The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing Second Ancestor of Zen

_{Those who seek the dharma should not seek for anything. Outside of mind there is no other buddha, outside of buddha there is no other mind. Not attaching to good and not rejecting evil, without reliance on either purity or defilement, one realizes that the nature of offense is empty: it cannot be found in each thought because it is without self nature. Therefore, the three rounds are mind only and all phenomena in the universe are marked by a single dharma. Whenever we see form, it is just seeing the mind. The mind does not exist by itself; its existence is due to form. Whatever you’re saying, it is just the phenomena, which is identical with the principle. They are all without obstruction and the fruit of the way to bodhi is also like that. Whatever arises in the mind is called form; when one knows all forms to be empty, then birth is identical with no birth. If one realizes this mind, then one can always wear one’s robes and eat one’s food. Nourishing the womb of sagehood, one spontaneously passes one’s time: what else is there to do? Having received my teaching, listen to my verse:}

We vow to deliver an infinite number of sentient beings of our mind.

We vow to get rid of the innumerable defilements in our own mind.

We vow to learn the countless systems in dharma of our essence of mind.

We vow to attain the supreme buddhahood of our essence of mind.

^{_{Learned Audience, all of us have now declared that we vow to deliver an infinite number of sentient beings; but what does that mean? It does not mean that I, Hui-neng, am going to deliver them. And who are these sentient beings within our mind? They are the delusive mind, the deceitful mind, the evil mind, and such like minds—all these are sentient beings. Each of them has to deliver himself by means of his own essence of mind. Then the deliverance is genuine.}}

^{_{Now, what does it mean to deliver oneself by one’s own essence of mind? It means the deliverance of the ignorant, the delusive, and the vexatious beings within our own mind by means of right views. With the aid of right views and prajna wisdom the barriers raised by these ignorant and delusive beings may be broken down; so that each of them is in a position to deliver himself by his own efforts. Let the fallacious be delivered by rightness, the deluded by enlightenment, the ignorant by wisdom, and the malevolent by benevolence. Such is genuine deliverance.}}

^{_{As to the vow, "We vow to get rid of the innumerable evil passions in the mind," it refers to the substitution of our unreliable and illusive thinking faculty by the prajna wisdom of our essence of mind. As to the vow, "We vow to learn countless systems of dharmas," there will be no true learning until we have seen face to face our essence of mind, and until we conform to the orthodox dharma on all occasions.}}

^{_{As to the vow, "We vow to attain Supreme Buddhahood," when we are able to bend our mind to follow the true and orthodox dharma on all occasions, and when prajna always rises in our mind, so that we can hold aloof from enlightenment as well as from ignorance, and do away with truth as well as falsehood, then we may consider ourselves as having realized the buddha-nature, or in other words, as having attained buddhahood.}}

^{_{The Diamond Sutra & The Sutra of Hui-Neng}}^{_{A. F. Price & Wong Mou-lam}}

Hui Hai on the Four Prajnas (Four Buddha Wisdoms)

_{Q: Regarding the quotation ‘Transform the eight states of consciousness (parijnana) into the four Buddha-wisdoms and bind the four Buddha-wisdoms to form the trikaya, which of the eight states of consciousness must be combined to form one Buddha-wisdom and which of them will each become a Buddha-wisdom in itself?}

_{A: Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are the five states of consciousness which together form the perfecting wisdom. The intellect, or sixth state of consciousness, alone becomes the profound observing wisdom. Discriminative awareness, or the seventh state of consciousness, alone becomes the universal wisdom. The storehouse of consciousness, or eighth state, alone becomes the great mirror wisdom.}

_{Q: Do these four wisdoms really differ?}

_{A: In substance they are the same, but they are differently named.}

_{Q: Yet, if they are one in substance, why do their names differ? Or, allowing that their names are given according to circumstances, what is it that, being of one substance (with the rest), is (nevertheless called) ‘the great mirror wisdom’?}

_{A: That which is clearly void and still, bright and imperturbable, is the great mirror wisdom. That which can face defilements without love or aversion arising and which thereby exhibits the nonexistent nature of all such dualities is the universal wisdom. That which can range the fields of the senses with unexcelled ability to discern things, yet without giving rise to tumultuous thoughts, so that it is fully independent and at ease, is the profound observing wisdom. That which can convert all the senses with their functions of responding to circumstances into correct sensation free from duality is the perfecting wisdom.}

_{Q: As to ‘binding the four Buddha-wisdoms to form the trikaya’, which of them combine to form one body and which of them each becomes a body in itself?}

_{A: The great mirror wisdom singly forms the Dharmakaya. The universal wisdom singly forms the Sambhogakaya. The profound observing wisdom and the perfecting wisdom jointly form the Nirmanakaya. These three bodies are only named differently to enable unenlightened people to see more clearly. Once the principle is understood, there will be no more three bodies with functions responding to various needs. Why? Formless in substance and by nature, they are established in the basically impermanent which is not their own (true basis) at all.}

~Hui Hai, The Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening, John Blofeld

After a talk, Marilynn said, "Sometimes you say that spiritual practice is not necessary, and sometimes you say that we must cease conceptualization. I am confused."

Louie Wing said, "True spiritual practice is not tainted with the idea of spiritual practice. Ceasing conceptualization is not ceasing thought. Spiritual practice does not create reality; it directs you to what is already real. Ceasing conceptualization does not destroy delusion; it reveals its falsity."

Marilynn said, "But you have said that delusion is reality too."

Louie Wing said, "When you see the reality of delusion, it is no longer delusion, or reality."

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