Day 1 Purifying the Six Senses

Purify the five eyes to achieve the five powers.
Only after realization can one comprehend.
To see the image in a mirror is not difficult.
How can one grasp the moon in the water?


What are the five eyes that Yung-chia speaks of? Briefly, they are: (1) Physical eyes, which we are born with; (2) Heavenly eyes, which can be acquired through one's practice or as a result of one's previous merit, and which enables one to see into the future and for great distances; (3) Wisdom eyes, which enable us to end the cycle of birth and death; (4) Dharma eyes, which help us see Buddha-nature and the Dharma body (when this occurs, a person is said to have had his Dharma eyes opened); (5) Buddha eyes, which are the perfection of the Dharma eyes.

It is possible to acquire the non-physical eyes, but first you have to purify your mind. If the mind is clear, it is possible to see things others cannot see even without use of the physical eyes. In the ordinary, scattered state of mind, however, what you see and what others see is relatively the same; that is, most people agree that a house is a house, a person a person.