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 section lies in explaining what this Sutra truly is, how one should uphold and recite it, and what the results of such practice are.
First, try sharing the four-line verse of this Sutra with your family or acquaintances, or hand them a physical copy of the Sutra and see what happens. Do heavenly beings, humans, or Asuras come to make offerings to you? Store multiple copies of the Sutra in your home or office and observe. If you follow only the literal words, hundreds of stacked volumes are merely piles of paper that emit no light of their own. Reciting them out loud for a lifetime is no different from repeatedly singing a popular song; reciting them in a secular public space might even draw criticism rather than respect.
As mentioned in the previous part 11-2, ancient masters warned, “If you understand the meaning by relying on the words, the Buddhas of the three worlds will become your enemies,” or “If you read by relying on the words, the Sutra will become Mara’s talk.” This was said to prevent us from merely chasing shadows of language.
To explain the Sutra once more, it does not refer to characters printed on paper or silk, or carved in wood or stone. Here, Sutra means the Buddha, or Emptiness. When we say all things are empty, Emptiness is another name for the Buddha or the Pure Land. Everything we see and hear, including ourselves, is the Buddha and the Buddha’s talk. Therefore, this Sutra is also the Buddha. This means that everything in the world—every sight and sound—is the Sutra; there is nothing that is not the Sutra.
In this state, ‘I’ and the Sutra are one, with no gap or distinction between the two. ‘I’ and this Sutra are the Buddha himself. As the Avatamsaka Sutra states, “The names of all things are the names of the Buddha,” ‘I’ and the Sutra are simply different names for the Buddha.
Knowing that ‘I’ myself is the Sutra (the Buddha) is what it means to accept and keep the Sutra. Seeing everything as the Sutra and perceiving every movement and sound as the four-line verse of the Buddha’s sermon is what it means to read and recite the Sutra. Acting and speaking with the realisation that your every move and every sound is the functioning of the Buddha is what it means to preach the four-line verse.
When you become the Sutra in this way, wherever you are is where the Sutra exists. When the place where you stand becomes the place where the Sutra dwells, that place is where the Buddha and his venerable disciples reside. Wherever you are becomes the Vulture Peak assembly and the Pure Land.
Disciple: “What is this Sutra?”
Master: “It does not burn when entering fire, and it does not get wet when entering water.”
Disciple: “What is the four-line verse?”
Master: “It cannot be dictated or written down.”
Woken by the sound of the Sutra in the early morning,
Falling asleep to the sound of the Sutra late at night,
Yet no one knows the very first line of this Sutra.
Koan
An old woman sent a messenger to Master Joshu with an offering of wealth, requesting that he read the entirety of the Sutras.
Joshu descended from his Zen seat, walked in a circle around it once, and said, “I have finished reading the entirety of the Sutras.
The messenger returned and relayed this to the old woman.
The old woman said, “I asked him to read all the Sutras once; why did the Master only read half of them?”
Question 1: What is the meaning of Joshu’s walking in a circle and saying, “I have finished reading the entirety of the Sutras”?
Question 2: What is the meaning of the old woman’s remark, “Why did the Master only read half of them?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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