前期提示：阿難的誤解。標月的手指。你不能識別光明與黑暗。

常住真心是自立，無依無住的

阿難仍然認為他的妄心就是常住真心。所以現在佛陀必須指出，常住真心是不依止任何東西的。然而識心並不像常住真心，它是不能單獨存在的。它必須依靠其他感官，如眼、耳、鼻、舌和身體的知覺的輸入。或者，當一個人正在甚深的禪定之中，沒有這些知覺的輸入時，他的識心是依止著冥諦的。冥諦則假設一切都是不存在的。實際上，這只是第八意識的變化顯現而已。

◆見精就是妙精明心
The essence of seeing is the True Mind.

冥諦是十識蘊境界中所執著的第一個境界。這是迦毗羅教所提出的理論。那就是當在禪定中，色、受、想、行，前四蘊已經被突破了，這種境界就會在禪定中昇起。假如坐禪者不起執著的話，這算是善境界。在修行的過程中，這是邁向究竟覺悟的一步。如果坐禪者執著了，而錯誤的認為他所歸向的就是真實的和永恆的本源。那麼他就會墮入這個知見，而相信冥諦的道理。

見妙精明心如第二月

佛陀在這裡所說明的論點就是：識心的存在 必須依靠其他客觀條件。而常住真心是無依無住的。上人解釋說：

「見精的元體就是第八識。也叫八識心王。心王的見精可以邁向好的一面，也可以邁向壞的一面。往上可通至佛性。往下則可至第七識。

「雖然，第八識的本體並不在真心中。但是真心卻在第八識裡。所以不要誤會佛所說的，見精不是妙精明心；也不要認為連佛陀本身也沒有勇氣承認見精就是妙精明心。

「佛陀已經證明了『見精就是妙明真心』，但是見精是把妙明真心看成是第二個月亮，而不是水中的月影。第二個月亮指的是什麼呢？當你看月亮的時候，如果你用手指捏著眼角的話，在手指的壓力之下，眼睛便會看到兩個月亮。但是事實上這兩個月亮是同一個月亮──唯一的真月。這兩個月亮都不是水中的月影。佛陀的用意是在於說明第八識，也就是心王，是我們的妙明真心的本體。你不應該誤會，以為第八識不是妙明真心。」

From last issue: Ananda’s Mistake, The Finger Pointing at the Moon, “You Can’t Tell Light from Darkness!”

A Host Stands on His Own;
He Doesn't Rely on Anything.

Ananda still thinks his false-thinking mind is the host. And so the Buddha now points our that a host doesn’t have to rely on anything. But the mind consciousness does not stand independent as a host does. Rather, it relies on the sensory input of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. Or in the absence of that sensory input, as when one is in deep meditation, the mind consciousness relies on the Truth of the Unmanifest, which postulates that there is really nothing at all. Actually, the Truth of the Unmanifest just a transformation of the eighth mind consciousness which occurs when one is in deep meditation.

The Truth of the Unmanifest is the state attached to in the first of the ten states of the consciousness skandha. It is the theory propounded by the Kapila religion. When in meditation, the first four skandhas of form, feeling, thinking, and activities have been broken through, then this state may arise in meditation. If the meditator does not attach to it, it can be considered a good state-a step in the process of cultivation toward ultimate enlightenment. But if the meditator attaches, and mistakenly perceives what he is returning to as the cause of all that is true and eternal, then he will fall into this view and believe this Truth of the Unmanifest.

What Sees the True Mind Is Like a Second Moon

The Buddha is making the point here that the conscious mind relies on other things for its existence. But the True Mind does not rely on anything. The Venerable Master comments:

The essence of seeing is basically the eight consciousness, which is also called the Mind King. The seeing of the mind-king can go to the side of good, or it can go to the side of bad. If it ascends, it penetrates through to the Buddha-nature. If it descends, it penetrates through into the seventh consciousness.

Although the substance of the eight consciousness is not in itself our true mind, our true mind is contained within the eighth consciousness. So don’t make a mistake here and think that when the Buddha says the essence of seeing is not the wonderfully essential bright mind, that the Buddha is also not daring to recognize as the True Mind either.

The essence of seeing is the True Mind. The Buddha has already proved that. But that which sees the True Mind is like a second moon, not like a reflection of the moon. What is meant by a “second moon”? If you press your finger against the corner of your eye while looking at the moon, the eye will see two moons in response to the pressure. But those two moons are one moon-the one real moon. Neither of those two moons is a reflection such as one might see in water. The Buddha is saying that the eighth consciousness, the mind-king, is the basic substance of our true mind. You should not mistakenly think that the eighth consciousness is not the True Mind.

◆見精就是妙精明心
The essence of seeing is the True Mind.