The Sixth Patriarchs Sutra

7:30pm Pacific time

December 21, 2012 lecture

as outlined by a Buddhist monk
at 1777 Murchison Drive, Burlingame, California 94010, open to public (phone 650-6925912) (Listen live or recorded audio explanations at www.wondrousdharma.org)

Q&A Ear organ method is to pay attention to and silence your own mind Chapter 6 Repentance and reform the 3 refuges
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Verse for opening a sutra Na Mwo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha (3x) Homage to the Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (3x) The unsurpassed, deep, profound, subtle, wonderful Dharma, In a hundred thousand million eons, is difficult to encounter, Now that Ive come to receive and hold it, within my sight and hearing, I vow to fathom the Thus Come Ones true and actual meaning.
Exhortation to uphold the Dharma: 16

The power of my wisdom, the unlimited illumination of my wisdom is such that my l ifespan is one of countless eons, attained through long cultivation and work. Those of you with wisdom, should not have doubts about this . Cut them off entirely and forever, for the Buddhas words are real and not false. (The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra)
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Q&A
Question: Is the method of the organ of the ear about listening to

silence, cutting off speech? NO

Answer:

The intent of the method of the organ of the ear is about silencing the mind and not just silencing external sound; in a quiet forest there is no sound but the mind is noisy.

First, I redirected my hearing inward in order to enter the current of the sages. Then external sounds disappeared.

External sounds disappeared from the mind just as in the case of our mind not paying attention to the clock ticking in the room. 3

Q&A
With the direction of my hearing reversed and with sounds stilled, both sounds and silence cease to arise. (Shurangama
Sutra)

In a silent room, you noticed the clock ticking. Why? Because of the silence, there is sound of clock ticking when you pay attention to it; but when you pay attention to your random thoughts, you dont notice the silence and the sound of the clock ticking. There is a third internal sound the thoughts in your mind that block out the silence in the room and the clock ticking.
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Q&A
Therefore the method of the organ of the ear is not about trying to listen to silence but disengaging from the external sounds so that our minds are not moved by sounds and silence as the Sutra says,

All that you need to do is not allow your attention (mind) to be diverted by the twelve conditioned attributes of sound and silence, contact and separation, flavor and absence of flavor, openness and blockage, coming into being and perishing, and light and darkness. Next extricate one faculty by detaching it from its objects. (Shurangama Sutra)
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Q&A
Silence is also an object of distraction; do not attach to the sound of silence a deaf person hears silence but his mind is still confused with random thoughts.

The method of the organ of the ear is to guide you to prajna emptiness (silence in mind) and not to silence the sound nor become attached to silence So it was that, as I gradually progressed, and what I heard and my awareness of what I heard came to an end. 6 (Shurangama Sutra)

Q&A
To reach a state of emptiness, it is important to note that the method of the organ of the ear is about the state of our own mind as

Nevertheless, since beings have allowed their attention to be drawn to sights and sound and have allowed themselves to be carried along in their stream of thoughts, as it has been since time without beginning, they have not yet awakened and do not yet understand the purity and wondrousness, and the permanence of their own essential nature. (Shurangama Sutra)
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Q&A
Instead of attending to what is everlasting (emptiness), they attend to what comes into being and perishes (the interaction of sounds and silence) and hold fast to what is true and everlasting (the state of emptiness in which even emptiness is emptied), then the light of everlasting will appear (inherent prajna wisdom will appear) and as a result the faculties, their objects and the sense consciousness will fade away and disappear. (Shurangama
Sutra)

The Buddha told the common example of a man who is asleep yet he is able to use his true mind to listen to the sound of beating of clothes but mistaken it to be the sound of the drum because his conscious mind misinterpret it as the sound of the beating of a drum.
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Q&A
The true mind listens but it is covered up and confused by the interpretation of the sixth conscious mind.

Because we have not put down ignorance, all of our thoughts are tainted with the appearance of self and others, love and hate.

Because of initial thought, more thoughts and emotions appear in our mind 9

Q&A
By entirely disengaging yourself from two impurities defiled mental processes and defiled emotional attachment to those processes your Dharma eye will become clear and bright. How could you fail to go on to realize a supreme understanding and awakening? (Shurangama Sutra) If you think of plums, your mouth waters; if you dont think of plums, your mouth doesnt water.

Ultimately the method of the organ of the ear is to lead you to cut off false thinking from the conscious mind and attachment to appearances; this is the state of initial prajna emptiness similar to the Stage of Patience in the Four Additional Practices 10

Q&A
Their minds and the minds of the Buddhas had been separate, but now they have become one. They gain true understanding of the Middle Way. They are like someone who endures something that cannot be repressed and yet cannot be expressed. This is called the Stage of Patience.

Being patient, you empty people and empty your thoughts; essentially the method of the ear organ leads us to listen within to recognize the false thought and not built upon it because everything is empty. What is the Middle Way?...
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Q&A
Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, The self nature is the MiddleWay.

Your true mind is neither right nor wrong, neither true nor false. In your true mind there are no thoughts of good or evil. Therefore the Sixth Patriarch asked Hui Ming With no thoughts of good and with no thoughts of evil, at just this moment, what is the Superior One Hui Mings original face? He posed this question to reveal that there is neither good nor evil in the true mind. As they say in philosophy, It has no head or tail. Even when that state of mind in which everything had come to an end disappeared, I did not rest .
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Q&A
My awareness and the objects of my awareness were emptied, and when that process of emptying my awareness was wholly complete, then even that emptying and what had been emptied vanished. Coming into being and ceasing to be themselves ceased to be. Then the ultimate stillness was revealed. (Shurangama
Sutra)

Emptiness was pulverized, the mad mind ceased (silenced)this is the ultimate intent of the method of the organ of the ear and certainly it is not about being attached to the object of silence but about silencing the deluded thoughts within our minds 13

Q&A
When all delineations have melted away, these good people no longer distinguish between confusion and enlightenment and the Middle Way. This is called the Stage of Preeminence in the world. (Shurangama Sutra)

When you cease the mad discriminating mind or silenced/quiet your mind then,

One day of practice that relies on a fully effective faculty is equivalent to an eon of practice that relies on a faculty that is not fully effective. (Shurangama Sutra)
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Q&A
Where does the ceasing the mad mind and method of the organ of the ear converge?

1. You hear and at the same time you hear as if not hearing because the mind does not pay attention nor register the sound, without thinking of good or evil,

unless it is directed at you and in this case you should respond with prajna wisdom of not being deluded at all times.

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Q&A
2. Use your ear to listen within so that you pay attention to your thoughts, recognize the false thoughts when they arise by not making further judgment, or accepting nor rejecting or register in your mind because

All dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced. Not destroyed. Not defiled, not pure. They neither increase nor diminish.(Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra) The mind without false thinking or the concentrated mind is the original true mind which is empty and still.
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Then

Q&A
Every day peaceful; every day happy because random thoughts have fizzled away!

Next week lecture: Elaborate and apply the principle in the Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra and the method of the organ of the ear.

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

From this day forward, we call enlightenment our master and will never again take refuge with deviant demons or outside religions. We constantly enlighten ourselves by means of the Triple Jewel of our own self-nature.
Comments

Taking refuge with the Three Jewels mean that we want to transform ourselves from confusion into enlightenment.

What is the Three Jewels of our own self nature?....

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, I exhort you all to take refuge with the Triple Jewel of your own nature: the Buddha, which is enlightenment, the Dharma, which is right, and the Sangha, which is pure.
Comments

The Three Jewels of our self nature is to always use our wisdom nature, always adhere to the teaching that is apart from desire and defilement.

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

When your mind takes refuge with enlightenment, deviant confusion does not arise. Desire decreases, so that you know contentment and are able to keep away from wealth and from the opposite sex. That is called the honored, the doubly complete.
Comments

Our enlightened nature has no confusion; it is our inherent prajna wisdom. Our enlightened nature is free of desire in particular emotional love that causes us to continue in the six destinies; it is our limitless blessings. 20

Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Why is our blessings limitless when we are free of desire? Desire is like a bottomless pit that flows out.

When desire is absent through contentment then there is no outflow.

Without outflow is to have limitless blessings; the Honored One apart from desire.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

When your own mind takes refuge with what is right, there are no deviant views in any of your thoughts. Because there are no deviant views, there is no self, other, arrogance, greed, love, or attachment. That is called the honored that is apart from desire.
Comments

The right frame of mind is to be apart from the deviant views that cling to desire as a result of a false self.

Because there is a self, there is then others as distinguished from self. 22

Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Because there is a self, there is arrogance, the sign of superior self over others.

Because there is a self, there is greed, love and attachments that benefits the self.

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

When your own mind takes refuge with the pure, your self-nature is not stained by attachment to any state of defilement, desire or love. That is called the honored among the multitudes.
Comments

It is the mind that takes refuge with the pure. Purity is the absence of defilement and outflowing of desire and love. Having limitless blessings, one is honored all.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

If you cultivate this practice, you take refuge with yourself.

Comments

Why do we take refuge with ourselves?

We take refuge with the Buddha within us; our original mind which is eternally pure but presently covered by confusion.

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Because our mind is presently covered with confusion, we take refuge with the purity within ourselves when: Our minds ceasing evil ten evil deeds itself is ten good deeds.

Our minds turn over from what is deviant to proper.

Our minds turn over from jealousy into rejoicing in merit of others.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Common people do not understand that, and so, from morning to night, they take the triple-refuge precepts. They say they take refuge with the Buddha, but where is the Buddha? If they cannot see the Buddha, how can they return to him? Their talk is absurd.
Comments

Confusion about the original perfect understanding results in delusion, but this delusion has no essential nature; it is based on nothing. One may wish to return to what is real, but to wish for the real is falsification. 27

Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

The true nature of the suchness of reality is not a reality that one can seek to return to.

If one were to try to return to it, one would merely experience something that does not have the attribute of reality.(Shurangama Sutra)

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, each of you examine yourselves. Do not make wrong use of the mind. The Avatamsaka Sutra clearly states that you should take refuge with your own Buddha, not with some other Buddha. If you do not take refuge with the Buddha in yourself, there is no one you can rely on.
Comments

Making wrong use of the mind is to go chasing outside yourself to find the precious pearl that is within our clothing.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, each of you examine yourselves. Do not make wrong use of the mind. The Avatamsaka Sutra clearly states that you should take refuge with your own Buddha, not with some other Buddha. If you do not take refuge with the Buddha in yourself, there is no one you can rely on.
Comments

The Buddha within each and every living being is our original Buddha nature, our original mind.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Now that you are self-awakened, you should each take refuge with the Triple Jewel of your own mind.
Comments

Good Knowing Advisors, I exhort you all to take refuge with the Triple Jewel of your own nature: the Buddha, which is enlightenment, the Dharma, which is right, and the Sangha, which is pure. When your mind takes refuge with enlightenment, deviant confusion does not arise. Desire decreases, so that you know contentment and are able to keep away from wealth and from the opposite sex. 31

Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

When your mind takes refuge with enlightenment, deviant confusion does not arise. Desire decreases, so that you know contentment and are able to keep away from wealth and from the opposite sex. That is called the honored, the doubly complete. [the Buddha within yourself] When your own mind takes refuge with what is right, there are no deviant views in any of your thoughts. Because there are no deviant views, there is no self, other, arrogance, greed, love, or attachment. That is called the honored that is apart from desire. [the Dharma within yourself]

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

When your own mind takes refuge with the pure, your self-nature is not stained by attachment to any state of defilement, desire or love. That is called the honored among the multitudes. - [the Sangha within yourself]

Because within every living being there is the Triple Jewel, we should then respect every living being

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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Within yourself, regulate your mind and nature; outside yourself, respect others. That is to take refuge with yourself.
Comments

If you really understand the Buddhadharma, you will respect not just your relatives and friends, but everyone even people who dont know. Instead of slapping someone when you see him and then throwing mud in his face, you must be the most respectful toward those who act the worst toward you. This is the fundamental responsibility of students of Buddhism. (Venerable Master Hsuan Hua)
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

Good Knowing Advisors, now that you have taken refuge with the Triple Jewel, you should listen carefully while I explain to you the three bodies of a single substance, the self-nature of the Buddha, so that you may see the three bodies and become completely enlightened to your own self-nature. Repeat after me,
Comments

The 3 bodies of a Buddha is the Dharma body, the reward body and the transformation body.
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Chapter 6 Repentance and reform

Sutra:

I take refuge with the clear, pure Dharma-body of the Buddha within my own body.

Comments

The Dharma body within us is the unmoving thusness. The myriad dharmas appear when the mind moves.

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Dedication of merit
May every living beings, Our minds as one and radiant with light Share the fruits of peace, with hearts of goodness luminous and bright. If people hear and see, how hands and hearts can find in giving unity May their minds awake, to great compassion, wisdom and to joy. May kindness find reward; may all who sorrow leave their grief and pain; May this boundless light break the darkness of their endless night. Because our hearts are one, this world of pain turns into paradise; 37 May all become compassionate and wise (2x)

Dedication of merit
I vow that merit made from this deed will become, Adornments for the Pure Land of Bu-ddhas. Repaying the four kinds of kindness above, And aiding those in three paths below. May all who see and hear of this deed Bring forth the resolve to reborn In the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

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