Praises at the Summit of Mount Sumeru

Chapter Fourteen

 

 

Sutra:

All the languages of the world
Are falsely discriminated by sentient beings.
If one knows that nothing in the world comes into being,
Then one sees the world the way it really is.

Commentary:

All the languages of the world/Are falsely discriminated by sentient beings. Each category of sentient being has its own language. In our present world, there are many countries and many languages used by people. Beasts have their own languages. Birds have their own languages, sentient beings use their false thinking to discriminate languages. If one knows that nothing in the world comes into being, / Then one sees the world the way it really is. All the languages and discriminations in the world have no real substance. Lacking substance, they neither come into being nor cease to be. If one can understand this principle, one truly understands worldly dharmas.

Sutra:

If one sees the world through that faculty of sight,
Then one perceives that its attributes are mundane.
Yet those attribute are not different from true reality.
This is known as having genuine faculty of sight.

Commentary:

If one sees the world through that faculty of sight, if you truly understand all languages, all worldly dharmas, then one perceives that its attributes are mundane. Yet one understands that these mundane attributes are eternal,neither coming into being nor ceasing to exist. Yet these attributes are not different from the principle of true reality. To perceive this principle is to fathom the source. Being in the world is just transcending the world. The Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch, said,

The Buddhadharma is in the world.
Enlightenment is not apart from the world.
To seek bodhi apart from the world
Is like looking for a hare with horns.

This is known as having genuine faculty of sight. This is true understanding of both worldly and world-transcending dharmas.

Sutra:

If one views all objects as identical, undifferentiated,
And does not make discriminations among them,
Then one’s vision is free from delusion, and
Without outflows, one attains self-mastery.

Commentary:

If one views all objects as identical, undifferentiated/, if one understands the ultimate truth, which is devoid of phenomenal characteristics/ And does not discriminate among them, if one can understand, without distinctions, the inherent nature of all things without discriminating, understand the fundamental reality which is without characteristics, but which characterizes everything, then one’s vision is free from delusion. If one can understand the reality of all dharmas without discriminating, then worldly dharmas are just transcendental dharmas; affliction is itself bodhi. That is, if you can turn affliction around, it becomes bodhi. If you are about to get afflicted but you don’t, then that is bodhi. This nondiscriminating seeing is wisdom. When all doubts and delusions are gone, you attain fundamental wisdom.  

And without outflows, one attains self-mastery. Being free of discriminations is being without outflows. Why do you have discriminations? Because you have outflows. “Outflows” refers to all your faults. If you have discriminations, you have outflows. Without discriminations, you have no outflows. The state of being without outflows comes from not using the consciousness to discriminate things, which means you have attained fundamental wisdom. When you have attained fundamental wisdom and understood the reality of all dharmas, you will have attained self-mastery. When all things are clear beyond a doubt, you are in a state of comfort and ease.

Sutra:

Of all the differentiated dharmas
Revealed and taught by all the Buddhas,
None can be attained
For in their nature they are pure.  

Commentary:

The Buddha spoke all dharmas
In response to all the minds of sentient beings.
If there were no minds,
What use would the dharmas be?

Of all the differentiated dharmas / Revealed and taught by all the Buddhas. The Buddha spoke all dharmas in response to sentient beings’ needs and potentials. In response to their potentials, discriminations had to be made. The “differentiated dharmas” include the teachings of the Avatamsaka, the Agama, the Vaipulya, the Prajna, and the Dharma Flower/Nirvana periods.

The Buddha spoke all kinds of Dharma: Great Vehicle Dharma, Lesser Vehicle Dharma, the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, the Dharma of the Twelve Links of Causation, the Dharma of the Six Paramitas and Myriad Practices, and so on. He dispensed medicines to sentient beings according to their illnesses. If they had no illness, they wouldn’t need to take medicine.

None can be attained. When sentient beings are cured, all these dharmas disappear. You don’t need to continue taking medicine even after you get well. Likewise, once you’ve crossed the river, there’s no need to carry the boat. The Vajra Sutra says, “Even the Dharma should be renounced, how much the more what is not the Dharma.” When you become enlightened and truly attain fundamental wisdom, all dharmas should be set aside. Don’t have an attachment to the Dharma.

For in their nature they are pure. The Dharma is essentially unproduced and undestroyed, originally pure and clear. Being pure and clear, what is there to attain. So the Heart Sutra says, “There is no knowing and no attaining.” You have to understand the emptiness of all dharmas. The Dharma spoken by the Buddha is pure in nature, without characteristics. The Dharma was spoken for the sake of saving sentient beings. When sentient beings have all been saved, the Dharma serves no further use. Why is the Dharma unattainable? Because it is pure and clear, without characteristics.

Sutra:

The Dharma’s nature is fundamentally clear and pure,
Devoid of attributes, just like the void.
None of it can be expressed in words.
Thus do the wise ones contemplate.  

Commentary:

The Dharma’s nature is fundamentally clear and pure. “ All dharmas are originally tranquil and still, and cannot be proclaimed in words.” The true Dharma is inexpressible. As it’s said, “ the path of language is cut off, and the mind’s workings are extinguished.”

The mouth wants to speak, but there are no words.
The mind wants to think, but thoughts are gone.

It is inexpressibly inexpressible. It cannot be verbalized. Whatever can be spoken is only expedient Dharma.

The Dharma, in its basic nature, is pure. It cannot be described in words. It is like the void, devoid of any shape or form. Since it has no shape or form, how can it be spoken of? Any expression of it is only an analogy or metaphor. To use comparisons or direct perception to describe it is to have spoken, and yet not spoken; not spoken, and yet spoken. In expediently teaching and transforming sentient beings, Buddhas put into words what defied description. Although empty space itself is formless, it can contain all things with form, whether they are as small as a mote of dust or as large as mountains, rivers, buildings, and the earth. Nothing can be outside of empty space and the Dharma Realm. This is how within true emptiness there appears wonderful existence, and within wonderful existence there is true emptiness.

True emptiness is not empty; thus it is called wonderful existence.
Wonderful existence doesn’t exist; thus it doesn’t obstruct true emptiness.
True emptiness is just wonderful existence, and wonderful existence is just true emptiness.  

Devoid of attributes, just like the void. The pure, original essence of the Dharma has no characteristics at all, just like space. None of it can be expressed in words. The Dharma is pure in nature, so there isn’t anything that can be spoken. Whatever is spoken is merely expedient Dharma. However, before sentient beings are enlightened, you have to speak expedient Dharma for them. After they are enlightened, not a single Dharma exists. They have swept away all dharmas and left all characteristics behind.

When confused, a thousand volumes are too few.
After enlightenment, a single word is too much.

When we sentient beings are confused, you might read, recite, or bow to a thousand volumes of sutras, but still feel that is very little. After we are enlightened, not a single word exists. We will recite, read, and bow to the wordless, true sutra. Thus do the wise ones contemplate. This is how wise people contemplate all dharmas.

Sutra:

If one avoids the thought of dharmas,
And does not delight in any Dharma,
And has nothing left to cultivate,
One can then behold Great Muni.

Commentary:

The character for the verb “delight” ( 樂) should be pronounced yao, not le here.

If one avoids the thought of dharmas, then one is without thought and without discrimination. You don’t think about anything. Being without thought is suchness. That is True Suchness—the basic substance of dharmas. No matter what you think about, it is considered a thought. When you discriminate the characteristics of dharmas, that is thought. Thought of dharmas refers to any thoughts. 

And does not delight in any Dharma. If you delight in Dharma, you haven’t destroyed the attachment to Dharma. Now we are studying and explaining the Dharma, because we don’t understand yet. Once we understand, there’s no need to lecture on the sutras; it becomes superfluous. But before we have understood, it’s not right to say that we don’t want to listen to the Dharma or that we don’t want the Dharma. It’s like saying you’ve crossed the ocean when you haven’t crossed it. You can’t say that until after you’ve crossed the ocean. If you say you don’t want the Dharma before you’ve attained the fruition and realized the essence of True Suchness of your own nature, you are cheating yourself as well as others. It’s like “ plugging your ears and stealing a bell.” Because your ears are plugged, you fool yourself into thinking that the bell won’t make any sound. Before you realize the fruition, you have to study the Dharma.

If you are apart from all thoughts, so that “ not a single thought arises, and the entire substance manifests,” then all the Dharma is within your own nature and you don’t have to cultivate or study the Dharma anymore.

So the next line says: And has nothing left to cultivate. You have crossed the river and don’t need the boat anymore. You have attained to the fourth stage of Arhatship—the position beyond study. But before you become a fourth state Arhat, you still have to study. You can’t say, “The Flower Adornment Sutra says to not delight in any Dharma, so I don’t need to listen to the sutra or study the Dharma.” You only want to renounce all Dharma, but ask yourself if you are able to “stay away from all thoughts of dharmas.” Can you be without false thinking? Not to mention when you’re awake, you have false thinking even in your sleep! That’s false within the false. You’re not reliable even when you’re sleeping; your mind is full of false thoughts. Since you can’t stay away from all thoughts of dharmas, you aren’t at the level where you can “not delight in any Dharma.” You have to be apart from all thoughts of dharmas and from all thoughts before you can decide you won’t delight in the Dharma. If you’re not there yet, you should still delight in the Dharma. 

And has nothing left to cultivate. When you are at the level of being apart from all thoughts of dharmas, there’s no need to cultivate. You cultivate without cultivating, don’t cultivate and yet cultivate. There’s nothing to cultivate or realize, because you’ve already perfected your cultivation. You can be certified as having attainment. At that time one can then behold Great Muni. Great Muni refers to our fundamental teacher Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha often meets you and talks to you and is together with you.

Sutra:

As Meritorious Wisdom said before,
This defines “one who sees the Buddhas.”
Each and every practice is
In nature tranquil and quiescent.

Commentary:

Vigorous Wisdom Bodhisattva from the northeastern direction concludes his verses by saying, “As Meritorious Wisdom Bodhisattva said before, / This defines “one who sees the Buddhas.” If you understand these principles in his verses, then you are one who sees the Buddhas.” 

Each and every practice is / In nature tranquil and quiescent. If you awaken to this state, then you understand the nature of the Dharma.

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