Followers of the Way, in an instant one enters the Lotus Paradise, Vairocana’s realm, the land of deliverance, the domain of the supernatural powers; the Pure Land, the Dharma world, enters the tainted, the worldly, the sacred, the condition of Hungry Ghosts and of animals. In all of those, however much you search them, nowhere will you find the existence of life and death – for those are but empty names. “Changing phantoms, flowers in the empty sky, why tire yourself in trying to seize them? Gain and loss, right and wrong, let go of them all at once.”
Commentary:
All the diverse realms, domains and worlds mentioned here are not multiple and separate from each other but just one. Where you are standing can appear in many different ways depending upon your perspective. This is why Rinzai said that he could go those places in an instant without moving even a step. It means that they are not real but illusionary and imaginary. Likewise, life and death are just illusions. We don’t have to make useless efforts to follow the former and run away from the latter. If we can see them as they are by letting go of the names all at once, we can realise that we are eternity itself.
Student: “How can I enter the Lotus Paradise?”
Master: “Don’t get out of there.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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