Even if you can explain thousands of sutras, unless you see your own nature — yours is the teaching of a mortal, not a Buddha. The true way is sublime. It can’t be expressed in language. What use are scriptures?
Someone who sees their own nature has found The Way, even if they can’t read a word. Somone who sees their nature is a Buddha. A Buddha’s body is intrinsically pure and can’t be defiled. Everything thing say is an expression of their mind. Since their body and expressions are basically empty, you can’t find a Buddha in words, nor anywhere in the twelve-fold canon.
The Way is basically perfect, it doesn’t require perfecting. The Way has not form or sound. It is subtle and hard to perceive. Its like when you drink water: you know how hot or cold it is, but you can’t tell others. Of that which only a Tatargata knows, humans and gods remain unaware. The awareness of mortals falls short. As long as they are attached to appearances, they are unaware that their mind is empty. And by mistakenly clinging to the appearance of things, they lose the way.
If you know that everything comes from the mind, don’t be attached. Once attached, you are unaware. But once you see your own nature, the entire canon becomes so much prose. Its thousands of sutras and shastras only amount to a clear mind.
Understanding comes in mid-sentence. What good are doctrines?
The ultimate truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They are not The Way.
The Way is wordless. Words are illusions. They are no different from things that appear in your dreams at night, be they palaces or carriages, forested parks or lakeside pavillions. Don’t conceive any delight for such things: they are all cradles of rebirth. Keep this in mind when you approach death: don’t cling to appearances, and you’ll break through all barriers. A moment’s hesitation and you’ll be under the spell of devils. Your real body is pure and impervious — but because of delusions, you are unaware of it; and because of this, you suffer karma in vain. Wherever you find delight, you find bondage. But once you awaken to your original body and mind, you are no longer bound to attachments.
Anyone who gives up the transcendent for the mundane, in any of its myriad forms — is a mortal. A Buddha is someone who finds freedom in good fortune and bad; such is their power — karma can’t hold them. No matter what kind of karma, a Buddha transforms it.
Heaven or hell are nothing compared to a Buddha; but the awareness of a mortal is dim compared to that of a Buddha who penetrates everything, inside and out.
If you’re not sure, don’t act. Once you act, you wander through birth and death — and regret having no refuge. Poverty and hardship are created by false thinking. To understand this mind, you have to act without acting — only then you see things from a Tatargata’s perspective. But when you first embark on the path, your awareness won’t be focused. You’re likely to see all sorts of strange, dreamlike scenes. But you shouldn’t doubt that all such scenes come from your own mind, and nowhere else. If you see your nature, you don’t need to read sutras or invoke Buddhas. Erudition and knowledge are not only useless, they cloud your awareness. Doctrines are only for pointing to the mind: once you see the mind, why pay attention to doctrines?
To go from mortal to Buddha, you have to put an end to karma: nurture your awareness, and accept what life brings. If you’re always getting angry, you’ll turn your nature against The Way. There is no advantage in deceiving yourself. Buddhas move freely through birth and death, appearing and disappearing at will — they can’t be restrained by karma, or overcome by devils.
Once mortals see their nature, all attachments end. Awareness isn’t hidden, but you can only find it right now. It’s only now. If you really want to find The Way, don’t hold on to anything. Once you put an end to karma, and nurture your awareness, any attachments that remain will come to an end. Understanding comes naturally, you don’t have to make any effort. But fanatics don’t understand what The Buddha meant, and the harder they try, the farther they get from the sage’s meaning. All day long, they invoke Buddhas and read sutras: they remain blind to their own divine nature, and they don’t escape The Wheel.
A Buddha is an idle person. They don’t run after fortune and fame. What good are such things in the end? People who don’t see their nature and think reading sutras, invoking Buddhas, studying long and hard, practicing morning and night, never lying down or acquiring knowledge is the Dharma — they blaspheme the Dharma. Buddhas of the past and future only talk about seeing your nature. All practices are impermanent. Unless they see their nature, people who claim to have attained unexcelled complete enlightenment are liars.
Among Shakyamuni’s ten greatest disciplines, Ananda was foremost in learning — but he didn’t know The Buddha, all he did was study and memorize. You cannot know The Buddha if all you know are so many practices for realization, or become trapped by cause and effect. Such is a mortal’s karma: no escape from birth and death. By doing the opposite of what they intended, such people blaspheme The Buddha. People who see that their minds are The Buddha don’t need to shave their heads. Laypeople are Buddhas too. Unless they see their nature, people who shave their heads are simply fanatics.