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.

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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.

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Foreword by Nan-Ping Tao-Ji

Tao is the Truth. If one does not understand the Truth, how can he practice Tao? Thus, to practice Tao, one must know the Truth.

The only way of understanding the Truth is to ask questions when one is in doubt.

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