All phenomena arise and cease, except the sky, the cosmic space. One must use the non-arising and non-ceasing mind to seek the Buddha’s wisdom and to understand the Buddha’s mind, because the Buddha’s mind is non-arising and non-ceasing.
It is precisely because of the eyes that see, ears that hear, tongue that tastes, body that touches and feels, and the mind that perceives, that we are unable to awaken to the Path.
Without health, what good is sudden wealth? Health is the most important; everything else comes second. But if a person is both poor and sick, that is truly a bitter kind of suffering.
There are five layers of turbidity: kalpa turbidity, view turbidity, affliction turbidity, sentient beings turbidity, and life turbidity. The first is kalpa turbidity, marked by calamities. View turbidity arises from seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, which enshroud the wondrous luminous true mind.
The third, fourth, and fifth layers of turbidity are afflictions, sentient beings, and life, which no one can escape from. These turbidities cloud the pure and wondrous luminous true mind.
The wondrous luminous true mind is non-arising and non-ceasing, while all worldly phenomena arise and cease—including seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing. Therefore, buddhanature cannot be realized through worldly dharma. One must instead take the non-arising and non-ceasing mind as the causal ground in order to reach the fruition ground of buddhahood.
Everything in life arises and eventually passes away. Know this, and free yourself from all afflictions.
As a practitioner, there are two primary principles to cultivate buddhahood. The first is to cultivate a non-arising and non-ceasing mind. The second is to generate bodhicitta. Sentient beings are important—without them it is impossible to attain bodhisattvahood and buddhahood.
Find the root of our afflictions; know that they are fundamentally empty. Then they will gradually lessen, and we attain the wondrous luminous true mind.