Q. According to the Aham Sutra, one day, leading his new disciples up Mount Gayasi, the Buddha pointed to the vast expanse of the world and said, “Behold, everything is burning,” and “Therefore, it must be extinguished.” What does ‘everything is burning’ mean?

A. The Buddha compared this mundane world to a burning house in the Lotus Sutra as well because everything, including human beings, is doomed to perish with time in the mundane world that refers to the realm of form, just as a burning house is destined to collapse sooner or later.

Fire here represents our illusions. According to the Buddha’s words, we sentient beings are struggling with suffering and doomed to die not because this world where we live is imperfect and problematic in itself, but because we are deluded by illusions, that is, because we can’t see things as they are. The purpose of Buddhism is to teach people to see everything as it is without being deluded by illusions, which is to help them to escape from the burning house, or extinguish the fire.

Student: “How can I escape from the burning house?”

Master: “Moving even a single step is fuelling the fire.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway