邪來煩惱至。正來煩惱除。邪正俱不用。清淨至無餘。菩提本自性。起心即是妄。淨心在妄中。但正無三障。世人若修道。一切盡不妨。常自見己過。與道即相當。色類自有道。各不相妨惱。離道別覓道。終生不見道。

Wrong comes; stress arrives, right comes; stress vacates.
Cast aside right and wrong, untainted with no remainder.

Bodhi is self-nature, emerging of view is wrong.
In the wrong finds pure mind, righteousness frees from three obstructions.

If men practice truth, none will meet hindrances.
Recurrently contemplate own vice, reach accord with the truth.

Each body holds own truth, yet interferes not another.
Leave this path to seek alternate course, til life’s end sees no truth.

When corrupt thoughts arise, stress will follow. But if you exercise the right judgement, the stress will be gone. If you leave alone both the wrong and right views, you will be purified until you reach the nirvana of no-remainder.

The Bodhicitta is actually our buddha nature. Any thought arisen from your Bodhicitta is considered deviant. The so-called pure mind is inside the wrong thoughts. But if you engage the right view, you will eradicate the three obstacles – stress, karma and retribution (vipaka).

If everyone in this world practice cultivation, they will not hinder one another. Cultivators must learn introspection and repentance. They will then be very close to realizing buddha nature. Everyone has their own self-nature; yet they will be of no disturbance and damage to each other. If you depart from your self-nature to seek another path to the truth, you will never find it.

What’s no-remainder? No-remainder refers to the nirvana of no-remainder. The nirvana of no-remainder is in fact the power of leak extinction (asavakkhaya). This is the most supreme of the six supernatural powers. This power bears the ability to have eliminated all leaks or outflow, which is equivalent to the nirvana of no-remainder.

“The right frees from three obstructions.” Which three kinds of obstacles? The first is the stress obstacle, which refers to all your troubles and worries. The second kind is the karma obstacle, which refers to the past heinous deeds known as the five rebellious offenses and ten abominations. The stress obstacle comes from your greed, anger, ignorance, doubt and arrogance. The retribution obstacle, refers to the consequential sufferings you face in this world. It can also include rebirth in the three miserable realms. If you have the right view, you can eliminate all three obstacles.

The Six Patriarch also mentioned all cultivators must practice introspection constantly. Cultivators must contemplate their mistakes everyday. More often than not, cultivators still commit wrongdoings everyday. Try to stay away from corrupt thoughts, speech, and deeds. Keep yourself uncontaminated. I said it before, empty your minds. Because all troubles are in fact obstacles; when you are able to empty your mind, you toss out the stress as well as the obstacle. When your mind is empty, there will no longer be bad thoughts. Sometimes we override bad thoughts with good ones. But there are still thoughts. What the Six Patriarch said is any rise of thought is wrong. Every rise of thought is a seed of karma. Therefore, if cultivators are able to empty their minds, they are comparable to attaining enlightenment.

Six Patriarch said everyone has buddha nature. If you depart from what is within to seek it else, you won’t find it. Hence the saying, “Tao never leaves men; men never leave Tao.” So find your buddha nature is very important. If everyone cultivates into the spiritual path, there will be no cross boundary, interference or antagonistic to one another. Buddha nature is always with human beings.

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聽吾頌曰：說通及心通，如日處虛空，唯傳見性法，出世破邪宗。法即無頓漸，迷悟有遲疾，只此見性門，愚人不可悉。說即雖萬般，合理還歸一，煩惱闇宅中，常須生慧日。

Listen to my ode. Impart through speech and mind; like the sun positions in the sky; transmit only the dharma to realize nature; renounce the world to shatter the wrong. Dharma is neither sudden nor gradual; enlightenment may be prompt or eventual. There is one awakening gate; the ignorant cannot assimilate. Ten thousand ways to put into words, through truth restores to one. In the dark house of troubles, let the blazing sun of wisdom emerge all the time.

What does it mean to understand the teachings through speech? It is like lecturing through verbal communications. It is like discussions between Zen masters. What does it mean to understand the teachings through the mind? It refers to those principles that are unspeakable. Inexpressible. These are teachings that can only be grasped through the understanding of the mind, like an intuitive connection.

It is like the sun in the sky where its position is constantly changing. The sun rotates. The earth does too and revolves around the sun. All nine planets have their movements, as is the entire solar system. In another words, nothing stays still. Everything is moving. This is called non-abiding. Even the unspeakable teachings, are like the sun in the sky.

Now, the virtuous knowledge that truly guides one to enlightenment is the best dharma and the correct teaching. Many teachings do not lead to the realization of self-nature; they are distractions. The Sixth Patriarch calls them the wrong doctrines. What is “wrong”? Anything perpetuating desire is wrong.

What is the right view? Not clinging to anything is right. Still having attachment is wrong. If you don’t cling to anything, like the sun’s non-abiding quality and its constant motion, then it’s called right. If you are still fixated on things, still developing desires, then you are on the wrong path.

The dharma of self-nature realization has no such distinction of sudden or gradual. This means awakening immediately is fine. Pacing yourself toward awakening is fine too. This dharma is not something an ignorant person can understand.

Look at this world. The sun rises to brighten this world every day. But in reality, this world is dark, because everyone has worries and stress. Your body is an unlit house full of troubles and stress. There is not one person who is clean and pure. Not one person is stress free. You need Tathagata’s wisdom, like the blazing sun, to illuminate the darkness and vanquish all troubles. This is the significance of the Sixth Patriarch’s passage.

“Purifying One’s Mind” is an important verse in Buddhism. You must clean your thoughts. It is because purifying your mind can terminate stress and troubles. If you don’t purify your mind, this house of yours, which refers to your body, is filled with darkness; filled with stress.

A practitioner should train in non-abiding. In Tantra, a practitioner should leave his hometown; leave his family. He then should leave his students, because having many followers becomes all sorts of entanglements. Everyone seeks counseling. It is hoped Tantric practitioners would understand seclusion. Understand the meaning of living in the mountain. You live in the mountain and resettle from place to place.

Acharya Lian Huo said not getting what is wanted is a torment too. There is nothing to be desired in life. Nothing is desirable. The truth is you won’t get what you want. There is no lasting in the things you pursue: health, long life, money, and prestige. Since nothing can last forever, then nothing can be had. And this is not a misery? You can have nothing! And any possession is only temporary.

Shakyamuni Buddha taught eighty-four thousand dharma-gates. Nagajuna Bodhisattva classified Shakyamuni’s teachings. The first class includes methods in conducting oneself as humans; teaching how to be a good person. The second class of dharma aims at interpersonal interactions, for example, the good and bad among men. The third class is the “corresponding remedy dharma.” Which evil it is, there is a remedy for it. Use precepts to treat greed. Use meditation to treat anger. Use wisdom to treat ignorance. Now I want to talk about the fourth class. “Through Truth Restores to One.” This is the last class. All the corresponding remedies eventually lead you to see your own buddha nature. Corroborate your buddha nature. Obliterate all the stress. As the sun in the pervading sky, you are self-mastered and genuine wherever you are. Most important, your cultivation can include all types of Buddha’s teachings, but ultimately the eighty-four thousand dharma comes back to corroborating your buddha nature.

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恐愚人不解，謗此法門，百劫千生，斷佛種性。善知識！吾有一無相頌，各須誦取，在家出家，但依此修；若不自修，惟記吾言，亦無有益。

Fearing the incomprehension by the ignorant may give rise to slandering of this dharma-gate, which will annihilate the seed of Buddhahood for hundreds of kalpas and thousands of incarnations. Virtuous and knowledgeable friends, I have an Ode to No-Form, all should recite it; monks and laity alike, should abide by it; if without practice, the mere memorization of my words, will lead to no benefit.

Out of this ode the most important word is no-form. In the past, someone submitted an answer to my question of what is enlightenment. This person wrote in his note what the Grand Master and the Sixth Patriarch realized upon attaining enlightenment is no-form. No-form is the same exact words used in the title of the Sixth Patriarch’s ode. Would the Sixth Patriarch blatantly reveal such a coveted secret by using this in the title of his ode?

The answer of no-form is not correct because enlightenment cannot be easily described at all. What No-form refers to is the impermanent imagery in samsara. All forms have a beginning and an end, which when combined equates to nothing; this is why all forms are actually no-form.

The other day two other people submitted their answers. One said, “Life is but a dream.” The other said, “Life is but a show.” When a show ends all you are left with is an empty stage or blank screen. These are both analogies in samsara but still cannot be accepted as enlightenment.

With all that said you all can continue to submit your answers. What exactly did the Buddha realize upon attaining enlightenment? The answer may be very simple indeed, but yet it is absolutely unfathomable by most people. When I gave the hint to Acharya Lian Ning’s awakening, he was quite surprised. He said: “this is truly difficult for most lay people to think of.” I told him now that he has awakened, he should go back and read all the sutras. He will understand everything mentioned in the sutras; because everything will now correspond with the answer. Therefore, unless you have achieved a certain level of awareness or state of mind, I simply will not be able to reveal the answer to you.

No-form can be easily explained. Everything in the world that has a form is said to be of no-form. No-form is spoken of in sutras as encompassing ten qualities in our world, namely color, sound, smell, taste, touch, birth, abiding, deterioration, male, and female. The ode says these are essentially no-form because they equate to nothing. Enlightenment is not only about no-form for it is only a metaphoric manifestation of enlightenment.

Buddha does not discriminate between different races. If you were truly enlightened wouldn’t your sight be as far-reaching as the distance between heaven and earth? A truly enlightened disciple is immune to the feeling of being mistreated, insulted, or slandered. Why? You’ll understand when you become enlightened. Sometimes you may feel saddened because you have been mistreated, insulted, or slandered. What are you going to do? Are you going to jump off of the Golden Gate Bridge in California? You may not. Why not? Because when you become enlightened you will understand that there is no such thing as being mistreated, insulted or slandered.

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然須傳授從上以來默傳分付，不得匿其正法。若不同見同行，在別法中，不得傳付。損彼前人，究竟無益。

However the teachings derived from above have been transmitted discretely, barring concealment of the true dharma. If in unmatched view and deed, or holding other beliefs, transmission is forbidden. Abusing the forebears, ultimately benefit none.

The transmission of the Buddhist dharma from Shakyamuni to Kassapa Buddha and all the way to the Twenty-eighth Patriarch had all been done in private, entirely without any reservation from the lineage masters. Accordingly to the Sixth Patriarch, the doctrine can only be passed to someone whose insight is similar to or the same as the master’s. If the said person does not have an uninhibited mind and the doctrine is taught to him, it will mistreat the whole lineage. This is because, when a person hasn’t emptied his heart and is taught this dharma, whatever you tell him might frighten him; lead him to disbelief and confusion. At the end, it doesn’t benefit him one bit. This is also the reason I can’t publicly teach Sixth Patriarch’s dharma that is supposed to be transmitted heart-to-heart. If you have the matching insight and I teach you this dharma, you’ll realize instantly and understand what Shakyamuni realized under the bodhi tree.

Empty your heart and receive the lineage. Rid the defiled thoughts. Don’t be full of your own opinions. Once you awaken, empty you heart, I will give you the condensed formula. Then all eighty-four thousand dharma gates are consumed by you. You receive the transmission of one dharma yet eighty-four thousand dharma. Awaken and immediately end all stress.

The Sixth Patriarch’s no-thought practice is the most effective way in clearing one’s worries. I do not hold any worries in my heart, whatever stress I encounter will be tossed out. This is why I am always happy and untroubled. Why should you let all the worries and stress permeate your heart and mind? Isn’t it time to purify your heart and let them stop disturb your life? Unload your mind and you will be able to receive the dharma.

I am not totally void of stress either. But if I let them get to me, then by taking my life one hundred times wouldn’t suffice to resolve them. The reason why I am still here and unperturbed is because I choose to scoop and toss out all the worries and stress from my mind. I do not crave for any fame or power. As Acharya Lian Deng mentioned, we should let things come and go naturally.

I know that asking everyone to toss their stress is not an easy feat. Every happening has it’s karmic rationale and everybody has his share of problems. What I want all of you to learn is to not think of problems as problems, to not look back upon past problems. Understand that any current problems will become past problems so don’t pay much attention to them. And why be bothered by future problems before they even occur? This is what the Diamond Sutra means by the three unattainable hearts – past, present and future. By understanding the doctrine and putting it to exercise, you will be able to let go your stress and empty your heart.

Like the eminent Director-General Liao said, empty your heart; don’t allow anger fuel your heart. Sometimes a spark of anger can start a catastrophic fire. To be a true Buddhism practitioner, we need to learn to put an end to all our stress.

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善知識，悟無念法者，萬法盡通；悟無念法者，見諸佛境界；悟無念法者，至佛地位。善知識，後代得吾法者，將此頓教法門，於同見同行，發願受持。如事佛故，終身而不退者，定入聖位。

Virtuous and knowledgeable friends, those who awaken to the no-thought practice, have the complete command of all dharma. Those awaken to the no-thought practice shall see the realm of all buddhas. Those awaken to the no-thought practice shall attain buddhahood. Those in the future acquiring my teachings, in the identical view and deed, vow to accept and endeavor, are as if tending to buddha, through life’s course without abandonment, will unquestionably reach the sacred state.

No-thought is the gateway to all dharma.

Everyone has thoughts; the essence is in letting them pass.

All thoughts will fleet eventually. Past thoughts belong to the past. Present thoughts will soon become past thoughts. And future thoughts have not even arrived yet; don’t be bothered by them.

All human beings have thoughts, and it is difficult not to have them. However, thoughts are meant for the moment; do not take them to heart.

Here is a Zen story. A man is standing on top of a mountain.

Another man walks over and asks this man, “Are you here to breathe the fresh air?”

The man replies, “No.”

“Are you here to hike?”

The man replies, “No.”

“Then you must be here to enjoy the view.”

The man once again replies, “No.”

“Then what exactly are you doing here on the mountain?”

The man replies, “I’m just standing here.”

What a fascinating answer. Merely standing here. Nothing else. No other thought. This is a Zen allegory.

If you ask me if I’m sitting on the dharma throne teaching dharma, my answer would be “No, I’m not teaching dharma.” Then you ask me if I am sitting here looking at all the students and guests. My answer would be “No, I merely scan those in the audience. I leave no impression of anyone in my mind.”

Any single word is dharma. Waving my hand and raising my foot are dharma. Saying nothing is dharma too. I’m just merely sitting here and doing nothing. I’ve forgotten what I’ve taught on the previous Saturdays. And when I wake up tomorrow, I will have already forgotten what I taught today. This is a Zen allegory.

With no desire, I live my day doing what I’m supposed to do. I never pray for anything. I chant, meditate, eat, sleep and write. Everyday passes without craving.

If you have no craving, then you are buddha. If you crave everything, then you are a human being. Not a single craving is allowed. As long as you still have that one thing that you thirst for, you are bound by it. Let me tell you, with no craving, you’ll live happily. Having no craving will set you free – not to be shackled by any substance.

It’s not like I don’t have thoughts. I do. But let thoughts just be thoughts. Like the Zen scripture puts it – a goose flying over a lake. The water is even and calm. The lake may reflect the goose in the air. But when the goose is gone, the water is still even and calm. Treat thoughts exactly as geese. Let the thoughts come and go freely. You don’t have to adhere to them or act on them.

Ten thousand thoughts need to be reduced to one thought. That one thought is “cultivation.” Eventually even the one thought is no longer there. You would attain no-thought that way. Everyone has stress. Who doesn’t? What Buddha teaches you; what the Six Patriarch teaches you, is to toss out your stress. Toss today’s stress today. Don’t keep them until tomorrow. You accumulate stress bit by bit. You bottle more and more in you. And then one day, pop. You’re in trouble. I have a way for you to reach buddhahood. Toss the thought of enlightenment too, then you will reach buddhahood.

A student, Lotus Yun Ming, attempts to “shoot an arrow” today. He concluded in his note that life is “all but a dream.” It’s correct; life is but a dream. But everybody knows that. “Life is but a dream” is not awakening. It’s an observation, a phenomenon. You have to dig a little deeper. You actually said it in your note. But your conclusion is incorrect. “Dream” is not it. Not a dream, even. Real awakening doesn’t even have “dreams.” You have to spell it out for me. This arrow is shot into air. There’s not even a dream.

Shoot another arrow. I’ll give you a hint. What’s “not even a dream”? This pointer is for everyone. If you get it, remember to bring a razor with your note. I’ll shave your head, making you a monk or nun. Six Patriarch’s no-thought dharma gate is very close. No-thought is perfect enlightenment. It’s exceedingly close to buddhahood. You can in fact call it buddhahood. However there is an even deeper awareness. No-thought needs still a pointer. Dream needs still a pointer. Not even a dream.

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