聖尊週六同修接續講解六祖壇經


六祖說：「善知識，不悟，即佛是眾生；一念悟時，眾生是佛。故知萬法盡在自心，何不從心中頓見真如本性？《菩薩戒經》云：「我本元自性清淨，若識自心見性，皆成佛道」《淨名經》云：「即時豁然，還得本心」。」

Virtuous and knowledgeable friend, not enlightened, Buddha is sentient beings; upon enlightenment, sentient beings are Buddha. Since all dharma is immanent in the self-nature, why not from within suddenly see the Tathata? The Buddha Precepts Sutra mentions, \`Our essence of mind is intrinsically pure, if we knew our mind and grasped self-nature, all would attain Buddhahood.\` The Jing Ming (Pure Name) Sutra mentions, \`The instant of awakening, restores self mind.\`

I`ll put Six Patriarch`s words simply. To the virtuous and knowledgeable friend, if you don`t awaken, then you are sentient beings. When you awaken, sentient beings are Buddha. From this we know, all dharma is inside your mind. Why don`t you see inside to find True Suchness? A sutra called The Buddha Precepts Sutra says, my inherent Buddha nature is pure. If I make myself aware of that such notion, it is the same as realizing the Buddha nature, able to become Buddha. There`s another sutra called Jing Ming Sutra. It refers to the moment you suddenly awaken, you attain your genuine mind.

Another name for the Bodhisattva Precept Sutra is the Brahma Net Sutra. The Jing Ming Sutra is also known as the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra. Both sutras talk about realizing one's self-nature or self-mind, to gain instant Buddhahood. The Sixth Patriarch explained that we need not seek afar for the advice of those learned to obtain liberation. All we need to do is to examine our heart regularly and to realize our own True Suchness. We constantly hear the phrase \`Pure Self-Nature\`. What is pure? Not being contaminated is being pure. It will not be easy as our minds are filled with defiled sights, sounds, thoughts and desires. We practice to free ourselves from these defilements. That is purification - render yourself clean and untainted.

Reverend Lian Xing said she did not face obstacles in learning Buddhism, as many of my books had been translated to English, courtesy of our True Buddha Translation Teams. There are also those who have translators through their courses of practicing Buddhism. Our dharma talks also have simultaneous interpretations. She would understand all of them, so she doesn`t have difficulties in her practice. However I feel Reverend Lian Xing shouldn`t know too much. The more you know, the more contaminated you may be. Simple is better. The less you know, the cleaner you are. If you have too much unneeded knowledge, your intellect becomes too complicated. Hence the need to enter seclusion. It`s best for you not to be informed of anything, just seek your inner purity.

Practicing Buddhism is to concentrate on being like Buddha. There is no hindrance. Six Patriarch said, examine your self-nature, find the intrinsically pure mind, then you are enlightened. Accumulating knowledge may not lead you to enlightenment. More knowledge might actually create more karmic obstacles.

Today`s society can be described as a kimchi barrel. The society tarnishes you. When we throw a carrot into the barrel, comes out a preserved vegetable. Through the marinade, it became something else. Our Buddha nature is exactly like that. It was originally pure. We are thrown on Earth, and now we are kimchi. Where is your inherently pure self-nature? Think about it. Your mind is essentially pure and cannot be contaminated. That`s your Buddha nature. But now you have to find your Buddha nature in this barrel, which frankly is quite challenging to do. Not as simple as the Six Patriarch said it.

Acharya Lian Yin said the True Buddha School (TBS) is unique. Yes, TBS is very unique. Our distinctive feature is condensing the convoluted Tantra into sudden teaching. Many mantras are quite lengthy. We chant the short version. We forgo the lengthy visualization for the abridged visualization. Entering samadhi is to purify everything about you. You need a sudden method. The sudden method is awakening. We are distinctive because we un-complicate things - transforming many minds to one, many thoughts into one, through the use of the most straightforward procedures. This is the unique and distinctive quality of TBS.

Translated by: TBTT
Summarized by Peggie Ng, Proofread by Angela Yeh, Edited by Morgan Chiu