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Chapter II
Discourse on Prajna 1
ON THE FOLLOWING DAY Prefect Wai asked Patriarch to give another address. Having taken his seat, the Patriarch asked the assembly to first purify their minds (by a period of dhyana-silence) and then to join in reciting the Maha Prajna-paramita Sutra, after which he gave the following address:--
Learned Audience: Prajna, the Wisdom of Enlightenment, is inherent in every one of us. It is because of the delusions under which our minds labor that we fail to realise its presence, and that we have to seek the advice and the guidance of the more highly enlightened before we can realise it in our mind”s Essence. You should know that as far as Buddha-nature is concerned, there is no difference between an enlightened man and an ignorant one. What makes the difference is that one realises it and the other is ignorant of it. Let me speak
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to you now about the Maha Prajna-paramita Sutra, so that each of you may attain wisdom. Listen carefully while I speak.
Learned Audience: There are many people who recite the word, Prajna, the whole day long, who do not seem to know that Prajna is inherent in their own nature. The mere talking about food will not appease hunger, but that is the very thing these people are doing. We may talk about the "Doctrine of Voidness" for myriads of kalpas, but merely talking about it will not enable one to realise it in his Mind-essence, and the talking will serve no good purpose in the end.
The name, Maha Prajna-paramita, is Sanskrit and means, "great Wisdom to reach the opposite shore." Now, what we ought to do with it is to carry it into practice with our mind; whether we recite it or do not recite it matters little. Mere reciting without mental practice, may be likened to a phantasm, a magical delusion, a flash of lighting, or a dew-drop. On the other hand, if we do both, then our mind will be in accord with what we repeat orally. Our very self-nature is Buddha, and apart from this nature there is no other Buddha.
What is Maha
Maha means, "great." The capacity of the mind is as great as that of space. It is infinite, it is neither round nor square, neither great nor small, neither green nor yellow, neither red nor white, neither above nor below, neither long nor short, neither angry nor happy, neither right nor wrong, neither good nor evil, neither first nor last. All Buddha-lands are as void as space. Intrinsically our transcendental nature is void and not a single dharma can be
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attained. It is the same with Mind-essence which is a state of the "voidness of non-voidity."
Learned Audience: when you hear me speak about the void, do not fall into the idea that I mean vacuity. It is of the utmost importance that we should not fall into that idea, because then when a man sits quietly and keeps his mind blank he would be abiding in a state of the "voidness of indifference." The illimitable void of the Universe its capable of holding myriads of things of various shapes and form, such as the sun and the moon, and the stars, worlds, mountains, rivers, rivulets, springs, woods, bushes, good men, bad men, laws pertaining to goodness and to badness, heavenly planes and hells, great oceans and all the mountains of Mahameru. Space takes in all these, and so does the voidness of our nature. We say that Essence of Mind is great because it embraces all things since all things are within our nature. When we see the goodness or the badness of other people, and are not attracted by it, nor repulsed by it, nor attached to it, then the attitude of our mind is as void as space. In that we see the greatness of our minds, therefore we call Mind-essence, Maha.
Learned Audience: When ignorant people have ideas they merely talk about them, but wise men keep them withi…
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