Q. What is the meaning of ‘If one, seeing the Buddha, has no mind to be near him, this one is one who, knowing the Buddha, sees the true Dharma’ in the Avatamsaka Sutra?

A. The Buddha is the state in which everything is one. In this state everyone is at one with everything as the Buddha. If someone sees the Buddha and wants to approach him, he is not seeing the Buddha but being deluded by an illusion of the Buddha.

What you can be close to, or far away from, is not the Buddha. No matter how hard you may push him away, you cannot be separated from it. No matter how hard you may pull him, it never becomes closer to you because there is no other Buddha than yourself and because the Buddha is formless. This is why the wise who see the true Dharma, the true-Self that is the true-Buddha are never tempted to follow the Buddha nor are they scared away by Mara.

©Boo Ahm All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway