The Sixth Patriarchs Sutra

7:30pm Pacific time

February 8, 2013 lecture

as outlined by a Buddhist monk
at 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 reward and transformation bodies
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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 use expedients, praising for all living beings the power of the Thus Come Ones knowledge and vision, powers, and fearlessnesses, living beings will not be able to be saved in this way. Why is this? All of these living beings have not yet escaped birth, old age, sickness, death, grief and misery. They are being scorched in the burning house of the Three Realms. How could they understand the wisdom of the Buddha? (The
Wonderful 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 pure land 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 living beings When you understand Reality, affliction becomes bodhi.

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 afraid and 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 get out of the burning house.

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 my inconceivable 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

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 of sounds and in all other types of awareness.

When these conditions are present in combination, the beings and lands come into being; when these conditions are not present, the beings and lands ceased to be.

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 the sand-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 originally pure in itself. 2. How unexpected! The self-nature is originally neither produced nor destroyed. 3. How unexpected! The self-nature is originally complete in itself. 4. How unexpected! The self-nature is originally without movement. 5. How unexpected! The self-nature can produce the ten thousand dharmas. 14

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 like emptiness, 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

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 into Bodhisattvas. 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.

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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 the Reward 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.

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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 to turn 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 selfnature 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)
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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)
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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 are extinguished 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 be without 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, a transmission 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 31 anything but this? (Venerable Master Hsuan Hua)

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 such biased 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 32 obtained from outside

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 external or 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, and Mahakasyapa, 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? (Venerable
Master 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 their endless night. Because our hearts are one, this world of pain turns into paradise; 37 May all become compassionate and wise (2x)

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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