Manorhita

The twenty-second ancestor, Venerable Manorhita, asked Vasubandhu: 'What is the very thing that constitutes the bodhi of all buddhas?'The ancestor said: 'The original nature of mind is precisely that.'The master further asked: 'What is the original nature of mind?'The ancestor said: 'The emptiness of the eighteen realms.'Hearing this, the master awakened.

He was the son of King Subhavyūha in the country of Nadi. At age thirty, he encountered the ancestor Vasubandhu.

Vasubandhu.

The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp states: He was the son of King Subhavyūha in the country of Nadi. At age thirty he encountered the ancestor Vasubandhu. Traveling to propagate the Dharma, he arrived in the country of Nadi. The king there was named Subhavyūha. He had two sons: the elder named Mahāla, the younger named Manorhita. The king asked the venerable: 'How do the customs of Rājagṛha differ from here?'The venerable said: 'That land has seen three buddhas appear in the world.'

'Now, in your majesty's kingdom, there are two teachers guiding through transformation.'The king asked: 'Who are these two teachers?'The venerable said: 'The Buddha prophesied that in the second five hundred years, there would be a great being of spiritual power who would leave home and continue the sagehood.'That is the king's second son, Manorhita; he is one of them. Although my virtue is meager, I dare to correspond to the other.'The king said: 'If it truly is as the venerable says,'

'I should relinquish this child to become a śramaṇa.'The venerable said: 'Excellent! Your majesty is able to follow the Buddha's intent.'Thereupon he conferred the full precepts upon him.

From then on, he served Vasubandhu. One day, he asked: 'What is the bodhi of all buddhas?'The Venerable said: 'The original nature of mind is precisely this.'

The king's second son, Manorhita, is one of them. Although my virtue is meager, I dare to be one of them. The king said: 'Truly as the Venerable has said, I should relinquish this son to become a śramaṇa.'The Venerable said: 'Excellent, great king, you are able to follow the Buddha's intent.'He then conferred the full precepts upon him. Truly, the first question one should ask when studying the Way is precisely this question. What is called 'bodhi'is the Way. Therefore, the meaning of this question is to ask: 'What is the Way?'People today, being empty-minded, do not inquire about the Dharma; being beginners, they do not seek out a teacher, hence they lack this question. If one has a true aspiration for the Way, it should not be so. First, one should ask: 'What is Buddha?'Next, one should ask: 'What is the Buddha-Way?'Therefore, this question exists now. Yet, he indicated, saying: 'The original nature of mind is this.'Still, because there was no dualistic intention, not a hair's breadth of accumulation, he then asked: 'What is the original nature of mind?'He answered, saying: 'The emptiness of the eighteen realms is this.'At that moment, he opened up in realization.

Now, 'Buddha'is precisely the original nature of mind. The original nature is ultimately unknowable, unseeable. This is precisely the unsurpassed Way. Thus, mind has no form and no place to stand. How much more so are 'Buddha'and 'Way'—all are names forcibly applied. Therefore, Buddha is not an object of awareness, the Way is not something to be cultivated, mind is not an object of cognition. In this ground, there is no object and no faculty. Where would consciousness stand?

Therefore, it is said: 'The emptiness of the eighteen realms is this.'Thus, do not discuss this ground in terms of mind and objects. Do not distinguish it in terms of cognition. Arriving here, all buddhas ultimately do not manifest form, and the wondrous Way also does not employ cultivation and maintenance. Yet, even though seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are without traces, sounds, forms, movements, and stillness should also have no boundaries.

Therefore, it is said:

This is precisely seeing-hearing, yet not seeing-hearing; moreover, sounds and forms have nothing to present to you. If here you fully understand there is not a single thing, how could the essence and function be impeded from being undivided? Truly, do not take sound as the understanding of notes; do not take form as the perception of colors; do not take seeing as the condition of the eye's light; do not take hearing as being the ear faculty.

All people do not face the color of the eye, nor do they await the sound of the ear. If one says there is something resembling the sound of the ear, or something that does not depend on the color of the eye, then this is not clear in sound, nor is it obscure in the eye. Why? If one says there is a dharma to face, or says there is an object to await, then how could sound enter the ear, or how could color be seen by the eye? Therefore, unless it is like emptiness merging with emptiness, or water merging with water, hearing will not cease, nor will seeing be cut off.

Because it is not so, the eye penetrates color, and the ear penetrates sound. Harmoniously blending without separation, completely mixed without trace. Being thus, even if there is a sound that resonates heaven and earth,

it barely enters the inch-square ear. Is not the ultimate great identical with the small? Barely using the inch-square eye to illuminate the entire realm. Is not the ultimate small identical with the great? Is it not that the eye is color, and again that sound is the ear? Knowing thus and discerning thus, this mind has no boundary, shore, edge, or surface.

Therefore, the eye originally obtains nothing, and color cannot be divided.

Are not these three categories all empty? Therefore, when arriving at this ground, one can speak of sound,

one can speak of the eye, one can speak of consciousness, one can speak of thusness, one can speak of not-thusness, one can speak of both thusness and not-thusness altogether. Nothing comes from beyond a speck of dust, and there is no separation even by a hair's breadth. Therefore, when speaking of sound, discernment is within hearing and speaking of sound; when speaking of color, subject and object are arranged within color. There is nothing extra beyond this.

Yet people do not realize this principle. Some think: 'Sights and sounds are falsely established illusions, they must be swept away. The original mind is inherently eternal and unchanging, it should not change.'This is most laughable. In this place, what change or non-change could there be? What thing could be real or unreal? Therefore, if one does not clarify this matter, not only is one blind to sights and sounds, but one also fails to penetrate seeing and hearing. Thus, one thinks of raising the eyes to not see, and blocking the ears to not hear. This is binding oneself without rope, falling into a pit that has no hole. Therefore, it is difficult to escape the defilements of passions. So, investigate thoroughly: if you penetrate to the bottom and see clearly, then even if you penetrate to the top, there will be no obstruction.

There is also a humble saying; I wish to point out and explain this cause and condition. Do you wish to hear it?

The god Shunyata is neither inside nor outside. Seeing, hearing, sounds, and forms are all empty space.

The god Shunyata is neither inside nor outside. Seeing, hearing, sounds, and forms are all empty space.