With What We Do Not Listen
First of all, “the nature of hearing” is not in or with the
physical ears. This nature of hearing is fundamentally the sea-like consciousness
that stores all karmic interactions. It is the single entity with six
functions, of which include the seeing of the eyes, the hearing of the ears, and
the knowing of the mind. I am now referring to accessing the nature of hearing
with the ears, which is to listen.
Secondly, the nature of hearing is not in or with the ear
consciousness. The nature of hearing hears sounds and silence clearly, with not
the slightest confusion it does not discriminate. Similar to the nature of
seeing, it is like a mirror free from judgment or any inkling of a discursive thought.
It is equivalent to space, constant and pervasive. Stream of consciousness
restricts our inherent nature to one tiny space as each thought comes and goes
momentarily, which is neither pervasive nor constant. This is the type of consciousness
that conditions sound. To follow it without being aware indicates that you are still
under the shadow of phenomena, discriminating based on conditions and
surrounding objects[. . . .] In the kind of listening you are aiming for, not a
thought comes into being and yet the Dharma Realm is perfectly illumined. It is
the ground of still extinction for personal and collective enlightenment, the
proper place for practice.
If these insights do not become clear to us immediately through the
Sūtra text, we can experience it and get to know it by practicing meditation
(quietly). Try to get up and meditate at dawn, when the air is fresh and clear.
At the start of the day when everything is just beginning to stir, without
letting one thought come into being, you will notice this hearing nature. This
hearing nature is vast, encompassing, lucid, unobstructed by mountains or walls,
and unclouded by obscurities or darkness. Tapping the nature of hearing, you
will hear all sounds, be they loud or soft, near or far.
You will not miss even a breeze wafting through trees or footsteps
that make stairs creak. If a giant bell were tolled several miles east of you,
it would be absolutely clear to you. Similarly, were a drum ensemble sounded
several miles west of you, the drumming would be crystal clear to you. From cries
in a valley south of you to laughter on the streets north of you, from sounds
of carriage wheels to horse hooves, all these would be apparent in the face of
perfect hearing the way reflections appear on a spotless mirror.[i]
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