The Transmission Gatha of the Sixth Patriarch Mātaṅga

Original Text: With no-mind, nothing can be obtained; what is spoken of cannot be called Dharma. If one realizes that mind is not mind, then one begins to understand the mind and the Dharma of mind.

Explanation: After awakening to the original mind, one gradually discovers that the nature of this original mind differs from the deluded minds of the first seven consciousnesses; it is not a mental activity within the three realms. This mind cannot be obtained from outside—it is the inherent treasure within the five aggregates themselves, merely discovered through another's guidance. If enlightenment is said to involve obtaining a certain mind, something non-existent before but now present, born after the fact, it must be a mistaken realization—an awakening to the realm of the conscious mind that arises and ceases. When the conscious mind, through meditative cultivation, occasionally perceives emptiness and mistakenly regards that state of emptiness as the original mind, this "original mind" is obtained externally, acquired through meditative practice. When concentration dissipates, emptiness vanishes, and the original mind disappears. Thus, one practices meditation again to preserve it, striving to make emptiness permanent. Such a method of realizing the Way is non-Dharma, a disordered practice. If one understands that the original mind is not the mental activity of the seven worldly consciousnesses, that it is distinct from the first seven consciousnesses, and fully comprehends all eight consciousnesses, then beings begin to understand the various dharmic characteristics and functional aspects of the original mind, gradually developing discriminative wisdom and the wisdom of the path-seed.