A. In fact, it is impossible to speak ill of the Buddha, firstly because the Buddha is the formless, boundless, nameless and changeless state free from illusions, or a person who has realised that he is the Buddha, and secondly because the Buddha regards everything as empty. The Buddha cannot be an object to find fault with because it is formless and nameless. No matter what abuses someone fires at the Buddha, he cannot defame the Buddha since abuses are not abuses but the functions of the true-Self to him, because he is never deluded by words.
He who speaks ill of the Buddha, deluded by an illusion of the Buddha, is making futile effort to defame the formless Buddha. Those who are swayed when hearing the Buddha spoken ill of are also unaware that the Buddha is formless and impossible to speak ill of. However, seen from the perspective of the enlightened, the accuser is also part of the Buddha.
This is why we should not have our minds swayed in the Buddha’s teaching even if we hear the Buddha spoken ill of, or well of.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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