To Develop the Profound Mind for Buddhist Cultivation

 

 -          Vimalakīrti Nirdesa Sutra, Vol. 1

“As such, Ratnakuta, bodhisattvas in accord with their forthright mind, they can initiate their practices;

 …In accord with pure dharma preaching, their wisdom will be pure;

In accord with pure wisdom, their mind will be pure;

In accord with the pure mind, their entire stock of merits will be pure.

Accordingly, Ratnakuta, bodhisattvas who wish to attain the pure land should purify their mind.  Their Buddha Land will also be pure in accord with this pure mind.”

Remark:

The Buddha said to Bodhisattva Ratnakuta, “Bodhisattvas have the ability to align themselves with the forthright True Mind. When they have done this, they will be able to initiate and practice various wholesome dharmas. Along with the initiation and operation of the forthright mind, they will attain the profound mind. On the basis of this profound mind towards the three jewels, the mental consciousness and mental faculty [manas] will be subdued. With the subdued mental consciousness and mental faculty, they will be able to practice in accordance with what the Buddha expounded. When they practice or follow the Buddha’s teachings, they will dedicate their merits to unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. With this transference of merits, they will be able to develop various kinds of expedience and assist all sentient beings in completing their practices. The Buddha Land that the bodhisattvas accomplished will become pure when they assist sentient beings in completing their practices. In addition to their attainment of the Pure Buddha Land, their preaching of all dharmas will also be pure, and the phenomena of impure dharma teachings will not appear. They will also demonstrate the pure characteristics of their wisdom in their pure dharma teachings. Accordingly, with the appearance of the pure marks of our bodhisattvas’ wisdom, their minds will naturally become pure and will be far away from all impure seeds. Thus, the merits of their conduct will also be clear and pure.” Hence, the Buddha continued, “Ratnakuta! Bodhisattvas who wish to attain the Pure Buddha Land should first purify their minds. When they already have a pure mind, the Buddha Land that they attained will naturally be pure.”

The Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra also teaches us that people who wish to be reborn at the highest level of the highest grade need to possess a profound mind, one oriented toward the truth and honesty and that engages in initiation [making vows] and dedication [of merits]. A mind with these three attributes is not easy to attain, and we need to ascertain that the “initiation of the profound mind is predicated upon the realization of the Buddha Bodhi [bodhicitta].”

Similarly, we need to have the ability to align ourselves completely with the dharma nature of reality suchness (S:bhūta-tathatā) to be able to subdue our mental consciousness and mental faculty. Only when we have empirically realized the tathagatagarbha can we have the ability to align ourselves with the forthright mind. Why? The mental consciousness and mental faculty can never be the forthright mind as they must rely on conditions to arise. The tathagatagarbha, on the other hand, is the forthright mind that has existed since beginningless eons and that will continue to exist until we attain Buddhahood in the future.

Sentient beings who wish to initiate such a forthright mind are thus required to first realize the tathagatagarbha and witness that it is the eternal forthright mind, that which has existed since beginningless eons and will continue to exist in the same way. Only then can we truly bring forth the profound mind toward the three jewels. Without such, we will not be able to have a definitive faith in the boundless merits and virtues of the three jewels. In other words, the realization of the tathagatagarbha is the prerequisite to the development of a profound mind, which is hard to develop. 

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