A. If you can see everything as empty by attaining enlightenment, you can know that everyone, including your late parents, whether alive or dead, is in the Pure Land. This implies that once you attain enlightenment, you can lead not merely your parents but also all your ancestors to the Pure Land.
This is why it is said in Buddhism that if one family member becomes a monastic, all of his or her family members, including his or her ancestors, are well off in Heaven.
Dongshan told the assembly at the end of the summer training period, “When summer ends and autumn begins, go straight to a place where there is not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles.” No one in the assembly could respond. Later, a monastic told Shishuang about it. Shishuang said, “Why didn’t you say, ‘There is grass everywhere one step outside the gate’?”
Student: “Where is the place where there is not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles?”
Master: “Dongshan and Shishuang showed it.”
Student: “Where is it?”
Master: “It is where you can do nothing.”
Commentary:
The Buddha prefers doing nothing to doing a good thing.
The Buddha said to Subhuti, “All forms are illusory; if you see that forms are not characteristics, then you see the Realised One.”
Commentary:
Here the Buddha tells a more concrete way to recognise the true-Self. ‘If you see that forms are not characteristics, then you see the Realised One’ means that when you see a flower, for instance, if you see that the flower is not a flower, when you see a person, if you see that the person is not a person, that is, if you see that whatever you see and hear is not what you have thought and believed it is, then you can see the true-Buddha, the Realised One, or the true-Self. Put more easily, if we can see everything without attaching any words to it, we can see the real Buddha instead of being deluded by the illusions of the physical features of the historical Buddha. We should know that the real Buddha is originally formless and nameless and that he neither was born nor passed away. Identifying the Buddha with any form is idolatry, which is to dwell on a form and to be deluded by an illusion. This is why ancient masters would say that we should kill the Buddha if we meet him.
What matters here is that the way to see the real Buddha explained above is the way to see ourselves. We should see ourselves in the same way we see the Buddha. The true-Self is the essence of not only the historical Buddha but also everything, including us. Being able to see the real Buddha means being able to see everything as the Buddha. It also implies to see the essence of our being, to realise that we are the eternal and perfect Buddha.
If ‘the universe is neutral and perfect’ meant that nothing happens that we don’t want and that we neither have to do our best nor have to be responsible for anything, we human beings would be no better than robots. Then, we might be free from all suffering, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be possible for us be happy, that is, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy things such as a sense of fulfilment, or greatness that enable us to feel dignified and valuable, either.
In order not to make humans like robots, God endowed them with the right to make decisions and the responsibility for their decisions. In other words, God gave us the privilege of being able to feel happiness and sadness. However, we don’t see the universe as it is and are troubled by suffering because we mistake the perfect world for an imperfect burning house. So, God sent his son to lead us to realise that the burning house is no other than the Kingdom of Heaven by seeing everything as it is. God sent his only son to us so that he might teach us how to make the best of the privilege of being able to feel happiness and sadness. This is evidence that the universe is perfect.
Student: “What is the perfect aspect of human beings?”
According to the Sutras, Buddha once said, “I transmit the true Dharma that I have, to my student, Mahakasyapa.” before the congregation one day. Regarding this, a monk asked Master Heung-hwa, “What did Buddha transmit to Mahakasyapa then?” The master answered, “One person transmitted falsely, and ten thousand people transmitted truly.”
Student: “Why did the one person transmit falsely?”
Master: “Because of his compassion.”
Student: “Why did the ten thousand people transmit truly?”
“Subhuti, what do you think—is it possible to see me, the Realised One in terms of physical characteristics?”
“No, World Honoured One; it is not possible to see you, the Realised One in terms of physical characteristics.”
“Why? Because physical characteristics explained by you, the Realised One are not physical characteristics.”
Commentary:
This paragraph shows how we can see the real Buddha, the true-Self. The historical Buddha tells us not to seek the essence of his being, the true-Self by seeing his physical characteristics; 32 primary features and 80 associated secondary features of the Buddha that he had mentioned before, because they are just kinds of forms, illusions. Regarding such physical characteristics as the real Buddha is dwelling on forms, being deluded by illusions. This is against the core of the Buddha’s teaching that we should not dwell on any forms.
However, not to dwell on physical characteristics doesn’t mean to ignore them. We should know that the true-Self is hidden in forms, physical characteristics. This is why they are called the store of the true-Self, which means that we should be able to discern the real Buddha hidden in physical characteristics by ceasing to dwell on them.
Student: “Why did the historical Buddha say that the Buddha has 32 primary features and 80 associated secondary features?”
Master: “One man told a lie, and ten thousand men heard the truth.”
A. In the temporal world, when we see a thing, we define it with words, imaginary labels. For example, when we see a flower, we define it with words such as flower, rose, red, beautiful and so on and mark its identity.
When we encounter a similar thing later, we, thinking of it as a red rose, are sure that we know it. Our belief of its being a red rose is unshakable although the rose has never said it is a flower, rose, red or beautiful. This is the way knowledge is established in knowing and seeing. This is referred to as being deluded by illusions, or being attached to illusions in Buddhism because all knowledge about the flower that we have is just imaginary labels created by us and not the essence of it. This is why it is said that when knowledge is established in knowing and seeing, it is the root of ignorance.
‘When knowing and seeing are not present in knowing and seeing’ means to see things without attaching any labels to them, that is, to see things as empty. When we see things as empty, we can see what we have not been able to see before because our eyes are covered by illusions, words. In short, we can see the true-Self that is the essence of everything, that is, we can enter nirvana.
According to the Sutras, Buddha once said, “I transmit the true Dharma that I have, to my student, Mahakasyapa.” before the congregation one day. Regarding this, a monk asked Master Heung-hwa, “What did Buddha transmit to Mahakasyapa then?” The master answered, “One person transmitted falsely, and ten thousand people transmitted truly.”
Student: “Who transmitted falsely?”
Master: “He is still here.”
Student: “Who transmitted truly?”
Master: “They are not here anymore.”
Commentary:
The one who can see him who is still here was at the scene above.
“Subhuti, what do you think— is the space to the east measurable in thought?” “No, World Honoured One.”
“Subhuti, is the space to the south, or the west, or the north, or the four intermediate directions, or the zenith, or the nadir, measurable in thought?” “No, World Honoured One.”
“Subhuti, the merit of the Bodhisattvas’ practice of charity without dwelling on forms is also like this—it cannot be measured in thought.”
“Subhuti, the Bodhisattvas should live just as they are taught.”
Commentary:
What must be kept in mind here is that the core of Buddhism is non-duality, Oneness. We should not fall into the error of regarding merit as different from the true-Self. The merit that is separate from the true-Self is just mundane merit that means good karma since there is nothing but the true-Self when we don’t dwell on anything. So, although this paragraph appears to describe how great the merit of the practice of charity without dwelling on forms is, it is actually revealing the boundless and formless Buddha, the true-Self that appears before us when we stop dwelling on forms.
Therefore, ‘the Bodhisattvas should live just as they are taught’ means that we Buddhists should live without dwelling on forms. That is, we should see everything as the Buddha and where we are as the Pure Land.
Student: “What is merit?”
Master: “Not merit.”
Student: “The Buddha said that merit is inconceivable.”
A. This question seems to reveal human beings’ lethal weakness of laying their blame on others, or on other things, I think. Would the world be better or worse off without radioactive material? Radiation itself has no intention to help or harm people. However, some people think that we are better off thanks to it while some others look upon it as the source of disaster.
In the same way, artificial intelligence (AI) itself didn’t appear on its own but it was created by people. It has no intention to benefit or harm people whatsoever. However, some people anticipate uncountable benefits from it while others are worried about disastrous situations that may be caused by it.
Everything is essentially neutral, neither harmful nor useful. Whether it is harmful or useful depends upon how we see and use it. Even if something undesirable happens due to AI, it is not AI but we who are to blame for it because the undesirable situation is caused, whether on purpose or by mistake, by the people who handle it.
Our question should be ‘How can we deal with AI to human beings’ advantage?’.
Zen Fools 