sixth patriarch's sutra february 8, 2013
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The Sixth Patriarchs Sutra7:30pm Pacific timeFebruary 8, 2013 lecture
as outlined by a Buddhist monkat 1777 Murchison Drive, Burlingame, California 94010, open to public(phone 650-6925912)
(Listen live or recorded audio explanations at
www.wondrousdharma.org)
Q&A Why there is purity and defilement?
Chapter 6 Repentance and reform the rewardand transformation bodies
[Subscribe to the free Dharma newsletter atwww.wondrousdharma.org]
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Verse for opening a sutra
Na Mwo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha (3x)
Homage to the Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (3x)
The unsurpassed, deep, profound, subtle, wonderful Dharma, In a hundred thousand million eons, is difficult to encounter,
Now that Ive come to receive and hold it, within my sight and hearing,
I vow to fathom the Thus Come Ones true and actual meaning.
Exhortation to uphold the Dharma: 3/690
Shariputra, the Thus Come One further thinks, If I merely useexpedients, praising for all living beings the power of the Thus ComeOnes knowledge and vision, powers, and fearlessnesses, living beings
will not be able to be saved in this way. Why is this? All of these livingbeings have not yet escaped birth, old age, sickness, death, grief andmisery. They are being scorched in the burning house of the ThreeRealms. How could they understand the wisdom of the Buddha? (TheWonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra)
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Q&A
Question: Originally our Saha world has lapis lazuli for soil. There
are no mountains, rivers, and so forth, its all level and flat but to
teach living beings, Shakyamuni Buddha manifests the
appearances of purity and defilement. Thus there is the pureland and the defiled land of the 5 turbidities. Why did Buddha
Shakyamuni manifests defilement and purity?
Answer:
The Buddha manifests the appearances of purity and
defilement in the Saha world to teach and transform livingbeings
When you understand Reality, affliction becomes bodhi.3
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Q&A
In the midst of purity and defilement, we would understand the
nature of impermanence and would want to search for answers.
The primary problem is people do not want to cultivate because
they are happily attached to their amusements and play
and refuse to believe him. They are not frightened or afraidand have not the slightest intention of leaving.
What is more they dont know what is meant by fire, what
is meant by house or what is meant by being lost.
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Q&A
They merely run from east to west in play, staring at their
father.
Therefore the Buddha began by exemplifying the need to get
out of birth, old age, sickness and death.
The initial teaching of the Middle Way is that of neither clinging
to purity nor defilement, neither existence nor emptiness to getout of the burning house.
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Q&A
But people being people become attached to extinction that is
being satisfied with just getting out of the burning house, later
the Buddha revealed the final teaching
The Buddha said in the Brahma Net Sutra, I have come into
this Saha world for 8,000 times.
In the Amitabha Sutra, All those Buddhas equally praise myinconceivable merit and virtue saying these words:
Shakyamuni Buddha can complete extremely rare and
difficult deeds in the Saha land, in the evil time of the 5
turbidities. 6
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Q&A
In the midst of the kalpa turbidity, the view turbidity, the
affliction turbidity, the living beings turbidity and the life
turbidity, he can attain anuttarasamyaksambodhi
And eventually the Buddha taught that All beings with
outflows and all the lands in the ten directions, including
the Saha world, with its four great seas and with the three
thousand land masses of Jambudvipa, are fundamentally
our true mind.
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Q&A
The conditions necessary for them all to arise are illusory,
diseased distortions in visual awareness, in awareness ofsounds and in all other types of awareness.
When these conditions are present in combination, the
beings and lands come into being; when these conditionsare not present, the beings and lands ceased to be.
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Q&A
When you remain entirely untouched by conditions,
whether or not they are present in combination, you bring
to an end all the causes of coming into being and ceasing
to be.
At that moment you will awaken to perfect enlightenment,which is your true nature and which neither comes into
being nor ceases to be.
It is the pure fundamental mind the fundamental
everlasting enlightenment. (Shurangama Sutra)
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Q&A
How could I stop the madness of accumulated births?
Sheep, deer and ox provisionally set up;
Beginning, middle, end, well set forth.
Who would have thought that within the burning house
Originally the king of Dharma dwelt? (Sixth Patriarchs Sutra)
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
That non-dual nature is the real nature. Undefiled by either
good or evil, it is the perfect, full Reward-body of the
Buddha.
Comments
The sixth conscious mind is the mind that makes distinction; it
is not our original nature.
Our original nature is beyond good and evil because originally
there isnt anything at all; if there is good, there is evil.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
One evil thought arising from the self-nature destroys ten
thousand eons worth of good karma. One good thought
arising from the self-nature ends evils as numerous as thesand-grains in the Ganges River.
Comments Our self nature has both our good nature and evil nature.
The self nature can produce everything both good and evil
depending upon our thoughts.
But the original self nature is non dual and without movement.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
To reach the unsurpassed Bodhi directly, see it for
yourself in every thought and do not lose the original
thought. That is the Reward-body of the Buddha.
Comments
The original thought comes from the original self nature which
is non dual and without movement.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
To recap earlier
1. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallypure in itself.
2. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallyneither produced
nor destroyed.
3. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallycomplete in itself.
4. How unexpected! The self-nature is originallywithout
movement.
5. How unexpected! The self-nature can produce the ten thousand
dharmas. 14
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
What are the hundred thousand myriad Transformation
bodies of the Buddha? If you are free of any thought of the
ten thousand dharmas, then your nature is basically likeemptiness, but in one thought of calculation,
transformation occurs.
Comments
Why arent we Buddhas of the past and present but continue to
remain Buddhas of the future?
It is because we are full of calculating thoughts; the Buddhas of
the past were the ones who were the first to forget about the
self and quickly cease calculating thoughts. 15
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
Evil thoughts are transformed into hell-beings and good
thoughts into heavenly beings. Viciousness is transformed
into dragons and snakes, and compassion intoBodhisattvas. Wisdom is transformed into the upper
realms, and delusion into the lower realms.
Comments
Good and evil comes from the mind; everything is made by the
mind alone.
In the true reality of all dharmas, there is equality between
wisdom and confusion. 16
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
The transformations of the self-nature are extremely
many, and yet the confused person, unawakened to that
truth, continually gives rise to evil and walks evil paths.Turn a single thought back to goodness, and wisdom is
produced. That is the Transformation-body of the Buddha
within your self- nature.
Comments
A turn of the head is the other shore; affliction becomes bodhi.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
Good Knowing Advisors, the Dharma body of the Buddha
is basically complete. To see your own nature in every
thought is the Reward body of the Buddha. When theReward body thinks and calculates, it is the
Transformation body of the Buddha.
Comments
The Dharma body is basically complete; one with reality.
The Reward body that sees the self nature does not think of
good or evil
The Reward body that moves creates the Transformation
body, the product of thinking and making distinctions. 18
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Venerable Master Hjsuan Hua explaining the 3 bodies:
Why do I say the Shurangama Sutra is the sutra for developing
wisdom and the Dharma Flower Sutra is the sutra for becoming
Buddhas?
Its because the Dharma Flower Sutra is the Buddhas Dharma
Body. Its the real body of the Buddha.
Its the Buddhas Reward Body.
The Buddhas clear, pure, Dharma Body Vairochana Buddha is
also the Dharma Flower Sutra.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
The perfect, full Reward Body Nishyanda Buddha is also the
Dharma Flower Sutra.
The one hundred thousand millions transformation bodies are
also the Dharma Flower Sutra.
Within the Dharma Flower Sutra you will find the three bodies of
the Buddha, the four wisdoms of the Buddha, the five eyes and
six spiritual penetrations of the Buddha as well.
The Dharma Flower Sutra is the king of the Sutras.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
Awaken and cultivate by your own efforts the merit and
virtue of your self-nature. That is truly taking refuge.
Comments
Once you understand the principle, you put it into practice toturn your Transformation Buddha back into the Reward Body
Buddha.
Cultivation is about creating merit and having virtue of the Way.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
The skin and flesh of the physical body are like an inn to
which you cannot return. Simply awaken to the three
bodies of your self-nature and you will understand the self-nature Buddha.
Comments
Cultivate the self nature is to cultivate the mind; the body is just
temporary possession.
The three bodies is about unmovingness, wisdom and
conduct
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Th e origin of the Great Masters definition of the Three Bodies of the Self
nature:
How should this Sutra be explained for others? By not
grasping at appearances and being in unmoving thusness.Why?
All conditioned dharmas
Are like dreams, an illusion, a bubble or a shadow,
Like dew on a lightning flash
Contemplate them thus. (Vajra Sutra)23
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
I have a verse without marks. If you can recite and
memorize it, it will wipe away-accumulated eons of
confusion and offenses as soon as the words are spoken.The verse runs:
Comments
Verse without appearance so dont be attached to them for in
reality, there isnt wisdom nor delusion.
The appearance of Reality is without appearance. (Vajra
Sutra) 24
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
A confused person will foster blessings, but not cultivate
the Way; And say, To practice for the blessings is practice
of the Way.
Comments
Blessings come from giving; why dont we then foster
blessings?...
It is because it is not in the gift but the state of mind when you
give; ...
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
it has to accord with reality that originally there isnt anything
at all
forgetting the self as you give.
When there is no self, what happens?...
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
While giving and making offerings brings blessings
without limit,
It is in the mind that the three evils have their origin.
Comments
Though giving without any conditions brings limitless blessings,
ultimately it is about forgetting the self so that
we can put down the three poisons in the mind.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
By seeking blessings you may wish to obliterate offenses;
But in the future, though you are blessed, offenses still
remain.
Comments
Blessings accumulated will not wipe away offenses.
Offenses arise because of the three poisons; offenses areextinguished because of the mind no longer cling to the three
poisons.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
You ought to simply strike the evil conditions from your
mind;
By true repentance and reform within your own self-nature.
Comments
Note the wiping away of the evil mind of the three poisons.
True repentance and reform is not just mere bodily action but
the reversal from evil to good in the mind.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
A sudden awakening: the true repentance and reform of
the Great Vehicle;
You must cast out the deviant, and practice the right, to bewithout offense.
Comments
True repentance and reform is the mind without any evil; this is
the Sudden Awakening to the Great Vehicle
the teaching of the mind.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
To study the Way, always look within your own self-nature;
You are then the same in kind and lineage as all Buddhas.
Comments
Never be apart from your own original self nature; your original
mind.
This method is one in which the mind seals the mind, atransmission outside the teaching. One takes ones own nature
across. And after one has taken across the river (of afflictions),
one leaves the raft (the Dharma) behind. How can there be
anything but this? (Venerable Master Hsuan Hua) 31
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
Our Patriarch passed along only this Sudden Teaching;
Wishing that all might see the nature and be of one
substance.
Comments
the First Patriarch Bodhidharma made amends for suchbiased teachings and patched up the flaws. His compassionate
instructions were apart from speech; his teaching were not
imparted through words.
He taught that this mind of ours is none other than the Buddha,
that the precious pearl hidden within our robe is not something
obtained from outside 32
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
One only needs to concentrate ones energy and refine
ones mind to a single focus, then
One day suddenly all connects right through and then the
myriad substances are reached everywhere, whether externalor internal, fine or coarse.
The great functioning of the entire substance of the enlightened
mind is nowhere without clarity.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
One becomes open to the vast and ultimate enlightenment,
returns to the source and plumbs the origin.
At this time, one can appreciate the subtlety behind the
interchange: the World Honored One held up a flower, andMahakasyapa, the Golden-Hued Ascetic, smiled: originally it
was like this!
This method is one in which the mind seals the mind, a
transmission outside of the teachings
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
One takes ones own nature across.
And after one has made ones way across the river, one leaves
the raft behind. How can there be anything but this? (VenerableMaster Hsuan Hua)
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform
Sutra:
In the future if you wish to find the Dharma body;
Detach yourself from Dharma marks and inwardly wash the
mind.
Comments
To find the Dharma body is to see your self nature
Separate from external appearances and focus your
attention to your own mind.
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Dedication of merit
May every living beings,
Our minds as one and radiant with light
Share the fruits of peace, with hearts of goodness
luminous and bright. If people hear and see, how hands and hearts can find in
giving unity
May their minds awake, to great compassion, wisdom
and to joy. May kindness find reward; may all who sorrow leave their
grief and pain;
May this boundless light break the darkness of theirendless night.
Because our hearts are one, this world of pain turns intoparadise;
May all become compassionate and wise (2x)
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Dedication of merit
I vow that merit made from this deed will become,
Adornments for the Pure Land of Bu-ddhas. Repaying the four kinds of kindness above,
And aiding those in three paths below.
May all who see and hear of this deed Bring forth the resolve to reborn
In the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
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