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| Contents Door 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 previous next * Preface | ||
Prologue:
Therefore, in the chapter of appearances it says:
“The Buddha’s wisdom secretly enters the minds of living beings.”
It also says:
“There is, within the minds of living beings, the Buddha who has accomplished right enlightenment,” and so forth.Commentary:
Due to the previous statement that from the point of view of living beings there is no loss of the Thus Come One’s Store Nature, nor is it the slightest bit decreased on the part of living beings, therefore, in the chapter of appearances, the Great Means Expansive Buddha Dharma Flower Adornment Sutra’s Chapter of Appearances, there is a passage of Sutra text.It says, “The Buddha’s wisdom secretly enters the minds of living beings.” In that same chapter it also says:“There is within the minds of living beings, the Buddha who has accomplished right enlightenment,” and so forth. In every single living being’s mind there is the wisdom of the Buddha. All have the wisdom of a Buddha. Didn’t it talk in the previous section about breaking open the mote of dust and bringing forth the Sutra scroll?
It’s as if there were a great Sutra scroll,
In measure like the Three Thousand Realm,
Found inside a single mote of dust,
And each and every dust-mote were that way;
And there was a person of bright wisdom,
Whose pure eyes completely, clearly see,
Who breaks the dust, brings forth the Sutra scroll,
Vastly benefiting living beings.
The Buddha’s wisdom also is that way,
Pervasive in the minds of living beings.
By false thinking beings are bound and tied,
Unaware of it they do not know.
All the fine particles of dust of all lands have that great Sutra scroll in them, but stupid people do not know about it. They don’t realize that there is a great Sutra scroll in the fine motes of dust. But there is a person with wisdom who, upon seeing the great Sutra scroll says, “Oh, there is a great Sutra scroll within that fine mote of dust.” He opens out the dust, brings forth the Sutra, and benefits living beings with it. The Buddha’s wisdom is that way, too. The minds of living beings are replete with the Buddha’s wisdom even though they are all tied up by false thinking.
It doesn’t matter what type of person in the world, each has its own false thinking. Children have the false thinking of children. Adults have the false thinking of adults. Men have the false thinking of men, and women have the false thinking of women. What kind of false thinking do children have? They strike up false thinking about wanting to drink milk, or they think about eating candy. Or else they may think about going all over the place to see if they can find some strange objects they’ve never seen before. What do adults strike up false thinking about? “How can I get rich? How can I be the wealthiest person in the world -- not just be one of the ten richest people in the world, but have even more money than all the ten richest people in the world put together?” that is the kind of false thinking they have.
Onassis was like that. He had false thoughts about getting rich. He got a hold of an old beat-up boat, and after doing some business and making some money, he bought a good boat. Then, from having one good boat he bought ten boats, from ten, a hundred, then a thousand; and eventually he became a great shipping magnate. That all came about from false thinking, wouldn’t you agree? If you don’t believe it, then look into it.Men have the false thinking of men, and women strike up the false thinking of women. What is the false thinking of men? Although it’s said that men strike up the false thinking of men, it’s certainly not the case that what they think about is men. What they think about is women. Men think about women. And when women strike up the false thinking of women, it’s also not the case that they are thinking about women. They are thinking about men. They are thinking, “This man is so fine! That man is terrible!” They strike up that kind of false thinking.
We who study the Buddhadharma also strike up the false thinking of studying the Buddhadharma, saying, “How does one explain this Sutra? How does one read this character?” that kind of false thinking. “How does one translate this?” However, that’s just being bound up by false thinking. Within that kind of state they do not become enlightened. Their not being enlightened is just false thinking. Now you may say, “If I didn’t strike up false thinking, then I wouldn’t be able to do anything.” But I tell you, if you were able not to strike up false thinking, then you would be able to do it. If you could manage not to have false thoughts, then your inherent wisdom would manifest, which would be the appearance of the wisdom of a Buddha. Once the wisdom of a Buddha appeared, then:
Without a teacher, you would understand on your own.
Without my explaining it for you, you would be able to do it yourself. You would understand it by yourself. You would say, “Oh, that’s what it’s all about!” Even if you didn’t recognize a character, you would be able to explain and pronounce the character anyway. Why is that? It’s because you have the wisdom of a Buddha, which has secretly entered into you mind. If you are able to expel your false thinking, then that is true and actual wisdom. So it says: “The Buddha’s wisdom secretly enters the minds of living beings.” The Buddha’s wisdom is like the water of the great ocean which flows throughout all the four great continents under heaven. After having flowed throughout all the four great continents, it then flows to each and every place that has water and that has no water.
Therefore, it also says, in the Appearances Chapter, “There is, within the minds of living beings, the Buddha ...” There is a Buddha within the minds of living beings, and so there are people who say:
The mind is just the Buddha;
The Buddha is just the mind.
When you bow to the Buddha, which Buddha do you bow to? While you are bowing to the Buddha, there is Buddha in your mind. As there is a Buddha in your mind, when you bow to the Buddha it is the Buddha within your mind. The Buddha within your mind is also the Buddhas of the ten directions, and the Buddhas of the ten directions are within your mind. If there were no Buddha in your mind, then you would not be able to bow to the Buddha. If you were unable to bow to the Buddha, then would the Buddha in your mind have run away? No. It’s just that he would still be hidden.Therefore, when it says that in the minds of living beings there is a Buddha”...Who has accomplished right enlightenment,” accomplished right enlightenment means that he became a Bodhisattva and then became an Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattva, and then became a Wonderful Enlightenment Bodhisattva, and within your mind has already become a Buddha, has already turned the wheel of Dharma, and has already taught and transformed living beings. It’s just that you don’t know about this wonder.
There are some people who are saying, “Just now, Dharma Master, when you were talking about having false thinking -- it really was that way. Those were just the types of false thoughts I was having. I don’t know if you really knew it, or if you just guessed it. And I don’t know if you were talking about me. All the unclean false thinking that I keep striking up, and all the unclean things I do, are just not following the rules. However, for me not to follow the rules is one thing; but I don’t want you to know about it, and that’s another matter. When I do things that are wrong, I don’t want you to know about it. Although you said I was having that kind of false thinking and was doing unclean things, probably that was just a lucky guess. You probably don’t actually know. And since you don’t actually know, I don’t want to be frank and tell you. We’ll just drop it, and the uncleanliness can get more plentiful day by day. It doesn’t matter.”
But, if you let those unclean things increase day by day, then you will get more stupid day by day, and blacker. When you become black to the extreme degree, then you’ll go running off to the hells. Once you get to the hells, you will realize, “Ah, if only I had know I would end up in such a black place as this, I would have repented and reformed long ago! I would have been frank and have repented and reformed before such and such a Dharma Master and have changed my ways and started anew.” But at that time, it won’t be of any use at all. You will already have taken the loss. It will be too late for regrets.
It’s just as when a person in the world pays no attention to what the laws of the country are like. If the laws of the country state that if you murder someone you commit such and such a crime and will be put in prison, he says, “I don’t believe it. What’s ‘prison’ anyway? I’m still going to murder people.” So he causally murders someone, and the police arrest him and lock him in prison. Then he says, “Oh! Now I know! Now I won’t dare murder anyone else. Let me out! I won’t murder people anymore. Before, I thought you were just joking within me, cracking a joke. Now I now it’s for real, so tell the judge to forgive me.”
The judge then says, “Forgive you? Can you bring the person you murdered back to life? You were cracking that joke: if you can bring the person you murdered back to life, then we can set you free.”
At that time, as much as he would like to, he has to say, “I can’t do it. I can’t bring the person I killed back to life.”
So the judge says to him, “Well, then, there is no way I can set you free.” So it turns out that the judge can’t do anything, and he himself can’t do anything, either.
It’s the same way when you commit offenses and turn up in front of King Yama and trying saying, “Be compassionate, King Yama. You’re a Bodhisattva, you’ll forgive me, won’t you?”
King Yama just says, “Ah, you previously deliberately violated, although you clearly knew it was wrong. You were very clear about the fact that it was not right to do wrong things, so why did you keep doing wrong things? Now you’re beseeching me, but if in the past you hadn’t done wrong things, then there wouldn’t be any problem, right?”
You say, “Well, I’ve already done them. What can I do now? Can’t you think of something I can do?”
King Yama says, “Can you take back the things you’ve done wrong? Make it so that you didn’t do those wrong things? Is that possible?”
You say, “I don’t have the spiritual powers.”
King Yama answers, “Then there’s no way I can avoid sentencing you to the hells.” That’s the way it goes.
As to following the rules, those who like to follow the rules follow the rules, and those who like not to follow the rules go ahead and break the rules. I’m not going to pay any attention. That way you’ll all be greatly delighted. However, I may not be paying any attention, but there is someone who is, although I wont’ say who.Prologue:
There is, furthermore, the gathering of all living beings into a single hair-pore. Skill at transformations king of gods said, “You should contemplate a single hair-pore of the Buddha: All the living beings are found within it,” etc.Commentary:
There is, furthermore, the gathering of all living beings into a single hair-pore. The Buddha, is, moreover, able to collect all living beings within a single hair-pore. Therefore, Skill at Transformations king of gods said, “you would contemplate a single hair-pore of the Buddha: All the living beings are found within it,” etc. The king gods named Skill at Transformations said, “You should take a look inside a single hair-pore of the Buddha. All living beings are present in it.” Why is that so? It’s because he uses his power of spiritual penetrations as a Buddha to gather them all into one hair-pore. The wisdom of the Buddha also enters into the minds of all living beings. The gathering in of all living beings does not obstruct the entry of the Buddha’s wisdom into the minds of all living beings. This is known as unobstructed secret entry. This kind of state of non-obstructive is that way.
Prologue:
Ten, perfect penetration without obstruction, that is, this Buddha’s body is both principle and specifics; is both one and many; is both dependent and proper; is both person and Dharma; is both this and that; is both sentient and insentient; is both deep and vast; is both cause and fruit; is both three bodies and ten bodies.
Commentary:
Ten, perfect penetration without obstruction. Perfect means total and complete, while penetration means thorough interfusion without obstruction. The perfect interpenetration is total and unimpeded. What is this talking about? That is, this Buddha’s body, the body of the Buddha, is both principle and specifics. The Buddha’s Dharma Body is principle, while the Buddha’s Reward Body and Response Bodies are specifics. It is both one and many. In the same way, the Buddha’s Dharma Body is one, while the transformation bodies are many. It is both dependent and proper. The Buddha’s body is on the one hand dependent retribution, and on the other proper retribution. The dependent does not obstruct the proper, nor does its being the proper rule out its being the dependent. Previously, principle did not obstruct specifics, nor specifics principle. Principle is specifics, and specifics themselves are principle. One and many work the same way, too. The one is just the many, and the many is just the one: they are mutually unobstructive.
Although one is many and many are one, they do not become jumbled with each other or confused. The one is proper retribution, which is identical with dependent retribution. Proper and dependent retribution are not mutually obstructive, because the Buddha’s body is not like that of just people, who just have bodies of proper retribution. The Buddha’s body has inexhaustible transformations, so he is constantly either transformationally creating bodies that are suns, moon, and stars to shine upon living beings, or else transforming into mountains, rivers, lakes, streams, and seas to moisten living beings, or even transforming into mountains, rivers, and great earth to produce and nurture living beings. In that way, the dependent is the same as the proper.
It is both person and Dharma. Buddhahood is something that a person accomplishes, and the Buddha’s Dharma body is Dharma. It is both this and that. “This” means this one country, while “that” refers to other countries, which are limitless and boundless. How can “this” be the same as “that?” when the Buddha became a Buddha, there was a person who asked the Buddha, “Buddha, when you cultivated, why didn’t you cultivate the Pure Land Dharma doors, which are so fine?”
The Buddha said, “I won’t answer your question right now. Go West from here and you will come to a country where there is a Buddha turning the Dharma Wheel and teaching and transforming living beings. Go ask that honored Buddha.”
So the person set out together with Manjushri Bodhisattva to ask that Buddha. When they got there they said, “This Pure Land of yours was created from the power of your vows. Why is it that Shakyamuni Buddha didn’t cultivate the Dharma doors of the Pure Land?”
That Buddha replied, “I am Shakyamuni Buddha! And Shakyamuni Buddha is me. So my pure land and his pure land are one and the same.” The person then knew that the Buddha’s state was that of perfect interpenetration without obstruction. That’s what ‘s meant by “is both this and that.”
It is both sentient and insentient. To start with, the Buddha was a sentient being who cultivated and certified to Buddhahood. That makes him sentient, but what about insentient? After his cultivation and certification to Buddhahood, he no longer had emotional sentiments and obtained instead great, perfect mirror wisdom, and so is insentient. The Buddha was a living being before, and living beings have sentience; but he used those sentient emotions to cultivate and testify to insentience.
It is both deep and vast. The Buddha’s body, as described by the Great Means Expansive Buddha Flower Adornment Sutra, has no beginning and no end, and so his body is do great there is nothing outside it, that is, it is vast. It is both cause and fruit. When he sets out cultivating on the causal ground,
With the first production of the resolve,
He immediately accomplished Right Enlightenment.
So it is both cause and fruit, and it is both Three Bodies and Ten Bodies.
The Three Bodies of a Buddha
- The Dharma Body
- The Reward Body
- The Response Body
The Buddha’s three bodies divided into the ten bodies, but taken together the ten bodies are the three bodies. The three bodies include the ten bodies, which are simply transformational changes of them. It would take a long time to go into this passage in detail, so for now I’ll just give this simple explanation.
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