Chapter of Universal Enlightenment
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Scriptural Text: At that time, Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment arose from his seat in the great assembly, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, circumambulated him three times to the right, then knelt with palms joined and said to the Buddha:
“Great Compassionate World-Honored One, you have skillfully explained the illnesses of meditation, enabling the entire assembly to receive what they had never before received. Their minds have been cleansed and they have attained great peace and security.
“World-Honored One, in the Dharma-ending age, beings will be farther and farther removed from the Buddha. Sages will withdraw and heterodox teachings will flourish. For such beings, what kind of person should they seek? On what Dharma should they rely? What practices should they carry out? What illnesses should they remove? How should they arouse the mind, so that those blind multitudes do not fall into wrong views?”
Having spoken thus, he prostrated fully to the ground and asked in this way three times, from beginning to end.
Commentary: “Universal Enlightenment” means awakening that pervades all. On the path of cultivation, practitioners encounter many obstacles. These obstacles all arise from clinging to the four marks. Therefore in Chapter Nine, Bodhisattva Purifier of Karmic Obstructions asked the Buddha to explain those four marks so practitioners could recognize and remove them. When the four marks are removed, karmic obstructions are purified.
However, on the path of cultivation there still remain extremely subtle clouds of ignorance, namely the four illnesses discussed here. These clouds cover the moon of Perfect Enlightenment so its light cannot shine universally.
Thus in this tenth chapter, Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment asks the Buddha for further instruction, so practitioners can remove all clouds of ignorance and allow the moon of Perfect Enlightenment to shine everywhere.
In summary this section has three parts:
1. Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment first praises the Buddha for clearly pointing out the meditator’s illnesses, namely the four marks previously taught, so beings can recognize and remove illness and gain peace.
2. He pities beings in later ages: far from the Buddha and Dharma, with sages in seclusion, while outsiders and false teachers flourish and easily lead practitioners into wrong views.
3. He asks the Buddha to teach five things:
– Whom should practitioners seek as a guiding spiritual teacher?
– On what Dharma should they rely?
– What practices should they undertake?
– What illnesses should they remove?
– How should they arouse the aspiration mind?
Scriptural Text: At that time the World-Honored One said to Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment:
“Excellent, excellent! Good man, you are able to ask the Tathagata about such cultivation and to bestow upon all beings in the Dharma-ending age the fearless Dharma-eye, enabling them to accomplish the holy path. Listen carefully now; I shall explain it for you.”
Then Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment, joyfully receiving the teaching, together with the great assembly, listened in silence.
“Good man, when beings in the Dharma-ending age arouse the great mind and seek good spiritual friends, if they wish to cultivate, they should seek those with right understanding and right view: minds not abiding in marks, not attached to the states of Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas. Though appearing amid worldly dust and toil, their minds remain constantly pure. Even when displaying faults, they praise pure conduct and do not lead beings into violations of discipline. Seeking such a person, one can accomplish unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.”
Commentary: In this section the Buddha praises Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment for asking, on behalf of beings, about the path of cultivation so that beings can walk directly toward holy fruit without fear of falling into wrong views.
“Fearless Dharma-eye” means understanding the path clearly, like eyes seeing a road, and thus no longer fearing deviation.
Here the Buddha answers the first question: whom should one seek for guidance? In essence, to attain Buddhahood two conditions are required:
1. Internally, one must arouse the Mahayana mind as the principal cause.
2. Externally, one must rely on good spiritual friends as proper supporting conditions.
With internal cause but no external condition, or external condition but no internal cause, accomplishment does not occur.
When seeking good spiritual friends, they must have right understanding and right view.
How can one recognize such right view? Observe in two aspects, favorable and adverse:
1. Favorable: this teacher’s mind does not abide in heavenly or human merit, nor in the quietistic, self-centered state of the Lesser Vehicle (Sravaka and Pratyekabuddha).
2. Adverse: this teacher may appear in defiled worldly settings to transform beings, yet remains inwardly undefiled, practicing the Bodhisattva method of “association to transform.” Sometimes such a teacher may appear to commit faults, yet never forcibly justifies error; instead, he praises purity and critiques his own faults.
Master Nhu Son explains “good spiritual friend” this way: “good” means skillful; “knowing” means knowing illness; “understanding” means knowing medicine. Such a person can distinguish true from false, right from wrong, knows beings’ mind-illnesses, and knows the Buddha’s Dharma-medicine to treat them.
Scriptural Text: Beings in the Dharma-ending age, upon meeting such a person, should make offerings without begrudging body or life. This good spiritual friend, in all four deportments, constantly manifests purity; even to the point of displaying various faults, his mind remains without arrogance, much less attached to wealth, spouse, or family.
If a good man does not give rise to evil thoughts toward such a good spiritual friend, he can ultimately accomplish perfect enlightenment; the flower of mind blossoms in brightness, illuminating worlds in the ten directions.
Commentary: The Buddha’s main teaching here is “rely on Dharma, not on the person.” The Treatise on Great Wisdom says: if that spiritual friend can explain profound meanings and guide one on the right path so one gains benefit, one should revere him as one reveres the Buddha and not dwell on his apparent faults.
It is like a rough bag holding jewels: do not discard the treasure because the bag is coarse. It is like a person with skin disease holding a torch to lead you across a dangerous road at night: do not reject the torch because of the carrier’s appearance.
Likewise, when one finds a true guide, one should maintain sincere reverence from beginning to end. If the teacher keeps pure discipline, reverence is natural; but even when the teacher practices “association to transform beings,” the seeker should not cling rigidly and generate contempt. Only thus can one realize the Buddha path.
Scriptural Text: Good man, the wondrous Dharma realized by that good spiritual friend should be free from four illnesses. What are these four illnesses?
The first is the illness of “doing.” If someone says: “In my fundamental mind I perform various practices to seek Perfect Enlightenment,” this is illness, because the nature of Perfect Enlightenment is not attained by doing.
Commentary: “Doing” means fabrication and activity. The nature of Perfect Enlightenment is not gained by fabrication. Just as the moon does not come into being because clouds are parted, if one clings to “doing good practices in order to enter Perfect Enlightenment,” one cannot succeed.
Perfect Enlightenment is pure, unconditioned, and undefiled. If one uses conditioned means to seek unconditioned purity, one cannot obtain it. Hence this is called the illness of doing.
Some may wonder: previously the Buddha taught that to enter Perfect Enlightenment one must diligently abandon evil and do good. Why now say that seeking through doing is illness? The two teachings are not contradictory when understood in stages.
Like a noisy classroom: to make it quiet, at first the teacher may strike the desk loudly to stop the noise. This is “using movement to subdue movement,” or “using delusion to remove delusion.” But once students are quiet, if the teacher keeps striking the desk, quiet cannot be established. Sound is movement, contrary to stillness.
Likewise there are two stages:
1. Initial stage: practice and cultivation, abandoning evil and doing good, as a raft crossing the river of delusion.
2. Final stage: release the raft of conditioned practice. Only then can one step onto the unconditioned shore.
Thus in the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra: “Cultivate to the point of no-cultivation; realize to the point of no-realization.” That is true cultivation and true realization.
Hence the ancients said: conditioned practices may be provisional, yet if abandoned too early, the Buddha-path is hard to complete. In ultimate principle, not a speck is accepted; in practical cultivation, not one good Dharma is neglected.
Scriptural Text: The second is the illness of “letting be.” If someone says: “Now we do not cut off birth-and-death, do not seek Nirvana; with no arising or ceasing thought regarding birth-and-death and Nirvana, we simply let everything follow dharma-nature in seeking Perfect Enlightenment,” this is illness, because the nature of Perfect Enlightenment is not obtained through mere passivity.
Commentary: This illness arises when one misunderstands and says: “Since Perfect Enlightenment is not entered through practice and wholesome deeds, I will just let karmic force move as it will, without fearing wrongdoing or valuing goodness.” Such passivity does not enter Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: The third is the illness of “stopping.” If someone says: “Now in my own mind I forever stop all thoughts, attaining quiescent equality in all natures, and thereby seek Perfect Enlightenment,” this is illness, because the nature of Perfect Enlightenment is not one that merely accords with stopping.
Commentary: “Stopping” means suppressing deluded thoughts. Seeing that “doing” agitates and “letting be” indulges, one turns to stopping. But Perfect Enlightenment is beyond thought and beyond suppression. If one still clings to the method of stopping, one cannot enter Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: The fourth is the illness of “extinguishing.” If someone says: “Now I permanently sever all afflictions; body and mind are ultimately empty, with nothing at all, much less roots, dusts, and illusory states; all is forever still” and seeks Perfect Enlightenment thus, this is illness, because the nature of Perfect Enlightenment is not the mark of mere extinction.
Commentary: “Extinguishing” means silencing afflictions so mind and environment are stilled. Yet Perfect Enlightenment is both quiescent and luminous knowing. Quiescence and illumination are non-dual. If one clings only to quiescence, one does not accord with Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: One who is free from these four illnesses is thereby known as pure. Contemplation in this way is called right contemplation; any other contemplation is called wrong contemplation.
Commentary: Here the four illnesses are summarized:
– Doing: fabricating action.
– Letting be: non-action through indifference.
– Stopping: suppressing present and future arising thoughts.
– Extinguishing: cutting off already-arisen afflictions.
Because the nature of Perfect Enlightenment is unborn, unceasing, beyond seeking and rejecting, beyond increase and decrease, unconditioned and undefiled, using doing/letting be/stopping/extinguishing to seek it does not accord with it.
Master Nhu Son says: examine your own mind with these four illnesses. If even one remains, it is still illness. Only when all four are removed can one enter pure Perfect Enlightenment.
Perfect Enlightenment does not belong to doing, stopping, letting be, or extinguishing. Leaving these, self-nature is complete and luminous, lacking nothing: this is purity. Although called illnesses, for the unawakened they still function as expedient medicines in cultivation. But from the standpoint of Perfect Enlightenment-nature itself, which is complete from the outset and not dependent on contrived effort, they are termed illnesses.
Scriptural Text: Good man, beings in the Dharma-ending age who wish to cultivate should, throughout life, make offerings to good companions and serve good spiritual friends. If those spiritual friends come near, one should cut off arrogance. If they go far, one should cut off anger. In favorable and adverse circumstances, one should be like empty space, clearly knowing body and mind are ultimately equal and of one substance with all beings, without difference. Cultivating thus, one then enters Perfect Enlightenment.
Commentary: Here the Buddha answers the third question: what practices should one do? Bodhisattva practices are many, but serving a teacher is essential. In the Dharma-ending age, demonic influences are strong; without a clear guide, one easily falls into wrong paths. Therefore one should serve and respect the teacher for life.
Whether the teacher acts in ways pleasing or displeasing, one should maintain reverence, with mind like space, not changing. Contemplate that teacher, beings, and oneself all share one essence of Perfect Enlightenment. Thus one abandons arrogance in serving the teacher and forgets self in benefiting beings. Practicing this way, one enters Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: Good man, beings in the Dharma-ending age do not attain the Way because from beginningless time they possess all seeds of love and hate toward self and others; therefore they are not liberated. If someone regards his enemy as he regards his own parents, with no duality in mind, then he removes all illnesses. In all dharmas, love and hate toward self and others are likewise to be treated this way.
Commentary: Earlier Bodhisattva Universal Enlightenment asked: what illnesses must be removed? Here the Buddha answers: remove love and hate.
In Chapter Nine, removing love and hate was taught at the coarse manifest level. Here it is taught at the subtle seed level. If even a slight hidden trace of love-hate remains, it obstructs entry into pure Perfect Enlightenment.
Only when one regards enemies and parents as equal, and sees birth-and-death and Nirvana as non-dual, can one sever the seeds of love and hate and enter pure Perfect Enlightenment.
Scriptural Text: Good man, beings in the Dharma-ending age who wish to seek Perfect Enlightenment should arouse the mind and say: “Throughout empty space, for all beings, I will cause them all to enter ultimate Perfect Enlightenment. Within Perfect Enlightenment, there is no one who grasps realization.” Remove all marks of self, person, and all such marks. Arousing mind in this way, one does not fall into wrong views.
Commentary: Here the Buddha answers the fifth question: how should one arouse the mind? One should arouse the mind as follows to avoid wrong views:
1. Vast mind: vow to liberate all beings in the ten directions.
2. Ultimate mind: guide beings into ultimate Perfect Enlightenment.
3. True-constant mind: within Perfect Enlightenment, do not cling to Perfect Enlightenment.
4. Non-inverted mind: do not give rise to inverted attachment to marks of self, person, sentient beings, lifespan, or even the mark of “saving beings.”
The first two are great compassion; the last two are great wisdom. Compassion and wisdom are harmonized through these four complete arousals of mind.
This question parallels Subhuti’s question in the Diamond Sutra: “How should the mind abide?”
“Arousing mind” here means making vows, like setting one’s life-aim. Through vow-power practitioners overcome obstacles and hasten accomplishment. When vow is earnest, practice becomes diligent and results come quickly. All Buddhas attained through vows and corresponding practice. Without vow-power as the driving force, Buddhahood is difficult to attain.
Scriptural Text: At that time, wishing to restate this meaning, the World-Honored One spoke verses:
Universal Enlightenment, you should know,
In the Dharma-ending age,
Those who seek good spiritual friends
Should seek people of right view.
Keep far from those of the two vehicles,
Within Dharma remove four illnesses:
Doing, stopping, letting be, extinguishing.
When teacher comes near, do not be arrogant;
When teacher departs, do not be angry.
Seeing all kinds of circumstances,
You should arouse a rare and reverent mind,
As though the Buddha has appeared in the world.
Do not violate discipline.
Let the roots of precepts be forever pure.
Liberate all beings,
Ultimately enter Perfect Enlightenment,
Without marks of self or person.
Rely on right wisdom of true Dharma,
Then you transcend wrong views,
And realize great Parinirvana.