Wake Up (16 page)

“And the same with your perception of tasting, it is the false perception of the tongue.”

“How so, my Lord?”

“Ananda, what does the curry sauce taste to the wooden bowl? Ananda, it is the tongue, not the intrinsic perception of Mind that is subject to false mistakes. A man with a sick tongue tastes some unpleasant cottony taste, but it is not his undisturbable Essential Mind that developed the taste, it is his brain-mind discriminating according to the tongue that is sick. In the same way, a healthy tongue tastes flavor, which is imaginary, in empty space. So you will know, it is because the tongue is naturally invested with false perception of flavor that everything that you taste with your tongue is a false ripple. This has been so with the tongue since beginningless time; the very fact that you have a tongue is part of your Karma, your inheritance from ignorant deeds done elsewhere.

“But Ananda do not be disturbed. Since it is just a matter of time that you’ll shed this tongue, then you have already shed this tongue.

“When the curry sauce comes into contact with your palate, and whether it is my palate or yours we both taste the spiciness, the highly changeable elements and their condiments are received by the taste-ducts of the tongue and the perception of flavor emerges and according to our habit energies we say it tastes ‘good’ or it tastes ‘bad,’ but where does this so-called flavor have its source? Ananda, it is a completely false and fantastic flavor pure and simple. And why? Because if this flavor had its source in the tongue, naturally it would not need the incident of the sauce to taste the flavor of the sauce, but we see that this takes place only when the sauce is put in the mouth. Or if, then, the flavor had its source in the sauce, how then would the tongue know it any more than the wooden bowl? Ananda, the flavor is a fantasy in empty space, and by tasting of the sauce, universal perception was roused from dreamless sleep in Essential Mind, and the tasting of flavor made its appearance according to the individual tongue.

“Ananda, the tasting of flavor is an indication of the sick condition of morbid mist which we call ‘good tongue’ and which has been instrumental in making sentient beings pitiful dupes of false flavors since beginningless time, causing them grief.

“And the same with your perception of thinking, it is the false perception of the brain.”

“How so, my Lord?”

“Ananda, it is the brain, not the intrinsic perception of Mind, that is subject to false mistakes. A man with a sick brain thinks that his head has become a goblin but it is not his undisturbable crystal clear Essential Mind that developed this thought, it is his brain-mind discriminating according to the brain that is sick. In the same way, healthy brains think thoughts, which are imaginary, in empty space. So you will know, it is because the brain is naturally invested with the false perception of discriminative thinking that everything that you conceive of with your brain is a false ripple. Ananda, the intuitive self-realization of Noble Wisdom that comes with Transcendental Intelligence that reveals the True and Essential Mind, which has ever been an inconceivable activity of the Buddha-nature of purity permeating everywhere and always, in other words, that which happens when a sentient being sees the Light which was previously obscured by his brain as moon by cloud, is not an individualized discriminative thought appearing in the brain of that bubble known as Ananda’s self. False and busy thinking that leads one to the gloom of Ignorance and Karma, the very perception of the brain, has been so since beginningless time; the very fact that you have a brain and that it developed since your so-called birth, is part of your Karma, your inheritance from conditioned, impure deeds of this world done elsewhere in ignorance.

“But Ananda do not be disturbed. Since it’s just a matter of time that you will shed this brain, then you have already shed this brain.

“It is because of the opposing, dual, and therefore false and conditional conceptions of appearance and disappearance that the brain makes out thoughts. Just like healthy eyes that develop fantastic blossoms in the sky which nevertheless do not belong to the eyes nor to the sky and are perfectly imaginary, the brain develops thoughts that come and go which nevertheless do not belong to the brain nor to anything and are perfectly imaginary. Where do these millions of thoughts that pass in a continual parade in the Seven Kinds of Swiftness across the dark amphitheater of your brain have their source? Ananda, each one of these billions of bubbles are of one Essence, Essence of Mind, and is a completely false and fantastic thought pure and simple. And why? Because if a passing thought had its source in the brain, and the thought belonged to your brain, why should it vanish and make way for millions of others like it, each one an additional and transitory and soon-to-be-unrippled ripple, as for instance, a thought about taking a voyage, which is followed immediately by a thought of what to have for dinner. Surely these are real dreams, but Ananda they are dreams! Or if, a thought had its source anywhere else outside the brain, then, supposing there was no brain, it would be clear that the thought could not exist independently of the brain, which means the same thing as saying that the thought is completely false and fantastic.

“Be sure, it is all a spectral tissue in empty space, and by discriminating the appearance and disappearance of thoughts in your brain, universal perception was roused from dreamless sleep in the deeps of Essential Mind, in the imageless bliss of it, responded with perfect accommodation, and the thinking of thoughts appeared according to the troublous individual conditions of brain.

“Ananda, the thinking of thoughts is an indication of the sick condition of morbid mist which we call ‘good mind,’ and which has been instrumental in making sentient beings pitiful dupes of false thoughts since beginningless time, causing them to act in the direction of deaths and rebirths and so perpetuating their circumambient enslavement to the awful wheel of sorrowful existence.

“Those who have attained enlightenment, and have ceased to notice that which does not necessarily exist, that is, existence itself, which they see clearly as a bubble that for all intents and purposes has already burst, are as if awakening from sleep, and their past life seems only a dream.”

Though Ananda in his heart of hearts was made implicitly and truthfully aware of the import of this teaching that the six senses are false and fantastic, still in his thinking-mind he had not yet resolved speculative dilemmas concerning the apparent solidity and substantialness of such elements as Earth, Water, Fire and Wind and their continual transformations, which according to his Lord’s previous teaching were perfectly imaginary manifestations of Illimitable Essential Mind and nothing else.

So he inquired respectfully on the subject, and by his perfect silence and attention, showed himself ready for the teaching from the Blessed One.

The Buddha said: “Ananda, it is just as you have said, all the varieties and changes in this world with which the subjective six senses appear to assume objective contact, are manifested by means of the combining and the conforming of the Four Great Elements (earth, water, fire, air); there are three other Great Elements, namely, Space, Perception, and Consciousness, making, in all, Seven Great Elements. Let us begin with the earth-element.

“Why is the earth a bubble? Ananda, does it fit the case to question whether the center of a bubble is empty or not empty? Because the earth is made up of infinitesimal particles of dust that can be analyzed down to the atom and the atom of that, infinitely, each atom in likeness to our universe, to the universe and the universe of that, so that wise men know there are universes in their little eye lash more numerous than all the sands in whole unnumerable Ganges-sands of Ganges Rivers. Ananda, what is happening in these vast and spectral spaces, anyway?

“Look carefully! Stare through the sight of things and you will only see the Great Heart of Compassion of all the Buddhas of Old beyond belief. This is
Yathabhutam
, the seeing of things truly.

“Consider the nature of the earth element. In a crude and coarse form it covers the globe, but in a highly refined form it is the infinitesimal dust of space, and even everything that the eyes can see can be reduced into its primal elements, so that all that is seen as sight is earth. You should know, Ananda, that if this earth, this infinitesimal dust of space, should truly be reduced to the purity and emptiness of space, it would be out of this inconceivable purity that the phenomena of sight is manifested also.

“Ananda, the intrinsic nature of earth is the real emptiness of space, the true vacuum; while the intrinsic nature of space is the real earth, the true essence.

“In the Tathagata’s Womb of the un-bornness of the unborn essence of all things which is the Ultimate and Supreme Reality, space and sights are of perennial freshness and purity, permeating everywhere throughout the phenomenal universes, and are being forever manifested spontaneously and perfectly in accordance with the amount of Karma-need accumulated under the conscious activity of sentient beings who are but pitiful forms of ignorance in what is like a vision and a dream a long time already finished. However, people of the world, spectral giants inside mind, being ignorant of the principle that governs their own existence, become bewildered in the entanglements of causes and conditions and naturalism, they think the earth carries signs of an inherent self-nature of its own and call it ‘natural’ and ‘Mother Nature’ with all the mental trees independent of their own bodies, they think that it exists due to causes such as creation by some self-created and self-remembering Creator Self who made them after his own image and that their existence comes under the conditions of ‘time,’ atoms, seasons, celestial interventions, personal destiny, all of which are wholly the discriminations of their mental consciousness and are merely figurative words having no meaning in reality.

“Ananda, where does this infinitesimal dust come from, this earth, and how does it sojourn here? It’s as if someone had suddenly given you a free store and said ‘How much earth do you want? How much sight do you want?’ Yet you did not truly want. Everywhere is the place where earth originates. Earth obeys and earth is everywhere. That is, earth is proof of the fact that molecular properties and combinations always assist in the appearance of earth. Earth responds to combinations that we may understand by analysis of molecular properties but these combinations are not its place of origination or its cause. What was the original condition before it was attracted and combined and became earth? Essential Mind is the essence and the source of the phenomena of earth.”

Ananda said to the Buddha: “Pray tell us about the Water element, my Noble Lord.”

The Blessed One replied: “Why is water a dream, Ananda? Does it fit the case to question whether a dream is real or unreal?

“Ananda, let us consider the nature of the Water element. By nature water is impermanent, whether in the current of rivers or in the waves of the sea. When the sun comes up at dawn, and heats the mist, the mist drops water-beads into the cup. What do you think about it, Ananda? Does this water come from the mist, or does it come out of space, or does it really come from the sun? If it came from the sun, then every time the sun shines there would be water everywhere, but as it is we see there has to be mist as well. If it came from the mist, then why did it have to wait till sunrise to distill into water? But if you had such mist and no water come from it, it would be proof that water does not come from the sun. If the water comes from the empty space between the sun and the mist, then, as space is boundless and if water was equally boundless, then all sentient beings on earth or in sky would be in danger of drowning. If you were to say that water came from all three combined, you would be saying that water had its source in the sun, in the mist and in the vast space between them, which makes three sources. From where does the water come from? Surely it cannot come from nowhere. And then, again, consider that wherever mist may be standing in the sunrise in some one place there water appears, supposing there is mist all over the world and water is appearing everywhere, what would that signify?

“Ananda! Why is it that you still remain in ignorance that the intrinsic nature of water is the real emptiness, while the intrinsic nature of space is the real water-essence.

“In the reality of the Shining Emptiness that is the Essence of Mind, both water and space abide in freshness and purity and in essence obtain everywhere throughout the universes and are being manifested freely, and perfectly corresponding to the accumulation and inheritance of Karma by the conscious activity of sentient beings.

“However, people of this world, being ignorant of this, and by regarding water as being made to appear by means of causes and conditions exclusively or spontaneously by its own self-nature, have become bewildered. Whereas, all of these false presuppositions and prejudices are simply the discriminations made by their own mental consciousness, and are merely figurative words having no basis in reality.

“Where does water come from, and how does it sojourn here? Everywhere is the place where water originates; that is, water responds to combinations such as distillation of mist at sunrise, but this combination is not the place of origination of water. Essential Mind is the essence and the source of the phenomena of water.”

Ananda said to the Blessed One: “Pray tell us, my Noble Lord, about the fire-element.”

The Blessed One replied: “Why is fire an idea, Ananda? Does it fit the case to question whether a thought has appeared or disappeared?

“Ananda, let us consider the element of fire. Fire has not its own individual nature, but is dependent on other considerations. If you were to look towards the city of Sravasti at the time people are getting ready to prepare the noon meal, you would see every householder bring his lens into the sunlight to kindle a fire. The quality of fire is not developed by means of the combining and conforming of lens and high noon and wormwood kindling. Why? Because as one holds out his lens to the heat of the sunlight in order to kindle a fire, does the fire come from the glass, or does it come from the wormwood fiber that the concentrated heat kindles, or does the fire come from the sun, Ananda? If the fire comes from the sun and kindles the wormwood fiber, why is not the whole forest of wormwood trees kindled also? If it comes from the lens and is hot enough to kindle the wormwood, why is the lens itself not burnt? As it is, there is no appearance of fire until your hand holds out the lens between the sun and the fiber. Again, Ananda, think carefully. Here are certain conditions that being present, fire arises; you are holding a lens in your hand, the sunlight is coming from the sun, the wormwood fiber has grown from the ground, but where does the fire come from, and how does it sojourn here? It can not be said that the fire comes from nowhere.