Huangbo's comments

Huang-po says, “Ordinary people are unwilling to empty their minds. They’re afraid they’ll fall into emptiness, unaware that their own minds are already empty. The fool gets rid of phenomena and not the mind. The wise gets rid of the mind and not phenomena. A bodhisattva’s mind is like space. A bodhisattva gives away everything, outside and inside. Such great renunciation is like walking with a candle before you. You can’t get lost. Lesser renunciation is like walking with a candle to one side or behind you. You’re bound to fall into a ditch.”

Huang-po says, “Buddhas and beings share the same identical mind. It’s like space: it doesn’t contain anything and isn’t affected by anything. When the great wheel of the sun rises, and light fills the whole world, space doesn’t become brighter. When the sun sets, and darkness fills the whole world, space doesn’t become darker. The states of light and darkness alternate and succeed one another, while the nature of space is vast and changeless. The mind of buddhas and beings is like this. Here, the buddha says to save all beings in order to get rid of the delusion of liberation so that we can see our true nature.”

Huang-po says, “Most people allow their mind to be obstructed by the world and then try to escape from the world. They don’t realize that their mind obstructs the world. If they could only let their minds be empty, the world would be empty. Don’t misuse the mind. If you want to be free of the world, you should forget the mind. Once you forget the mind, the world becomes empty. And when the world becomes empty, the mind disappears. If you don’t forget the mind and only get rid of the world, you only succeed in becoming more confused. Thus, it is said, ‘all things are only mind.’ But the mind cannot be found. When you can’t find a thing, you have reached the final goal. Why bother running around looking for liberation? This is how you should control the mind. Once you see your own nature, you won’t have any deluded thoughts. Once you have no deluded thoughts, you have controlled your mind.”

Huang-po says, “Eyes combine with form, ears combine with sound, the nose combines with smell, the tongue combines with taste, the body combines with touch, and the mind combines with dharmas. These twelve give birth to six forms of consciousness and together make up the Eighteen Domains. If someone understands that the Eighteen Domains contain nothing, that they are all empty, such a person truly understands the nature of the senses.”

Huang-po says, “Ordinary people are unwilling to empty their minds. They’re afraid they’ll fall into emptiness, unaware that their own minds are already empty. The fool gets rid of phenomena and not the mind. The wise gets rid of the mind and not phenomena. A bodhisattva’s mind is like space. A bodhisattva gives away everything, outside and inside. Such great renunciation is like walking with a candle before you. You can’t get lost. Lesser renunciation is like walking with a candle to one side or behind you. You’re bound to fall into a ditch.”

Huang-po says, “If you want to become a buddha, don’t learn a single teaching of the buddhas. Just learn not to seek and not to cling. By not seeking, thoughts are not born. By not clinging, thoughts do not die. What is not born and what does not die is the buddha.”

Huang-po says, “Buddhas and beings share one and the same mind. Otherwise they don’t differ. This mind has never had any form or characteristics. It has never been created. It has never been destroyed. Thus, it is right here. If you think about it, you miss it. It’s like the sky. It has no borders. Only this one mind is the buddha. Buddhas and beings aren’t different. However, beings are attached to seeking perceptions outside of themselves. But the more they seek, the more they get lost. They send a buddha to find a buddha. They use the mind to chase the mind. They can exhaust themselves for kalpas, but they’ll never succeed. They don’t realize that when they put an end to thoughts and reasoning, the buddha will appear before them. This mind is the buddha. The buddha is an ordinary being. When it’s an ordinary being, this mind doesn’t contract. When it’s a buddha, it doesn’t expand. When it meets conditions, it acts. When conditions end, it stops. It doesn’t need to be pinned down or realized. It is already perfect. If you aren’t willing to believe that this is the buddha, even if you cultivate for countless kalpas, you will never reach the Way. To cling to the perception of a dharma means that a dharma exists outside the mind. Hence, you are attached to perceptions. Whether you do evil or do good, you are attached to perceptions. When you do evil while attached to perceptions, you waste your rebirth. When you do good while attached to perceptions, you waste your hardships. Neither can compare with recognizing your own mind right now. Outside this mind, there are no dharmas. This mind is the dharma. Outside this dharma, there is no mind. You can use the mind to eliminate the mind, but the mind still exists. And to cling to the perception of no dharmas means to allow perceptions of attachment and non-attachment, good and bad, mortal and sage to continue to exist.”