The Loving Heart

A Study of "the Shurangama Sutra"

By Bartholomew M. Klick

This book is dedicated to my father and teacher, without whom this commentary would have been impossible.

This book may be freely distributed in any format.

Volume One

"The Shurangama Sutra" is a long, complex Mahayana text that is mentioned several times in the Gosho. This aroused my interest and since I knew the text was in our library I began to spend time studying it. The commentary that follows is the result of my efforts. I hope you find this of some use in your own study of the Dharma.

Book One

The Sutra states that all of the two hundred and fifty monks present were great Arhats who had no outflows. This means that they had achieved a certain level of mental clarity. However, this teaching was given in an early part of Shakyamuni’s career so his students were still striving for what they believed to be the "eternal peace" of nirvana. They thought that nirvana was a state of "non-existence" because they earnestly believed that this was the only way for them to ever achieve a lasting state of serenity. (See Chapter four of "A House On Fire" for more information)

When the Buddha preached "The Lotus Sutra" he revealed, in chapter seven ("The Phantom City") that "…he preaches two nirvanas in order to provide a resting place along the road." The nirvana being preached in "The Shurangama Sutra" is a phantom city; you will never die and remain anywhere forever. Nirvana is a state of mind where we do not experience mental suffering; it doesn’t really matter where you physically live. (For more information on "The Lotus Sutra" see "Inside The Lotus Sutra" from BIONA Books.)

The sutra continues by telling us that all of the Buddha’s primary disciples were present, including Shariputra, Maudgalyayana, Subhuti, and ánanda. They were attending a feast with the Buddha, which was being held by the new king of Shravasti whose father had just died. It was a vegetarian meal, though the monks as well as the Buddha had never restricted their diet to just vegetation. They had to eat what was given to them as alms food, and were not permitted anything else. The meal was vegetarian possibly because the host himself did not eat meat. There is also a rule that says monastic followers may not eat meat that has been butchered especially for them.

ánanda was traveling alone gathering alms at the time, and was contemplating the people who gave him offerings. He did not view them as pure or impure, but only as human beings. He did not take their chaste into consideration when they gave him something, nor did he critique the way they looked. He did not look at some as spiritually advanced or others as spiritually in decline, he saw only people who all possessed the potential to become Buddhas.

On his way, a prostitute approached him and attempted to seduce him. ánanda was not yet even an Arhat, he had only a minimal amount of personal realization because he had devoted himself to an unusual task: he was the Buddha’s personal attendant but he was also committing to memory all of the Buddhas teachings. In other words, ánanda studied but did not practice and this is a recipe for disaster.

This woman caught ánanda's eye and they were mutually attracted to each other. The young monk was in danger of violating his vow of chastity. If he had actually slept with the woman then he would have had to disrobe and return to lay society. The Buddhist world would have suffered a great loss if this had been allowed to occur!

ánanda had the good fortune to have a friend like Manjushri to save him from destroying his vow. Manjushri is used in a symbolic manner in the sutra to represent either ánanda's conscience, or one of his friends in the Sangha.

ánanda was not to attain even the level of Arhat-ship until after the Buddha’s death. The "Evil Mantra" that the sutra tells us seduced the Buddha’s attendant was nothing more than a combination of his lack of self-control, and the seductive nature of that particular woman.

Everyone goes through this eventually, whether they have married, or taken monastic vows. It is a test, some people pass it, possibly without even giving it much thought while others fail, and often wreck their lives.

Congressman Condit recently faced a similar situation; he was approached by "an evil mantra" and couldn’t resist the temptation to betray his wife. His failure to ignore this evil mantra of lust has led directly to his present difficulties. ánanda's situation was in no way different, except that he made the right decision, kept his vows and therefore his life did not self-destruct.

ánanda returned to the monastery. He saw the Buddha, "and wept sorrowfully, regretting that from time without beginning he had been preoccupied with erudition and had not yet perfected his strength in the Way. He then respectfully and repeatedly requested an explanation of the initial expedients of the wonderful shamatha (Samádhi), Samapatti, and Dhyana, by means of which the Thus Come Ones of the ten directions had realized Bodhi."

This demonstrates an almost alarming level of blindness in this disciple. He was just in difficulties because he spent all of his time performing services for the Buddha and memorizing all his words while ignoring his practice. Does he return and begin to devote himself sincerely to practice? No. Instead he requests another teaching!

This is why the Buddha asks him why he became a monk in the first place. He is trying to arouse in ánanda the desire to practice and find out for himself. Sadly it took the death of Shakyamuni to awaken ánanda. It is clear that Shakyamuni preached the "The Shurangama Sutra" to his followers because it suited the level of spiritual development they had attained. The Buddha spends a lot of time in this teaching helping his disciples break free of the mental constrictions they imposed upon themselves through their lack of awareness.

The other students heard that Shakyamuni was going to give a teaching to ánanda, and were pleased to have the opportunity to listen. Their good fortune was to receive this teaching then but this fortune is in no way different from the opportunity you have now to learn the very same things from the very same teacher.

The Buddha announced that he would preach the Shurangama (‘resilient strength’) Sutra. The Buddha said that this sutra he was about to preach was the door to transcendence that all the Buddhas in the entire universe, (‘the ten directions:’) passed through to attain transcendence. This means that the concepts he was about to teach are universally true.

The Buddha asks ánanda what it was that first attracted him to the Dharma. ánanda replies that it was the Buddha’s "Thirty Two Hallmarks (or features)." The thirty-two Hallmarks are concepts from the pre-Buddhist era. They actually come from the Brahmanic culture that Buddhism was formed in. These Hallmarks are supposedly the signs on a person’s body, which demonstrate that he is an enlightened being.

These signs consist of things like glowing, purple golden skin, arms that reach down past the knees, and a third eye in the middle of the forehead. This of course was not meant to be a literal description of Shakyamuni. When a Buddhist Text describes a man with the thirty-two Hallmarks, it merely means that he is a great person.

ánanda goes on to say that a man with a perfect body like the Buddha’s could not have been born through normal circumstances, and that a regular human body is conceived through blood and puss. He knew that the Buddha was enlightened and not born from "Blood and Puss" because he bore the thirty-two hallmarks, so he "Eagerly gazed upward, followed the Buddha, and let the hair fall from his head"
ánanda is telling the Buddha that he is following him for reasons that are pretty superficial. It is certainly possible to have a noble appearance and to even be in a position of great spiritual authority without having a tamed mind and a good heart.

At this point the Buddha asks ánanda how it is that he saw those thirty-two hallmarks, and ánanda tells him that he used his eyes and his mind. The Buddha asks ánanda where his eyes and mind are. ánanda tells him that it is the same with all beings; the eyes are located on the face, while the mind is within the body.

"You are now sitting in the Thus Come One’s lecture hall, where is the Jeta Grove that you are gazing at, ánanda?"

"At present" ánanda replied, "The Jeta Grove is … outside the Hall."

"ánanda, as you are now inside the hall, what do you see first?"

ánanda responds by saying that he sees, first, the Buddha, then the great assembly, and then the garden grove, making sure to point out that he can only see the garden grove because the doors and windows are open.

The Buddha asks ánanda if it would be possible for some one inside the Hall to see the Garden Grove, but not the Buddha, and the response is that such a thing would be impossible.

"ánanda, you are like that too."

The Buddha states that if your mind was located inside of your body, then you would first perceive the innards of your body, your pulse, the moving of your various muscles, and even the breeze that moves through your hair.

If you cannot see these things, then your mind could not be located within the body. If it were then they would be not only be perceivable, but also they would be the very first things you perceived. This is not the case. Therefore it is impossible that the mind is located within the body.

ánanda tells the Buddha that, upon hearing his words, he understands where mind is really located. When Shakyamuni asks him where he now believes his mind is located he replies that the mind is outside of the body.

He reasons: "A lamp lit in a room will certainly illuminate the inside of the room first, and only then will its light stream through the doorway to reach the recesses of the hall. Beings’ not being able to see within their bodies but only see outside them is analogous to having a lighted lamp placed outside the room, so that it cannot illuminate the room. "This principle is clear and beyond all doubt. It is identical with the Buddha’s complete meaning, is it not?"
The Buddha asks ánanda if a monk by finishing his own meal could be said to have eaten for the entire Sangha and ánanda of course, replied that such a thing was impossible.

Shakyamuni argues that if the mind were actually outside of your body, then your body and your mind would be mutually exclusive. They would have no relationship with one another. The mind would not sense what the body senses, and the body could not perceive what the mind does actually perceive.

Then the Buddha shows ánanda his hand, which was soft like cotton (One of the thirty-two Hallmarks) and asks if his mind could distinguish the hand when his eyes saw it. ánanda replied that his mind did, in fact, distinguish the hand when his eyes saw it.

Shakyamuni continues by logically demonstrating that it is impossible that the mind is not in the body, for if it were the eyes and the mind would not interact. Saying that the Mind is outside of the Body is an impossible statement.

Then ánanda responds " it must be as the Buddha has said: Since I cannot see inside my body, my mind does not reside in the body but since my body and mind have a common awareness, they are not separate and so my mind does not dwell outside my body.

As I now fully consider the matter, I now know exactly where my mind is; since the mind does not perceive what is inside but can see outside, upon reflection I believe mind is concealed in the eyes." He goes on to say that it is like a man who covers his eyes with clear crystal lenses, his eyes would be covered, but he would still be able to see.
If ánanda's thinking about the crystal lenses were true, then in his analogy the eyes would be the mind, and the lenses would be eyes. He is arguing that the mind resides within the eyes, and uses them like your eyes would use contact lenses. However, as the Buddha points out, if this analogy were true then our mind would see our eyes in the same way as our eyes can detect contact lenses. ánanda might have also considered that blind people are not necessarily mindless.

The Buddha tells ánanda that his scenario is impossible, so ánanda replies, "World Honored One, I now offer this reconsideration: internal organs and bowels lie inside the bodies of living beings, while the apertures are outside. There is darkness within where the bowels are and light at the apertures. Now, as I face the Buddha and open my eyes, I see light: that is seeing outside. When I close my eyes and see darkness that is seeing within. How does that principle sound?"

The Buddha responds, "If the darkness you saw could in fact be seen then it was in front of your eyes, and not within them!" The Buddha also points out that if the darkness you saw were seeing within yourself, then you would not see darkness, but you would instead see your organs.
ánanda finally concludes that the mind does not exist inside or outside of the body and that it also does not exist in between.

The Buddha says to ánanda, "Now you say that because dharmas arise, every kind of mind arises. Wherever it joins with things, the mind exists in response. But mind has no substance and mind cannot come together with anything.

"If mind had substance, when you pinch your body with your fingers, would your mind which perceives that pinch come out from the inside, or from the outside? If it came from the inside, then, once again, it should be able to see within your body. If it came from outside, it should see your face first."

ánanda replies that seeing is done with the eyes alone, and has no help from the mind. To call mental perception seeing makes no sense! If the eyes did your seeing for you, it would be similar to having a sentient window. For something to perform an action, it has to have a will. For something to have a will, it needs to be alive. Your eyes are not independently alive; they ‘die’ when you do.

Also, if your eyes were independently alive, they would be self-governing and free from the control of mind, a person’s eyes would continue to act and move, and even to look at things after the body died.

Implying that mind is separate from the body also assigns this mind a worldly substance or it could not exist apart from a body.

The Buddha continues the analysis by asking, ‘if your mind had substance would it be of a single material, or of many? Would this substance perceive the body? If it were of a single substance then you could pinch yourself one place, and feel that pinch all over. However, if the pinch was felt all over, then it could not have occurred on any one part of the body. If this is the case, then the mind could not be made of a single substance. However, if the mind consisted of many substances, than you would be many beings. Which of these substances would be you?’

ánanda responds; "World Honored One, I also have heard the Buddha discuss reality with Manjushri and other disciples of the Dharma King. The World Honored one also said, ‘the mind is neither inside nor outside.’
‘As I now consider it, it cannot be inside since it cannot see within, and it cannot be outside since in that case there would be no shared perception. Since it cannot see inside, it cannot be inside; and since the body and mind do have shared perception, it does not make sense to say it is outside. Therefore, since there is a shared perception and since there is no seeing within, it must be in the middle.’
Where is this middle that ánanda has proposed? It could not be in the body, that would make it ‘Inside the body,’ but it could not be outside either. If it were outside of the body there would be hard evidence that it existed. It would also have to have some sort of fixed location and form. If there is no evidence that mind exists, then it amounts to mind not existing at all.

At this point ánanda said, "World Honored One, when I have seen the Buddha turn the Dharma Wheel in the past with Maha Maudgalyayana, Subhuti, Purna, and Shariputra, four of the great disciples, he often said that the nature of the mind which is aware, perceives, and makes discriminations is located neither within nor outside nor in the middle; it is not located anywhere at all." This passage concludes with the disciple asking if non-attachment is mind.

ánanda is in essence now arguing that the mind exists nowhere at all. The Buddha then describes for him the physical world, saying that all the things that exist have a physical presence. Would Non-Attachment, which is where ánanda feels the mind is located, also have a physical body? It couldn’t. As the Buddha states, it would be like fur on a turtle or horns on a rabbit. Non-attachment exists, but it does not exist.

Non-attachment cannot be said to not exist, or else what would non-attachment be? If it did exist it would have to have a physical presence, which it does not. How could the mind reside in such a state? The Buddha asserts that it cannot.

Then ánanda demonstrated the respect he felt for the Buddha by exposing his right shoulder pressing his hands together, and bowing down. Since this was something very much on his mind he explained that he was unable to overcome the ‘evil mantra’ of the prostitute because he did not know how to attain "the realm of reality." Then he asked the Buddha to instruct and guide all of his students in the path.

(Notice here, that ánanda felt that the woman was a bad influence; he did not at this time seem to realize that the problem was his own mind, not some evil influence from the woman he was attracted to.)

The earth shook, light emitted from the Buddha, and all the realms became as one. This indicates that the Buddha was about to give a major teaching. All of the people in the assembly listened respectfully.

The Buddha begins by stating that all living beings have lived throughout eternity, making causes, and thereby creating effects. The reason that people are born as people, gods are born as gods and demons born as demons, is because they do not know the two fundamental roots. These two roots are (1 the root of beginning-less birth and death, which means that everyone, everywhere is endlessly born over and over again in the Saha world, and (2 they do not understand their pure and good nature. They consider this pure nature to be unattainable, or lost, even though they already always possess it. (Shakyamuni is talking here, about Buddha nature.)

The Buddha then raised his hand up, and asked ánanda if he saw the hand. ánanda replied that he did indeed see the hand, which he said dazzled his eyes and mind"

What do you see it with?

My eyes.

Your eyes are seeing my hand, but your mind is dazzled? What is the mind that is dazzled by my fist?

ánanda answers, ‘I will use my mind to search for itself thoroughly, and I propose that that which is able to investigate is my mind.’

Then the Buddha shouts, "Hey! ánanda, That is NOT your mind!"

ánanda was startled, and he jumped up from his seat. "If that is not my mind, then what is?"

The Buddha says, "It is your perception of false appearances based on external objects which causes your true nature to be deluded and this false perception has caused you, from beginning less time right up to your present life, to take a thief for your son, to lose your eternal source, and to undergo transmigration."

ánanda then declared that, with his mind he has made offerings to the Buddha and that he serves all Buddha’s. He continues, "If I were to sever all my good roots, and become lost from the Dharma, this too would be my mind, if it is not my mind, then I have no mind at all, and I am as a lump of dirt. Why do you say that this is not my mind?"

The first Book concludes with this explanation:

All Dharmas are manifestations of the mind. All causes, all effects are manifested from mind. If we look with worldly eyes then everything from the brightest galaxy right down to the individual blades of grass, or every strand of spider-spun silk, each is seen to have a nature, a true and unchangeable, inherent "it" that makes this object what it is.

This, however, is never true. The mind makes these discriminations by itself, there is no unchangeable, eternal blade of grass, anymore then there is an eternal unchangeable ‘you.’

The eternal part of mind is pure, and it always is pure no matter what actions we take. We have filled our own minds with deluded thought patterns since the beginning-less past. We now have an opportunity to advance spiritually because we have encountered the dharma.

So where exactly is the mind located? It does not matter where the mind is physically located, it is not important! What is important is that we begin the process of purifying our own mind, and that we begin the job of working to bring benefit to all sentient beings.

Volume Two

Book Two begins with the Buddha asking ánanda questions, "ánanda, you have told me that you saw my fist of bright light. How did it take the form of a fist? How did the fist come to emit light? How was the fist made? By what means could you see it?"

ánanda proclaims that the fist emitted light, perfect in every way because the Buddha was free from all defilement’s, his skin like refined gold, with a wonderful red hue, and that he can see all things clearly, as they are, with his eyes.

The Buddha tells ánanda that any one with wisdom (open mindedness, and a willingness to learn) can become enlightened through example, and he uses his fist to demonstrate. If he did not have a hand, he could not make a fist. If ánanda did not have eyes, he could not see the fist. Then the Buddha asks ánanda if these two examples are the same, and if they could be applied in the same way.

ánanda argues that they do have the same meaning. What ánanda doesn’t realize is that an arm without a hand does not have the potential to make a fist, while eyes are always trying to see, even if they are damaged. When ánanda is told this, he proclaims that blind men cannot see and that all they are ever aware of in front of them is blackness! However, if missing eyes were like a missing hand, the potential for sight would be forever lost. However, the brain will always try to use the eyes, even if they are not working. When the eyes do not work all that they report to the brain is blackness.

To say that a blind man cannot see, and will never be able to see, is like saying that a man who walked into a dark room will not be able to view light again. The potential is always there.

If a man were in a dark room, and a lamp was suddenly lit then the man would be able to see again. By ánanda's reasoning it becomes clear that it is the lamp that has gained sight and not the man. If the lamp had gained the power of sight, how would that effect any one but the lamp? If the lamp did gain this power, how would you even know? Why would you care?

Just as the lamp only reveals forms to your eyes, the eyes only show things that they are actually aware of to the mind. A man without light and a man without sight both see a similar darkness.

"Then the World Honored One extended his bright hand that is as soft as tula cotton, opened his five webbed fingers, and told ánanda and the great assembly, "When I first accomplished the Way I went to the Deer Park, and for the sake of Ajnata Kaundinya and all five of the Bhikshus, as well as for you of the four-fold assembly, I said, ‘It is because beings are impeded by transitory defilement’s and afflictions that they do not realize Bodhi or become Arhats.’ At that time, what caused you who have now realized the various fruition’s of sage hood to become enlightened?"

Then Ajnata Kaundinya (Annasi Kondanna) arose and said to the Buddha, "Of the elders now present in the great assembly, only I received the name "Understanding" because I was enlightened to the meaning of transitory defilement’s and realized the fruition.

Ajnata Kaundinya gives an example, saying that transitory defilements could be compared to dust moving and whipping about in a ray of sunlight. They move in emptiness, they always change, and never stop their constant shifting. The emptiness these particles move in is perfectly still; they never disturb the emptiness but this emptiness cannot be seen because of the activity of the particles.

The Buddha told Ajnata Kaundinya that this analogy was correct.

Then he raised his hand, and began to bend and uncurl his fingers, asking ánanda what he saw.

"I see the Thus Come One’s hand opening and closing in the midst of the assembly, revealing his hundred-jeweled wheeled palms," was the reply.

‘You see with your eyes my hand opening and closing. Is it, ánanda, my hand that opens and closes, or your eyes that open and close’?

‘The World Honored One’s jeweled hand opened and closed in the assembly. I saw the Thus Come One’s hand itself open and close while my seeing-nature neither opened nor closed.’

‘What moved and what was still?’ the Buddha asked.

ánanda replied that his seeing nature could never move, while the Buddha’s hand was quite plainly in motion.

Suddenly, a fierce light came from the Buddha’s hand, and flashed by ánanda, causing him to look behind him.

Then he asked ánanda, "Why do you move your head?"

The disciple responds that he could not control his head, it moved by itself trying to see the light as it went by.

‘When you moved your head, was it the seeing that moved, or the head itself’?

Once again ánanda states that his seeing could never move, so it must have been his head.

‘Ananda, you observed my hand opening and closing, yet your seeing never bent or stretched, you saw the light go by your head, but your seeing never moved. Why do you continue to rely on your physical bodies, which move, and on the external environment, which also moves’?

‘From beginning to end, this causes your every thought to be subject to production and extinction. Because of this you take objects to be yourself. You say, "This body is me, and you have insulted it! I shall now hurt the body that we both perceive to be you!" or "This body is me, I want it to look good." You spend a huge amount of time pampering this body, even though it will die in a very short amount of time. It is transitory, yet you treat it like it is eternal’.

‘You have been wired to always look for more comfortable ways to treat your body, which is really just a vehicle. It will eventually be too old to use, or it will become damaged, and you will need to replace it. You do not grieve and mourn when your car becomes insulted, or needs new tires, but let anyone insult your body and you become angry! You also devote much effort to prayer so that you will never be hurt’.

Then King Prasenajit rose and said to the Buddha, "In the past, when I had not yet received the teachings of the Buddha, I met Katyayana and Vairatiputra, both of whom said that this body ends at death, and that this is Nirvana. Now, although I have met the Buddha, I still wonder about that. How can I go about realizing the mind at the level of no production and no extinction? Now all beings in this Great Assembly who still have outflows also wish to be instructed on this subject."

The Buddha asks the King if his body, as it is now, will remain that way forever, or if it will change.

King Prasenajit replies by saying that change is inevitable, and unstoppable. This change will eventually lead to death.

‘Great King, you have not yet perished, how can you be certain that you will’?

‘As every moment arises and leaves, my thoughts change. New ones come, old ones die, and the ones that I have now will eventually be forgotten. These thoughts are not apart from me; they are products of me, so how could I not have that same nature’?

‘So it is, Great King. At your present age, with the effects of old age sinking in quickly, how does your present body compare with the body you possessed as a youth’?

"World Honored One, in the past when I was young my skin was moist and shining. When I reached the prime of life, my blood and breath were full. But now in my declining years, as I race into old age, my form is withered and wizened and my spirit dull. My hair is white and my face is wrinkled and not much time remains for me. How could one possibly compare me now with the way I was when in my prime?"

These changes did not come at once. You often do not realize that they even have occurred until you suddenly notice them. Ageing is a subtle, continuous process. A man does not look in the mirror one day and suddenly discover that he has crossed over some invisible boundary and become ‘old’. It is because of this that the King realizes that he also will age until he dies.

Anything that changes will eventually expire and since all phenomena change everything (including the universe itself) will someday die.

The fundamental truth for any person is that they possess a Buddha nature. You have it, but you cannot see it, just as a man who has a wonderful, beautiful perfect jewel sewn into the lining of his coat. He wears this coat everyday so the potential for wealth is there, but because the jewel is out of sight and he is unaware of its presence, it has no value at all to him.

This pure Buddha nature is a kind of energy so that part of ‘you’ cannot die. The king realized this, and was relieved because he now understood that death was nothing to be afraid of. At the same time you should realize that while death is not to be feared, it is also not to be embraced. Death should embrace you, not you it.

At this point ánanda broke in and asked the Buddha ‘why, if seeing and hearing are "neither produced or extinguished" he referred to worldly beings as people who have lost their true nature and go about things in up-side-down ways’.

The Buddha let his arm go limp, it was now pointing towards the ground. Then he asked ánanda if his arm was now up side down.

ánanda replied that beings in the world would take it to be up side down, but that he himself could not distinguish between the two.

The Buddha asked what the people of the world would consider to be right side up, and ánanda said that when his arm is raised, and is pointing upwards.

So the Buddha raised his arm back up, and said that the people of the world indeed considered this to be right side up. They do the same thing with people’s bodies. They look at the Buddha, and say he has a perfect dharma body, while they would look at ánanda, and say he does not have a perfect dharma body, he has an "up-side-down" body. Now examine my body and yours. Do you see any "right-side-up-ness" or "up-side-down-ness"?

No one spoke so the Buddha said, "I say that you have lost track of what is fundamentally wonderful, the perfect, wonderful bright mind, and that in the midst of your gem-like bright and wonderful nature you wallow in confusion while being right within enlightenment."

The body is filled with inner-turmoil and that turmoil is mistaken to be the true us. That turmoil is ignorance. Ignorance is the root of all problems. Ignorance makes ego. Ignorance makes Hatred. Ignorance breeds contempt and jealousy.

Your delusion is in not understanding that all of this good or bad is born within your own mind. One person can think, "That river is beautiful" while another can think, "What a stupid river," just because he has to cross it. It is not possible that the river have a good and evil nature simultaneously. The river’s only nature is wetness! It is a negative frame of mind that can make the river evil, and a good frame of mind that will make it beautiful.

This is what makes his students ‘up side down’ and the Buddha ‘right side up’. They both see the same thing but the student projects fantasy images onto the environment while a Buddha sees reality.

The Buddha tells ánanda that all things are a manifestation of the mind, even your body. This does not mean you are somehow illusory. He is saying that the way we see things is manifested in your mind. If you were truly illusory as some would try to suggest, you could mold the outside world to your liking, and change anything that displeased you. It would be a dream.

When the Buddha says that everything come from mind, he means our thoughts, good and evil do not exist in the world, they exist in the mind. Many would say that Hitler was evil, while some his followers considered him to be a great leader. It is all in the way you look at things. Hitler is not ‘good’, he is not ‘evil’; rather ‘Hitler’ is a name given to a long dead German dictator who committed many atrocities because of his own delusions.

The Buddha teaches that our physical bodies and the environment we live in are also a result of mind. By this he means that if our mind was not in it’s present condition, we would be somewhere else. Out of all the places in the universe to be born, you were born here. This is because of good and bad causes you made in the past, and karmic connections you formed with other people. Had you made different causes and connections, you would have been born elsewhere.

The Buddha tells ánanda, "You people are doubly deluded among the deluded. Such delusion does not differ from that caused by my lowered hand. The Thus Come One says you are pathetic."

ánanda heard these words and began to weep, and he begged the Buddha to explain how they could rectify this horrible situation, and understand the true meaning of this teaching.

The Buddha told them that they listened to the Dharma with conditioned minds, so the Dharma was also conditioned, and accordingly they could not understand the true dharma. He said: "This is similar to a person pointing his finger at the moon to show it to someone else. Guided by the finger, the other person should see the moon. If he looks at the finger instead and mistakes it for the moon, he loses not only the moon but the finger also. Why? Because he mistakes the pointing finger for the bright moon."

A person who does this not only loses the vision of the moon, but he also loses the finger as well. The finger was supposed to be a guide to help point out the moon, but because you have mistaken the finger for the moon itself, the purpose of the finger is lost. You also lose the light, for when you mistake the finger for the moon you see light, but do not understand where it comes from.

Arguing that your mind is permanent, or that your "seeing nature" is permanent as ánanda does in the above passages, is suggesting that the mind never moves. The seeing nature is a part (or function) of your mind so it is like saying that your mind does not move, but your own experience demonstrates that this not true.

When any student first begins to train his mind he will have trouble keeping that mind still for any length of time, and it takes years of meditation practice to still it. If your mind were permanent and non-changing, your thoughts would also be permanent and non-changing and no amount of training could ever change any feature of it. Obviously this is not the case.

The Buddha said that our mind could not be constantly still because all the things it relies on are dependent on causes. Light needs the sun, darkness needs the lack of light, and all the things we depend on to survive could not exist without a cause. In turn these causes need causes, and those causes need causes as well.

"That which can be returned to other sources clearly is not you; if that which you cannot return to anything else is not you, then what is it? Therefore I know that your mind is fundamentally wonderful, bright, and pure. You yourself are confused and deluded. You abuse what is fundamental, and end up undergoing the cycle of rebirth, bobbing up and down in the sea of birth and death. No wonder the Thus Come One says that you are the most pathetic of creatures."

ánanda inquires ‘what must we do to come to know this ‘true nature’ of ours’.

The Buddha replies that it is his turn to ask a question!

ánanda is told that his vision is not very clear. He can see deluded forms of the world by himself, but with the help of a Buddha he can see the world around him the way it really is. A Bodhisattva can see much more clearly than this, and a Buddha can see everything the way it truly is. When comparing ánanda's vision to that of a Buddha, he is almost completely blind.

‘Ananda, we sit in this Palace, and we see various shapes and colors. These shapes and colors have no real names, or real function, they are indeed like dust, and nothing can be made of them except by our own distinction making.’ Say they were looking at a priceless vase. That vase could be used to hold flowers, or to plant spices in, when filled with dirt. Or they could store dried food in it, or break it, and use the sharp bits to cut their meals with. ‘That is not what a vase is for!’ some might argue, but that is their perception and their distinction of the vase, not ours. In a different light we could make the vase part of a game, keeping it in the air until it broke, or passing it among ourselves. There is no definite use for the vase, there is no universal law carved into steel about what a vase can and cannot be used for.

The Buddha goes on, still not having asked his question. He says that their vision could allow them to see all the sights in the world, golden mountains, birds, forests, and anything else imaginable. While that varied phenomenon is different from one another, they are all seen with the same seeing nature. If all phenomena change, why does not the seeing nature, which is identical from person to person? For the seeing nature to exist in this world it must be phenomena, but if it were, then we could both see it.

When we looked at the same thing, I should be able to see your seeing, and you should be able to see mine. Also, if this was the case, I could see when you were not seeing as well, and you could do like-wise.

Clearly since you cannot see my seeing, it is not phenomena. This seeing nature is not phenomena, so it must be a part of your mind.

Besides that, if you’re seeing of phenomena was like that, when you saw things, things should also see you, everything in the world would have an identical seeing nature, and we would not longer be distinguishable from anything else. Yet, when you see it is you who sees and nobody else. How then could this seeing nature not be your own, and therefore distinct? ‘My question to you, ánanda, is this: Why do you have doubts about your own true nature, and come to me seeking verification when you think that your nature is not true in the first place’?

ánanda contends that the seeing nature he possesses is his and his alone. He tells the Buddha that seeing fills the space where the person is, and while the seeing is present then objects are visible, assuming there is sufficient light. The seeing can stretch to fill the world, or shrink to fit a room.

The Buddha tells ánanda that this is wrong: ‘look at a square shaped container, is it a fixed square shape, or is it not a fixed square shape? If it were fixed as a square, when it was switched with a round container, the emptiness left over would not take the shape of a sphere. It would still be square, if it were not fixed then there would never be a square shaped emptiness within it’.

The Buddha continues by telling ánanda that ‘if he is displeased with the square-ness of the container, he can remove it, and it will be gone. Emptiness takes no shape, though it can be fitted into various shaped containers, it ultimately has no true form’.

Then the Buddha explains why ánanda's statement about seeing is incorrect. If what he said had been true then we would not need the aid of telescopes and spyglasses to see at far distances. Our vision would simply extend to the area where we wanted to see.

ánanda argues further, stating that if his mind truly did allow him to see, then the seeing nature would actually be him, and not the mind. He asks the Buddha how this would be different from phenomena being able to being able to look as if seeing were bestowed upon it.

The Buddha replied that ‘for this to be the case, seeing would have to be located in front of you. If it were in front of you, you could see it because there would be tangible evidence of it. If you’re seeing is in front of you, as you have suggested, please point it out to me. Show me the location of this seeing’.

ánanda could not point to any location and he reported this fact to the Buddha.

The Buddha further clarified this teaching to ánanda, "It is as you have said. No seeing-essence that would have a nature of its own apart from all phenomena can be found. Therefore, all the phenomena you point to are phenomena, and none of them is the seeing."

‘Now I will tell you something else, ánanda. As you and I sit in the grove and look at the plants and trees, and all the other various things here, all of which look different from one another, we have determined that seeing nature is not something we can point to, and look at. I ask you to look around and point out to me what is not your seeing nature.’

ánanda replied that he did not know what was not his seeing. He explains himself by saying that if an object out there really were his non-seeing, he would not be able to see or locate it.

The Buddha told ánanda that this was correct.

By this time the assembly was very confused, and agitated at not knowing what was going on. The Buddha sensed this, and said: "Good people, what the unsurpassed Dharma King says is true and real. He says it just as it is. He never deceives anyone; he never lies. He is not like Maskari Goshaliputra advocating his four kinds of non-dying, spouting deceptive and confusing theories. Consider this carefully and do not be embarrassed to ask about it."

Manjushri rose from his seat, and told the Buddha that the assembly was not awakened to this principle. He stated, "World Honored One, if conditioned forms, emptiness, and other phenomena mentioned above were the seeing, there should be an indication of them; and if they were not the seeing, there should be nothing there to be seen. Now we do not know what is meant, and this is why we are alarmed and concerned."

"Yet our good roots from former lives are not deficient. We only hope the Thus Come One will have the great compassion to reveal exactly what all the things are and what the seeing-essence is. Among all of those, what exists and what doesn’t."

The Buddha instructs the assembly by stating that ‘seeing was originally "the wonderful pure bright substance of Bodhi." This being the case, how could any of them question its existence’?

Then the Buddha turned to Manjushri, and asked him if there could be more than one of him, or if there could be another Manjushri standing beside him, and if there were, which of them would be the real Manjushri.

Manjushri stated that under all these circumstances he would remain the true Manjushri. There could not be any extra Manjushris anyway. If there were two, the term existent and non-existent would not apply. One would be existent while the other would not, when in actuality Manjushri exists, but he does not exist. He is empty.

It would be, the Sutra goes on to say, as if there were two moons. Since the moon can only travel a predetermined course, these two moons would be on the same path. Since you cannot see an extra moon in front of, or to the sides of the original moon, there cannot be another moon.

After this example is given ánanda says to the Buddha, "World Honored One, it is truly as {Manjushri} has said: the condition of enlightenment pervades the ten directions. It is clear and eternal; its nature is neither produced nor extinguished. How does it differ, then, from the Elder Brahmin Kapila’s teaching of the mysterious truth or from the teaching of the ash-smeared ascetics or from the other externalist sects that say there is a true self, which pervades the ten directions?"

"Also, in the past, the World Honored One gave a lengthy lecture on this topic at Mount Lanka for the sake of Great Wisdom Bodhisattva and others: ‘Those externalist sects always speak of spontaneity. I speak of causes and conditions, which is an entirely different frame of reference.’

"Now as I contemplate original enlightenment in its natural state, as being neither produced nor extinguished, and as apart from all empty falseness and inversion, it seems to have nothing to do with your causes and conditions or the spontaneity advocated by others. Would you please enlighten us on this point so we can avoid joining those of deviant views, thus enabling us to obtain the true mind, the bright nature of wonderful enlightenment?"

The Buddha told ánanda that he was mistaking what he described for spontaneity. He states, ‘Ananda, if it definitely were spontaneous, you should be able to distinguish the substance of the spontaneity.’ He instructs ánanda to investigate seeing, and then to tell him what the spontaneous aspect of seeing actually is.

No matter what this spontaneous aspect was, you could not see anything that was not aligned with it. If the spontaneous aspect were light, you could not see darkness, or if it were emptiness you could not see non-emptiness.

ánanda agreed that the nature of seeing could not be spontaneous. Then he declared that its nature must be produced from causes and conditions.

The Buddha asked ánanda if seeing existed because of light and darkness, or because of solid objects, or emptiness. It is the same as before, if light were the cause of seeing, you would never experience darkness. If emptiness was the cause, you could not see non-emptiness. It is also not the negation of spontaneity, or the denial of it.

Then ánanda responds, ‘If the nature of the wonderful enlightenment has neither causes nor conditions then why do you always tell us that the nature of seeing derives from the four conditions of emptiness, brightness, the mind, and the eyes? What does that mean?’

The Buddha tells him that what he has stated about causes and condition is not untrue, but it is not the primary meaning. Then the Buddha again asked ánanda what seeing was.

ánanda replied that seeing had to be made up of light, for without light people cannot see. The Buddha tells ánanda ‘if seeing did not exist in the absence of light there would be no darkness to see. Since darkness is in fact a lack of light, how can you say that seeing depends on light, even though you can see darkness’?

‘If you say that seeing darkness does not help you, then you could call that ‘not seeing’, but if you say that in seeing light, you can no longer see darkness, you could also call that ‘not seeing’. Since it is not possible for them both to be ‘not seeing’ it is easy to understand that neither of them can be what you believe they are.

Even in the total and almost complete darkness of a deep cave, your seeing nature does not lapse for an instant, it always stands ready to report the first sign of light that it can detect.

When you see light, the seeing is not the light itself. It is the same with darkness, emptiness, and all other phenomenon.

Then the Buddha stated, "You narrow-minded Hearers are so inferior and ignorant that you are unable to penetrate through to the purity of ultimate reality. Now I will continue to instruct you. Consider well what is said. Do not become weary or negligent on the wonderful road to Bodhi."

ánanda told the World Honored One that he and the rest of the assembly still did not understand, and he begged the Buddha to explain himself in more detail. (Shakyamuni was not rebuking those who felt themselves to be voice-hearers out of anger, aversion, or any kind of negative mental state; he was attempting to motivate them to reach for a higher spiritual condition. [See "Inside The Lotus Sutra" from BIONA Books] Nichiren wrote: "Good advice grates on the ear" ["The Essentials For Attaining Buddhahood"])

Shakyamuni told ánanda that, although his memory was incomparable, it only benefited him in a superficial manner because his mind had not yet truly realized the meaning of these teachings. Nonetheless the infinitely compassionate Buddha agreed to explain himself again.

He began by telling ánanda that all beings are stuck in the cycle of birth and death because of two false and discriminating views.

"What are the two views? The first consists of the false view based on living beings’ individual karma. The second consists of the false view based on living beings’ collective karma."

The Buddha begins to explain this to ánanda with a simile about a man with cataracts. The man sees things differently than those not afflicted with his disease. His vision is not true and no one with normal vision can see what he sees. When he perceives color distortions it is analogous to us seeing incorrectly because we assign distinctions to events (good, bad, or neutral) and create categories that are not real.

The same is true with the people who see the evil omens in their skies. They see these comets and star alignments, and interpret them as evil. Other people see these same events and realize that they are merely natural phenomena. In our society we often find these ‘evil omens’ attractive and colorful.

When we think, for example, that a river is stupid, evil or ‘in the way’ this is not reality. It is like we are seeing with cataracts in our eyes. We do understand what we are looking at is simply the river.

At this point you may be asking yourself why the Buddha and ánanda are talking about eyes and sight so much. It is all a simile designed to assist the student to realize that mind is pure Buddha Nature, and your present set of eyes are distorted orbs that see things incorrectly because you have failed to adequately train your mind.

Even though the Buddha explains himself again and again, ánanda does not realize it, and he clings to his false views about the world. This is, no doubt, because ánanda did not really begin to train his mind until after the Buddha died.

When the Buddha talks about ‘vision’ or ‘seeing’ he is not talking about your physical eyes, he is talking about the way you see and respond to the things that occur in your environment. We must learn to see without defilement clouding our vision, and this is no simple task. The only way we can achieve this is through practice, study, and the development of a loving heart.

Volume Three, Part 1

Volume three is unlike the rest of the document thus far, as it is not a series of questions and answers but rather a lengthy statement from the Buddha.

The Buddha states that all things that exist are like an illusion, their forms can all be reduced to dust, and from dust they can be made whole again. Their essence however, is a bright and eternal energy called Buddha Nature. Everyone has this Buddha nature; the only difference between living beings that really matters is how deeply buried this pure and wonderful energy is. Some people are so defiled that Buddha Nature cannot be dug out of the muck and grime they have buried it in only one lifetime.

The Buddha tells us that there are beings whose defilements are so bad that it will be trillions of years before they are born as any kind of sentient being again. We are, in comparison, living in very fortunate circumstances, no matter how desperate your current situation might seem.

The Buddha continues, saying that beings are falsely born, and they die a false death. This means that while people consider birth to be a beginning, it is not actually so. This also means that death is not any kind of personal end. Yes you are really born, and death will come no matter what, but the way most people see them is vastly different from how they should be viewed.

Birth is not the beginning; you have been born countless times in the past, and you will always be re-born. When the Buddha says birth is false, he means that the way we view birth is incorrect and it is the same with death.

The Buddha then makes the statement, "Thus it is throughout, up to the five Skandhas and the six entrances, to the twelve places and the eighteen realms; the union and mixture of various causes and conditions account for their illusory and false existence, and the separation and dispersion of the causes and conditions result in their illusory and false extinction."

The six entrances are your sense organs, the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin, and mind. The Five Skandhas are the components or aggregates that you are made of. The Twelve places and the eighteen realms are the different places where you can be born. We were born because of causes we made in the past, and we will die when the energy of these causes is exhausted.

"Who would have thought that production and extinction, coming and going are fundamentally the eternal wonderful light of the Thus Come One, the unmoving, all-pervading perfection, the wonderful nature of True Suchness! If within the true and eternal nature one seeks coming and going, confusion and enlightenment, or birth and death, one will never find them."

The first sentence is saying that everyone has the potential to display Buddha nature. The other sentence that makes up this paragraph is telling us that you will never see reality so long as you continue to place things into mental categories.

False views are common and we often accept them at face value. If you stare into the sky, the clouds will look like various different things to you. They are not really these various shapes; your mind has associated their current form with an everyday object from your daily life. If you stare into the sun or a bright lamp for a few moments, lights will dance in front of your eyes when you turn your head. If you are in a dark room for a long time, images will appear before you because your brain will produce images rather than report nothing.

None of these images are real and yet we can see them. They are not really different from other phenomena. Your eyes and brain are the cause, along with the light, or lack of light as the case may be. These illusory objects are similar to our lives. They are born, they linger a while, and then they go away.

These illusions can be created whenever we make the causes to bring them forth. After they are brought into being, they linger a short while, and then vanish. At any time after they vanish, they could come back as soon as the causes they are made by are manifested.

These causes do not die, yet they are not permanent either. Rather, you could say that they die, but the death itself is not permanent. It makes as much sense to say that death is interrupted by life, as it is to say that life is interrupted by death.

The Buddha tells ánanda that these illusions we can see do not originate from the eyes, nor do they just "pop up" from empty space. In either case they would, when they vanish, return to wherever they came from. If they came from empty space, then by definition that space would not be empty because the illusions would have to return to it. If illusions came from your eyes you would always be able to see them.

He goes on to say the same thing about our skin. If we rub our hands together, it creates friction and it warms our palms. If this sensation of warmth ‘originated’, or was some how created miraculously from the air around us, then we would be able to feel it all over our body and anywhere else where the air touched us. If it originated from the hands, then we would not need to rub them together to get the warm sensation. Therefore we can safely say that the only thing that brought about the warm feeling was the rubbing of the surface of our palms together rapidly, thereby creating friction.

The same example is made with the remaining Skandhas and Entrances. Things that we perceive are not illusions, they do not come out of nothing, but they are also not made up of organs perceiving them either. Combinations of causes create them, and they die when these causes separate.

The Buddha is trying to get ánanda to understand the concept of emptiness. All sense organs and actions are empty because they are dependent on causes. He is taking it a step further and saying that everything we see in the world is emptiness. ALL phenomena are dependent on other phenomena. Your ability to hear is dependent on there being things to hear and to not hear. Hearing does not come from the ears, or the air, or empty space. It comes from the mind. Without empty space, ears and air could not exist. Without air, sound could not travel, and without the ear this traveling sound could not be heard.

Volume Three, Part 2

The way ánanda now sees things, the eyes, and visual form create eye consciousness. Does this make the eyes the place where this consciousness dwells, or does it make the outside forms the place where this consciousness dwells?

If the eye consciousness dwelled in the eyes themselves then when the eyes were destroyed so would be the consciousness. If the eye consciousness dwelt in forms then when there were no forms present your consciousness would die. Furthermore, if it were produced from outside forms, then when outside forms changed, so would the eye consciousness. It would have no attributes, yet if it did not then your eye consciousness would be a permanent object, and would cease to function, as it could never see emptiness.

You should realize that the eye consciousness always exists, but is only manifested when form and the eyes come together as causes for it. You cannot visit your eyes as if they were a place, and you can only visit some forms, so this eye consciousness could not dwell in either of them.

The same is true of the ear consciousness. Is the ear where your ear consciousness resides? Is it the sound? If it were either of these two, then hearing would be impossible. Hearing does not come from the ears or the sound; it comes from sounds reaching your ears. Sound with out ears is silent. Ears without sound are worthless.

The same can be said of the Nose Consciousness, the Tongue Consciousness, and the Body Consciousness, as well as the Mind Consciousness. After the Buddha is finished telling ánanda about each one of these in turn, ánanda asks, "World Honored One, in discussing the dharmas of mixing and uniting of causes and conditions, the Thus Come One has often said that the transformations of all mundane phenomena can be discovered in the mixing and uniting of the four elements. Why does the Thus Come One now reject causes, conditions, and spontaneity as well? I do not know what your meaning pertains to. Please be so compassionate as to instruct us beings in dharmas that adhere to the complete meaning of the Middle Way and are not philosophical speculations."

The Buddha replies by saying that ánanda is very learned, but while he can recognize various medicines when he sees them, he will not take medicine that it placed before him.

‘Why do you waste your time thinking false thoughts about cause and effect?’

The way ánanda is now thinking, the four elements can be found mixed in all things. If the natures of the four elements were permanent then they could not combine with other elements, just in the same way that empty space and solid form cannot mix.

Life will eventually come to an end. Death will eventually lead to rebirth, and that rebirth will lead to death like the circle of flame that is produced when a torch is spun in a circle. It is like Ice that becomes water, and then freezes again later.

ánanda’s point of view is that if all things are empty, then they come from emptiness. The Buddha tells him that if you were to destroy a speck of dust, you should then be able to bring it back from emptiness. If dust comes from emptiness in the sense that ánanda means, then enough emptiness mixed together would make a speck of dust. In the same way you should be able to take dust and transmute it into emptiness.

However, when dust is massed together you get nothing but a pile of dust. You can never accumulate so much dust that it forms emptiness. It can be divided and added to like all material things. Emptiness is not like other phenomena; if you divide up emptiness and try to move it around, you might get some exercise but the emptiness would never change.

A mass of emptiness could not exist. If we suppose for a moment that such a thing could be acquired, it could not ever make form, because there is no form in it.

Things that manifest themselves in this world do so because of, and in compliance with karma. While causes and conditions are accountable for the existence of everything, those causes and conditions would not have been brought into play if you did not have the karma for it to happen. That is what the Buddha means when he talks about the incorrectness of spontaneity.

The Buddha explains to ánanda that while the monks make up the Sangha, every one of them is a unique individual who bears his own past, his own name, and his own family. The Sangha is considered a single entity, even though it is composed of many people.

Suppose a family desired to have a fire with which they could cook their supper with. To get this fire, they hold up a brass mirror so that the sun’s light is reflected onto the flammable tinder. Can you say where the fire comes from? Does it originate from the Tinder? The Mirror? The Sun? No. If fire came from the sun, then everything would burn up. If fire comes from the mirror, then why wouldn’t the mirror melt? If the fire came from the tinder, then why would there only be a fire when heat and light was reflected onto it?

Even further still, the tinder comes from the ground, the mirror is held in your hands, and the sun lies high above our sky, so where does fire come from? Since the sun is so far away from the mirror and tinder, how could it ‘mix and unite’ with either of them, as ánanda has suggested? Where does fire come from?

The Buddha states, "You still have not realized that in the Treasury of the Thus Come One the nature of fire is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is true fire. That fundamental purity pervades the Dharma Realm. Beings’ minds absorb it according to their capacity to know.

"ánanda, you should know that fire can be generated anyplace where a mirror is held up to the sunlight. If mirrors were held up to the sunlight everywhere in the Dharma Realm, fire would be generated everywhere. Since fire can come forth throughout the whole world, can there be any fixed place to which it is confined?"

The Buddha is trying to make ánanda understand that things do not happen spontaneously. Causes and conditions do not occur spontaneously, we are responsible for all of our actions. In the same manner as fire, water cannot come from the moon, or from space, any other single place. An alchemist cannot pull it from a crystal ball, nor can a magician summon it from nothing. Water has to come from the aggregates of water.

Wind is the same way. Whenever wind is blowing hard you always dress warmer, when something is moving it can cause wind. If some ones robe were to brush past some one else’s face it would cause wind to hit the face. Does the wind come from the robe? Does it arise from emptiness? Perhaps it comes from the persons face. If the wind had arisen from the robe then it would be like wearing the wind, and the robe could be expected fly away from you. Does a robe do that? No. It is still when no wind is present, and it hangs down limply, therefore wind cannot come from the robe.

If wind came from emptiness, why wouldn’t wind be constantly hurling us about? Since the nature of emptiness never changes, the wind would be constant as well. If it worked the other way around, then when wind stopped, emptiness would cease to exist. If wind is lacking we could tell, but how would one know if emptiness had vanished? If emptiness were to come and go like ordinary phenomena then it would no longer be emptiness. Also, once again, if emptiness were the cause of something, it would no longer be empty, because it would have to have the materials necessary to make wind. If this wind came from the face, then it would blow upon you as well.

When you closely examine all of the materials involved with the wind, you will realize that they alone are not the cause. The robe caused a disturbance in the air around it, making the air fly into the other persons face. Without empty space to convey they air, and without a face to feel the air, then there would have been no wind to be felt.

"The wind and emptiness cannot mix and unite, since they are different from each other. Nor could the wind exist spontaneously without an origin."

In the treasury of the Buddha the nature of the elements is true emptiness, and the nature of emptiness is the true elements. Fire is emptiness and emptiness is fire. Water is emptiness and emptiness is water. Wind is emptiness and emptiness is wind. This fundamental truth pervades all things.

Everything that manifests does so in total compliance with Karma. This is the message that the Buddha is trying to get through to ánanda.

Then the Buddha begins to tell ánanda about the nature of emptiness. It has no shape, it is only apparent to us because of forms that reside in it. The Buddha uses the example of men digging wells. As they dig, emptiness takes the place of the dirt they have removed. As a square foot of earth is removed, a square foot of emptiness becomes evident. As ten square feet of earth are removed, ten feet of emptiness become evident. The depth of the emptiness corresponds to the amount of earth removed. Whence does this emptiness come? Does it exist because of the digging? Does it just come of itself? Did the dirt create it?

If emptiness came of itself then it would have been evident before they started digging. If emptiness came about when the dirt was removed, then you should have saw it take the place of the dirt. As you dug you could see the dirt actively change places with the emptiness. If no such entering took place how could you say that emptiness came from the removal of dirt? In that case then there would be no difference between emptiness and dirt, and when you dug out dirt emptiness would also be removed. If emptiness appeared because of digging then digging would bring about emptiness not dirt.

Then the Buddha highlights this point. He says that digging is an act from an individual, and that the dirt exists because it was removed from the ground. The digging and the emptiness, one being substantial and the other insubstantial, are not compatible. They do not mix and unite. Nor could emptiness exist spontaneously without an origin.

The Buddha continues by saying, once again, that the nature of the five elements is emptiness, or the Treasury of the Thus Come One. The source of these elements is emptiness, and the nature of enlightenment is emptiness. The nature of emptiness is enlightenment.

An empty well is filled with emptiness, and it is the same way with the rest of the universe. Since emptiness then fills the universe, how could there be any fixed place where it can be found? It doesn’t have a fixed position. It is empty.

Just like this the seeing awareness cannot perceive sights alone. If it’s nature was not emptiness it could not exist. This seeing nature is aware of light and darkness. Is the seeing nature made of the same thing as darkness or of light? If the nature of the seeing awareness was darkness, then it would vanish in the light, and if it’s nature was of light it would evaporate in the dark.

ánanda, suppose seeing shared a single substance with brightness, darkness, or emptiness, darkness and brightness cancel each other out. When it is dark, there is no light; when it is light, there is no darkness. If seeing were one with either of these two things how could you ever see anything? If, however, the seeing nature is separate from these two things, what form does the eye nature take? With the absence of light and darkness seeing would be like finding fur growing on a turtle shell. How could the seeing nature be one with light and darkness since they are opposites? Would they not cancel each other out? However, if the seeing nature was different from these things, how is it we can see them?

Say that light comes from the sun and that darkness comes from the new moon. The penetration of light and darkness, the fact that it can travel to our eyes so we can see it, is given to emptiness. Solidity of form is given to earth. From which of these does the seeing nature arise. It does not come from any of these things. We are able to see because we are alive, because we have eyes, and because of light and darkness. If we were not alive eyes would do us no good. If there were no light and darkness what good would eyes be? If we had no eyes our seeing nature would have no purpose. The seeing nature arises from our mentality. Our mentality arises from karma.

The nature of our consciousness is a false manifestation of the six sense organs and the objects they perceive. You can compare the things your eyes witness to something a mirror reflects, in that both of these things, the mirror and the eyes, are devoid of the ability to distinguish between objects. Your consciousness will attempt to identify what it is the eye sees, and in the case of failing to do so, it will attempt to make sense of the object.

Consciousness does not arise spontaneously, it is not an illusion, and it does not come from the forms it perceives. Consciousness comes from karma. That is the message of this part of the Sutra: all things come from karma.

Volume Four Part 1

Volume Four begins with Purnamaitreyaniputra (Purna) asking the Buddha to expound ‘the primary truth’. Why, if all physical phenomena are a part of the treasury of the thus come one, do all conditioned phenomena arise, live, and die cyclically?

If the nature of earth is pervasive how could it contain water? If the nature of water is pervasive how could fire ever arise? Would not the existence of water pervading empty space and fire encompassing empty space displace each other? The nature of earth is solidity and the nature of emptiness is vacuum, so how could both of these saturate the world? What is this doctrine aiming at?

The Buddha declared that Purna spoke of understanding enlightenment. ("Those who are like ánanda, although enlightened, have not yet ended their outflows of their habits.") Then he asked this question; does your nature understand these things, and is that called enlightenment, or does enlightenment fundamentally lack understanding, and is that why you speak of understanding it?

Purna replied that if a lack of understanding could be called enlightenment then there could never be understanding. The Buddha said to Purna, if there were no understanding at all then an understanding of enlightenment would be impossible. If understanding is added, that could not be called enlightenment, but ignorance, or a lack of this understanding, cannot be said to be the nature of enlightenment. In short, the Buddha and Purna agree that ignorance couldn’t be enlightenment, or any aspect of it.

We say that someone "realizes" enlightenment because people understand something about their nature that has always been present. If you were to "attain" enlightenment then that would imply that it is some kind of outside state, when in actuality enlightenment is one of our fundamental components.

The Buddha stated, "The nature of enlightenment certainly includes understanding. It’s redundant to speak of understanding enlightenment." Then he went on to say that enlightenment is not understanding alone, because understanding sets an ‘objective realm’ or a visible point where you will know when enlightenment comes. Once you have set up such an ‘objective realm’ (such as, ‘If I realize emptiness I will be enlightened’) your false subjective state arises. This means that you have embraced a delusion.

Where there was neither sameness nor difference, you have created difference. What differs from the different becomes ‘same’ and what differs from ‘same’ becomes different. Once these two, sameness and difference mutually arise they create something that is neither different nor the same. The Buddha calls this turmoil, and he says that it brings about weariness, which produces defilement, and the combination of defilement and weariness inside of this turmoil creates afflictions: this world that we live in is directly caused by this arising.

‘Sameness’ is emptiness and ‘difference’ is our world. That which is neither different or the same is called dharma. "The understanding added to enlightenment creates a light that stands in mutual opposition with the darkness of emptiness. As a result, wind wheels (a type of ancient Indian machinery) that support the world come into being."

The Buddha begins to describe what brings a world into being. He states that the tension of the light against the darkness makes the machinery (wind wheel), which is responsible for our universe. He is saying that our false views have produced this world, causing it to come into being. The Buddha is giving the disciples a description of this process because of where they are in their understanding of reality.

So far, they are still struggling with the common mental block of ‘There has to be a beginning’, so the Buddha is providing them with a description of this false beginning. In this description he answers Purna’s second question, about elements, specifically those that he considered to oppose one another (like fire and water), can exist together in this world.

"The tension between emptiness and that light creates movement. The false, persistent light congeals into a solidity that becomes metal. A lack of enlightenment nurtures that persistence and causes metal wheels to secure all lands.
Metal produces moisture, which causes flame to rise from the fire. Thus the wheel of water that encompasses all realms in the ten directions comes about.
Fire rises and water falls, and the combination becomes tenacious. What is wet becomes the oceans and seas; what is dry becomes the continents and islands.
Because of this, fire often rises up in the oceans, and on the continents the streams and rivers ever flow.
The interaction of that false dichotomy in turn creates these elements as seeds and from these causes and conditions comes the continuity of the world."

The Buddha tells Purna and the assembly that false understanding is nothing other than the mistake of adding understanding to enlightenment. Once again, Enlightenment is something you realize, not attain, or discover. So the false objective realm is established and the subjective understanding cannot surpass it. This is like saying sight does not go beyond form, and that hearing does not go beyond sound. For example, you have in your mind the idea ‘I will have attained enlightenment when I have understood emptiness,’ and so, your mind cannot go beyond that. If you think ‘There has to be a beginning for everything,’ then you can never see past this delusion.

The Buddha explains to Purna that all things are brought about by Karma, not just phenomena, but emotions and actions as well. He explains that greed is the basis for all hatred and that emotional love is the basis of all attachment. All of these things come from adding Understanding to Enlightenment.

Purna asked the Buddha "If this wonderful enlightenment, the wonderful awareness of fundamental enlightenment, which is neither greater than nor less than the mind of the Thus Come One, abruptly brings forth the mountains, the rivers, and the great earth, and all conditioned phenomena, then now that the Thus Come One has attained the wonderful emptiness of clear enlightenment, will the mountains, the rivers, the great earth, and all conditioned habitual outflows arise ever again?"

The Buddha asked Purna, if a man lives in a village, and is confused about directions thinking that north was south and that south was north, would that confusion be the result of confusion itself, or of awareness?

Purna tells the Buddha that confusion has no basis for existence because it arises from the negative karma of people. Confusion is a lack of understanding, and the only way to overcome confusion is to gain an understanding of whatever it is you are ignorant about. The Buddha tells us that confusion is not real, but anyone who has been in a state of confusion would be inclined to disagree.

However, the Buddha is not saying confusion does not exist, he is saying that it is not a real thing because anything that has a basis in reality can be the direct cause for a disciple to have an understanding of truth.

If some one were to point out this confused mans mistake, and he learned where the cardinal directions actually were, could he ever lose his direction in that village again? No. Shakyamuni tells Purna that the Buddhas are the same way. Confusion is a groundless concept, which is empty by nature. When the delusion about the two concepts of confusion and enlightenment is dispelled you will see clearly that there is no confusion, only enlightenment. Enlightenment does not give rise to confusion; it gives rise to clarity. Delusion gives rise to confusion, and confusion alone.

The Buddha asks Purna to consider a man who has cataracts in his eyes and because of them sees flowers in space. Once the cataracts are removed the flowers will vanish. Suppose this man where to then rush to the point where he saw the flowers and wait for them to reappear. Would you consider him wise or stupid?

Purna replied that since the flowers were the man’s delusion, and since their disappearance was also a delusion, to rush up and wait for them to reappear would be madness. Why would he bother to determine such a man’s wisdom or stupidity?

The Buddha said in turn, ‘if you see it that way then why, Purna do you ask if the emptiness of enlightenment could once again give rise to mountains, rivers, and planets’. This question means, ‘Can a Buddha revert back to an ordinary human being?’

If you find a lump of ore that had gold in it, but then extract the gold, it will never be ore again. Also if you reduce wood to ashes, it can never become wood again. "The Bodhi and Nirvana of all the Buddhas… are the same way."

‘Purna’, the Buddha says, ‘You also asked whether the natures of water and fire would not destroy each other if the natures of earth, water, fire, and wind were all perfectly fused and pervaded the Dharma Realm, and whether space and the great earth would not be incompatible if both pervaded the Dharma Realm. The substance of space is not phenomena, and yet that does not prevent phenomena from being inside of it.

You recognize space, and space appears. Recognizing earth, water, fire, and wind, each will appear. If all are recognized, all will appear’.

’How can they all appear? Purna, consider the sun’s reflection as it appears in a single body of water. Two people gaze at it, both at the same time. Then one person walks east and the other walks west. Each person, still looking at the water will see a sun go along with him, one to the east, one to the west, while there seems to be no fixed direction for the movement of the sun’s reflection.’

One sun obviously cannot be following both people, and there certainly are not two (visible) suns. There is no use in contemplating why there seems to be two suns. (The reason is that when both people look down, they see the sun’s light reflected back. To anyone at any point in the lake the sun will be visible because of the way the light reflects.) It is an illusion, like a flower that a man with cataracts sees hanging in space. There is no point in waiting for the flower to come back once the cause of the illusion is gone.

The nature of everything is ultimately truth, and truth is founded solely on enlightenment. Fire and water have the same origins, so why could the two not exist together? So long as they are both phenomena that obey the rules of the universe then there is no reason that they can’t be contained in the same system, along with the rest of the elements.

The "treasury of the thus come one" is the Buddha nature. It is not anything other than this. Then the Buddha lists the things that it is not. All of these things he lists, the various phenomena including the six sense organs, dharma, everything is dependent on emptiness, and the energy it is made of is identical to the energy that is the universe. He tells us this by going back and explaining that it is all of these things. The Treasury of the Thus Come One is the nature of all things. It is emptiness. It is our sense organs and it is the universe.

Shakyamuni goes on to say that the Treasury of the Thus Come One is truth, that it is awareness of that truth! There are two kinds of truth, the relative, and absolute. The relative truth is the daily reality we experience, we have a body, and we live in a physical world. The absolute truth is that everything is dependent on causes and conditions.

"How can beings in the three realms… make suppositions about the unsurpassed Bodhi of the Thus Come One with the minds that they know of, or enter the knowledge and vision of the Buddha through the medium of worldly language?"

If an untrained man picks up a violin and begins to play it, horrible non-music sounds come from it. However, if some one who knows how to play the violin begins to play it, the sound that comes forth is beautiful.

All beings are this way. They have in them this wonderful perfect enlightenment, (the music), but they are untrained and so cannot bring it out. If you do not seek to learn to play the instrument (of life), you will never be able to play music (live skillfully). You must want to uncover the Buddha nature that lies buried beneath your defilements. Then, just like a student with a violin you must practice hard, or else you will never master the instrument.

Then Purna said to the Buddha, "My mind and the Thus Come One’s true wonderful pure mind are no different in their perfect precious enlightenment and complete understanding. But I have long been plagued with beginning-less false thoughts and have long endured the cycle of rebirth. As of yet my attainment in the sagely vehicle is not ultimate. The World Honored One has completely ended all falseness and attained wonderful eternal truth.
I venture to ask the Thus Come One why all beings exist in falseness and conceal their own wonderful understanding, so that they keep drowning in this deluge?"

The Buddha told him that, although beings can dispel their doubts, they still have not eliminated their delusions. The Buddha then relates a recent incident concerning a man who became enraged by staring at a distorted reflection of him-self in the mirror. The Buddha asks Purna to explain this mans actions.

Purna replies the man is insane.

What Purna does not realize is that this man is a perfect example of what we call normal human behavior. We are all running about in search things that we think will make us happy. In actuality these things we grasp after are the wrong things, they do not lead to happiness, they only lead to more suffering.

The Buddha asked Purna how he could say that the wonderful bright perfection inside this man was false. If there is a reason, then how does he define false? All of our false thinking has become the cause for more. From confusion we accumulate confusion through eon after eon and although the Buddha is aware of it, he cannot counteract it. A man who realizes Bodhi is like one who awakens from a dream. Since his thinking is now clear, why would he grasp at the unreality of his dream?

Once this madness we trap ourselves in ends, we enter a state called Bodhi. Only you can realize enlightenment, nobody else can save you but yourself. This is why you do not hear Buddhist Students say, ‘I am Enlightened’. There is nothing to attain.

Then the Buddha says that we are like men who have a pearl sewn into our robe that is capable of granting all of our wishes. We roam the country begging for our sustenance, filthy and destitute.

Then a wise man points out our possession of this pearl to us, and we can suddenly have anything we want. All this time we have been living a hellish life, even though we had this wonderful wish fulfilling pearl.

Then ánanda enters the scene, and asks the Buddha why he rejects causes and conditions ‘all of a sudden’, saying that his own attainments have come about because of causes and conditions. "Now you say that Bodhi does not come from causes and conditions. That would make the spontaneity that Maskari Goshaliputra and others advocated in Rajagriha the primary meaning!"

The Buddha tells ánanda to consider again the case of the man who went insane while looking at his reflection in the mirror. That man did not lose his head like he had believed, and should the causes and conditions for his madness cease he will become sane again. His head never once went missing, so why then would he run and go mad from fear that his head had vanished? His fear and madness arose from falseness, and we can never truly know what the causes and conditions were that made him go mad, so what it the use of talking of them?

If this madness had been a natural state of mind, and it would merely would have been latent inside of him. Before he went mad, when this insanity was still latent, where was his madness hidden? If the madness is not a natural state (thus making madness an impossibility), his head would have in fact gone missing, then he would not be mad, his head would be lost and he would merely be in a state of panic until such time as he was calmed down, or his head was retrieved.

If he had realized that his head was still with him and then saw the insanity of his tantrum, then both the spontaneity and the causes and conditions would become ‘idle theories’. He would realize what was wrong, his Bodhi Mind would be manifesting and he would see the truth, and there would be no reason to run about like a mad man.

Nothing can be spontaneous. Spontaneity implies that there can be an effect without a cause; it is like saying that for absolutely no reason a rabbit was just mystically created from a hat. If you claimed to have seen a mystically created rabbit that was born from effects that have no cause, then people would likely think you were insane, deceived, or a liar. If you abandon the concept of spontaneous events (or ‘magical thinking’), then it will die because it is a concept founded on impossibilities.

Part four ends with the Buddha telling ánanda that one single day of correct practice is more valuable than eons worth of isolated study.

Volume Four, Part 2

Part Two begins with ánanda telling the Buddha that he understands, and begging him not to let any one else in the assembly misunderstand. The Buddha proclaims that all of the disciples in this assembly have already resolved to attain Bodhi, and he urges them not to grow weary along the path. Then he tells them that that they must understand and put into practice the two absolutes if they want to realize the ultimate wisdom.

The first absolute is determining if ‘the cause-ground’ is any different from ‘the fruition ground’, or in easier terms, is the path of the voice hearer any different from the Bodhisattva. There is no more work involved for either the voice hearer or the Bodhisattva student; the difference is their ultimate goal. The voice hearer wants to attain the state of never returning, he wants liberation for himself, the freedom of personal nirvana, while the Bodhisattva wants all beings everywhere to realize enlightenment.

The Buddha tells ánanda that, because of this, it is impossible to cultivate your mind while you are on ‘the cause-ground’, or while you are a voice-hearer. "For this reason, you should realize that all composite dharmas belonging to the material world will decay and disappear." ‘ánanda, What dharmas will not wear out?’

ánanda replies that he has never heard of empty space decaying or dying; space cannot die because it is not composed of physical matter. Is the emptiness of ten millennia ago identical to the emptiness of today? Emptiness cannot be changed because it is the lack of any physical presence.

ánanda’s thinking is not flexible enough, and he is putting things into rigid categories. Dharma is emptiness; emptiness cannot change, ergo Dharma cannot change.

The Buddha reminds ánanda that our bodies are tied to the world by the four elements, and because of this our minds are divided into the sense organs. "From [the bodies] beginning to [the bodies] end you are immersed in the five layers of turbidity." Then the Buddha explains what he means by turbidity (turmoil).

Take, as an example, pure water. If you look at it, you see that it is not a solid mass. However, if you take dirt and throw it in, it loses its clarity, and you can no longer see through it, at least until the sediment settles. The Buddha tells us that the resulting opaqueness caused by the dirt is similar to the five layers of turbidity.

The first layer is the Turbidity of Time. We know that space pervades the Universe, and yet there is no visual indication that it exists. The only reason we can see into space is because there are objects out there for us to see, and there is a person to do the seeing. It is because we see things improperly that we become entangled in this first layer.

The second layer is the Turbidity of Views. The body is composed of the four elements, and from them the six senses are defined. The four element-senses will then fluctuate from sensation to thought and back again, causing false views as we place things improperly into categories.

The third layer is the Turbidity of Afflictions. From your mind come the functions of memory, discrimination, and verbal comprehension, and these bring into existence knowledge and views. Knowledge and views spawn the six defiling objects, which without the consciousness would lack attributes. Without cognition objects would have no false nature.

"Day and night there is endless arising and ceasing as your knowledge and views continually wish to remain in the world, while your karmic patterns constantly move you to various places. This entanglement becomes falseness, which is the fourth layer, called the Turbidity of Living Beings."

The fifth layer is the Turbidity of a Life Span. Your sense organs used to be of a single nature, but with the vast number of defiling objects, they have been divided so that now they have differences. The natures of our sense organs all have mutual awareness’s, but their functions are now in opposition, (eyes can’t hear, ears can’t see, etc). Emptiness and form become entangled, and we think of them as two different things despite the fact that they have the same origin (emptiness). We use emptiness to define form, and we use form to define emptiness but this view is false.

"ánanda, you now want to cause your seeing, hearing, sensation, and cognition to return to and tally with the eternity, bliss, true self, and purity of the Thus Come One."

To do this you must first rely on the Buddha Wisdom within you to discover what it is that causes people to be born over and over again in a state of suffering. With this Buddha Wisdom you will realize that what you have called birth and death, or arising and falling, is not really what it seems. You do not ‘arise’ because that would mean you are coming from someplace, and you do not ‘fall’ because that means you would be returning somewhere. It is a cycle of birth and death, and you cannot escape it to somewhere outside of system; you can however stop suffering within this vicious cycle and live in the state of Nirvana.

If you do this then you will realize the wisdom of Bodhi and to see the fruit of this effort in your life. The Sutra says that it is like taking the muddy water that represents our life and watching all the dirt and sediment sink to the bottom. The ultimate goal in this case would be the complete removal of the impurities in our lives.

The Second Absolute is that you renounce improper attachment to all conditioned phenomena. You should carefully consider the origin of afflictions: who creates and who endures the beginning-less creation of karma and perpetual rebirth? If you do not reflect on the origin of your personal afflictions then you will not see that they come from improper understanding of conditioned phenomena. The sutra says that it would be like trying to untie a knot that you have never seen while in total darkness.

Continuing his argument ánanda replies that he has never heard of anyone having to unbind empty space, because there is nothing to untie. The Buddha tells him that his sense organs are like six thieves who seek only to plunder his household. Would you trust the word of six armed men who broke into your house? If they assured you that they were just passing through, and that they were not going to rob you or hurt you, would you even for a second consider not calling the police?

The Buddha explains that the efficiency our six senses can be measured. The eyes cannot see anything but what is in front of them, leaving what is behind us, and sometimes to the sides, so it is a shallow sense organ. The ears can hear anything, whether it comes from above, below, from back or front, and from the sides, so it is a more efficient organ. The Nose can smell things only when it is used as a tool for breathing, so it is a shallow organ. The tongue is capable of speaking any language, and is only limited by the person using it, so it is a non-shallow organ. The Body is only aware of things that come into direct contact with it, so our skin is a shallow sense organ. The mind is the least shallow of all; there is nothing it cannot grasp with sufficient effort.

If you wish to free yourself from improper attachment you must consider which of your senses are shallow and which are deep. The other senses are imperfect, so to attain enlightenment you must realize that the deepest of all your senses is the Mind. If you purify your mind then your senses will become pure, or as the Sutra says: "Enter one without falseness, and the six sense-organs will be simultaneously pure."

ánanda asked the Buddha how they would go about entering the door of wisdom purifying their mind thus cleansing the six sense organs.

He responded by saying, ‘You have already realized the level of Srotaapanna so you have already put an end to your delusions, but you cannot see that your senses have accumulated habits so numerous that they cannot be counted. You must sever these habits, ánanda, and you must sever them by way of cultivating the senses.’

‘Think about your senses for a moment; are they one single sense, or six separate senses? They could not be one single sense, or your eyes would be able to hear and your ears could detect scent. Yet, if they are six separate organs, which of them is receiving this teaching?’

ánanda replied ‘My ears receive your teaching because my ears are the only sense I have that can hear sounds.’

‘Your ears can hear by themselves then, ánanda? Pray tell me what that could possibly have to do with the body and mouth. You ask about the principles I expound with my mouth, and your body puts them into practice, and displays veneration for receiving the teaching as well.’

‘Therefore you should know that if your senses are not one, they must be six, and if they not six, then they must be one. I say to you that these sense organs are all different facets of the same design. It is only through your confused way of thinking carried over from time without beginning that you do not realize this.’

If you were to take six containers, you could say that they were filled with emptiness. If these containers are all shaped differently, then you could also say that the emptiness would change to fit the vessels. However, were you to dispose of the vessels or fill them so that there was no emptiness in them, you could not say that in any way the emptiness had been altered. You also cannot say that the emptiness in one container was different from the emptiness in another.

It is the same way with your sense organs. It is their job to sense things and they have developed individual consciousnesses and habits. Because you have been manifested in a body that possesses eyes you have an eye consciousness and can see. However, were you to die and be reborn as a being that had no use for eyes, the substance of your eye consciousness would divert to some other sense. While the eye is limited to what it can do, it is a part of one vast and pure consciousness.

However, these organs are clouded with defilements because of causes we have made in the past, and the information you receive from them is distorted. Because of our bad karma our senses are very limited in what they can accomplish. Only when we have purified our senses will they become clairvoyant.

ánanda stated that the Buddha’s present teaching was contradictory and could lead one into confusing circles of reasoning. He said, "Then my comparisons become circular, and no matter how carefully I search, there seems to be no such thing as my mind or what pertains to it. Just what should be used to seek the Unsurpassed Enlightenment?"

The Buddha replied, "Lest your sincerity and faith remain insufficient, I will try to make use of an ordinary event to dispel your doubts."

The Buddha told Rahula to strike the bell, and then he asked ánanda if he could hear the noise it made. The entire assembly replied that they could indeed hear the bell. When it stopped resounding the Buddha asked them if they could still hear it, and they relied that they could not. Then he had Rahula strike the bell once again, and he asked if there was a sound. They replied that there was. When the bell became still the Buddha asked them again in there was a sound and they responded ’there is no sound’.

The Buddha then asked ánanda, ‘what do you mean by sound and no sound?’ ánanda and the assembly told the Buddha that when the bell is struck it emits a sound, and when the bell is left alone no sound comes forth. The Buddha asked them why they were being inconsistent with their view on this, and the assembly lapsed into confusion.

Shakyamuni told them, "When I asked if it was your hearing, you said it was your hearing. Then, when I asked you if it was sound, you said it was sound. I cannot ascertain from your answers if it is hearing or if it is sound. How can you not say that is inconsistent?"

‘ánanda when the sound was gone you told me that there was no hearing, but if this was the case your hearing nature would cease to exist. The hearing nature being dead, how could you ever hear the bell again?’

The sound is fooling your hearing nature by making you think that the hearing nature comes and then goes away. Your hearing nature does not turn on and off when sound arises, it is the sound that comes and goes. If your hearing nature does not hear anything for a few moments, it will invent imaginary sounds, which is solid evidence that it does not come and go like sounds do.

Even when a man is asleep his hearing does not go away. If he hears something while dreaming, he might mistake it for something else. In his dream, the person hears the sound of beating and pounding and takes it for something else, perhaps for the striking of a drum or the ringing of a bell. In his dream he wonders why the bell sounds like stone or wood.

Suddenly he awakens and immediately recognizes the sound of pounding. He tells the members of his household, ‘I was just having a dream in which I mistook the sound of pounding for the sound of a drum.’ Although his physical body is asleep, his hearing nature is still alert. Even if your physical body were to die, the energy that you and your sense organs are made of would not perish.

However, because beings, from the beginning-less time, have chased after sensory pleasures, following those wherever they lead, they have not realized their pure and eternal nature. Following these sensory pleasures leads us only to defilement.

ánanda tells the Buddha that the knot of suffering that we all strive to untie is complicated, and that if the center is not found there is no chance of untying it. ánanda says that, "From time without beginning we have been accompanied in birth and death by ignorance." Then ánanda tells the Buddha that the explanation of these two absolutes will enable him, and future beings to escape the suffering of cyclical existence.

The Buddha tells ánanda that it is good that he wishes to recognize and eliminate the ignorance, which causes him to be born in hellish circumstances life after life. The knot of birth and death is made of our six sense organs. To realize the unsurpassed wisdom, which will directly lead to bliss and liberation, you must purify the senses. The Buddha closes this section, and begins the next by repeating this teaching in verse form.

Volume Five, Part One

The first part of volume five has a theme based on a single question, which is directed towards the entire assembly: ‘What expedient, teaching, or experience helped you attain samádhi?’

The volume opens with ánanda asking the Buddha to further explain the meaning of ‘untying the knot of birth and death’ and purifying the six senses. In response the Buddha took a piece of fine cloth and tied into it a knot, then asked the entire assembly what it was. They replied that it was a knot. Again he tied a knot into the cloth, and posed the same question, at which point he was told that there were two knots. This process was repeated until there were a total of six knots tied into the cloth. When the disciples reported the presence of the six knots the Buddha demonstrated that it was merely a single strip of cloth, and asked how they claim that it was more than one object.

ánanda replies that each individual tie the Buddha put into the cloth was called a knot, so that if there were a hundred ties, they could be called one hundred knots. Then he asked the Buddha why he was only supposed to look at it as a single object.

Here, ánanda has misunderstood the Buddha’s meaning. The Buddha points out that the cloth is only one single strip, ‘but when six ties are put into it you say it is six knots. If you examine the cloth you can easily discern that it is singular, and yet you say it is six knots. The first knot that I tied you would call number one. Would the last knot also be called the first knot?’

ánanda replies that only one knot on that piece of cloth could be called the first, and that you could not have six ‘first’ knots. The Buddha points out that they are not identical knots. The cloth is a single entity with six separate knots in it. The assembly believes that this single piece of cloth has turned from one into many, but this is not the case. The knots are made of the cloth. To assert that the presence of knots in the cloth some how magically changes it from one into several is illogical.

The sense organs are the same way; they are like six individual knots in a single piece of cloth. You can’t say that your senses are the same, but, like the knots, they are all a part of the same system.

Then the Buddha asked ánanda what he would do if he would rather have one single unified cloth instead of six knots. ánanda replies that so long as the six senses continue, and people remain ignorant, these false distinctions will be made. People will say this is touch, not sight, or this is smell and not hearing. They fail to realize that these things are all perception.

The Buddha has been saying that categories are false distinctions. The six senses (or six knots), when viewed correctly, become the single cloth of perception. The Buddha points out, however, that when you view perception itself correctly even that disappears because perception is dependent, and therefore empty.

Because the mind has been severely unsettled by bad causes the view from the input of the sense organs is seen as being separate things. This unsettling has caused false and evil views, and the mind becomes lazy. (If your eyes get tired and you force them to remain open, images will manifest in the space around you. These images are not real, and if you let your eyes rest they go away and your vision will be clear again. In the same way, your delusions arise from the weariness of your mind.)

ánanda asked the Buddha how they could untie these ‘sense knots’. To reply, Shakyamuni tugged on the left end of the knotted cloth, and asked ánanda if it could be untied in this manner. The answer was no. Then he tried the same thing with the other side of the cloth, and asked the same question. The answer was still no. ánanda told him that the only way to remove them was by pulling from the center.

The Buddha said to ánanda, "So it is, so it is. If you want to undo them, you have to untie them from the center." This Dharma that the Buddha is teaching also comes from causes meeting the proper conditions. Shakyamuni understood all dharmas, and what causes and conditions were required for them to be brought into being. When the Buddha states that he understands, ‘why the crow is black and why the goose is white’, he is telling us that he understands the way to world works.

Pick any of the sense organs you like; if its defiling object is removed by viewing it through the prism of wisdom then the ‘falseness’ that engulfs it will vanish. If what remains after the impurities have been removed is not the truth, then what is?

Can these six ‘sense knots’ that have been tied into this cloth all be untied simultaneously? ánanda tells the Buddha that this is impossible. Since all the knots were made in sequence they must in turn be untied one by one. There is no way to untie them all at once.

The Buddha explains to ánanda that it is the very same way with the sense organs. As the sense organs become purified "one realizes the emptiness of people first." The Buddha is saying that it is easier to realize that people are empty and that only later can you fully understand that all phenomena are exactly the same, when you completely realize emptiness then all suffering ceases.

Upon hearing the Buddhas words ánanda and the entire assembly understood this teaching. At this point Shakyamuni turns to the students who had attained high realizations and asks them, ‘When you first became enlightened through my instruction which expedient teaching helped you to attain samádhi?’

Annasi Kaundinya as well as the rest of the original five monks arose from their seats. Kaundinya told the Buddha that, for him, it was the teaching on the Four Noble truths. Kaundinya was the first monk to understand this teaching and that is why he was given the name ‘Annasi’. He realized the teaching by hearing the Buddha’s voice and adds that it was through sound that he became an Arhat.

The importance of sound should not be passed over lightly. Earlier in the sutra you will recall that the Buddha declared that our ears are second only to our mind when it comes to attaining realizations. As you study the sutras you will encounter the Buddha’s repeated emphasis on the importance of sound as a way of attaining these higher realizations. When Annasi has finished his statement, he proclaims that sound is the foremost means of attaining realizations.

The monk named ‘Exalted By Fragrance’ stood up, and told the Buddha that he entered Samádhi because the Buddha taught him how to contemplate conditioned phenomena. He told the Buddha that he attained the ‘absence of outflows’ because of a realization, which occurred while contemplating a burning incense offering. (Hence the name ‘Exalted By Fragrance’.) Then he states that the foremost means of attaining realizations is through the nose.

Then ‘Medicine King’ and ‘Superior Medicine’ as well as five hundred Brahma gods in the assembly arose from their seats and said to the Buddha, "From beginning-less eons until now, we have been good doctors for the world. Our mouths have tasted many herbs, wood, metals, and stones of the Saha world, a hundred and eight thousand flavors."

‘While we have been the Buddha’s students we have come to know that the nature of all the various phenomena’s in this world are empty. We have attained the Bodhisattva level because we have understood and purified our taste organs.’

Bhadrapala and sixteen others, who were his companions, then arose from their seats in the assembly. Bhadrapala informs the Buddha that he became a Bodhisattva because of a realization he had while bathing. "Once, when it was time for the Sangha to bathe, I followed the custom and entered the bathhouse. Suddenly I awakened to the fact that water does not wash away the dust, nor does it cleanse the body and in that moment I became peaceful and attained the state of there being nothing at all." Bhadrapala finished by stating that the Body is the foremost tool to use to gain realizations.

Mahakashyapa in turn states that he attained Arhat-ship through mental comprehension of the dharma. He told the Buddha and the assembly that the mind was the foremost tool to attain realizations with.

Aniruddha arose from his seat and stated that he attained Arhat-ship by perceiving all pervading clarity, or the ceasing of delusions about conditioned phenomena. Aniruddha felt that this clarity was the foremost path that leads to higher spiritual realizations.

Kshudrapanthaka stated that he attained Arhat-ship through the removal of mental blocks and that the removal of these obstructions was the best way to attain realizations.

Many other disciples, some historical and some phantasmal, rise from their seats to deliver speeches about the best way to attain spiritual growth. They all have a different teaching that they used to attain realizations, and they each claim that theirs is the best possible path to follow.

Maitreya Bodhisattva relates his experience; he states that in a past life, he was under the tutelage of a Buddha called ‘Light of the Sun, Moon, and Lamp’. Even though he had left the home life, he was still attached to worldly fame, until the Buddha taught him the Samádhi of "Consciousness-Only Concentration." From the time he understood this teaching up until the present moment he has never been concerned with petty politics or material possessions. Then he states that the foremost means of acquiring realizations is through the samádhi of "Consciousness-Only Concentration."

Finally, ‘The Dharma Prince Great Strength’ spoke, saying that the foremost means of attaining realizations was the cultivation of the sensory organs through mindfulness, as that is the central ingredient necessary for attaining Nirvana.

These various practices that the bodhisattvas are describing are the knots in the cloth. They have failed to understand that these practices are all a part of the same thing. They all attained the same level of realization, and they attribute this newfound wisdom to the teaching that benefited their human development. However, these knots are all part of the same system and no single practice is any better then another, the ‘best practice’ for any student is the one that works for them.

Volume Five, Part Two

Part two of volume 5 starts by telling us that if we remember and are mindful of the Buddha then we will see him now and in future lives. Keeping the Buddha in mind and remembering him means that we should be aware of our actions and make sure we are not going against the teachings found in the dharma. If we do this, then our Buddha nature will manifest itself, and we will see the Buddha in ourselves, and even more importantly in all the beings around us. Also, by being in accord with the teachings you are making the cause to be (eventually) reborn in the lifetime of a Buddha.

The next line states that just by being near a Buddha, people can and will awaken by themselves, even without him teaching them. The Sutra tells us that it is like a person who puts on cologne or perfume. Wherever he goes people are aware of the scent he carries with him. People who are near a Buddha would be able to feel the good energy he is constantly putting into the environment. A Buddha can teach someone without words, because we are a visual species, so often times it takes a visual example for us to learn something.

It is after this last statement was made, that the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Contemplator of the Worlds Sounds) gets up from his seat, and addresses the Buddha saying that he used to serve a Buddha who carried the same title: "Contemplator of the Worlds Sounds." This Buddha, he tells us, taught him to enter Samádhi "through a process of hearing and reflecting."

It was through this teaching that Bodhisattva attained "the two supreme states." Those two states are the compassion equal to that of the Buddhas which he attained by uniting with the true law, and having compassion for all being everywhere, not just a selected few.

Avalokiteshvara states that because of offerings he made to his teacher (who in this case was the Buddha "Contemplator of Sounds"), he received from him a teaching on emptiness; because he had a realization on this teaching he developed a much greater state of compassion and understood the concept of the ten worlds (or he "entered all lands")

Avalokiteshvara at this point makes a vow to the Buddha that if a bodhisattva enters a state of ‘"samádhi’’ then this will cause them to spiritually progress and display "superior understanding," at that time he will appear before them and teach them dharma that will lead them to liberation. This does not mean that Avalokiteshvara will magically appear in your life and personally instruct you but it does mean that when you reach the proper state of spiritual development these teachings will become available to you.

His vow continues, now including Pratyekabuddhas; he will appear to them as another Pratyekabuddha and teach them dharma that will cause them to attain liberation. If the practitioner is an arahant he will appear to them as a fellow ‘voice hearer’ and also teach them the path to liberation.

The next part of the vow is encouraging to people like most of us in the world today. I am not sure that I am a bodhisattva, Pratyekabuddha or even an arahant, but I do know that I have good intentions and that I do work hard to spread the dharma. So when Avalokiteshvara promises to appear in the form of some upstanding individual (or Brahma King) to teach us dharma, I realize that it is the spirit of Avalokiteshvara who appears as the friends and neighbors that make available texts or instruct us.

There are other individuals in the world who have not developed so far as to even raise the aspiration for enlightenment. These beings long to be reborn in some heavenly realm. Avalokiteshvara’s vow includes these individuals because he will appear to them and help them to accomplish their goal.

From this point on this lengthy vow in essence promises to deliver aid to anybody who needs it, provided they have a good heart, and are trying to develop themselves as a human being.

Avalokiteshvara then addresses the Buddha saying that it was because of the strength of this samádhi, which he developed by following the teachings that he was given, that he developed a kind hearted empathy for all beings, especially for those in the six lower paths. It was because he followed these teachings that he increased his physical and mental abilities to a high degree. He uses these abilities to help people attain the virtue that comes from spiritual development.

This samádhi was attained because (1) he did not contemplate the sounds themselves but rather focused on the person doing the contemplating. You can end your suffering and distress by doing the same thing. (2&3) He turned his vision inward and realized that the person causing him to suffer was himself. You can keep from being "Burned" by this same suffering by turning your vision inward.

(4) He removed the false belief that a 'self' existed and so he lost all thoughts of killing or harming others. You can make a determination to do the same and if you do you will be free from all harm. (5) Since he has attained these realizations there is no such thing as really being wounded or really having people attack you. In other words if you are attacked, it is because you made the cause to be attacked. If you don’t make the cause to be attacked then you can’t be assaulted, no matter what the circumstances.

(6) These realizations have caused Avalokiteshvara to perceive his essential energy, and to understand that this same energy permeates the entire universe. When you realize the same thing then you will be safe from the lower realms that he mentions here. He gives the example of yakshas, garudas, and so on, which we already know represent the lower worlds.

(7) His realization has led him to understand the nature of sense objects, which frees him from craving for them. If you follow this same path, you too will be free from the locks and chains of this defilement. (8) This realization has also caused him to develop immense compassion for others. When you reach that level of development, you realize that there is no such thing as personal property, because everything is transient; personal property becomes illusory; "T’was mine, `tis his, and has been slave to thousands."

(9) By having this understanding you are no longer a slave to objects, or any kind of form. Under these circumstances it is easy "to leave greed and desire far behind" (10) Please realize that you are pure and that objects do not have to defile us if we are free from improper craving and desires. When you realize your inherent purity you will be free from rage and hatred. (11) Having this level of realization will open your intellect and you will be free "from stupidity and (inner) darkness"

(12) Achieving this level of understanding means that your heart and mind is free from anger so that you do not disturb other beings. This means that you can interact successfully with anyone. You realize that you are not just ‘suitable for hauling dung’ you really are the Buddha! (See chapter 4 of "The Lotus Sutra") Everywhere you go you teach dharma to people and since your mind is free from hatred and anger you can go anywhere. The dharma you teach to others takes root and you produce "meritorious, virtuous, and wise sons." (13) When you have purified your senses you will not see things as separate from each other. If there are objects that you have misconceptions about, then the misconceptions will vanish. When you have realized emptiness you will understand that all beings are the same, and inherently there are no differences to be found in sentient life forms.

(14) An enlightened being will always cultivate the dharma, and expound the dharma through his or her speech and actions. They way they expound the dharma will differ for every type of person.

By upholding the ideals of Avalokiteshvara you can obtain more merit than an individual who paid homage to tens of thousands of Buddhas. Anywhere you see a Buddhist text talking about upholding the name of Avalokiteshvara, that is what it means. His name translates as, "Perceiver of the Worlds Cries", and by upholding his name; we too can hear the cries of our fellow living beings and help them out of the endless loop of suffering. To ‘uphold’ the name of Avalokiteshvara means to perceive things as they really are, and this will lead you to develop the loving heart.

Avalokiteshvara states that his name has the same merit as the names of all the other dharma princes put together because his teaching is based on the very highest form of bodhisattva training. As I said, this training will teach you to perceive reality correctly, and that will lead you to develop the loving heart because you will realize that there isn’t any difference between you and every other being in the universe. We all have compassion for ourselves. This training teaches us to develop that same compassion for others because we can see that all beings are in the same situation, we all want as much happiness as we can get, and we don’t want suffering of any kind.

The Samádhi Avalokiteshvara is teaching came to be called "The Fourteen Powers of Bestowing Fearlessness." Over the centuries the people who uphold the ideals of Avalokiteshvara have lived lives free from fear.

Avalokiteshvara also states that he has "four inconceivable and effortless wonderful virtues." The first of these virtues is the ability to teach and assist many people at once. When he states that he can appear with multiple heads, it means that while teaching the dharma he can reach everyone who is listening. There would not be one person in the audience who could not grasp his meaning; he would make sure of that. The multiple arms indicate the desire and willingness to help anyone he can.

The second of these powers is the ability to not be hindered by obstacles. He will be in the position to help any one, and no physical or karmic barriers will be able to stop him.

The third power is to be able inspire beings to dedicate their life to spreading and expounding the dharma. This means that beings that uphold the values of Avalokiteshvara will give up doing trivial things when they have an opportunity to help some one.

The fourth power is the power of prayer. If an upholder of Avalokiteshvara’s ideals makes a prayer, that prayer’s conditions will be met (assuming it is within the boundaries of reality).

Then the Buddha emitted light from his body, and when it had shone upon the Buddhas in other, distant lands, they too emitted light and the entire universe was illuminated. This means that the truths being taught are universal and apply to all beings everywhere.

At this point in the text the Buddha said to the bodhisattva Manjushri, ‘Think on these 25 great Bodhisattvas (see previous section). They have all explained their accomplishments on the way to Bodhisattva-hood, and each one states that he has reached perfect penetration of the truth. Now I wish for ánanda to attain enlightenment, and so I ask which of these 25 expedients will suit him the best, as well as all other living beings who seek enlightenment after my death.’

In response, Manjushri gets up from his seat, and expounds, in verse form, a simplified version of what has been stated in the last few parts of the Sutra before answering the question. The answer that Manjushri finally gives is, "The best way is to contemplate the sounds of the world."

To "contemplate the sounds of the world" means that correct practice leads to the correct perception of reality. This perception leads to the development of intense compassion; which for the purpose of this study, I am calling the loving heart.

Part Six

Part six begins with ánanda speaking of the Bodhisattva vow and realizing how admirable it is to want to save all other beings. At this point ánanda vows to save all other beings in the universe before he has himself attained liberation.

Then he asks what method he should use to actually free all beings from "the morass of the final age." The Buddha praises ánanda for his desire to free beings from suffering and states that there are three aspects to the cultivation of Bodhisattva: collecting your thoughts from the Precepts, collecting the Precepts from samádhi, and collecting samádhi from wisdom.

The Buddha tells ánanda that it does not matter how many teachings he can memorize or how many verses he can recite. In the Latter Age (or Latter Day Of The Law) there will be people who pretend to represent something noble so that they may gain followers. They too will memorize the teachings, but they will warp their meaning for their own foul purposes. You must resolve therefore to follow the teachings in the spirit in which they were given and you must resolve not to commit evil actions.

For people to cultivate Samádhi they must first conquer lust. The Buddha tells us that if we try to cultivate Samádhi without conquering lust, it will be like trying to get steamed rice from sand. No matter how long you cook the sand, you will never get rice. Samádhi is the same way. You cannot cultivate it if you cannot control your thoughts.

The Buddha finishes by saying that this is his teaching, and any teaching that goes counter to it, is the teaching of a demon. The Buddha further explains to ánanda that if people in the lower six paths of existence (or the lower six worlds) did not have thoughts of killing and harming others, then they could be liberated. Thoughts of killing lead to the action of killing and the action of killing ensures that you will be killed.

The Buddha then tells ánanda that beings who steal cannot attain liberation. If you steal, you make the cause to become the future victim of a thief. People who try to develop samádhi while still engaging in thievery will not attain bliss. They will become people who disparage true Buddhism, and who trick people into giving them things for false teachings that lead only to more suffering.

Although people may refrain from all of these things, the Buddha tells us that if they tell lies then the samádhi they enter will not be pure. In future lives they will claim to have attained what they have not, and trick people into thinking they are Great Beings when they are merely great fools.

The Buddha tells ánanda that he has begun to explain about cultivating one’s thoughts. To enter into samádhi one must be "as pure as glistening frost." You must maintain the four rules of proper deportment, keeping free of the three evils of the mind and the one great evil of the mouth.

If one is mindful of these matters and does not neglect them, and if one does not out of attachment pursue physical pleasures then ‘demonic’ desires will not arise. If a person cannot put these things behind him, the Buddha suggests that we teach him to single-mindedly chant a mantra.

He begins to explain to us the value of the Shurangama Mantra, saying that even the prostitute who tried to defile ánanda was benefited from the reciting of it. She will become an arahant in her next life, and will have given up her thoughts of lust.

If, through one recitation of this mantra, someone who has no interest in developing spiritually can attain arahant-ship, how much better will it work for someone who is devoted to self-perfection? For them, the Buddha says that it is as ‘simple as throwing dust into a favorable wind.’

In the First Dharma Age, Hinayana (Theravada is the last remaining School of Hinayana) Buddhism prevailed; these monastic Schools taught that the highest form of practice was to live up to the set of moral Precepts taught by the Buddha. This is where they were in their personal spiritual development. What really marks the three periods of the Law is the type of minds that are born into them.

Hinayana Buddhism was a huge movement, with a large number of different Schools. Their emphasis was on monks whose only goal was to attain what they considered personal liberation; the only way that a layperson could attain merit was to support the monks. Also, any monk who broke one of the major Precepts was forced to disrobe.

As Buddhism evolved into the Middle Period of the Law, the Hinayana School all but vanished, as people were becoming more interested in personal salvation. Supporting the monks and their practice was fine, but the laypeople wanted something that would improve their life as well.

The Monastic Precepts were still very important in this period, but it had become clear that they were empty; and that there was a higher truth beyond just practicing correct morality. Monks in this period who broke a major Precept were able to repent, and remain in the Spiritual Order they belonged to.

In the Final Age monastic Precepts have no value because "The Lotus Sutra" will be transmitted by the common people of the age. Nichiren states; "One should give alms to those without Precepts, treating them in the same way as if they were the Buddha." ("Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country").

People in the final Dharma age, our age, must be able to uphold a moral way of life and cut off lust. All throughout the sutra the Buddha explains to us the importance of upholding the Precepts and even the people of this final age must practice correct morality if they are to progress spiritually.

These people in the final age should keep themselves well groomed and easy to look at, as well as attractive smelling. They should also recite mantras every day. They should also be compassionate and caring for everyone.

The Buddha vows to ánanda that if any person in the final age upholds virtue and purity in this manner for a period of three weeks, he will appear before them and comfort them. This does not mean that the Buddha will materialize before your eyes; it means that your practice will be supported, because positive forces start to gather around you when you work to develop a loving heart. You will be able to see the effect of serious practice manifest as positive results in your life.

ánanda tells the Buddha that he can see how one can do these things in the present age, but he wonders how people will accomplish the attainment of wisdom in the ages to come when there is no Buddha to instruct them.

Starting with the passage "The Buddha said to ánanda, "If there are people in the Dharma-ending age who wish to establish a Way-place…" we are given a glimpse into the future of Buddhist practice and its inevitable evolution. The passages describe the Gohonzon as the future object of worship and predict the presence of Bodhisattva "Superior Practices" or Nichiren Daishonin.

In simpler terms, the message here is that if you purify your thoughts and actions, eliminate the negativities in your life, and practice correctly you will see Buddhas all around you. To see Buddhas in your life means that you will see your Buddha Nature, and that you will recognize the Buddha nature in all the beings around you.

ánanda tells the Buddha that because he has concentrated on memorizing the teachings instead of practicing them he has still not attained mental peace. It is because of this that ánanda did not have the strength to overcome his lust earlier in the sutra.

The Buddha tells the assembly that Mantra recitation has a special quality, making it one of the most valuable forms of mindfulness meditation. It is through mantras that the Buddhas attained enlightenment, and it is also our key to attaining enlightenment. Anyone can attain realizations through proper mantra recitation. The Buddha lists all the various benefits of mantra recitation.

Chanting mantras can open the floodgates of wisdom to the Dharmakaya. It is the highest practice that one can possibly engage in, because it utilizes all of the senses, and develops your concentration. It helps people to stay mindful not only when they are studying, but throughout everyday daily life. This is why the Buddha says mantra recitation will stop people from becoming ‘hungry ghosts’ and ‘demons’. If you are mindful of your surroundings then you will not slip up and make bad causes; and as I have already indicated chanting mantra is the best possible way to build that state of mindfulness.

The Buddha further tells of the benefits of mantra recitation by saying that those who do not practice it will be unable to escape the lower realms of existence. He says that he could sit and explain the various benefits and values that mantra recitation has for thousands upon thousands of years, never using the same example, expedient means, simile or parable twice, and still not have conveyed through words its true worth.

He tells ánanda that Mantra Recitation is the Crown of the Buddhas Head. We should take this to mean that Mantra Recitation is the pinnacle, the acme of practices among mindfulness meditation techniques. Chanting mantra leads us to develop Buddha Wisdom, as well as conventional wisdom.

Those who do not practice Mantra Recitation, the Buddha tells ánanda, will find it impossible to remove their mind from the muck and mire of demonic and evil thoughts and desires. Even if someone practices mantra recitation without understanding it, he will still reap benefits from it.

More so, if beings in the Dharma Ending Age, the Latter Day of the Law, Our Age, practice mantra recitation: "such people who recite and uphold it will not be burned by fire, will not be drowned by water, and will not be harmed by mild or potent poisons." This means the our minds will not be overcome by the burning of hatred, or jealousy, not be drowned by the sorrows of Samsára, or filled with any of the mental poisons that retard spiritual growth.

Shantideva wrote: "Fearing slight pain from a wound, I guard it with great care. Why don’t I, fearing the crushing of the mountains of the Samghata hell, guard the wound of my mind?"

The Shurangama mantra was but one of the mantras that would be revealed to Buddhist students as efficacious. The Lotus Mantra must be viewed as supreme because it connects the practitioner directly to the Mystic Law that runs the entire universe but students who sincerely practice the Shurangama mantra will receive benefit as long as they do not slander the teachings found in "The Lotus Sutra."

The sutra lists many benefits that the student will accumulate by sincere practice of mantra recitation. Your mind will become stable and pure. People guilty of offences, major or minor, can purify themselves and eradicate the negative causes they have made simply by sincerely practicing mantra recitation. Even the negative energy created by the five cardinal sins, "grave offenses warranting un-intermittent retribution" will be eliminated by sincere mantra recitation. Even those in the Latter Age, who uphold no monastic Precepts, will gain the same benefits as those who do.

At the time of death, a practitioner will be reborn in favorable circumstances. Even students new to the Way will gain protection that will allow them to eventually attain Samádhi. If they continue with this type of practice even ancient enemies from former lives will not appear to disturb their mind or harm them.

Buddhist students of any time period who uphold the practice of chanting mantra are guaranteed to have realizations on the nature of mind; by this is meant an understanding on the nature of reality; why we are here, and how we can become happy and live in peace. The sutra says that if this is not so then the Buddha, and all the Buddhas in the universe are great liars.

When the Buddha had finished explaining, measureless numbers of "Vajra Power Knights", or forces of nature, (Shoten Zenjin) walked up to the Buddha, bowed, and made a vow to protect students "who cultivate Bodhi in this way." Also, the Brahma King, (also called the Christian god ‘Jehovah’), Shakra, and all the other heavenly kings, as well as demons, and various spirits all vowed to protect these practitioners.

The final section of volume six deals with ánanda’s question, ‘what must we do to attain the final stages of wisdom,’ as well as the first part of Shakyamuni’s answer to this query. The Buddha begins by reminding us of the unreal nature of the Saha World ("Basically there is no world, nor are there any sentient beings," and, "From absolute nothingness comes ultimate existence.")

It is because people fail to realize the unreal nature of everything around them that they keep reappearing in this Saha-system. The Buddha describes the ‘normal’ world as upside down. As beings become more attached to that which is not real they create even stronger karma, which in turn reinforces their state of delusion.

Shakyamuni states, "Everything that is dependent has nothing on which it is dependent, and so it shifts and slides ceaselessly. Because of this, the world of the three periods of time and four directions come into being."

People are always grasping after things that they believe will bring them happiness. However, because of the improper way they view things, continuous transmigration in realms filled with suffering relentlessly occurs. They become attached to things or objects and this leads, not to happiness, but only to more needless suffering.

This section breaks off in the middle of the Buddha’s discourse; as this is a strange decision doubtless some editor made it arbitrarily in the past. Since this division has now become traditional, I will honor custom by ending this analysis here, and continuing in the next section.

Volume 7, Part 1

We will continue where the Buddha left off in the last section. Shakyamuni was describing the twelve categories of beings. "Each of these categories" the Buddha tells us, "is replete with all… kinds of upside down states." We are inversing our wonderful natures, we are told, and in doing so we become confused with "false and random thoughts."

As you cultivate Samádhi you will experience three stages of development; these stages are like a powerful soap used to clean the filth that we have covered our minds with.

The first of these three stages is to correct your vices by eliminating the things that encourage them. If you are a compulsive thief, than to stop stealing you would refrain from going near the things that you want to steal. Soon the thought of stealing would never enter your mind; and with proper mindfulness you would never again desire objects that do not belong to you.

The Buddha gives us an example; saying that if you stop eating poisonous food you will soon cease to be sick. Even if someone teaches and practices the Dharma, if he steals or kills for a living, much of the benefit accrued will be lost. Therefore even if you have taken the cure for a poison, you will never truly be healed until you stop ingesting the toxin.

The Buddha states, "People who eat pungent plants and also cultivate samádhi will not be protected by the Bodhisattvas, gods, immortals, or good spirits of the ten directions." In other words, people who still poison their minds with anger, greed, and lust while attempting to cultivate Samádhi will reap no lasting benefit. They will become teachers who praise lust and other bad behaviors because they are still attached to the material world and accordingly, they drag others who mistakenly follow them down into hellish suffering.

Therefore we are told in the scripture to avoid "the five pungent plants," which are the poisons of the five senses. The best way to achieve this is through daily study and practice. This is the first gradual stage of cultivation.

Various sutras were devised by the Buddha to aid the student in this process. "All of The Taints" is a good example of this kind of teaching.

The Buddha asks ánanda, "what is the essence of karmic offenses" in a rhetorical manner. He teaches that beings who want to enter samádhi must abandon doing wrong. They must eliminate lustful thinking, and not kill as a way of life. If they do not do these two things, obtaining liberation and enlightenment will be impossible.

We are told that we should look upon lust and the desire to kill not as a friend; but as a viper filled with poison whose only desire is to bite us, or as a bandit who wishes to rob and slay us. Uphold good morals, follow the eightfold path, and abandon killing and lust. Then you should cultivate your mind that you may control what goes on in it.

People who cultivate their minds without even attempting to abandon lust and killing will pervert themselves and become a demon that tears down the Dharma. Once you cease the outflow of the negative karma caused by lust and killing, you are on the path to becoming truly pure. Students who abandon these negativities will find that their mental development will take an upward turn, putting them on the path to enlightenment. This is the second stage.

The Buddha again asks in a rhetorical manner, "What is the manifestation of karma?" It is because students have abandoned the activities and thoughts that create negative karma, they do not become lost in lust and attachment and they become teachers of the true Dharma, rather than demons who preach false ways.

False views and the fact that we label things in our mind are the very habits that keep us from attaining enlightenment. Once we have stopped this discriminative thinking then the state has been attained where all of the "outflows and inflows" become positive, we will see the world as a Pure Land, and suffering will end.

The person who has recognized that lust and attachment to material things are an illusion is seeing the world as it truly is. This initial wisdom is called "The Stage of Dry Wisdom" because although the student has ‘dried-up’ improper desires they have not yet tapped into dharma wisdom. After they begin this process they will initiate the attainment of realizations about the simpler teachings and this is called "The Mind that Resides in Faith."

Once Faith has been entirely comprehended, then this penetration into Dharma Wisdom is complete. Your mind is no longer obstructed by phantasmal categories. You will become incredibly sharp; there will be nothing you cannot comprehend. The Sutra also states that you will be endowed with exceptional memory, being able to see into the past, as well as predict the future. "Then all their habits throughout…eons of past and future will come to them in the present moment. These good people will remember everything and forget nothing." This state of mind is called, "The Mind that Resides in Mindfulness."

"The Mind of Vigor" is achieved when the practitioner has deepened his faith even further. Nichiren uses the example of dying clothes to illustrate this: dying a white cloth with indigo once will change the color of it, but dying it again and again will result in the cloth becoming a richer, darker blue, far more so than the original color of the dye itself.

Once this level of total faith is attained, the mind will "reveal itself as total wisdom," which means that the practitioner will have a great realization. This is called "The Mind that Resides in Wisdom." Once this wisdom mind has been maintained for a long enough time, that wisdom will fortify the mind until it is ‘constant and solid.’ This is called "The Mind that Resides in Samádhi."

The Buddha continues to explain the various levels of progression, up until the point where the Practitioner will completely understand emptiness. He expresses this as being able to see through the illusions of life.

When these forty-one states of mind have been accomplished, the Buddha tells us that "The Four Kinds of Wonderfully Perfect Aiding Practices" will further be attained.

At this point, the practitioner is on the verge of attaining enlightenment, just as a piece of wood, hot with friction, is at the point of almost being on fire. Enlightenment has not yet emerged from the practitioner, but soon he will combust into the flame of wisdom. This is called "The Level Of Heat."

The student will continue to follow the Buddhas teachings, just as a man climbing a steep mountain will follow a beaten path to reach the summit, instead of trying to advance over abysses or scale steep cliffs. They are at the summit of this mountain, they have almost emerged into the space or freedom of enlightenment, but they are still tied to their present condition by some obstructions, which they have almost conquered. This is called "The Level Of The Summit."

When the mind of the practitioner is identical to the mind of a Buddha, then he has truly entered the Middle Way. He is like one who endures problems, even when they seem impossibly difficult. This is called "The Level Of Patience."

Then, once the practitioner has dispelled from his mind the possibility of limitations, things are no longer labeled "good" or "bad," they are also not neutral nor are they to be treated indifferently. Matter exists, but no concrete label accurately describes it. This is called "The Level of Being Born First In The World."

When these men and women have completely realized Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, their enlightenment will be no different from that of a Buddha. This difference "enters into identity", or affects the concept of identity, making even the notion of a personal identity a glaring mental error.

True "such-ness" will be perceived. To perceive Suchness we must see things the way they really are. If someone says something ‘unpleasant,’ we realize that all that actually happened was that a person made a comment. We come to understand that dwelling on this comment or analyzing it is pointless, inaccurate, and only leads to suffering. This state of mental development is called "The Ground Of Leaving Filth."

The Buddha says that "bringing forth the function of true such-ness" or actualizing such-ness in our life is called "The Ground of Good Wisdom." All bodhisattvas beyond this stage have completed the cultivation of Bodhi, and have perfected their merit and virtue, which means that they have gained a complete understanding about how the universe functions.

Any student in this state has attained true Nirvana—not the Nirvana of those who want to vanish from the world, but the Nirvana of those who realize that the world is where the work is. Accordingly, a ‘great cloud of compassion’ floats over this ‘sea of Nirvana.’ This manner of accomplishing Bodhi is called "Proper Contemplation." All other ways are to be considered as "Deviant Contemplation."

After the Buddha explained these fifty-five stages required to accomplish Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, Manjushri stood and asked what the name of this Sutra is. The Buddha replies that it is called "Great Buddha at the Crown, Syi Dan Dwo Bwo Da La, the Unsurpassed Precious Seal and Pure, Clear, Ocean-like Eye of the Thus Come Ones of the Ten Directions", as well as "The Cause for Saving a Relative, the Rescue of ánanda and the Bhiksunis Nature, and the Attaining of the Bodhi Mind and Entry into the Sea of Pervasive Knowledge," "The Thus Come Ones’ Secret Cause of Cultivation that Brings Certification to the Complete Meaning. The Great Expansive Means, the Wonderful Lotus Flower King, the Dharani Mantra which is the Mother of all Buddhas of the Ten Directions, and The Foremost Shurangama, Sections and Phrases for Anointing the Crown of the Head, and All Bodhisattvas' Myriad Practices."

These names are meant to express to the reader the full merit of this Sutra, and to emphasize how important it is to our mental development that we comprehend these teachings.

ánanda asks the Buddha how everything can have a Buddha Nature, from trees to insects when, for example, such a thing as hell exists.

Since the embodiments or qualities of the Buddha are real, do the paths of suffering that demons follow exist inherently? Or are they somehow created by the ‘falseness and habits’ of beings?

"World Honored One, the Bhikkhuní Precious Lotus Fragrance, for example, received the Bodhisattva Precepts and then indulged in lustful desire, recklessly saying that sexual acts did not involve killing or stealing and they carried no karmic retribution. But after saying that she…fell into the Un-intermittent Hell alive."

Is this hell in a fixed place, or does it arise spontaneously? Or is it that beings merely experience whatever karma they have set in place?

The Buddha exclaims, "What a good question! It is your wish to keep beings from adopting deviant views," and as you listen attentively I shall explain the truth of the matter for you.

When the Buddha says, "all beings are true and pure" he is saying that all beings have an inherent Buddha potential. It is the garbage we produce in our minds when we misinterpret outside phenomena that causes us to build this samsaric world. This "falseness of habit" is divided into internal and external aspects.

The internal aspect of things is a way of describing what happens inside the mind of a being that is attached to things improperly. The Buddha is not saying, in this analogy, that love is bad. He is saying that love with improper attachment is bad. To advance spiritually you have to love everybody in the same manner that you love yourself. All other forms of ‘love’ are not real.

The Sutra breaks at this point, and continues with Volume Seven, Part Two, so we will do the same.

Vol. 7, Part 2

We turn our attention now to the external aspect, which is exactly what it says it is, that which happens outside of the student because of the negativities in the mind. These negativities are produced because of the fantasies that go through our untrained mind.

When these negativities have been abandoned for more positive thoughts, the life condition of the practitioner will rise. His understanding of how things work will be enhanced, and he will recognize the world for what it is, a true Pure Land.

The Buddha tells ánanda, that when a man is on the verge of death, he will mentally experience all of his good and evil actions simultaneously. This energy, good or bad, determines where he will be born next, and what state of mind he will be in for the duration of his time in "Ku." The more mindfulness and "bodhi" they have cultivated, the higher the life condition they will experience. However, if they are given to emotional fits, or they are improperly attached to this world, they will be reborn in a lower human state filled with unavoidable problems and suffering or perhaps they will reappear as an animal or in extreme cases, even an insect.

"Although one receives one’s due according to the evil karma one has created, a group can undergo an identical lot, and there are definite places where it occurs." This is telling us that people with similar karma will be born in close proximity of each other, and will experience similar things, such as being invaded, or finding something like a gold mine, that may effect the entire community in a positive way.

The Buddha states that all things that happen to us come from the karma we have created. In other words, if someone has attacked you, it is because you attacked someone else in the past. In the sutra this is expressed as "they create ten habitual causes and undergo six interacting retributions."

The first of these is lust, which leads to hellish suffering in what are commonly referred to as the ‘Hot Hells.’ These hells are filled with spiritual torments such as anger, and fear. The second is greed, which leads a different kind of torment in the "cold hells," which imply suffering from want of necessities, such as the torment one goes through when denied access to water. The third is the habit of arrogance, in any form, which leads "to molten copper forced down ones throat." This means that we will suffer various pains of the mouth or head, which can really hurt (trust me here).

Defiance or hatred is the fourth evil habit, and the punishment for it is listed as various objects of torture, most of which involve spikes and blades. Hatred leads directly to violence in almost every case. Hatred is also listed as the seventh, under enmity and mutual suspicion. This is merely a different ‘flavor’ of the same thing, and leads to similar punishments or beatings and imprisonment in small spaces.

The fifth evil habit is deception, and any sort of misleading action. The punishment for this is imprisonment, and in some cases, torture. I should mention here that these punishments are karmic, and will be carried out even if they have to follow the person into the next life. This is why a person who is innocent of any evil action in this lifetime, can end up being executed for a crime, or shoved into a gas chamber.

The sixth is the habit of lying, mixed with fraud, like cheating someone out of money you owe them. This leads to "sinking and drowning, tossing and pitching, flying and falling, floating and submerging, and other such experiences." The ninth evil habit, instigating injustice is also a form of lying, and its punishment leads to being crushed between stones or metal.

The Eighth evil habit is the deliberate expressing of wrong views, which is any teaching that deviates from Shakyamuni’s instruction. These false teachers will do anything to hide the correct path from people, so that they may gain material wealth and worldly fame. They will use (or abuse) societies laws, or any official power they have access to in the effort to ‘crush’ the people who uphold and teach right view. This leads to the punishment of being led by baited questions, dragged into courtrooms, and forced to reveal that what you do is dishonest.

The tenth evil habit is that of litigation. Evil litigation would be taking someone to court for something you know they did not do, arguing for the sake of instigating hatred or embarrassment to an enemy, or a prosecutor who knowingly keeps an innocent man in prison, because he does not want to lose the conviction.

These activities give rise to covering. My teacher says that this is akin to throwing dirt on the mirror of your mind, instead of polishing it. The punishment for these actions is the premature ripening of evil karma, and the acquisition of evil companions.

After having explained the ten Evil habits, the Buddha asks ánanda in a rhetorical manner, "What are the six retributions that arise from the six sense organs?" All beings create karma, and all the evil consequences people endure come from the immorality they create with their senses.

The first evil retribution from the sense organs is that of sight. When you die, you will see a great fire, and then enter a state of hell. There, no matter if your vision is obscure or clear, what you see will cause terror.

The Buddha goes on to describe all the tormenting retributions that a person who follows evil paths will undergo, saying that if they experience them all at once then they are in the Avici Hell. He also describes the combinations that are required to enter the other hells.

After they have finished their punishment they will be reborn as various kinds of "ghosts." This means that when they finally take on a new physical form, it will repeatedly be in undesirable circumstances. When these beings have paid back their debt, they will eventually be reborn into desirable circumstances where they can, if they so choose, began to improve spiritually.

The Buddha tells us that there are beings that waste time cultivating things that are unimportant, that do not lead to enlightenment, and will not help them in the long run to avoid unnecessary suffering. It is possible, through the development of your spiritual practice to obtain various mental powers. However, if the development of these powers is your goal then you will continue to experience the round of birth and death in the Samsaric or Saha realm.

Even people who are pure in heart, wish to do no wrong, and are basically good, will eventually fall into unpleasant circumstances if they do not cultivate samádhi. They may well enter the various heaven realms upon death, but they will still not have attained anything permanent and they still dwell in the Saha world.

Those who have given up desire will begin to manifest thoughts that transcend desire, and in this manner they will follow the precepts, even though they do not develop samádhi. The Buddha says this is the first stage of Dhyana. Then, once they have achieved an even finer level of purity, and have ceased coarse outflows, they have attained the Second stage of Dhyana. The third Dhyana to be attained, when there is no cultivation of Samádhi, is when the individual obtains ‘limitless bliss.’ It is not genuine Samádhi, but it is still a very high state of mind. Even after they have obtained the fourth Dhyana, called ‘Ultimate Bliss,’ they are still slightly attached to the material world, this is the stage called Pratyekabuddha.

After this, the Buddha describes to ánanda the various heaven realms that beings can enjoy, as well as the various stages of mental states, such as the "dull arahant." He also tells of ghosts and demons (Asuras) that protect the dharma in their otherworldly form, and obtain great merit for it, as well as lower forms of demons that are not so fortunate.

Finally the Buddha tells ánanda that none of these various ‘mundane forms of life’ (or beings who do not develop samádhi) have gained anything permanent. They all fail to recognize the ‘fundamental mind’ or the fact that their minds are innately pure, and it is because of this that they are reborn in various fortunate and unfortunate circumstances over and again.

Developing Samádhi is the only path that leads out of suffering! The Buddha says that this elucidation of the paths is the only correct explanation, and that all other explanations lead only to deviation.

Volume Eight, Part 1

The Word Shurangama means a state of mind in which an individual no longer experiences mental illusion. Once you have dispelled illusion from your mind, you will see things the way they really are and you will recognize that each and every living being is precious because they all have the potential to become Buddhas. You directly realize that all beings have been your parents at some time in the past and that accordingly we owe these people a great debt that can only be repaid by the attainment of enlightenment. As the mind becomes clearer through practice and study, you perceive how much suffering there is in the world because of the untreated mental poisons afflicting worldly beings. Consequentially you develop a great state of compassion, which is why I have entitled this commentary "The Loving Heart."

The Buddha tells ánanda and the assembly that, although they have learned to recognize the cruder mental states, such as lust and anger, there are subtle demonic influences that still go on in their mind. If they cannot distinguish such a thought from others when one arises in the mind, it is because their training has not been properly completed. This will lead the student into being ‘engulfed by deviant views.’

Developing deviant views means that all sorts of mental ‘demons’ will pester you without ceasing and your mind will become restless and disturbed. This is the opposite of what the Buddha intends, you cannot attain enlightenment if your mind is agitated and troubled.

The Buddha gives the example of a monk who attains a fairly high state of realization, but believes that he has attained enlightenment. When the merit of this high state shows signs of decay, the monk slanders the dharma, saying that enlightenment is not outside the realm of birth and death. This causes him to fall into the Avichi Hell.

The Buddha then explains that all beings possess the potential to become enlightened. The mind you have right now is not any different from the mind of any Buddha in the ten directions.

People have developed deviant views, which creates negative karma. When enough of this karma is accumulated by sufficient numbers of beings, a world is created for them and they are born into it. This is why the Buddha says that all these worlds are contained in your mind.

If even a single person realizes the truth, he sees that all these worlds are but karmic constructs, they are like illusions. By mixing practice and study correctly, which are the cause of your attaining Dhyana and Sambodhi, your mind becomes equal to that of the great bodhisattvas and saints.

When a student begins to practice correctly the ten world states within the mind begin to shift and change. It often seems to the student that he is being assaulted by everything around him, including his family, environment, and old ways of thinking. This causes ‘garbage mind’ to arise during the early phases of meditation training. If you persevere through this stage your mind begins to become clear and bright.

At this point in the Buddha lists ten states that might occur during your practice, which can fool misguided people into believing that they have become enlightened.

Worldly people are "dull and confused" because they do not engage in self-analysis. Should one of them experience these states they will believe themselves to be wise men and since this is not so they will fall into undesirable circumstances.

We will continue with part 2.

Volume Eight, Part Two

When the practitioner has realized the truth of emptiness then the form Skandha has been ended and he will ‘see the minds of the Buddhas’ within himself as if he were looking in a mirror. This means that he will have completely realized that all forms are truly empty because of their dependency.

Transcending the problem of paralysis, as the sutra mentions, is a way of saying that he will overcome physical obstacles.

Before you have completely realized emptiness (not just grasped the concept intellectually) you are like a paralyzed person, you have dharma knowledge and dharma wisdom, but you don’t always use it. You will remind yourself of correct behavior only after you have misbehaved.

Once this problem of paralysis has passed you forget about improper attachment to objects, and you ‘can leave your body and look back upon your face’. This means that you will have recognized that your body is not "you" and with this freedom you will perceive your own Buddha nature.

The Buddha continues the list he started in the prior section. He begins with the things that are most common; number one on the list is a stage of light, airy bliss that everyone experiences at some point early in their practice. In the same way the first state discussed in this section is a stage of extreme compassion that a student also experiences at an early stage. He will begin the process of developing immense compassion for all living beings, even insects. Once again this is not to be confused with sage hood, or else it will lead to extreme suffering.

The first ten states belong to the form Skandhas and the second ten belong to the feeling Skandhas. Skandhas are also known as the five aggregates.

We will continue the analysis with part 3.

Volume 8, Part 3

When the practitioner has purified the feeling Skandha, he will have almost completely stopped making negative causes. This is because he understands the nature of reality, and realizes that his body and persona are not ‘self’. The causes that he makes will be positive, because he has developed the loving heart of a Bodhisattva and is capable of attaining any of the sixty levels of "Bodhisattva sage hood."

The sutra tells us that we are like a sleeping person. Our environment controls our thoughts and what we say and do makes little sense. If you rid yourself of improper thinking, and if you stay mindfully in the present, then your mind will become ‘understanding’ because you have developed the eyes of enlightenment. You overcome mental turbulence, which confuses your thinking and leads you into the endless swamp of samsaric misery.

After the feeling Skandha has been purified, the practitioner will no longer be troubled by ‘deviant mental states.’ He will crave more understanding of the Dharma. There will be people who will have claimed to have attained what they have not. They may beguile the unwary practitioner; subtly distort his practice, and lead both to their downfall. These false dharma teachers may foretell of doomsday, or of wars in faraway lands for the sole purpose of frightening people into giving him what he desires.

Since the practitioner is very careful to control his own deviant thoughts, he is most susceptible to the false teachings of beings that claim to be enlightened. The list in this section deals with making sure that your teacher is humble, and is not making false claims of enlightenment.

The Buddha is speaking directly to the dharma teachers in this age who are practicing his highest teachings. He tells us that even though we are close to attaining enlightenment we should not enter nirvana because of our previous vow to teach in this dharma ending age (the latter day of the Law). He urges us to "bring forth great compassion" to help those living beings that want to be helped. By "not begrudging our lives" we devote ourselves to spreading Buddhist mental culture for the benefit of those beings that are striving for self-perfection.

This is the end of the thinking Skandha.

Volume 8, Part 4

This section of the sutra begins by again telling the teachers of "The Lotus Sutra" that they are close to enlightenment, but that they should not now enter Nirvana. Instead, they should remember their vow to be born in the Dharma Ending Age (The Latter Day of the Law) and to save the people who want to be saved, those students who are willing to make the effort needed to train their mind.

These states that the Buddha has been describing are natural conditions that most practitioners will encounter as they are purify their mind with proper practice. The beings that mistake these stages of realization for complete enlightenment create causes for hellish suffering both for themselves and others.

The Buddha reiterates that in the Latter Day of the Law advanced Dharma students should teach all of the beings that choose to make the effort to end unnecessary mental suffering. The method these teachers should use is to expound the entire Dharma from beginning to end. If you only teach a part of the Dharma, then the message becomes distorted.

We see this all around us, some Teachers acknowledge only a small part of the Dharma: they will tell you that the Pure Land Sutras are the Buddha’s entire message, or they focus on the Wisdom sutras and say that they encompass the Buddha’s complete intention. However, Shakyamuni taught for over forty years and everything that he expounded has value and is part of the Dharma Way that all students must follow if they are to attain the highest goal.

Using only part of the Dharma is like building only part of a house. No one would live in a home consisting of two walls, or just a roof. They insist on inhabiting a complete structure because less than that is irrational or impossible. The Dharma is not any different, if you only look at part of the teachings, you will never understand them because your views are going to be distorted. When we understand the Dharma taught in "The Lotus Sutra" we realize that all of the sutras are chapters of the same vast teaching.

A person who is cultivating Samádhi through proper practice and study will eventually "put an end to the thinking Skandha" or realize the true nature of emptiness. When this happens then the sutra says that your mind will become aware and clear and you will be peaceful and happy.

At this point you will see clearly the roots of ‘production and destruction’ or cause and effect. You will understand that all of the living beings around you are all the same: they all have Buddha potential, they all want the highest possible happiness they can attain, and they do not want any suffering at all.

The list in this section describes the various pitfalls that arrogant practitioners can encounter if they prematurely believe themselves to be enlightened.

This is the end of the formations skandha.

Volume 8, Part 5

When the practitioner has successfully cultivated Samádhi then he has "put an end" to the formation Skandha. At this point his negative karma; "the common foundation" of all the worlds, is eliminated and he will see the "great illumination" of Nirvana. "He enters without entering" because he enters Nirvana knowing that there is no ‘he’ to do the actual entering. He contemplates the "original life source" (Myoho Renge Kyo) but understands the emptiness of categories and does not see himself in any of them. Being "identical with the realms of the ten directions" means that he perceives emptiness in all things, including himself. What was obscure or hidden in the teachings becomes clear to him.

If his realizations are pure enough he may obliterate the individuality of his six senses, the sutra uses the example of seeing and hearing becoming linked so that they function interchangeably. Please remember that sight and hearing are both different aspects of perception. The practitioner clearly perceives that the universe, as well as his body and mind, are empty, bright and pure. This is the end of the consciousness skandha because the student has at this point transcended life and death.

The final ten states that the Buddha discusses deal, once again, with arrogance. The reason we need to be unassuming is that, if we believe we are enlightened when are not, then what we teach others will not be accurate. Also if you are claiming to be enlightened when you are not, then your behavior will sometimes be inappropriate, causing mental problems, or even obstacles for other students who see you behaving badly.

This is the Dharma entrance used by all the enlightened beings of the past as well as the present and future. If you recognize a demonic mental state when it occurs and clean away the filth that it leaves then you will not fall into deviant views. The negative mental imprints that formerly troubled your mind will vanish completely and you will arrive at the state of enlightenment.

At this point in the text, ánanda says, that the Buddha has taught us that when the five Skandha are manifested there are five kinds of basic errors that are created by our own mind. He asks the Buddha to explain the boundaries of these aggregates and also enquires if mental impurities are extinguished in some particular progression.

The Buddha replies that enlightenment is pure and always perfect. Our own erroneous thinking creates the mental negativities we suffer but these defilements do not affect our enlightened nature. The Buddha concludes that the five skandhas, or aggregates are created by our own false thinking.

The Buddha expounded this list of fifty possible troublesome states that an unwary practitioner can encounter because of the arrogant belief that he is already enlightened. When we do attain enlightenment, we will not have bad habits or negative thoughts. If these are still appearing in your life, then there should be no doubt that there is more work for you to do.

Next, the Buddha defines the ‘depth’ and ‘scope’ of the aggregates, which the sutra defines clearly:

"Form and emptiness are the boundaries of form. Contact and separation are the boundaries of feeling. Remembering and forgetting are the boundaries of thinking. Destruction and production are the boundaries of formations. Deep purity entering to unite with deep purity belongs to the boundaries of consciousness."

These aggregates arise within you in layers because of negative thinking, which means that realizations will occur in the same manner. The Buddha refers again to the strip of cloth, which he tied into knots earlier in the sutra to remind them again that perception is one thing.

He informs the assembly, (which is not limited to the people who were sitting and listening to this teaching when it was given, it includes everyone who receives and understands it) that they must gain a thorough understanding of what causes false thinking, and then transmit this comprehension to others.

At this point the sutra concludes with an explanation of the merits attained by students who understand, live by, and spread this teaching. When the Buddha finished speaking the assembly felt elated, bowed respectfully, and departed.

Before we depart, going our various ways, let us resolve to completely realize and demonstrate the wisdom taught here to us by the Buddha.

I dedicate any merit acquired by giving this Teaching for the benefit of all those who cannot yet hear the cries of the world. Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, may all beings benefit.