慧。这跟我们单纯的观想或是忆持有着本质的不同。我说过，观想仍是一种作意的东西，但真正的明空是究竟地改变了生命的，而不仅仅是一种觉受或是作意。它是生命中本有的东西，是本有智慧光明的显发。

 

真正的见性，是理上明白、遇事无碍时生起的一种究竟智慧，有些愚痴者可能会生起一种类似于见性的觉受，但那仍然不是见性。

 

曾有一位朋友说，我把一种可能简单的东西弄复杂了。但事实不是这样。修行有教和证，那“教”是道理上的明白，那“证”就是事上的明白，遇事无碍。道理上的明白，指的是明白理论与智慧。要是把三藏十二部如海般的智慧仅仅用某种觉受代替，那显然是十分荒唐的。要知道，不只人，任何动物都可能在某个瞬间生起一种觉受，但它们不可能在蒙昧状态下“见性成佛”。没有“教”上的明白，就不可能有“证”上的究竟。

 

真正的行者，必须既明白教理，又能生起智慧，更能在日常行为中生起妙用。任何拒绝智慧的愚痴者，哪怕他会生起那种类似明空的觉受，离真正的明空仍然很远。

 

凡夫作意的明空是一种情绪，圣者证到的明空才是真正的智慧。二者差别很大，正如入定的圣者和冬眠的野猪有着本质的不同。这本质的不同，并不是人与兽的区别，而是心灵状态的不同。入定的圣者，智慧没有沉睡，真心可以生起妙用；冬眠的野猪，却处于一种无意识的昏沉状态，啥也不知道。

 

有人曾经问过我，发呆的时候我什么都不想，那个算不算明心？当然不算，那只是一种昏沉。当你的清净真心出现，并且你可以认知、感觉到它的时候，才叫见性。这个“性”是“自性”的意思，是一种超越了分别心的智慧。

 

分别心是一种妄心，妄心就像平静大海翻起的波浪，而真心，便是那无波无纹的大海。真心与妄心是一体的两面。不同的人有不同的妄念，有的人想多赚点钱，有的人想得到全世界的认可。不管你有什么妄念，它们都一定会变成你明白、保任真心的障碍，正如乌云密布时，你看不见万里晴空一样。

 

不过，即使出现杂念也不要紧，念头来的时候你就让它来，只要不跟上它去就行。这就像一片树叶落下、被风吹走的时候，你不要跟着它跑，任它来者自来，去者自去，它终究会腐烂并且成为土地的养分。

 

《金刚经》说：“过去心不可得，未来心不可得，现在心不可得。”所谓“不可得”，就是不要执著。人不能改变过去，不能预知未来，就连当下也不在人的控制之内，因为每个当下都在不断成为过去，想留也留不住。所以，对于所有的妄念，你都不要执著它，不要让念头牵着你走。不要因为妄念而快乐或忧愁，也不要因为妄念而贪婪或仇恨。妄念的生灭，就像用手指在水面上作画，手指一离开水面，所画之物就马上消失了，水面也会顷刻恢复平静。同样道理，虽然你仍有杂念，但如果你不执著它，不在乎它，不跟着它走，它自然就会消失。

 

我们在日常生活中恒常地进行这种训练，就可能真正地契入明空，证得无分别智、法界体性智、成所作智、妙观察智、平等性智这五种智慧。任何时候，你都要提醒自己，保任真心的状态，应做到警觉且放松，要像躺在野外，面朝虚空，身体消失似的放松。

 

那么什么叫警觉？观察与体会就是警觉。关注自心，且不被外物牵引，这就是观察；让自己的生命也融入这份觉悟之中，不要丢掉它，就像你永远不会忘记呼吸一样，这就是体会。

 

刚开始的时候，你还没习惯保任真心，也许经常会丢，但不用着急，只要你有了一份警觉，很快就能重新回到那种状态当中。慢慢的，就会永远融入这份觉悟了。这时，你要少说话，一直专注于品味、体会，久而久之，就没有执著了。

 

吃五十年饭，却没嚼一粒米；写几百万字，却又没动一笔；走了千千万万的路，却没走一步；经历了所有的红尘历练，心灵却仍然处在那种朗然空寂之中，与赤子无异。因为这吃饭、写作、走路、经历，都在空性光明的朗照下，是真心的流露，不会形成执著和牵挂，不能在你的心里留下任何痕迹。

 

进入空寂、警觉、专注、体会、放松的状态，让自己行、住、坐、卧的一生都融入这种光明，慢慢的你就会开悟，进而解脱，就能够离苦得乐，获得一份绝对的自由。

 

声明：本文系文化志愿者试译，非专业人才翻译，错误定然不少，如出现疏漏及错误，敬请读者见谅。如有任何翻译上的建议及修正意见，欢迎及时与我们取得联系，我们会加以校对、修改，并希望有专业才能的朋友也能加入我们志愿者群体中来。

 

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