Category: zen

Part 3

The Buddha said to Subhuti, “The Bodhisattvas should surrender their minds thus: All kinds of sentient beings — be they born from eggs, born from wombs, born from moisture, or born from transmutation, be they material, immaterial, thinking or non-thinking, or neither thinking nor non-thinking — I shall have them all enter perfect nirvana without remainder and thus liberate them all. Although I liberate innumerable, countless, infinite sentient beings, not a single sentient being is in fact liberated.”

“Why not? Subhuti, if the Bodhisattvas have images of self, images of person, images of a being, images of a liver of life, they are not Bodhisattvas.”

Commentary:

‘All kinds of sentient beings’ here means not only the living sentient beings narrated above but also non-living things such as stone and wood. There is nothing that is beyond the realm of sentient beings except the Buddha. People may wonder how it is possible to liberate such sentient beings that we cannot communicate with, whilst saying that even human beings who can have mutual understanding with us are difficult to liberate.

We have the phrase ‘If you attain enlightenment, all the rest of the universe also attains enlightenment along with you’. Attaining enlightenment means to stop being deluded by forms and words, which is to see everything just as it is. This is to see and hear everything as empty. It should be kept in mind that ‘empty’ doesn’t mean ‘void’ but means ‘perfect’. So, Emptiness is another name of the Buddha, nirvana, or the true-Self, and seeing everything as empty is referred to as seeing the true-Self, the Buddha, or entering nirvana. So, when you attain enlightenment, all the universe as well as all the sentient beings mentioned above are liberated. Simply put, once you become enlightened, you come to the realisation that all the sentient beings, including all of us, are already liberated, that is, they are already in nirvana and that even though all things without exception are essentially the Buddha, we have mistaken them as sentient beings because we cannot see them as they are.

To have all sentient beings enter nirvana and liberate them doesn’t mean to have them altered but means to change our way of seeing them. This is why the Buddha said that we should think that there is not a single sentient being we liberate, no matter how many sentient beings we may liberate. This signifies that when you are not enlightened, even the Buddha can’t help but appear to be just a sentient being.

Master: “What did you do?”

Student: “I read the Diamond Sutra.”

Master: “What did the Buddha say?

Student: “He said that we never in fact liberate any sentient beings even though we liberate countless sentient beings.”

Master: “You shouldn’t defame and degrade the Buddha. The Buddha never said any words.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. We can’t grasp the Buddha’s intention, his teaching, by following the superficial meaning of his words, because his intention is beyond the words. The purpose of his words is to save people from the illusions of words, or to help them to stop being deluded by words, and so he wanted people not to be deluded by his words as well. This is why we should not be attached to intellectual understanding of his words.

The purpose of all words spoken by the Buddha is just like that of the songs sung by a blind person who wants to save people who are lost in the dark. The use of the songs is not to show off how beautiful they are but to help people to discern where the singer is and follow him to a light place. The foolish, instead of following the singer, are involved in evaluating and interpreting the lyrics of the songs.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Qingping asked his teacher, Cuiwei, “What is the exact meaning of the Bodhidharma’s coming from India?” Cuiwei said, “I will tell you when no one is around.” After a while Qingping said, “There is no one now. Please tell me, Master.” Cuiwei got down from the meditation platform and took Qingping into a bamboo garden. Qingping said again, “There is no one here. Please tell me.” Pointing to the bamboos, Cuiwei said, “This bamboo is tall just as it is. That bamboo is short just as it is.”

Student: “What did Cuiwei mean by ‘This bamboo is tall just as it is. That bamboo is short just as it is’?”

Master: “I can’t tell you until no one is with you.”

Commentary:

Whatever we do, or say is the function of the universe because nothing else is with it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

The Buddha said, “Good, Subhuti! As you say, I always have the bodhisattvas in mind well, protect them well and entrust them well with the propagation of Buddhist Dharma. Listen carefully now; I will expound to you. When good men and good women have made up their minds to attain supreme enlightenment, they should live and surrender their minds thus.” “Yes indeed, World-Honoured One, we look forward to listening.’’

Commentary:

In Part 13 of this Sutra the Buddha says to Subhuti, “What do you think Subhuti, do I have a doctrine to preach?” Subhuti says to the Buddha, “You, World-Honoured One, have no doctrine.” The Buddha says, “Subhuti, what do you think? Is there any such dharma spoken by me, the Tathagata?” Subhuti says, “No, indeed, Sir. There is no such dharma spoken by the Tathagata.” This indicates that we should appreciate what is beyond the Buddha’s words to grasp the core of his teaching. This is why they say that the Buddha’s teaching is transmitted separately beyond doctrine.

In other words, we, instead of clinging to the text of this Sutra, should be able to recognise, by grasping what is beyond the words, how the Buddha has the bodhisattvas in mind well, protects them well and entrusts them well with the propagation of Buddhist Dharma.

Q: “If we should not be deluded by words, why are there so many Sutras?”

A: “All of them tell people not to be deluded by words.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. It means to see what we cannot stop seeing even for a moment. Put in other words, this means to see the true-Self because we can’t stop seeing it even for a second.

Usually, when we say that we see something, it means that we can stop seeing it if we want to, by closing our eyes, or looking away. This is the way we see what can be seen. However, when we suppose that we see the universe, it is impossible to stop seeing it even for a moment because we, surrounded by it, cannot ever escape from it because we are also the universe itself. Seeing the trees in the street is seeing the universe, and seeing our family members is also seeing the universe since all of them are part of the universe as well.

When we close our eyes, even what appears to be dark is also part of the universe. Likewise, when we can’t help but see something regardless of our intentions, and when it is impossible to stop seeing it, seeing it is not seeing it anymore because the concept of seeing is only possible based on that of not seeing, just as being on the right side is possible only when being on the left side is.

This is why ancient masters would say that we don’t recognise the true-Self while facing it all the time.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Changqing asked Baofu, “Seeing form is no other than seeing mind. Do you see the boat?” Baofu said, “Yes, I do.” Changqing said, “Putting the boat aside, what is mind?” Baofu pointed at the boat.

Student: “Why did Baofu point at the boat when he was asked what mind was, putting the boat aside?”

Master: “Because you don’t see mind but the boat.”

Commentary:

Don’t mistake pointing to the sky for pointing to the clouds there.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

“World-Honoured One, when good men and good women have made up their minds to attain supreme enlightenment, how should they live, and how should they surrender their minds?”

Commentary:

This question asked by Subhuti is very common amongst Buddhists: How should I subdue, or control my mind to attain enlightenment? This is a typical example that shows how we sentient beings are deluded by illusions. Considering this question, we can see not only how illogical we are but also how unaware we are of what we say. For example, if someone says, “How can I look after my car?”, we don’t doubt that he knows what his car is like; its colour, age, size, condition and so forth, because this question is possible on condition that he knows his car. However, asking, “How should I subdue, or control my mind to attain enlightenment?” signifies that we are not aware of even the fact that we don’t know what our minds are, because knowing one’s mind is no other than enlightenment. In other words, one who knows one’s mind never seeks enlightenment because he is already enlightened.

When we say that the purpose of Buddhism is to attain enlightenment, it also means to realise what mind is.

There is a well-known dialogue between Bodhidharma and his disciple named Haega which shows this situation.

One day Haega said to Bodhidharma, “My mind is still not at ease. Please, make my mind at ease.” Bodhidharma said, “Bring your mind, and I will make it at ease.” Haega responded, “I can’t find my mind even though I have sought it.” Bodhidharma said, “I’ve made your mind at ease now.” At this moment Haega attained enlightenment, which means that he finally realised what his mind was for the first time.

Q: “How should I subdue my mind to attain enlightenment?”

A: “Find what your mind is prior to trying to subdue it.”

Q: “What is my mind?”

A: “Where is your question from?”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. This means that when you read the Sutras, you, instead of being entrenched in intellectual understanding, should be able to see each word as the function of the true-Self. If you can’t see each word in that way, you are not really reading the Sutras but rather playing with the illusions of the Sutras. This is against the purpose of the Sutras since the core of the Sutras is that we shouldn’t be deluded by words, even the Buddha’s words.

Ironically, whilst advising people not to be deluded by words, the historical Buddha himself spoke numerous words so that he might teach people not to be deluded by words. In the end, he said on his deathbed, “Not a word have I said” to prevent people from being deluded by his words. This, it can be said, shows how difficult it is not to be deluded by words. This is why the historical Buddha said in the Lotus Sutra that the core of his words is so incomprehensible that it is hard for even the wise like Subhuti to have a proper understanding of it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

One day a young monk visited a master. He had already met many other famous masters before. The master asked him, “How many masters did you meet before you came here?” The young monk listed the names of the ten masters who he had met previously. The master said,” All of them are impostors.” The monk asked, “How do you know that they were impostors if you did not see them?” The master replied, “Thanks to you.”

Student: “Why did the master refer to the other masters the young monk had met as imposters?”

Master: “Because the young monk only saw the imposters.”

Student: “Who were the ten masters he had met?”

Master: “The master was showing them to the young monk.”

Commentary:

Don’t be beguiled by the imposters disguised as the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 2

At that time the venerable Subhuti was in the assembly. He rose from his seat, uncovered his right shoulder, knelt on his right knee, joined his palms together in respect, and said to the Buddha, “It is rare and marvellous, Buddha. You always have the Bodhisattvas in mind, protect them well and entrust them well with the propagation of Buddhist Dharma.”

Commentary:

Here we should mull over what Subhuti saw and why he, saying that it was rare and marvellous, admired the Buddha although he had not said any words. He saw the true-Self that is the real form of the historical Buddha which he always tried to show to his disciples.

The reason why Subhuti said that it was rare and marvellous is that the true-Self is very difficult to see in the temporal world and perfect beyond mundane imagination. This is why ancient masters would say that if someone only opens his mouth to describe the true-Self in words, he is already wrong.

Q: “What is rare and marvellous?”

A: “The Buddha showed it.”

Q: “What is it?”

A: “It is the most common and abundant.”

Q: “Why do they say that it is rare although it is the most common and abundant?”

A: “Because few people see it although many people are seeking it.”

In ‘You always have the Bodhisattvas in mind, protect them well’, the Bodhisattvas implies both those who have attained enlightenment and those who are still seeking it. They know that not only they but also everyone and everything is always in the midst of the true-Self and can’t be out of its arms. Nothing can harm them, and they are safety itself as long as they are in the midst of the true-Self.

Q: “How does the Buddha mind and protect Bodhisattvas?

A: “We can’t be out of his arms.”

‘Entrust them well with the propagation of Buddhist Dharma’ implies that the Buddha makes the Bodhisattvas the Buddhist Dharma itself, that is, he makes them into the same Buddha as Himself by leading them to enlightenment in order that all their actions and speeches may be the functions of the Buddhist Dharma.

We should remember that our friends, family members, neighbours and colleagues are always revealing that which is rare and marvellous in the same way the historical Buddha did. Not only they but we ourselves are also Buddhist Dharma itself. The historical Buddha tried to bring people to realise this fact.

Q: “How does he entrust Bodhisattvas well with the propagation of Buddhist Dharma?”

A: “He leads them to realise that they are Buddhist Dharma itself.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway