Part 12
“Furthermore, Subhuti, wherever this Sutra is expounded, even a four-line verse, the place is worthy of the offerings of all heavenly beings, human and asuras as if it were a stupa and shrine of Buddha.”
“This is to say nothing of he who accepts, keeps, reads aloud and recites it in its entirety. Subhuti! You should understand this. Such a person will achieve the supreme and rarest dharma. The place where this Sutra is, is where the Buddha and his venerable disciples are.”
Commentary:
The core of this part is what this Sutra is and how to accept, keep, read aloud and recite it.
As mentioned previously, there is nothing that is not empty, which implies that there is nothing that is not the Buddha, or the Pure land. Everything, including ourselves, is the Buddha. Then, whatever reaches your eyes and ears is the Buddha and his Dharma talk, and this Sutra is the Buddha. In this state there is no difference between this Sutra and you. You and this Sutra are just the Buddha, and Sutra is another name of the Buddha. Then, wherever you are is no other than where this Sutra is, which is the Pure land.
To conclude, even if we, deluded by words, pile up hundreds of volumes of Sutras in a place, they are not Sutras but no more than bundles of paper, and even if we read aloud and recite them all our lives, it is no better than singing our favourite songs repeatedly unless we see them as part of the true-Self. Put in other words, to be aware that whatever is seen is the Sutra and whatever is heard is a four-line verse, is to know what this Sutra is and how to accept, keep, read aloud and recite it.
This is why ancient masters would say that all Sutras are Mara’s talks if we are deluded by words in them. On the contrary, mundane texts such as a daily paper and a weekly, or monthly magazine are as good as Sutras when you see them as part of the true-Self, just as the Lotus Sutra says. This is why ancient masters would say that right teaching, when told by a wrong person, becomes wrong teaching, and wrong teaching, when told by a right person, becomes right teaching.
Student: “What is the Sutra?”
Master: “It is open before you all the time.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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