Q. What is the meaning of ‘When you speak or take a step, the Buddha reveals itself. Why do you wander in vain looking for it without recognising it?’?

A. This means that we should stop wandering in search of the Buddha by chasing after His illusion. The Avatamsaka Sutra says that if one, seeing the Buddha, is not attracted by or attached to Him, he is the one who knows the Buddha and His Dharma. Seeing the Buddha here implies to see the illusion of the Buddha. One who is not deluded by the illusion of the Buddha is the one who knows the Buddha. The real Buddha has no given form and reveals itself in the forms of everything, everywhere, all the time. It never conceals itself and cannot be hidden even for a moment.

There is nothing that is not the Buddha. All that we see and hear is nothing but the Buddha. Even we ourselves are the Buddha and all the sounds we make are the sound of the Buddha. There is no other Buddha to be attached to than that which reaches our eyes and ears. Believing that there is another Buddha other than this is being deluded by the illusion of the Buddha. This is why it is said that when you speak or take a step, the Buddha reveals itself.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

#zen #meditation #zenmeditation #enlightened #enlightenment #zenfools #photography