Toh 255 — The Ocean of Dharma

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying at Mount Potalaka, on an island in the ocean, surrounded and attended to by a large gathering of heirs of the victorious ones, who had attained irreversibility.

The Blessed One addressed the bodhisattva great being Lord of the World, “Wise one, you may ask about any Dharma teaching you like.”

^[1]Lord of the World, who was liberated through unobscured love, then asked the Blessed One, “Honorable one, how do youthful ones attain victory over Māra?”

“The moment you engender the mind of awakening, you will examine desire and will not rely on it. You will be free and without pride. You will possess insight, be skilled in means, and be inspired by emptiness. You will relinquish existence and nonexistence, and for countless lives, considering it to be unreal, will remain in saṃsāra.”^[2]

“How does one go forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya and take full ordination correctly?”

“To go forth is to transcend the phenomena of different kinds of beings;^[3] to transcend the thoughts, mind, and mental consciousnesses that depend on and engage in the bases of suffering; and to hear the teachings on nonduality. F.71.b A being of any different kind who goes forth in this way has truly gone forth. When someone has gone forth, yet has let their discipline, conduct, livelihood, view, and motivation deteriorate, it is pointless for them to shave their heads and beards. They are bound by disturbances and hence are led by such disturbances to the lower realms.

“I have granted permission for donations from the faithful to be used by those who are coherent and liberated:^[4] that is, monks who while not discarding their perseverance do not discard form, sensation, perception, formation, or consciousness, but examine the five aggregates individually and together and view them as by nature impermanent, as suffering, as empty, and as without self. Yet even these views they always cultivate without apprehending them, and taking the elements and the sense sources strictly as nonexistent manifestations.^[5] What they repudiate as being insubstantial, infected, painful, faulty, antagonizing, and of a deceptive nature, they do that too without any apprehending in their approach, and in that way with their bodies give up craving the body, loving the body, believing there is a self in the body, and clinging to the body.

Monks like this have gone forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya, and have faithfully taken full ordination correctly and completely. Such monks are worthy recipients of donations from the whole world along with its gods.”

The bodhisattva Maitreya then asked the bodhisattva Lord of the World, “What did the Blessed One mean when he taught, ‘Those who have transcended the phenomena of the different kinds of beings and have attained the phenomena beyond the world have gone forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya and have correctly taken full ordination’?”

“There are other people who may have gone forth and taken full ordination, yet are still confused. Just as a bat^[6] is neither a rat nor a bird, these people are neither householders nor renunciants. F.72.a Understand the position of these foolish people to be so. But, wise one, the phenomena of different kinds of beings are like illusions and, as such, cannot be transcended. The phenomena of different kinds of beings are imperfect and, as such, are difficult to transcend. The realms of beings^[7] do not exist outside, do not exist inside, and are not to be apprehended in either. Thus, what is an entity of the realms of beings is an entity of the phenomena of different kinds of beings. That is difficult to transcend, and it is in this respect, O heir of the victorious ones, that the Blessed One has taught that someone who has transcended the phenomena of different kinds of beings and attained the phenomena beyond the world has gone forth in the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya, has correctly taken full ordination, and is a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful.

“O heir of the victorious ones, if there is no solid basis, what could there be to attain? If the phenomena beyond the world could be attained, they could be observed. The true nature of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddhas cannot be observed, and it is from this perspective that the Blessed One taught that someone who has transcended the phenomena of the different realms of beings and attained the phenomena beyond the world is a genuine monk and a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful.”

The bodhisattva Maitreya asked the bodhisattva Lord of the World, “What did the Blessed One mean when he taught that a monk who while not discarding his perseverance does not discard form, does not discard sensation, perception, formation, or consciousness, is a monk who has gone forth; he is a monk who has fully gone forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya and, as such, is a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful?”

The bodhisattva Lord of the World answered, “O heir of the victorious ones, what the Blessed One meant was the true nature. As the realm of phenomena does not exist outside, does not exist inside, F.72.b and is not to be apprehended in either, to identify it as being without sickness, identify it as unborn, and identify it as not arising are not designations to be made. For the sameness of the realm of phenomena accords with the realm of beings being the same, and the sameness of the realm of beings accords with the realm of phenomena being the same. The sameness of the realm of beings and the sameness of the realm of phenomena are thus not two things and cannot be separated. Since they are not two things and cannot be separated, there is nothing to be discarded and nothing not to be discarded. Since there is nothing to be discarded and nothing not to be discarded, it is not possible to transcend or attain anything.

“That is what the Blessed One meant by a monk who is not to be designated not engaging in identifying things. The monk without any labels transcends labels. For him, even using a formulation to point things out is not right. He does not come, does not go, does not stay, does not sit, and even while sleeping is without concepts.

“Being at peace and bringing to peace are the criteria for monks who have no apprehending. The ways they behave are criteria, too. The behavior of monks who have all sorts of mistaken concepts is not a criterion.^[8] That is what the Blessed One meant by the former kind of monk being a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful.”

The Blessed One then gave the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara his approval: “Wise one, you have taught in accordance with my meaning. Excellent, excellent indeed! To go forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya is the seal of the true and unsurpassed Dharma. Do not teach this in the presence of those who have let their discipline deteriorate, who are untamed, and who are full of pride. However, if there are such people who aim to rid themselves of their arrogance, they may use their insight to see this seal of Dharma just as it is and realize the body that is not apprehended. If they do so they will quickly attain the mental body. With this mental body, they will ripen countless beings to awakening.”

As this Dharma discourse was being delivered, F.73.a the minds of seven thousand monks were liberated from the defilements into the birthless state. Ten thousand bodhisattvas attained acceptance that phenomena are unborn. However, five hundred monks who were prone to apprehending did not practice or apply this Dharma discourse. Lacking faith in it, they rose from their seats and departed.

The Blessed One said, “Since what I have intended and said in these teachings is the antidote for all worldly beings’^[9] lack of trust, this Dharma discourse is not in accordance with those who apprehend things. It is not in contradiction with those who rely on the nonexistence of things. Know that this Dharma discourse of mine may be taught by those under the guidance of a spiritual guide, those who find inspiration in profound teachings, those who are dissatisfied with saṃsāra, those who are content with austerity, those who delight in isolated places, and those who have accrued roots of virtue with buddhas of the past.

“O heir of the victorious ones, consider the following analogy. Although a person may mistakenly dream in their sleep that they are speaking in front of a crowd of people and teaching the Dharma, they are not actually heard by anyone in the world. O heir of the victorious ones, what do you think, would the existence of those crowds not contradict that person’s teaching the buddhadharma?”

Maitreya answered, “Dreams are not real; they are simply delusion.^[10] So how could he ever have taught the Dharma to crowds of people?”^[11]

“O heir of the victorious ones, all phenomena are similar to dreams in the very same way, for they are not real. While they arise, they arise without existing. Although relatively they exist as mere delusion, ultimately they do not exist. Even when the meditation that through noble insight makes this manifest in the mind just as it is, the meditator does not apprehend it. For him it exists only in the manner that phenomena do—they are imputed and the activity of dependent power, not something that exists.

“It is in this way that this teaching is not in accordance with worldly people. Phenomena are taken as the ultimate truth by those who apprehend them, F.73.b but the noble ones do not apprehend them.^[12] Childish beings cling to phenomena out of ignorance and thereby end up experiencing the afflictions of suffering in the hell realms and as hungry ghosts.

“How this Dharma discourse is, that is apprehended. How it is apprehended, so are all phenomena. Because the sameness of all phenomena throughout the three times is not apprehended, what is apprehended is understood. What is understood is attained. What is attained is awakening. What is awakening is suchness. What is suchness is the limit of reality. What is the limit of reality is emptiness. What is emptiness is signlessness. What is signlessness is wishlessness. What is wishlessness is the ultimate. What is the ultimate is the realm of phenomena. What is the realm of phenomena is the extent of nonduality. What is the extent of nonduality is the achievement of the middle way. What is the achievement of the middle way is the completely perfect Buddha’s dharma body, which is permanent, perpetual, and unchanging—that is to say, it is neither permanent nor impermanent, neither imputed nor not imputed, and not the one who imputes. What is not imputed is neither worldly nor transcendent. What is neither worldly nor transcendent is ineffable. What is ineffable does not exist even in the slightest. What does not exist even in the slightest is the field of merit for beings. What is the field of merit for beings is the Teacher. What is the Teacher is the unconceived. What is the unconceived is the absence of apprehending. What is the absence of apprehending is unchanging presence. What is unchanging presence is the precious, wish-fulfilling jewel, which fulfills all the wishes of beings to be tamed in accordance with their inclinations.”

Then the many bodhisattvas present spoke in unison: “Any place in which this Dharma discourse is recited will be like vajra. F.74.a Since the buddhas and bodhisattvas will be present there, understand that any being there will swiftly gain the higher perceptions and sharp faculties. Whoever explains, memorizes, reads aloud, masters, chants, or properly contemplates this Dharma discourse will not fall prey to Māra.”

When the Blessed One had elucidated his intent, bodhisattvas such as Lord of the World, Maitreya, and others, as well as hearers, and the entire world with its gods and humans, asuras, and gandharvas all rejoiced in what the Blessed One had taught.