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Buddhism Addresses Only Two Things: Eliminating Adventitious Defilements and Restoring Innate Purity
In our previous discussion, we explored a critical question in Buddhism: Why did Shakyamuni attain Buddhahood, while we remain trapped in the cycle of birth and death? The Buddha taught that the root cause lies in our delusion. As stated in the Heart Sutra, ordinary beings are entangled in inverted views and illusory dreams. Last time, we discussed inverted views, which were challenging to grasp. Today, we turn to illusory dreams, a metaphor the Buddha frequently used to make his teachings more accessible.
We all experience dreams—some pleasant, others terrifying. The Buddha often employs the metaphor of a dream. For instance, imagine someone named Lao Wang dreaming of a ferocious tiger. In the dream, Lao Wang would instinctively flee, yet find himself running in slow motion, a common dream phenomenon where efforts to act are thwarted. The tiger, however, chases him relentlessly. When the tiger finally pounces, Lao Wang wakes up in terror, heart pounding and sweat-drenched. Upon awakening, he realizes the tiger never existed—it was entirely illusory. Yet, while the tiger was unreal, the experience of the dream itself momentarily felt real.
This analogy illustrates a profound truth. The Buddha, after attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, declared himself a Buddha—a term derived from the Sanskrit root buddh, meaning to awaken. Thus, a Buddha is one who has awakened from the great dream of worldly existence. The Buddha’s message is clear: We ordinary beings are still dreaming, even in our waking lives. What we perceive as reality—tables, chairs, mountains, rivers, sun, and moon—are, to the awakened mind, as illusory as the tiger in Lao Wang’s dream.
The Diamond Sutra concludes with a famous verse:
All conditioned phenomena
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
Like dew and lightning—
Thus should they be contemplated.
Here, conditioned phenomena samskrita-dharma refer to everything ordinary beings perceive as real. The Buddha urges us to view all worldly existence as fleeting and dreamlike. For practitioners, the greatest challenge lies in relinquishing our attachment to this illusory reality.
The Twofold Structure of Buddhist Teachings
The Buddha’s teachings, particularly in Mahayana Buddhism, can be divided into two parts:
1. Deconstructing Illusory Reality
The Buddha exhaustively dismantles our ingrained belief in the substantiality of the world. Through logic, metaphor, and meditative insight, he reveals that what we perceive as real is a fabrication of our deluded minds. This process involves:
- Dismantling: Dissolving our attachment to perceived realities.
- Subverting: Challenging conventional truths.
- Deconstructing: Exposing the emptiness of all phenomena.
2. Revealing Ultimate Truth
For those who grasp the first teaching, the Buddha then elucidates the nature of true reality—the unconditioned asamskrita, which transcends ordinary conceptualization. This truth is not a replacement for the illusory world but the luminous ground of being obscured by our delusions.
The Twin Errors: Adventitious Defilements 增益 and Innate Obscuration 损减
According to the Buddha, our suffering stems from two fundamental errors:
1. Adventitious Defilements 增益: We superimpose reality onto illusory phenomena, clinging to a world that ultimately lacks inherent existence.
2. Innate Obscuration 损减: By fixating on this false reality, we fail to recognize the innate purity and perfection of ultimate truth.
The path to liberation involves:
- Eliminating Adventitious Defilements: Shattering our attachment to illusory constructs.
- Restoring Innate Purity: Realizing the ever-present, unborn nature of mind rigpa or buddha-nature.
The Difficulty of Practice
The greatest hurdle for ordinary beings is accepting the dreamlike nature of our perceived world. Once this insight is internalized, the realization of ultimate truth arises naturally, like fruit ripening on a tree. The Diamond Sutra and other Prajnaparamita Perfection of Wisdom texts systematically guide practitioners through this deconstructive process, revealing the emptiness shunyata of all phenomena.
In summary, the Buddha’s teachings aim to free us from two errors: grasping at illusions 增益 and failing to recognize truth 损减. By resolving these, we move toward the unborn, undying state of liberation—a realm beyond addition or subtraction, where delusion dissolves into awakened clarity.
Note: Key Buddhist terms are translated with reference to standard academic and doctrinal conventions to preserve philosophical precision.