On September 25, 2016, Rev. Kenjo Igarashi gave a sermon at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church that he described as Consciousness Only as interpreted by the Nichiren school. (Here’s my post on the subject.) At the time I had been practicing Nichiren Shu Buddhism for less than two years. The sermon, complete with a hand-drawn chart, opened my mind to a new way of looking at the Buddha within.

This view of Buddha nature within everyone concealed by the cloud of our errant thoughts, words and actions is not different from the teaching found in the Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform sutra.

Consider how he redirects the Four Great Vows inward from something pointing to the outside world.

Good and Wise Friends, now that you have repented, I will teach you how to make the four great all-encompassing vows. Listen carefully:

Though the living beings of my own mind are limitless, I vow to liberate them all.
Though the afflictions of my own mind are limitless, I vow to change them all.
Though the Dharma teachings of my own nature could never be exhausted, I vow to learn them all.
Though the Buddhahood of my own nature is unsurpassed, I vow to realize it.

Good and Wise Friends, all of you just said, “I vow to liberate the limitless living beings of my own mind.” But what does that mean? It does not mean that I, Huineng, liberate them!

Good and Wise Friends, the “living beings” within your own mind are the deluded thoughts, deceitful and untrue thoughts, unwholesome thoughts, jealous thoughts, malicious thoughts – all mental states like these, are “living beings.” Each must be liberated from within your own nature. This is true liberation.

What is meant by liberating yourself through your own essential nature? It means liberating the living beings of false views, the afflictions and delusions within your own mind by means of right views. Once you have right views, you use the wisdom of prajña to lay bare and untangle [your] mistaken, confused and deluded “living beings.” You yourself liberate each and every one. When falseness occurs, liberate it with truth; when confusion arises, liberate it with awakening; when delusion sets in, liberate it with wisdom, when evil takes hold, liberate it with goodness. Liberation like this is true liberation.

Further, “I vow to change the limitless afflictions” means using the prajña wisdom of your own essential nature to rectify the vain and dissolute impulses and ideas of your own mind.

Further, “I vow to learn the inexhaustible Dharma teachings,” means to discern your own nature and always act on true principle. This is true learning.

As for “I vow to realize unsurpassed Buddhahood,” this is just always cultivating what is true, appropriate, and right with a humble attitude. You sustain a prajña that is beyond delusion or awakening, and the [relativities of] true and false, but instead, see the buddha-nature directly, and realize the Buddha’s awakening effortlessly, immediately. The power of these vows lies in constant mindful cultivation.

Most telling to me is the Patriarch’s insistence that there is nothing to be found outside one’s self.

The Master said:

All of you, please listen carefully. In the future, if people who are lost and confused can recognize living beings, they will [find] the buddha-nature. If they don’t get to know living beings, they could seek for the Buddha throughout endless aeons and never meet him. I am now teaching you: recognize the living beings of your own mind – the buddha-nature is found right within your own mind. If you wish to see the Buddha, simply come to know these living beings. For it is these living beings who have lost sight of the Buddha, not the Buddha who has lost sight of living beings.

When awakened to the essential nature, the living being is a Buddha. Confused about your essential nature, the “buddha” is a living being.

If your essential nature is balanced and centered, the living being is a Buddha. When your essential nature deviates off course, the “buddha” is a living being.

If your mind is devious and crooked, the “buddha” is concealed within the living being. But with one thought balanced and trued, the living being becomes a Buddha. Our own mind itself holds the Buddha, and this inherent Buddha is the real Buddha. If our own mind did not have its own inherent Buddha, where could the real Buddha be sought? Your own mind is the Buddha. Never doubt this! There is nothing that can be established outside of this mind; for the mind gives rise to the myriad dharmas. Therefore, the Sutra says, “The mind aroused, then all dharmas arise. The mind stilled, all dharmas are stilled.”

How does one find this Buddha? Begin with right thoughts. Below is a portion of a verse that the Sixth Patriarch offered to his monastic and lay listeners, advising them to take it to heart and recite it daily.

If you point out others’ faults,
Your fault-finding itself is a fault;
Others’ faults I do not fault,
As for my own faults, I blame myself.

Just get rid of the fault-finding attitude;
Once cast aside, the afflictions vanish;
When attraction and aversion no longer block the mind,
Stretch out both legs and lie down.

If you hope to teach and transform others,
You yourself must have the skillful means;
Do not raise doubts in others,
And their essential-nature will manifest by itself.

The Buddha Dharma is right here in the world,
There is no awakening apart from this world;
To search for Bodhi somewhere beyond this world,
Is like looking for a rabbit with antlers.

In a lesson on virtue and merit, the Sixth Patriarch said:

People who cultivate merit and virtue harbor no thoughts of belittling others; instead they show respect to all. If you are always slighting others in your heart, and are constantly self-centered, then you have no merit. If your own nature is vain and false, you lack any virtue. It is only because they consider themselves to be great that they always belittle others.

Good and Wise Friends, [cultivating] continuously in thought after thought is merit; an unbiased, sincere, straightforward mind is virtue. Self-cultivation of one’s own nature is merit; cultivation of one’s own person is virtue. Good and Wise Friends, merit and virtue must manifest from within your own nature; do not seek for them by making donations and offerings. That is the difference between blessings, and merit and virtue. Emperor Wu did not un-derstand this principle. Our Patriarch was not in error.

The Sixth Patriarch’s teaching repeatedly points out the danger of fault-finding. In a lesson on meditation he offered:

If you attach to an idea of purity, you will only end up with a false sense of purity. It is a delusion, unreal. This attachment is wrong. Purity has no shape or appearance, and yet there are those who create the appearance of purity and consider it skilled meditation. This attitude only covers over your own original nature; you become entangled in purity.

Good and Wise Friends, someone who cultivates not-moving, when he observes other people does not notice their rights or wrongs, good or bad sides, or their faults and failings. Just this is the unmoving, essential nature.

Good and Wise Friends, deluded people might make their bodies immobile, but as soon as they open their mouths they gossip about others’ rights and wrongs, their good qualities and shortcomings-and in doing so, they turn their backs on the Way. So, if you fixate on the mind and cling to purity, this just obstructs the Way.

I am going to conclude my discussion of The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra with this:

The Dharma is originally a single school; it is people who think ‘north’ and ‘south.’ The Dharma is of one kind; but the understanding of it may be ‘direct’ or ‘gradual.’ So why the terms ‘direct’ and ‘gradual’? Dharma itself is neither ‘direct’ nor ‘gradual.’ Rather it is people who are sharp or dull. Hence the terms ‘direct’ and ‘gradual.’

Something to keep in mind.

The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra
The Practice
Practice Beyond Reciting
Seeking the Pure Land in the Wrong Place
Our Inherent Buddha Nature

In reading The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra I was fascinated by the focus on practice here and now. Take for instance this response to an inquiry from a Prefect about reciting ‘Amitabha Buddha’ hoping to be reborn in the Pure Land in the West.

The Master said:

Prefect, listen carefully; I will explain it for you. When the World-Honored One was in the city of Sravasti, he taught about the Western Pure Land as an inducement to practice. The text of the Sutra clearly states, “It is not far from here.” In discussing this, it might appear that it is 108,000 miles away; but it just means that the ten evils and eight wrongs are right within ourselves.¹ Describing it as distant is meant for those with limited capacity. Saying it is nearby is for those with greater ability.

There are two kinds of people, not two kinds of Dharma. Awakening and confusion differ only because discerning may be quick or slow.

Deluded people recite the Buddha’s name seeking rebirth elsewhere; awakened people purify their own minds. That is why the Buddha said, “As the mind is purified, the Buddhaland is purified.”

Sir, even a person of the East is blameless if he simply purifies his mind. However, even a person of the West is at fault if his mind is not pure. When a person of the East does wrong, he recites the Buddha’s name hoping for rebirth in the West. But when a person of the West does wrong, in what country could he seek to be reborn by reciting the Buddha’s name? Ordinary deluded people, unaware of their essential nature, do not realize that the Pure Land is within themselves. So, they long to be born in the East, and they long to be born in the West. To the enlightened person all places are the same. As the Buddha said, “No matter where you are, you are always happy and at ease.” Good Sir, if the ground-of-the-mind is free of anything unwholesome, the West will not be very far away. If you invoke the Buddha’s name yet still hang on to unwholesomeness, it will be hard to gain that rebirth [in the Pure Land].

Good and Wise Friends, I exhort you now: first get rid of the ten evils; in doing so you will have walked one hundred thousand miles. Next, eliminate eight wrongs and you will have covered another eight thousand miles.² If in every moment of thought you keep your essential nature in view, and if in everything you do you are even-minded, true and direct, then in a finger-snap you will arrive there and see Amitabha.

Good Sir, if you just practice the ten good deeds, then why would you further need to seek rebirth there?³ But if you do not rid your mind of the ten evils, what Buddha would come to welcome you? If you awaken to the eternal, direct Dharma, you will behold the West [the Pure Land] in an instant. Without awakening to this, you might recite the Buddha’s name seeking rebirth there, but the road is so long – how could you ever traverse it? I will move the West here in an instant so you can see it right before your eyes. Would you all like to see it, or not?

The entire assembly bowed and said, “If it could be seen right here, why would we vow to be reborn there?! Please, Master, be compassionate; make the West appear for all to see.”

The Master said:

All of you here, a person’s own physical body is the city [of the Pure Land], and the eyes, ears, nose, tongue [and physical body] are its gates. The city is thus made up of five outer entrances, and an additional inner gate – the gate of consciousness. The mind is the ground; and one’s nature is the king. The king dwells on the mind-ground, and as long as the essential nature is present, the king is present. But when the nature departs, there is no king. When the nature is present, the body and mind are well cared for, but when the nature leaves, the body (and mind) fall apart.

Buddhahood is realized within the essential-nature; do not seek for it outside yourself. Confused, the self-nature is a living being; enlightened, the self-nature is a Buddha. Kindness and compassion are Avalokiteshvara; sympathetic joy and equanimity are Mahāsthāmaprāpta. Purifying [oneself) is Shakyamuni; and, to be unprejudiced and free of guile is Amitabha.

Egoism and arrogance are Mount Sumeru. Sensual desires are the oceans’ waters, and the afflictions are its waves. Cruelty is an evil dragon; vanity and dissoluteness are the ghosts and spirits; worldly passions are the fish and turtles; lust and hatred are the hells; and, delusion is the animals.

Good and Wise Friends, always practice the ten good deeds and you can easily reach the heavens. Get rid of egoism and arrogance, and Mount Sumeru topples. Eliminate sensual desires and the oceans’ waters dry up. When the afflictions cease, the waves calm. When cruelty is ended, the fish and turtles are no more. The enlightened nature of the Tathagata radiates an effulgent light on the ground of your own mind. Outwardly, this light illuminates the six gates, and its purity can penetrate through the six desire-heavens. Inwardly, it illumines the essential nature and dispels the three poisons, and retributions like the hells vanish in an instant. Inside and outside are clear through and through-no different from the Western Land. But if you do not cultivate in this way, how could you ever go there?!

It is useful to compare the Sixth Patriarch’s Pure Land to Nichiren’s Pure Land:

The Pure Lands preached in the pre-Lotus expedient sūtras are mere substitutes tentatively shown by replicas of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Eternal True Buddha. In fact, they all are lands of impurity. Therefore, when the true Pure Land was decided in “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, the essence of which consists of chapters on the “Expedients” and “The Life Span of the Buddha,” it was declared that this Sahā World is the true Pure Land of the Tranquil Light.

As for the question why, the Lotus Sūtra also recommends the Tuṣita Heaven, the Realm of Peace and Sustenance (Pure Land of the Buddha of Infinite Life), and Pure Lands all over the universe, it is merely that designations of the Pure Lands, such as Tuṣita Heaven and Realm of Peace and Sustenance, preached in the pre-Lotus sūtras are used without modification to name the Pure Lands to be established in this world. It is like names of the three vehicles (śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva) mentioned in the Lotus Sūtra, which does not actually preach three different teachings; it preaches the sole teaching leading to Buddhahood. It is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 23, that those who practice this sūtra “will immediately be reborn in the World of Happiness.” In the Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 10, Grand Master Miao-lê interprets: “This does not mean the Pure Land of the Buddha of Infinite Life preached in the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life.” His interpretation is the same as stated above.

People today without karmic relations with the Lotus Sūtra, wishing to be reborn in the Pure Land to the west, are in fact praying for rebirth in the land of rubble, giving up the Sahā World, which is the true Pure Land. People who do not believe in the Lotus Sūtra will not be able to be reborn even in such lands as Tuṣita Heaven and Realm of Peace and Sustenance, which are in reality the Pure Lands in this Sahā World given such temporary names.

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 63

Both the Sixth Patriarch and Nichiren agree that we should see the Pure Land right here where we are.

Notes

1. Ten evils (Skt. Dasa-akusala-karmapatha); they are: 1) killing; 2) stealing; 3) sexual misconduct; 4) lying; 5) slandering; 6) harsh speech; 7) idle talk and gossip; 8) greed; 9) hatred; and, 10) wrong views.return
2. ba xie 八邪, ‘the eight wrong practices or paths. The opposite of the Noble Eightfold Path to awakening (Ch. ba zheng dao 八正道; Skt. ārya-astāngika-marga: Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.)return
3. Ten good deeds (Skt. dasa-kusala-karmapatha); they are: 1) not to kill; 2) not to steal; 3) to avoid sexual misconduct; 4) not to lie; 5) avoid slandering; 6) avoid harsh speech; 7) refrain from idle talk and gossip; 8) non-greed; 9) non-hatred; and, 10) right views.return

The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra
The Practice
Practice Beyond Reciting
Seeking the Pure Land in the Wrong Place
NEXT: Our Inherent Buddha Nature