(Philip B. Yampolsky’s translation of the Tun‑huang manuscript of Hui Neng’s scripture)
“Good friends, my teaching of the Dharma takes meditation (ting) and kindness (hui) as its basis. Never under any circumstances say mistakenly that meditation and kindness are different; they are a unity, not two things. Meditation itself is the substance of kindness; kindness itself is the function of meditation. At the very moment when there is kindness then meditation exists in kindness; at the very moment when there is meditation, then kindness exists in meditation. Good friends, this means that meditation and kindness are alike. Students, be careful not to say that meditation gives rise to kindness, or that kindness gives rise to meditation, or that meditation and kindness are different from each other. To hold this view implies that things have duality—if good is spoken while the mind is not good, meditation and kindness will not be alike. If mind and speech are both good, then the internal and the external are the same and meditation and kindness are alike. The practice of self‑awakening does not lie in verbal arguments. If you argue which comes first, meditation or kindness, you are deluded people. You won’t be able to settle the argument and instead will cling to objective things, and will never escape from the four states of phenomena. (Chapter 13)
“I was predestined to come to live here and to preach to you officials, monks, and laymen. My teaching has been handed down from the sages of the past; it is not my own personal knowledge. If you wish to hear the teachings of the sages of the past, each of you must quiet his mind and hear me to the end. Please cast aside your own delusions; then you will be no different from the sages of the past. (What follows below is the Dharma.)
The Master Hui‑neng called, saying: “Good friends, enlightenment (bodhi) and intuitive wisdom (prajna) are from the outset possessed by men of this world themselves. It is just because the mind is deluded that men cannot attain awakening to themselves. They must seek a good teacher to show them how to see into their own natures. Good friends, if you meet awakening, (Buddha)kindness will be achieved. (Chapter 12)
“What is a great teacher? He is one who understands at once that the Dharma of the Supreme Vehicle is indeed the correct path. This is a great teacher. This is the great casual event, the so‑called conversion which will enable you to see Buddha. All the good dharmas are activated by a great teacher. Therefore, although the Buddhas of the three worlds and all the twelve divisions of the canon are from the beginning within the nature of man, if he cannot gain awakening with his own nature, he must obtain a good teacher to show him how to see into his own self nature. But if you awaken by yourself, do not rely on teachers outside. If you try to seek a teacher outside and hope to obtain deliverance, you will find it impossible. If you have recognized the good teacher within your own mind, you have already obtained deliverance. If you are deluded in your own mind and harbor erroneous thoughts and contrary concepts, even though you go to an outside teacher (you will not be able to obtain salvation).
If you are not able to obtain self‑awakening, you must give rise to prajna and illuminate with it, and then in one instant false thoughts will be destroyed. once you have awakened to the fact that you yourself are your own true good teacher, in one awakening you will know the Buddha. If, standing upon your own nature and mind, you illuminate with wisdom and make inside and outside clear, you will know your own original mind. If you know your original mind, this then is deliverance. Once you have attained deliverance this then is the prajna samadhi. If you have awakened to the prajna samadhi, this then is no‑thought. What is no‑thought? The Dharma of no‑thought means: even though you see all things, you do not attach to them, but always keeping your own nature pure, cause the six thieves to exit through the six gates. Even though you are in the midst of the six dusts, you do not stand apart from them, yet are not stained by them, and are free to come and go. This is the prajna samadhi, and being free and having achieve release is known as the practice of no‑thought. If you do not think of the myriad things, but always cause your thoughts to be cut off, you will be bound in the Dharma. This is known as a biased view. If you awaken to the Dharma of no‑thought, you will penetrate into all things thoroughly, and ‑. will see the realm of the Buddha. If you awaken to the sudden doctrine of no‑thought, you will have reached the status of the Buddha. (Chapter 31)
“The sutras say to take refuge in the Buddha within yourselves; they do not say to rely on other Buddhas. If you do not rely upon your own natures, there is nothing else on which to rely.” (Chapter 23)
“If you aspire to attain the Way, Practice correctly; this is the Way. If in yourselves you do not have the correct mind, You will be walking in darkness and will not see the Way. If you are a person who truly practices the Way, Do not look at the ignorance of the world, For if you see the wrong of people in the world, Being wrong yourself, you will be evil. The wrong in others is not your own crime, Your own wrong is of itself your crime. Only remove the wrong in your own mind, Crush the passions and destroy them. If you wish to convert an ignorant person, Then you must have expedients. Do not allow him to have doubts, Then enlightenment (bodhi) will appear. From the outset the Dharma has been in the world; Being in the world, it transcends the world. Hence do not seek the transcendental world outside, By discarding the present world itself. Erroneous views are of this world, Correct views transcend this world.
If you smash completely the erroneous and the correct, (Then the nature of enlightenment (bodhi) will be revealed as it is). Just this is the Sudden Teaching; Another name for it is the Mahayana.
‘Having been deluded throughout a multitude of kalpas, One gains awakening within an instant.” (Chapter 36)
“Good friends, in this teaching of mine, from ancient times up to the present, all have set up no‑thought as the main doctrine, non‑form as the substance, and non‑abiding as the basis. Non‑form is to be separated from form even when associated with form. No‑thought is not to think even when involved in thought. Non‑abiding is the original nature of man.
“Successive thoughts do not stop; prior thoughts, present thoughts, and future thoughts follow one after the other without cessation. If one instant of thought is cut off, the Dharma body separates from the physical body, and in the midst of successive thoughts there will be no place for attachment to anything. If one instant of thought clings, then successive thoughts cling; this is known as being fettered. If in all things successive thoughts do not cling, then you are unfettered. Therefore, non‑abiding is made the basis.
“Good friends, being outwardly separated from all forms, this is non‑form. When you are separated from form, the substance of your nature is pure. Therefore, non-form is made the substance.
“To be unstained in all environments is called no‑thought. If on the basis of your own thoughts you separate from environment, then, in regard to things, thoughts are not produced. If you stop thinking of the myriad things, and cast aside all thoughts as soon as one instant of thought is cut off, you will be reborn in another realm. Students, take care! Don’t rest in objective things and the subjective mind.” (Chapter 17)
“Good friends, see for yourselves the purity of your own natures, practice and accomplish for yourselves. Your own nature is the Dharmakaya and self‑practice is the practice of Buddha; by self‑accomplishment you may achieve the Buddha Way for yourselves.” (Chapter 19)
“Good friends, in this reaching from the outset sitting in meditation does not concern the mind nor does it concern purity; we do not talk of steadfastness. If someone speaks of ‘viewing the mind,’ (then I would say) that the ‘mind’ is of itself delusion, and as delusions are just like fantasies, there is nothing to be seen. If someone speaks of ‘viewing purity,’ (then I would say) that man’s nature is of itself pure, but because of false thoughts True Reality is obscured. If you exclude delusions then the original nature reveals its purity. If you activate your mind to view purity without realizing that your own nature is originally pure, delusions of purity will be produced. Since this delusion has no place to exist, then you know that whatever you see is nothing but delusion. Purity has no form, but, nonetheless, some people try to postulate the form of purity and consider this to be Ch’an [i.e., Zen] practice. People who hold this view obstruct their own original natures and end up by being bound by purity. One who practices steadfastness does not see the faults of people everywhere. This is the steadfastness of self‑nature. The deluded man, however, even if he doesn’t move his own body, will talk of the good and bad of others the moment he opens his mouth, and thus behave in opposition to the Tao. Therefore, both ‘viewing the mind’ and ‘viewing purity’ will cause an obstruction to Tao.” (Chapter 18)
“Now that you have already taken refuge in the threefold body of Buddha, I shall expound to you the four great vows. Good friends, recite in unison what I say: ‘I vow to save all sentient beings everywhere. I vow to cut off all the passions everywhere. I vow to study all the Buddhist teachings everywhere. I vow to achieve the unsurpassed Buddha Way.’ (Recite three times.)
“Good friends, when I say ‘I vow to save all sentient beings everywhere,’ it is not that I will save you, but that sentient beings, each with their own natures, must save themselves. What is meant by ‘saving yourselves with your own natures’? Despite heterodox views, passions, ignorance, and delusions, in your own physical bodies you have in yourselves the attributes of inherent enlightenment, so that with correct views you can be saved. If you are awakened to correct views, the wisdom of prajna will wipe away ignorance and delusion, and you all will save yourselves. If false views come, with correct views you will be saved; if delusion comes, with awakening you will be saved; if ignorance comes, with knowing you will be saved; if evil comes, with good you will be saved; if the passions come, with bodhi you will be saved. Being saved in this way is known as true salvation.
“I vow to cut off all the passions everywhere is, with your own minds to cast aside the unreal and the false. ‘I vow to study all the Buddhist teachings ever7wherel is to study the unsurpassed true Dharma. ‘I vow to achieve the unsurpassed Buddha Way’ is always to act humbly, to practice reverence for all things, to separate oneself from erroneous attachments, and to awaken to the wisdom of prajna. When delusions are cast aside you are self‑enlightened, achieve the Buddha Way, and put into practice the power of the vows.” (Chapter 21)
“The mind has nothing to do with thinking, because its fundamental source is empty. To discard false views, this is the one great causal event. If within and without you are not deluded then you are apart from duality. If on the outside you are deluded you cling to form; if on the inside you are deluded you cling to emptiness. If within form you are apart from form and within emptiness you are separated from emptiness, then within and without you are not deluded.” (Chapter 42)
“The samadhi of oneness is straightforward mind at all tines, walking, staying, sitting, and lying. The Ching‑ming ching says: ‘Straightforward mind is the place of practice; straightforward mind is the Pure Land.’ Do not with a dishonest mind speak of the straightforwardness of the Dharma. If while speaking of the samadhi of oneness, you fail to practice straightforward mind, you will not be disciples of the Buddha. Only practicing straightforward mind, and in all things having no attachments whatsoever, is called the samadhi of oneness. The deluded man clings to the characteristics of things, adheres to the samadhi of oneness, (thinks) that straightforward mind is sitting without moving and casting aside delusions without letting things arise in the mind. This he considers to be the samadhi of oneness. This kind of practice is the same as insentiency and the cause of an obstruction to the Tao. Tao must be something that circulates freely; why should he impede it? If the mind does not abide in things the Tao circulates freely; if the mind abides in things, it becomes entangled. (Chapter 14)
Deluded, A Buddha is a sentient being;
Awakened, a sentient being is a Buddha.
Ignorant, a Buddha is a sentient being;
With wisdom and kindness, a sentient being is a Buddha.
If the mind is warped, a Buddha is a sentient being;
If the mind is impartial, a sentient being is a Buddha.
When once a warped mind is produced,
Buddha is concealed within the sentient being.
If for one instant of thought we become impartial,
Then sentient beings are themselves Buddha.
In our mind itself a Buddha exists,
Our own Buddha is the true Buddha.
If we do not have in ourselves the Buddha mind,
Then where are we to seek Buddha? (Chapter 52)