DHARMA NATURE’S THREE OTHER MARKS AS IN THE MAHAYANA
(1)
Universal Oneness
In a single atom
They see all worlds…
As in one atom,
So in all atoms.
All worlds enter therein ---
So inconceivable is it.
---The Avatamsaka Sutra (1)
To the Mahayanists, a salient point of the Buddha’s
teaching
is that their infinite universe is all one.
And that all things
are one, and the same. This vast, yet intimate
world-view
is sublimely expressed in The Avatamsaka Sutra, a solidly
voluminous and
deeply profound scripture. “The sutra is based on the principle that all
objects are interrelated and interpenetrate one another,” Dr Annellen and Dr
Alexander Simpkins have written.
“The universal, the emptiness of nonbeing,
is the inner nature, the heart of individual manifestations. Individual
manifestations are the expression of the universal. Thus, all are contained in
each one, and one is contained in all: they share the same nature (universal
oneness).
“Even the perceiving mind is part of this.
Our experience is a function of the apparent world around us. Without something
apparent to perceive, we would have no experience (and without our mind and its
faculty of perception, we would have no experience whatsoever).The whole
includes its part… (2)
“The inner nature of all phenomena is
empty, not merely the outer form or appearance. Since everything shares this
same nature, each requires its opposite for its coming into existence. All is
in harmony, part of the whole. Existence and nonexistence share the same
nature. Oneness is all in this “all in one” philosophy.” (3)
In THE
TAO OF PHYSICS, Fritjof Capra has written: “The central theme of the
Avatamsaka (sutra) is the unity and interrelation of all things and events, a
conception which is not only the very essence of the Eastern world view, but
also one of the basic elements of the world view emerging from modern physics (in
the post-Newton era inaugurated by Max Planck’s quantum hypothesis of 1900 and Albert
Einstein’s special theory of relativity of 1905 and mass-energy equation of
1905-07)…” (4)
On
the unity of all things. Capra has cited the experience in meditative
concentration (a highly advanced stage known as samadhi) of the basic unity of
the universe, quoting the great Mahayana Patriarch Asvaghosha:
Entering into the samadhi of purity, (one
attains) all-penetrating insight that
enables one to become conscious of the
absolute oneness of the universe. (5)
Capra has also quoted David Bohm (1975),
one of the leading physicists of the 20th century:
Rather, we say that inseparable quantum
interconnectedness of the whole
universe is the fundamental reality, and
that relatively independently behaving
parts are merely particular and contingent
forms within this whole. (6)
“Quantum theory has shown that particles
are not isolated grains of matter, but are probability patterns,
interconnections in an inseparable cosmic web,” Capra has written. (7)
According to the recent “bootstrap” philosophy
originally proposed early 1968 by Professor Geoffrey Chew, Chairman of the
Physics Department, University
of California Berkeley
Capra has also written: “None of the
properties of any part of this web is fundamental; they all follow from the
properties of the other parts, and the overall consistency of their mutual
interrelations determines the structure of the entire web…”
Referring to the Mahayana metaphor of the Indra’s
net (of an infinite number of jewels, each one reflecting all the others),
Capra has suggested that it may justly be called “the first bootstrap model,
created by the Eastern sages some 2,500 years before the beginning of particle
physics…” (9) A classical description of the cosmic integrity, its dynamic
interrelationship, and the universal oneness.
(2)
Universal Void/Emptiness
Enlightening
beings (bodhisattvas) realize things of the world
Are all like
dreams,
Neither
having nor lacking location,
Eternally
null in essence.
--- The Avatamsaka Sutra (10)
On the concept of shunyata, the ‘void, or ‘emptiness’, described as the essential
nature of reality, Nagarjuna, the foremost and most intellectual Mahayana
philosopher, has expressed:
Reality, or Emptiness, itself is not a
state of mere nothingness, but is
the very source of all life and the
essence of all forms. (11)
“Through enlightenment, the practitioner
realizes the Oneness of the relationship between objects in the world and
emptiness. The universe and all individuals are empty of actual reality,” the
Simpkinses have written., explaining the message of the Avatamsaka Sutra.
“Yet there can be no emptiness without
appearances. Even though everything is empty of any reality of any intrinsic
individual nature, we have the illusion of something. A mirage of water on a
hot highway is a real experience, yet it has no intrinsic reality of a “real” object
in the world. There is no water on the road…” (12).
On understanding the void, Nikkyo
Niwano, an internationally known author of many works on Buddhism, has written ontologically
and teleologically as well as ethically:
“Firstly, we may perceive that all
existence is void; all apparent forms are but temporary manifestations of this
void. This view is of course correct, but to stop at this denial of apparent
forms is no way to help mankind.
“We must therefore ponder this void
from the opposite direction. What we must consider is how all things and forms
in the universe, how we ourselves as human beings, are produced from one void
that can neither be seen with the eyes nor felt with the hands.
“There is a great invisible force,
a root life-force of the universe, the working of which produces all things
from the void, and all things are produced by virtue of the necessity of their
existence. Humanity is no exception.
“We ourselves are brought into
being in the forms we take by virtue of the necessity to live in this world. If
we think in this way, we are bound to feel the worth of being alive as human
beings, the wonder of having been brought into this world. At the same time,
others are born by virtue of the same necessity to live in this world, and so
we are bound to recognize and respect their worth also.
“To understand the void in this sense
enables us to enjoy the worth and the wonder of living. A true sense wells up in
us of the unity of all people as brothers and sisters sharing the same life,,,”
(13)
The universally popular and
spiritually efficacious invocation of the perfect wisdom of emptiness, the Heart Sutra is chanted day and night by
the devotees of various schools of Mahayana Buddhism. Thus it begins:
When
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajna
Paramita, he illuminated the five skandas and saw that they are all
empty
and he crossed beyond all suffering and
difficulty.
Shariputra, form does not differ from
emptiness: emptiness does not differ
from
form. Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form. So, too, are
feeling, cognition, formation and
consciousness. (14)
After declaring that the ultimate
spiritual attainment is nothing, towards the end of this short but highly
significant sutra (260 Chinese characters), Avalokiteshvara says: “Because
nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva, through reliance on Prajna Paramita, is
unimpeded in his mind. (15)
“Because there is no impediment, he is not
afraid, and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana!
“All Buddhas of the three periods of
time attain Annutarasamyaksambodhi through reliance on Prajna Paramita…” (16)
The Simpkinses have
commented: “The Heart Sutra, the
short Wisdom Sutra, expresses the relationship between form and emptiness: form
is emptiness, and emptiness is form. The enlightened consciousness, without
thought or conception, realizes the ultimate emptiness and impermanence of all
things.
“Yet, through experiencing the myriad things
apparent in our everyday lives as mere form, we are able to comprehend
emptiness. The two are interrelated, forever linked. The outer vehicle is form,
the inner content is emptiness, and thus, paradoxically, nothing is attained
when nirvana – the greatest attainment of all – is reached…” (17) 8.10.2005
0720
(3) Universal Buddha Nature
“All sentient beings have
the embryo of the Tathagata.”
--- the Buddha, Ratnagotravibhaga (18)
In the Arya-Angulimaliya-sutra:
“The Lord (Buddha) spoke: “Indeed, the embryo of the Tathagata is in all
sentient beings; but being surrounded by myriads of defilements, it abides like
a lantern within a flask”.” (19)
In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the great
enlightening being Universally Good (Bodhisattva Samantabhadra), who has
attended and served countless
quintillions of buddhas, said: “There is not a single sentient being who is not
fully endowed with the knowledge of Buddha; it is just that because of deluded
notions, erroneous thinking, and attachments, they are unable to realize it.
“If they would
get rid of deluded notions, their universal knowledge, spontaneous knowledge,
and unobstructed knowledge (in sum, omniscience) would become manifest…” (20)
Dr Peter Della Santina, an American Buddhist
scholar and long-time student of H.H. Sakya Trizin, leader of the Sakya Order
of Tibetan Buddhism, has written: “The intrinsic purity or emptiness of the
mind finds the expression of its potential in the realization of Buddhahood
when the impurities of discrimination are removed….
“The Buddha
nature is the empty and pure nature of the mind. Because of the essential
emptiness and purity of the mind, all sentient beings have the potential to
attain Buddhahood,,,” (21)
The 20th
century Tibetan Buddhist master Tulku Urgyen has described the “original mind”
or the “true nature” of mind “as unconfined empty cognizance.” According to
him, the essence of mind is the pure power of knowing, and “that which knows
is, in essence, empty. It is cognizant by nature, and its capacity is
unconfined. Try to see this for yourself…” (22)
Author of the classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Zen master
Shunryu Suzuki has written: “It is when you sit in (meditation) that you will
have the most pure, genuine experience of the empty state of mind. ‘Essence of
mind.’ ‘original mind,’ ‘original face,’ ‘Buddha nature,’ ‘emptiness,’ --- all
these words mean the absolute calmness of our mind.”(23)
Although all human beings have this Buddha
Nature, the potential for full enlightenment and Buddhahood, they cannot see it
and they remain ignorant or unaware of it because it stays hidden within them
until they eventually awaken to it, realize it and ultimately recover it for
themselves.
In the parable narrated by Ajnata-Kaundinya,
a disciple of the Buddha, in the Lotus
Sutra, Buddha Nature is like the hidden priceless jewel sewn by a good
friend into the lining of the clothes of a sleeping poor man without his
knowing it.
“In this parable Ajnata-Kaundinya
is saying that the Buddha is like this good friend, that when he was still a
bodhisattva he had told his followers that they all alike had the same
Buddha-nature – the priceless jewel of the parable – and that through practice
they might all gain the enlightenment of the Buddha. But their minds had been
plunged in sleep, and they failed to grasp the true meaning,” Nikkyo Niwano
explains. (24)
“In getting rid of physical and mental
desire, they had thought they were enlightened, but aspiration after the
perfect enlightenment of the Buddha (Bodhi Mind/Bodhicitta) remained (un-pursued and unfulfilled). Somehow they
sensed there was something more, and now the World-honored One had awakened
them. Now they knew that that themselves were bodhisattvas. Now, striving for mankind
in their practice as bodhisattvas, they knew that ultimately they would become
buddhas…”
There is a
deeply significant moral for everyone in this enlightening parable. As Niwano
has put it so succinctly:
“The Buddha-nature is the
capacity to become a Buddha, or, to put this in ordinary terms, it is the
capacity to become a person of perfect wisdom and virtue.
“If we ask how we may be sure that everyone
has this capacity, we may answer that all people are of the ultimate substance,
the absolutely identical and everlasting life that is animated by the great
life-force of the universe. Thus, basically speaking, the Buddha-nature may
also be termed the Eternal Buddha.
“Though all of us have the
Buddha-nature in this sense, we are often not able to see it ourselves. The
reason for this is that we are accustomed to think that our selves are the
little bodies and minds working away for our daily needs and running hither and
thither in pursuit of our wants,
“The poor man of the parable is
the very picture of us ordinary people. His rich friend, like the Eternal
Buddha bestowing the Buddha-nature upon every mortal, has given him a precious
stone, but he does not realize that he has it, and we, like him, seek only the
satisfaction of our wants and do not notice the precious thing we have. And so
we are the more lost as we go on and on in the complications of our lives.
“But the Buddha who
appeared in this world as Shakyamuni taught that all mankind alike have the
Buddha-nature – the precious jewel in the lining of the poor man’s clothes in
the parable – and this teaching stirs our awareness. The instant we gain this
awareness, our minds expand, brighten, and become free, and we gain great
confidence in human life.
“In summary, then, the
parable states the truth that really we are already delivered. Our ultimate
substance is that free life that is one with the great life-force of the
universe.
“Because we do not know this, we are
caught in the toils of life. But deliverance is not hard. We need only to make
the discovery, to awaken to the fact that our ultimate substance is the Buddha-nature,
to see that in our beginning in this way we are delivered.”
In The Shambhala Dictionary of
Buddhism and Zen, Buddha-nature is defined as “the true, immutable, and
eternal nature of all beings. Since all beings possess Buddha-nature, it is
possible for them to attain enlightenment and become a Buddha, regardless of
what level of existence they occupy… the Mahayana sees the attainment of
Buddhahood as the highest goal; it can be attained through the inherent
Buddha-nature of every being through appropriate spiritual practice…” (25)
In the Pure
Land
At the highest or noumenal level, Amitabha Buddha represents the True
Mind, the Self-Nature common to the Buddhas and sentient beings – all-encompassing
and all-inclusive. (27) Amitabha Buddha is
the universal
Buddha Nature.
Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam, having specialized in both the Pure Land Pure Land
“Some Buddhist followers, preferring mysterious and transcendental
doctrines, at times misunderstand the Pure Land Pure
Land
“Even persons of the highest
capacity sometimes do not understand Pure
Land
“On the other hand, there are instances of
ordinary people with merely average capacities who, through the Pure Land
A Pure Land Pure
Land
“Once reborn in the Pure Land, like the proverbial seeker of the Way, he
will not only discover the treasure trove (Great Awakening), but also, in time,
partake at will of its priceless gems (attain Enlightenment) – for the common
benefit of all sentient beings,” the Van Hien Study Group of translators and
editors in New York have written. (29)
In Pure Land practice, the most
common, popular and successful technique is the faithful and diligent
recitation of the sacred and spiritually powerful Name of Amitabha Buddha.
Ch’an Patriarch Hsuan Hua has taught: “…To
become a Buddha, all you need to do is to recite the Buddha’s name…” (30)
NAMO
AMITABHA BUDDHA
25 Selasar Rokam 40
31350 Ipoh
Telephone: 05-3134941
18 pages 6,563 words 9.10.2005 0844 10.10.2005 0509
11.10.2005 0212
NOTES: Dharma Nature’s Three Other Marks
1.
THE FLOWER ORNAMENT SCRIPTURE:
A Translation of the
Avatamsaka Sutra by Thomas
Cleary, published by Shambhala, Boston
If untold Buddha-lands are
reduced to atoms,
In one atom are untold lands,
And, as in one,
So in each. (Ibid., p. 891)
Universally Good (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva) refers to
“untold quadrillions of Buddha-lands” (ibid., p. 1002).
A monumental text and one of the longest sutras in the
Buddhist Canon, the Avatamsaka (Flower
Ornament) Sutra records “the highest teaching of Buddha Sakyamuni,
immediately after Enlightenment. It is
traditionally believed that the Sutra was taught to the Bodhisattvas and other
high spiritual beings while the Buddha was in samadhi…” (to quote from the Glossary
in PURE LAND PURE MIND: The Buddhism of
Masters Chu-hung and Tsung-pen, translated by J. C. Cleary, originally
published in 1994 by Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and
Canada, New York, and subsequently reprinted for free distribution in November
2003 by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taiwan, p. 215
Japanese Buddhist scholar D. T. Suzuki has written:
“As to the Avatamsaka-sutra, it is really the consummation of Buddhist thought,
Buddhist sentiment, and Buddhist experience. To my mind, no religious
literature in the world can ever approach the grandeur of conception, the depth
of feeling, and the gigantic scale of composition as attained in this sutra. It
is the eternal fountain of life from which no religious mind will turn back
athirst or only partially satisfied.” (On
Indian Mahayana Buddhism, ed. Edward Conze, Harper & Row, New York, 1968,
p, 122)
The Avatamsaka is
also regarded as the core of Mahayana Buddhism.
Suzuki’s
description is as quoted by Fritjof Capra in THE TAO OF PHYSICS, first published in 1975 by Wildwood House,
subsequently published by Fontana Paperback in London 1984 (ninth impression)
with a fresh chapter on subatomic physics, it has become a cult book and an
international bestseller, p. 111. 7.10.2005 1846
2.
Dr
Annellen Simpkins and Dr Alexander Simpkins, ZEN AROUND THE WORLD,
published by Charles Tuttle, Boston , Massachusetts
3.
Simpkins,
ZEN AROUND THE WORLD, p. 40
4.
THE TAO OF PHYSICS (see Note (1) above), p. 112
Max Planck (1858-1947), German physicist who was the
first to formulate the quantum theory in 1900, won the Nobel prize for physics
in 1918. Recognized as the father of quantum mechanics.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), U.S. physicist and
mathematician, born in Germany, formulated the special theory of relativity
(1905) and the general theory of relativity (1916). He also made major
contributions to the quantum theory, for which he was awarded the Nobel prize
for physics in 1921. Regarded as the world’s greatest scientist of the 20th
century.
5.
Ibid.,
p. 142. Quotation from The Awakening of
Faith, a highly influential treatise and a
major commentary by the Patriarch/Bodhisattva
Asvaghosha (1ST/2ND century CE), presenting the
fundamental principles of Mahayana Buddhism, translation by D.T. Suzuki,
published by Open Court, Chicago, 1900, p, 93
6.
THE TAO OF PHYSICS, p. 150
David Bohm (1917-92), Professor of Physics, Birkbeck College University of London
7. Ibid., p. 225
8. Ibid., p.
316
In THE DIAMOND SUTRA: Transforming the way we perceive the world
(published
by Wisdom Publications, Boston
co-director of the Barre Center Barre ,
Massachusetts
“This paradigm of
quantum physics (of dynamic web relationships, which has recently
replaced the
atomism/reductionism of the Cartesian/Newtonian world view) parallels the
Mahayana wisdom
(prajnaparamita) of ancient India
compounded entity, created and held in
place momentarily by a number of conditioning
factors coming
together.
“Because it is
compounded, it has no core independent of the conditioning factors
that are responsible for its
creation. Hence it is empty of an own-being (svabhava) or
self-essence (svabhavata); it is rather made up of a
web of relationships, which are dynamic
in character and interconnected
in complex ways in which the observer and the observed
share equally the
responsibility for the momentary appearance of phenomena…”
In an article
reproduced in THE MIND’S I (Penguin,
1985), Harold Morowitz has written
(p. 41): “A single
molecular event could kill a whale by inducing a cancer or destroy an
ecosystem by generating
a virulent virus that attacks a key species in that system.
“The origin of life
does not abrogate the underlying laws of physics, but it adds a new
feature – large-scale
consequences of molecular events. This rule change makes
evolutionary history
indeterminate (not the end of history) and so constitutes a clear-cut
discontinuity…”
While Capra (1975) has
cited the ‘bootstrap’ worldview, Mu has referred to Joanna May’s
1991 publication Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The
Dharma of Natural Systems. And Mu himself has commented (p. 107):
“The systems view of
reality (arising from biology and extending into the social and
cognitive sciences)
– that it is dynamic, mutually caused, and interdependent – finds
resonance in the
Buddhist understanding of reality, which has always seen the microcosm
and the macrocosm
as reflecting each other. Everything in the universe is interwoven, and
the bodhisattva
archetype (seeking enlightenment for the benefit of all beings) is an
expression of that.
“This way of
thinking has enormous potential for the future of the earth as a single,
integrated
ecosystem. Damaging one part of the planet means endangering the whole
planet.
“This planetary
awareness, both ecological and holographic, finds its parallel in the
wisdom teaching
of Indra’s Net in the Hua-yen school (based on the Avatamsaka Sutra)
of the Mahayana
tradition …”
In Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra (written
in 1975, published in 1977 by
The Pennsylvania State University Delhi
Francis Cook has
written (p.117):
“…Perhaps to
pluck a flower is indeed to make a star in Orion tremble to its molten
core. Only a Buddha knows…”
In Hua-yen
Buddhism, the whole universe is seen as a single organic body, one living
Buddha body.
“Someone once
made the observation that one’s skin is not necessarily a boundary
marking off
the self from the not-self but rather that which brings one into contact
with the
other. Like Faraday’s electric charge which must be conceived as being
everywhere, I
am in some sense boundless, my being encompassing the farthest limits
of the
universe, touching and moving every atom in existence. The same is true of
everything
else,” Cook concludes, eloquently and
elegantly (p. 122).
“The
interfusion, the sharing of destiny, is as infinite in scope as the reflections
in the
jewels of Indra’s net (each
jewel reflecting all the others infinitely).
“When in a
rare moment I manage painfully to rise above a petty individualism by
knowing my
true nature, I perceive that I dwell in the wondrous net of Indra, and in
this
incredible network of interdependence, the career of the Bodhisattva (seeking
enlightenment
and pursuing the universal good) must begin. It is not just
that “we are
all in it” together. We all are it,
rising or falling as one living body.”
11.10.2005 0123
9.
THE TAO OF PHYSICS, p. 328
In Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra
(p. 2), Francis Cook has written on
the image and significance of the
Indra’s net and the “cosmic ecology” of Hua-yen:
“We may begin with an
image which has always been the favorite Hua-yen method of
exemplifying the manner
in which things exist. Far away in the heavenly abode of the great
god Indra, there is a
wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a
manner that it
stretches out infinitely in all directions.
“In accordance with the
extravagant tastes pf deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering
jewel in each “eye” of
the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are
infinite in number.
There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a
wonderful sight to
behold.
“If we now arbitrarily
select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we
will discover that in
its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net,
infinite in number. Not only that, but
each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also
reflecting all the
other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring.
“The Hua-yen school
has been fond of this image, mentioned many times in its literature,
because it symbolizes
a cosmos in which there is an infinitely repeated interrelationship
among all the members
of the cosmos. This relationship is said to be one of simultaneous
mutual
identity (sameness/oneness) and mutual
inter-causality (interdependence),,,”
7-8.10.2005
0105 0115
10. The Avatamsaka Sutra, translated by Thomas Cleary, p. 882
11. As quoted by Capra, THE TAO OF PHYSICS, p. 110
12.
ZEN AROUND THE WORLD, p. 40
On the water mirage, Mu Soeng has explained in THE DIAMOND SUTRA (p. 137):
“The water is perceived by the traveler as a solid,
real object; this is the imaginary aspect
(according to the Yogachara school, the mental perception of truth has
three aspects: the imaginary, the dependent, and the ultimate). The imagining
of water is dependent on the thirst of the traveler.
“When the traveler reaches the spot where the water
was imagined, no water is to be found. This lack of water in the imagined
object is the ultimate. What becomes clear through this formulation is that our
underlying thirst for having or becoming distorts our perception of reality in
ways that allow us to imagine things as solid objects where there is no
solidity but only a momentary construction that is the result of interdependent
causes and conditions. When we reach out to touch what seemed solid, it turns out
to be a mirage, an illusion…” 8.10.2005
0516
13.
Nikkyo
Niwano, A Guide to the THREEFOLD LOTUS
SUTRA, translated and edited
by Eugene Langston, and published by Kosei Publishing,
Tokyo
14.
THE HEART OF PRAJNA PARAMITA SUTRA, as translated by Buddhist Text
Translation Society, Dharma Realm Buddhist University , USA
The five skandas are the five aggregates and vital
components of body and mind of the living being. They are material form,
feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness.
15.
Comments
Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua (1918-95): “…In order to cultivate, he (the
Bodhisattva) relies on the profound wisdom of the
prajna paramita (perfect wisdom) Dharma. What is obtained through cultivation
is the unimpeded mind…”
In THE DIAMOND
SUTRA (Mu Soeng, p. 92), the Buddha referred to beings “free from the idea
of a self, a person, a being, or a living soul…” And the Buddha said to Subhuti (p. 103): “A
bodhisattva should develop a mind that functions freely, without depending on
anything or any place…”
The Buddha said to Subhuti (p. 142): “All that has a
form is an illusory existence. When the illusory nature of form is perceived,
the Tathagata (Buddha) is recognized.”
16. Anuttarasamyaksambodhi is the highest,
perfect enlightenment. Supreme enlightenment.
The importance of seeing, recognizing and
understanding the difference between appearance and reality is taught in the DIAMOND SUTRA.
“Without being caught up in the appearances of things
in themselves but understanding the nature of things just as they are,” the
Buddha said to Subhuti. “Why? Because:
So you
should view all of the fleeting worlds:
A star at
dawn, a bubble in the stream;
A flash
of lightning in a summer cloud;
A
flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
Mu comments (p. 139):
“The
world-view of the Diamond Sutra is
embedded in the truth of impermanence as an experiential, universal
characteristic rather than as a localized event. Its purpose has been to show
that all phenomenal appearances are not ultimate reality but constructions or
projections of one’s own mind, and other passing causal factors. Practitioners
should regard all phenomena in this way, as empty of self-nature and inherently
tranquil…”
Argentine
poet and short story writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) ended a very brief
narrative with the following words: “…With relief, with humiliation, with
terror, he understood that he (an old teacher, dreamer, meditator) too was a
mere appearance, dreamt by another.” (“The Circular Ruins” reproduced in THE MIND’S I: Fantasies and Reflections on
Self and Soul composed and arranged by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel
Dennett, published by Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1985 (reprint), p.348
In a one-page piece “Borges and I” he
concluded: “…I do not know which of us has written this page.” (ibid., p. 20)
“If I
wasn’t real,” Alice
“I hope you don’t suppose those are real tears?” Tweedledum interrupted in a
tone of great contempt.
-- Excerpt from Through
the Looking Glass (1872) by Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), English writer and Oxford
“Formerly, I, Kwang Kau, dreamt that I was a butterfly, a butterfly
flying about, feeling that it was enjoying itself. I did not know that it was
Kau. Suddenly I awoke, and was myself again, the veritable Kau. I did not know
whether it had formerly been Kau dreaming that he was a butterfly, or it was
now a butterfly dreaming it was Kau. But between Kau and a butterfly there must
be a difference,” so wrote the great Taoist scholar Kwang-tze (?369-286 B.C.)
in Book II (KHI WU LUN). (Published in THE
TEXTS OF TAOISM, translated by James Legge, first published 1891, and
subsequently published by Graham Brash, Singapore
Legge
comments (pp. 129-130): “…All human experience is spoken of as a dream or as
‘illusion,’ He who calls another a dreamer does not know that he is not
dreaming himself. One and another commentator discover in such utterances
something very like the Buddhist doctrine that all life is but so much illusion.
“This
notion has its consummation in the story with which the Book (II) concludes,
Kwang-tze had dreamt that he was a butterfly. When he awoke, and was himself
again, he did not know whether he, Kwang Kau, had been dreaming that he was a
butterfly, or was now a butterfly dreaming that it was Kwang Kau. And yet he
adds that there must be a difference between Kau and a butterfly, but he does
not say what that difference is…”
In
his small book On The Theory Of Pure
Consciousness (published by New World Press, Beijing
In
Buddhism, to see things as they are without illusion or ignorance is to end
craving and suffering, to attain Nirvana.
10.10.2005 2339
17. ZEN
AROUND THE WORLD, pp. 36-37
The Simpkinses have written (p. 36): “…Buddhist
enlightenment leads to perfect wisdom. The attainment of the wisdom of
emptiness is esteemed as the highest goal.
“The quality of this wisdom lies beyond words. It is
reached through the realization that everything is ultimately empty…” 2,707 words 8.10.2005 0729
18. Quoted by Alex Wayman and Hideko Wayman, THE LION’S ROAR OF QUEEN
SRIMALA: A Buddhist Scripture
on the Tathagatagarbha Theory,
first published in 1974 by Columbia University Press and subsequently by
Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi
In Jikido Takasaki’s translation A Study on the Ratnagotravibhaga (published by Instituto Italiano
per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Rome
“Similarly, O Son of the Buddha, the Wisdom of the
Tathagata, which is the immeasurable wisdom, the profitable wisdom for all
living beings, thoroughly penetrates within the mentality (citta-santana) of every living being. And every mental disposition
of a living being has the same size as the Buddha’s Wisdom. Only the ignorant,
however, being bound by misconceptions does neither know nor cognize nor
understand nor realize the Wisdom of the Tathagata (within himself)…”
Dr Brian Edward Brown, an assistant professor of
religion at Iona College , New York Delhi
“Though it is only through implication, this passage
clearly suggests the Sri-Mala Sutra’s
concept of the Tathagatagarbha as
embryonic absolute knowledge, whose essence is to know itself as that which it
is, and thus become itself as manifest Absolute Body (Dharmakaya). Though the points of reference are not as sharply
focused and as clearly articulated here as in the Sri-Mala, the dynamics of self-transformation through
self-recognition are identical…”
The thrust of Brian Brown’s enlightening thesis can be
seen in the Introduction to his scholarly book (p. xiii):
“One of the fundamental tenets of Mahayana Buddhism,
animating and grounding the doctrine and discipline of its spiritual path, is
the inherent potentiality of all animate beings to attain the supreme and perfect
enlightenment of Buddhahood. This book examines the ontological presuppositions
and the corresponding soteriological –epistemological principles that sustain
and define such a theory…
“The study’s contribution to the broader field of the
History of Religions rests in its presentation and analysis of the Buddhist
enlightenment as the salvific-transformational moment in which Tathata “awakens” to itself, comes to
perfect self-realization as the Absolute Suchness of reality, in and through
phenomenal human consciousness.
“It is an interpretation of the Buddhist Path as the
spontaneous self-emergence of “embryonic” absolute knowledge as it comes to
free itself from the concealments of adventitious defilements, and possess
itself in fully self-explicated self-consciousness as the “Highest Truth” and
unconditional nature of all existence; it does so only in the form of
omniscient wisdom…” 9.10.2005 0146
19. Ibid., p. 47
The main defilements include ignorance and false views,
greed, lust and craving, hatred and ill-will. The destruction of craving leads
to spiritual emancipation. Ignorance, the root of all defilements, can be cut off
and eradicated by means of the keen sword of wisdom.
As pointed out and quoted in THE LION’S ROAR OF QUEEN SRIMALA
(p. 47), two relevant passages in the Ratnagotravibhaga may be cited:
Just as gold is not seen when covered by pebbles and sand and is seen by
purification,
likewise (the embryo of) the Tathagata in the world.
Intrinsically pure, endowed with steadfast nature; covered without by
the
beginningless sheath which although not originally real, has a limit –
it is
not seen, like gold covered (by pebbles and sand).
The embryo of the Tathagata is a metaphor for Buddha Nature which is
essentially,
inherently, and immanently pure and radiant light, but presently covered
by adventitious
defilements in all sentient beings until they awaken to and return to
its pristine purity.
However, because of the intrinsic purity of Buddha Nature, the process
of its recovery is
probably
more like archeological excavation than gold extraction. The necessary
purification must first get rid of all the covering defilements like
ignorance, egocentricity
and craving. 10.10.2005 2109
As the Waymans have pointed out (p. 47),
some Buddhists hold the view or the belief that
all sentient beings are already, essentially, Buddhas. 12.10.2005 0108
20. THE FLOWER
ORNAMENT SCRIPTURE, Book 37, p. 1002
In Book 38 p. 1043, Universally Good spoke of “the
supreme unshakable mind of omniscience.” This is the completely unfolded Buddha
Nature. 8.10.2005 2252
On the complete eradication of all defilements and the
attainment of Nirvana and the
Supreme Enlightenment, Queen Srimala preached as requested by the Buddha
in THE
LION’S ROAR OF QUEEN SRIMALA (p. 89):
“Lord, when all the (primary) defilements and secondary defilements are
eliminated, one
obtains the inconceivable Buddha natures exceeding the sands of the Ganges River
as
a Tathagata-Arhat-Samyaksambuddha, one gains the unhindered understanding of
all
natures; is omniscient and all seeing, free from all faults and
possessed of all merits; King
of
the Doctrine and Lord of the Doctrine; and, having gone to the stage which is
sovereign over all natures, utters the Lion’s roar: ‘My births are
finished; the pure life
fully resorted to; duty is done; there is nothing to be known beyond
this.’ That being so,
the Lion’s roar of the Tathagata has final meaning (nitartha), and explains this meaning
straightforwardly…” 3,549 words 9.10,2005 0237
21. The Tree of
Enlightenment, published by Chico Dharma Study Foundation, Chico
California, 1977, and subsequently reprinted for free
distribution by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation,
Taiwan, January 2001, p. 153
22. Quoted by Wes Nisker, BUDDHA’S
NATURE, published by Rider, London
pp. 198-199
23. Ibid., p. 200
24. A
Guide to the THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA, pp. 70-72
The universal Tathagatagarba, “the embryo of the
Tathagata” contains and holds the spiritual essence of Buddha-nature. According
to the Arya-Angulimaliya-sutra, the
Tathagatagarbha can be seen directly beginning with a Bodhisattva of the
highest Tenth Stage, on the threshold of full enlightenment and Buddhahood.
The Sri-Mala states clearly that “The
Tathagatagarbha is something not seen before or
understood before
by any Disciple or Self-Enlightened One. It has been seen directly and
understood by the
Lord (Buddha).”
Queen Srimala
said (p. 106): “The Lord alone has the Eye, the Knowledge for it. The
Lord is the root
of all Doctrines. The Lord is the omnipotent being. The Lord is the
resort.”
25. Reproduced in BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH: Pure Land Principles and Practice,
by Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam, translated from the Vietnamese treatise and
edited by the Van Hien Study Group in New York, first published in 1991 by the
International Buddhist Monastic Institute in the USA, and subsequently reprinted
for free distribution on February 2003 by The Corporate Body of the Buddha
Educational Foundation in Taiwan, pp. 330-331
26. Ibid., p. 4: Note on Pure Land
27. Ibid., p. 327
28. Ibid., p. 22
29. Ibid., p. 2 Foreword
30. Buddha
Root Farm, Dharma Talks
delivered by The Venerable Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua during a Buddha
Recitation Session on Buddha Root Farm on the Smith River near Reedsport,
Oregon, 17-24 August 1975, published by the Sino-American Buddhist Association,
Buddhist Text Translation Society, San Francisco, California, February 1976, p.
56, quote from the dialogue session on the evening of 23 August 1975.
On the afternoon of 18 August 1975 , the first full day of the Buddha
Recitation session, Master Hua explained (p. 6) the practice of reciting the
Buddha’s name:
NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA.
“Namo” means “to return my life and respectfully
submit.” This means to return your body, heart, and life and respectfully bow
before Amitabha Buddha. Say to yourself: “I take my body, heart, and life and
return in refuge to Amitabha Buddha.”
(In practice, it means paying homage to Amitabha
Buddha and taking refuge in him.)
The Master also explained that the name “Amitabha” in
Sanskrit means “Limitless Light.”
Amitabha’s other name, “Amitayus” means “Limitless Life.”
“To recite the Buddha’s name but once (with a true
heart) eradicates the grave offenses committed during ninety million aeons of
birth and death,’ he told his American students. (P. 4)
(Master Hua himself had followed from as a child, his
mother’s example in taking only pure vegetarian food and reciting the Buddha’s
name with sincerity. At his worldly age of seventy-seven, he manifested
stillness in Los Angeles 7 June
1995 . His final instruction to his followers was to recite the
Avatamsaka Sutra and the name of Amitabha after his departure, and to scatter
after cremation his remains in empty space.)
“Whoever recites Amitabha Buddha’s name is like
Amitabha Buddha’s son,” he taught them on the evening of 23 August 1975 . (p. 56)
“The power of Amitabha’s great awesome virtue is
incomparable. No other Buddha can compare with him…” (p. 57)
9.10.2005 0822 10.10.2005 0505 11.10.2005
0209 12.10.2005 0115 30.10.2005 1011 18 pages 6,672 words
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