A monk asked Master Woongeo, “What should monastics do?” The master said, “They should stay in a mountain.” The monk bowed to him to indicate that he understood. The master asked him, “How do you understand my answer?” The monk said, “A monastic, just like a mountain, should not be swayed by the phenomena of good and bad, and life and death.” Hearing it, the master, hitting him, said, “You are forsaking ancient masters and spoiling our offspring.”
Student: “What was wrong with the monk?”
Master: “He was blocking the way to the mountain by planting thorn-bushes.”
Commentary:
There is no good and bad, and no life and death in the mountain.
“Why? Subhuti, those who take pleasure in small dharmas are attached to the idea of self, the idea of person, the idea of a being, and the idea of a liver of life; so they cannot accept this Sutra, read or recite it, or explain it to others.”
Commentary:
‘Those who take pleasure in small dharmas’ implies people who are deluded by words and attached to literal understanding. As mentioned in the preceding parts, ancient masters would say that people who understand the true-Self depending on the words in the sutras are not the Buddha’s students but his enemy. Speaking of the Sutra with one’s mind dwelling on words, said ancient masters, is no better than speaking ill of the Buddha. In contrast, the Lotus Sutra says that once we realise the true-Self, no matter what words we may read, or speak; mundane books, political discourses, wealth, or jobs, they will be a Dharma talk. The core of this part is that we should see what this Sutra points to instead of being attached to the words in it.
Student: “Who can accept this Sutra, read or recite it, or explain it to others?”
There are countless people who can read the Sutra, but few who can grasp the Buddha’s teaching. Reading the Sutra is one thing, and understanding the Buddha’s teaching is another.
“If there are people who can accept and hold, read and recite, and explain this Sutra extensively to people, the Realised One knows all these people and sees all these people; every one of them achieves immeasurable, incalculable, boundless, inconceivable virtues. Such people are in effect bearing the unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment of the Realised One.”
Commentary:
Those who can accept and hold, read and recite, and explain this Sutra extensively to people, as mentioned in the proceeding part, implies enlightened people who are aware that this Sutra is one with themselves. ‘The Realised One knows all these people and sees all these people’ means that these people can see the Buddha all the time. In fact, there is nothing that the Realised One, the Buddha doesn’t see. He always sees all sentient beings regardless of whether or not we can accept and hold, read and recite, and explain this Sutra extensively to people. Even at this moment we are in his sight, and we cannot escape from it.
The problem is that we cannot see Him. The purpose of Buddhism is to teach people how to see the Buddha in person. So, what matters here is that we should be able to see the Buddha in person. Then, we can know that the Buddha sees us all the time. When we cannot see Him, His seeing us is of no meaning to us, no matter how much He may see us.
Student: “How do you see the Buddha?”
Master: “I’ve never seen Him since I saw Him just once before.”
A. Before enlightenment, that is, when you see your body as a body, it may sometimes feel as if it were a foundation for enlightenment and sometimes as if it were an obstacle, according to how you perceive it, because you cannot see things as they are.
However, once you, having attained enlightenment, can see everything as it is, your body turns out to be the true-Self, just as the Buddha stated when he said that everything is the true-Self.
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.
“In summary, Subhuti, this Sutra has inconceivable, immeasurable, boundless virtues:” “The Realised One expounds it for those who set out on the Great Vehicle; he expounds it for those who set out on the Supreme Vehicle.”
Commentary:
As mentioned in the preceding parts, the Sutra implies the true-Self. This is why it is said to have inconceivable, immeasurable, boundless virtues. The Great Vehicle and the Supreme Vehicle are actually the same and represent the great wisdom, enlightenment that the historical Buddha attained. They are the final goal that all Buddhists pursue and a means by which we can achieve the goal at the same time. That’s why the Buddha used the word ‘Vehicle’ that implies an expedient means. Those who set out on the Great Vehicle signifies people who seek to attain the same great enlightenment that the historical Buddha attained through the great wisdom, the Buddha’s teaching.
‘The Realised One expounds it for those who set out on the Supreme Vehicle’ doesn’t mean that he expounds it selectively only for those who set out on the Supreme Vehicle but means that only those who set out on the Supreme Vehicle can grasp and accept his teaching. No matter how many people the Realised One may expound this Sutra to, it is meaningful only to those who can apprehend it.
Bodhidharma said that the Great Vehicle, or the Supreme Vehicle is the way all Bodhisattvas go, that they neither board the Vehicle nor don’t board the Vehicle and that they are never on board whilst being on board all day long. He means that we, aware that everything is empty, should not attached to the Buddha’s teaching while trying to attain enlightenment depending on it. Put in other words, he means that the Great Vehicle is not the Great Vehicle but just named as such. This is why it is said that the absence of the Vehicle is the Buddha’s Vehicle.
Student: “What is the Great Vehicle?”
Master: “It is before you now.”
Student: “How can I board it?”
Master: “It will sink the moment you put your foot on it.”
The Buddha’s Dharma talk is no more than a bowl to carry the Buddha’s teaching. We should eat the best food in the bowl instead of only licking the bowl whilst being deluded by the beauty of the bowl.
One day a monastic asked Master Woonmun, “How should a monastic behave?” The master said, “I don’t know.” The monastic asked again, “Why do you just say that you don’t know?” The master answered, “Saying that I don’t know is all I have to say.”
Student: “Why did Woonmun say that he didn’t know when he was asked how a monastic should behave?”
Master: “He showed in person how a monastic should behave.”
Commentary:
A monastic’s behaviour should be an act that cannot be said.
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