Joy Following Enlightenment

                   

 

Section three: get along well with your spirituality

 

Joy Following Enlightenment

 

 

        The “emptiness” is not nothingness, nihility, or dead silence; it’s very clear and distinct, a sort of ultimate wisdom and awareness, it has countless possibilities and a variety of marvelous functions. In this empty state, you always have a joy that is empty, bright, clear, and vigilant.

 

There are many supreme treasures in the world, but the most precious is the warm light after enlightenment.

 

After perceiving the true mind and seeing your nature, if you can keep it, you will be bathed in a joyfully warm, empty and bright light, just like an old man idly basking in the sun under a wall. Calm down, immerse yourself in the light, enjoy the wondrous feeling of the warm sun.

 

That is a supreme enjoyment. At that time, you will feel something empty and bright. However, you should pay special attention to the fact that this “emptiness” is not nothingness, nihility, or dead silence; it’s very clear and distinct, a sort of ultimate wisdom and awareness, it has countless possibilities and a variety of marvelous functions. In this empty state, you always have a joy that is empty, bright, clear, and vigilant. You are happy when there are no distracting thoughts; when there are, you are still very happy, because you know that, if you let them come and go as they please and don’t cling to them, they will naturally fall into emptiness.

 

In my understanding, the so-called inspiration is this bright emptiness that is capable of various marvelous functions.

 

Before writing, some writers are in the habit of doing something that seems to have little to do with writing, such as listening to music, drinking coffee or wine, smoking, and seeing a movie. It is because they want to temporarily remove the fetters on their mind so that they can be prepared for a sudden inspiration with a calm mind. When somewhere in their mind something flashes as if a light is being switched on, they will immediately seize the fleeting inspiration, and then words flow naturally onto the paper.

 

To an artist, inspiration is very important. Sometimes, in a few inspired minutes, a composer may write a masterpiece. For example, the author of the French National Anthem “La Marseillaise” wrote this enduring song within a very short time. Although he could no longer write a better piece than “Marseillaise,” this short period of inspiration has made him an immortal composer.

 

It is also true of painters. The reason why some painters occasionally outdo themselves is that they are in a moment of inspiration. Even to a master, the drying up of inspiration will undoubtedly put an end to his artistic life.

 

All my writings are a spontaneous flow from the state of enlightenment of Mahamudra, and you can also understand it as a moment of inspiration. What’s different from other people is that I don’t need something like wine or music to create an atmosphere or to provide a spur to inspiration.

 

In fact, a spurt of inspiration is the moment in which you open the gate of Nature – when your attachments are eradicated completely, you become an outlet of Nature, and your mental activities may resonate with Nature so that you and Nature become one and the same and thus, the “sounds of nature” will flow out spontaneously.

 

When you are conscious of this state, try to keep it. How will you keep it? Remember, with a flash of inspiration, you should immediately enter into a state of non-attachment and non-detachment, without any selfishness or other distracting thoughts; pay as little as possible attention to the self, eliminate utilitarian thoughts, and write for no particular purpose. However, pure non-mindfulness is no good, because it verges on only emptiness and moral neutrality, which are incapable of marvelous functions and are unable to turn on the tap of inspiration. Therefore, you must be vigilant before you start to writing. This vigilance is called “correct mindfulness.”

 

With the emptiness of non-mindfulness and the vigilance of correct mindfulness, you will be in a very good state. If your capacity of growth is good enough, you have complete faith, and your opportunity has come, you are likely to perceive your true mind and see your own nature. When you can recognize it and have experienced it carefully, you need to maintain that state from time to time in your life. Vigilance is necessary; otherwise, selfishness and other distracting thoughts may appear and thus affect the empty state of yours.

 

Blend emptiness and mindfulness into one, and it will easily activate your innate enlightened nature. At that time, you need to retain that free and natural state and at the same time keep proper vigilance. When you can retain that state all the time and be no different from your Honorable Teacher (used here to refer to a great existence), your life will reach the most harmonious resonant state with Nature; that is, you and Nature become one and the same, Man and Heaven achieve an unity. In that moment, all the memories in your life will suddenly generate a very strong energy, which will translate into a mysterious power, which is the strong sensation that you can feel. That feeling flows naturally from under your pen, and you are able to produce an excellent work that can touch the reader’s heart. Both Dickens and Ba Jin had experienced that state, which they called “demonic possession.”

 

If you don’t understand how to mix emptiness and vigilance together, you may imagine the situation in which you concentrate on my talking. As long as you have enough confidence and relax, the free and natural state of my mind can be delivered to you via sound wave and biological field and produce a resonance in your heart. Then, you may experience that free and natural state yourself. In that process, listening is vigilance. You just need to keep that vigilance in mind and stably abide in the free and natural state at any time, and then reflect on what you are doing (such as painting, listening to music, or tasting food) with that tiny amount of vigilance, In fact, this can also be called “the dual functioning of stabilizing and insight meditation.” Keep practicing, and you will be enlightened one day.                    

           

In Chan Buddhism, a lot of masters were illiterate, but they could produce very good writing. It is because they became an outlet of Nature when they were in the bright empty state. Take Huineng for example. He used to be a laborer, but when he was in the bright empty state, he was no different from the Buddha. He became an outlet of the wisdom of dharma-realm, and the words from his mouth were Buddhist scriptures. In fact, there were no words or ideas in his mind; only the wisdom of dharma-realm flowed there.

 

So, at the time of writing, when you become an outlet of Nature, you don’t have any words in your mind; only a feeling is flowing.

 

Everyone comes across a situation like this at least once in their life. Writing a love letter, for instance. When a person in love is trying to express his love for his sweetheart, he is likely to produce something much better than he is capable of, something flowed out of his own nature. But they are not aware of the importance of that state, so they fail to catch hold of that feeling – let alone retain it – and eventually they lose it. People invariably miss an opportunity like this, because they haven’t found a real reliable teacher.

 

If a person gets a reliable teacher’s instruction, he will be able to remember that state of mind and train himself to prolong it gradually. At first, that state is transient. Step by step, he prolongs it until he can remain in that state all day, which can be seen as one form of “knocking all into one,” that is, succeeding in maintaining one’s practice after awakening. Now, he will be able to do or reflect upon everything in that state, observe experience everything with the vigilance of wisdom, and deal with everything leisurely and easily through the accurate cognition of wisdom.

 

In that state, no matter what you do, you are a master. For example, if you paint in that state, you will be a master of painting; if you compose in that state, you will be a master of music.

 

Mozart seldom revised his manuscripts, because his music is a spontaneous overflow rather than a patchwork. So in the film Mozart, when his opponent saw his manuscript, he was utterly shocked – he felt what Mozart had done was simply write down the notes that God hums.

 

Notice

 

Translated by non-professional volunteers, there would be some inaccuracies in the translation. You are welcome to offer us some advice for emendation. Please feel free to contact us.We also look forward to you joining our voluntary translation team.

 

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第三辑：与灵性好好相处

 

开悟后的快乐

 

    这个“空”并不是什么都没有，也不是虚无，不是死寂的，它非常明朗、清晰，是一种究竟的智慧与觉悟，是无数的可能性，能生起各种妙用。在这种空性状态下，你始终拥有一份空空荡荡、明明朗朗、清清晰晰、警警觉觉的快乐。

 

世界上有许多至高无上的宝物，但最珍贵的还是开悟后那种暖融融的光明。

 

明心见性之后，假如你能保任真心，便会沐浴在一片乐陶陶、暖烘烘、空荡荡、明朗朗的光明之中，像冬天里无所事事的老头在墙根之下晒太阳一样，坦然放下一切，轻松自在地沉浸在那种光明的朗照中，享受暖日般的殊胜觉受。

 

这种享受，才是至高无上的。这时，你就会感受到一种空性的东西，一种明空的东西。但是要特别注意，这个“空”并不是什么都没有，也不是虚无，不是死寂的，它非常明朗、清晰，是一种究竟的智慧与觉悟，是无数的可能性，能生起各种妙用。在这种空性状态下，你始终拥有一份空空荡荡、明明朗朗、清清晰晰、警警觉觉的快乐。没有任何杂念的时候你很快乐，有了杂念你还是很高兴，因为你明白只要任它来者自来，去者自去，不去执著，它自然会归于空性。

 

在我的理解中，世人所说的灵感，便是指这种能够生起各种妙用的明空。

 

有些人在写东西之前，会做一些看起来跟写作关系不大的事情，比如听音乐、喝咖啡、喝酒、抽烟、看电影等等，他们不过是为了暂时去除心灵的束缚，以宁静的心，迎接一个突如其来的感悟。当心中的某个地方像开灯似的动了一下，他们就会马上抓住这可能会一闪而逝的灵感，然后写出自然流露的文章。

 

对于艺术家来说，灵感非常重要。有时候，几分钟的灵感，就能让作曲家们谱出一首传世佳作。像法国国歌《马赛曲》的作者，他就是凭借很短时间的灵感，写出了这首传世之作。虽然他一生之中再也写不出超过《马赛曲》的作品，但这短短的灵感，已经让他成为了一个不朽的音乐家。

 

对于画家们来说也是如此。有些画家之所以偶尔能超水平发挥，就是由于灵感的迸发。即使对于大师来说，灵感的枯竭也无疑会给艺术生命判处死刑。

 

我的所有文章，都是在大手印证境中的自然流露，你也可以理解为一种灵感的迸发。与其他人不一样的是，我不需要诸如酒和音乐之类的外物来营造环境，“刺激”灵感。

 

其实，所谓灵感迸发，就是你在某个瞬间打开了天籁之门——当你的执著真正破除之后，你便成了“大自然”的出口，你的心灵活动可能会和大自然本有的东西形成共振，达到一种水乳交融的状态，从而触发“天籁”的自然流露。

 

你察觉到这种状态的时候，就要把它留下来。怎么留下来呢？你要记住，灵机一动之后，马上进入一种无执无舍的空灵状态，没有任何私心杂念，淡化自我，消除功利，无求地写作。单纯无念也不好，因为它容易陷入顽空和无记，无法让真心生起妙用，更无法打开灵感的“水龙头”。所以，你必须在写作之前就生起一份警觉，这种警觉就叫“正念”。

 

有了无念的空灵和正念的警觉时，你就会处于一种非常好的状态，要是根器成熟、信心和机缘俱足的话，你可能会明心见性。当你认知它并仔细体会它的时候，你的生命中就要经常保任这种状态。警觉是必不可少的，否则就容易出现私心杂念，影响到你的空灵状态。

 

那种空灵和警觉融为一体的状态，是很容易激活你本有觉性的。这时，你既要有那种空灵，又不要失去那种轻松自在，无拘无束的感觉，还要保持必要的警觉。当你一直保任那种状态，达到与师尊（对某种伟大存在的形象表述）无二无别的时候，你的生命就会达到一种最和谐的共振状态，这时你和“大自然”就会融为一体，达到天人合一。那个瞬间，你生命中所有的记忆会突然释放出一种非常强的能量，这种巨大的能量会转化为一种神秘的力量，也就是你产生的那种浓浓的感觉。那种感觉从你的笔下自然而然地流出，你就能创作出触动人心的佳作。这种状态狄更斯和巴金都体验过，他们将它戏称为“魔鬼附体”。

 

如果你不明白如何让空灵与警觉相融合，不妨想象一下，当你放下所有念头专心听我说话时的那个情景。只要你有足够的信心并能放松的话，我心中的空灵就可以通过声波和生物场传递给你，在你的心中引起一种共振。这时，你就可能会感受到那种空灵和自在。这时，听的过程就是一种警觉。你只要记住这个警觉，同时在任何时候都安住于空灵的心，然后用那丝警觉观照你正在做的事情，比如绘画，听音乐，比如吃饭时尝味等等。这种状态，其实也可能称为“止观双运”，坚持训练下去，你也会开悟。

 

禅宗里面的好多大德虽然不识字，却能写出非常好的文章，就是因为他在明空状态之中，成为了大自然的出口。比如慧能，他是做苦力出身的，但当他在明空状态下与佛陀无二无别之后，就成了法界智慧的出口，说出来的话就是佛经。实质上他心中是没有文字的，只有法界智慧的流淌。

 

所以说，在写作的时候，当你成为大自然的出口时，心中也是没有任何文字的，只有一种感觉在流淌。

 

任何人一生中都至少会出现一次这样的情况，比如写情书的时候。热恋中的人向情人诉说衷情时，就可能从自性中流出他平时写不出的好文章，但是他们没有意识到这种状态的重要性，因此也没有抓住那种感觉，后来就会丢了那种感觉，当然也就谈不上保任。人们总是一次次错过这样的机会，因为他们找不到真正的善知识。

 

如果一个人得到善知识的点拨，他就会记住那种状态，并且训练自己，把它慢慢延长。当他把那种刚开始只是昙花一现的状态延长到后来的时候，就可以整天都处于那种状态中了，这也是一种打成一片，也就是保任成功。这时候，他便能用这种状态去观照任何事情，用那份智慧的警觉观察和体会，用那种智慧的牵挂或者说观照，去从容不迫、轻松自在地应对任何事情。

 

在这种状态下不管你做什么都是大师，比如当你在这种状态下绘画就是绘画大师，当你在这种状态下作曲就是音乐大师。

 

莫扎特的乐曲底稿是没有经过多少修改的，因为他的乐曲就是一种自然流露的东西，而不是刻意拼凑出来的。所以，在电影《莫扎特》中，他的对手看到他的底稿时，就感到非常震惊，觉得他仿佛是在记录上帝哼出的乐曲。

 

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