With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Student Shoji and I have been studying the Diamond Sutra using Red Pine’s most excellent translation and commentary. We are approaching Chapter 5 this week. Shoji lives in California and I am in New Mexico and through the marvel of Skype video, we have wonderful talks each week.
We have learned in the previous chapters that in order to liberate others the Buddha taught we must do so without “being attached” to any part of the process or any actors involved, including ourselves. In chapter five, the Buddha is concerned that we might become attached to the liberated body of buddha. He offers the following:
“…the Buddha told the venerable Subhuti, “Since the possession of attributes is an illusion, Subhuti, and no possession of attributes is no illusion, by means of attributes that are no attributes the Tathagata can, indeed, be seen.” P. 107
On the same page, Pine argues: “To see that an entity is no entity is not enough.” In other words, to see that form is emptiness is only the first part of the dialectic of the Buddha’s teaching. Emptiness is not empty, it is also form, so we must take another step. Pine uses the famous Ch’ing-yuan explanation: “When I first began my practice, the mountains and rivers were simply mountains and rivers. After I advanced in my practice, the mountains and rivers were no longer mountains and rivers. But when I reached the end of my practice, the mountains and rivers were simply mountains and rivers again.” P. 108
What does this teaching mean? Perhaps it means that Buddhas are free and easy in the marketplace, unencumbered by their form, yet living within their form.
From my point of view it is an antidote to quietism. Residing in emptiness is not the Buddha Way. We must get up and do something. The world is suffering how can we simply witness it? Knowing that suffering is a part of the great cycle of birth and death, knowing that everything changes and is therefore empty, is no excuse for sitting still. If it were, the Buddha would have passed into oblivion having never taught a thing.
The attributes of a buddha are no attributes, they are empty. Because they are empty, they are the attributes of a buddha. Mountains can be mountains only because they are not “mountains.” These mountains move.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Student Shoji and I have been studying the Diamond Sutra using Red Pine’s most excellent translation and commentary. We are approaching Chapter 5 this week. Shoji lives in California and I am in New Mexico and through the marvel of Skype video, we have wonderful talks each week.
We have learned in the previous chapters that in order to liberate others the Buddha taught we must do so without “being attached” to any part of the process or any actors involved, including ourselves. In chapter five, the Buddha is concerned that we might become attached to the liberated body of buddha. He offers the following:
“…the Buddha told the venerable Subhuti, “Since the possession of attributes is an illusion, Subhuti, and no possession of attributes is no illusion, by means of attributes that are no attributes the Tathagata can, indeed, be seen.” P. 107
On the same page, Pine argues: “To see that an entity is no entity is not enough.” In other words, to see that form is emptiness is only the first part of the dialectic of the Buddha’s teaching. Emptiness is not empty, it is also form, so we must take another step. Pine uses the famous Ch’ing-yuan explanation: “When I first began my practice, the mountains and rivers were simply mountains and rivers. After I advanced in my practice, the mountains and rivers were no longer mountains and rivers. But when I reached the end of my practice, the mountains and rivers were simply mountains and rivers again.” P. 108
What does this teaching mean? Perhaps it means that Buddhas are free and easy in the marketplace, unencumbered by their form, yet living within their form.
From my point of view it is an antidote to quietism. Residing in emptiness is not the Buddha Way. We must get up and do something. The world is suffering how can we simply witness it? Knowing that suffering is a part of the great cycle of birth and death, knowing that everything changes and is therefore empty, is no excuse for sitting still. If it were, the Buddha would have passed into oblivion having never taught a thing.
The attributes of a buddha are no attributes, they are empty. Because they are empty, they are the attributes of a buddha. Mountains can be mountains only because they are not “mountains.” These mountains move.
Be well.
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