Assembly, now that you know the two roads of birth and death and the suffering and vexation of the cycle of rebirth, you should make vows and resolve to seek to leave the world. But those of high attainment who leave the world have their own highest-vehicle method of leaving the world. This method of leaving the world is simply the worldly method turned around; originally there is no method at all, and it exists only because of the mind.
The worldly method and the method of leaving the world differ only in whether the one mind uses them in the forward or the reverse direction; in reality they are one method. And the method is not real either: use the reverse within the forward, and ghosts and spirits cannot fathom its workings; use the forward within the reverse, and yin and yang cannot escape its reckoning. This is not deliberate contrivance or reasoning things out with the intention; the spiritual brightness, wisdom, principle, and nature are originally so, and there is no other wondrous method of leaving the world. Even so, once you have seen through who it is that leaves the world, you must in the end send this person who leaves the world beyond the world; only then is it leaving the world. Yet it is not sending the body beyond the world. Heaven and earth are so great and the world is so wide—where is “beyond the world”?
Assembly, listen carefully: “beyond the world” means beyond the worldly method. It is seeing through the worldly method as unreal and illusory feelings as false, seeing all conditioned things as an impermanent dream, and bringing body and mind to clarity and stillness, and so leaving the world. All conditioned things are called the worldly method; all conditioned methods lie within the world and cannot leave it. Only clarity and stillness can go beyond the world. How can it be seen that clarity and stillness alone can leave the world?
Assembly, heaven has its clouds and sunshine and cannot leave the world; earth has its landslides and fissures and cannot leave the world; the sun and moon wax and wane and cannot leave the world; the stars and lunar mansions have their degrees and cannot leave the world; wind, clouds, thunder, and rain, frost, snow, fog, and dew each have their limits and cannot leave the world; people have birth and death and cannot leave the world; things grow strong and old and cannot leave the world; feelings are deep or shallow and cannot leave the world; the mind moves and is still and cannot leave the world; essence leaks and drains away and cannot leave the world; spirit grows dim and cannot leave the world; qi is breathed in and out and cannot leave the world; power waxes and wanes and cannot leave the world; profit rises and falls and cannot leave the world; fame meets praise and blame and cannot leave the world. All conditioned things go through formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness, birth, old age, sickness, and death—how could they ever leave the world?
Assembly, it is best to awaken to the method of leaving the world from within the worldly method. This method of leaving the world does not depend on many words; it depends only on this mind turning back and returning. Once you know that heaven, earth, the myriad things, human feelings, and worldly methods are none of them the method of leaving the world, you will know that heaven, earth, the myriad things, human feelings, and worldly methods all lie within the snare, within the world. You must see through heaven, earth, and the myriad things as all impermanent, and worldly methods and human feelings as all illusory and false; then this one point of true spirit that can see through them is the King of the Law who can leave the world.
Assembly, this point of true spirit is no small thing. The Buddhists call it the wondrous, bright, true nature; the Confucians call it bright virtue; the Taoists call it the primordial spirit, and also the ancestral qi. Its many other names could never all be told. That which can know heaven, earth, the myriad things, human feelings, and worldly methods lies in making bright virtue bright: it understands that amid all formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness, and all birth, old age, sickness, and death, there is a method of no formation and no abiding, a method of non-action, neither decaying nor empty, neither ceasing nor contriving, which can escape the suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Heaven, earth, the myriad things, human feelings, and worldly methods all have their turns of calamity coming and going, but this one point of true spirit has always existed, from ancient times to the present, unobscured. It penetrates heaven and earth, goes out into the hidden and enters the dark. It is neither born nor destroyed, neither ruined nor decayed, neither coming nor going. It can move yin and yang without being moved by yin and yang; it can govern ghosts and spirits without being governed by ghosts and spirits; it can turn the myriad things without being turned by the myriad things; it can transform human feelings without being transformed by human feelings; it can use worldly methods without being used by worldly methods. It can go beyond the world and can abide in the world. It ranges freely through the Three Realms, coming and going at ease without restraint; it rules over all spirits, transforming perfectly and freely beyond fathoming. In heaven above and on earth below, this alone is honored. Everyone has this point of true spirit, yet each finds it hard to understand. The ten thousand methods and thousand gates, the three vehicles and the whole canon, can hardly go beyond this tiny secret aperture, this little mechanism. Awaken to it, and it is right before your eyes; be deluded, and you fall to the bottom of the well.
Assembly, know that the spiritual practice of leaving the world does not go beyond the two words “body” and “mind.” The body is false and the mind true; the mind is false and the nature true. You must know how to borrow the false to cultivate the true: outwardly false, inwardly true; outwardly form, inwardly empty. Without borrowing the outer physical body, it is hard to see the inner empty form; without borrowing the outer false body, it is hard to understand the inner true body; without borrowing the numinous mind, it is hard to cross the sea of nature. That is why I want each one of you to go and bring body and mind to clarity and stillness in order to seek to leave the world.
Assembly, what is the work of purifying body and mind? Assembly, the body is the root of birth and death and the source of calamity and trouble. What burdens my mind is the body; what deludes my nature is the body. Loving beauty and craving lust are only to give this body pleasure. Contending for fame and seizing profit are only to give this body enjoyment. Breaking the law and incurring punishment, bringing on disasters and catching diseases—all arise from the body. The Most High said: “The reason I have great trouble is that I have a body. If I had no body, what trouble could I have?” The ancients said: “If a person were not burdened by his form, he would at once be an immortal of the Great Canopy Heaven.” Clearly this body does no small harm. Now you must see through the skin bag as a false thing. Yet it was formed from the father’s essence and the mother’s blood through the union of the Two and the Five; it originally received the finest qi of heaven and earth and obtained the proper substance of yin and yang. The round head models heaven and the square feet model earth; humanity is like heaven and earth, ranked together with them as the Three Powers, and among the myriad things humanity comes first. Above, it can match heaven, earth, and the divine spirits, sages, worthies, immortals, and buddhas. How can a body of so many treasures be called a useless thing? But each of you must go and cultivate it. One who knows how to cultivate the body regards this false body as an external thing. Yet without this body, one cannot see this nature. You must cultivate this false body and adorn the realm of the Law, so that the body of the Law does not leak; only then do form and spirit both become wondrous and merge with the Tao in truth.
Assembly, now I will explain clearly the work of purity. If you want this body to be pure, first cast aside worldly things, keep far from the feelings of the dust, and do not conform to worldly ways. Taking refuge in the Three Treasures, be content with the plain and delight in pure leisure, give up rich food and leave the noise and bustle. Once your body has taken refuge in the Three Treasures, your temperament must be calm and gentle; your hands and feet may not rush about wildly, your eyes may not look improperly, your intention may not drift, scatter, and wander, and your mind may not cling to thoughts or engage in visualization. Gather the spiritual light of both eyes and shine it inward, and the spiritual terrace will not be obscured; turn back the essential apertures of both ears and listen inward, and the original nature will constantly endure. Speak little, and you return to naturalness; do not move, and there will be no regret or blame. When the intention does not scatter, the mind does not wander outward and the primordial spirit is at peace; when the mind does not cling to forms, the mysterious principle flows freely and the heavenly years come alive. Keep the mouth from meat and strong-smelling foods, and you dissolve the killing calamities of many lifetimes. Let the body follow the precepts and carry out the four dignified deportments. When the feet do not step about wildly, the mind is not flustered; when the hands are not raised recklessly, the mind is not agitated. When sitting, be centered and upright, not leaning or crooked; when lying down, be spiritually alert, not sunk in heavy sleep; when eating, keep to plain food and reduce flavors, and the five organs will be clear and balanced; when speaking, be careful and unhurried, and your voice will be harmonious and smooth. This is called clarity and stillness of body and mind. From these coarse practices on to the subtle work, you must investigate the two words “clear” and “pure.”
Assembly, you do not take this into your hearts and practice it. If there is one who investigates it with his whole heart and truly practices it, know that this person will certainly attain the Tao.
Assembly, a mind without a second thought is called clear; thoughts without admixture are called pure. A mind that does not cling to forms is called clear; thoughts that do not stagnate are called pure. Every thought perfect and bright is called clear; light without obstruction is called pure. Not stained by a speck of dust is called clear; all ten thousand concerns empty is called pure. The myriad things unable to hide their forms is called clear; ghosts and spirits unable to fathom its workings is called pure. A mind like flowing water is called clear; a nature like the bright moon is called pure. Sins since beginningless time extinguished is called clear; causes from before many kalpas thoroughly exhausted is called pure. Looking inward at the mind, the mind has no mind—this is called clear; looking afar at things, things have no things—this is called pure. Having understood these three is called clear; seeing only emptiness is called pure. Contemplating emptiness, emptiness too is empty—this is called clear; emptiness has nothing to empty—this is called pure. When what is emptied is no more, and even the nothing of nothing is no more—this is called clear; profound and constant stillness, stillness with nothing to be still—this is called pure. True constancy responding to things is called clear; constantly responding and constantly still is called pure. Seeing through without obscurity is called clear; entering the gateway to all subtleties is called pure. Transcending the Three Realms is clear; being liberated from the Five Phases is pure. Empty space shattered is clear; shattering empty space is pure. Light that takes in all the heavens is clear; universally ferrying all living beings across is pure.
Assembly, because I am giving instruction, I have spoken only in broad outline. The sages of the three teachings and the scriptures of the great canons; the ten thousand methods and thousand gates, the wondrous functions of all the heavens; the thirty-six thousand kinds of ways and the eighty-four thousand gates of the Law; bodhisattvas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges and countless multitudes of golden immortals—none can go beyond this wondrous method of purity, concentration, wisdom, and non-action.
Assembly, the highest and unsurpassed, the superior grade of the Great Vehicle, the perfectly true and wondrous Tao, which gives birth to heaven and earth, to people and things—all come from purity. The Most High said: “If people can remain constantly clear and still, heaven and earth will all return to them.” He also said: “Clarity and stillness set the world right of itself.” It is clear that you should bring body and mind to clarity and stillness and quickly seek awakening. Assembly, from today on, you must put away all the lead and mercury, dragon and tiger, yin and yang, and all the metaphors of burning and refining that have deluded you in ordinary times. Only through the gate of clarity and stillness, kill the deluded mind and quiet heterodox thoughts, and walk steadily and securely on the great road of the middle way; it will never lead you astray. This is called “better slow than wrong; where there is a road, do not board a boat.” If I am deceiving you with false words, may I fall into hell! When thoughts are mixed, the mind is not still; when there is much dust, the body is not clear. Without clarity it is hard to see one’s nature; without stillness, how can one be free of feelings? Illuminating inward, the body is illusion; turning the light back, the mind too is empty. In emptiness the spirit appears of itself; concentration and wisdom are the true source. In daily life you must observe; in ordinary times you must embody and preserve it. Grasping the handle of the Dipper in reverse, clarity and stillness accord with the heart of heaven.
A poem says:
In learning immortality, learn to be a heavenly immortal; do not imitate deluded monks who sit in vain in meditation.
They call it nirvana, but it is still a ghost; plainly the body dies and enters the Yellow Springs.
By the temple, in the desolate graves, all are withered bones; in life they too could talk of nature and its causes.
Whether they have reached the Western Land by now, who knows—only lofty pagodas remain, pitiful to behold.