Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán: Entanglement Is Not Entanglement, Zen Is Not Zen — A Dead Tree's Dragon Song Illuminates the Great Thousand Worlds (XXVI)

2006/8/20 11:04:58

To break through delusion and reveal truth is not to suppose that a truth exists outside of delusion. Inside delusion, outside delusion — both are delusion; what inside, what outside? To break — there is truly nothing broken; this is what breaking means. If there were a breaker and a broken, then it would not be delusion. To reveal — there is truly nothing revealed; this is what revealing means. If there were a revealer and a revealed, then it would not be truth. Subject and object have nothing to do with existence or non-existence, right or wrong. Non-delusion is non-truth; non-truth is non-delusion. If non-delusion were truth and non-truth were delusion, then one would not depart from existence/non-existence and right/wrong — what subject and object could there be? To forget both subject and object is still delusion. Those who seek their livelihood among truth, delusion, simultaneously-truth-and-delusion, or neither-truth-nor-delusion — throughout history, they have been legion.

There are further fools who posit the unity of truth and delusion — this truly does not depart from the clinging calculation of verbal formulas. Truth is not truth; delusion is not delusion. If truth were truly truth and delusion truly delusion, then truth would still be true-delusion and delusion would still be delusion-truth — what truth? what delusion? The unity of truth and delusion is in reality delusion. Those of even lesser attainment posit an origin from the unity of truth and delusion — still more foolish. Truth is non-truth yet truth; delusion is non-delusion yet delusion. Truth is not non-delusion; delusion is not non-truth. True-truth and delusion-delusion are still true-delusion and delusion-truth — all are caught in the net of verbal formulas, unable to extricate themselves. Such fools, throughout history, have been legion.

The truth and delusion of this world truly do not depart from the speculation of the six consciousnesses. Like the blind touching an elephant or the one-eyed describing the sun — truth has no basis for being truth, delusion has no basis for being delusion; all is speculation. One-eyed yet blind — that is not true blindness. Not one-eyed yet blind — that is true blindness. Even if one is free in the three realms, the four wisdoms are complete, the five aggregates are empty, and the six supernormal powers flow freely — one still does not escape beginningless ignorance; all are blind. Ignorance cannot be escaped, cannot be shed. What escapes and what is escaped, what sheds and what is shed — all are ignorance. The fools of this world love to discourse on "from the Infinite to the Supreme Ultimate," not knowing that the Infinite still does not escape beginningless ignorance, being merely the speculation of the delusory mind — all blind.

The eight consciousnesses do not depart from beginningless ignorance. To speculate about them with the six consciousnesses is truly crude. To depart from the six or eight consciousnesses and seek escape from beginningless ignorance — still more crude. Beginningless ignorance cannot be escaped. What escapes and what is escaped — all are beginningless ignorance. If someone in this world proclaims to have extinguished ignorance, generated wisdom, and transcended birth and death, that is the great false speech — true ignorance. Ignorance has nothing that can be extinguished; wisdom has nothing that can be generated; birth and death have nothing that can be transcended. Those who seek to extinguish, generate, and transcend — theirs is the karma of greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and pride, entangled in beginningless ignorance.

A verse:

Who is it, with loose hair, that swears the pact with gulls? The Milky Way has no boat, stretching across day and night.
The moon illumines nine heavens — rivers and seas turn white; a man roams the three realms — dust and world grow bright.
Parsing truth, debating falsity — the heart originally illusory; dazzled by colors, confused by light — yet the eyes are not blind.
Who would think the vast waters hold a single drop? Amid the residual ash and scorched earth, one asks of withering and flourishing.