It is Buddhism—whether you call it completeness or Buddhahood—awakening is not that difficult. It is simply letting go of the self; it is that simple. If you cannot let go of the self, then all the rest—even if you say, “Form and emptiness are not two”—means nothing. What does it matter that you can talk about it?
The self is the greatest defilement and obstacle. In the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, the self is illusory; fundamentally, there is no defilement. But when we are trapped in the desires and sensations of body and mind, the self manifests, and the self is no longer illusory to you.
It is originally illusory, but this is how you must understand it. Yet we suffer because of it and are trapped by it—trapped by the self, by sensations, by instinctive sensations. So if you want to attain realization, first do not live in sensations; you cannot live in your sensations: “Today I feel uncomfortable; today I feel comfortable.” Once you are trapped in these sensations of comfort and discomfort, you have already gone wrong. That is an ordinary person. This is the most basic, the starting point, of cultivation.
(So when these sensations arise, you should step out and watch them, be aware of them?)
No. First you must know that good and evil, suffering and joy—all of them—are dreams, all illusory. At first they draw you in, so you experience them deeply; while experiencing them, you feel that they are real, you know?
But at the very least, you must have this view: purity and defilement, good and evil, suffering and joy—all are illusory. Because the self is illusory, sensations must be illusory. First, one identifies with “I am Ya-nan,” and then sensations arise; one takes Ya-nan to be oneself, and so there is suffering and joy. These sensations are painful or joyful, and so on—the whole series of reactions.
If you do not acknowledge that the self is illusory; if the self is illusory, then a whole series of other things are dreams and bubbles. You must first gain liberation from this way of understanding, so that your mind is not trapped by sensations, not stuck in sensations. This is the first step in cultivation and realization; at the root of cultivation and realization, first liberate yourself from this self.
But it is more difficult at the beginning. You know, when he is sitting in meditation, his legs hurt, and he cannot bear it; it hurts, and he is trapped in that painful sensation, you know? But in ordinary life, it is not as though you are being tortured and forced to gain liberation from that sensation.
At first the sensation is not so painful; you can stretch your legs a little—yes, you can. In daily life, with all these ordinary human feelings and these small matters to deal with, you keep struggling through cycles of suffering and joy, suffering and joy.
Actually, if you are a person with wisdom, you withdraw from these things and observe them from the outside; if you look at them from the Buddha’s view, all these things should be illusory. Because the self is illusory, you gradually become liberated.
Actually, wisdom does not mean that tomorrow we will discuss a certain number of Sutras or read a certain amount and then understand why Form and emptiness are not two in this cup, and so on. It is not like that. First gain liberation from sensations.
At first you cannot see Emptiness. You cannot say that this cup is Form and is Emptiness. Emptying external phenomena is useless; to empty, to gain liberation from sensations—that is true emptiness. External phenomena are certainly empty, because once you do not care, they are empty, right? What matters most is that what is within must be empty. You must know your sensations: you are trapped there, and you are still making distinctions.
Taking refuge here is simply bowing to a teacher, because I am only a teacher of Buddhist cultivation and realization. When you take refuge, ultimately you are still disciples of Shakyamuni, because I teach what belongs to the Buddha; I did not create it myself.
I am transmitting certain things from the Buddha—Shakyamuni Buddha’s Sutras and teachings. So when you take refuge in me, I am only… I am in the middle; I am a guide. I lead you to find what belongs to the Buddha. So your fundamental teacher is still Shakyamuni Buddha. In other words, no matter which teacher in this world you rely on, when taking refuge and relying on someone, taking refuge means relying on that person to attain liberation: liberation from the cycle of life and death, or liberation from affliction and suffering, liberation from samsara, and the gaining of wisdom.
But what is this wisdom of the Buddha? It is not a theory. It is not that because I have a master’s degree or a doctorate, I am very wise—no. That is merely the cleverness and intelligence of the human world.
What is wisdom? Seeing clearly the true nature of the universe and the true nature of life. This is the Buddha. You may have seen it in the Heart Sutra: Form and emptiness are not two. But this is not something we can understand simply by being clever. That is the true nature of things; it means entering into life as it originally is. You see through everything in the universe more and more, seeing the true nature clearly.
Seeing the true nature clearly and living authentically in this world: that is the Buddha’s wisdom. What you ultimately study and ultimately cultivate and realize is the Buddha’s wisdom. Cultivation and realization are a matter of cultivation, after all. In the end, what matters is your inner cultivation—not how many Sutras you can recite; it is not like that.
So when you take refuge, it is simply bowing to a teacher, bowing to one teacher. The Buddha has a lineage, and it carries certain things; Buddhism is different from other forms of taking a teacher. In worldly matters, if you bow to a teacher, you only need to study with that teacher.
But in Buddhism, there are ultimately things you cannot see or touch. Buddhism concerns the Six Paths of Rebirth; it does not speak only from the human path; teachers in the human world teach you how to be human only from the human path.
But Buddhism speaks from the perspective of the Six Paths. So from the path of gods and humans, there are many fields, waves, and energies farther above that you cannot see; these things have a lineage and can be transmitted, you know, so there must be a ceremony for taking a teacher. You know? Through the teacher lineage, through the connection in the relationship between a teacher (guru) and a disciple, the transmission is passed on.
Some things can be explained; some things cannot be explained and must be entered. That is the purpose of taking a teacher; it is a giving. It is not that the teacher simply loves being a teacher and likes taking on a couple of disciples—no, it is not that.
Moreover, no matter whom you bow to—in Buddhism, no matter which teacher you take, even if you take dozens of teachers all over the world as your teachers—your most fundamental teacher is Shakyamuni. You are a disciple of the Buddha, and you study the Buddha’s wisdom. But you do not have to be a Buddhist; you do not even have to believe in Buddhism, but you can study Shakyamuni’s wisdom.
Because Shakyamuni Buddha was truly great. In the end he said that all sentient beings are just like him: they are all Buddhas. That is what was greatest about him. No religious leader—no leader of any religion—has told you this. They all say, “I gave birth to you”; or else, “Become one with me, receive my blessing and a touch on the crown of your head, and then become one with me; you can gain happiness,” and so on and so on.
Only Shakyamuni Buddha told you, “You and I are equal.” No religious leader has said this, nor has any person or sage said it; only Shakyamuni. He saw clearly the most fundamental truth of the universe: everyone is equal. Before Buddha-nature and Dharma-nature, in our essential nature and in life as it originally is, we are equal. This is the foundation of Buddhism, its fundamental teaching.
In other words, after you attain realization, what you ultimately awaken to is that all sentient beings are Buddhas. If there is still inequality in your eyes, if there are still distinctions of high and low, noble and base, then when you are unequal, you cannot see this equality; in that case, you are not. If you can see it, then you are.
So you say you want to take a teacher. That is very good; I rejoice that you can study the Buddha’s wisdom. Taking a teacher is only a very simple ceremony—bowing three times—simply to make it convenient for a connection to exist when certain things are transmitted in the future. That is all.
Because no matter how far away you go in the future, there will be a teacher-disciple connection. Especially in Buddhism, this teacher lineage is important. For example, he may follow you, life after life, until he liberates you and you attain Buddhahood. That is the idea.
Because teachers all have vows. In Buddhism, a teacher who truly takes disciples has vows of his own; those vows are carried through life after life. So, as you read in the Buddhist Sutras, the Buddha’s sole purpose in appearing in the world is to liberate you and bring you to Buddhahood. He is not here to make you live more happily or peacefully, or to gain worldly fame and profit.
If we pray to the Buddha, saying, “May I live a pure and happy life in this life,” as though that were all we wanted—actually, Buddha says this is very little. He says, “Ask for a little more, ask for a little more.” Ultimately, he is making you a Buddha, like him, so that you attain great freedom, great freedom life after life. That is all.
So happiness is very shallow. If all you want is happiness, it is easy. We can become happy by satisfying one desire, or by earning some money. Because satisfying a few small desires makes people happy quite easily—but it does not last, and it is easily lost.
If you want to maintain lasting happiness, some people work hard in the world until all their desires are satisfied. At that point, they feel that their whole life has been happy. As they gradually approach death and grow old, at least everything has been satisfied; that is how it is, and their hearts are at peace, everything settled.
But as for the future, he does not know where he will go after he dies, or what will happen in the next life. Or where did we come from, and where are we going? We know only this hundred years in the middle of life, only this stretch; we know nothing of the rest. We know nothing of life’s mysteries: we do not know where we came from, what we have done life after life, or where we will go in the future.
This is what you often hear in the Sutras, in the Buddhist Sutras: our lifespan already extends through immeasurable kalpas, every one of us. Because at the beginning of the universe—if you can understand this—at the moment the universe exploded—we say that the universe was formed by an explosion—the first photon shot out, and that was us.
We took that photon to be me, to be each one of us, and so attachment began. From that moment, we came into being. Think about it: it may be longer than the age of the Earth. Through immeasurable kalpas, we have been thinking of returning, continually seeking life’s refuge, continually seeking the source of life.
Actually, throughout the whole of cultivation, I am guiding everyone in actual practice. If you cultivate and realize, you will discover that you are simply returning to the source of life, seeking your heart’s ultimate refuge, seeking your place of refuge. Otherwise you will not be at peace; whatever you gain in this world, you will not be at peace. It may bring you happiness, but not freedom; it may bring you stimulation and happiness, but not great freedom.
And everyone will eventually study Buddhism. This is not religious faith; it is not about believing in Buddhism. Everyone will ultimately study Buddhism and gain this wisdom. Why? Because we are the same—every one of us.
That is your original face. Just as becoming a Buddha is your original face, you were originally that way; you have only forgotten, and are merely remembering it again. Everyone is the same, so everyone will awaken. In this world, every living being will awaken; it is only a matter of sooner or later. It has nothing to do with religion; Shakyamuni Buddha simply spoke this truth.
《Seeking Your Heart’s Ultimate Refuge》#10224@20130122
Note: This text was prepared from a teaching video by Yang Ning. If it differs from the video, the video takes precedence. Watch the video.