Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra 

The Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas, Mahamati, will before long attain to the understanding that Nirvana and Samsara are one. Their conduct, Mahamati, will be in accordance with the effortless exhibition of a great loving heart that ingeniously contrives means [of salvation], knowing that all beings have the nature of being like a vision or a reflection, and that [there is one thing which is] not bound by causation, being beyond the distinction of subject and object; [and further] seeing that there is nothing outside Mind, and in accordance with a position of unconditionality, they will by degrees pass through the various stages of Bodhisattvahood and will experience the various states of Samadhi, and will by virtue of their faith understand that the triple world is of Mind itself, and thus understanding will attain the Samadhi Mayopama. The Bodhisattvas entering into the state of imagelessness where they see into the truth of Mind-only, arriving at the abode of the Paramitas, and keeping themselves away from the thought of genesis, deed, and discipline, they will attain the Samadhi Vajravimbopama which is in compliance with the Tathagatakaya and with the transformations of suchness. After achieving a revulsion in the abode [of the Vijnanas], Mahamati, they will gradually realise the Tathagatakaya, which is endowed with the powers, the psychic faculties, self-control, love, compassion, and means; which can enter into all the Buddha-lands and into the sanctuaries of the philosophers; and which is beyond the realm of Citta-mano-manovijnana. Therefore, Mahamati, these Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas who wish, by following the Tathagatakaya, to realise it, should exercise themselves, in compliance with the truth of Mind-only, to desist from discriminating and reasoning erroneously on such notions as Skandhas, Dhatus, Ayatanas, thought, causation, deed, discipline, and arising, abiding, and destruction.

Perceiving that the triple existence is by reason of the habit-energy of erroneous discrimination and false reasoning that has been going on since beginningless time, and also thinking of the state of Buddhahood which is imageless and unborn, [the Bodhisattva] will become thoroughly conversant with the noble truth of self-realisation, will become a perfect master of his own mind, will conduct himself without effort, will be like a gem reflecting a variety of colours, will be able to assume the body of transformation, will be able to enter into the subtle minds of all beings, and, because of his firm belief in the truth of Mind-only, will, by gradually ascending the stages, become established in Buddhahood. Therefore, Mahamati, let the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva be well disciplined in self-realisation.

Sengcan

鑑智僧璨  Jianzhi Sengcan  529-(613?) 592 CE

Sengcan concealed himself on Sikong Mountain, living in solitude, sitting in purity. He did not put any writings into circulation: he taught only intimately, at close range, and did not publicly transmit the Dharma. He had only one known disciple, the monk Daoxin, who served him for twelve years. Sengcan told Daoxin: "The Lotus Sutra says that there is just this one thing: there is really no second or third. Thus we know that the Path of the Sages is profound and pervasive, something that verbal explanations cannot reach. The body of reality is empty and still, something that seeing and hearing cannot touch. Thus written and spoken words are vain constructions."

During the seventh moon of the twelfth year of the Kaihuang era of the Great Sui Dynasty (A.D. 592), the mahasattva Sengcan disappeared and transformed on a peak of Mount Wan'gong in Shu. We built this pagoda as an offering. Recorded by Daoxin.

Epitaph earthenware tile, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou

Daoxin

大毉道信  Dayi Daoxin  (566?) (580 met Sengcan?) -651 CE

If you want to enter one-practice Samādhi, you must be empty and at ease, and abandon all confused ideas.

The Contemplation of Samantabhadra Sutra says: "The sea of all Karmic barriers arises from false forms. If you want to repent, sit upright and be mindful of Reality." This is called supreme repentance. Eliminate the mentality of the three poisons, the mind that clings to objects. If the mind that is aware and contemplating is continuously mindful of Buddha, suddenly there will be clarity and stillness, and there are no more thoughts linked to objects.

Ma tsu

馬祖道  Ma tsu  709 - 788 CE

... believe that you mind is Buddha. The Great Master Bodhidharma came from India to China, and transmitted the One Mind teaching of Mahayana so that it can lead you all to awakening. Fearing that you will be too confused and will not believe that this One Mind is inherent in all of you, he used the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra to seal the sentient beings' mind-ground. Therefore, in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, mind is the essence of all the Buddha's teachings, no gate is the Dharma-gate.

Those who seek the Dharma should not seek for anything. Outside of mind there is no other Buddha, outside of Buddha there is no other mind. Not attached to good and not rejecting evil, without reliance on either purity or defilement, one realizes that the nature of offence is empty: it cannot be found in each thought because it is without self-nature. Therefore, the three realms are mind-only and 'all phenomena in the universe are marked by a single Dharma'. Whenever we see form, it is just seeing mind. The mind does not exist by itself; its existence is due to form. Whatever you are saying, it is just a phenomenon which is identical with the principle. They are all without obstruction and the fruit of the way to bodhi is also like that. Whatever arises in the mind is called form; when one knows all forms to be empty, then birth is identical with no-birth. If one realizes this mind, then one can always wear one's robes and eat one's food. Nourishing the womb of sagehood, one spontaneously passed one's time: what else is there to do?

Moheyan

和尚摩訶衍  Heshang Moheyan  8th century

The root of the worldly cycle of birth and death is the conceptualizing mind. Why is this? The movement of the conceptualizing mind is due to imprints that have always been present. You perceive in accordance with this movement, act in accordance with how you perceive, and achieve results in accordance with how you act. Thus everything from the heights of buddhahood to the depths of hell is projected by your own concepts, and that is all you ever see. On the other hand, if this mind does not arise, then it is impossible to hold on to as much as an atom of ordinary phenomena.

People who know that this is the way things are should renounce other activities, stay in just one place and no other, isolated and free from the hustle and bustle, and sit with crossed legs and a straight body, [    ]. When they engage in meditation, they should view their own mind. Since nothing exists there, they have no thoughts. If conceptual thoughts move, they should experience them. "How should we experience them?" Whatever thoughts arise should not be designated as moving or not moving. They should not be designated as existing or not existing. They should not be designated as afflicted or pure. They should not be designated as any kind of phenomenon at all.

If the movement of mind is experienced in this way, it has no nature. This is called "practicing the dharma path". If the movement of mind is not experienced, or the experiences are false, then their cultivation will be pointless and they will remain ordinary people.

You do not see the dharma by seeing. You do not hear the dharma by hearing. You do not experience the dharma through experience. You do not become conscious of the dharma through consciousness. Therefore, though you may search for something by sight, hearing, experience, and consciousness, you will not be seeking the dharma.

In relative truth, all internal and external phenomena are from the beginning seen through the confusion of one's own conceptualization. And because they are dependently originated, having only the single feature of being illusory, in ultimate truth they are without substantiality. Because they are without substantiality, they are unarisen. Because they are unarisen, they are unceasing. Unarisen and unceasing, they are the space of reality. The space of reality is the dharmakaya. Since the nature of all phenomena is like this, one should cultivate not conceptualizing anything.

This very mind that is without conceptualization is insubstantial, unarisen, unceasing, and identical with the space of reality. Since there is no need to fabricate it, do not chase after it or obstruct it. Instead, rest in primordial thusness without fabrication. How is this done? Since the mind is primordially nonabiding, it is unnecessary now to practice not abiding. Since the mind is primordially nonceptual, it is unnecessary now to practice not conceptualizing. That would be to fabricate primordial thusness. This is also said in the sutras:

Arising from phenomena without self,

Buddhas achieve perfect enlightenment.

Without conceptualization, without fixation,

they always cultivate this mind of enlightenment.

Phenomena are the reflections of the mind;

mind cannot itself be apprehended,

unarisen, unceasing, beyond all mental activities,

even and nonconceptual like the sky.

If you cultivate this, you will not remain in saṃsāra like a heretic. Endowed with means and wisdom, you will cleanse both the obscurations and the emotional afflictions. You will extend the two accumulations of merit and wisdom, and accomplish marvelous benefit for yourself and others. [    ] and till the end of nonabiding nirvāna and saṃsāra, you will carry out the benefit of sentient beings.

Treatise on the True Sudden Enlightenment School of the Great Vehicle,

which opens up mind and reveals reality-nature

圭峰宗密  Guifeng Zongmi  780–841 CE

The Great Path is fused with Mind, revealing the true pattern of reality. All worthy sages past and future tend toward this gate. For those who awaken, the triple world is only mind. Those who do not awaken create dreams as they sleep. Those who completely awaken know that all phenomena are peaceful and still, that causal connections produce events, and that temporary combinations give rise to names. Those who do not comprehend become attached to names and abide in words, grasp concepts and run around misguided.

If you want to rein in the false and return to the real, so that defilement and purity are equalized, you must focus your attention and contemplate the self-revealed meaning of the mind’s fundamental enlightenment. When your contemplation has power, you are still not beyond this meaning: mindfulness reaches the Other Shore, and you are constantly in the deepest meditative concentration. If you practice this for a long time without stopping, naturally everything will be accomplished.

If you have concerns in your contemplation, gradually let your body and mind go toward the real. Empty out what is in your breast, so that all doings are forever stilled. Aware of things without giving them forms, you move freely in samadhi, closely nurturing the Path and its power. By this means you achieve the dharmakaya, the body of reality.

When you turn back and awaken to the mind source, there are no hindrances and no obstructions. Its body is like empty space, so it is called boundless samadhi. Mind has no going out or coming in, so it is called the samadhi of stillness. Amid all being it is pure and without seeking, so it is called inconceivable samadhi. Samadhi is undimmed and does not follow causal origination, so it is called the samadhi of the real nature of things.

Students are all seeking interpretive understanding: they do not seek direct experience. If you want to cultivate the Great Vehicle without knowing how to pacify mind, your knowledge is sure to go wrong.

Layman P'ang Yün

龐蘊居士  Pang Yun  740 – 808 CE

When the mind is as is, circumstances also are as is;

There is no real and also no unreal.

Giving no heed to existence,

and holding not to non-existence -

you are neither saint nor sage,

just an ordinary man who has settled his affairs.