A. As mentioned previously many times, the purpose of Buddhism is to see and hear all things as they are. To see things as they are means to see them as the same without discrimination.
However, the act of using words, that is, the act of speaking, or writing always requires discrimination that is a prior act of comparing, and selecting in order to find words, verses, or to make sentences that fit the situation and the context. In short, words are the products of discrimination. So, ancient masters meant that we should make no discrimination.
One day one of Joshu’s students bade farewell to Joshu. Joshu said to him, “Where are you going?” The student answered, “I am going to search for the Buddha.” Joshu said, “Don’t stay where the Buddha is, and go quickly through the place where the Buddha is not. If you happen to meet a person one thousand miles away, don’t respond to him wrongly.”
Hearing this, the student said, “I will not leave then.” Joshu said, “Pick willow flowers. Pick willow flowers.”
Student: “Why shouldn’t we stay where the Buddha is?”
Master: “Because where you can stay is not where the Buddha is.”
“Furthermore, Subhuti, this Dharma is unbiased; it has no high or low. This is called unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment. Those who practise wholesome Dharmas without a self, without a person, without a being, and without a liver of life will attain unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment.”
Commentary:
This Dharma means the true-Self that is formless, boundless, changeless and nameless. All wholesome Dharmas imply the Buddha’s teaching. To realise that everything, including ourselves, belongs to the true-Self, is referred to as unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment. Those who are freed from all images through practising wholesome Dharmas attain unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment.
Student: “What is it like to attain unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment?”
Master: “It is like a thief enters an empty room.”
Once upon a time in China many monastics wanted to go to Mt. Ohdae that was famous as a place where Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom resided. There lived an old lady at the foot of the mountain. Whenever a monastic asked her the way to the mountain, she answered, “Go straight.” Seeing the monastic go straight just as she had told him to, she said behind him, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” When one of Joshu’s students told Joshu about the lady, Joshu said, “Ok, I’ll go and check her” and went to her and asked her, “What is the way to Mt. Ohdae?”. The lady made the same answer ‘Go straight’. Seeing Joshu leaving her place, she said again, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” Joshu returned to his temple and said to his students, “I checked her.”
Student: “How did Joshu check her?”
Master: “He checked you.”
Commentary:
Joshu didn’t go to Mt. Ohdae to check the old lady but to check you.
Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World Honoured One, when the Buddha attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, it means that there was nothing attained” The Buddha said, “That is so. That is so. Subhuti, there was nothing whatsoever for me to attain in unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment. This is called unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment.”
Commentary:
Attaining unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment means realising that everything is empty. That everything is empty means that there is nothing that is not empty. It follows from this that not only he who attains unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, but enlightenment itself is also empty.
So, if one thinks that there is even a single little thing to give and take that is not empty, he is far from having attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment.
Student: “If there is nothing to attain, what is the purpose of Buddhism?”
Master: “It is to help people to stop chasing and clinging to what doesn’t exist.”
A. Secular happiness is to possess, or be near what we want, or like and to discard, or be away from what we don’t want, or what we hate. For example, we want to have health but want to discard, or be away from illness. We want to be with the people we love and like, but want to be away those whom we hate, or dislike. All that we human beings do all our lives is to try to obtain, or achieve what we want and throw away, or avoid what we dislike. When we succeed in achieving what we love, or avoiding what we hate, we feel happy. When we fail to do this, we feel unhappy, sad, or even frustrated.
In brief, secular happiness depends on whether or not we can get what we want and avoid what we hate.
Buddhist happiness is to realise that everything that we have chased, or have run away from is not real, but merely illusionary images created by us, and to enjoy it just as we enjoy movies which are sometimes sad and sometimes happy. In summary, the Buddhist perspective on happiness depends on whether or not we can see things as they are without being deluded by illusions.
Once upon a time in China many monastics wanted to go to Mt. Ohdae that was famous as a place where Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom resided. There lived an old lady at the foot of the mountain. Whenever a monastic asked her the way to the mountain, she answered, “Go straight.” Seeing the monastic go straight just as she had told him to, she said behind him, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” When one of Joshu’s students told Joshu about the lady, Joshu said, “Ok, I’ll go and check her” and went to her and asked her, “What is the way to Mt. Ohdae?”. The lady made the same answer ‘Go straight’. Seeing Joshu leaving her place, she said again, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” Joshu returned to his temple and said to his students, “I checked her.”
Student: “Why did she say, ‘A normal monastic goes in such way again’ behind the monastics?”
Master: “Because they didn’t go the way she had told them.”
Student: “How should they have gone?”
Master: “A wise monastic ought to have reached the destination upon hearing the answer.”
Commentary:
Manjushri never moves about, but there is nowhere that he doesn’t reach.
At that time, Venerable Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World-Honoured One, will there be any sentient beings in the future who, upon hearing the Dharma, will give rise to a mind of faith?”
The Buddha replied, “Subhuti, they are not sentient beings, nor are they not sentient beings. Why is this so? Subhuti, the words ‘sentient beings’ used by the Realised One are not sentient beings, but are merely called ‘sentient beings’ by name.”
Commentary:
Subhuti thinks that the Dharma preached by the Buddha is so difficult that sentient beings in the future cannot appreciate it. However, the Buddha is more worried about Subhuti than about sentient beings in the future since he is deluded by the words ‘sentient beings’ mentioned by the Buddha during his Dharma talk. In truth, Subhuti, despite his failure to grasp the Buddha’s talk, had a belief that he himself appreciated it and doubted whether sentient beings in the future could understand it as he could.
This is why the Buddha said that the words ‘sentient beings’ used by the Realised One are not sentient beings, but are merely called ‘sentient beings’ by name.
We should ask ourselves whether or not we also accept the Buddha’s words as Subhuti did.
Student: “If sentient beings are not sentient beings, but just called sentient beings, what is the difference between sentient beings and the Buddha?”
Master: “He who is deluded by words such as sentient beings and the Buddha is called a sentient being, and he who isn’t is called the Buddha.”
Buddhism is not a religion that teaches you to worship the Buddha above clouds but one that teaches you to realise that everything around you, including yourself, is the Buddha.
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