Treatise on Awakening Mah=ay=ana Faith by Jorgensen John; Lusthaus Dan; Makeham John

Author:Jorgensen, John; Lusthaus, Dan; Makeham, John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA - OSO
Published: 2019-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Section 2: Antidotes to Wrongly Held Views

With “antidotes to wrongly held views,” all wrongly held views are based on views of self. One will have no wrongly held views if one frees oneself from [views of] self. There are two kinds of view of self. What are they?

The first is the view of an inherently existing self.

The second is the view of inherently existing dharmas.164

There are five kinds of view of an inherently existing self as expressed by ordinary people.165 What are they?

The first is they think that empty space is the nature of tathāgatas. This is because, when they hear the sutra explain that [580a] the dharma body of tathāgatas is ultimately quiescent and like empty space, they do not know that this is said to destroy attachments.166

What is the antidote? It is to make it clear that the characteristics of space are false dharmas; they embody nothing and are not real, but exist only because they are contrasted with [the characteristics of] form. These characteristics [of form], which might be perceived, cause the mind to arise and cease. In reality, however, there are no external forms, since all material dharmas have always been mental. If there are no forms, then there will be no characteristics of space. That is to say, all perceptual fields exist only because the mind falsely arises; all perceptual fields will cease if the mind is free from false movement. Only the One True Mind is all-pervasive. This refers to the ultimate extent of a tathāgata’s extensive and great wisdom, which is not like the characteristics of space.167

The second is they think that the nature of suchness and nirvana is nothing but emptiness. This is because, when they hear the sutra explain that the ultimate reality of mundane dharmas is empty, that even the dharmas of nirvana and suchness are ultimately empty, and that they have always been intrinsically empty and free from all characteristics, they do not know that this [is said] to destroy attachments.168

What is the antidote? It is to make it clear that the dharma body of suchness’ own intrinsic reality is not empty, but replete with countless qualities.

The third is they think that the store of a tathāgata has distinctions in its intrinsic characteristics [associated with] material and mental dharmas. This is because, when they hear the sutra explain that the store of a tathāgata neither increases nor decreases and intrinsically has a full complement of all dharmas of [good] qualities, they do not understand it.169

What is the antidote? It is to demonstrate and explain distinctions through the doctrine of the defilements of arising and ceasing because [the sutra] explains things only on the basis of the doctrine of suchness.

The fourth is they think that the tathāgatagarbha’s own intrinsic reality possesses all the dharmas of birth and death in the mundane world. This is because, when they hear the sutra explain that all defiled dharmas of birth and death in the mundane world exist on the basis of the tathāgatagarbha and that none of the dharmas is separate from suchness, they do not understand it.

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