Venerable Ones, get to know what plays with these shadows of light. It is the not only original source of all the Buddhas but also where all practitioners should return to. Your physical body, formed by the four elements, can neither speak nor listen to the Dharma; nor can your five viscera and six entrails; nor can the empty space.
Commentary:
To get to know what plays with these shadows of light, illusions is to realise the true-Self since all actions, that is, all illusions are the functions of the true-Self. The true-Self, the original source of all is the root of not only all the Buddhas but also all illusions. That’s why ancient masters would say that all illusions turn into the true-Self once we’ve attained enlightenment, that we can be enlightened if we can only see a single illusion as it is, and that every illusion is a gate to the true-Self. ‘All practitioners should return to’ means that all practitioners should realise that they are part of the true-Self that plays with these shadows.
‘Your physical body, formed by the four elements, can neither talk nor listen to the Dharma’ means that the true-Self is not your physical body formed by the four elements; soil, water, fire and wind, but rather what controls your body every moment. That’s why I tell you to ask yourselves what you are when your bodies are not you.
Student: “How can we see the true-Self?”
Master: “Thank you for showing it.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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