The Seven Elements are All-Pervasive

VOLUME 3, Chapter 6

 

O4 The element wind.
P1 He reveals its nature and explains how it brushes against someone.

Sutra:

"Ananda, by nature, the wind has no substance, and its movements and stillness are erratic. You always adjust your robe as you enter the great assembly. When the corner of your samghati brushes the person next to you, there is a slight breeze which stirs against that person’s face.

Commentary:

The Buddha spoke again to Ananda: Ananda, by nature, the wind has no substance. Let me tell you about the wind, now. Its movements and stillness are erratic. Sometimes it is in motion, sometimes it is still. You always adjust your robe as you enter the great assembly. When the corner of your samghati brushes the person next to you, there is a slight breeze which stirs against that person’s face.

“Samghati” is a Sanskrit word which translates in several ways. It is the “many pieced robe” (za sui yi), because it is composed of one hundred eight pieces of cloth made in patterns of four long and one short. This robe is also called “the host’s robe” (zu yi) and “the great robe” (da yi). It is the robe worn by the dharma speaking host. Of the three robes of a left home person, one is five pieces, one is seven pieces, and this one, the samghati, is the “great robe” with the most pieces. When you walk by someone, the corner of your robe brushes against them, your robe makes a breeze. As you move by, a breath of air passes over the face of that person.

Sutra:

“Does this wind come from the corner of the kashaya, does it arise from emptiness, or is it produced from the face of the person brushed by the wind?

Commentary:

Does this wind come from the corner of the kashaya? Does the breeze that blows across the person’s face come from the corner of the kashaya, that is, the samghati? Does it arise from emptiness? Does the wind come out of empty space? Or is it produced from the face of the person brushed by the wind? Does the breeze originate from the other person’s face? “Kashaya” is a Sanskrit word which translates as “mute colored” (huai se) and indicates that it is “clothing for getting out of the dust” (li chen fu).

P2 He explains its brushing against someone in detail.

Sutra:

“Ananda, if the wind comes from the corner of the kashaya, you are then clad in the wind, and your kashaya should fly my robe remains motionless and hangs straight down. You should look closely at my robe to see whether there is any wind in it. It cannot be that the wind is stored somewhere in the robe, either.

Commentary:

"Ananda,” the Buddha again called to Ananda, “if the wind comes from the corner of the kashaya, you are then clad in the wind, and your kashaya should fly about and leave your body. The robe should separate from your body; in that case it would be that the wind came from the corner of the robe.

I am now speaking dharma in the midst of the assembly, and my robe remains motionless and hangs straight down.” Here the Buddha refers to himself as “I.” “I am now speaking dharma in the midst of the Assembly, and my robe remains motionless and hangs straight down. Take a look at it. You should look closely at my robe to see whether there is any wind in it. You see my robe hanging down; where is the wind? Is there any wind? It cannot be that the wind is stored somewhere in the robe, either. You should not say that there is a place in my robe which harbors the wind and holds it there until it is time for it to blow.”

Sutra:

“If it arose from emptiness, why wouldn’t the wind brush against the man even when your robe did not move? Emptiness is constant in nature; thus, the wind should constantly arise. When there was no wind, the emptiness should disappear. You can perceive the disappearance of the wind; but, what would the disappearance of emptiness look like? If it did arise and disappear, it could not be what is called emptiness. Since it is what is called emptiness, how can it generate wind?

Commentary:

If it arose from emptiness - if you say the wind comes out of empty space - why wouldn’t the wind brush against the man even when your robe did not move? The wind comes from the emptiness, but when your robe is not moving, there is no wind. Why not? Why don’t you feel the wind blowing? Emptiness is constant in nature. Emptiness is unchanging and constant in nature. Thus, the wind should constantly arise. If wind arose from emptiness, there should always be a wind, since emptiness is constant and unchanging. It should not be that sometimes there is wind and sometimes not.

When there was no wind, the emptiness should disappear. The Buddha just pointed out that if wind is produced in emptiness, there should always be wind. The converse is that if there is a time when there is no wind, the emptiness should disappear. Without wind, the emptiness would be obliterated.

You can perceive the disappearance of the wind; but, what would the disappearance of emptiness look like? When the wind is not blowing, it is still. People can sense this; they have an awareness of the absence of wind. But, what would the disappearance of emptiness look like? What would it be like if empty space were obliterated? Can empty space disappear? Basically, emptiness has neither form nor appearance; how could it have a disappearance? Basically, emptiness cannot be obliterated. And so the Buddha deliberately asks Ananda this difficult question.

If it did arise and disappear, it could not be what is called emptiness. Since it is what is called emptiness, how can it generate wind? If there is production and extinction in it, it is not what is called emptiness; it is what is called form and appearance.

For example, wind can move and be still, and that is a kind of arising and disappearing. And so it is considered a kind of form, not emptiness. Emptiness is called emptiness because there is nothing inside it at all; how then could wind arise from it? Is there any trace of the wind coming out of emptiness? Any pathway for it? What is that pathway like? There isn’t any. This is proof that the wind does not come out of emptiness.

Sutra:

“If the wind came from the face of the person by your side, it would blow upon you while you set your robe in order. Why would it blow backwards upon the person from whom it was generated?

Commentary:

If the wind came from the face of the person by your side - if you say that the wind arose from the face which was brushed by the wind - it would blow upon you. It makes sense that wind coming from another’s face should blow on you while you set your robe in order.

Why would it blow backwards upon the person from whom it was generated? How is it that when you straighten your robes it blows on someone else’s face? If the wind were produced from that person’s face, it should blow on you first. Why, then, when you adjust your clothes, does the breeze from the corner of your robe blow first onto the person’s face?

Sutra:

“Upon closer examination, you will find that the robe is set in order by yourself, the face blown by the wind belongs to the person by your side, and the emptiness is tranquil and not involved in movement. Where, then, does the wind come from that blows in this place?

Commentary:

Ananda, upon closer examination - you should look into this well - you will find that the robe is set in order by yourself. It is you who move the robe. The face blown by the wind belongs to the person by your side. It is another person’s face. And the emptiness is tranquil. There is no movement in emptiness: it is there as if asleep, sleeping sweetly without any restlessness. Even breath is cut off. One could say it was like a dead person, but a dead person has form and appearance, while emptiness has no form or appearance. It is tranquil and unmoving, and not involved in movement, whereas the wind blows back and forth, flowing and moving like water. Where, then, does the wind come from that blows in this place? Where does the element wind come from?

Sutra:

“The wind and emptiness cannot mix and unite, since they are different from each other. Nor should it be that the wind spontaneously exists without an origin.

Commentary:

The wind and emptiness cannot mix and unite - they cannot work together; wind is wind and emptiness is emptiness - since they are different from each other. Nor should it be that the wind spontaneously exists without an origin. Basically, the wind does not have a substantial nature, but if it did, it should not be that its substance arose from nothing. It cannot be that the wind exists without having come forth from anywhere. Where, then, does it come from? I have told you many times, and yet you still don’t understand? It comes forth from the treasury of the Thus Come One.

P3 He concludes by showing the substance and function.

Sutra:

“You still do not know that in the treasury of the Thus Come One the nature of wind is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true wind. Pure at its origin, it pervades the dharma-realm. It accords with living beings’ minds, in response to their capacity to know.

Commentary:

Ananda, you still do not know that in the treasury of the Thus Come One the nature of wind is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true wind. The accumulated nature of wind is genuine emptiness, and the accumulated nature of emptiness is the source of the genuine wind. Pure at its origin, it pervades the dharma-realm. Within it is a pure origin which pervades the dharma-realm.

It accords with living beings’ minds, in response to their capacity to know. This nature which pervades the dharma-realm accords with living beings’ minds, in response to their capacity to know. The response and the Way intertwine so that each living being of the nine dharma-realms has its own awareness, its own scope.

Sutra:

“Ananda, in the same way that you, as one person, move your robe slightly, and a small wind arises, so a wind arises in all countries if there is a similar movement throughout the dharma-realm. Since it can be produced throughout the world, how can there be any fixed place to which it is confined?

Commentary:

Ananda, in the same way that you, as one person, move your robe slightly, and a small wind arises - you move your robe and a breeze comes forth - so a wind arises in all countries if there is a similar movement throughout the dharma-realm. If all the people throughout the dharma-realm moved their clothing, then in all countries a wind would arise. Since it can be produced throughout the world, in all places, by all people, how can there be any fixed place to which it is confined? Ultimately, where would you say the wind comes from?

P4 He rejects the two theories for being mere conjectures.

Sutra:

“It is experienced to whatever extent is dictated by the law of karma. Ignorant of this fact, people in the world are so deluded as to assign their origin to causes and conditions or to spontaneity. These mistakes, which arise from the discriminations and reasoning processes of the conscious mind, are nothing but the play of empty words which bear no real meaning.

Commentary:

It is experienced to whatever extent is dictated by the law of karma. The wind arises as a result of the karmic retribution which manifests for each person. But, the externalist religions of the world, as well as ignorant people and those of the two vehicles, are so deluded as to assign their origin to causes and conditions or to spontaneity. People without wisdom get confused, doubtful, and they say that the source of the wind is in causes and conditions. People of the provisional vehicle make the same mistake. Adherents of external religions confusedly consider it to be spontaneous in nature - some think that the wind arises spontaneously.

This kind of thinking, this kind of guesswork, these mistakes, which arise from the discriminations and reasoning processes of the conscious mind, are all the function of the discriminations and considerations of the mind-consciousness. It is nothing but the play of empty words which bear no real meaning. Things which can only be discussed are not real. Does the text say here that this matter is apart from the manifestation of words and speech? It says that adherents of external religions and those of the provisional vehicle can only talk. And what they talk about is without real meaning. None of it is true; it’s not right.

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