Part 7-3
“What is the reason? Because all things appear diverse and separate based on the eternal unchangeable Dharma.
Commentary:
All things mean forms, and the eternal unchangeable Dharma means the true-Self. All things are from the same root, the true-Self and they are essentially one and the same as the true-Self although each of them appears different from one another. All forms are the way that the true-Self is. Forms are to the true-Self as winds are to the air. To explain forms and the true-Self, an ancient master would say, “Everything is different from one another, and there are no two identical things in the world. However, at the same time, everything is the same as one another, and there are not two different things. The former is known to everyone, but the latter is difficult for even a saint to know.”
From this perspective, although each word and each phrase of the Buddha’s Dharma talks appear and sound different from one another, they are essentially the same as the function of the true-Self. Ancient masters would compare those who clung to the literal meaning of the Buddha’s teaching to a dog, and those who recognised the true-Self to a lion, when they read or heard it.
Every form changes all the time and has a beginning and an end, but the true-Self is formless, never changes and has no beginning and no end. No matter what we may see, we should be able to see it in both ways; as a form and as the true-Self at the same time. This is referred to as seeing the Buddha in everything, or seeing everything as the Buddha. Seeing oneself as the true-Self is called transcending birth and death in Buddhism.
Student: “How can I distinguish the true-Self from a form when I see a flower?”
Master: “Seeing what never withers in a flower is seeing the true-Self.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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