Some people who study and practice Ch'an stray into these demonic realms. It is because they believe that the law of cause and consequence is empty. They are mistaken. Causes and consequences are not empty. Even greatly accomplished sages must accept the consequences for everything they do. For example, if someone practices to become a Bodhisattva, and a Bodhisattva in turn practices to become a Buddha, then Buddhahood is a consequence of the practice of these individuals. Eventually, we must accept the consequences of all our actions. If you think causes and consequences are empty, then you are in danger of falling into the demonic states I have described. Causes and conditions are empty, but causes and consequences do have existence. This is basic Buddhadharma. When Sakyamuni attained Buddhahood, his previous karma did not disappear. His physical body still received the retribution of previous actions.

Attachment to existence and attachment to emptiness are equally incorrect. If you are attached to existence, as most people are, then you will create more and more vexations. If you are attached to emptiness, then you will reject the reality of cause and consequence, and you will end up with even more problems. Rejecting existence and attaching to emptiness is like avoiding deep water by jumping into fire.

If you discard the illusory mind and grasp the true principle,
This mind of grasping and discarding becomes clever.
Not understanding this, practitioners engage in cultivation,
Just as one mistakes a thief for his own son.


In trying to understand the previous stanza, a person might think, "Since attaching to existence is illusory and attaching to emptiness is illusory, I should focus on the genuine mind instead." People in many religions try to overcome the illusory and attain the genuine. These people are fooling themselves.

We know that thoughts are illusory, but in our practice we cannot oppose these thoughts with the idea of seeking the genuine. "Genuine" is only a concept which we juxtapose with "illusory." Dropping the illusory in order to seek the genuine is just one more action of the deluded mind.