Awakening is formless. You know, life itself is Buddhadharma; fundamentally, there is no appearance of awakening. But at the beginning, because we are too familiar with appearances and too attached to them, we still need an appearance of leaving these things behind to strengthen your confidence. This is how Buddhadharma explains it: it is all a skillful means.
In the end, you still have to return to the mundane world. When facing the mundane world, do not hold on to an awakening state; everything in the mundane world is the state of awakening. That is the final state. But do not do this yet. Follow your own cultivation for now; if you do that, you will become confused.
You cannot figure it out now, and you do not need to. When you reach true emptiness, you will know. First understand what true emptiness is, and you will know what wonderful existence is. In fact, everything we have is true emptiness, and everything we have is also wondrous function. Precisely because you cling to appearances, you do not understand true emptiness or wonderful existence.
And of all this clinging to appearances, the greatest appearance we cling to is the self. In the entire practice of the Bodhisattva Path, in the whole of cultivation and realization, we are ultimately always breaking through the self. Whether accumulating merit or practicing anything else, it is all about breaking through the self. If you cannot break through the self, then practicing the Bodhisattva Path life after life is useless.
In the end, everything is simply about breaking through the self, breaking through this ego-clinging, and breaking through the self’s habitual tendencies: thinking there is a self here, thinking “I am suffering,” “I am happy,” “I am whatever,” “I,” “mine,” and so on—all of it is breaking through the self. This self of yours gets pulled along, tempted, and … awakened? No.
True emptiness gives rise to wonderful existence. This is not something to discuss at the level of consciousness; it is a realization. Only when you cultivate and realize that state will you know. Discussing this concept at the level of consciousness is meaningless.
There is a sequence of states. For example, if we insist on talking about true emptiness and wonderful existence, during cultivation and realization most people follow a fixed pattern—but this is not the truth. Since everyone is attached to existence, attached to the idea that things truly exist, they begin by practicing emptiness and feel that everything is like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, or a shadow; everything is false.
At first, you only regard it as empty conceptually, but you cannot actually empty it; you only think it is empty at the level of consciousness. Then, gradually, as you practice, there is an appearance of emptiness. You practice until you reach a point … the physical body … deep inside yourself. For example, you begin with “dream, illusion, bubble, shadow,” “dream, illusion, bubble, shadow,” and keep practicing samadhi, practicing samadhi. After practicing to a certain point, you find that you have disappeared. When you forget yourself, there is such a state.
You disappear and become a body of light—that is when you have practiced until there is light in your energy channels. Everyone has the Light of the mind; it simply has not emerged. This is not something you grind out by practicing, practicing, practicing. In the end, everyone’s Light of the mind will shine forth. When the light arises, you find that it is everywhere, like a sun shining on every place in the universe. The light is everywhere, just like the sun.
At this point, you have an appearance of emptiness and feel that the entire sky and the entire Dharma Realm are you. Actually, this is an appearance of emptiness. If someone had the divine eye at this point, or if a Bodhisattva with certain spiritual powers were present, they would see everything transformationally born within this light.
You find that at that time, because you are in a state of light, you feel that this thing in your midst is illusory. It is not that you are sitting here and emitting light from here. You also know there is a source here, but this thing is no-self, like a circle—a void, an empty circle. From within it comes boundless light, as from an empty sphere—or …
Then all sentient beings throughout the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds appear within this light. It is like what you see in the Buddhist sutras: in that state, the Buddha emits a light from here, and within that light some Buddha-land manifests. You find that there is such a state.
Actually, this is a kind of spiritual power, a kind of emptiness: things manifest within the light. This is not yet the state of true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence, but you will experience this: after practicing, practicing, practicing, until it seems you have broken through time and space and left the Three Realms, you discover that there are no Three Realms to leave. In the end, you feel that you have become empty, that there is no self, but the emptiness turns out to be full of sentient beings. Everything has manifested within emptiness. In other words, emptiness and existence appear at the same time. At that point, you awaken to it—to the state of true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence—for the first time.
This is still not ultimate. Continue practicing, and you will discover that there is neither true emptiness nor wonderful existence. Because you have a true emptiness that is an appearance of emptiness—actually, it is an emptiness of light. You say, does this light contain anything? Light contains nothing. For us, light is just … light. The whole room is full of light, right? The whole room is full of light—the light from electric lamps—and then all of us are within this light.
The Buddha’s state is the same, except that this light does not come from an electric lamp; it comes from his emptiness. Then everything is illuminated within this emptiness and arises in his light. It is not that everything is born inside his light; rather, it illuminates everything.
It is like this room: if we are normally in darkness, we cannot see the things on the table, but once the light comes on, we see them. When the lamp of our mind comes on, the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds arise in our light, and we see them.
At this point, this light is also illusory, and the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds are also illusory. Do not cling to appearances. In other words, there is no emptiness, and there is no appearance of emptiness; it is not because you are no-self that something arises. There is no appearance of emptiness and no true reality; only then is it true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence.
Wonderful existence is empty, the appearance of emptiness is empty, and the light is empty. Then you return to the mundane world. After returning to the mundane world, you discover that once you have broken through both the appearance of emptiness and wonderful existence, this is actual realization and entry. Then, back in the mundane world, all things are nondual: Form and emptiness are not two; this is true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence. Every single thing comes from true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence. Without emptiness, without this thing, everything—including your looking at me once—is emptiness functioning; it is all the wonderful existence of true emptiness.
If emptiness were not there, your eyes could not see; you would have no ability to see me. In each of us, emptiness is functioning. Seeing, hearing, perceiving, speaking, and eating are all true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence. Even having a thought is true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence, because without Buddha-nature there, you could do nothing. Without emptiness, how could you arise? Everything is true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence. This is the most complete true reality.
But in terms of realization, at the beginning you must realize and enter this state. The state ordinary people generally pass through is to begin with partial emptiness and first enter the appearance of emptiness. Because we are currently in true reality, you see many things here, but you cannot see the things that are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows.
Start from here, then break through the appearance of emptiness, return, and then break through appearances of existence. That is how it goes: break through the appearance of emptiness, then break through appearances of existence at the same time. Repeat this several times, until they are all broken through. More or less, this is actual realization.
As I mentioned when I spoke with you the other day, every person’s awakening is precious. Awakening is formless and without characteristics. In fact, there is no state that can be called awakening, but there is a realization there: one enters a certain kind of state. It is a very marked state; a qualitative change has occurred.
It is not that awakening can really have a standard. Since we are originally … what awakening would there be? There is no state that proves you are awakened—truly, there is not. But there is a qualitative change in which an ordinary person gradually breaks through attachment. You break through attachment, break, break, break through it, and at a certain point there is a process of qualitative change. That state is called the state of awakening.
(Does awakening require a teacher’s confirmation?)
It is not confirmation. Someone who has walked this path will have a … This is not confirmation; confirmation is not needed. For example, traveling from Guangzhou to Zhuhai, there are some distinctive places along the way: once you have finished the asphalt road, you are about to get on the expressway; at the expressway entrance there is a distinctive building, and from there you simply take the expressway; when you reach the Zhuhai toll station, you have entered Zhuhai. These three places are all distinctive markers, all signs that you are nearly there. Someone who has traveled the route knows them all.
When you tell me, “My car is already running one-way; I’ve finished this asphalt road,” I immediately know that you have finished the ordinary road and gotten onto the expressway, so of course I have to point this out to you.
Then you get on the expressway and say, “Where am I? Teacher, I’ve reached the toll booth. It says, ‘Zhuhai welcomes you.’” I say, “You’ve entered the Zhuhai area.” Does this need confirmation? Anyone who has traveled it once knows, because I have traveled it. That is all. It is not a matter of confirmation; it is not that grand. Confirmation of what? It is simply that one has passed through it, knows that person’s sequence of cultivation and realization, and knows how that person came through it.
What makes it difficult is each sentient being. Every disciple has different faculties and capacity, and they have been practicing life after life. As you travel through each life to this one, you will suddenly leap forward from some point.
At the starting point everyone is together. After going a certain distance from the starting point, some disciples suddenly leap forward. Of course, this is because causes and conditions are complete, along with many other reasons. You cannot view each disciple through the things with characteristics in this world. When such a leap occurs, you have to teach each disciple specifically.
As I said the other day, I am giving an example, because each of you has your own story of cultivation and realization; I simply have not told it. For example, a distinctive stretch of road appears and you are about to get on the expressway, so I remind her. I am only saying that she has already driven ahead. In saying she is about to get on the expressway, I remind her what she should pay attention to on the expressway. I am not saying she has arrived; that is all.
When you come to Zhuhai, there is really nothing special to say—isn’t it simply that you drove here all the way? That is only scenery along the road. Your destination is Zhuhai; your destination is to come to this company and see everything in this company. So the scenery along the road can all be ignored. What is the scenery along the road? It is only a sign. Your ultimate purpose is to attain perfect and unsurpassed awakening. That is what you are meant to see, not the things along the way. So the things along the way do not count for much.
You can also divide the road into dozens of distinctive markers. You might say that one stretch of the road is easy to drive and another is difficult, and the middle can also count as a marker; I have finished the difficult stretch and entered the easy one. You can set three or four markers; you can make three or four checkpoints.
That is why the Patriarchs of successive generations had different standards when giving confirmation. Our standard is that something may be a distinctive marker for one disciple but not for another. For another, it may instead be clinging to appearances, and you have to suppress it immediately—you cannot say it, cannot even mention it. His self-conceit is there. If you say he is clinging to appearances, he immediately feels that something is wrong, or something like that. Everyone’s habitual tendencies and desires are different.
(Form itself is emptiness, and the boundary of form is emptiness; then what came before was feeling-consciousness, cognition-consciousness, formation-consciousness—is it a sequence one by one?)
No. You do not know what the boundary of form is. The boundary of form is boundless and has no boundary, but you will have a sensation of breaking through a boundary. As I said just now, you feel that you are leaving the Three Realms, that you have already left them.
Within a state, you feel that you are going to leave, and you are leaving. In time and space, actually, the relative nature of time and space is beginning to blur for you; it is not that there are truly Three Realms for you to leave. It is only that, in the process of the energy channels, you feel yourself leaving. But while leaving, you suddenly feel that you have reached the edge, and then you return. It turns out that there are fundamentally no Three Realms to leave. In other words, you awaken to this point.
Moreover, in the Shurangama Sutra, form, feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness are broken through one by one; this does not refer to a sequence, either. They can only be discussed one by one, like what the Heart Sutra says: Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form; feeling itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is feeling.
Through form, you can also realize and enter emptiness; through cognition, you can also realize and enter emptiness. In the Five Skandhas, every skandha can be an entry into emptiness. It is not that you have to practice each one and finish practicing it before you can realize and enter emptiness.
Cognition itself is emptiness. You can see complete emptiness through conditioned arising and ceasing, through the arising and movement of thoughts. You do not see emptiness through perfection; you can see emptiness through imperfection. You can see emptiness through your conditioned phenomena. It is not that you must stop all your thoughts before you can see emptiness. You can see emptiness through stillness and the appearance of cessation, or you may break through from consciousness that is constantly flowing, suddenly breaking through into emptiness.
Why is everyone who practices sitting meditation required to quiet down and stop scattered thoughts and deluded thinking? Because it is difficult for you to see emptiness within scattered thoughts and deluded thinking; it is not that scattered thoughts and deluded thinking contain no emptiness. Scattered thoughts and deluded thinking are all emptiness. Without emptiness, how could you have deluded thoughts? Without emptiness, how could you have scattered thoughts? This is true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence. All your scattered thoughts and deluded thinking, even all your habitual tendencies and desires, are the wonderful existence of emptiness; they are all its manifestations. But this can only be said after attaining Buddhahood. At the beginning, they obstruct the path.
Before you have stopped clinging to appearances, before you can fully awaken to the truth, some things obstruct you. You cannot see your Buddha-nature through certain appearances; it is very difficult. You must see your Buddha-nature through wholesome phenomena; it is very difficult to see your Buddha-nature through unwholesome phenomena.
For example, if you go and kill someone, it is very difficult to see emptiness while killing, because when you kill, hatred necessarily arises, or you necessarily covet the person’s money, or you must have some particular intention before you kill them—anger, resentment, revenge, and so on. Even if you kill someone for no reason, you are still evil, the kind of person who is deranged. Killing someone for no reason—isn’t that deranged? Or you may hate society, and so on. In such a case, it is very difficult to see emptiness through such conduct and the things at work in that person’s nature of mind. That does not mean this conduct has no emptiness; it too is true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence.
That is why a Chan Patriarch said: “If this person has seen their Buddha-nature and awakened, and is truly wielding a knife and entering battle, fighting up there, you too have seen your Buddha-nature; you too are a Buddha, no problem.” Now we cannot see our Buddha-nature in such a state. You cannot see your Buddha-nature amid thoughts arising and ceasing, so you are made to stop, quiet down, and see it from a state of samadhi.
A state of samadhi is simply a state; it is no different from scattered thoughts. Random thoughts are simply a state, and a state of samadhi is still a state. It is just that the deluded mind amid random thoughts cannot see. From our present state, it is very difficult to see emptiness within this state.
This is what the Heart Sutra means by The Five Skandhas Are All Empty: form, feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness—there is complete emptiness within every one of them. Form does not differ from emptiness, and emptiness does not differ from form; cognition does not differ from emptiness, and emptiness does not differ from cognition. They are all the same. Within each one you can see your Buddha-nature; each contains complete emptiness, and each is true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence.
There is not a single thing that is not true emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence; even a mote of dust is. You cannot see your Buddha-nature by looking at a mote of dust, but you can see your Buddha-nature by encountering the Buddha, because you cling to appearances. You can follow the Buddha and learn to see emptiness, but you cannot follow a mote of dust or an ant to see your Buddha-nature, because you are making distinctions. You cannot see complete Buddha-nature there, and that is why the Buddha appeared in the world to save you.
Actually, every single thing has it. That is why, in the end, a great Chan master can see their Buddha-nature while holding a flower and say, “A flower is a world; a leaf is a Tathagata.” In other words, a single leaf contains complete Buddha-nature; you can see your Buddha-nature in everything. Whatever you see is Buddha; seeing it is seeing your Buddha-nature, and you can penetrate through it.
But now we cling to appearances and become confused, and our distinction and attachment are very strong; we still cannot quite penetrate through. So we continue, continue with cultivation and realization. All Dharma doors are nothing more than methods that have been devised.
Although each of us is different, with different personality traits, we have common qualities. Human beings have universal common qualities, so there are Dharma doors for joint practice. For example, through meditative concentration, it is easier to see your Buddha-nature.
Because concentration is a kind of … It is like clarifying this water—slowly clarifying it—so that we can see what is inside the cup; when it is shaking, it is difficult to see. When it is shaking, does the emptiness of the thing inside cease to be there? Does the thing inside cease to be there? You see the writing inside; when it is shaking, it is still there. It is just that when the water settles, it is easier to see its original appearance; when it shakes, you cannot see clearly.
It is not that the thing is absent when the water is shaking. Buddha-nature is still there, and you are still a Buddha. Whether this half-cup of water moves or does not move, it is still the same; it is simply shaking at one moment and settled at another. When it settles, it is easier to realize Buddhahood; when it shakes, it is very difficult—very difficult to penetrate it, to pass through it. That is all.
When we enter from the highest state, we do not discuss sects. In fact, this is how the later Chan School guides people in. But do not cling to appearances. If someone asks what sect you belong to, say you do not know: “I am simply a disciple of the Buddha.” OK. No matter which sect you study, you are a disciple of the Buddha, and what you study is Buddhadharma.
So in the end, Chan says, “Carrying firewood and carrying water—how could that not be cultivation? How could that not be Buddhadharma?” Carrying firewood and carrying water, eating and dressing—all are Buddhadharma. If there were no emptiness here when you drank this cup of water, you could not drink it. This is wonderful existence; it is that simple. This is spiritual power.
This is the most universal spiritual power, and everyone has it. Everyone likes a little of what they cannot do; that is all, just that—still the same. These spiritual powers are actually the most practical. Without them, we would starve to death. So what if you can emit light? You still have to eat, even if you emit light. So it is still better to be able to eat, right?
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.