Chapter on Purifying Karmic Obstructions
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Scriptural Text: At that time Bodhisattva Purifier of Karmic Obstructions, in the midst of the great assembly, rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, circumambulated three times to the right, knelt with palms joined, and said to the Buddha:
“Great Compassionate World-Honored One, You have extensively explained to us such inconceivable matters, namely the forms of causal-ground practice of all Tathagatas, enabling this great assembly to behold what had never been seen before: the Guiding One’s diligent and arduous realms through kalpas as numerous as Ganges sands, and all those skillful functions as if within a single thought. We bodhisattvas deeply rejoice and feel consoled.
World-Honored One, if this awakened mind is originally pure in nature, then by what cause does defilement arise so that sentient beings remain deluded and cannot enter? We only pray the Tathagata will extensively awaken us to Dharma-nature, so this assembly and sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age may have an eye for the future path.”
After saying this, he prostrated with five points touching the ground and repeated this request three times.
Commentary: Main meaning: the bodhisattva asks the Buddha: if Perfect Enlightenment nature is already pure, from what does defilement arise, and why are beings deluded and unable to enter Perfect Enlightenment?
This resembles the Surangama question where Purna asks: why do beings give rise to delusion, conceal true mind, and sink in cyclic existence?
“Purifier of Karmic Obstructions Bodhisattva”: ancient teachers say, “If Buddha rises one foot, Mara rises ten.” Before practice, one follows afflictions and karmic obstructions and does not notice them. Once one begins genuine practice and moves against the current of affliction, countless inner obstructions become evident. These karmic-mental obstructions arise from the four marks: self, person, sentient being, and lifespan. Therefore this bodhisattva asks for methods to remove these mind-obstructions. The following chapter will discuss false teachers in more detail.
“Causal-ground practice” here refers to the three methods taught in the previous chapter: Shamatha, Samapatti, and Dhyana. Hearing these methods is like seeing all Tathagatas’ vast functions and long arduous cultivation compressed into one thought; thus it is called inconceivable.
“Tamer” means one who subdues and governs afflictive demon-armies, one of the Buddha’s ten titles.
“Dharma-nature” means the nature of all dharmas. Though dharmas are infinitely varied, they share one nature; thus it is another name for Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: Then the World-Honored One said to Bodhisattva Purifier of Karmic Obstructions:
“Excellent, excellent! Good man, you are able, for this great assembly and for sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age, to ask the Tathagata about such expedient means. Listen carefully now, and I shall explain for you.”
At that time Purifier of Karmic Obstructions Bodhisattva, together with the great assembly, joyfully accepted the teaching and listened in silence.
“Good man, all sentient beings since beginningless time have delusively grasped self, person, sentient being, and lifespan, taking these four inversions as their real self-essence. From this there arise the two realms of love and hate; upon a false basis they add another layer of falsity. These two delusions depend on each other and generate delusive karmic paths. Because of delusive karma, there is delusive perception of cyclic flow. Those who tire of cyclic flow then delusively perceive nirvana.”
Commentary: The Buddha first praises the question. Then He answers:
Because beings cling to four marks as real, this is first-level delusion. Then from this they generate love-hate toward agreeable-disagreeable conditions, a second-level delusion. These mutually reinforce each other and produce karmic flow.
Thus ordinary beings delusively see birth-death in six paths, and those of lesser vehicle weary of samsara then cling to nirvana as another delusive object.
Scriptural Text: “Because of this they cannot enter pure awakening. It is not awakening that rejects entrants. Wherever there is an entrant, that is not awakened entry. Therefore whether one stirs thought or stills thought, both return to delusion.”
Commentary: Lesser-vehicle quietism that clings to stillness is also not true entry. It is not Perfect Enlightenment refusing entry; it is the clinging mind that cannot enter.
Scriptural Text: “Why? Because beginningless primal ignorance has taken itself as lord. All beings are born without the wisdom-eye; body and mind equal-nature are all ignorance. It is like a person who cannot cut off his own life. Therefore know this: when one loves self, what accords with self is loved, what does not accord gives rise to hatred. Through love-hate, ignorance is nourished, and though they continue seeking the path, none is accomplished.”
Commentary: The Buddha further taught: those who are able to “enter” do not do so because Perfect Enlightenment-nature permits or approves their entry. Therefore, whether ordinary beings generate thoughts, or followers of the Two Vehicles suppress thoughts, both are still forms of ignorant delusion and have no real relation to Perfect Enlightenment-nature itself.
The main point of this section is that all sentient beings’ body and mind are born from ignorance. Yet because sentient beings (the mark of self) are themselves born from ignorance, they do not have the resolve to destroy their own ignorance (self-mark). It is like a person who cannot kill himself.
Ignorance gives rise to self-mark; from self-mark arise love and hatred; then love and hatred in turn strengthen ignorance again. Because ignorance is mutually perfumed and reinforced in an unbroken cycle, even if beings diligently and painfully practice the path, as long as they do not leave the four marks (self, person, etc.), they definitely cannot accomplish the Way.
This is similar to the Surangama Sutra, where the Buddha taught: “If one uses the root of deluded mind as the causal ground of practice, one can never accomplish the Way.” If one uses worldly mind to practice the Way, the Way itself turns worldly.
The Abridged Commentary on Perfect Enlightenment says: “Using deluded mind (ignorance) to seek the Way, even with diligent austerity and full cultivation of many Dharma methods, only adds strength to ignorance and does not lead to Buddhahood.”
One should understand this clearly: from ignorance come love and hatred, and from love and hatred ignorance is again perfumed and sustained. Seed gives rise to manifestation; manifestation perfumes seed; they continue without end. If sentient beings seek the Way with this ignorance, they cannot succeed in an entire lifetime.
The Ratnakuta Sutra says: if one gives rise to attachment and cherishing toward this body, one has not departed from the marks of self and person. If one practices using these marks of self and person, one instead falls back into evil destinies.
Self-Mark
Scriptural Text: “Good man, what is self-mark? It is what sentient beings’ mind takes as personally realized.
Good man, like a person whose whole body is at ease and who suddenly forgets his body; then when limbs become weak and he is treated by needle and moxa, he knows there is a self. Thus grasping and realization reveal self-substance.
Good man, even if that mind goes so far as to realize the Tathagata’s ultimately known pure nirvana, this is still self-mark.”
Commentary: The Buddha shows coarse and subtle self-mark.
Coarse: in ordinary situations self seems hidden; when opposed, insulted, or harmed, self appears clearly.
Subtle: practitioners in quiet retreat may think selfless; yet under emotional testing, anger and delight arise and self remains. Even seeing oneself as attaining the Buddha’s nirvana still implies self-mark, only subtler.
If there is an attained nirvana, there must be an attainer. As long as attainer-attained remain, self-mark remains.
Person-Mark
Scriptural Text: “Good man, what is person-mark? It is what sentient beings’ mind understands as realization.
Good man, if one realizes there is self, one no longer admits self; what is realized is not self, and so too realization. Realization that seems to surpass all realizers is still person-mark.
Good man, even if mind fully realizes nirvana, this is all self. If even a slight realizing mind remains and is established on principle, this is called person-mark.”
Commentary: Person-mark also has coarse and subtle levels.
Coarse: not clinging to “I,” but clinging to “person(s)” as external others.
Subtle: realizing self-mark is false but retaining the knower of that realization. This subtle knower is person-mark.
Simply put: “I realize nirvana” is self-mark; “knowing that I realize” is person-mark.
Sentient-Being Mark
Scriptural Text: “Good man, what is sentient-being mark? It is what sentient beings’ mind considers as beyond what realization and understanding can reach.
Good man, if someone says, ‘I am sentient beings,’ then the one speaking sentient beings is neither self nor other. Why not self? If ‘I am sentient beings,’ then it is not this self. Why not other? If ‘I am sentient beings,’ then it is not that other self.
Good man, for sentient beings, all knowing of realization and understanding is self and person. What self and person do not reach, yet some knowing remains, this is called sentient-being mark.”
Commentary: “I am sentient beings” is logically incoherent: sentient beings are many; “I” is one. This shows coarse confusion.
Subtly, one may drop overt self/person clinging, yet retain the knowing “self/person are false.” That hidden knower is still a subtle self-mark, called sentient-being mark.
Lifespan Mark
Scriptural Text: “Good man, what is lifespan mark? It is what sentient beings’ mind-illumination of pure awakening still takes as known; all karmic knowing cannot see itself, like life-root.
Good man, if mind illuminates and sees all knowers as dust and defilement, and knower-known are not apart from dust, it is like hot soup melting ice: there is no separate ice and no knower that knows ice has melted. Retaining ‘I know my awakening’ is likewise so.”
Commentary: The main point of this passage is that, after a practitioner has removed the first three marks of self, person, and sentient beings, the mind has become pure; yet there still remains the knowing faculty that continues cultivating undefiled karma in order to remove the higher mark. Because this knowing continues for a period of time and cannot immediately eliminate itself, it is called the “lifespan mark”. It is like a person’s life-force, which continues for a time and cannot cut itself off at once.
The Buddha further teaches, in essence: if there is still a discriminating mind trying to remove the marks (self, person, sentient beings, lifespan), then delusion is still present, because subject and object, this and that, are still set in opposition. Therefore the mind is not yet pure. As long as delusion remains, defilement remains; thus it is called dust and grime. In other words, if there is still even a slight thought, “I am removing self,” one is still caught in the four marks and has not yet departed from delusion. It is like hot water melting ice: when the ice is gone, the “heat” is no longer distinguished; only water remains.
Master Zongmi explains: water is a metaphor for true mind, ice is a metaphor for the four marks, and hot water is a metaphor for wisdom. Water, because of cold, freezes into ice; likewise, mind, because of delusion, becomes the four marks. Using hot water to melt ice is like using wisdom to dissolve the four marks. When the ice has melted, even the heat (hot water) is no longer separately established; only the one nature of water remains. Likewise, when self-mark is exhausted, the wisdom that destroys self-mark is also gone, and only the one essence of true mind remains.
In short, the “lifespan mark” is still a very subtle form of self-mark. At first, beings discriminate and cling to “me”; this is self-mark. When self-mark is broken, yet there remains the knowledge “I have broken self-mark,” this is person-mark. When person-mark is broken, yet there remains the knowledge “I have broken person-mark,” this is sentient-being mark. When sentient-being mark is broken, yet there still remains the knowledge “I have broken sentient-being mark,” that knowing continues cultivating undefiled karma and cannot yet cut itself off. Just as the life faculty continues for a period and cannot terminate itself, this is called the “lifespan mark.”
Therefore, the four marks above are in fact one self-mark, only moving from coarse to subtle, from shallow to deep. In the Chinese sutra text, four distinct terms are used to show the different coarse and subtle levels of these four marks:
1. Directly grasping is self-mark.
2. Realizing is person-mark.
3. Cognizing thoroughly is sentient-being mark.
4. Perceiving awareness is lifespan mark.
Scriptural Text: Good man, beings in the Dharma-ending age do not understand the four marks. Even if, through many kalpas, they diligently and painfully cultivate the path, it is only called conditioned practice, and in the end they cannot accomplish any holy fruit. Therefore this is called the Dharma-ending age even within the true Dharma. Why is this so? Because they take all forms of self to be Nirvana, and because there is “attainment” and “realization” they call it accomplishment. It is like someone who mistakes a thief for his own child: in the end, the wealth of that household can never be secured.
Commentary: In the Surangama Sutra, the Buddha carefully warned: “If you mistakenly take the root of birth-and-death, namely deluded mind, as the causal ground of cultivation, you will never attain Buddhahood. It is like cooking sand to make rice: even through countless kalpas, rice will never be produced, because its root is sand.”
Like that sutra passage, the Buddha here teaches in essence: if one uses the mind of self and person, which belongs to conditioned and contaminated states of sentient beings, to seek the unconditioned and undefiled fruit of Buddhahood, then even with great hardship over many kalpas one still cannot attain it, because the root is self-mark, sentient-being mark, and contamination.
Master Nhu Son explained: Why does one practice diligently for many long kalpas yet fail to realize holy fruit? Because one mistakes self-mark for Nirvana. It is like mistaking a thief for one’s son: not only does one gain no benefit, one is instead greatly harmed.
In the sutra text, the term “all self-marks” points to the four marks: self, person, sentient beings, and lifespan.
In the sutra text, “having attainment and realization” means one knows oneself as having attained Buddha-fruit or realized the Way; this means one has not yet left self-mark. Because the practitioner takes this self-mark as holy attainment, it is called “mistaking a thief for one’s son.”
Scriptural Text: Why is this so? One who loves self also loves Nirvana, and again presses the root of self-love into the form of Nirvana. One who hates self also hates birth-and-death, not knowing that this loving itself is true birth-and-death; then, discriminating and hating birth-and-death, this is called non-liberation. How should one know this dharma is not liberation?
Good man, those beings of the Dharma-ending age who practice Bodhi take what they consider attainment as their own purity, yet they still have not exhausted the root of self-mark.
Commentary: The main point of this section is that as long as love and hate remain, self-mark remains; and self-mark is the root of cyclic birth-and-death.
If beings use this mind of love and hate to seek Bodhi, they can never be liberated, because it is the root of samsara. Even though hating birth-and-death may seem right, and delighting in still Nirvana may seem good, one is still within the cycle of love and hate, and thus has not left self-mark. Only when there is no love and hate does self-mark disappear; when self-mark disappears, one can enter Perfect Enlightenment. Because of this meaning, the ancients composed this verse:
Chinese:
The ten directions gather together;
Each one studies the unconditioned.
This is the Buddha examination hall;
Only with an empty mind can one pass.
Meaning Translation:
From the ten directions all come together to cultivate.
People study the unconditioned.
This is the Buddha’s examination hall.
Only when the mind is empty can one pass.
The most important words in this verse are “empty mind.” If one still has liking and disliking, then greed and anger still remain; if greed and anger remain, samsara remains. Therefore in this examination hall of becoming a Buddha, whoever has a mind empty of greed, anger, jealousy, self-and-other opposition, joy and resentment, love and hate, and so on, passes.
Scriptural Text: If someone again praises that person’s dharma, he immediately gives rise to joy and wishes to save that person. If someone again slanders what he has attained, he immediately gives rise to anger. Then one knows self-mark is firmly grasped, hidden in storehouse consciousness, playing among the faculties without interruption.
Good man, if that cultivator does not remove self-mark, therefore he cannot enter pure enlightenment.
Commentary: In ordinary people, when favorable or adverse conditions arise, the coarse self-mark appears very clearly. In practitioners, the coarse outer self-mark may be stripped away, but a subtle self-mark still remains latent in storehouse consciousness. It repeatedly appears and moves through the faculties: eye, ear, nose, and tongue.
The evidence is this: when people praise and respect us, joy arises and we want to deliver them. Conversely, when we are slandered and criticized, we become unhappy. That is self-mark revealing itself at a subtler level than before. Because self-mark is not removed, one cannot enter Perfect Enlightenment.
Alas!
Mountains are not high, the sky is not high;
Self-mark is highest.
Rivers are not deep, the sea is not deep;
Self-mark is deepest.
Scriptural Text: Good man, if one knows self is empty, then there is no one who can destroy self. But if there is self speaking dharma, self has not yet been cut off; sentient-being and lifespan marks are likewise so.
Good man, beings of the Dharma-ending age speak illness as if it were dharma; therefore they are called pitiable. Though diligent and vigorous, they only increase their illnesses; therefore they cannot enter pure enlightenment.
Vietnamese Rendering: Good man! If one knows self-mark is originally empty, then there is no self to be praised or slandered. If one still sees “I am speaking dharma,” then self-mark has not ended; person-mark, sentient-being mark, and lifespan mark are the same.
Good man! Because beings of the Dharma-ending age have not ended self-mark, they take preaching as “I preach.” Thus what they preach is the sickness of self-mark, not the dharma of Nirvana. Therefore they are called pitiable. Though diligent and vigorous, they only increase the dharmas of illness, and therefore cannot realize and enter pure fundamental enlightenment.
Commentary: Not rejoicing at praise and not grieving at blame still does not necessarily mean self-mark is gone. When praised or blamed, if one does not see any person praising or blaming, only then is it no-self. Conversely, if one sees people praising and blaming, then certainly there is a self being praised and blamed, so self-mark is still clear.
A second example: while preaching and guiding others, if one sees no self preaching, no person hearing the dharma, no self delivering, and no person delivered, then this is no-self. Conversely, if one still sees self preaching and self delivering, then self-mark has not been cut off.
In the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha says: “A Bodhisattva delivers countless beings yet does not see beings as delivered. If one still sees ‘I deliver beings,’ then one is not a Bodhisattva.” Because self-mark remains, one is not a Bodhisattva.
The Diamond Sutra also says: “When a Bodhisattva speaks dharma, he does not see himself as speaking. If one still sees ‘I am speaking dharma,’ then one is not a Bodhisattva.” Because self-mark remains, one is not a Bodhisattva.
Scriptural Text: Good man, beings in the Dharma-ending age do not understand the four marks. Taking the Tathagata’s understanding and sphere of practice as their own cultivation, in the end they cannot accomplish it.
Commentary: The main point of this section is that there are three causes why practitioners cannot enter pure Perfect Enlightenment.
1. They do not recognize the four marks in their subtle forms, and mistakenly think they have realized the fruit of the path. Thus the more they cultivate, the more the illness of self-mark increases. Therefore they cannot enter Perfect Enlightenment.
2. They merely imitate the Tathagata’s understanding and conduct as if it were their own, not realizing that the four marks still remain latent in storehouse consciousness. Therefore they cannot enter Perfect Enlightenment. For example, seeing in sutras that the Buddha teaches generosity and then practicing it, they do not notice that the four marks are still present. While giving, they see a receiver (person-mark) and a giver self (self-mark). They give seeking wealth or strength for themselves; since self-mark is still fully present, they cannot enter Perfect Enlightenment.
3. Because self-mark is not yet cut off, when they gain a little result in practice, pride arises. Before true realization, they claim realization or attainment. Or, seeing others superior to themselves, jealousy arises. Therefore they cannot enter Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: There may be beings who have not attained yet say they have attained, have not realized yet say they have realized. Seeing those who progress beyond them, jealousy arises in their minds. Because those beings have not cut off self-love, therefore they cannot enter pure enlightenment.
Commentary: In this section, the Buddha indicates the path of cultivation to enter Perfect Enlightenment in three parts.
The first part, in essence: to attain the Way, one must cultivate in practice and then realize it. If one studies much and speaks empty words without practice, one only increases self-mark.
This is like in the Surangama Sutra, where Ananda reproaches himself: “World-Honored One, because I relied on being the Buddha’s younger relative, I thought perhaps the Buddha would favor me and grant me the fruit of the path without difficult practice. I only pursued broad learning and empty speech, and thus gained no benefit for myself…”
Scriptural Text: Good man, beings in the Dharma-ending age who hope to accomplish the Way should not give rise to seeking realization. Those who seek realization only increase much-hearing and growth of self-view. They should only diligently subdue afflictions, arouse great courageous vigor: what is not attained, cause it to be attained; what is not cut off, cause it to be cut off. Greed, anger, craving, arrogance, deceitfulness, jealousy: when facing conditions, do not let them arise. Self-and-other attachment and affection: let all become still and extinguished. The Buddha says such a person gradually accomplishes. Seeking good spiritual friends, one does not fall into wrong views. If, in what one seeks, one gives rise to separate love and hate, then one cannot enter the ocean of pure enlightenment.
Commentary: This section is like the Surangama Sutra’s teaching of four words: “Do not follow discrimination.” This means that when facing conditions one does not give rise to discrimination, then deluded thoughts do not arise; when deluded thoughts do not arise, true mind is revealed.
The second part, in essence: the method of cultivation for entering Perfect Enlightenment is to arouse great courageous resolve and cut off all afflictions, that is, the four marks above. Diligently cut off unwholesome dharmas and cultivate wholesome dharmas. At all times, keep the mind quiet and still; when facing conditions, do not give rise to afflictions such as greed, anger, and delusion. The Buddha confirms that such a person will attain entry into Perfect Enlightenment.
The third part, in essence: on the path of cultivation, one must seek a clear and wise teacher’s guidance in order to avoid falling into wrong views. Yet toward such a teacher one must not discriminate rich/poor, noble/lowly, and so on; one should rely on dharma, not on person, and give rise to reverence. If one does the opposite, one cannot enter Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to restate this meaning, spoke verses:
Purifier of Karmic Obstructions, you should know:
All sentient beings
By clinging to self-mark,
Have revolved since beginningless time.
Without severing the four marks,
Bodhi cannot be attained.
Love and hate arise in mind,
Deceit and crookedness remain in thought.
Therefore delusion is many,
And they cannot enter the city of awakening.
If one wishes to return to Buddha-realm,
First abandon greed, anger, delusion.
If attachment to dharma is absent,
Gradual accomplishment is possible.
If my body is originally not possessed,
From where can love and hate arise?
If such a person seeks true teachers,
He will not fall into wrong views.
If mind seeks another way,
Ultimately no accomplishment is gained.