Student: If there is already original mind in every movement and at all times, why can we not see it while this physical body is abnormal?

 

Bodhidharma: Original mind is always appearing in front of you; but just you, yourself, do not see it.

 

Student: If the mind is already there where I see what is the reason I cannot see it?

 

Bodhidharma: Have you ever dreamed?

 

Student: Yes, I have.

 

Bodhidharma: When you had a dream, was that your own body?

 

Student: Yes, that was my own body.

 

Bodhidharma: When you are talking, distinguishing, and moving, is this different from yourself or the same as yourself?

 

Student: It is not different.

 

Bodhidharma: If it is already not different, then this body, as it is, is your original dharma-body. This dharma-body itself is your original mind.

 

This mind, from the beginningless beginning, is nothing different from what it is now; it has never been born, it has never died; never perished, never increased, never decreased; never been dirty, never been immaculate; never been good, never been bad; has never come, has never gone; was never right, never wrong; never been a man. never been a woman's shape either; never been a monk, never been a layman; never been old, never been a young man's shape either; neither a saint, nor ordinary being; not Buddha, nor indigent-being; has had nothing to attain, has nothing to practice. Has had no cause, no effect, no energy, no form.

 

It is like empty space; it cannot be held nor dropped.

 

Even a mountain, river or great wall cannot obstruct this; whether entering or exiting, whether coming or going, it is free and divine.

 

It will cross over the ocean of the life-and-death and the mountains of five skandhas; all kinds of karma cannot even imprison this dharma-body.

 

Such a mind is so hard to see because it is deeprooted.

 

The mind is different from the physical material; that is, this mind is this Buddha.