Q: By what means can the gateway of our school be entered?
A: By means of the dana paran-iita.
Q: According to the Buddha, the Bodhisattva path com-prises six paramitas. Why, then, have you mentioned only the one? Please explain why this one alone provides a sufficient means for us to enter.
A: Deluded people fail to understand that the other five all proceed from the dana paramita and that by its practice all the others are fulfilled.
Q: Why is it called the dana paramita?
A: ‘Dana’ means ‘relinquishment’.
Q: Relinquishment of what?
A: Relinquishment of the dualism of opposites.
Q: Which means?
A: It means total relinquishment of ideas as to the dual nature of good and bad, being and nonbeing, love and aversion, void and nonvoid, concentration and distraction, pure and impure. By giving all of them up, we attain to a state in which all opposites are seen as void. The real practice of the dana paramita entails achieving this state without any thought of ‘now I see that opposites are void’, or’now I have relinquished all of them’. We may also call it ‘the simultaneous cutting off of the myriad types of con-current causes’; for it is when these are cut off that the whole Dharma-nature becomes void; and this voidness of the Dharma-nature means the nondwelling of the mind upon anything whatsoever. Once that state is achieved, not a single form can be discerned. Why? Because our self-nature is immaterial and does not contain a single thing (foreign to itself). That which contains no single thing is true reality, the marvelous form of the Tathagata-it is said in the Diamond Sutra: ‘Those who relinquish all forms are called "Buddhas" (enlightened ones).’ Q: However, the Buddha did speak of six paramitas, so why do you now say they can all be fulfilled in that one? Please give your reason for this.
A: The Sutra of the Questions of Brabma says: ‘Jala-vidya, the elder, spoke unto Brahma and said, Bodhi sattvas by relinquishing all defilement’s (klesha) may be said to have fulfilled the dana paramita, also known as ‘total relinquishment’; being beguiled by nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the sila paramita, also known as ,observing the precepts’; being hurt by nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the kshanti paramita, also known as ‘exercising forbearance’; clinging to nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the virya paramita, also known as ‘exercising zeal’; dwelling on nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the dhyana paramita, also known as ‘prac-tising dhyana and samadhi’; speaking lightly of nothing, they may be said to have fulfilled the praina paramita, also known as ‘exercising wisdom’. Together, they are named’the six methods’."’ Now I am going to speak about those six methods in a way which means precisely the same - the first entails relinquishment; the second, no arising (of perception, sensation, etc); the third, no thinking; the fourth, remaining apart from forms; the fifth, non-abiding (of the mind); and the sixth, no indulgence in light speech. We give different names to these six methods only for convenience in dealing with passing needs; for, when we come to the marvellous principle involved in them all, we find no differences at all. So you have only to understand that, by a single act of relinquishment, everything is relinquished; and that no arising means no arising of anything whatsoever. Those who have lost their way have no intuitive understanding of this; that is why they speak of the methods as though they differed from one another. Fools bogged down in a multiplicity of methods revolve endlessly from life span to life span. I exhort you students to practise the way of relinquishment and nothing else, for it brings to perfection not only the other five paramitas, but also myriads of dharmas (methods).
II. Q: What are the ‘three methods of training (to be performed) at the same level’ and what is meant by per-forming them on the same level?
A: They are discipline (vinaya), concentration (dhyana) and wisdom (prajna)."
Q: Please explain them one by one.
A: Discipline involves stainless purity. Concentration involves the stilling of your minds so that you remain wholly unmoved by surrounding phenomena. Wisdom means that your stillness of mind is not disturbed by your giving any thought to that stillness, that your purity is unmarred by your entertaining any thought of purity and that, in the midst of all such pairs of opposites as good and evil, you are able to distinguish between them without being stained by them and, in this way, to reach the state of being perfectly at ease and free of all dependence. Furthermore, if you realize that discipline, concentration and wisdom are all alike in that their substance is intangible and that, hcnce, they are undivided and therefore one - that is what is meant by three methods of training performed at the same level.
12. Q: When the mind rests in a state of purity, will that not give rise to some attachment to purity?
A: If, on reaching the state of purity, you refrain from thinking ‘now my mind is resting in purity’, there will be no such attachment.
Q: When the mind rests in a state of void, will that not entail some attachment to void?
A: if you think of your mind as resting in a state of void, then there will be such an attachment.
Q: When the mind reaches this state of not dwelling upon anything, and continues in that state, will there not be some attachment to its not dwelling upon anything? A: So long as your mind is fixed solely on void, there is nothing to which you can attach yourself. if you want to understand the nondwelling mind very clearly, while you are actually sitting in meditation, you must be cognizant only of the mind and not permit yourself to make judge-ments - that is, you must avoid evaluations in terms of good, evil, or anything else. Whatever is past is past, so do not sit in judgment upon it; for, when minding about the past ceases of itself, it can be said that there is no longer any past. Whatever is in the future is not here yet, so do not direct your hopes and longings towards it; for, when n-iinding about the future ceases of itself, it can be said that there is no future. 18 Whatever is present is now at hand; just be conscious of your nonattachment to every-thing - nonattachment in the sense of not allowing any love or aversion for anything to enter your mind; for, when miinding the present ceases of itself, we may say that there is no present. When there is no clinging to any of those three periods, they may be said not to exist. Should your mind wander away, do not follow it, whereupon your wandering mind will stop wandering of its own accord. Should your mind desire to linger somewhere, do not follow it and do not dwell there, whereupon your mind’s questing for a dwelling place will cease of its own accord. Thereby, you will come to possess a nondwelling mind - a mind which remains in the state of nondwelling. If you are fully aware in yourself of a nondwelling mind, you will discover that there is just the fact of dwelling, with nothing to dwell upon or not to dwell upon. This full awareness in yourself of a mind dwelling upon nothing is known as having a clear perception of your own mind, or, in other words, as having a clear perception of your own nature. A mind which dwells upon nothing is the Buddha-mind, the mind of one already delivered, bodhi-mind, uncreate mind; it is also called ‘realization that the nature of all appearances is unreal’. It is this which the sutras call ‘patient realization of the uncreate’.19 If you have not realized it yet, you must strive and strive, you must increase your exertions. Then, when your efforts are crowned with success, you will have attained to understanding from within yourself - an understanding stemming from a mind that abides nowhere, by which we mean a mind free from delusion and reality alike. A mind disturbed by love and aversion is deluded; a mind free from both of them is real; and a mind thus freed reaches the state in which opposites are seen as void, whereby freedom and deliverance are obtained.
13. Q: Are we to make this effort only when we are sitting in meditation, or also when we are walking about? A: When I spoke just now of making an effort, I did not mean only when you are sitting in meditation; for, whether you are walking, standing, sitting, lying, or what-ever you are doing, you must uninterruptedly exert your-selves all the time. This is what we call ‘constantly abiding’ (in that state).