If we want to find our enlightened nature,
that which is unborn and never dies, we have to start from seeing
through the things in our outside environment. All outer things
are called “conditioned dharma” – they are “like a dream and
like a bubble, like dew and like a flash of lightning.” All
of them come about through causes and conditions, and have no
intrinsic existence as such. “All activities are impermanent,
all dharmas are self-less, and all sensations are dissatisfactory.”
Since everything is composed of causes and conditions, there
is nothing there that we can hold on to.
Our original face, our spiritual awareness, has been there
from the very beginning, even before our parents were born.
But we are not familiar with it, we don’t know it. We only
know our body as “this outside thing.” So, in order to find
our original face, we put our awareness into our inner ear
during Chan meditation, and let our heart comfortably listen
to silence. In doing so, we quietly let the silence, that
which is without any sound, take care of our attachment to
things.
This is just as with Bodhisattva Guanyin, who was listening
to the sounds of the waves. When she first started listening,
she heard the sounds of the waves. But as she reached the
point in which she heard that the sound of the waves was no
longer there, everything inside had become silent. And with
the sound of the waves no longer being there, even the awareness
of that inner silence disappeared. As the text says: “Neither
sound, nor silence appeared any longer.” If we continue listening,
we will slowly let go of all of our random thoughts that are
connected to outer things. When all of our random thoughts
have stopped, our awareness has become purified. When we reach
the point in which our heart is completely transparent and
luminous, we have been successful in our practice. This is
the Chan Practice of Ling-Jiou Mountain Monastery – the Inner
Peace Meditation, which is based on Guanyin`s teaching on
the inner organ of listening.
If we constantly concentrate on our thoughts, this will become
a source of piled up karma. But if our thoughts are transformed
into that boundless empty space, to exist is fine, not to
exist is also fine. In any case, everything outside and inside
has been transformed into that wide empty horizon, and with
that we find ourselves in that original space of awakening,
in that original heart of enlightenment. If we want to let
our heart return home to that place, there is only one path:
Chan meditation, concentration, enlightening Oneself, enlightening
everything, realizing that we cannot grasp anything, realizing
that nothing adheres to the Self.
Therefore we listen in silence. The function of our organ
of hearing is simply listening – enlightened listening without
making any distinctions, listening to silence without any
sound, without any disturbance, without anything there. Just
focus your ears into that silence and then listen. In that
world that we listen to, there is nothing there at all; there
is no world, there is no Self or other, there is no yes or
no, there is no good or bad, there is no noise whatsoever.
Listen to the sound of no sound. All is quiet – listen to
the stillness inside and outside.
聆聽無聲 忘卻六塵
為了要找回不生不滅的覺性，要先看破外在的環境，外在的一切叫做有為法，如夢幻泡影、如露如電，都是因緣所生，不是真實的存在。「諸行無常，諸法無我，諸受是苦」，外在一切都是因緣和合，所以是不可得的。
父母未生之前，我們的本來面目、我們的靈覺靈知就已經存在了，但是我們不認識它，我們只認識外在這個身體。所以，要找回自己的本來面目，禪修時把知覺擺在耳朵上，讓我們的心很舒暢的聆聽這份寂靜，我們靜靜地用寂靜無聲處理有相的執著。
就像觀音菩薩聽海潮聲，開始聽的時候，有海浪的聲音，聽到海浪的聲音沒有了，內在就產生寂靜了；當海潮聲沒有了，內在的寂靜也沒有了，「動靜二相，
了然不生」，繼續地聽，慢慢的就會離開現象的雜念，當一切的雜念心思都停了，我們的覺知也因此而純淨，當我們能夠達到圓明一心的時候，也就成就了，這就是靈鷲山的禪修法門、源自觀音菩薩的耳根圓通法門—平安禪。
如果我們一直積聚內在的想法時，它就是業力；如果將想法化成空性的顯現，有也好、無也好，內外都化成空，我們就在本覺、本心裡。所以讓心回到家，只有一個管道，就是透過禪修、覺照、觀照，觀照自己，觀照一切，觀照一切不可得，觀照自己無所有。
所以我們聆聽寂靜，我們的耳根的功能就是聽，聽一切沒有分別，以耳根圓通聆聽寂靜無聲，沒有雜質、沒有現象，只要把耳朵擺在那裡聽，在聽的世界裡，什麼都沒有，沒有世界、沒有人我、沒有是非、沒有好壞，沒有雜染的聲音。
聽無聲之聲，一切都是寂靜的，我們聆聽內外的寂靜。
─── 心道法師
