The Sixth Patriarch's Platform Sutra: "Formless" Stanza

By Chang Jie
06/21&28/2009

On Sundays, June 21 and 28, 2009, Venerable Guo Xing, Abbot of CMC gave a two part series of talks on "The Sixth Patriarch's Platform Sutra: the Formless Stanza." Venerable explained the meaning of the verse line by line and gave examples and told interesting stories to illustrate their deeper meaning. The following is an excerpt of the sutra.

The mastery of discourse and the mastery of mind
are like the sun in empty space.
I only transmit the dharma of seeing the nature
which transcends the world and shatters heterodox teachings.
Although in this dharma, there is no sudden or gradual,
with delusion and awakening to it, there is slowness and quickness.
Although there are a thousand ways to speak of it,
corresponding to the principle, they return to one.
Within the dark dwelling of vexations, one must generate the sun of wisdom.
Vexations come because of incorrect views and when there are correct views,
vexations are eradicated.

According to Venerable, "mastery of mind" means the ability to look deeply and understand the nature of things, see the nature of nirvana, and verify the wisdom within our minds. "Mastery of discourse" means the ability to transmit this meaning to others.

"The sun in empty space" is an analogy for the mind, which is like the sun, surrounded by emptiness. The original nature of our minds is like the sun itself, which shines everywhere, but we are selective about what we want to pay attention to. Venerable encouraged us to develop in our minds equanimity in what we see and gave the example of Shifu, who had said that those who are enlightened are able to become one with their environment. If we wish to be enlightened, we have to stop being selective in what we accept, and develop a mind of equanimity so there is unity between inside and outside.

"Seeing the nature" refers to how the mind sees objects but is unable to sense the object within the mind, thus becoming selective about what we choose to see. He encouraged us to, 'Try to open our wisdom eye or dharma eye," because otherwise, we will create anxieties and wonít know what to do with the anxieties we have created for ourselves. "To shatter heterodox teachings" means to focus on the gradual practice of precepts, meditation and wisdom to achieve awakening. When we have thoughts, Venerable suggested that, rather than discriminate and classify them as good or bad, we should recognize them simply as images in our minds.

Venerable advised that we should try to learn how to use our formless minds to not attach to form. Rather, we may use our formless minds to create good images but not get attached to them. At the end of the talks, there were question and answer sessions.