Some Characteristics of Awakening

Awakening has always been among the most difficult subjects to write about, because no human language currently available can accurately express what it is like. It can therefore only be described by approximation.

After awakening, you will see that the True Mind has the following characteristics:

Great Compassion: This is the very substance of our mind, but it is by no means the ordinary kindness you might imagine. Great Compassion has such qualities as depth of heart, softness of heart, a subtle suspended quality, and a sense of empty sorrow as though something were missing. These words may still leave you bewildered, but this is as close as language can come. Once practitioners realize it directly, they immediately understand this ineffable state of mind.

The True Mind is inherently settled: This is a scene of extraordinary clarity, vivid before the eyes—far clearer than our ordinary state. When looking at any object, there seems to be a sense of becoming one with it. Going deeper, you and the object become one: I am all things in the universe, and all things in the universe are me. You discover that you can be a stone, a tree, words on a blackboard, a shadow, a sound, and so forth. Even while being a stone, you remain exceptionally awake and mentally agile. Only then can you understand why “when Shenggong expounded the Dharma, even insentient stones nodded,” and why mountains, rivers, and the great earth are said to be one's own body.

You will find that the True Mind is active and keen—far more agile and awake than your present state. It also knows the happiness, anger, and other emotions previously experienced, yet you discover that, no matter what, love and hatred cannot arise. This is precisely to “skillfully distinguish the characteristics of all dharmas while remaining unmoved in ultimate truth”; it is patient acceptance of the unborn nature of dharmas. The True Mind is certainly not the foolish, indistinct haze you may imagine. The Buddha was no fool, nor are the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Although the True Mind can skillfully distinguish the characteristics of all dharmas, it contains absolutely no thought of “I.” Only after leaving the True Mind, when the mind moves, does the thought “I” arise. Therefore, the fundamental distinction between Buddhism and non-Buddhist paths is non-self.

The True Mind has no mental force of movement. Obvious movement of mind appears only after one leaves the True Mind. Thus, when the Sixth Patriarch said, “It is not the wind moving, nor the banner moving; it is the mind moving,” those with direct understanding could immediately recognize the depth of his realization. Movement of mind is crucial to awakening.

If you awaken through meditative absorption, an external condition disrupts one-pointedness: mental movement occurs first, and then the True Mind is seen. If you awaken through contemplation of mind, you first see the True Mind; only after emerging from it does movement occur, followed by discriminating thoughts. These are the two ways in which mental movement is directly verified.

After awakening, you will see the Buddha's Sambhogakāya. As the Vimalakīrti Sūtra teaches, seeing the Tathāgata's Sambhogakāya is seeing one's own Buddha-nature. If you practice in the Pure Land tradition, you will also see Amitābha Buddha and Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. Amitābha may give you a gentle smile—a faint, unstained smile that immediately gives rise to meditative stability. It is neither the smile you ordinarily imagine nor something sensationally miraculous. It is at once within your expectation and beyond it; in time, you will naturally understand.

Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva may also radiate a great light toward you, and this light immediately gives rise to profound meditative stability. Therefore, do not worry that your concentration is insufficient; Śākyamuni Buddha and all Buddhas and bodhisattvas have long since taken this into account.

At that moment, seeing the Buddhas and bodhisattvas is like seeing your own parents: you know them immediately, without the slightest doubt. It is unlike stories in which someone sees Amitābha and asks, “Are you Amitābha? If you are, touch my head.” Such people have plainly fallen into the aggregate of perception and become caught in delusion.

From this we can see that Pure Land practitioners who follow the path of awakening can enter the Land of Bliss in the present moment and meet Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara directly. Why wait until after death?

An awakened person knows with perfect clarity that awakening has occurred. If there is even the slightest doubt, then you have certainly not awakened.

After awakening, all scriptures and Chan cases are understood immediately. Even if you cannot read a single word, you will still understand them.

Immediately after awakening, there is a complex state of mind: a sudden, complete realization; a wish to laugh, yet an inability to do so; instead, a feeling as though something has been lost. After all the effort spent seeking verification, one discovers that it was originally present all along. One wants to tell others, yet feels conflicted, because everyone already possesses this state of mind, and explaining it seems meaningless. Teaching it to others can even seem absurd, because in truth nothing has been said—they already have it.

Thus, many people at this point laugh loudly and then break down in tears. It is indeed a state exceedingly difficult to describe. Everyone will experience such a state; the Buddha was no exception. One need only look at the scriptures' account of the Buddha's state just after awakening. Every genuine awakening necessarily carries the state of mind the Buddha had upon awakening. If it does not, you have not yet awakened and still need to continue your effort.

Practitioners of meditative absorption share a common experience: at a certain point, they involuntarily emerge from concentration. Likewise, when the divine eye opens and they see many beautiful realms, joy arises involuntarily—and the moment joy arises, those realms disappear. In the True Mind of the self-nature Tathāgatagarbha, however, this does not happen. You may sit for as long as you wish; it is entirely your own decision.

You may likewise see many beautiful realms, yet liking does not arise. Although there is an indescribable beauty within, it is by no means ordinary pleasure or preference. This is the vajra samādhi of self-nature, the indestructible great samādhi.

You then begin to understand what habitual tendencies truly are; they are not what you ordinarily suppose. While abiding in the self-nature Tathāgatagarbha, you discover that you cannot become angry or attached. You may deeply miss the former states of joy and anger and strongly wish to return to them. This is habitual tendency—this is what habitual tendency truly is. (Master Qingliangyue)