workings, be pleased with heaven, know the beginning and end of things, know the reason of the hidden and the obvious, know the
expla-149
THE BOOK OF BALANCE AND HARMONY
nation of life and death, find out truth, fulfill human nature, and arrive at the purpose of life. Because of being pleased with heaven, you do not worry; because of fulfilling nature, you do not doubt.
Who can reach this but those who achieve knowledge? Those who ac
complish knowledge are sincere, lucid, calm, and stable; so they know that illusory forms continually arise and pass away, that the deluded mind is discriminatory and partial, that society and the times shift and change uncertainly, and that works perish and do not last.
When the refmement brought about through observation is thor
oughly mature, this is called the accomplishment of sages. Because it is permeated by unity, there is no creation or change.
If you do not accomplish knowledge, you cannot determine the char
acter of things; if you cannot determine things, you change and shift along with things-then where are essence and life?
If there is fluid movement, not fixated, circulating throughout space, heaven and earth then meet in oneself, myriad things are complete in onesel£ When you return to vision of the heart of heaven, myriad exis
tents return to open nonreification; then creation and change cease.
Metaphorically speaking, if HEAVEN and EARTH do not move fluidly, sun and moon do not travel-then where are the combinations of yin and ya.."Ig? If yin and yang do not interact, they do not ascend and descend-then how can myriad beings exist? The bodies of HEAVEN and EARTH are pure and unified; because they do not mix the aberrant with the true, and do not change, therefore there is no creation and no change.
The creation of creationless creation is great creation, the change of changeless change is great change. Those who see this thereby know that all things and beings in the world are temporary compounds, and that the operations of yin and yang are all illusions. Who but the most fluid in the world can keep up with this?
Viewing the matter in this way, we can see that the three teachings
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism-are just a matter of mind: ere-150
!Hi:: l:IUUK OF BALANCE AND HARMONY
arion and change depend on mind, and transcendence of creation and change also depends on mind.
In learning Buddhism, it is essential to see essence. To see essence, it is first necessary to remove habit-conditioned energy by means of cer
tainly stabilized will, and to preserve clear lucidity by the power of strict observation. After that, see through all kinds of vain illusory mental states, and do not fixate on things, so that thoughts do not follow feel
mgs.
Thoughts are the root of afHiction, mental states are the seeds of rei
fication. When thoughts arise, all afHictions arise; when thoughts cease, all afHictions cease. When mental states are produced, all sorts of reilica
tions are produced; when mental states pass away, all sorts of reilications pass away. When thoughts arise, stop them-all come from mind.
When you reach the point where "arising and passing away itself passes away, and quiescence is bliss," this is seeing essence.
Students today who cannot see essence are hindered by two obstruc
tions, abstract and concrete. Abstract obstructions cannot be dissolved but by great perception; concrete obstructions cannot be dissolved but by great cessation. Great perception means cutting through by knowl
edge; great cessation means controlling by power.
When cutting through by knowledge is perfected, all abstractions are empty of absoluteness; when controlling by power is perfected, all con
cretizations are empty of absoluteness. When you realize the great emp
tiness of emptiness and the ultimate reality of reality, this is the consum
mation of great perception. Then thoughts and emotional consciousness of body, mind, society, and events all stop at once; this is the consum
mation of great cessation.
Learning Taoism is a matter of preserving essence. To preserve es
sence, it is first necessary to cut through delusions with the sword of wis
dom, dissolve attachment to sense experience by maximizing the tran
scendent primordial consciousness and minimizing the temporally conditioned consciousness, and to use the power of concentration to for
get feelings, cut off rumination, remove psychological burdens, and clarify the mind.
!51
THE BOOK OF BALANCE AND HARMON Y
When the mind is clear, burdens removed, rumination ended, and feelings forgotten, this is called preserving essence. When the true es
sence is present, there is no creation or change.
Students today get carried away by emotional consciousness. If you want to get rid of emotional consciousness, first get rid of the fluctuating mind. When the mind does not fluctuate, then the body does not fluc
tuate.
Getting rid of the fluctuating mind begins with having no thoughts.
When you have fully developed the habit of freedom from thought, you can reach a state of serene concentration free from dreams and thoughts.
When this is fully developed, you can reach a state free from conception.
Freedom from dreams is important for the present; freedom from conception is important at the end of life. Free from conception, you do not create; free from dreams, you do not change. Not creating, not changing, you are not born and do not die.
The essence of the study of Confucianism lies in fulfilling human na
ture. Fulfilling human nature is a matter of clarifying enlightened quali
ties and resting in ultimate good. After you know where to rest, then you have stability; when you have stability, you can forget things and self
The statement on the hexagram MOUNTAIN in the I Ching says,
"Stopping at the back, you don't ftnd the body; walking in the garden, you don't see the person. No blame." Stopping at the back means for
getting oneself; walking in the garden not seeing the person means forgetting things. Knowing how and where to stop-therefore being able to forget things and self and so to keep the celestial design intact-is called fulfilling human nature.
When people today cannot fulfill human nature, it is because of bur
dens of body and mind. Once there are burdens, there is blockage. It is necessary to apply fum decisiveness and effective resolution. By being fum and decisive you can forget things; by being effectively resolute you can forget self. When things and self are forgotten, you will surely fulfill human nature and arrive at the meaning of life.
I observe that most people in the world think this body has a self in it.
This reveals a serious lack of reflection. As this body exists due to
crea-! 52
� "'-' .uvv.11.. Ut' �1\LA.N C.E AND HARMONY
tion, did it have a form before it was created, did it have a name, did it have a self? After it has changed, does it have a form, does it have a name, does it have a self? Since none of these exist either before or after, how can we cling to reification of self only in the interval between?
People do not realize that body, mind, the world, and events are fun
damentally unreal in an ultimate sense; when we try to fmd past, present, and future, ultimately we cannot grasp them. The past has disappeared, the present changes from moment to moment, the future is uncertain.
Throughout the ages people have fixated on unreal objects in the midst of dreamlike illusion, forming the seeds of repetitious life cycles.
Theref9re they are born and die without hope of release.
If,
on the other hand, people in the midst of these dreamlike illusory objects can experientially know them for what they are, and thus can dissolve fixations, they can reach enlightenment.
One day I brought up this issue for my students to look into. Two or three of them understood to some extent, so I composed this essay for them, to convey mind by mind.
If you can realize directly, inwardly understand and tacitly compre
hend, then you know how and where to stop, not recounting the past, not worrying about the future, not being attached to the present. When these three are combined, you attain great independence, you roam freely in the ocean of tranquility, wander in the homeland of nothing
whatsoever, float in the realm of contentment.
When you get to this point, you will know that creation and change have no power over you. But there is still something yet higher. Tell me, what do you call that which is higher? Tum over the legs of nothingness, smash cosmic space to smithereens, and only then will you be done.
I 53
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