Attachment to causes and that which is caused

I2 Ten attachments within this.
J1 Attachment to causes and that which is caused.
K1 When formations are gone, consciousness appears.

Sutra:

Ananda, you should know that the good person has thoroughly seen the formations skandha as empty, and he must return consciousness to the source. He has ended production and destruction, but he has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of ultimate serenity.

Commentary:

Ananda, you should know that the good person who cultivates samadhi has thoroughly seen the formations skandha as empty. Although he encountered so many demonic states, whether they were caused by demons from the heavens, demons of his own mind, or other kinds of demons, they did not sway his samadhi. Or it could have been that when he was cultivating samadhi, he didn't experience any demonic states at all. Or maybe when he encountered demonic states, he recognized them and did not become confused by them. Once he pierced through the confusion, the formations skandha was destroyed. Now he is at the beginning of the consciousness skandha. He has already fathomed the formations skandha and seen it as empty, and he must return consciousness to the source. Now he has to break through the consciousness skandha, and when he does, he will return to the source, to the treasury of the Tathagata. He has already ended the states of production and destruction, but he has not yet perfected the subtle wonder of ultimate serenity. He has yet to perfectly realize the nature of ultimate serenity.

K2 A wrong understanding leads to a mistake.

Sutra:

He can cause the individual sense faculties of his body to unite and open. He also has a pervasive awareness of all the categories of beings in the ten directions. Since his awareness is pervasive, he can enter the perfect source. But if he regards what he is returning to as the cause of true permanence and interprets this as a supreme state, he will fall into the error of holding to that cause. Kapila the Sankhyan, with his theory of returning to the Truth of the Unmanifest, will become his companion. Confused about the Bodhi of the Buddhas, he will lose his knowledge and understanding.

Commentary:

He can cause the individual sense faculties of his body to unite and open. Now in the consciousness skandha, he has a false mental attachment. He is at the point where he "has not yet perfected the subtle wonders of ultimate serenity," but he can make his six sense faculties function inter-changeably. Each sense faculty has the abilities of all six. His eyes can talk and hear. His ears can eat and smell. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind can function interchangeably to perceive sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and objects of touch.

You may think that ears cannot eat but when one attains the interchangeable functioning of the six faculties, they can. "Where are their teeth?" you wonder. Ask your ears. They don't eat things the way we do, anyway. When they start to eat they may just naturally grow teeth, and their teeth, will not fall out. Perhaps they don't even use teeth. Or perhaps the teeth appear when they need them. This is the true ability of science. Each faculty has six functions.

"Unite" refers to how the six faculties join to become one faculty. "Open" refers to how one faculty opens up to have the functions of all six. Would you say these are spiritual powers? Is this science? No matter how much research scientists do, even if they can transplant human hearts, livers and other parts of the body, they cannot enable each sense faculty to have the functions of all six. That's something science cannot achieve. No matter how advanced science becomes, I don't think it will ever have that capability. If you develop science in your own nature, then you can have this kind of function.

He also has a pervasive awareness of all the categories of beings in the ten directions. Not only does he have the ability to unite and open his six sense faculties to function interchangeably, he also knows what is going on with all twelve categories of beings throughout the ten directions. He and other beings share a mutual awareness. Since his awareness is pervasive, he can know the dispositions of all beings in the ten directions, and he can enter the perfect source, the perfection of the original nature.

But if he regards what he is returning to as a cause of true permanence. Suppose he becomes wrongly attached to the place of his return. What is his attachment? He says that it is true permanence and interprets this as a supreme state. Since he believes it to be true permanence, he interprets this as a kind of supreme liberation and supreme view. If he didn't hold such a view, there would be no problem. But as soon as he holds this view, he will fall into the error of holding to that cause. He takes true permanence as the cause, but this is completely wrong. He thinks that place is characterized by true permanence. Actually he is still within consciousness, which is not true permanence. He becomes attached to a cause and what that cause pertains to. In fact this is not the cause, but he regards it as the cause. By attaching to it, he joins an external sect. He does business with them. He puts his investments there and forms a company. With what external sect does he get involved?

Kapila the Sankhyan, with his theory of returning to the Truth of the Unmanifest, will become his companion. Kapila founded the "religion of the yellow-haired.' Earlier, we mentioned that the teacher of Matangi used a mantra of the Kapila religion, a mantra which came from the Brahma Heaven. The Truth of the Unmanifest postulates that there is nothing at all, that everything is transformed from the current state of the eighth consciousness. This religion teaches that all things are born from the Truth of the Unmanifest. Once this cultivator becomes attached to this cause, he becomes friends with those of the "yellow-haired external sect." He incorporates with them, and it is not known when that corporation will ever end. Is it limited or unlimited?

Confused about the Bodhi of the Buddhas, the Way of Enlightenment, he will lose his knowledge and understanding. He takes what is not a cause to be a cause. He shouldn't have set up this cause, but he did. Because he wrongly established that cause and what it pertains to, he no longer has true wisdom. He has lost it. Where did it go? If you want to help him look for it you will lose yours, too.

K3 Giving the name and instructions to awaken.

Sutra:

This is the first state, in which he concludes that there is a place to which to return, based on the idea that there is something to attain. He strays far from perfect penetration and turns his back on the City of Nirvana, thus sowing the seeds of externalism.

Commentary:

This is the first state, in which he concludes that there is a place to which to return, based on the idea that there is something to attain. His principle is wrong. In what way? He strays far from perfect penetration. What he does is completely opposed to "cultivating the perfect penetration of the ear organ by directing the hearing inward to listen to the inherent nature, thereby entering the flow and forgetting the source." Why? Because he has developed an attachment. And he turns his back on the City of Nirvana. What is this great City of Nirvana? It's where the four virtues of nirvana, permanence, bliss, true self, and purity, are found. Thus he is sowing the seeds of externalism. By postulating a nonexistent cause, he becomes attached to an external teaching. Since his premise is like the Truth of the Unmanifest of the Kapila religion, he makes friends with its adherents and joins their ranks.