“Subhuti, what do you think— is the space to the east measurable in thought?” “No, World Honoured One.”
“Subhuti, is the space to the south, or the west, or the north, or the four intermediate directions, or the zenith, or the nadir, measurable in thought?” “No, World Honoured One.”
“Subhuti, the merit of the Bodhisattvas’ practice of charity without dwelling on forms is also like this—it cannot be measured in thought.”
“Subhuti, the Bodhisattvas should live just as they are taught.”
Commentary:
What must be kept in mind here is that the core of Buddhism is non-duality, Oneness. We should not fall into the error of regarding merit as different from the true-Self. The merit that is separate from the true-Self is just mundane merit that means good karma since there is nothing but the true-Self when we don’t dwell on anything. So, although this paragraph appears to describe how great the merit of the practice of charity without dwelling on forms is, it is actually revealing the boundless and formless Buddha, the true-Self that appears before us when we stop dwelling on forms.
Therefore, ‘the Bodhisattvas should live just as they are taught’ means that we Buddhists should live without dwelling on forms. That is, we should see everything as the Buddha and where we are as the Pure Land.
Student: “What is merit?”
Master: “Not merit.”
Student: “The Buddha said that merit is inconceivable.”
Master: “Don’t dwell on anything.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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