Panna Padipa - Blogs of BWB & CA

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An Eternal Now
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Originally posted by ecstatix:

I know it is a phrase in the Diamond Sutra, does anyone know where exactly is it located in the Sutra, and further more does anyone have accurate explaination in English of its meaning? If possible please accompany with the histortrical background of it with 6th Patriarch Ven. Hui Neng.
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Sorry I have missed this part. Thich Nhat Hanh explained:


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Bodhisattvas should not base their bodhicitta on form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas. They should base their bodhicitta on non-attachment. "So, Subhuti, all the bodhisattva mahasattvas should give rise to a pure and clear intention in this spirit. When they give rise to this intention they should not rely on forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile objects or objects of mind. They should give rise to that intention with their minds not dwelling anywhere."(10) That means that you do not base your bodhicitta on the thinking that is based on form. "So, Subhuti, when a bodhisattva gives rise to the unequalled mind of awakening, he has to give up all ideas. He cannot rely on forms when he gives rise to that mind, nor on sounds, smells, tastes, tactile objects or objects of mind. He can only give rise to that mind that is not caught up in anything."(14) So, the bodhisattva who would like to give rise to bodhicitta should not rely on form, the form of self, person, living being, and life-span.
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The Mind here could refer to our true nature (the Mind that Thusness shared during the Lankavatara Sutra sharing session).

As for background, Hui Neng attained two levels of awakening after listening to this verse from the Diamond Sutra twice. (btw, he has not attained Great Enlightenment when he wrote the pu ti ben wu shu poem). First he glimpsed his Buddha Nature (that is even before meeting the 5th Patriarch), the next time he listened to the verse again (this time it is expounded by the 5th patriarch) he attained the Great Enlightenment and realised that self-nature and manifestation is non dual, and all dharmas are manifestation of Mind/Self-Nature. (regarding this I have created this topic: Bodhi Tree & Bright Mirror (Part 2))

From Bohiruci's link:


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.....When a young novice passed the rice mill chanting Shenxiu's gatha, Huineng immediately knew this verse lacked true insight. He went to the wall, and asked a district officer there to write a poem of his own for him. The officer was surprised, "How extraordinary! You are illiterate, and you want to compose a poem?" Whereupon Huineng said, "If you seek supreme enlightenment, do not slight anyone. The lowest class may have great insights, and the highest class may commit foolish acts." In veneration, the officer wrote Huineng’s gatha on the wall for him, next to Shenxiu's, which stated:

Bodhi is no tree,
nor is the mind a standing mirror bright.
Since all is originally empty,
where does the dust alight?

Huineng then went back to rice pounding. However, this gatha created a bigger stir; everyone was saying, "Amazing! You can’t judge a person by his looks! Maybe he will become a living bodhisattva soon!" However, when the alarmed Hongren came out, he just casually said, "This hasn’t seen the essential nature either," and proceeded to wipe the gatha off with his shoe.

One night, Hongren received Huineng in his abode, and expounded the Diamond Sutra to him. When he came to the passage, "to use the mind yet be free from any attachment," Huineng came to great enlightenment—that all dharmas are inseparable from the self nature. He exclaimed, "How amazing that the self nature is originally pure! How amazing that the self nature is unborn and undying! How amazing that the self nature is inherently complete! How amazing that the self nature neither moves nor stays! How amazing that all dharmas come from this self nature!"

Hongren told Huineng, "If one recognizes the original mind, the original nature, he is called a great man, teacher of gods and humans, and Buddha." He passed the robe and begging bowl as a symbol of the Dharma Seal of Sudden Enlightenment to Huineng...