the sixth patriarch's sutra january 20, 2012 lecture

8/3/2019 The Sixth Patriarch's Sutra January 20, 2012 Lecture

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The Sixth Patriarchs SutraJanuary 20, 2012 lecture

as outlined by a Buddhist monk

at 1777 Murchison Drive, Burlingame, California 94010, free to public(phone 650-6925912)

(Listen live or recorded audio explanations at

www.wondrousdharma.org)

Q&A Wisdom of selective reading

Q&A the 84,000 Dharma practices

Chapter 2 Prajna the greatness ofMahaprajnaparamita

[Subscribe to the free Dharma newsletter atwww.wondrousdharma.org]


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Verse for opening a sutra

Na Mwo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha (3x)

Homage to the Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (3x)

The unsurpassed, deep, profound, subtle, wonderfulDharma,

In a hundred thousand million eons, is difficult to

encounter, Now that Ive come to receive and hold it, within my sight

and hearing,

I vow to fathom the Thus Come Ones true and actual

meaning.Exhortation to uphold the Buddhadharma:

For the Bodhisattva Virtue Treasury with respect to the non-outflowappearance of reality in heart has penetrated it totally; he will next become a

Buddha by the name of Pure Body and will also save uncounted multitudes.(the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra)


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Q&AQuestion: What are the inverted teachings in the internet which we

should avoid?

Answer:

There are inverted teachings in the internet and therefore we

should be selective what we browse and read.

The reason is that everything we read is stored in our 8th

consciousness and we should make the best use of time

Sites that condones information that goes against the precepts

in particular pertaining to killing, stealing and lustful behavior.

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Q&A

Information which condones the four inverted views of:

1. Taking impermanence to be permanent.

2. Taking impurity to be purity

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Q&A

3. Taking suffering to be happiness

4. Taking self to be true self.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: He then said, Good Knowing Advisors, the wisdom of

Bodhi and Prajna is originally possessed by worldly people

themselves. It is only because their minds are confused

that they are unable to enlighten themselves and must relyon a great Good Knowing Advisor who can lead them to

see their Buddha-nature.

Comments:

Confusion lies in the minds.

The good knowing advisors will guide the confused tounderstanding.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: You should know that the Buddha-nature of stupid andwise people is basically not different. It is only because

confusion and enlightenment are different that some are

stupid and some are wise. I will now explain for you the

Maha Prajna Paramita Dharma in order that each of youmay become wise.

Comments:

The Buddha nature of the stupid and wise, a Buddha and a

common person is the same; both are perfect in wisdom and

complete in merit and virtue.

The difference presently lies in

the stupid being confused and

the wise being no longer confused and understands

Mahaprajna paramita. 7


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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: You should know that the Buddha-nature of stupid and

wise people is basically not different. It is only because

confusion and enlightenment are different that some are

stupid and some are wise. I will now explain for you theMaha Prajna Paramita Dharma in order that each of you

may become wise.

Comments:

What is the teaching principles of Maha prajna paramita?

It is the teaching spoken by the Buddha during the prajna

period.

Recommend Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra, Vajra Prajna

Paramita Sutra and the Sixth Patriarchs Sutra. 8


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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: I will now explain for you the Maha Prajna Paramita

Dharma in order that each of you may become wise. Pay

careful attention, and I will explain it to you.

Comments:

Pay attention or be attentive in your mind

That is: you receive your Dharma in your mind.

Why is this so?....

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, worldly people recite

Prajna with their mouths all day long and yet do not

recognize the Prajna of their self-nature.

Comments:

Recite prajna and yet do not comprehend what prajna is about.

It is the original understanding the real nature ofconsciousness. (Shurangama Sutra)

When you do understand that prajna is within our self nature,

we do not need to look outside to find it.

The Dharma prajna is to be put into practice, not merely recite.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Just as talking about food will not make you full, so,

too, if you only speak of emptiness you will not see your

own nature in ten thousand ages. In the end you will not

have obtained any benefit.Comments:

Prajna is not merely a conversational mouthpiece but rather

taken as our way of life.

It is about patience with emptiness of people and emptiness of

dharmas.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, Maha Prajna Paramita is aSanskrit word which means great wisdom which has

arrived at the other shore. It must be practiced in the mind,

and not just recited in words.

Comments:

How do we practice prajna in mind?

Have no greed, no anger, no delusion, no arrogance and no

doubt, not indulging in false thinking and being free of

attachments; these are the practices in our own minds.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: What is meant by Maha? Maha means great. Thecapacity of the mind is vast and great like empty space,

and has no boundaries. It is not square or round, great or

small. Neither is it blue, yellow, red or white. It is not above

or below, or long or short. It is without anger, without joy,without right, without wrong, without good, without evil,

and it has no head or tail.

Comments:

Empty space has no boundaries.

Without boundaries, everything contains within and yet nothing

is outside it; it is that flexible.

Without boundaries, there is no bigness or smallness.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: What is meant by Maha? Maha means great. Thecapacity of the mind is vast and great like empty space,

and has no boundaries. It is not square or round, great or

small. Neither is it blue, yellow, red or white. It is not above

or below, or long or short. It is without anger, without joy,

without right, without wrong, without good, without evil,

and it has no head or tail.

Comments: The vastness of Maha is such that it does not discriminate nor

exclude anything.

Everything is included; yet nothing is excluded the

inconceivable vastness of Maha.

How is it possible to have such inconceivable qualities in Maha? 14


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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: All Buddha-lands are ultimately the same as emptyspace. The wonderful nature of worldly people is originally

empty, and there is not a single dharma which can be

obtained. The true emptiness of the self-nature is also like

this.

Comments:

How could myriads of qualities be contained in Maha and yet

there is nothing being distinguished?

The vastness of Mahaprajnaparamita lies in its unity in

appearance; the one appearance that ultimately is no

appearance form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

Planet earth is within the Saha world. The Saha world is the

Buddhaland created by Shakyamuni Buddha to teach us. 15


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Chapter 2 Prajna

The vastness of Mahaprajnaparamita lies in its unity inappearance; the one appearance that ultimately is no

appearance form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

Our understanding of Prajna is multilayered.

Initially form is emptiness, emptiness is form refers to the form

we see and the empty space of the false conscious minds.

Here the emptiness is the false emptiness in space.

Ultimately form is emptiness, emptiness is form also refers tothe unity of appearance of Ultimate Reality that everything is

fundamentally empty without appearance; the true emptiness

where there is no distinction between conditioned and

unconditioned. 16


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Chapter 2 Prajna




this.

Comments:

Our wonderful inherent self nature is empty of characteristics.

The wonderful nature of worldly people is originally empty tells

us that the prajna wisdom is inherent in the self nature of every

people.

Because people revolves in the six destinies, all the living

beings in the six destinies have the inherent prajna wisdom.17


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Chapter 2 Prajna




this.

Comments:

In the Heart of Prajaparamita Sutra contains the heart of

Mahaprajnaparamita.

The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra describes our self nature

as:

All dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not

produced, not destroyed. Not defiled. Not pure. They neither

increase nor diminish.

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Q&A

Question: The Buddha says there are 84,000 Dharma practices.Can you tell me all of them?

Answer:

All the 84,000 Dharma practices is just prajna wisdom.

That is, all the Dharma practices leads us to the emptiness of

prajna wisdom which is inherent in every living being.

In the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra it says that there

is only one Buddha Vehicle, not two or three.

The reason is all are expedients and ultimately it leads us to the

real appearance of emptiness of all dharmas - the essence of

Mahaprajnaparamita.19


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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, do not listen to myexplanation of emptiness and then become attached to

emptiness. The most important thing is to avoid becoming

attached to emptiness. If you sit still with an empty mind,

you will become attached to undifferentiated emptiness.

Comments:

Not to become attached to the emptiness, we have to emptythis emptiness.

Ultimately it neither existence nor emptiness; but the principle

of the Middle Way in the interpretation of true emptiness where

you dont cling to emptiness and

You dont reject existence

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Chapter 2 Prajna

The practical interpretation of true emptiness is

Not clinging to emptiness is prajna wisdom

Not rejecting existence is great compassion.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, do not listen to myexplanation of emptiness and then become attached to

emptiness. The most important thing is to avoid becoming

attached to emptiness. If you sit still with an empty mind,

you will become attached to undifferentiated emptiness.

Comments:

If you sit still with an empty mind, you are no different than ablock of wood

where you have not fathomed the principle of true emptiness

in prajna wisdom

And when you do uncross your leg, you become confused

amidst the society.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, the emptiness of theuniverse is able to contain the forms and shapes of the ten

thousand things: the sun, moon, and stars; the mountains,

rivers, and the great earth; the fountains, springs, streams,

torrents, grasses, trees, thickets, and forests; good and

bad people, good and bad dharmas, the heavens and the

hells, all the great seas, Sumeru and all mountainsall are

contained within emptiness. The emptiness of the nature ofworldly men is also like this.

Comments:

The emptiness of the nature is our inherent self nature or

Buddhanature.

Those who have resolved their minds on

anuttarasamyaksambodhi do not affirm the destruction of the

appearances of all dharmas. (Vajra Sutra) 23


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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, the ability of ones ownnature to contain the ten thousand dharmas is what is

meant by great. The myriad dharmas are within the nature

of all people.

Comments:

The greatness of Maha is that everything is included inside and

nothing is excluded.

Because nothing is excluded, the false world of existence

should not be excluded

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, the ability of ones ownnature to contain the ten thousand dharmas is what is

meant by great. The myriad dharmas are within the nature

of all people.

Comments:

Excluding the world of existence is to discriminate the false yet

the false came from the true and it will return back to the trueeventually.

How unexpected! The self nature produces the myriaddharmas.

The dharma of anuttarasamyaksambodhi is the awakening to

the teaching of being level and equal, without high or low.25


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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: If you regard all people, the bad as well as thegood, without grasping or rejecting, without producing a

defiling attachment, your mind will be like empty space.

Therefore it is said to be great, Maha.

Comments:

Dont discriminate the false and the true

The original self nature is non dual because everything comes

from the self nature.

The dharma of anuttarasamyaksambodhi is the awakening to

the teaching of being level and equal, without high or low.

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Chapter 2 Prajna

Sutra: Good Knowing Advisors, the mouth of theconfused person speaks, but the mind of the wise person

practices. There are deluded men who sit still with empty

minds, vainly thinking of nothing and declaring that to be

something great. One should not speak with these people

because of their deviant views.

Comments:

Being delusional about what ultimately is the objective of

practicing sitting meditation.

The Great Master is breaking the attachment to sitting still with

an empty mind and remind that the objective of sitting

meditation is ultimately to activate the inherent prajna wisdom.

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Dedication of merit

May every living beings,

Our minds as one and radiant with light

Share the fruits of peace, with hearts of goodness

luminous and bright. If people hear and see, how hands and hearts can find in

giving unity

May their minds awake, to great compassion, wisdom

and to joy. May kindness find reward; may all who sorrow leave their

grief and pain;

May this boundless light break the darkness of theirendless night.

Because our hearts are one, this world of pain turns intoparadise;

May all become compassionate and wise (2x)


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Dedication of merit

I vow that merit made from this deed will become,

Adornments for the Pure Land of Bu-ddhas. Repaying the four kinds of kindness above,

And aiding those in three paths below.

May all who see and hear of this deed Bring forth the resolve to reborn

In the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

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the sixth patriarch's sutra january 20, 2012 lecture

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