When Solbong was a kitchen steward, Master Dongshan asked him, “You always serve meals at the same time every day. What divine power have you got?” Solbong answered, “I look at the moon and stars.” Master Dongshan said, “How do you know the time if it is cloudy and rainy all of a sudden?” Solbong couldn’t say anything.
Student: “How would you answer Dongshan’s question if you were in Solbong’s shoes?”
Master: “I would say, ‘I look at the clouds and rain’.”
Commentary:
Seeing different things as different is not as important as seeing them as the same.
Then Subhuti asked the Buddha, “In the final five hundred years after the demise of the Realised One, if there are people who aspire to unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, what principle would they live by, and how should they conquer their minds?” Buddha says that they would be determined to liberate all living beings. Having liberated all living beings so that they have realised Buddhahood, they are not to entertain the notion that they have liberated even one living being. Why? In order to get rid of the sense of subject and object, to get rid of the notion that there are living beings, and also to get rid of the notion of themselves seeing.
Commentary:
This part explains what mind those who have a mind to attain unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment should have. They should be determined to liberate all sentient beings from being deluded by illusions. However, they should be aware that they never freed any sentient beings after having liberated them, because everything is empty.
Seeing things as empty is compared to seeing things as rabbit horns, which are not real but imaginary. When we see sentient beings as rabbit horns, no matter how many sentient beings we may liberate, in fact, we don’t liberate even a single one not only because all the sentient beings are not real but imaginary like rabbit horns, but also because we who liberate them are empty as well.
Student: “How is it when our freeing all sentient beings is not freeing any sentient beings?”
Once a monk asked a master what the true-Self is. The mastered answered, “I will answer your question if you pull a person out of a hundred-foot well without using any ropes, or ladders.” The monk didn’t know what to say.
Student: “How is it possible to get the person out of a well without using anything at all?”
Master: “You can do it if you understand the master’s answer.”
Student: “He didn’t answer yet.”
Master: “I heard it.”
Commentary:
Mistaking an answer for a question is due to discarding the true-Self and following illusions.
“Subhuti, if I were to fully expound the merit attained by good men and good women who accept and hold and read and recite this Sutra in the final age, people who hear it would become mentally disturbed and would not believe.” “Subhuti, you should know that the principle of this Sutra is inconceivable, and its reward is also inconceivable.”
Commentary:
None but one who can see and hear everything as it is, that is, only people who are enlightened, can comprehend the Buddha’s words. People who are mentally disturbed, those who cannot see and hear things as they are, and who are deluded by words, cannot understand the Buddha’s words.
The principle of this Sutra is to realise that everything is empty and that we ourselves are none other than the true-Self. The reward of this Sutra is to realise that we are the Buddha. In short, only people who attain enlightenment can make sense of the reward of this Sutra since the principle of this Sutra is the same as the reward of this Sutra.
This is why those who are disturbed and distracted when seeing, or hearing this Sutra, would not believe the merit that the Buddha says would be attained by good men and good women who accept and hold and read and recite this Sutra in the final age.
Student: “What is the principle of this Sutra that is inconceivable?”
A. There is a saying that a good thought is not as good as no thought. The Buddha means the state free from all discriminations, illusions. In that state even a thought, good and holy, or bad and mundane, is an illusion which defiles the state because it makes the Buddha that is Oneness into many that means illusions.
The thought of the Buddha, for instance, breaks Oneness into two; the Buddha and the rest that is not the Buddha. The moment Oneness breaks into two, the Buddha turns into illusions. This is why even the idea of the Buddha is wrong.
Zen master Nanquan, once visited a village. For this occasion, the village headsman had made arrangements to welcome him beforehand. Nanquan said, “Usually my coming and going is not known about by others, how is it that you knew of my coming and prepared for it like this?” The headsman said, “Last night the deity of this land told us that you were coming.” Nanquan said, “Nanquan has not practised hard enough and was seen by a spirit.” His attendant said, “You are a master of great knowledge. Why is it that you were noticed by a spirit?” Nanquan said, “Offer a bowl of rice to the land deity.”
Student: “What did the master mean when he told his attendant to offer a bowl of rice to the land deity?”
Master: “I hope that you are not with a land deity.”
“Subhuti, I remember how in the past, over incalculable eons in the presence of Dipankara Buddha, I got to meet eight hundred and four thousand myriad zillions of Buddhas; I supported and served every one of them, not missing a single opportunity. If, however, there is someone in the final age who can accept and hold and read and recite this Sutra, the merit obtained thereby are such that the merit of my support of those Buddhas do not amount to a hundredth part, to a trillionth part, indeed to any numerical or figurative part of it.”
Commentary:
This part explains how important it is to accept and hold and read and recite this Sutra. What should be kept in mind is that only when we accept and hold, and read and recite this Sutra in the right way as the Buddha told us to can we enjoy the merit mentioned by the Buddha.
The merit of seeing the true-Self in each word at this moment is a trillion times larger than that of the Buddha’s supporting eight hundred and four thousand myriad zillions of Buddhas because then, we can realise that we are the Buddha and that not only the eight hundred and four thousand myriad zillions of Buddhas but also all the Buddhas are one with us.
As stated previously, the purpose of Buddhism is not to support, or worship the Buddhas but to realise that we are the Buddha. Supporting many Buddhas is no more than an expedient, not the final goal. This is why the merit of accepting and holding and reading and reciting this Sutra is much greater than that of supporting eight hundred and four thousand myriad zillions of Buddhas.
Student: “Why isn’t the merit of serving so many Buddhas as much as that of accepting and holding and reading and reciting this Sutra?”
Master: “Because seeing many Buddhas is not seeing them but the illusions of them until you become the Buddha.”
Master Joshu asked a monastic, “Have you ever read the Lotus Sutra?” The monastic said, “Yes, I have.” The master said, “How do you comprehend the words ‘A Buddhist garment is a borrowed name, and a meditation room deceives people’?” When the monastic was on the point of offering a bow, the master asked the monastic, “Are you wearing a Buddhist garment?” The monastic answered, “Yes, I am.” The master said, “Don’t deceive me.” The monastic said, “How can I avoid deceiving you?” The master said, “Don’t accept my words.”
Student: “Why couldn’t the monastic answer Joshu’s questions although he had read the Lotus Sutra?”
Master: “Because he didn’t read the Sutra but merely the letters on the paper.”
Zen Fools 