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:
The Buddha taught that receiving and sharing even a single four-line verse of this Sutra is far more virtuous than offering the seven kinds of treasures sufficient to fill a billion-world universe. As mentioned in 8-1, “receiving and sharing a four-line verse” does not mean handing over a Sutra printed on paper or silk, or carved in wood or stone, nor does it mean merely memorising the words to tell others. It means that if you accurately understand even a single phrase or word of this Sutra, the merit of that understanding surpasses the merit of offering countless treasures.
An ancient master once said, “If knowledge enters one’s mind and leads one to create a new illness by attaching oneself to medicine, even the most famous doctors of old could not apply their sublime skills to such a person.” Likewise, if you listen to, or read the Sutra only as intellectual knowledge and cling to the words, you are not curing your illness; you are adding a new disease to your existing one. For such a person, even if Shakyamuni Buddha himself were to return to life, he could not save himself, let alone share the Sutra with others.
Thus, regarding the method of reading Sutras, ancient masters warned, “If you understand the meaning by relying solely on the words, the Buddhas of the three worlds (past, present, and future) will be your enemies; yet, if you deviate by even a single word from the sutra, the Sutra will become Mara’s words.” This means we must not be deceived by words, yet we must not skip or misinterpret even a single character.
As stated in 11-1, just as all forms, the Ganges, and every grain of sand within it are like dream-like illusions, or non-existent rabbit horns, so are the billion-world universe and the seven treasures. We must not be deceived by language; instead, we must see every word and every phrase as the function of the true-Self and see the Buddha in every single syllable. To see the Buddha in every word means not to be deceived by words into merely understanding the Sutra intellectually. For every word and phrase to become the Buddha means that a single word, or a single phrase contains the entire meaning of the Sutra—thus, seeing one word is seeing the whole Sutra, and not a single character is left out. Reading countless volumes of Sutras while trapped in letters and words is not as good as seeing the true-Self in a single word, or a single phrase.
When this is achieved, everything you see and hear—including yourself—is seen as the Buddha. You confirm that you yourself are the very true-Self that encompasses all things. At that moment, your body becomes the Sutra, and every action and sound from you becomes a four-line verse. When your acts of giving something in charity become the four-line verse itself, that is true giving without dwelling, and there is no greater merit.
As Master Yonga wrote in the Song of Enlightenment, “An arrow shot into the sky, no matter how high it may rise, will eventually fall to the ground when its force is spent.” Secular merit earned through a discriminating mind, no matter how vast, eventually comes to an end. However, the merit of realising that you yourself are the Buddha is eternal. This is the true merit of which the Buddha speaks.
Disciple: “What is a four-line verse?”
Master: “It is not in the written letters.”
Disciple: “Then what is it?”
Master: “It has already been said.”
The wind gently shakes the wind-bell to let you know,
The raindrops and leaves join forces to let you hear,
A passing bird recites it for you,
But still you do not understand—
So finally, the thunder roars.
Is the Buddha angry?
Koan
A monk once asked Master Yuguan, “What is the Way (the true-Self)?”
Master Yuguan replied, “What a magnificent mountain!”
The monk asked again, “I asked you about the Way; why do you speak of a magnificent mountain?”
Yuguan replied, “Because you only know the mountain, how could you ever attain the Way?”
Question 1: Why did Master Yuguan reply, “What a magnificent mountain!” to the monk’s question?
Question 2: What is the meaning of Yuguan’s statement ‘Because you only know the mountain, how could you ever attain the Way?’?
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Zen Fools 