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| Contents Door 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 previous next * Preface | ||
Prologue:
Four, reliance and arisal are non-obstructive, because there is sudden appearance with no thought due to the power of the sea seal.Commentary:
In the third, it says that stillness and functionings are non-obstructive, because there is no private accomplishment. “Private” means secret and also partial. “No private” means that with no secretiveness and no partiality there is then accomplishment. Accomplishment of what? Accomplishment of that kind of samadhi, that kind of functioning which benefits creatures in no fixed method. Actually it could have said “premeditated” for “private.” Using “private” in the meaning of non-partial, it refers to being:
Greatly public with no selfishness.
It also means that his thought should be of benefiting others and not of benefiting himself. He hasn’t any thoughts of selfishness, and so he has accomplishment.
Four, the fourth, is that reliance and arisal are non-obstructive. Before it was the employment of the non-obstructive of stillness and functionings. Now there is reliance upon that employment for arisal, because there is sudden appearance with no thought. It is not saying, “I want to do this or that,” One doesn’t have false thoughts like, “This place does not suit me, but that places does, and so I’m going to go there;” or that, “That place does not suit me, but this place does, and so I’m going to come here.” It doesn’t work that way. There is sudden appearance without thought. One does not use thought:
When one reaches no thought, then that is the Way.
In cultivation, if you can cultivate to the point of no thought, to being “a person of the Way with no thought,” then that is good. In sudden appearance without thought, how does one appear without thought? It is due to the power of the sea seal, the Sea Seal sending out light. The Sea Seal was discussed before. It talked about Mount Sumeru having the seas of fragrant water and how all the characteristics of all worlds were imprinted within those seas, which is called the Sea Seal sending out light and is also like the planet.Our planet now revolves, and as it revolves there appear the moon and all the stars, that is all a function of the Sea Seal, an employment of the Sea Seal sending out light. The Buddha has that kind of samadhi as well, which is called the Sea Seal Samadhi. Within that samadhi, why is it that all living beings appear within the Buddha’s treasury of light? And that the Buddha’s light makes an imprint in the minds of all living beings? That is all the operation of the power of spiritual penetrations of the Sea Seal. In the Worthy Leader Chapter there is a passage of text which says:
Perhaps he makes appear the shape of a virgin lad or virgin maiden or of a heavenly dragon or an asura, up to and including of a mahoraga and so forth. In accordance with their likes, he causes them all to see. The living beings’ shapes and characteristics are all different from each other. Their behavior and their sounds are also limitless. All such as that he can make appear due to the power of the Sea Seal Samadhi.
The Buddha may appear as a young lad or maiden or as a dragon. He may appear as an asura, one who likes to fight, or as a huge python snake. In accordance with their likes he causes each particular living being to see all that. The shapes and characteristics of each type of living being differ from one another. The kinds of behavioral karma that they create and the kinds of sounds that they emit are also limitless and boundless. He is able to make appear all of those various and limitless kinds of shapes, behaviors, and sounds. How does he do it? It all appears due to the power of spiritual penetrations of the Sea Seal Samadhi of all Buddhas.Prologue:
Five, true and response are non-obstructive, because the response is the same as the Dharma, being of one flavor and equal.Commentary:
Five, the fifth, is the true and response are non-obstructive of each other. The Buddha has a true body and response bodies. The true body is the Dharma body, and the Response Bodies are the Transformation Bodies, the Reward Bodies. Now, what is important is the discussion of the Dharma body and the response bodies. The Dharma body is Vairochana Buddha. The response body is Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha and Vairochana Buddha basically are of one substance and not two different things. That is why it says, because the response is the same as the Dharma. The response body is the Dharma body, being the same and of one flavor. They are the same, with no differences. So in Chapter Five of the Sutra it says:
The markless body of the sameness of true suchness, the pure Dharma body, of light undefiled, with limitless bodies of wisdom and stillness, universally responds through the ten directions and proclaims the Dharma.
The body which has no characteristics, of the sameness of true suchness, is just the Dharma body of pure undefiled light. The bodies of wisdom and stillness are also limitless and boundless. In the Dharma Realms of the ten directions there is proclamation of the wonderful Dharma. That is why it speaks of the response bodies and the Dharma body being of one flavor and equal, with no difference.Prologue:
Six, divided and complete are non-obstructive, because each and every body division is replete with the entire body.Commentary:
Six is that the divided bodies, the transformation bodies, and the complete body, which means the Dharma body, are non-obstructive. The “complete body” is also what is referred to as the entire body, and it does not obstruct the divided. That is because each and every body division is replete with the entire body. The body of Vairochana Buddha and the body of Shakyamuni Buddha are such that all of the divided bodies are the entire body, and the entire body is the divided bodies. The hands and feet, eyes and ears, up to and including a single hair pore of each and every divided body all have the entire body of Vairochana Buddha, Nishyanda Buddha. Therefore, in the Chapter on the Manifestation of Marks it says:
In each and every hair-pore of the Thus Come One, are seated all Buddhas of all kshetras like motes of dust.
Within very hair-pore there are Buddhas many as the fine motes of dust in limitless and boundlessly many kshetras seated in the Way Place turning the wheel of wonderful Dharma. In the World Rulers’ Wonderful Adornments Chapter of the Flower Adornment Sutra it also says:
All of the marks of the Buddha’s body completely make appear limitless Buddhas which universally enter the worlds of the ten directions within each and every mote of dust.
The Buddha has thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics, and in each of these appear limitless Buddhas. Within each and every characteristic there further appear all limitless Buddhas. And all of those limitless Buddhas furthermore universally go everywhere throughout the worlds of the ten directions and enter each and every mote of dust. Within each fine mote of dust there is a Buddha accomplishing the Way, turning the Dharma wheel, teaching and transforming living beings, and entering Nirvana, they all have that. Because the nature of each single hair is not different from the entire body.
Each of the natures as many as those of each of the Buddha’s hair-pores does not differ from the Buddha’s entire body. They are the same. Therefore, in the Appearances Chapter it also says:
All of you disciples of the Buddha ought to know that the Bodhisattva Mahasattva... Within a single hair-pore of the Thus Come One there are all living beings, and the Thus Come One within that single hair-pore turns the wheel of Dharma and teaches and transforms all the living beings.Now that we’ve lectured to this point, some people are saying, “I don’t believe that. If there are limitless living beings in a single hair-pore and the Thus Come One teaches and transforms every one of them, he will never finish.” Not bad. Of course he never finishes teaching and transforming them. If he finished teaching and transforming them, then the Buddha would have nothing to do. The Buddha, too, would be out of job. Consequently, since the Buddha doesn’t want to lose his job, he takes his time teaching and transforming living beings. It’s just the way you translate Sutras. You translate them slowly and don’t want to translate fast and finish translating them for fear that if you finished translating them, you would have no work to do and would be out of a job. It’s the same principle.
If you don’t believe that there are living beings within the Buddha’s hair-pores, we won’t talk about the Buddha; we’ll talk about you and me. In your hair-pores there are also limitless, living beings, as there are within mine. However, you have not yet crossed over your living beings, and so you have not yet become Buddhas and are unable to turn the Dharma wheel. You just know about large living beings and do not see small living beings.Within each and every person there are as many living beings as there are living beings in the world. That’s because you are the same as the living beings. You are mutually, perfectly fused without obstruction. There is a wireless connection between all of your living beings and the living beings of other living beings, so you all recognize each other. So sometimes your living beings move from you to me, and my living beings, not wanting to live on me, move over to where you are. It’s just that they don’t give you advance notice and wait for your approval before they move, nor do they require passports. Immigration can’t supervise them.
You’re saying, “The more you talk about this, the less sense it makes, I’ve never seen my living beings move house, and I also don’t know anything about your living beings moving house.” If you knew, then you would be a Buddha. You don’t know because you don’t see them. These living beings I’m referring to are even tinier than a minute mote of dust. However, on your body, when for example it sweats, there are one-does-not-know how many living beings in every bead of perspiration.When you take a bath, a lot of filth comes off your body. There are a great many living beings in that filth. After you have bathed and the water runs into the sea, the living beings move somewhere else. Every body has limitless and boundlessly many living beings. How many living beings are there in the world? Your body has just that many living beings. It’s just that right now you are unable to teach and transform those living beings -- it’s simply that we haven’t crossed them over. How much the more so all the Buddhas? All Buddhas certainly:
Sit in a fine mote of dust and turn the Dharma wheel.
On the tip of a hair make appear kshetras of the Jeweled King.
This is a wonderful and inconceivable state. That is why it says that the divided and the complete are non-obstructive. Divided up, there is no obstruction, and united there is no obstruction, because each and every body-division is replete with the entire body. Every single divided and transformed body is also replete with the ability and functions of the Dharma body.Prologue:
Seven, cause and fruit and non-obstructive, because there is no obstruction of the present cause.Commentary:
Seven, cause and fruit are non-obstructive. Cause is the seed; fruit is the harvest. The cause does not obstruct the fruit, nor the fruit the cause, for they are one and the same, because there is no obstruction of the present cause. If divided, one says that they are cause and fruit. If they are united, they do not obstruct each other. Therefore, when Shakyamuni Buddha first brought forth the thought, he accomplished proper and equal right enlightenment. So, what is cause is fruit. The principle of cause and fruition requires considerable discussion, but now we will discuss it simple. In the Sutra it says:
All the spiritual transformations
Of the Buddhas of the three periods of time
Without exception all appear
Right within the light.
In the places illuminated by the Buddha’s light, none of the spiritual penetrations and transformations of all Buddhas of the three periods of time is not to be seen. None of their merit and virtue fails to be accomplished. It also says that the Buddha, due to the power of his previous vows, manifests all spiritual penetrations, and that none of the lands of the ten directions fails to be illuminated. And so the merit and virtue which they cultivated in the past on the causal ground is constantly proclaimed within nets of light which he emits, which constantly proclaim those doctrines, constantly speak that wonderful Dharma. Therefore, in the Sutra it also says:
Within every Buddha’s body
For a million kalpas, inconceivable,
Cultivating the Paramitas
Adorning and purifying Buddha-lands.
It says that in the body of every Buddha of the ten directions and the three periods of time, “for a million kalpas, inconceivable”, limitless kalpas, there is an inconceivable state of “cultivating the Paramitas.” They constantly cultivate the dharmas of arrival at the other shore. This is unlike we who cultivate for two, three, or four years and then say, “This is totally meaningless. Let’s retreat?” they are not that way. All Buddhas throughout a million kalpas cultivate all of the Paramitas without retreating and adorn and purify Buddha-lands as well. Therefore, their cause and fruit are non-obstructive. The time of plating the seed is the time of reaping the fruit, and the time of reaping the fruit is also the time of their cultivation of the cause. After they have accomplished Buddhahood, their state upon the causal ground, they still are constantly proclaiming that kind of wonderful Dharma.Prologue:
Eight, dependent and proper are non-obstructive, because there is no obstruction of the present dependent.Commentary:
The “dependent” is the world of things and is called the dependent retribution. The “proper” is our bodies and is what is called proper retribution. Proper retribution must rely upon dependent retribution of exist, and that is why it is called “dependent” retribution. The bodies we receive as retribution are proper retribution. Speaking from the point of view of ordinary common people, dependent retribution and proper retribution are very clearly distinguished. If one speaks from the point of the Buddha’s two retributions, dependent and proper, the dependent is the proper, and the proper is the dependent. Dependent and proper are non-obstructive.
What is the body is just the country, and the very country is the body. Why is that? When the ten bodies were discussed, wasn’t there a country body? The country body is just the dependent retribution body. The Buddha is able to create all sorts of shapes by transformation. He can turn into a sun and shine upon living beings, and he can transform his body into a moon and shine upon living beings. All the starts and planets are transformations of the Buddha’s transformation. He may turn into a stream or river: ... a river, stream, lake, or sea, turning into a great ocean.
There are also many living beings within that ocean, and there he teaches and transforms living beings. He may turn into a mountain, and there are lots of living beings upon the mountain, too, and there he teaches and transforms living beings. He may turn into water, or into fire, or into air, or into earth. Earth, water, fire, and air, the four elements, are all transformations from the Buddha’s Dharma body, as are all the streams.
Therefore, the dependent does not obstruct the proper, and the proper does not obstruct the dependent. Dependent and proper are perfectly fused without obstruction. If he wants to be the dependent, he is the dependent. If he wants to be the proper, he’s the proper, because there is no obstruction of the present dependent. Nonetheless, he does not obstruct the present dependent retribution. It’s not to say that since for him dependent is the proper, and for him proper is the dependent, that it makes our present dependent retribution disappear, that it obstructs it so it runs away. It would not obstruct it, never block it.
Therefore, this state of perfect fusion without obstruction and non-obstructive perfect fusion is not one that ordinary common people can understand. So, the more I take, the more confused I make you. “What’s this all about? What is this all about?” If you want to understand, then you need to cultivate bitter practices, and do not fear suffering, and do not fear difficulty, and don’t hanker for comfort. Don’t seek to be free and easy right now. If you’re free and easy now, in the future you won’t be so free and easy. If right now you are not free and easy, in the future you will be free and easy. All of you investigate these principles over and see if you understand them. If you understand it, then this Dharma is very wonderful. If you don’t understand it, this Dharma still is wonderful, it’s just that you don’t understand it yet.Prologue:
Nine, secret entry is unobstructed, because entry to the realm of living beings is just like the Tathagata store which, although it becomes living beings, does not lose its own nature.Commentary:
The ninth is that secret entry is unobstructed. “Secret entry” means entry in the midst of non-knowing and non-awareness. Entry into what? Entry to the realm of living beings, entry into the realm of Bodhisattvas; entry into the Dharma Realm of Buddhas. Secret entry is non-obstructive. Although you do not know and are unaware, nonetheless, it still impartially and equally makes secret entry. What is this like? It is like the water of the ocean which secretly enters into the earth. All you have to do is drill into the surface of the earth anywhere and there is water. That water has secretly entered from the ocean. Although there is secret entry of the water of the ocean into the earth, nevertheless, the ocean has no mark of secret entry. It doesn’t say, “My water is going to secretly enter you, earth.”
This is just like the Tathagata store which, although it becomes living beings, does not lose its own nature. The nature which secretly enters into living beings is just the Thus Come One’s Store Nature. Living beings also secretly enter into Buddhas. The reason there is no distinction between living beings and the Buddha is because they are the same. From the point of view of the Buddha, he has returned to the origin and gone back to the source and returned to the Thus Come One’s Store Nature. However, discussed from the point of view of living beings, that nature also is not lost. Therefore it says that, although it becomes living beings, it still has not lost the nature which has secretly entered. Just as waves arise in the sea due to the wind, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s the waves or the water of the sea, both have a moist nature. Having the nature of moisture is analogous to the Thus Come One’s Store nature. When there are waves, the nature of moistness is also not lost.Consequently the Thus Come One’s Store Nature of the Buddha are the same. It’s just that we have not yet understood and not yet returned to the origin and not been able to go back to the source, and so although we have the this Store Nature, we are unaware of it. Now, upon hearing the Great Means Expansive Buddha Dharma Flower Adornment Sutra, we know that everyone has the Thus Come One’s Store Nature, so everyone should find that Thus Come One’s Store Nature. How does one find it? Through cultivation. Through using effort. If you use effort and cultivate and become enlightened, that is called obtaining the Thus Come One’s Store Nature and understanding your originally existent Buddha nature.
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