Part 11-2
“Subhuti, I am telling you the truth. If a good man or a good woman filled as many billion-world universes as grains of sand in that many Ganges Rivers with seven kinds of treasures, and used all that to give in charity, would there be many blessings gained?” Subhuti said, “Very much, World Honoured One.” The Buddha said to Subhuti, “If a good man or a good woman accepts and holds even a four-line verse of this sutra and tells it to others, the blessing of this exceeds the aforementioned blessings.”
Commentary:
To make a long story short, this part says that accepting and holding even a four-line verse of this sutra and telling it to others is much more rewarding and beneficial than filling as many billion-world universes as grains of sand in that many Ganges Rivers with seven kinds of treasures and using all that to give in charity.
To get the same fruit mentioned above, we should know how to accept and hold even a four-line verse of this sutra and tell it to others.
The core of the Buddha’s teachings, as mentioned previously a few times, is not dwelling on anything, that is, seeing and hearing things as they are without being deluded by images and words. If we apply these words to seeing this sutra and therefore see it without being deluded by images and words, this sutra is not a sutra and all the words in this sutra are not words, but are part of the true-Self, Emptiness. This is why the Avatamsaka Sutra also says, “Only when one has seeing, what is seen and the observer removed, does one not damage the true-Self. Only such a person can see the Buddha.”
Seen from the same perspective, we the readers of this sutra are not human beings, and all other things are not things, but all are just part of the true-Self as well. Then, there is no difference whatsoever among this sutra, readers of this sutra and the other things, and they become one as the true-Self. Then, everything, including ourselves, is the true-Self, and every sound is a Dharma talk. In this state, we are identified with this sutra because we and this sutra are not separate from each other but one.
So, only when we are this sutra, and every sound we make is a four-line verse can it be said that we know how to accept and hold even a four-line verse of this sutra and tell it to others.
In short, the blessing of accepting and holding even a four-line verse of this sutra and telling it to others exceeds the aforementioned blessing merely when you realise, through reading this sutra without dwelling on words, that you are the true-Self, the Buddha and that all sounds you make are Dharma talks. This is why ancient masters would say that trying to grasp the Buddha’s teaching by dwelling on words is like seeing reflections in a mirror as real and trying to grasp them.
Student: “Do you mean that we don’t need printed scriptures on paper?”
Master: “Printed scriptures should not be printed scriptures.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Zen Fools 