The Emptier the Mind, The Greater the Achievement

The entire process from an ordinary being to Buddhahood is the process of verifying the emptiness of all dharmas, continuously shattering appearances, shattering views, shattering attachments, emptying the mind, and emptying all dharmas. If the mind is not empty, believing dharmas to be real, this is ignorance. If there is any dharma you consider real, that is ignorance; this dharma binds and obstructs you, preventing liberation and ease. Even if you consider the dharma of attaining Buddhahood to be real, not empty, it is equally ignorance. Only when ignorance is completely shattered does one become a Buddha. If there is a mind aspiring to Buddhahood, the mind is still not empty, harboring delusions, and Buddhahood cannot be attained. Of course, ordinary beings and Bodhisattvas of the Three Sage Grounds should still have the mind aspiring to Buddhahood and should still seek Buddhahood, as this is the cornerstone for solidifying their path. Only after passing the Three Sage Grounds, when it is time to shatter the view of a self in dharmas and attachment to dharmas, can all delusions be gradually eradicated. Only when your mind becomes empty and pure, devoid of any mind of fabrication—signless, wishless, non-active—can there be genuine great accomplishment.

Subhuti's mind was empty and still even while in his mother's womb. After birth, he was named "Empty Birth." After following the Buddha to renounce household life and cultivate the path, his mind became even emptier, even emptying the Buddha with form from his heart, not clinging to the Buddha's form. When the Buddha taught the Dharma in the heavenly realm for forty-nine days and then descended back to the human world, all the disciples went to welcome the Buddha. Only Subhuti sat in serene meditation in the forest, his mind contemplating the Dharma-body Buddha, not clinging to the Buddha with form. Knowing that the Buddha's Dharma assembly was also an impermanent, illusory transformation, he neither went to see the Buddha nor attended the assembly, sitting silently in meditation. The Buddha praised him, saying: "Though you did not come to welcome me, you are the first disciple to see me." This "me" refers to the formless, true Buddha of the Dharma-body, not the Buddha with form (the Sambhogakaya or Nirmanakaya). All dharmas are empty; the Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya Buddhas are also empty. All conditioned dharmas fabricated later are entirely empty, including the Buddha's great deeds of saving sentient beings over countless kalpas—all are empty.

Before the Eighth Ground, Bodhisattvas engage in much conditioned activity. Upon reaching the Eighth Ground, the mind becomes empty; the mind of making offerings to the Triple Gem, working for sentient beings, and serving the Buddhist cause all become empty. Only when acting spontaneously and mindlessly in all activities that benefit sentient beings will the Buddha bestow the prediction of Buddhahood. If the mind is not empty, fabricating conditioned dharmas with a conditioned mind—including making offerings to the Triple Gem with a conditioned mind, believing this brings great merit and great blessings—while grasping dharmas as non-empty, the Buddha will not bestow the prediction of Buddhahood. Although some Bodhisattvas make offerings to countless Buddhas life after life, sacrificing everything they possess to make offerings, using the jewels of the three thousand great thousand worlds to offer to the Buddhas, the Buddha still does not bestow the prediction. How much less so for engaging in worldly conditioned activities—no prediction can be obtained. However, through these conditioned activities, blessings can be increased. As blessings increase, wisdom can grow, the mind can become increasingly empty, and ultimately one can become the Honored One with perfect blessings and wisdom. Therefore, one cannot say that since all dharmas are empty, there is no need to cultivate any wholesome dharmas. Without cultivating wholesome dharmas, lacking the support of blessings, the wisdom of emptiness will not arise, and the mind certainly cannot become completely empty.

While cultivating blessings, the mind should also strive to be as empty as possible. Cultivating blessings with a mind of non-attainment yields even greater blessings. For example, when liberating sentient beings, do not think that the more beings you liberate, the more merit and blessings you gain. In reality, it is through the act of liberating sentient beings that blessings continuously increase, then the merit of the mind's emptiness appears, the mind becomes increasingly empty, and when emptiness reaches a certain degree, accomplishment in cultivation is achieved. The measure of blessings lies not in how many sentient beings are liberated but in the degree of emptiness attained in the mind during the process of liberation, the degree of unconditionedness achieved. The emptiness and unconditionedness of the mind determine a Bodhisattva's wisdom, realization, and fruition level.

Therefore, do not focus on external appearances. If you turn within appearances, clinging to them, even if you write a hundred books a year, guide hundreds of thousands of sentient beings, or donate hundreds of millions—these are all conditioned dharmas, within which there is evident self-attachment and dharma-attachment. Clinging to appearances, the mind is not empty, and one cannot attain wisdom, realization, or the proper Bodhisattva fruition. Only when great blessings are fully perfected can one realize enlightenment. After realizing the Tathagatagarbha, observing one's own various actions, including meritorious actions, one will know how these actions are all impermanent and unreal, how they are all merely the functional manifestations of the Tathagatagarbha. In the actual state of truth, there are no real conditioned dharma appearances. Thus, the mind becomes increasingly empty, and accomplishments in cultivation grow ever greater.

The path to shattering dharma-attachment is extremely long, spanning from the First Ground Bodhisattva until Buddhahood—two great asamkhyeya kalpas of cultivation—continuously shattering dharma-attachment. Before this, during the first great asamkhyeya kalpa, self-attachment is shattered. Therefore, the path of cultivation to completely sever the view of self is also very long. The ignorance of the mental faculty (manas) is extremely deep and heavy, its clinging nature immense. To shatter the clinging of the mental faculty, one must first shatter its views, shatter its thoughts—that is, sever the mental faculty's view of self. After the view of self is severed, self-attachment is gradually eliminated. Then, one shatters the mental faculty's view of a self in dharmas and its attachment to dharmas. The view that all dharmas are real must be shattered bit by bit until finally, ignorance is extinguished, the mind becomes completely empty, and Buddhahood is attained. The magnitude of accomplishment in cultivation depends on the degree to which ignorance is shattered and the mind becomes empty. To empty the mind and shatter appearances, one must truly realize the Tathagatagarbha and then observe the unreality of all dharmas.

The Buddha eliminated the negative karma of King Ajatashatru, who committed the evil act of killing his father, using the principle of emptiness—helping him understand the principle and empty his mind, thereby extinguishing the sinful karma. King Ajatashatru killed his father and later deeply regretted it, feeling certain he would fall into hell after death, suffering immense mental anguish. Why did he suffer so? Because he considered his father real, considered himself real, considered the act of killing his father real, and considered hell real. These so-called real dharmas bound his mind, preventing him from freeing himself from guilt, and he was certain to suffer retribution upon death. Therefore, the Buddha explained to King Ajatashatru the threefold emptiness (emptiness of subject, object, and action) regarding the act of killing his father: the father as a person is empty, oneself as a person is empty, the act of killing the father is empty—there is no such person or event. Ultimately, King Ajatashatru developed faith in emptiness, the sinful nature of the killing karma was extinguished, and upon death, he was reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, not falling into hell to receive retribution.

Similarly, realizing fruition, attaining enlightenment—these things are also empty. Including the act of liberating sentient beings—none are real. Seeing all dharmas as empty, with no such person or event in mind, one is liberated. It is like killing someone in a dream and, upon waking, still thinking one has killed a person—the mind is still dreaming, not awake. As long as there is a dharma existing in the mind, this dharma will bind and obstruct you. Only when there is no dharma in the mind can no dharma become an obstacle, and only then can nothing affect you. The power of emptiness is immense—it can shatter all ignorance and karmic obstacles, shatter all suffering and the bonds of birth and death. Only with an empty mind can one be liberated, becoming the King of Emptiness, the Dharma King.