Part 14-1
Then, Subhuti, hearing the exposition of this sutra, profoundly understood the import and weeping, said to the Buddha, “How rare it is, World Honoured One! I have never heard you expound such an extremely profound scripture as this is, from the eye of wisdom I have obtained.
Commentary:
Subhuti seemed to realise the true-Self in person by experiencing it through his body for the first time. What we should remember here is that the Buddha’s words, dharma talks are never rare although Subhuti said they were rare. As the Avatamsaka Sutra says, “The body of the Buddha is all around the universe, appears before sentient beings and responds to them, and giving diverse dharma talks, leads them to realisation.” And says, “The Buddha says with a single word all the interminable dharma talks he has preached with subtle sound filling the universe for infinite aeons,” and “the Buddha, being with us all the time, has been, is and will be preaching dharma talks forever.” Every sound, including silence, is the Buddha’s dharma talk, and there is no sound that is not his dharma talk. We cannot stop hearing it even for a moment. The problem is that we don’t discern it. It is not because the Buddha’s dharma talk is rare but because we cannot recognise it that it sounds rare. In fact, the Buddha had not expounded less profound scripture before although Subhuti said he had never heard him expound such an extremely profound scripture as that was, since there is no difference between among his dharma talks. As mentioned in the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Buddha expressed, with a single word, all the interminable dharma talks he has preached for infinite aeons, and Subhuti grasped it for the first time.
Student: “What is the extremely profound scripture?”
Master: “Not a scripture.”
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