Rinzai 36
Followers of the Way, as I see it, you are not different from the Buddha.
Today in your manifold activities, what is it that you lack? The numinous flow of the Six Senses never ceases. Whoever can see it like that is, for all his life, a man who has nothing further to seek.
Commentary:
‘You are not different from the Buddha’ implies that we are all the Buddha itself. What we should keep in mind is that the Buddha came to this this world not to give us something such as blessing, or good fortune, but to let us realise that we are already perfection itself, which lacks nothing, by ridding us of all illusions. Worshipping or praying to the Buddha for blessing or good fortune is the last thing that we should do because it is making an illusion of Buddha. ‘In your manifold activities, what is it that you lack?’ means that all your activities; speaking, working, walking, talking and so on, are all perfect as actions of the Buddha, the functions of the true-Self. It is because you see and hear them with your eyes and ears covered with illusions that they look defective and imperfect.
‘The Six Senses’ which means seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking are referred to as the six thieves before enlightenment because they lead us to discriminate and make illusions. After enlightenment, realising that everything is the true-Self, they are called all the numinous functions of the true-Self, which is in line with the words ‘Illusions are no other than the true-Self’. ‘See it like that’ means to see all illusions as the numinous functions of the true-Self. ‘A man who has nothing further to seek’ implies an enlightened man who, having realised that he is perfection itself, doesn’t struggle in vain to attain enlightenment.
In conclusion, to be able to see the Six Senses and all that we perceive through them as the numinous functions of the true-Self is enlightenment, which is to realise that we don’t differ from the Buddha.
Student: “What is the numinous function of the true-Self?”
Master: “How could you ask me such a question without it?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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