Part 7-2
“Why? Because the Dharma preached by the Realised One can neither be obtained nor be spoken; it is neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma.”
Commentary:
The Dharma, the true-Self that the historical Buddha talked about can neither be obtained nor be explained. The true-Self is formless and boundless and contains everything, ourselves included. It not only cannot be obtained but also cannot be discarded because we are also part of it and because there is nothing but the Dharma as mentioned previously. We can no more obtain, or discard the Dharma than winds can the air.
The Dharma is beyond description because it is formless, nameless and boundless. This is why the Buddha said that the Dharma preached by him is neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma. Ancient masters would say that even saying ‘holy’ for the purpose of describing the Dharma is like spitting upon a face washed with perfume.
Then, the key is how we should accept the Dharma talks preached for about forty years by the historical Buddha. We, to grasp the core of his talks, shouldn’t try to realise the Dharma by accepting his words in the same way we do when getting mundane knowledge through literal understanding. An ancient master named Hwang-po would say to his students, “You are fellows who pretend to have drunk pure wine after taking only lees” to scold them for clinging to literal, intellectual understanding. His remark implies that we should grasp what is beyond words and what they are pointing to when we read, or hear the Sutras.
Student: “If the Dharma preached by the Realised One is neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma, what is it then?”
Master: “Neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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