Tag: Dharma

Chapter VI – On Repentance

Once there was a big gathering of scholars and commoners from Kwong Chow, Shiu Chow, and other places to wait upon the Patriarch to preach to them. Seeing this, the Patriarch mounted the pulpit and delivered the following address:

In Buddhism,

we should start from our
Essence of Mind.
At all times let us
purify our own mind
from one Ksana (thought moment)
to another,
tread the Path by our own efforts,
realise our own Dharmakaya,
realise the Buddha in our own mind,
and deliver ourselves by a
personal observance of Silas;

then your visit will not have been in vain. Since all of you have come from afar, the fact of our meeting here shows that there is a good affinity between us. Now let us sit down in the Indian fashion, and I will give you the

“Formless” Repentance.

Continue reading “Chapter VI – On Repentance”

Chapter II – On Prajna

Next day Prefect Wai asked the Patriarch to give another address. Thereupon, having taken his seat and asked the assembly to purify their mind collectively, and to recite the ‘Maha Prajnaparamita’ Sutra, he gave the following address:-

Learned Audience, the Wisdom of Enlightenment is inherent in every one of us. It is because of the delusion under which our mind works that we fail to realise it ourselves, and that we have to seek the advice and the guidance of enlightened ones before we can know our own Essence of Mind. You should know that

so far as Buddha-nature is concerned,
there is no difference between an
enlightened man and an ignorant one.

What makes the difference is that
one realises it, while the other
is ignorant of it.

Now, let me talk to you about Maha Prajnaparamita, so that each of you can attain wisdom.

Learned Audience, those who recite the word ‘Prajna‘ the whole day long do not seem to know that Prajna is inherent in their own nature. But mere talking on food will not appease hunger, and this is exactly the case with these people. Continue reading “Chapter II – On Prajna”

Chapter I – Autobiography

Once, when the Patriarch had arrived at Pao Lam Monastery, Prefect Wai of Shiu Chow and other officials went there to ask him to deliver public lectures on Buddhism in the hall of Tai Fan Temple in the City (of Canton).

In due course, there were assembled (in the lecture hall) Prefect Wai, government officials and Confucian scholars, about thirty each, and Bhikkhus, Bhikkhunis, Taoists and laymen, to the number of about one thousand. After the Patriarch had taken his seat, the congregation in a body paid him homage and asked him to preach on the fundamental laws of Buddhism. Whereupon, His Holiness delivered the following address:-

Learned Audience,

our Essence of Mind
(literally, self-nature)
which is the seed or
kernel of enlightenment (Bodhi)
is pure by nature, and
by making use of this mind alone
we can reach Buddhahood directly.

Continue reading “Chapter I – Autobiography”