THE SORROWLESS FLOWERS
Thiện Phúc
VOLUME III
501. Knowledge of Differentiation
502. Trikaya
503. Eight Natures of Dharmakaya
504. The Buddha’s Foretelling of the Future of His Disciples
505. Sixty-Two Views
506. Sixty-Two Views of T’ien-T’ai Sect on Personality
507. Entrances and Six Entrances
508. Twelve Entrances
509. Spheres
510. Eighteen Realms
511. Fearlessnesses
512. Dedication Reaching All Places
513. Periods of Sakyamuni’s Teachings
514. Vehicles In Buddhism
515. Vehicle of Oneness
516. Two Vehicles
517. Three Vehicles
518. Hinayana
519. Middle Vehicle
520. Mahayana
501. Knowledge of Differentiation
Differentiating knowledge is used in discrimination of phenomena; as contrast with knowledge of the fundamental identity of all things (vô phân biệt trí). According to the Flower Adornment Sutra, Chapter 27, there are ten kinds of knowledge of differentiation of entry into concentration of Great Enlightening Beings. Also ten other kinds of knowledge of differentiation of Enlightening Beings mentioned by the Buddha in The Flower Adornment Sutra (Chapter 38—Detachment from The World) Enlightening Beings who rest on these principles will attain the Buddha’s unexcelled, far-reaching knowledge of differentiation. According to the Awakening of Faith, the taint on mind following upon the action of discriminating. Differentiating knowledge is the bond of ignorance and stupidity which fetters the wisdom mirror. Differentiating knowledge is also the knowledge of the workings of karma. Once the mind composing quite purified, clarified, soft, without blemish, without defilement, fixed and immovable, practitioners will be able to know the passing and arising of beings as one possessed of wrong conducts in body, speech and mind; after dying, have arisen in a sorrowful state. Knowledge of differentiation is also called knowledge of clinging to signs and false discriminations. The knowledge which makes one clings to signs of individuality and work out false discrimination. This knowledge is contrasted to the Pravicaya-buddhi. Devout Buddhists should try to cultivate to gain the supreme wisdom of bodhisattvas and Buddhas. This supreme wisdom, or the wisdom of a saint, whereby one is enabled to look into the deepest recesses of consciousness in order to grasp the inmost truth hidden away from the sight of ordinary understanding. In Buddhism, this is the wisdom of the Buddha, or the saints or the sages; the wisdom which is above all particularization, i.e. the wisdom of transcendental truth. The wisdom of a Buddha that leads people to cross the shore of birth and death and come to a complete enlightenment (to the shore of enlightenment). Once the knowledge of differentiation is eliminated, Zen practitioners with the insight into the mortal conditions of self and others in previous life or the knowledge of remembering many former existences. Practitioners with the mind composing quite purified, clarified, soft, without blemish, without defilement, fixed and immovable will be able to see a variety of former habitations, one life, two lives a hundred or thousand lives, many eons of integration and disintegration.
502. Trikaya
“Trikaya” is a Sanskrit term for “three bodies.” According to Mahayana doctrine, Buddhas have three bodies: 1) Dharmakaya, or body of the great order, or true body of the Buddha. This is the true nature of the Buddha, which is identical with transcendental reality, the essence of the universe. The dharmakaya is the unity of the Buddha with every thing existing. It represents the law or dharma, the teaching expounded by the Buddha (Sakyamuni); 2) Sambhogakaya, or body of delight, the body of buddhas who in a “buddha-paradise” enjoy the truth that they embody. This is also the result of previous good actions; and 3) Nirmanakaya, or body of transformation, or emanation body, the earthly body in which Buddhas appear to men in order to fulfill the buddhas’ resolve to guide all beings to advance to Buddhahood (liberation). The nirmanakaya is embodied in the earthly Buddhas and Bodhisattvas projected into the world through the meditation of the sambhogakayaas a result of their compassion. The three bodies are not one and yet not different. It is because the levels of understanding of human beings are different. Some see the dharma body, still others see the reward body, and still others see the response body. For example, some look at a pearl as a substance which is round and perfect, others see the pure light emitting by the pearl, still others see the pearl reflected within itself. Apart from the substance of the pearl and the light, there is no pure light emitting, nor reflection inside the pearl. Thus the three are one. These are Buddha’s three-fold body. A Buddha has three bodies or planes of reality. According to the Yogacara philosophy, the Triple Body is Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya. Dharmakaya or Dharma body (Law body) is likened to the field of a specific career; the Sambhogakaya or bliss-body is a person’s training by which that person acquires the knowledge of that specific career; and the Nirmanakaya or the body of transformation is likened the application of this knowledge in daily life to earn a living.
The first Buddha’s body is the Dharmakaya. Dharma here may be understood in either way as “reality,” or as “law giving principle,” or simply as “law.” Kaya means “body” or “system.” The combination, dharmakaya, is then literally a body or person that exists as principle, and it has now come to mean the highest reality from which all things derive their being and lawfulness, but which in itself transcends all limiting conditions. However, Dharmakaya is not a mere philosophical word, as is indicated by the term “kaya,” which suggests the idea of personality, especially as it relates to Buddhahood. It belongs to the Buddha, it is what inwardly and essentially constitutes Buddhahood, for without it a Buddha loses altogether his being. Dharmakay is also known as Svabhavakaya, meaning “self-nature-body”, for it abides in itself, it remains as such retaining its nature. It is this sense the absolute aspect of the Buddha, in whom perfect tranquility prevails. Dharma body (essence, absolute or spiritual body or Law Body) of reality which is formless, unchanging, transcendental and inconceivable and synonymous with “Emptiness.” The dharma body includes meditation, wisdom, and nirvana (Thể, trí, dụng). This is the experience of cosmic consciousness, of oneness that is beyond every conception. The unconditioned dharmakaya is the substratum of completeness and perfection out of which arise all animate and inanimate forms and moral order. Vairocana Buddha, the “All-Illuminating One” embodies this aspect of universal consciousness. According to the T’ien-T’ai, Dharmakaya is the idea or Principle or Truth itself without any personal existence. In the Mahayana Buddhism, the Prajna-paramita Sutra maintains the conception that the Dharmakaya is produced by Dharmas. Thus, the Dharma body is the principle and nature of fundamental enlightenment. Body of the great order. The true nature of the Buddha, which is identical with transcendental reality, the essence of the universe. The dharmakaya is the unity of the Buddha with every thing existing. It represents the law or dharma, the teaching expounded by the Buddha (Sakyamuni). There is still another another explanation that the dharmakaya is the Dharma body of Vairocana Buddha, which translates as “All Pervasive Light.” According to the Zen sects, the Dharmakaya is the essence-being of all the Buddhas and also of all beings. What makes at all possible the existence of anything is the Dharmakaya, without which the world itself is inconceivable. But, especially, the Dharmakaya is the essence-body of all beings which forever is. In this sense it is Dharmata or Buddhata, that is, the Buddha-nature within all beings.
The second Buddha’s body is the Sambhogakaya. The Sambhogakaya is ordinarily translated as Body of Recompense, or Enjoyment. Literally, “enjoyment” is a better word for sambhoga, for it comes originally from the root “bhuj,” which means “to eat” or “to enjoy,” to which the prefix “sam” meaning “together” is added. Thus “sambhogakaya” is often translated into the Chinese as “Kung-Yung-Shên,” or “Shou-Yung-Shen,” or “Chih-Shên.” Since we have the term “sambhogakaya,” recompense or reward body for it. This body of Enjoyment is attained as the result of or as the reward for a series of spiritual discipline carried on through so many kalpas. The body thus realized is the sambhogakaya, body of recompense, which is enjoyed by the well-deserving one, i.e., Bodhisatva-Mahasattva. The Buddha as the Body of Enjoyment is generally represented as a figure enveloped in all the glory of Buddhahood; for in Him incarnated there is everything good and beautiful and holy accruing from the perfection of the spiritual life. The particular features of each such Buddha may vary according to his original vows; for instance, his environment, his name, his form, his country, and his activity may not be the same; Amitabha Buddha has his Pure Land in the West with all the accommodations as he desired in the beginning of his career as Bodhisattva; and so with Akshobhya Buddha as described in the sutra bearing his name. The Body of Recompense is sometimes called “Ying-Shên” or the Responding Body. The reward body of bliss or enjoyment. Celestial body or bliss-body of the Buddha, personification of eternal perfection in its ultimate sense. The experience of the rapture of enlightenment, of the Dharma-mind of the Buddha and the patriarchs, and of the spiritual practices which they have transmitted from generation to generation. Amitabha Buddha in his Western Paradise symbolizes this “bliss-body.” It always resides in the Pure Land and never manifests itself in the mundane world, but only in the celestial spheres, acompanied by enlightened bodhisattvas. According to the T’ien-T’ai Sect, the Enjoyment or Reward-body is the person embodied with real insight, i.e., the body attained as the value of a long causal action. There are two kinds of Sambhogakaya: Sambhogakaya for the Buddha’s own use, or bliss. Sambhogakaya for the spiritual benefit of others. According to the Mahayana Buddhism, the reward body is Perfect Wisdom, or initial enlightenment. This is the body of delight, the body of buddhas who in a “buddha-paradise” enjoy the truth that they embody. This is also the result of previous good actions. The reward body is considered as the body of Nisyanda Buddha, which means “Fulfillment of Purity.” According to the Zen sects, the Sambhogakaya is the spiritual body of the Bodhisattvas which is enjoyed by them as the fruit of their self-discipline in all the virtues of perfection. This they acquire for themselves according the law of moral causation, and in this they are delivered at last from all the defects and defilements inherent in the realm of the five Skandhas.
The third Buddha’s body is the Buddha’s metamorphosic body (Nirmanakaya). Transformation body or the incarnated body of the Buddha. The term “body” in the ordinary sense is rather misleading because it conveys the idea of a bodily existence. However, according to the T’ien-T’ai Sect, Nirmanakaya means body of manifestation, or the body of transformation (incarnation). The body in its various incarnation. In order to benefit certain sentient beings, a Buddha can incarnate himself into an appropriate visual body, such as that of Sakyamuni which is the transformation body of Vairocana Buddha. It is twofold: the body exclusively for Bodhisattvas of primary stage, that is, a superior body of Transformation and the body for those who are prior to the primary stage. The Nirmanakaya is usually translated as “Hua-Shên,” which means “Body of Transformation,” or simply “Assumed Body.” The Dharmakaya is too exalted a body for ordinary mortals to come to any conscious contact with. As it transcends all forms of limitation, it cannot become an object of sense or intellect. We ordinary mortals can perceive and have communion with this body only through its transformed forms. And we perceive them only according to our capacities, moral and spiritual. They do not appear to us in the same form. We thus read in the Saddharma-Pundarika Sutra that the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara transforms himself into so many different forms according to the kind of beings whose salvation he has in view at the moment. The Kshitigarbha Sutra also mentions that Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva takes upon himself a variety of forms in order to respond to the requirements of different sentient beings. The conception of the Nirmanakaya is significant, seeing that this world of relativity stands contrasted with the absolute value of Suchness which can be reached only by means of the knowledge of Suchness or Tathatajnana. The essence of Buddhahood is the Dharmakaya, but as long as the Buddha remains such, there is no hope for the salvation of a world of particulars. Thus the Buddha has to abandon his original abode, and must take upon himself such forms as are conceivable and acceptable to the inhabitants of this world. The nirmanakaya is one of the three bodies of a Buddha, according to Mahayana buddhology, the other two are enjoyment body and truth body. Body of transformation, the earthly body in which Buddhas appear to men in order to fulfill the buddhas’ resolve to guide all beings to advance to Buddhahood (liberation). The nirmanakaya is embodied in the earthly Buddhas and Bodhisattvas projected into the world through the meditation of the sambhogakayaas a result of their compassion. Also according to Mahayana Buddhism, Buddhas are credited with a variety of suparnatural powers, including the ability to create “emanation body,” or physical manifestations that are produced in order to benefit sentient beings. These may be human or animal forms, or may even be bridges or other physical objects that provide benefit. However, the most important type of emanation body is the physical form of a Buddha as in the case of Sakyamuni Buddha. According to Tibetan Buddhism, advanced practitioners acquire the ability to choose their rebirth situations consciously, and other advanced master are able to identify them. Today there are hundreds of reincarnational lineages in Tibetan Buddhism, the most prominent of which are the Dalai Lamas. According to the Tantric Buddhism, the meaning of Nirmanakaya is the “body of emanation,” the body of existence or manifestation of our mind and our body. It is also the manifestation of the bodies of those who have already experienced or gone through the other two kayas, and who then manifest on the third level, the nirmanakaya. In that sense the nirmmanakaya refers specifically to the vajra master or teacher who is here on earth. Such a teacher has achieved the dharmakaya and the sambhogakaya, but in order to communicate with our body, our food, our clothes, and our earth, that is, with our sense perceptions, he needs a manifested body. It is necessary that the teacher manifest in the nirmanakaya in order to communicate with us and to teach the vajrayana and the entire Buddhadharma. According to the Mahayana Buddhism, the transformation body is a compassionate appearance in response to living beings. Body of transformation, the earthly body in which Buddhas appear to men in order to fulfill the buddhas’ resolve to guide all beings to advance to Buddhahood (liberation). The nirmanakaya is embodied in the earthly Buddhas and Bodhisattvas projected into the world through the meditation of the sambhogakaya as a result of their compassion. The transformation body is also known as the body of Sakyamuni Buddha, which translates “Still and Silent.” According to the Zen sects, the Nirmanakaya is born of great loving heart (mahakaruna) of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. By reason of this love they have for all beings, they never remain in the self-enjoyment of the fruits of their moral deeds. Their intense desire is to share those fruits with their fellow-beings. If the ignorant could be saved by the Bodhisattva by his vicariously suffering for them, he would do so. If the ignorant could be enlightened by the Bodhisattva by turning his stock of merit over to them, he would do so. This turning over of merit and this vicarious suffering are accomplished by the Bodhisattva by means of his Nirmanakaya, transformation-body. Nirmanakaya is a body assumed by the Buddha in order to establish contact with the world in a human form. In this form, therefore, the Bodhisattva, spatially speaking, divides himself into hundreds of thousands of kotis of bodies. He can then be recognized in the form of a creeping caterpillar, in a sky-scraping mountain, in the saintly figure of Saints, and even in the shape of a world-devouring Evil One (Mara), if he thinks it necessary to take this form in order to save a world that has passed into the hands of ignorance, evil passions, and all kinds of defilements and corruptions.
According to Tantric Buddhism, the samsaric way of handling our world, in terms of the three levels of samsaric perception: body, emotions, and mindlessness. There is a definite tantric levels of perception, which is known as the principle of the three kayas, or the trikaya. Kaya is a Sanskrit word that simply means “body.” There is a correspondence between the three levels. In the language of tantra, the level of body corresponds to the kaya or body of manifestation, the nirmanakaya. The level of emotions corresponds to the body of complete joy, the sambhogakaya, and the level of bewilderment or ignorance corresponds to total space, the dharmakaya. There is no tension or contradiction between the samsaric and the tantric descriptions. Rather the tantric principle of the three kayas shows how we could relate to the levels of body, emotions, and bewilderment that already exist within our state of being. In studying tantra, we relate with all three kayas simultaneously by relating to the vajra master, who embodies all three. The three kayas are not abstract principles, but we can relate to them experientially, personally, spiritually, and transcendently, all at the same time. As we develop to the level of the teacher’s body, the level of nirmanakaya, then we begin to experience the sambhogakaya. At that level emotions are transmuted and are workable. Beyond that, we also begin to tune in to the dharmakaya, which is open, all pervading space. If we are going to study tantra, it is necessary to understand the trikaya principle of being and manifesting . In tantric practice the first step is to realize the level of body, the nirmanakaya. Then we see that the five Buddha families are related with the sambhogakaya or the level of emotions. Beyond that it is necessary to transcend both the bodily and the emotional level, which is the dharmakaya, high above. It is necessary to understand the importance of relating with the body, or earthly existence, and relating with the vajra master, the great teacher who exists on earth. In some sense such a teacher is a magician, a conjurer: he has achieved total space, conquered the level of emotions, and he actually exists in an earthly body. Dharmakaya stands for the strength of fundamental truth of emptiness, the all-pervading supreme reality, enlightenment itself and embodied as Samantabhadra. Sambhogakaya represents the qualities of the dharmakaya. The nirmanakaya is the intentional embodiment of the dharmakaya in human form. In the Mahayana, Nirmanakaya means the historical Buddha Sakyamuni. In the Vajrayana, nirmanakaya means any person who possesses the spiritual capabilities of a teacher who has previously died. According to Samparigraha School, Dharmakaya is the ideal body whose nature is principle and wisdom. Sambhogakaya is the enjoyment or Reward-body which appears only for the Bodhisattva. Nirmanakaya is the transformation-body which manifests itself for ordinary people for their worship. The transformation body of the Buddha, the body-of-form of all Buddhas which is manifested for the sake of men who cannot yet approach the Dharmakaya (the formless True Body of Buddhahood).
Besides, there are other perceptions on the Trikayas. Dharmakaya or Dharma body (Law body) is likened to the field of a specific career; the Sambhogakaya or bliss-body is a person’s training by which that person acquires the knowledge of that specific career; and the Nirmanakaya or the body of transformation is likened the application of this knowledge in daily life to earn a living. The term “Nirmana-kaya” (body) in the ordinary sense is rather misleading because it conveys the idea of a bodily existence. However, according to the T’ien-T’ai Sect, Nirmanakaya means body of manifestation, or the body of transformation (incarnation), transformation body or the incarnated body of the Buddha, the body in its various incarnation. In order to benefit certain sentient beings, a Buddha can incarnate himself into an appropriate visual body, such as that of Sakyamuni which is the transformation body of Vairocana Buddha. It is twofold: the body exclusively for Bodhisattvas of primary stage, that is, a superior body of Transformation and the body for those who are prior to the primary stage. Sambhogakaya is the reward body of bliss or enjoyment. Celestial body or bliss-body of the Buddha, personification of eternal perfection in its ultimate sense. The experience of the rapture of enlightenment, of the Dharma-mind of the Buddha and the patriarchs, and of the spiritual practices which they have transmitted from generation to generation. Amitabha Buddha in his Western Paradise symbolizes this “bliss-body.” It always resides in the Pure Land and never manifests itself in the mundane world, but only in the celestial spheres, acompanied by Enlightened Bodhisattvas. According to the T’ien-T’ai Sect, the Enjoyment or Reward-body is the person embodied with real insight, i.e., the body attained as the value of a long causal action. There are two kinds of Sambhogakaya: Sambhogakaya for the Buddha’s own use, or bliss. Sambhogakaya for the spiritual benefit of others. Dharmakaya is the absolute or spiritual body or Law Body. Dharma body of reality which is formless, unchanging, transcendental and inconceivable and synonymous with “Emptiness.” The dharma body includes meditation, wisdom, and nirvana (Thể, trí, dụng). This is the experience of cosmic consciousness, of oneness that is beyond every conception. The unconditioned dharmakaya is the substratum of completeness and perfection out of which arise all animate and inanimate forms and moral order. Vairocana Buddha, the “All-Illuminating One” embodies this aspect of universal consciousness. According to the T’ien-T’ai, Dharmakaya is the idea or Principle or Truth itself without any personal existence.
503. Eight Natures of Dharmakaya
According to Zen Master D.T. Suzuki in the “Studies In The Lankavatara Sutra,” the idea of Dharmakaya is not wanting in the Lankavatara Sutra, and that it is used not in the same of the Dharmakaya of the Triple Body dogma. The Lankavatara Sutra speaks of the Tathagata’s Dharmakaya of the Inconceivable Dharmakaya, and of Dharmakaya as will-body. That Tathagata’s Dharmakaya has eight special natures as follows. First, where the attainment of the Tathagatakaya In the heavens is spoken of as the result of the understanding of the highest spiritual truths belonging to Mahayana Buddhism, Dharmakaya is used in apposition with Tathagata as something that transcends the nature of the five Dharmas, being furnished with things issuing from the highest knowledge, and itself abiding in the realm of magical appearances. Here we may consider all these terms synonymous, Dharmakaya, Tathagatakaya, and Tathagata. Second, Tathagatakaya is referred to also when the Bodhisattva attains to a certain form of meditation whereby he finds himself in accord with the suchness of things and its transformations. The Tathagatakaya is realized when all his mental activities conditionally working are extinguished and there takes place a radical revolution in his consciousness. The kaya is no less than the Dharmakaya. Third, when the Bodhisattva is described as being anointed likfe a great sovereign by all the Buddhas as he goes beyond the final stage of Bodhisattvaship, mention is made of Dharmakaya which he will finally realize. This kaya is characterized as “vasavartin” and made synonymous with Tathagata. In Buddhism “vasavartin” is used in the sense of supreme sovereignty whose will is deed since there is nothing standing in the way of its ruleship. The Dharmakaya may here be identified with Sambhogakaya, the second member of the Trikaya. Here the Bodhisattva is sitting in the Lotus Palace decorated with gems of all sorts, surrounded by Bodhisattvas of similar qualifications and also by all the Buddhas whose hands are extended to receive the Bodhisattva here. It goes without saying that the Bodhisattva here described has comprehended the Mahayana truth that there is no self-substance in objects external or internal, and that he is abiding in the full realization of the truth most inwardly revealed to his consciousness. Fourth, Dharmakaya is found again in connection with the moral provisions obtainable in a realm of pure spirituality. The term is now coupled with “acintya,” inconceivable, as well as with “vasavartita.” Fifth, where all the Buddhas are spoken of as the same character in four ways, the sameness of the body is regarded as one of them. All the Buddhas who are Tathagatas, the Enlightened Ones, and the Arhats, shared the nature of sameness as regards the Dharmakaya and their material body with the thirty-two marks and the eighty minor ones, except when they assume diiferent forms in different worlds to keep all beings in good discipline. Besides the Dharmakaya expressly referred to, we have also Sambhogakaya solemnized with all the physical features of a superior man; and also the Nirmanakaya, the Body of Transformation, in response to the needs of sentient beings who are inhabiting each in his own realm of existence. Sixth, Dharmakaya will-made. No-birth is said to be another name for the Tathagata’s Manomaya-dharmakaya. Manomaya is “will-made” and as is explained elsewhere a Bodhisattva is able to assume a variety of forms according to his wishes just as easily as one can in thought pass through or over all kinds of physical obstructions. Does then the “Dharmakaya will-made” mean, not the Dharmakaya in itself, but the Dharmakaya in its relation to a world of multitudinousness where it may take any forms it likes according to condition? In this case the Dharmakaya thus qualified is no other than the Nirmanakaya. So we read further that the Tathagata’s other names are a legion in this world only that sentient beings fail to recognize them even when they hear them. Seventh, the Tathagata’s Dharmakaya is compared to the indestructibility of the sands of the Ganges which remain ever the same when they are put in fire. Further down, the T’ang translation speaks of the Dharmakaya having no body whatever, and for that reason it is never subject to destruction. In the Sanskrit text the corresponding term is “sarira” or “sariravat,” and not Dharmakaya, but from the context we can judge that “sarira” is here used synonymously with Dahrmakaya. In Buddhism “sarira” is something solid and indestructible that is left behind when the dead body is consumed in fire, and it was thought that only holy men leave such indestructible substance behind. This conception is probably after an analogy of Dharmakaya forever living and constituting the spiritual substance of Buddhahood. Eighth, the sands of the Ganges, the Buddha’s Buddhahood instead of Dharmakaya is made the subject of comparison to the sands which are free from all possible faults inherent in things relative. There is no doubt that the Buddhata too means the Dharmakaya of the Tathagata, only differently designated.
504. The Buddha’s Foretelling of the Future of His Disciples
During the time of the Buddha, sometimes He predicted the future of his disciples, that is caled “Vyakarana”. “Vyakarana” means to receive from a Buddha predestination of the future felicity and realm of a disciple, hence Kaundinya is known as Vyakarana Kaundinya, or to become a Buddha in the future. After a Bodhisattva makes a vow of firm bodhi, his mind also arise a strong and earnest wish to attain Enlightenment, but it hardly suggests any particular significance as the “Vyakarana” because the “Vyakarana” is the real observation of a Buddha, not just a simple wish. When a Buddha, before whom the wish of the Bodhisattva is made, looks into the future and, if satisfied, declares the fulfillment of the wish, giving all the particulars of such fulfillment. This declaration is also made by all subsequent Buddhas whom the Bodhisattva meets during his career. To receive from a Buddha predestination, prophecy or giving of a record, prediction, fortelling (to become a Buddha). The prophecy of Bodhisattva’s future Buddhahood. Only Buddhas possess the power and wisdom to give decisions, and/or such prophecies. Vyakarana can be “rubbing the crown”. That means the Buddha predicts Buddhahood to someone by the gesture of rubbing the crown. Vyakarana can also be “Record and differentiate”. To record and differentiate, the Buddha fortelling of the future of his disciples to Buddhahood, and to their respective Buddha-kalpas, Buddha-realms, titles, etc. There are two classes of Buddha’s predictions of a disciple’s destiny. First, partial or incomplete prediction. The Buddha predicted what Buddha would make a prediction for sentient being in certain periods of time in the future. Second, prediction in finality, or complete detail of becoming Buddha of a sentient being. There are also eight kinds of prediction. First, made known to self, not to others. Second, made known to others, not to self. Third, made known to self and others. Fourth, unknown to self or others. Fifth, the near made known, but the remote not. Sixth, the remote made known, but not the intermediate. Seventh, near and remote both made known. Eighth, near and remote both not made known. According to the Buddha in The Flower Adornment Sutra (Chapter 38—Detachment From The World), Great Enlightening Beings have ten ways of receiving prediction of Budhahood. First, arousing the determination for enlightenment with extraordinary will. Second, never giving up the practices of Enlightening Beings. Third, continuing to carry out the practices of Enlightening Beings in all ages. Practicing all Buddha teachings. Having complete faith in the guidance of all Buddhas. Cultivating all roots of goodness and bringing them to fulfillment. Placing all sentient beings in the enlightenment of Buddhas. Harmonizing and unifying with all spiritual friends. Thinking of all spiritual friends as Buddhas. Perpetually preserving the fundamental aspiration for enlightenment with diligence. Also according to the Buddha in The Flower Adornment Sutra (Chapter 38—Detachment From The World), Great Enlightening Beings also have ten ways of receiving prediction of Budhahood: having extremely profound inner understanding, being able to develop the roots of goodness of enlightening beings as appropriate, cultivating extensive great practices, open receiving of the prediction, occult receiving of the prediction, realizing enlightenment by their own minds, accomplishing tolerance, teaching and taming sentient beings, comprehending the number of all ages, mastery of all practices of Enlightening Beings.
505. Sixty-Two Views
According to the Maha-Prajna Sutra, there are sixty-two views on the Five Aggregates. The five skandhas under four considerations of time form the first twenty views, considered as time past, whether each of the five has had permanence, impermanence, both, and neither. First, four views of form: form is permanent, form is impermanent, form is both permanent and impermanent, form is neither permanent nor impermanent. Next, four views of sensation: sensation is permanent, sensation is impermanent, sensation is both permanent and impermanent, sensation is neither permanent nor impermanent. Next, four views of perception: perception is permanent, perception is impermanent, perception is both permanent and impermanent, perception is neither permament nor impermanent. Next, four views of volition or mental formation: mental formation is permanent, mental formation is impermanent, mental formation is both permanent and impermanent, mental formation is neither permanent nor impermanent. Finally, four views of consciousness: consciousness is permanent, consciousness is impermanent, consciousness is both permanent and impermanent, consciousness is neither permanent nor impermanent. Five skandhas under the four considerations to their space or extension, considered as present time, whether each is finite, infinite, both, or neither to make another 20 views. First, four views of form: form is finite, form is infinite, form is both finite and infinite, form is neither finite nor infinite. Next, four views of sensation: sensation is finite, sensation is infinite, sensation is both finite and infinite, sensation is neither finite nor infinite. Next, four views of perception: perception is finite, perception is infinite, perception is both finite and infinite, perception is neither finite nor infinite. Next, four views of volition or mental formation: volition is finite, hành vô biên: volition is infinite, volition is both finite and infinite, volition is neither finite nor infinite. Finally, four views of consciousness: consciousness is finite, consciousness is infinite, consciousness is both finite and infinite, consciousness is neither finite nor infinite. Five skandhas under the four considerations to their destination to make another 20 views. First, four views of form: form is gone, form is not gone, form is both gone and not gone, form is neither gone nor not gone. Next, four views of sensation: sensation is gone, sensation is not gone, sensation is both gone and not gone, sensation is neither gone nor not gone. Next, four views of perception: perception is gone, perception is not gone, perception is both gone and not gone, perception is neither gone nor not gone. Next, four views of volition or mental formation: volition is gone, volition is not gone, volition is both gone and not gone, volition is neither gone nor not gone. Finally, four views of consciousness: consciousness is gone, consciousness is not gone, consciousness is both gone and not gone, consciousness is neither gone nor not gone. Two views of mind: unity of body and mind and difference of body and mind.
506. Sixty-Two Views of T’ien-T’ai Sect on Personality
According to the T’ien-T’ai scet, there are sixty-two views on personality. First, four views of Form or Rupa as its basis and consider each of the five skandhas under four aspects: rupa, the organized body, as the ego; the ego as apart from the rupa; rupas as the greater, the ego the smaller or inferior, and the ego as dwelling in the rupa; the ego as the greater, rupa the inferior, and the rupa in the ego. The same process applies to Sensation, Perception, Volition, and Consciousness in the present, past and future to make 60 views. The sixty-first view on personality is Impermanence. The sixty-second view on personality is Permanence.
507. Entrances and Six Entrances
“Entrance” is one of the links in the chain of causation. The six entrances or locations, both the organ and the sensation (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and perception). The six entrances or locations, both the organ and the sensation (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and perception). One of the links in the chain of causation. According to the Surangama Sutra, book Three, the Buddha reminded Ananda about the six entrances as follows: “Ananda! Why do I say the six entrances have their origin in the wonderful nature of true suchness, the treasury of the Thus Come One?” The first entrance is the Eye-Entrance. : Ananda! Although the eye’s staring causes fatigue, the eye and the fatigue originate in Bodhi. Staring gives rise to the characteristic of fatigue. Because a sense of seeing is stimulated in the midst of the two false, defiling objects of light and dark, defiling appearances are taken in; this is called the nature of seeing. Apart from the two defiling objects of light and dark, this seeing is ultimately without substance. Thus, Ananda, you should know that seeing does not come from light or dark, nor does it come forth from the sense organ, nor is it produced from emptiness. Why? If it came from light, then it would be extinguished when it is dark, and you would not see darkness. If it came from darkness, then it would be extinguished when it is light, and you would not see light. Suppose it came from the sense organ, which is obviously devoid of light and dark, a nature of seeing such as this would have no self-nature. Suppose it came forth from emptiness. When it looks in front of you, it sees the shapes of the defiling dust; turning around, it would see your sense-organ. Moreover, if it were emptiness itself which sees, what connection would that have with your entrance? Therefore, you should know that the eye enance is empty and false, since it neither depends upon causes and conditions for existence nor is spontaneous in nature. The second entrance is the ear entrance. Ananda! Consider, for example, a person who suddenly stops up his ears with two fingers. Because the sense-organ of hearing has become fatigued, a sound is heard in his head. However, both the ears and the fatigue originate in Bodhi. Because a sense of hearing is stimulated in the midst of the two false, defiling objects of movement and stillness, defiling appearances are taken; this is called the nature of hearing. Apart from the two defiling objects of movement and stillness, this hearing is ultimately without substance. Thus, Ananda, you know that hearing does not come from movement and stillness; nor does it come from the sense-organ, nor is it produced from emptiness. Why? If it came from stillness, it would be extinguished when there is movement, and you would not hear movement. If it came from movement, then it would be extinguished when there is stillness, and you would not be aware of this stillness. Suppose it came from the sense-organ, which is obviously devoid of movement and stillness: a nature of hearing such as this would have no self-nature. Suppose it came from emptiness; emptiness would then become hearing and would no longer be emptiness. Moreover, would it have with your entrance? Therefore, you should know that the ear-entrance is empty and false, since it neother depends upon causes and conditions for existence, nor is spontaneous in nature. The third entrance is the nose entrance. Ananda! Consider, for example, a person who inhales deeply through his nose. After he has inhaled for a long time it becomes fatigued, and then there is a sensation of cold in the nose. Because of that sensation, there are the distinctions of penetration and obstruction, of emptiness and actuality, and so forth, including all fragrant and stinking vapors. However, both the nose and the fatigue originate in Bodhi. Because a sense of smelling is stimulated in the midst of the two false, defiling objects of penetration and obstruction, defiling appearances are taken in; this is called the nature of smelling. Apart from the two defiling objects of penetration and obstruction, this smelling is ultimately without substance. You should know that smelling does not come from penetration and obstruction, nor does it come forth from the sense-organ, nor is it produced from emptiness. Why? If it came from penetration, the smelling would be extinguished when there is obstruction, and then how could it experience obstruction? If it existed because of obstruction, then where there is penetration there would be no smelling; in that case, how would the awareness of fragrance, stench, and other such sensations come into being? Suppose it came from the sense organ, which is obviously devoid of penetration and obstruction. A nature of smelling such as this would have no self-nature. Suppose it came from emptiness; smelling itself would turn around and smell your own nose. Moreover, if it were emptiness itself which smelled, what connection would it have with your entrance? Therefore, you should know that the nose-entrance is empty and false, since it neither depends upon causes and conditions for existence nor is spontaneous in nature. The fourth entrance is the tongue entrance. Ananda! Consider, for example, a person who licks his lips with his tongue. His excessive licking causes fatigue. If the person is sick, there will be a bitter flavor; a person who is not sick will have a subtle sweet sensation. Sweetness and biterness demonstrate the tongue’s sense of taste. When the organ is inactive, a sense of tastelessness prevails. However, both the tongue and the fatigue originate in Bodhi. Because of the two defiling objects of sweetness and bitterness, as well as tastelessness, stimulate a recognition of taste which in turn draws in these defiling sensations, it becomes what is known as a sense of taste. Apart from the two defiling objects of sweetnes and bitterness and apart from tastelessness, the sense of taste is originally without a substance. Thus, Ananda, you should know that the perception of sweetness, bitterness, and tastelessness does not come from sweetness or bitterness, nor does it exist because of tastelessness, nor does it arise from the sense organ, nor is it produced from emptiness. Why? If it came from sweetness and bitterness, it would cease to exist when tastelessness was experienced, so how cold it recognize tastelessness? If it arose from tastelessness, it would vanish when the flavor of sweetness was tasted, so how could it perceive the two flavors, sweet and bitter? Suppose it came from the tongue which is obviously devoid of defiling objects sweetness and bitternes and of tastelessness. An essence of tasting such as this would have no self-nature. Suppose it came from emptiness; the sense of taste would be experienced by emptiness instead of by the mouth. Suppose, moreover, that it was emptiness itself which tasted, what connection would that have with your entrance? Therefore, you should know that the tongue entrance is empty and false, since it neither depends upon causes and conditions for existence, nor is it spontaneous in nature. The fifth entrance is the body entrance. Ananda! Consider, for example, a person who touches his warm hand with his cold hand. If the cold is in excess of warmth, the warm hand will become cold; if the warmth is in excess of the cold, his cold hand will become warm. So the sensation of warmth and cold is felt through the contact and separation of the two hands. Fatiguing contact results in the interpenetration of warmth and cold. However, both the body and the fatigue originate in Bodhi. Because a physical sensation is stimulated in the midst of the two defiling objects of separation and union, defiling appearances are taken in; this is called the awareness of sensation. Apart from the two sets of defiling objects of separation and union, and pleasantness and unpleasantness, the awareness of sensation is orginally without a substance. Thus, Ananda, you should know that this sensation does not come from separation and union, nor does it exist because of pleasantness and unpleasantness, nor does it arise from the sense organ, nor is it produced from emptiness. Why? If it arose when there was union, it would disappear when there was separation, so how could it sense the separation? The two characteristics of pleasantness and unpleasantness are the same way. Suppose it came from the sense organ, which is obviously devoid of the four characteristics of union, separation, pleasantness, and unpleasantness; an awareness of physical sensation such as this would have no self- nature. Suppose it came from emptiness; the awareness of sensations would be experienced by emptiness itself, what connection would that have with your entrance? Therefore, you should know that the body-entrance is empty and false, since it neither depends upon causes and conditions for existence, nor is spontaneous in nature. The sixth entrance is the mind entrance. Ananda! Consider, for example, a person who becomes so fatigued that he goes to sleep. Having slept soundly, he awakens and tries to recollect what he experienced while asleep. He recalls some things and forgets others. Thus, his upsidedownness goes through production, dwelling, change, and extinction, which are taken in and returned to a center habitually, each following the next without ever being over taken. This is known as the mind organ or intellect. The mind and fatigue are both Bodhi. The two defiling objects of production and extinction stimulate a sense of knowing which in turn grasps these inner sense data, reversing the flow of seeing and hearing. Before the flow reaches the ground it is known as the faculty of intellect. Apart from the two sets of dwelling objects of waking and sleeping and of production and extinction, the faculty of intellect is originally without substance. Thus, Ananda, you should know that the faculty of intellect does not come from waking, sleeping, production, or extinction, nor does it arise from the sense organ, nor is it produced from emptiness. Why? If it came from waking, it would disappear at the time of sleeping, so how could it experience sleep? If it came from production, it would cease to exist at the time of extinction, so how could it undergo extinction? If it came from extinction it would disappear at the time of production, so how could it know about production? Suppose it came from the sense-organ; waking and sleeping cause only a physical opening and closing respectively. Apart from these two movements, the faculty of intellect is as unsubstantial as flowers in space, because it is fundamentally without a self-nature. Suppose it came from emptiness; the sense of intellect would be experienced by emptiness instead of by the mind. Then what connection would that have with your entrance? Therefore, you should know that the mind entrance is empty and false, since it neither depends upon causes and conditions for existence, nor is spontaneous in nature.
508. Twelve Entrances
The twelve entrances are twelve entries or places, which include six sense-organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) and six objects which are corresponding to the six senses (forms, sounds, scents, tastes, textures, and mental objects). According to the Surangama Sutra, book Three, the Buddha explained to Ananda why he said that the twelve places were basically the wonderful nature of true suchness, the treasury of the Thus Come One. First, the place of the eye and form. The Buddha taught: “Ananda! Look again at the trees in the Jeta Grove and the fountains and pools. What do you think? Do these things come into being because the forms are produced and thus the eyes see, or because the eyes produce the characteristics of form? Ananda! If the organ of sight were to produce the characteristics of form, then the nature of form would be obliterated when you see emptiness, which is not form. Once it was obliterated, everything that is manifest would disappear. Since the characteristics of form would then be absent, who would be able to understand the nature of emptiness. The same is true of emptiness. If, moreover, the defiling objects of form were to produce the eye’s seeing, then seeing would perish upon looking at emptiness, which is not form, and once it perished, everything would disappear. Then who would be able to understand emptiness and form? Therefore, you should know that neither seeing nor form nor emptiness has a location, and thus the two places of ‘form and seeing’ are empty and false. Their origin is not in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.” Next, the place of the ear and sound. The Buddha taught: “Ananda! Listen again to the drum being beaten in the Jeta grove when the food is ready. The assembly gathers as the bell is struck. The sounds of the bell and the drum follow one another in succession. What do you think? Do these things come into existence because the sound comes to the region of the ear, or because the ear goes to the place of the sound? Again, Ananda, suppose that the sound comes to the region of the ear. Similarly, when I go to beg for food in the city of Shravasti, I am no longer in the Jeta Grove. If the sound definitely goes to the region of Ananda’s ear, then neither Maudgalyayana nor Kasyapa would hear it, and even less the twelve hundred and fifty Sramanas who, upon hearing the sound of the bell, come to the dining hall at the same time. Again, suppose that the ear goes to the region of the sound. Similarly, when I return to the Jeta grove, I am no longer in the city of Sravasti. When you hear the sound of the drum, your ear will already have gone to the place where the drum is beaten. Thus, when the bell peals, you will not hear the sound, even the less that of the elephants, horses, cows, sheep, and all the other various sounds around you. If there is no coming or going, there will be no hearing either. Therefore, you should know that neither hearing nor sound a location, and thus the two places of ‘hearing and sound’ are empty and false. Their origin is not in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.” Next, the place of nose and smell. The Buddha taught: “Moreover, Ananda, you smell the chandana in this censer. You sniff the burning incense burning. When one particle of this incense is lit, it can be smelled simultaneously through forty miles around the city of Sravasti. What do you think? Is this fragrance produced from the chandana wood? Is it produced in your nose? Or does it arise within emptiness? Again, Ananda! Suppose this fragrance is produced from your nose. What is said to be produced from the nose should come forth from the nose. Your nose is not chandana, so how can the nose have the fragrance of chandana? When you say you smell fragrance, it should enter your nose. For the nose to emit fragrance is not the meaning of smelling. Suppose it is produced from within emptiness. The nature of emptiness is everlasting and unchanging, and so the fragrance should be eternally present. What need should there to be to rely on burning the dry wood in the censer? Suppose it is produced from the wood. Noe, the nature of this incense is such that it gives off smoke when it is burned. If the nose smells it, it should be filled with smoke. The smoke rises into the air, and before it has reached the distance, how is it that the fragrance is already being smelled at a distance of forty miles? Therefore, you should know that neither the fragrance nor the nose’s smelling has a location, and so the two places of smelling and fragrance are empty and false. Their origin is not in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.” Next, the place of the tongue and taste. The Buddha taught: “Ananda! Twice everyday you take your bowl along with the rest of the assembly, and among what you receive may be things of supreme flavor, such as curds, butter milk, and clarified butter. What do you think? Are these flavors produced from emptiness, do they come forth from the tongue, or are they produced from the food? Again, Ananda, suppose that the flavors came from your tongue; now there is only one tongue in your mouth. When that tongue had already become the flavor of curds, then it would not change if it encountered some dark rock-candy. Suppose it did not change, that would not be what is called knowing tastes. Suppose it did change, the tongue is not many substances, and how could one tongue know so many tastes? Suppose it were produced from the food. The food does not have consciousness; how could it know tastes? Moreover, if the food itself were to recognize them, that would be the same as someone else eating. Then what connection would that have with what is called your recognition of tastes? Suppose it were produced in emptiness. When you eat emptiness, what flavor does it have? Suppose that emptiness had the flavor salt. Then since your tongue was salty, your face would also be salty, and likewise everyone in the world would be like fish in the sea. Since you would be constantly influenced by salt, you would never know tastelessness. If you did not recognize tastelessness, you would not know anything at all. How could that be what is called taste? Therefore, you should know that neither flavors nor the tongue’s tasting has a location; and, so the two places of tasting and flavor are empty and false. Their origin is not in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.” Next, the place of the body and touches. The Buddha taught: “Ananda! Early every morning you rub your head with your hand. What do you think? When there is a sensation of the rubbing, where does the ability in the hands or is it in the head? If it were in the hands, then the head would have no knowledge of it, and how could that be what is called touch? If it were in the head, then the hands would be useless, and how could that be what is called touch? If each had it, then you, Ananda, would have two bodies. If they were two substances, to which would the touch belong? The one which was capable of touch would not be the one that was touched. The one that was touched would not be the one that was capable of touch. Nor should it be that the touch came into being between you and emptiness. Therefore, you should know that neither the sensation of touch nor the body has a location, and so the two places of the body and touch are empty and false. Their origin is not in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.” Finally, the place of mind and dharmas. The Buddha taught: “Ananda! Your mind is always conditioned by three qualities, good, bad, and indeterminate, which produce patterns of dharmas. Ananda! Are these dharmas produced by the mind, or do they have a special place apart from the mind? Ananda! If they were the mind, the dharmas would not be its defiling objects. Since they would not be conditions of the mind, how could you say that they had a location? Suppose they were to have a special place apart from the mind, then would the dharmas themselves be able to know? If they were to have a sense of knowing, they would be called a mind. If they were something other than you, they would be someone else’s mind, since they are not defiling objects. If they were the same as you, they would be your own mind. But how could your mind stand apart from you? Suppose they were to have no sense of knowing; yet these defiling objects are not forms, sounds, smells, or tastes; they are neither cold nor warmth, nor the characteristic of emptiness. Where would they be located? We have established that they are represented in neither form nor emptiness; nor is it likely that they exist somewhere in the human realm beyond emptiness, for if they did the mind could not be aware of them. Whence, then, would they aise? Therefore, you should know that neither dharmas nor the mind has a location, and, so the two places of mind and dharmas are empty and false. Their origin is not in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.”
509. Spheres
Sphere is a prospect, region, territory, surroundings, views, circumstances, environment, area, field, sphere, environments and conditions, i.e. the sphere of mind, the sphere of form for the eye, of sound for the ear, etc.: Visaya, artha, or gocara (skt). According to Most Venerable Thích Thiền Tâm in The Pure Land Buddhism in Theory and Practice, if we are not diligent and do not exert efforts along the path of cultivation, nothing usually happens; however, if we are diligent and exert a great deal of effort, we will definitely witness different realms. These two realms either come from within the mind or are caused by outside sources. The first sphere is the Internal Realms. Internal realms are also called “realms of the Self-Mind” because they do not come from outside, but develop from the mind. Those who do not clearly understand the truth that “the ten thousand dharmas are created by the mind,” think that all realms come from the outside. This is wrong. When the practitioner reaches the stage of mutual interpenetration of mind and realms, completely severing external conditions, the seeds of latent dharmas in the Alaya consciousness suddenly manifest themselves. For the Buddha Recitation or mantra-chanting practitioner, the power of the Buddha’s name or the mantra penetrates deep into the mind, eliciting a reaction from the wholesome or evil seeds in the Alaya consciousness. The realms that result are very complex and usually appear in dreams, or even when the practitioner is awake and striving to recite the Buddha’s name. In Buddhism, this condition is called “Changing manifestations of the Alaya consciousness.” In the dreaming scenes, if the events or scenes result from evil seeds, the practitioner may see various species of worms crawling out of his body, or witness himself, night after night, removing from his body six or seven loathsome creatures with many limbs, such as scorpions or centipedes. Or else, he may see various species of wild animals and or spirits or ghosts. Such realms are innumerable and cannot al be described. In genral, individuals greatly afflicted with greed, who are miserly and wicked, usually see marks of men and women, snakes and serpents and odd species with white features and forms. Those harboring a great deal of anger and resentment usually see tigers and leopards or strange species with red forms and features. Those who are heavily deluded usually see domestic animals, clams, oysters, snails or different species with black forms and features. The above, however, is merely indicative; it does not mean that everything will be exactly as described. If the scenes in his dream come from good wholesome seeds, the practitioner sees tall trees and exotic flowers, beautiful scenery, bright adorned with nets of pearls. Or else, he sees himself eating succulent, fragrant food, wearing ethereal garments, dwelling in palaces of diamonds and other precious substances, or flying high in open space. Thus, in summary, all the seeds of the ten Dharma Realms are found in the minds of sentient beings. If wholesome seeds manifest themselves, practitioners view the realms of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, human, and celestial beings; if evil karma is manifested, they witness scenes from the wretched three Evil Paths. If the cultivator has followed externalist ways in past lives, he usually sees his body emitting electric waves, or his soul leaving the body to roam, meeting demons, ghosts and the like, to discuss politics and the rise and fall of countries and empires. On the other hand, when the practitioner’s mind is pure, he will know in his dreams about events that will occur three or fours days, or seven or eight months, hence. In general, those who have cultivated in previous lives will immediately see auspicious realms when reciting the Buddha’s name. Those with heavy karma, lacking merit and virtue, will usually see evil realms when they begin Buddha Recitation. In time, these evil omens will disappear and gradually be replaced with auspicious omens. If the practitioner’s efforts have reached a high level, there are times during his walking hours when all deluded feelings suddenly cease for a while, body and mind being at ease and free. At other times, the practitioner may recite for four or five hours but feel that the time was very short, perhaps two or three minutes. Or else, at times during recitation, wholesome omens will appear. At other times, unconsciously, his mind experiences great contentment and bliss. Sometimes, he realizes for a split second that mind and realm are both empty. At other times, just by hearing or seeing something once, he becomes awakened to the truth of suffering, emptiness, impermanence and No-Self, completely severing the marks of self and others. These occurrences are too numerous to be fully described! A layman was once reciting the Buddha’s name while seated in the dark. Suddenly he saw two types of flowers, red ones and white ones, springing up all over the floor, reaching as high as the edge of his bed; meanwhile, other flowers were dropping like rain from the sky. Another layman, while kneeling down to recite the Buddha’s name, suddenly saw a red lotus flower appear before the altar, its bud gradually opening up and disappearing after a few minutes. There was yet another layman who, during recitation, would suddenly see everything around him disappear. In front of his eyes would appear the scene of an immense ocean, calm and still, with no wind or waves whatsoever; countless huge, multicolored lotus blossoms would spring up on the ocean surface. Afterward, the ocean scene would disappear, to be replaced by scenes of mountains, with verdant herbs and flowers, luxuriant century-old trees, and, by and by, a temple complex, sumptuous and magmificent. Then the temple and mountains would disappear, to be replaced by scenes of jewelled nets coming together then drawing apart, drawing apart then coming together again. There are, in general, many such scenes. Visionary scenes such as the above, called “internal realms” or “realms of the Self-Mind,” have their origin in a thought of peace and stillness, or are caused by wholesome seeds generated by Buddha or Mantra Recitation. They appear suddenly and are lost immediately. The practitioner should not be attached to them, thinking that they are real, nor should he remember them fondly. It is an extreme mistake to develop nostalgia for them, thinking how ethereal, calm and peaceful, beautiful and well-adorned they were, they day-dream about them, unable to forget them, longing for their reappearance. The ancients have criticized such thoughts as “scratching in advance and waiting for the itch.” This is because these scenes have their origin in diligent exertion and appear temporarily. They have no true existence. We should realize that when the practitioner exerts a certain level of efforts, the scenes and features particular to that level will appear naturally. Take the example of a traveller who views different scenery as he passes along various stretches of the road. If he has not reached home, yet develops such an attachment and fondness for a particular scene along the road that he refuses to proceed, his travel will be impeded. He will then be helplessly lost in the midst of his journey, not knowing when he will finally return home to rest. The practitioner is like that traveller; if he becomes attached to and fond of temporary realms and scenes, he will never attain the true realms. Were he to dream of them to the point of insanity, he would be destroyed by demons and waste an entire lifetime of practice! The Diamond Sutra states: “Everything in this world that has marks is illusory; to see marks as not marks is to see the Tathagata.” Everything that has marks refers here to compounded, conditioned dharmas. Tose marks canot be said either to exist or not to exist, or to be true or false. Delusion arise precisely because unenlightened sentient beings discriminate, become attached and think that these marks exist or do not exist are real or are false. Even the fondness which some Zen practitioners develop for samadhi, upon entering concentration and experiencing this immense, empty, still, transparent, peaceful and free realm, falls into the category of “having marks.” The same is true when these practitioners, once awakened to a certain lofty, transcendental principle, joyfully grasp at it. Once there are marks, there is delusion. “To see marks” means to see such marks as auspicious or evil, good or bad, dirty or clean, existent or non-existent, Buddha or sentient beings, even the realms of the Five Skandas or the Six Dusts, etc. “As not marks” means seeing but neither becoming attached to nor rejecting them, just letting everything be. Why should we not reject them? It is because makrs, while illusory, are not non-existent. This is not unlike the reflection of the moon in the water. Although the reflected moon is not real, this does not mean that there is no illusory mark of moonlight. Therefore, if we see marks appear while we are cultivating, we should disregard them and redouble our efforts, just like the traveller, who views varied scenery en route but must push forward to reach home quickly. “To see the Tathagata” is to see the original Buddha Nature, to see the Way. In summary, all states of mind, from those described above to the state of one-pointedness of mind, belong to the category of “internal realms.” These realms have two aspects: “Attainment-like” and “Partial attainment.” “Attainment-like” realms appear temporarily and disappear immediately. “Partial attainment” realms are those that once achieved, we have forever, because we have actually attained a part of True Thusness. Regardless of whether it is internal or external, if it is “attainment-like” it is not a True Realm; it is merely a full understanding of some of the manifestations of the True Mind. Practitioners who truly seek liberation should not confuse these aspects, taking attainment-like marks for the True Realm. Attainment-like marks are like a dark, leaden sky which suddenly clears, thanks to the winds which temporarily push away the dark clouds, letting a few rays of sunlight through before the sky becomes overcast again. They also resemble the “mark” of smoke just before the fire, that people used to get when they rubbed two pieces of wood together. The True Realm can be likened to the bright sunlight in a clear and calm sky. It is like rubbing pieces of wood together and already having fire. However, we should not underestimate attainment-like marks, as they demonstrate the genuine existence of the True Realm. If, from that level, we diligently redouble our efforts, the True Realm is not that far away after all.
The second sphere is the External realms. External realms are realms which are not created by the mind, but come from the outside. For example, some practitioners might see Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appearing before them, preaching the Dharma, exhorting and praising them. Others, while reciting the Buddha’s name, suddenly experience an awakening and immediately see the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Some practitioners, in the midst of their pure recitation, see deities and Immortals arrive, join hands and circumambulate them respectfully, or invite them for a leisurely stroll. Still other practitioners see “wandering souls of the dead” arrive, seeking to take refuge with them. Yet others, having reached a high level in their practice, have to endure challenges and harassment from external demons. For example, there was once a layman of rather dull capacities who constantly woeshipped Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. During a dream one night, he saw the Bodhisattva urging him to meditate on the following stanza, and in time he would experience a Great Awakening:
“Great wisdom develops from the mind
Where in the Mind can it be found?
To realize all meanings,
Is to have neither past nor present.”
The realms and manifestations summarized above are called “External realms.” Some might ask, “To see Buddhas and lotus blossoms is it not to see demonic apparitions?” If cause and effect coincide, these are not “demonic realms.” This is because the Pure Land method belongs to the Dharma Door of Existence; when Pure Land practitioners first develop the Bodhi Mind, they enter the Way through forms and marks and seek to view the celestial scenes of the Western Pure Land. When they actually witness these auspicious scenes, it is only a matter of effects corresponding to causes. If cause and effect are in accord, how can these be “demonic realms?” In the Zen School, on the other hand, the practitioner enters the Way through the Dharma Door of Emptiness. Right from the beginning of his cultivation, he wipes out all marks, even the marks of the Buddhas or the Dharma are destroyed. The Zen practitioner does not seek to view the Buddhas or the lotus blossoms, yet the marks of the Buddhas or the lotus blossoms appear to him. Therefore, cause and effect do not correspond. For something to appear without a corresponding cause is indeed the realm of the demons. Thus, the Zen practitioner always holds the sword of wisdom aloft. If the demons come, he kills the demons; if the Buddha comes, he kills the Buddha, to enter the realm of True Emptiness is not to tolerate a single mark.
According to the Great Vairocana Sutra, there are two realms of Vairocana Buddha. To illustrate the sphere of activity of Vairocana Buddha, a diagram-like circle, or square was invented, having the whole show of saintly beings with the Buddha at the center. The first realm is the Realm of Diamond Elements. This realm has the central party of nine circles in the center surrounded by 414 saintly beings. The second realm is the Realm of Matrix Repository. This realm has nine squares in the center surrouned by 1,461 saintly beings.
510. Eighteen Realms
According to Buddhist traditions, there are eighteen realms. They are six senses, six objects, and six consciousnesses. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi in Abhidhamma, there are eighteen elements: eye element, ear element, nose element, tongue element, body element, visible form element, sound element, smell element, taste element, tangible element, eye consciousness element, ear-consciousness element, nose-consciousness element, tongue-consciousness element, body-consciousness element, mind-element, mental-object element, and mind-consciousness element. The six senses are objects of meditation practices. According to Bikkhu Piyananda in The Gems Of Buddhism Wisdom, you must always be aware of the sense organs such as eye, ear, nose, tongue and body and the contact they are having with the outside world. You must be aware of the feelings that are arising as a result of this contact. The eye is now in contact with forms (rupa); the ear is now in contact with sound; the nose is now in conatct with smell; the tongue is now in contact with taste; the body is now in contact with touching; and the mind is now in contact with all things (dharma). The six objects are corresponding to the six senses. The six objective fields of the six senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and idea or thought; rupa, form and colour, is the field of vision; sound of hearing, scent of smelling, the five flavours of tasting, physical feeling of touch, and mental presentation of discernment. Six sense-data or six consciousness or six conceptions. The perceptions and discernings of the six organs of sense, which include sight consciousness, hearing consciousness, scent consciousness, taste consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness.
In the Surangama Sutra, book Three, the Buddha explained to Ananda the reasons why he said that the eighteen realms were basically the wonderful nature of true suchness, the treasury of the Thus Come One. First, the realm of eye, form, and consciousness. The Buddha taught: “Ananda! As you understand it, the eyes and form create the conditions that produce the eye-consciousness. Is the consciousness produced because of the eyes, such that the eyes are its realm? Or is it produced because of form, such that form is its realm? Ananda! If it were produced because of the eyes, then in the absence of emptiness and form it would not be able to make distinctions; and, so even if you had a consciousness, what use would it be? Moreover, Ananda, your seeing is neither green, yellow, red, nor white. There is virtually nothing in which it is represented. Therefore, what is the realm established from? Suppose it were produced because of form. In emptiness, when there was no form, your consciousness would be extinguished. The, why is it that the consciousness knows the nature of emptiness? Suppose a form changes. You are also conscious of the changing appearance; but your eye-consciousness does not change, where is the boundary established? If the eye-consciousness were to change when form changed, then there would be no appearance of a realm. If it were not to change, it would be constant, and given that it was produced from form, it should have no conscious knowledge of where there was empty. Suppose the eye-consciousness arose both from the eyes and from form. If they were united, there would still be a point of separation. If they were separated, there would still be a point of contact. Hence, the substance and nature would be chaotic and disorderly; how could a realm be set up? Therefore, you should know that as to the eyes and form being the conditions that produce the realm of eye-consciousness, none of the three places exists. Thus, the eyes, form, and the form realm, these three, do not have their origin in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.” Next, the realm of ear, sound, and consciousness. The Buddha taught: “Ananda! As you understand it, the ear and sound create the conditions that produce the ear-consciousness. Is this consciousness produced because of the ear such that the ear is its realm, or is it produced because of sound, such that sound is its realm? Ananda! Supose the ear-consciousness were produced because of the ear. The organ of hearing would have no awareness in the absence of both movement and stillness. Thus, nothing would be known by it. Since the organ would lack awareness, what would characterize the consciousness? You may hold that the ears hear, but when there is no movement and stillness, hearing cannot occur. How, then, could the ears, which are but physical forms, unite with external objects to be called the realm of consciousness? Once again, therefore, how would the realm of consciousness be established? Suppose it was produced from sound. If the consciousness existed because of sound, then it would have no connection with hearing. Without hearing, then the characteristic of sound would have no location. Suppose consciousness existed because of sound. Given that sound exists because of hearing, which causes the characteristic of sound to manifest, then you should also hear the hearing-consciousness. If the hearing-consciousness is not heard, there is no realm. If it is heard, then it is the same as sound. If the consciousness itself is heard, who is it that perceives and hears the consciousness? If there is no perceiver, then in the end you would be like grass or wood. Nor is it likely that the sound and hearing mix together to form a realm in between. Since a realm in between could not be established, how could the internal and external characteristics be delineated? Therefore, you should know that as to the ear and sound creating the conditions which produce the realm of the ear-consciousness, none of the three places exists. Thus, the ear, sound, and sound-consciousness, these three, do not have their origin in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.”
Next, the realm of nose, smell, and consciousness. The Buddha taught: “Moreover, Ananda, as you understand it, the nose and smell create the conditions that produce the nose-consciousness. Is this consciousness produced because of the nose, such that the nose is its realm? Or, is it produced because of smell, such that smell are its realm? Suppose, Ananda, that the nose-consciousness were produced because of the nose, then in your mind, what do you take to be the nose? Do you hold that it takes the form of two fleshy claws, or do you hold it is an inherent ability of the nature which perceives smells as a result of movement? Suppose you hold that it is fleshy claws which form an integral part of your body. Since the body’s perception is touch, the sense organ of smelling would be named ‘body’ instead of ‘nose,’ and the objects of smelling would be objects of touch. Since it would not even have the name ‘nose,’ how could a realm be established for it? Suppose you held that the nose was the perceiver of smells. Then, in your mind, what is it that perceives? Suppose it were the flesh that perceived. Basically, what the flesh perceives is objects of touch, which have nothing to do with the nose. Suppose it were emptiness that perceived. Then emptiness would itself be the perceiver, and the flesh would have no awareness. Thus, empty space would be you, and since your body would be without perception, Ananda would not exist. If it is the smell that perceives, perception itself would lie with the smell. What would that have to do with you? If it is certain that vapors of fragrance and stench are produced from your nose, then the two flowing vapors of fragrance and stench would not arise from the wood of Airavana or Chandana. Given that the smell does not come from these two things, when you smell your own nose, is it fragrant, or does it stink? What stinks does not give off fragrance; what is fragrance does not stink. Suppose you say you can smell both the fragrance and the stench; then you, one person, would have tow noses, and I would now be addressing questions to two Anandas. Which one is you? Suppose there is one nose; then fragrance and stench would not be two. Since stench would be fragrance and fragrance would become stench, there would not be two natures, thus what would make up the realm? If the nose-consciousness were produced because of smells, it follows that it is in existence just because of smells. Just as the eyes can see but are unable to see themselves, so, too, if it exists because of smells, it would not be aware of smells. If it is aware of smells, then it is not produced from smells. If it had no awareness, the realm of smelling would not come into being. If the consciousness were not aware of smells, then the realm would not be established from smells. Since there is no intermediate realm of consciousness, there is no basis for establishing anything internal or external, either. Therefore, the nature of smelling is ultimately empty and false. Therefore, you should know that, as to the nose and smells being the conditions which produce the realm of the nose-consciousness, none of the three places exists. Thus, the nose, smells, and the realm of smelling, these three, do not have their origin in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.”
Next, the realm of tongue, flavors, and consciousness. The Buddha taught: “Moreover, Ananda, as you understand it, the tongue and flavors create the conditions that produce the tongue-consciousness. Is the consciousness produced because of the tongue, such that the tongue is its realm, or is it produced because of the flavors, such that the flavors are its realm? Suppose, Ananda, that it were produced because of the tongue. Then all the sugar, black plums, Huang-lien, salt, wild ginger, and cassia in the world would be entirely without flavor. Also, when you taste your own tongue, is it sweet or bitter? Suppose the nature of your tongue were bitter. Then, what would it be that tasted the tongue? Since the tongue cannot taste itself, who would have the sense of taste? If the nature of the tongue were not bitter, there would be no flavor engendered by it. Thus, how could a realm be established? If it were produced because of flavor, the consciousness itself would be a flavor. The case would be the same as with the tongue-organ being unable to taste itself. How could the consciousness know whether it had flavor or not? Moreover, flavors do not all come from one thing. Since flavors are produced from many things, the consciousness would have many substances. Suppose that the consciousness were of a single substance and that the substance was definitely produced from flavor. Then, when salt, bland, sweet, and pungent were combined, their various differences would change into a single flavor and there would be no distinctions among them. If there were no distinctions, it could not be called consciousness. So, how could it further be called the realm of tongue, flavor, and consciousness? Nor can it be that empty space produces your conscious awareness. The tongue and flavors could not combine without each losing its basic nature. How could a realm be produced? Therefore, you should know that, as to the tongue and flavors being the conditions and that produce the realm of tongu-consciousness, none of the three places exists. Thus, the tongue, flavors, and the realm of the tongue, these three, do not have their origin in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.”
Next, the realm of body-consciousness, objects of touch. The Buddha taught: “Moreover, Ananda, as you understand it, the body and objects of touch create the conditions that produce the body-consciousness. Is the consciousness produced because of the body, such that the body is its realm, or is it produced because of objects of touch, such that objects of touch are its realm? Suppose, Ananda, that it were produced because of the body. When there was no awareness of the two conditions of contact with and separation from objects of touch, what would the body be conscious of? Suppose it were produced because of objects of touch. Then you would not need your body. Without a body, what could perceive contact with and separation from objects of touch? Ananda! Things do not perceive objects of touch. It is the body that perceives objects of touch. What the body knows is objects of touch, and what is aware of objects of touch is the body. What is objects of touch is not the body, and what is the body is not the objects of touch. The two characteristics of body and objects of touch are basically without a location. If it united with the body, it would be the body’s own substance and nature. If it were apart from the body, it would have the same appearance as empty space. Since the inside and the outside don’t stand up, how can one set up a middle? The middle cannot be set up either. The inside and the outside are by nature empty. From what realm, then, is your consciousness born? Therefore, you should know that, as to the body and objects of touch being conditions that produce the realm of body-consciousness, none of the three places exists. Thus, the body, objects of touch, and the realm of the body, thse three, do not have their origin in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.”
Finally, the realm of mind, dharmas, and consciousness. The Buddha taught: “Moreover, Ananda, as you understand it, the mind and dharmas create the conditions that produce the mind-consciousness. Is this consciousness produced because of the mind, such that the mind is its realm, or is it produced because of dharmas, such that dharmas are its realm? Suppose, Ananda, that it were produced because of the mind. In your mind there certainly must be thoughts; these give expression to your mind. If there are no dharmas before you, the mind does not give rise to anything. Apart from conditions, it has no shape; thus, what use would the consciousness be? Moreover, Ananda, is your conscious awareness the same as your mind-organ, with its capacity to understand and make distinctions, or is it different? If it were the same as the mind, it would be the mind; how could it be something else that arises? If it were different from the mind, it should thereby be devoid of consciousness. If there were no consciousness, how would it arise from the mind? If there were consciousness, how would it differ from the mind? Since it is by nature neither the same nor different, how can a realm be established? Suppose it were produced because of dharmas. None of the dharmas of the world exists apart from the five defiling objects. Consider the dharmas of form, the dharmas of sound, the dharmas of smell, the dharmas of taste, and the dharmas of touch, each has a clearly distinguishable appearance and is matched with one of the five organs. They are not what the mind takes in. Suppose your consciousness were indeed produced through a reliance on dharmas. Take a close look at them now. What does each and every dharma look like? Underlying the characteristics of form and emptiness, movement and stillness, penetration and obstruction, unity and separation, and production and extinction there is nothing at all. When there is production, then form, emptiness, and all dharmas are produced. When there is extinction, then form, emptiness, and all dharmas are extinguished. Since what is causal does not exist, if those causes produce the consciousness, what appearance does the consciousness assume? If there is nothing discernable about the consciousness, how can a realm be established for it? Therefore, you should know that, as to the mind and dharmas being the conditions that produce the realm of the mind-consciousness, none of the three places exists. Thus, the mind, dharmas, and the realm of the mind, these three, do not have their origin in causes and conditions, nor do their natures arise spontaneously.”
511. Fearlessnesses
According to the Flower Adornment Sutra, Chapter 38, there are ten kinds of fearlessness of Great Enlightening Beings. Enlightening Beings who abide by these can attain the supreme great fearlessness of Buddhas without giving up the fearlessness of Enlightening Beings. The first fearlessness is the ability to remember all verbal explanations. Even if Infinite (hundreds of thousands of) people should come from all over and ask them about hundred thousand great principles. They would see nothing difficult to answer about those questions. Their minds become fearless and they ultimately reach the Other Shore of great fearlessness, able to answer any questions and resolve doubts, without any timidity. The second fearlessness is the unimpeded intellectual powers. Great Enlightening Beings attain the unimpeded intellectual powers bestowed by Buddha and arrive at the furthest reaches of revelation of the secrets intimated by all speech and writing. They think that even if infinite people should come from ten directions and ask them about infinite doctrines, they would not see anything difficult to answer about those questions. Their minds become fearless and they ultimately reach the Other Shore of great fearlessness. They are able to answer any question and resolve doubts, without timidity. The third fearlessness is that Great Enlightening Beings know all things are empty and are without self, nothing pertaining self, without creation or creator, without knower, without life, without soul, without personality, detached from mind, detached from body, detach from sense, detached sense experience, forever leave all views, and their minds are like space. Great Enlightening Beings reflect that they do not see sentient beings in any way harmful to them in term of physical, verbal, or mental action. Enlightening Beings do not see anything as having any essence at all. Therefore their minds become fearless and they ultimately reach the Other Shore of fearlessness. They are firm, stable, and brave, impossible to discourage or break down. The fourth fearlessness is that all Enlightening Beings are protected and sustained by the power of Buddha. They live according to the conduct of Buddhas. They reflect that they do not see any conduct in themselves that would provoke the criticism of others. Therefore their minds become fearless and they teach calmly among the masses. Their action is truthful and never degenerates. The fifth fearlessness is the purity of body, mouth and mind. The physical, verbal, and mental actions of Great Enlightening Beings are pure, immaculate, harmonious, and free from all evils. They reflect that they do not see any physical, verbal, or mental action in them that is blameworthy. Therefore their minds become fearless, and they are able to cause sentient beings to live by the teachings of Buddha. The sixth fearlessness is that Great Enlightening Beings are always have protections from the Saints. Great Enlightening Beings are always accompanied and guarded by: Powerful thunderbolt-bearers, Celestial rain spirits, Demigods, Celestial musicians, Titans Indra Brahma, The world-guardian gods. All Buddhas watch over them heedfully. They reflect that they do not see that there are any demons, false teachers, or people with set views that can hinder their practice of the path of Enlightening Beings in any way. Therefore their minds become fearless and they ultimately reach the Other Shore of great fearlessness. They become very joyful and carry out the deeds of Enlightening Beings. The seventh fearlessness is the development of the faculty of recollection of Great Enlightening Beings. Great Enlightening Beings have developed the faculty of recollection and are free from forgetfulness, as approved by Buddhas. They reflect that they do not see any sign of forgetfulness of the ways of expressing the path of attainment of enlightenment as explained by the Buddhas. Therefore their minds become fearless, absorb and hold all Buddhas’ true teachings, and carry out the practices of Enlightening Beings. The eighth fearlessness: Great Enlightening Beings have already attained knowledge and skill in means, always strive to edify all sentient beings, have consummated the powers of enlightening beings. Their aspiration is always focused on perfect enlightenment, yet because of compassion for sentient beings, to perfect sentient beings. They appear to be born in the polluted world of afflictions, noble, with a full retinue, able to satisfy all their desires at will, leading a pleasant happy life. They reflect that although they are together with their family and associates, they do not see anything to be attached to the extent that they give up their cultivation of the ways of Enlightening Beings, such as meditation, liberations, concentrations, dharani spells, and analytic and expository powers. Because Great Enlightening Beings are already free in the midst of all things and have reached the Other Shore. They do not see any object in the world that can disturb the path of the Enlightening Being. Cultivate the practices of Enlightening Beings and vow never to stop. Their minds become fearless, and they ultimately reach the Other Shore of great fearlessness. By the power of great vows they manifest in all worlds. The ninth fearlessness: By the power of the great determination for omniscience. Great Enlightening Beings never forget the determination for omniscience. They carry on the practices of enlightening beings, riding the Great Vehicle. Demonstrate the tranquil comportment of all saints and Individual Illuminates. They reflect that they do not see in themselves any sign of needing to gain emancipation by means of the lesser vehicles of individual salvation. Therefore their mind become fearless and they ultimately reach the Other Shore of great fearlessness. While able to demonstrate to all the paths of all vehicles of liberation, they ultimately fulfill the impartial Great Vehicle. The tenth fearlessness: Great Enlightening Beings always perfect all good and pure qualities, be imbued with virtues, fully develop spiritual powers, ultimately abide in the enlightenment of all Buddhas, fulfill all practices of Enlightening Beings, receive from the Buddhas the prediction of coronation with omniscience, always teach sentient beings to carry on the path of Enlightening Beings. They reflect that they do not see any sign of even a single sentient being who can be developed to maturity to whom they cannot show the masteries of Buddhas in order to develop them. Therefore their minds become fearless and they ultimately reach the Other Shore of great fearlessness. They do not stop the practices of enlightening beings, do not give up the vows of Enlightening Beings, and show the sphere of Buddhahood to any sentient beings who can learn, in order to teach and liberate them. Also according to the Flower Adornment Sutra, Chapter 38, there are ten kinds of development of fearlessness of Great Enlightening Beings. Enlightening Beings who abide by these can attain the supreme fearlessness of great knowledge of Buddhas. First, they develop fearlessness annihilating all obstructing actions. Second, preserving the true teaching after the extinction of Buddhas. Third, conquering all demons. Fourth, not begrudging their bodies and lives. Fifth, smashing all the false arguments of heretics. Sixth, gladdening all sentient beings. Seventh, causing all congregations to rejoice. Eighth, taming all spirits, goblins, titans, sprites, and serpents. Ninth, leaving the states of the two lesser vehicles of individual salvation and entering the most profound teaching. Tenth, carrying out enlightening practices tirelessly for untold eons.
According to The Surangama Sutra, book Six, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva reported to the Buddha about fourteen fearlessnesses as follows: “World Honored One! Using this vajra samadhi of becoming permeated with hearing and cultivating hearing, and use the miraculous strength of effortlessness, because I have a kind regard equally for all living beings in the six paths, I go throughout the ten directions and the three periods of time cause all living beings who encounter bodies of mine to receive the meritorious virtue of fourteen kinds of fearlessness.” First, because I do not contemplate sounds for my own sake, but rather listen to the sounds of those whom I contemplate, I can enable living beings throughout the ten directions who are suffering and in distress to attain liberation by contemplating their sounds. Second, since my knowledge and views have turned around and come back, I can make it so that if living beings are caught in a raging fire, the fire will not burn them. Third, since contemplation and listening have turned around and come back, I can make it so that if living beings are floundering in deep water, the water cannot drown them. Fourth, since false thinking is cut off, and my mind is without thoughts of killing or harming, I can make it so that if living beings enter the territory of ghosts, the ghosts cannot harm them. Fifth, since I am permeated with hearing and have brought hearing to accomplishment, so that the six sense-organs have dissolved and returned to become identical with hearing, I can make it so that if living beings are about to be wounded, the knives will break into pieces. I can cause swords of war to have no more effect than if they were to slice into water, or if one were to blow upon light. Sixth, when the hearing permeates and the essence is bright, light pervades the Dharma realm, so that absolutely no darkness remains. I am then able to make it so that, though Yakshas, Rakshasas, Kumbhandas, Pischachas, and Putanas may draw near to living beings, the ghosts will not be able to see them. Seventh, when the nature of sound completely melts away and contemplation and hearing return and enter, so that I am separate from false and defiling sense-objects, I am able to make it so that if living beings are confined by cangues and fetters, the locks will not hold them. Eight, when sound is gone and the hearing is perfected, an all-pervasive power of compassion arises, and I can make it so that if living beings are travelling a dangerous road, thieves will not rob them. Ninth, when one is permeated with hearing, one separates from worldly objects, and forms cannot rob one. Then I can make it so that living beings with a great deal of desire can leave greed and desire far behind. Tenth, when sound is so pure that there is no defiling object, the sense-organ and the external state are perfectly fused, without any complement and without anything complemented. Then I can make it so that living beings who are full of rage and hate will leave all hatred. Eleventh, when the dust has gone and has turned to light, the dharma realm and the body and mind are like crystal, transparent and unobstructed. Then I can make it so that all dark and dull-witted beings whose natures are obstructed, all Atyantikas, are forever free from stupidity and darkness. Twelfth, when matter dissipates and return to the hearing, then unmoving in the Bodhimanda I can travel through worlds without destroying the appearance of those worlds. I can make offerings to as many Buddhas, Thus Come Ones, as there are fine motes of dust throughout the ten directions. At the side of each Buddha I become a dharma prince, and I can make it so that childless living beings throughout the dharma realm who wish to have sons, are blessed with meritorious, virtuous, and wise sons. Thirteenth, with perfect penetration of the six sense-organs, the light and what is illumined are not two. Encompassing the ten directions, a great perfect mirror stands in the empty treasury of the Thus Come One. I inherit the secret dharma doors of as many Thus Come Ones as there are fine motes of dust throughout the ten directions. Receiving them without loss, I am able to make it so that childless living beings throughout the dharma realm who seek daughters are blessed with lovely daughters who are upright, virtuous, and compliant and whom everyone cherishes and respects. Fourteenth, in this three-thousand-great-thousand world system with its billions of suns and moons, as many dharma princes as there are grains of sand in sixty-two Ganges rivers appear in the world and cultivate the dharma. They act as models in order to teach and transform living beings. They comply with living beings by means of expedients and wisdom, in different ways for each. However, because I have obtained the perfect penetration of the sense-organ and have discovered the wonder of the ear-entrance, after which my body and mind subtly and miraculously included all of the dharma realm, I am able to make it so that living beings who uphold my name obtain as much merit and virtue as would be obtained by a person who upheld the names of all those Dharma Princes who are as many as the grains of sand in sixty-two Ganges rivers. World Honored One! There is no difference between the merit of my name and the merit of those other names, because from my cultivation I obtained true and perfect penetration.
512. Dedication Reaching All Places
According to the Flower Adornment Sutra, Chapter 25, Ten Dedications, this is the fourth dedication of the ten dedications, the dedication reaching all places of great enlightening beings. First, when enlightening beings cultivate all roots of goodness, they think: “May the power of virtue of these roots of goodness reach all places”. Just as reality extends everywhere without exception, reaching all things, reaching all worlds, reaching all beings, reaching all lands, reaching all phenomena, reaching all space, reaching all time, reaching all that is compounded and uncompounded, reaching all speech and sound. Second, when enlightening beings cultivate all roots of goodness, they think that these roots of goodness reach the abodes of all enlightened ones; be as offerings to all those Buddhas; the past Buddhas whose vows are fulfilled; the future Buddhas who are fully adorned; the present Buddhas, their lands, sites of enlightenment, and congregations, filling all realms throughout the entirety of space. Third, Enlightening Beings also aspire to present to all Buddhas offerings like those of the celestials by virtue of the power of faith, by virtue of great knowledge without obstruction, by virtue of dedication of all roots of goodness. Fourth, when cultivating dedication reaching all places, great enlightening beings think to the Buddhas pervade all realms in space; and various actions produced in the worlds of all the unspeakably many world systems in the ten directions, in unspeakably many Buddha-lands, in unspeakably many Buddha-spheres, in all kinds of worlds, in infinite worlds, in worlds without boundaries, in rotating worlds, in sideways worlds, in worlds facing downward and upward, in all worlds such as these, all Buddhas manifest a span of life and display various spiritual powers and demonstrations. In these worlds there are enlightening beings who, by the power of resolution for the sake of sentient beings who can be taught, they appear as Buddhas in all worlds and reveal everywhere the boundless freedom and spiritual power of the enlightened; the body of reality extending everywhere without distinction; equally entering all realms of phenomena and principles. The body of inherent Buddhahood neither born nor perishing, but they utilize skillful expedients appearing throughout the world, because of realizing the true nature of things, transcending all, beause of attainment of nonregressing power, because of birth among the people of vast power of unobstructed vision of the enlightened.
513. Periods of Sakyamuni’s Teachings
When the Buddha taught the reality of the skandhas and elements, but denied the common belief in real personality (thực ngã) as a permanent soul. This period is represented by the four Agamas (A Hàm) and other Hinayana Sutras. When the Budha negated the idea of the reality of things (Thực pháp) and advocate that all was unreal. This period is represented by Prajna Sutras (Bát Nhã). When the Buddha taught, “the mind or spirit is real, while things are unreal.” This perios represented by the Wonder Lotus Sutras. The San-Lun School divided the Buddha’s sacred teaching into three wheels of the law (dharma-cakra). First, the root wheel is the Avatamsaka (Wreath). Second, the branch wheel is all Hinayana and Mahayana texts. Third, the wheel that contracts all the branches so as to bring them back to the root, i.e., the Lotus. According to the original Buddhist tradition in China, there are three Dharma-cakra. First, the Tripitaka doctrine (the orthodox of Hinayana). The Pitaka, i.e. Tripitaka School, one of the four divisions of the T’ien-T’ai. It is the Hinayana school of the Sravaka and Pratyeka-buddha types, based on the Tripitaka and its four dogmas, with the Bodhisattva doctrine as an unimportant side issue. It is also divided into four others: the reality of things, the unreality of things, both the reality and the unreality of things, neither the reality nor the unreality of things. Second, the intermediate, or interrelated doctrine (Hinayana-cum-Mahayana). The second stage in the T’ien-T’ai four periods of teaching, which held the doctrine of “Void,” but had not arrived at the doctrine of the “Mean.” Third, the differentiated or separated doctrine (Early Mahayana as a cult or development, as distinct from Hinayana). The different teaching of the Avatamsaka sect and Lotus sect is founded on One Vehicle, the Buddha Vehicle. The Lotus school asserts that the Three Vehicles are really the One Vehicle, the Hua-Yen school that the One Vehicle differs from the Three Vehicles; hence the Lotus school is called the Unitary, while the Hua-Yen school is the Differentiating school. The T’ien-T’ai school divided the Buddha’s Teachings into four periods. The first period is the Tripitaka Teaching, or the Pitaka School was that of Hinayana. The second period is the Interrelated Teaching, or intermediate school, was the first stage of Mahayana, having in it elements of all the three vehicles (sravaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva). Its developing doctrine linked it with Hinayana on the one hand and on the other hand with the two further developments of the “separate” or “differentiated” Mahayana teaching, and perfect teaching. The third period is the Differentiated Teaching. The different teaching of the Avatamsaka sect and Lotus sect is founded on One Vehicle, the Buddha Vehicle. The Lotus school asserts that the Three Vehicles are really the One Vehicle, the Hua-Yen school that the One Vehicle differs from the Three Vehicles; hence the Lotus school is called the Unitary, while the Hua-Yen school is the Differentiating school. The fifth period is the Complete, Perfect, or Final Teaching; a name for the esoteric teachings.
In the centuries that followed the Buddha’s death, various attempts were made to organize and formulate his teachings. Different systems appeared, basing themselves on the recorded scriptures, each purporting to express the Buddha’s intended meaning from the time of his enlightenment until his nirvana. The reason of his teachings of different sutras is for the benefits of many different living beings, but the purpose of his doctrine was always the same. The Buddha’s first preaching (Fresh milk). This period is called Avatamsaka (Hoa Nghiêm) for sravakas and pratyeka-buddhas. This period is divided into three divisions each of seven days, after his enlightenment, when he preached the content of the Avatamsaka Sutra. According to the T’ien-T’ai sect, the Avatamsaka Sutra was delivered by Sakyamuni Buddha immediately after his enlightenment; however, this is questionable because the Hua-Yen Sutra is a Mahayana creation. The second period is the Agamas or the coagulated milk for the Hinayana. The twelve years of the Buddha’s preaching of Agamas in the Deer Park. The third period is the Vaipulyas or the Vaipulya period for the Mahayana. The eight years of preaching Mahayana-cum-Hinayana doctrines. The fourth period is the Prajna or the ghola or butter for the Mahayana. Twenty two years of his preaching the prajna or wisdom sutra. The fifth period is the Lotus and Nirvana, or the sarpirmanda or clarified butter for the Mahayana. The eight years of his preaching of Lotus sutra, and in a day and a night, the Nirvana sutra.
The Hua-Yen Sect divided the Buddha’s Teachings into five parts or the five divisions of Buddhism. There are two groups: the first group is from Tu-Shun down to Hsien-Shou, and the second group is from Kuei-Feng. The first period of the Buddha’s teachings, the Doctrine of the Small Vehicle or Hinayana (Theravada). The Hinayana corresponds to the Agama sutras which interpret that the self is without substance, the separate elements or dharmas are real, and nirvana is their total annihilation. This doctrine refers to the teaching of the four Agamas. Although they deny the existence of the personal self (pudgala-sunyata), they are realistic and admit the existence of all separate elements (dharma). They hold that Nirvana is total extinction, and yet they do not understand much of the unreality of all elements (dharma-sunyata). As to the causation theory, they attribute it to action-influence. The second period of the Buddha’s teachings, the Elementary Doctrine of the Great Vehicle (Mahayana). The primary or elementary stage of Mahayana is divided into many sections. Since neither admits the existence of the Buddha-nature (Buddha-svabhava) in all beings, both are considered to be elementary: Đại Thừa Thủy Giáo. The first branch is the elementary doctrine which based on the specific character of all elements (dharma-laksana), e.g., the Idealistic School or Dharmalaksana. Realistic Mahayana which analyzes the specific and distinct character of the dharmas, found in the Yogachara Sutras. Second, the Dharmalaksana School which sets forth the theory of causation by ideation-store (Alaya-vijnana) on the basis of phenomenal charateristics (laksana) and does not recognize the unity of fact and principle. Also, since it maintains the basic distinction of five species of men, it does not admit that all men can attain Buddhahood. The third branch, the elementary doctrine which based on negation of all elements or dharma-sunyata, e.g., San-Lun School. This is the Idealistic Mahayana that holds all dharmas are non-substantial, found in Prajna or Wisdom Sutras. The fourth branch, the San-Lun which holds the one-sided view of “Void” on the basis of “own nature” or no abiding nature, but admitting the unity of being and non-being, it affirms that men of the three vehicles and the five species are all able to attain Buddhahood. The third period of the Buddha’s teachings, the Final Mahayana teaching, or the Mahayana in its final stage which teaches the Bhutatathata and universal Buddhahood, or the essentially true nature of all things and the ability of all beings to attain Buddhahood. This is the final metaphysical concepts of Mahayana, as presented in the Lankavatara Sutra, the Mahaparinirvana text, and the Awakening of Faith, etc. This doctrine asserts that all living beings have Buddha-nature and can attain Buddhahood. The T’ien-T’ai School adheres to this doctrine. By this teaching the Ultimate Truth of Mahayana is expounded. Therefore, it is called the Doctrine of Maturity. As it agrees with reality, it also called the True Doctrine. In the elementary doctrine, fact and principle were always separate, while in this final doctrine, fact is always identified with principle, or in short, the two are one. The causation theory by Matrix of the Thuscome is special to this doctrine. It is also called the theory of causation by Thusness or Tathata. The fourth period of the Buddha’s teachings, the Abrupt Doctrine of the Great Vehicle. This means the training without word or order, directly appealing to one’s own insight. This teaching emphasized on one’s own insight by which one can attain enlightenment all at once. All words and speech will stop at once. Reason will present itself in its purity and action will always comply with wisdom and knowledge. The Mahayana immediate, abrupt, direct, sudden, or intuitive school, by right concentration of thought, or faith , apart from good works (deeds). This teaching expounds the abrupt realization of the ultimate truth without relying upon verbal explanations or progression through various stages of practice, found in Vimalakirti Sutra. This doctrine holds that if thought ceases to arise in one’s mind, the man is a Buddha. Such an attainment may be gained through silence as shown by Vimalakirti, a saintly layman in Vaisali, or through meditation as in the case of Bodhidharma, the founder of Chinese Ch’an School. The fifth period of the Buddha’s teachings, the Round Doctrine of the Great Vehicle or the Perfect teaching expounds the One Vehicle, or the Buddha Vehicle. The complete or perfect teaching of the Hua-Yen, combining the rest into one all-embracing vehicle, found in the Avatamsaka and Lotus Sutras. There are two grades of the round or perfect doctrine, one of which is the Vehicle of the Identical Doctrine (Nhất Thừa Đồng Giáo), in which the One Vehicle is taught an identical or similar method with the other three Vehicles. The One Vehicle of the Avatamsaka School is inclusive of all Vehicles. However, for the convenience the three vehicles are taught to prepare the aspirants. The three flow out of the One Vehicle and are taught in the identical method as the one. The these Vehicles recognized by the Avatamsaka School: Hinayana. the Gradual Mahayana, the Elementary Mahayana, the Final Mahayana, and the Abrupt Doctrine of the Great Vehicle. Next, the One Vehicle of the Distinct Doctrine in which the One Vehicle is set forth entirely distinct or independent from the other Vehicles, as in the case of the teaching of the Avatamsaka School, in which the doctrine of the world of totalistic harmony mutually relating and penetrating is set forth. The One Vehicle is higher than the other three. The One Vehicle is real while the three are considered as temporary. While according to Kuei-Feng, he divided the Buddha’s teachings into five periods, which were totally different from which of Tu-Shun. The first period of the Buddha’s teachings, the rebirth as human beings for those who keep the five commandments and as devas for those who keep the ten commandments. The second period of the Buddha’s teachings, the Doctrine of the Small Vehicle or Hinayana. The third period of the Buddha’s teachings, the elementary doctrine of the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) based on the specific character of all elements (dharma-laksana). The fourth period of the Buddha’s teachings, the elementary doctrine of the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) based on negation of all elements or dharma-sunyata. The fifth period of the Buddha’s teachings, the one vehicle which reveals the universal Buddha-nature. It includes the Mahayana in its final stage, the immediate and the complete or perfect teaching of the Hua-Yen.
514. Vehicles in Buddhism
The word “Vehicle” symbolizes carrying and transporting sentient beings to enlightenment. Three Yanas are only expedient means that Buddha had taught based on the capacity of his disciples or hearers. Yana means a vehicle or a ferryboat of any kind that can be used to transport people or things. Vehicle literally means a means of transportation, but figuratively it is a means of expressing thoughts. Wain, any means of conveyance; a term applied to Buddhism as carrying men to salvation. The term “yana” was developed in Hinayana Buddhism. Yana means a vehicle in which the practitioner travels on the way to enlightenment. According to the Lotus Sutra, there are three Vehicles, or conveyances, or three divisions of Buddha’s Teachings, which carry living beings across samsara or mortality (births-and-deaths). They are Hearer-Yana, Pratyeka-Buddha-Yana, and Bodhisattva-Yana. In Buddhism, vehicle is only a means of progress used for spiritual development. The concept already developed in the Hinayana Buddhism. The vehicle on which the cultivator (pratitioner) travels on the way to enlightenment. Yana or vehicle is a path to salvation, which encompasses a particular system of doctrines and practices. The Buddhist doctrine that carries one from this side of birth-and-death to the other side of Nirvana has been compared to a vehicle of conveyance since the early days of Buddhism.
Vehicle or means of progress used for spiritual development. The concept already developed in the Hinayana Buddhism. The vehicle on which the cultivator (pratitioner) travels on the way to enlightenment. Yana or vehicle is a path to salvation, which encompasses a particular system of doctrines and practices. The Buddhist doctrine that carries one from this side of birth-and-death to the other side of Nirvana has been compared to a vehicle of conveyance since the early days of Buddhism. The word “Vehicle” symbolizes carrying and transporting sentient beings to enlightenment. Three Yanas are only expedient means that Buddha had taught based on the capacity of his disciples or hearers. First of all, we should talk about the “One vehicle” or Buddhayana; the one teaching that leads to supreme enlightenment and the attainment of Buddhahood. An idea found in a number of Mahayana texts, such as the Lotus Sutra, which holds that the three approaches to liberation believe in Mahayana literature to have been taught by the Buddha, the hearer vehicle (sravakayana), the solitary realizer vehicle (pratyeka-buddha-yana), and the Bodhisattva vehicle (Bodhisattvayana), all converge into the one Buddha vehicle (Buddhayana). This is really the same as the Bodhisattva vehicle, which culminates in Buddhahood. The other two vehicles are said to be merely expedient teachings for those who would initially be afraid of or uninterested in the path of the Bodhisattva. In Buddhism, the One Vehicle. Mahayana and Ekayana are used synonymously in all the Mahayana texts. The idea of considering the Buddha’s teaching as an instrument of conveyance was doubtless suggested by that of crossing the stream of Samsara and reaching the other side of Nirvana. In the Lankavatara Sutra, when Mahamati asked the Buddha the reason why He did not speak of the Vehicle of Oneness, the Buddha said: “There is no truth of Parinirvana to be realized by the Sravakas and Pratyeka-buddhas all by themselves; therefore, I do not preach them the Vehicle of Oneness. Their emancipation is made possible only by means of the Tathagata’s guidance, discretion, discipline, and direction; it does not take place by them alone. They have not yet made themselves free from the hindrance of knowledge (jneyavarana) and the working of memory; they have not yet realized the truth that there is no self-substance in anything, nor have they attained the inconceivable transformation-death (acintyaparinamacyuti). For these reasons I do not preach the Vehicle of Oneness. I will only preach the Ekayana to the Sravakas when their evil habit of memory is all purgated, when they have an insight into the nature of all things that have no self-substance, and when they are awakened from the intoxicating result of Samadhi which comes from the evil habit of memory, they rise from the state of non-outflowings. When they are thus awakened, they will supply themselves with al the moral provisions on a plane which surpasses the state of non-outflowings where they have hitherto remained.” The Buddha is often compared to a great physician who can cure every sort of illness by skilful treatment. As far as the science of medicine goes, there is just one principle which, however, in the hands of an experienced doctor finds a variety of applications. The Teaching of the Buddha does not vary in time and space, it has a universal application; but as its recipients differ in disposition and training and heredity they variously understand it and are thereby cured each of his own spiritual illness. This one principle universally and infinitely applicable is known as “One Vehicle” or “Great Vehicle.” In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha taught: “My teaching is not divided, it remains always one and the same, but because of the desires and faculties of beings that are infinitely varied, it is capable also of infinite variation. There is One Vehicle only, and refreshing is the Eightfold Path of Righteousness.” The way to realize the path of the Ekayana is to understand that the process of perception is due to discrimination; when this discrimination no longer takes place, and when one abides in the suchness of things, there is the realization of the Vehicle of Oneness. This Vehicle has never been realized by anybody, not by the Sravakas, not by the Pratyeka-buddhas, nor by the Brahmans, except by the Buddha himself.
Besides this Ekayana and Dviyana, the Mahayana sutras genrally speaks of Triyana, which consists of the Sravakayana, Pratyeka-buddha-yana, and Bodhisattvayana. But we must remember that the Ekayana has really nothing to do with the number of yanas though “eka” means “one.” Eka in this case rather means “oneness,” and “Ekayana” is the designation of the doctrine teaching the transcendental oneness of things, by which all beings including the Hinayanists and Mahayanists are saved from the bondage of existence. In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha said: “I preach the Triple Vehicle, the One Vehicle, and No-Vehicle, but they are all meant for the ignorant, the little witted, and for the wise who are addicted to the enjoyment of quietude. The gate of the ultimate truth is beyond the dualism of cognition. As long as mind evolves, these vehicles canot be done away with; when it experiences a revulsion (paravritti), there is neither vehicle nor driver. The “Two Vehicles” are two mwthods that convey sentient beings to the final goal. These are the first two of the four big vehicles in Buddhism, which are namely: Sravakas (Sravakahood) and Pratyeka-buddhas (Pratyekabuddhahood). The other two are supreme vehicles of Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. According to the Mahayana, the two vehicles are those of the Sravaskas and Pratyeka-Buddhas. Together they constitute what is called Theravada or Southern Buddhism. According to the Lotus Sutra, Sravakas (thanh văn) and Pratyekas also become Buddhas. The “Two Vehicles” of “Three” and “One,” the three being the pre-Lotus ideas of Sravaka, Pratyeka and Bodhisattva, the one being the doctrine of the Lotus Sutra which combined all three in one. According to the Lotus Sutra, there are three Vehicles, or conveyances, or three divisions of Buddha’s Teachings, which carry living beings across samsara or mortality (births-and-deaths). They are Hearer-Yana, Pratyeka-Buddha-Yana, and Bodhisattva-Yana. The word “Vehicle” symbolizes carrying and transporting sentient beings to enlightenment. Three Yanas are only expedient means that Buddha had taught based on the capacity of his disciples or hearers. In reality, there is only one veheicle, that is the Buddha-vehicle or the vehicle that leads to the Buddhahood. First, the Sravakayana or Theravada. Sravaka (hearer or obedient disciple), that of enlightened for self (the objective is personal salvation). Sravaka who understands, practices, and relies on the Four Noble Truths (philosophies) to become an Arhat. Some people call Hearer-Yana a “Lesser Vehicle” because Hearers cultivate to enlighten themselves, not to help others enlighten. Second, Pratyekabuddhayana. The Pratyeka-buddha, that of enlightened for self (the objective is personal salvation) Pratyekabuddha who rightly understands, practices and relies on the theory of dependent origination (the twelvefold chain of cause and effect) to become a Pratyekabuddha. Some people call Pratyeka-Buddha a “Lesser Vehicle” because Pratyeka-buddhas cultivate to enlighten themselves, not to help others enlighten. Third, Bodhisattvayana or Mahayana. A Bodhisattva, leading after countless ages of self-sacrifice in saving others and progressive enlightenment to ultimate Buddhahood. A Bodhisattva relies on the six paramitas (the six accomplishments). Bodhisattva-Yana is also called Mahayana, which means “Greater Vehicle” because Bodhisattvas cultivate first to enlighten self, and then enlighten others. Despite this, it is important for sincere Buddhists who practice Mahayana Buddhism not to look down on those who practice Hinayana Buddhism since the ultimate goal of every Buddhist is to reach enlightenment, not to distinguish between Hinayana and Mahayana.
There are also Four Vehicles. According to the Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, Chapter Seventh, one day Chih-Ch’ang asked the Master, “The Buddha taught the dharma of the three vehicles and also the Supreme Vehicle. Your disciple has not yet understood that and would like to be instructed.” The Master said, “Contemplate only your own original mind and do not be attached to the marks of external dharmas. The Dharma doesn’t have four vehicles; it is people’s minds that differ.” The Master added: “Vehicles are methods of practice, not subjects for debate. Cultivate on your own and do not ask me, for at all times your own self-nature is itself ‘thus.” First, cultivating by seeing, hearing, and reciting is the small vehicle. Second, cultivating by awakening to the Dharma and understanding the meaning is the middle vehicle. Third, cultivating in accord with Dharma is the great vehicle. Fourth, penetrating the ten thousand dharmas entirely and completely while remaining without defilement, and to sever attachment to the marks of all the dharmas with nothing whatsoever gained in return: that is the Supreme Vehicle. According to Buddhist traditions, three are also “Five Vehicles”. The five vehicles conveying to the karma-reward which differs according to the vehicle. They are summed up as.
According to the Mahayana’s point of view, the Five Vehicles include the narayana, the devayana, the srava-kayanam, the pratyeka-buddhayanam, and the Bodhisattva-yanam. The first vehicle is the narayana. Rebirth among men conveyed by observing the five commandments (Panca-veramani). The second vehicle is the devayana. Rebirth among the devas by observing the ten forms of good actions or ten commandments (Dasa-kusala). The third vehicle is the sravakayanam. Rebirth among the sravakas by observing the four noble truths (Catvari-arya-satyani). The fourth vehicle is the prayeka-buddhayanam. Rebirth among pratyeka-Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by observing the twelve nidanas (Dvadasanga-pratiyasamutpada). The fifth vehicle is the bodhisattvayanam. Among the Buddhas and bodhisattvas by the six paramitas (Sdaparamita). However, according to the Hinayana’s point of view, the five vehicles include sentient beings of desire realm, the gods of the brahma-heavens, the Pratyeka-buddhas, the Sravakas, and the Buddhas. According to the Esoteric Cult’s point of view, five vehicles include men, corresponding with earth; devas, corresponding with water; Sravakas, corresponding with fire; Pratyeka-buddhas, corresponding with wind; and Bodhisattvas, corresponding with the “void.
515. Vehicle of Oneness
The One Vehicle. Mahayana and Ekayana are used synonymously in all the Mahayana texts. The idea of considering the Buddha’s teaching as an instrument of conveyance was doubtless suggested by that of crossing the stream of Samsara and reaching the other side of Nirvana. In the Lankavatara Sutra, when Mahamati asked the Buddha the reason why He did not speak of the Vehicle of Oneness, the Buddha said: “There is no truth of Parinirvana to be realized by the Sravakas and Pratyeka-buddhas all by themselves; therefore, I do not preach them the Vehicle of Oneness. Their emancipation is made possible only by means of the Tathagata’s guidance, discretion, discipline, and direction; it does not take place by them alone. They have not yet made themselves free from the hindrance of knowledge (jneyavarana) and the working of memory; they have not yet realized the truth that there is no self-substance in anything, nor have they attained the inconceivable transformation-death (acintyaparinamacyuti). For these reasons I do not preach the Vehicle of Oneness. I will only preach the Ekayana to the Sravakas when their evil habit of memory is all purgated, when they have an insight into the nature of all things that have no self-substance, and when they are awakened from the intoxicating result of Samadhi which comes from the evil habit of memory, they rise from the state of non-outflowings. When they are thus awakened, they will supply themselves with al the moral provisions on a plane which surpasses the state of non-outflowings where they have hitherto remained.”
The Buddha is often compared to a great physician who can cure every sort of illness by skilful treatment. As far as the science of medicine goes, there is just one principle which, however, in the hands of an experienced doctor finds a variety of applications. The Teaching of the Buddha does not vary in time and space, it has a universal application; but as its recipients differ in disposition and training and heredity they variously understand it and are thereby cured each of his own spiritual illness. This one principle universally and infinitely applicable is known as “One Vehicle” or “Great Vehicle.” In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha taught: “My teaching is not divided, it remains always one and the same, but because of the desires and faculties of beings that are infinitely varied, it is capable also of infinite variation. There is One Vehicle only, and refreshing is the Eightfold Path of Righteousness.” Besides this Ekayana and Dviyana, the Mahayana sutras genrally speaks of Triyana, which consists of the Sravakayana, Pratyeka-buddha-yana, and Bodhisattvayana. But we must remember that the Ekayana has really nothing to do with the number of yanas though “eka” means “one.” Eka in this case rather means “oneness,” and “Ekayana” is the designation of the doctrine teaching the transcendental oneness of things, by which all beings including the Hinayanists and Mahayanists are saved from the bondage of existence.
In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha said: “I preach the Triple Vehicle, the One Vehicle, and No-Vehicle, but they are all meant for the ignorant, the little witted, and for the wise who are addicted to the enjoyment of quietude. The gate of the ultimate truth is beyond the dualism of cognition. As long as mind evolves, these vehicles canot be done away with; when it experiences a revulsion (paravritti), there is neither vehicle nor driver. As a matter of fact, there is in reality only One Vehicle which is the Supreme Buddha Vehicle. This is the only one path that is conducive to the final goal of Buddhahood, not two, not three; if any, they are beings of severally different modes of conduct. Just as the Buddha is infinitely superior to the Arhat and the Pratyeka-buddha. According to Buddhism, we all want to diligently cultivate to aim at the One Vehicle to perfect Buddhahood. If we diligently cultivate, eventually we all will become Buddhas; and the doctrine of the three vehicles was in fact nothing more than the Buddha’s skilful means to save a varieties of beings. The way to realize the path of the Ekayana is to understand that the process of perception is due to discrimination; when this discrimination no longer takes place, and when one abides in the suchness of things, there is the realization of the Vehicle of Oneness. This Vehicle has never been realized by anybody, not by the Sravakas, not by the Pratyeka-buddhas, nor by the Brahmans, except by the Buddha himself.
516. Two Vehicles
Two vehicles conveying to the final goal: Mahayana and Hinayana. The two vehicles include Sravakas and Pratyeka-buddhas, These are the first two of the four big vehicles in Buddhism, which are namely: Sravakas (Sravakahood) and Pratyeka-buddhas (Pratyekabuddhahood). The other two are supreme vehicles of Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. According to the Mahayana, the two vehicles are those of the Sravaskas and Pratyeka-Buddhas. Together they constitute what is called Theravada or Southern Buddhism. Three ranks of the two vehicles before the Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra: Sravaka, Pratyeka and Bodhisattva. According to the Lotus Sutra, Sravakas (thanh văn) and Pratyekas also become Buddhas. The “Two Vehicles” of “Three” and “One,” the three being the pre-Lotus ideas of Sravaka, Pratyeka and Bodhisattva, the one being the doctrine of the Lotus Sutra which combined all three in one.
517. Three Vehicles
According to the Lotus Sutra, there are three Vehicles, or conveyances, or three divisions of Buddha’s Teachings, which carry living beings across samsara or mortality (births-and-deaths). They are Hearer-Yana, Pratyeka-Buddha-Yana, and Bodhisattva-Yana. The word “Vehicle” symbolizes carrying and transporting sentient beings to enlightenment. Three Yanas are only expedient means that Buddha had taught based on the capacity of his disciples or hearers. However, afer preaching “The Triyana”, the Buddha told Sariputra thus: “Sariputra, I know that sentient beings have various desires and objects to which their thoughts are profoundly attached, following their basic natures, by resort to the expedient power of various means, parables and phrases, I preach the Dharma to them. Sariputra, I do this only in order that they may gain the One Buddha Vehicle and knowledge of all modes. Sariputra, in the worlds of the ten directions there are not even two vehicles. How can we talk about three?” First, the Sravakayana or Theravada. Sravaka (hearer or obedient disciple), that of enlightened for self (the objective is personal salvation)—Sravaka who understands, practices, and relies on the Four Noble Truths (philosophies) to become an Arhat. Some people call Hearer-Yana a “Lesser Vehicle” because Hearers cultivate to enlighten themselves, not to help others enlighten. Second, the Pratyekabuddhayana. Pratyeka-buddha, that of enlightened for self (the objective is personal salvation). Pratyekabuddha who rightly understands, practices and relies on the theory of dependent origination (the twelvefold chain of cause and effect) to become a Pratyekabuddha. Some people call Pratyeka-Buddha a “Lesser Vehicle” because Pratyeka-buddhas cultivate to enlighten themselves, not to help others enlighten. Third, the Bodhisattvayana or Mahayana. A Bodhisattva, leading after countless ages of self-sacrifice in saving others and progressive enlightenment to ultimate Buddhahood. A Bodhisattva relies on the six paramitas (the six accomplishments). Bodhisattva-Yana is also called Mahayana, which means “Greater Vehicle” because Bodhisattvas cultivate first to enlighten self, and then enlighten others. Despite this, it is important for sincere Buddhists who practice Mahayana Buddhism not to look down on those who practice Hinayana Buddhism since the ultimate goal of every Buddhist is to reach enlightenment, not to distinguish between Hinayana and Mahayana.
518. Hinayana
Minor Vehicle means the Southern or Theravada school. The small or inferior vehicle as compared with the greater teaching (Đại thừa). Hinayana is the form of Buddhism which developed after Sakyamuni’s death, at about the beginning of the Christian era, when Mahayana doctrine were introduced. The objective is personal salvation. The term used by Mahayanists to describe their opponents, who cultivate a doctrine different from Mahayana, or whose path is characterized as selfish and inferior, and only for their own benefits. A Sanskrit term for “Little or minor (small) Vehicle.” Name of the earliest system of Buddhist doctrine, opposed to the Mahayana. This is the term which the Mahayana utilizes to refer to the those who follow Theravada for they have own liberation goal rather than that of all beings. In fact, Hinayana developed between the death of Buddha and the 1st century BC and it represented the original and pure teaching as it was taught by the Buddha. The essence of the teaching is expressed in the four noble truths, the doctrine of dependent arising, the teaching of the ego, the law of karma and the eightfold noble path. Although according to Indian Buddhist legends, there were many Hinayana schools since early Buddhism, but only eighteen were mentioned in the records. Although many of these schools developed their own Abhidharma and Vinayas, but they shared a great deal in common, particularly the “four noble truths,” the “dependent arising,” and the “ideal of individual liberation.” Today the only “Hinayana” school that survives is Theravada; however, they reject the label “Small Vehicle.” The goal of seeking for Budhahood is Mahayana, but seeking for arahathood, sravakas or pratyeka-buddhahood are Hinayana. Nowadays, there exists only one school named “Theravada”; however, Buddhists in this school do not except the label “Hinayana” given to them by the Mahayanists.
The Buddha did not appoint a successor, and after his final extinction Buddhism never again had a central authority. With the passage of time and the tradition’s geographical expansion, it was inevitable that different visions of the Buddhist path developed. However, such divergences have never constituted a schism, because varying views are, and always have been, permissible in Buddhism. Only by changing the rules of monastic practice, and thereby splitting the Sangha, would a schism be created. In the Pali Nikayas it is said that before his final extinction the Buddha urged his followers to make themselves and the Dharma their only “island” and sole refuge. Accordingly, after his death the members of the Sangha gather in Rajagriha, present day Rajgir, to recite the Buddha’s discourses. This event is referred to as the First Council. As the Sangha spread and Buddhist thought developed, it was inevitable that disputes would arise. By the time the Second Council was called at Vesali, around 330 B.C., there were many factions in the Sangha pulling in different directions. The most conservative form of Buddhism, the Theravada or Teaching of the Elders, is the dominant form practiced today in such places as Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Theravadins emphasize the importance of the last “historical” Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, and claim to preserve his authentic teaching. This teaching is canonized as the “Three Baskets,” a group of texts dating probably from the first century B.C. and written in Pali, a middle Indian language akin to the language the Buddha himself would have spoken. Classical Theravada recognizes that there are different goals for different followers. However, its ideal is the “Arhat,” the disciple who gains enlightenment through meditation on the Buddha’s Dharma, and is released from the cycle of rebirth.
The Buddha spoke to a wide range of people from every social, educational, and economic background. His followers varied in disposition, interest and inclination. However, thus the Buddha taught according to the specific group present at each discourse, using words and concepts suitable for their different levels. The various teachings He gave developed into two principal traditions: the Theravada and the Mahayana. The Theravada contains the teachings spoken by the Buddha to people who were interested in being free from cyclic existence and attaining liberation. These sutras were passed down orally until the first century B.C., when they were written down in Ceylon and became what is known now as the Pali Canon. The Theravada tradition was widely practiced in India after the Buddha’s passing away. By the third century B.C., it was established in current day Pakistan and Afghanistan, and took root in Central Asia in the early century A.D. However, Muslim invasion in the 11th and 12th centuries virtually extinguished the religion in the Indian sub-continent and in Central Asia. In the third century B.C., King Asoka of India sent missionaries to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where Buddhism became firmly established. The Theravada tradition still flourishes there. From India and from Ceylon, it spread to Southeast Asia, and is presently strong in Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Laos. In recent years the Theravada tradition has become more widely practiced in Malaysia and Singapore. In the 19th century, Western intellectuals became interested in the Theravada tradition. Nowadays, it attracts people from all walks of life and Theravada monasteries, Dharma centers and retreat sites have been established throughout the West. Based on the Pali Canon, the Theravada tradition presents Buddha’s teachings by first explaining the four noble truths, the three higher trainings and the noble eightfold path. The Theravada tradition states that the number of people who can become Buddhas are very few. In our eon, there will be 1,000 Buddhas, of which Sakyamuni Buddha is the fourth. The 996 Buddhas-to-be are now Bodhisattvas. Thus, as the rest of us won’t become Buddhas, we should aim to become Arhats, those who are free from cyclic existence and have attained Nirvana.
In the West, Theravada practice is popular with people who wish to calm their uncontrolled thoughts and emotions and to focus on more positive attitudes. Many people in the business world have found breathing meditation extremely helpful, so many of them focus on meditation. And that’s why there is a considerable difference between Sangha and lay people in their way of practicing the Dharma in Asian Theravada countries and Theravada traditions in the West. In Southeast Asian countries, the monks keep their precepts purely, study, meditate and dedicate the positive potential they create for everyone’s welfare. Because the Sangha’s practice benefits society as a whole, the laity happily supply daily requisites: food, clothing, shelter and medicine to the monks. This view of the roles of Sangha and lay is changing as the Theravada tradition takes root in the West. Most Western lay Buddhists are interested in meditation and many meditate daily before and after going to work. They go to Dharma centers for their annual vacation. Some even take several months leave from their job to participate in lengthy retreats. In the West, Dharma teachers can be both ordained and lay, men and women.
There are some differences between Hinayana and Mahayana. The Mahayanists emphasize the universalism and altruism, develop wisdom and the perfect transformation of all living in the future state; while the Hinayanists seek for narrow personal salvation, seek for the destruction of body and mind and extinction in nirvana. Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana practice six paramitas; while for the Arahanship the Four Noble Truths are the foundation teaching, for pratyeka-Buddhahood the twelve nidanas. To seek for Buddhahood is Mahayana, to seek for Arahathood, Sravakas or Pratyeka-buddhahood are Hinayana. The ideal of Hinayana was Arhatship or attainment of personal enlightenment. The ideal of Mahayana was Bodhisattvayana. Sravakayana and Pratyekabuddhayana, according to Mahayana aimed at mere individual enlightenment which was a narrow ideal. Bodhisattvayana aimed at universal enlightenment. It was the destiny of every individual to become a Buddha. The Bodhisattva ideal of Mahayana was higher; that of Hinayana was inferior. The difference in the spiritual ideal of the two is expressed in yet another way. The ideal of Hinayana is Nirvana; the ideal of Mahayana is Buddhava, the attainment of Buddhahood. The Mahayanist does not consider the attainment of Nirvana to be the highest ideal, but the attainment of Buddhava, i.e. Prajna or transcendental insight and karuna or universal love to be the highest ideal. The Hinayanist believes that by the realization of not-self or un-substantiality of the person, one could attain Nirvana. The Mahayanist maintains that it is not only by the realization of not-self or un-substantiality of the person (pudgala-nairatmya), but by the realization that all dharmas or elements of existence are unsubstantial, devoid of any independent reality of their own (dharmas-nairatmya) that one really attains Nirvana. According to Mahayana, the realization of both pudgala-nairatmya and dharmas-nairatmya is necessary for the attainment of Nirvana. The Hinayanist says that man is unable to attain Nirvana, because Reality is hidden by the veil of passion like attachment, aversion, delusion. The delusion acts as an obstacle in the way of the realization of Nirvana. The delusion has, therefore, to be removed before one can attain Nirvana. The afflictions, however, depend for their activity on the belief of an identical person self. It is only by realizing the “not-self or un-substantiality of the person” that the afflictions or the obstacles can Nirvana be attained. The removal of delusion is thus connected with the realization of the not-self or un-substantiality of the person. The Hinayanist considers the removal of delusion alone as sufficient for the attainment of Nirvana. The Mahayanist says that Reality is veiled not only by delusion but also by the veil that hides true knowledge. The removal, therefore, of the veil that hides true knowledge is also necessary. This is possible by the realization of all dharmas or elements of existence are unsubstantial, devoid of any independent reality of their own (dharmas-nairatmya), or the egolessness emptiness of all elements of existence (dharmasunyata). Just as the removal of delusion is connected with the realization of the not-self or un-substantiality of the person, so the removal of the veil that hides true knowledge (jneyavarana) is connected with the realization of all dharmas or elements of existence are unsubstantial, devoid of any independent reality of their own (dharmas-nairatmya). The Mahayanist maintains that the removal of delusion alone is not sufficient for the attainment of full freedom; the removal of the veil that hides true knowledge (jneyavarana) is also necessary. The Hinayanist believed in certain ultimate reals, called dharmas. The word dharma in this sense is difficult to translate. It is sometimes translated as ‘things’. It should be borne in mind that dharmas are not ‘things’ in the sense of the common sense. ‘Elements of existence,’ ‘ultimate reals’ these are better translations of dharmas. Hinayana believes that the world is composed of an unceasing flow of certain ultimate dharmas which are simple, momentary and impersonal. Most of them are dharmas with signs (samskrta), and some are dharmas without signs (asamskrta). According to Mahayana, these dharmas are not ultimate realities at all, but only mental constructs. Mahayana pointed out that even the so-called ultimate dharmas with signs and without signs are dependent upon conditions and so relative. Being relative, they are devoid of reality (sunya). Hinayana was intellectual, Mahayana devotional also Hinayana was entirely intellectual. The main concern of the Hinayana was to follow the eightfold path taught by the Buddha. In Hinayana, it was the human aspect of the Buddha which was emphasized. In Mahayana Buddha was taken as Supreme Reality itself that descended on earth in human form for the good of mankind. The concept of supreme reality in Buddhism was never as a creator but as Divine Love that out of compassion embodied itself in human form to uplift suffering humanity. He was worshipped with fervent devotion. The devotion of the Mahayanist gave rise to the art of sculpture and painting. Beautiful statues of Buddha were carved out, and excellent imaginative pictures representing him and the various aspects of his life were painted. Mahayana maintained that the arduous path of transcendental wisdom (prajna) was meant only for the advanced few, for the average man it was devotion to the Buddha which would enable him to attain Nirvana. Buddha was worshipped in the form of Avalokitesvara, Medicine Buddha, Amitabha and the future Buddha, Maitreya.
The theories of Hinayana emphasize on the three characteristic marks, which are also called the three characteristic marks of all Hinayana sutras: impermanence of phenomena, the unreality of the ego, and Nirvana. There are four schools or doctrines of Hinayana: the door of reality, the existence of all phenomena, the doctrine of being, the door of unreality, door of non-existence, the door of both reality and unreality or relativity of existence and non-existence, and the door of neither, or transcending existence or non-existence. The Hinayana has nine classes of work which includes the whole of the twelve classes of the mahyana less (minus) the Udana or Voluntary Discourses, the Vaipulya or Broader Teaching, and the Vyakarana or Prophecies. Hinayanists believe that many new Mahayana Sutras are not the Buddha’s actual words. In fact, they reject these works because they believe that these works are only concoctions and worthless of serious consideration. As for the commandments of Hinayana, also recognized by the Mahayana: five and eight commandments for laymen, ten commandments for the novice, 227 commandments for the monks, and 348 commandments for the nuns. The Hinayana pholosophy is based on the Four Noble Truths. As for the sutras, the Hinayana has four sections of Agama Sutras: Dirghagamas (long work scriptures, Cosmological, 22 books), Madhyamagamas (Middle Work, Metaphysical, 60 books), Samyuktagama (General on dhyana, trance, etc, 50 books), and the Ekottarikagamas (Numerical Arranged Subjects, 51 books). According to Keith in the Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, the Hinayana sastras, the philosophical canon of the Hinayana, now supposed consist of some thirty-seven works, the earliest of which is said to be the Gunanirdesa sastra before 220 A.D. The date of the Abhidharma is still unknown to us.
Zen of Small Vehicle. This is the vehicle or teaching that is to take you from one state of mind to another state of mind, i.e. from delusion to enlightenment. However, Zen of the Smal Vehicle looks only into one’s own peace of mind. The purpose of Zen of Small Vehicle is to attain one of the four degrees of saintliness of Hinayana. According to Budhist history, at the beginning, the Hinayana had two major classes: Sthaviravadin and Mahasanghika. Sthaviravadin is also called the school of presbyters. This division is reported to have taken place under the leadership of the monk named Mahadeva, a hundred years after the Buddha’s nirvana and during the reign of Asoka. Mahadeva’s sect became the Sarvastivadins. According to I-Ching, there are four schools in Hinayana: Arya Mahasanghanikaya, Arya-Sthavirah, Arya-Mulasarvastivadah, and Arya-Sammatiyah. There were three of the eighteen Hinayana schools were transported to China: Kosa Sect, Satya-siddhi, and Vinaya school or the school of Harivaman. Later, Hinayana was divided into eighteen sects (Hinayana-eighteen sects): Mahasanghikah, Ekavya-vaharikah, Lokottaravadinah, Bahusrutiyah, Prajanptivadinah, Jetavaniyah (Caityasailah), Aparasailah (Uttarasailah), Kaukkutikah (Gokulika), Aryasthavirah, Haimavatah, Sarvastivadah, Dharmottariyah, Bhadrayaniyah, Sammatiyah, Sannagarikah, Mahisasakah, Dharmaguptah, Kasyahpiya, and Sautrantikah.
The T’ien-T’ai School divided Sakyamuni’s teaching into eight divisions, from the Avatamsaka to the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras. The Tripitaka or Hinayana teaching for Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas, the Bodhisattva doctrine being subordinate; it also included the primitive sunya doctrine as developed in the Satyasiddhi sastra. First, the Tripitaka or Hinayana teaching for Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas, the Bodhisattva doctrine being subordinate; it also included the primitive sunya doctrine as developed in the Satyasiddhi sastra. Second, the “Immediate” teaching which contained Hinayan and Mahayana doctrine for Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, to which are attributed the doctrine of Dharmalaksana or Yogacara and Madhyamika schools. Third, the differential teachings. The Buddha’s differential or separated, bodhisattva teaching, definitely Mahayana. Fourth, the universal teaching. The Buddha’s final, perfect, Bodhisattva, universal teaching as preached, i.e., the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras. Fifth, direct teaching without reserve of the whole truth, i.e., the Avatamsaka Sutra: Đốn Giáo. Sixth, gradual or or graded teaching, i.e., Agama and Nirvana Sutras. Seventh, Esoteric teaching, only understood by special members of the assembly. Eighth, General or Indeterminate teaching, from which each hearer would derive benefit according to his interpretation.
519. Middle Vehicle
According to Buddhism, the Middle Vehicle is a way of giving up extremes, a way of the Noble Eightfold Path, a medial system between Hinayana and Mahayana. The middle vehicle to nirvana, includes all intermediate or medial systems between Hinayana and Mahayana. It also corresponds with the state of a pratyeka-buddha, who lives chiefly for his own salvation but partly for others. Middle Way Philosophy, a term for the way of Sakyamuni Buddha, which teaches avoidance of all extremes such as indulgence in the pleasures of the senses on one side and self-mortification and ascetisim on the other. More specifically, it refers to the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school founded by Nagarjuna, which refrains from choosing beween opposing positions, and in relation to the existence and non-existence of all things, treads a middle way. The Middle Vehicle is the path of moderation. A righteous path of life which teaches people to keep away from bad deeds, to do good and to purify the mind (Shakya Muni Buddha discovered the Middle Path which advises people to). The Middle Way is the path taught by the Buddha, the path of moderation. We should recall that the life of the Buddha before His Enlightenment falls into two distinct periods. The time before His renunciation was one in which he enjoyed every possible luxury; for example, his father built for him three palaces, one for each season, and provided him with sources of unimaginable pleasure in his day. Then, after his renunciation, he lived six years of extreme asceticism and self-mortification. He tormented his body through various practices like sleeping on beds of thorns and sitting in the midst of fires under the cruel heat of midday sun.Having experienced the extreme of luxury and deprivation and having reached the limits of these extremes without any results, the Buddha discovered the Middle Way, which avoids both the extreme of indulgence in pleasures of the senses and the extremes of self-mortification.
Madhyamaka philosophy was systematized by Nagarjuna, one of the greatest thinkers of India. According to the Madhyama, the Buddha followed a moderate path avoiding the two extremes, indulgence in sensual pleasures and the habitual practice of self mortification. When an attempt was made to interpret and discover the import of that path, Nagarjuna came forward with his own interpretation and called it Madhyamika, or moderate. The central idea in his philosophy is “Prajna,” “wisdom,” or ultimate knowledge derived from an understanding of the nature of things in their true perspective, “sunyata.” Sunyata for him is a synonym for “dependent origination.” So the dictum: “Everything is void” must be taken to mean that everything has a dependent origination and is hence non-substantial. Here everything stands for all things, dharma internal and external. So everything for him is devoid of nay substantiality and becomes illusory. When this is realized the “Dharmadhatu,” or the monistic cosmic element, becomes manifest. Another fundamental principle in his philosophy is Ajativada, the non-origination theory. Things declared non-substantial, sunya, also bring home to us by implication the idea that they are un-originated and undestroyed. Nagarjuna takes great pains to expound the non-origination theory in his works, such as the Madhyamika Sastra. His method of exposition and logic were so convincing that even those who belonged the opposite camp were tempted to adapt them to their own theories. To quote one example, Gaudapada, a great exponent of Advaitism, was influenced considerably by Nagarjuna’s method of arguments. The external world, for both the Madhyamikas and Advaitins, is unreal. The arguments advanced by Nagarjuna were also adopted by Gaudapada in so far as they supported his propositions. The formulation of the non-origination theory by Nagarjuna is a logical corollary of his doctrine and relativity. The non-origination theory, as applied to the phenomenal world, was unknown in Advaitism before Gaudapada. The Upanisads speak several times of the Atman and Brahmin as unborn, imperishable and eternal, but no-where do they speak thus of the external world. Nor do we find anybody before Gaudapada in the galaxy of Advaitins who pleaded for the non-origination of things in general as did Gaudapada in his Karikas. Therefore there is no denying the fact that Gaudapada must have taken the idea from Nagarjuna and adapted it suitably to provide the Advaita doctrine with a firm foundation.
The doctrine of the Middle Path means in the first instance the middle path between the two extremes of optimism and pessimism. Such a middle position is a third extreme, tending neither one way nor the other is what the Buddha wanted to say. The Buddha certainly began with this middle as only one step higher than the ordinary extremes. A gradual ascent of the dialectical ladder, however, will bring us higher and higher until a stage is attained wherein the antithetic onesidedness of ens and non-ens is denied and transcended by an idealistic synthesis. In this case the Middle Path has a similar purport as the Highest Truth. In the first verse of the Mulamadhyamakarika, Nagarjuna stated: “No entity is produced at any time, anywhere, or in any manner from self, from other, from both, or without cause.” This is the fundamental Madhyamaka critique of causality. This is also the refutal of the Madhyamaka on the four possibilities for the origination of phenomena, or the relationship between cause and effect of philosophical schools contemporary with the Madhyamaka. Madhyamaka school utilized a method called “reductio ad adsurdum”, or a negative dialectic that exposes the inherent contradictions and adsurdities in the opponent’s position. The Sankhya system, one of the classical systems of Indian philosophy, advocated the position that maintains that the cause and effect are identical. However, the Madhyamaka says that, if in fact cause and effect are identical, then having bought cottonseed with the price one would pay for cloth would be the same. The idea that cause and effect are identical thus leads to absurdity. If cause and effect were identical, then there would be no difference between father and son, and also no difference between food and excrement. The Hinayana schools of Buddhism, Vaibahashika, Sautrantika and some of the Brahmanical schools agreed that the position which cause and effect are different. However, the Madhyamaka says that, if in fact cause and effect are different, anything could originate from anything else, because all phenomena are equally different. Hence a stalk of rice might just as easily originate from a piece of coal as from a grain of rice, for there would be no connection between a stalk of rice and a grain of rice; and a piece of coal and a grain of rice would have the same relationship of difference to a stalk of rice. Thus the notion that cause and effect are absolutely different is an intrinsically absurd idea. The position according to which phenomena originated from causes that are both identical and different (cause and effect are both identical and different) was affirmed by the Jaina philosophers. However, the Madhyamaka says that, no phenomenon can have contradictory characteristics. An entity cannot be both existent and nonexistent at the same time, just as one entity cannot be both red and not red at the same time. Thus there are no such phenomena that can be originated from cause and effect that are identical and different at the same time. Phenomena arise without cause or phenomena originate without a cause was affirmed by the materialists in ancient India. However, the Madhyamaka says that, the idea that phenomena originate without a cause is nonsense by appeal to common experience. For instance, if we set a kettle of water on a lighted stove, the water will boil, but if we set it on a block of ice, it won’t. So the position that maintains phenomena originate without a cause is impossible.
The doctrine of Mahayana sutras, and of the Prajnaparamita in particular, was developed in a systematic and philosophical form by the Madhyamikas. Madhyama means middle, and the Madhyamikas are those who take the Middle Way, between affirming and denying. The school was founded, probably about 150 A.D., by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva. Nagarjuna was one of the most subtle dialecticians of all times. Of Brahmin family, he came from Berar in South India, and was active in Nagarjunikonda near Amaravati, in Northern India. His name is explained by the legend that he was born under an Arjuna tree, and that Nagas, i.e. serpent-kings, or dragons, had instructed him in secret lore in the Dragons’ Palace under the sea. His theory is called “Sunya-vada,” or “Emptiness doctrine.” He supplemented with a logical apparatus the views expounded in the Sutras on perfect wisdom, which he is said to have rescued from the Nether world of the Nagas. While Sakyamuni, so the story goes, taught to men the doctrine of the Disciples, in heaven he taught at the same time a deeper doctrine, which was first preserved by the Dragons, and then brought to earth by Nagarjuna. The Madhyamika school flourished in India for well over 800 years. About 450 A.D. it split into two subdivisions: one side, the Prasangikas, interpreted Nagarjuna’s doctrine as a universal skepticism, and claimed that their argumentations had the exclusive purpose of refuting the opinions of others; the other side, the Svatantrikas, maintained that argument could also establish some positive truths. Together with Buddhism the Madhyamikas disappeared from India after 1,000 A.D. Their leading ideas have survived up to the present day in the Vedanta system of Hinduism into which they were incorporated by Gaudapada and Sankara, its founders. Translations of the Prajnaparamita-sutras have exerted a profound influence in China from 180 A.D. onwards. The Madhyamikas existed for a few centuries, from 400 or 600 to 900, as a separate school called San-Lun tsung. In 625 the school came to Japan, as Sanron, but it has been extinct there for a long time. Adapted to the Chinese and Japanese outlook on life, the doctrine lives on as Ch’an or Zen.
The Treatise on the Middle way or the Guide-Book of the School of the Middle Way. The sastra stressed on the teaching of the Middle Way, the basic teaching of the Madhyamika school of the Indian Mahayana Buddhism. The teaching of the Middle Way, presented and followed by the Madhyamikas, founded by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva in the second century AD, which attained great influence in India, Tibet, China and Japan. One of the two Mahayana schools in India (together with the Yogacara). The basic statement of the doctrines of this school is found in Master Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika-karika. According to the Madhyamaka Sastra, the true meaning of Emptiness (Sunyata) is non-existence, or the nonsubstantiveness. The Madhyamika-sastra, attributed to the Bodhisattva Nagarjuna as creator, and Nilakasus as compiler, translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva in 409 A.D. It is the principal work of the Madhyamika, or Middle School. The teaching of this school opposes the rigid categories of existence and non-existence, and denies the two extremes of production or creation and non-production and other antitheses, in the interests of a middle or superior way. According to Nagarjuna, the Middle Way is true nature of all things which neither is born nor dies, and cannot be defined by either the two extremes, existence or non-existence. The first and principle work of the three main works of the Middle School. Fortunately the Sanskrit text of it has been preserved. It was translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva. It is a treatise of 400 verses in which Nagarjuna refutes certain wrong views of Mahayana or of general philosophers, thereby rejecting all realistic and pluralistic ideas, and indirectly establishing his monistic doctrine. The Madhyamaka system is neither scepticism nor agnosticism. It is an open invitation to every one to see Reality face to face. According to the Survey of Buddhism, Sangharakshita’s summary of the Madhyamaka system as follows: “Buddhism may be compared to a tree. Buddha’s transcendental realization is the root. The basic Buddhism is the trunk, the distinctive Mahayana doctrines the branches, and the schools and subschools of the Mahayana the flowers. Now the function of flowers, however beautiful, is to produce fruit. Philosophy, to be more than barren speculation, must find its reason and its fulfilment in a way of life; thought should lead to action. Doctrine gives birth to method. The Bodhisattva ideal is the perfectly ripened fruit of the whole vast tree of Buddhism. Just as the fruit encloses the seeds, so within the Bodhisattva Ideal are recombined all the different and sometimes seemingly divergent elements of Mahayana.” According to Jaidev Singh in An Introduction To Madhyamaka Philosophy, we have seen the main features of Madhyamaka Philosophy. It is both philosophy and mysticism. By its dialectic, its critical probe into all the categories of thought, it relentlessly exposes the pretensions of Reason to know Truth. The hour of Reason’s despair, however, becomes the hour of truth. The seeker now turns to meditation on the arious forms of ‘Sunyata,’ and the practice of ‘Prajnaparamitas.’ By moral and yogic practices, he is prepared to receive the Truth. In the final stage of Prajna, the wheels of imagination are stopped, the discursive mind is stilled, and in that silence Reality stoops to kiss the eye of the aspirant; he receives the accolade of prajna and becomes the knighterrant of Truth. It is an experience of a different dimension, spaceless, timeless, which is beyond the province of thought and speech. Hence it cannot be expressed in any human language. According to Nagarjuna Bodhisattva in the Madhyamika Sastra, the Middle Path of the Twofold Truth is expounded by the “five terms.” First, the one-sided worldly truth. Maintains the theory of the real production and the real extinction of the phenomenal world. Second, the one-sided higher truth. Adheres to the theory of the non-production and non-extinction of the phenomenal world. Third, the middle path of worldly truth. One sees that there is a temporary production and temporary extinction of phenomenon. Fourth, the middle path of the higher truth. One sees there is neither contemporary production nor contemporary extinction. Fifth, the middle path elucidated by the union of both popular and higher truths. One considers that there is neither production-and-extinction nor non-production-and non-extinction.
In India, the Madhyamika School or the Madhyamikas were so called on account of the emphasis they laid on the middle view (madhyamika-pratipat). In his first sermon at Banares, the Buddha preached the Middle Path, which is neither self-mortification nor a life devoted to the pleasures of the senses. However, the middle path, as advocated by the adherents of the Madhyamika system, is not quite the same. Here, the middle path stands for the non-acceptance of the two views concerning existence and non-existence, eternity and non-eternity, self and non-self, and so on. In short, it advocates neither the theory of reality nor that of the unreality of the world, but merely of relativity. It is, however, to be noted that the middle path propounded at Banares has an ethical meaning, while that of the Madhyamikas is a metaphysical concept. The Middle School of which doctrine was based on the three main works of Nagajuna. The most striking feature of Madhyamaka philosophy is its ever-recurring use of ‘Sunya’ and ‘Sunyata.’ So this system is also known as the school with the philosophy that asserts Sunya as the characterization of Reality. Besides, there was a galaxy of Madhyamika thinkers, such as Aryadeva in the third century A.D.), Buddhapalita in the fifth century, Bhavaviveka in the fifth century, Chandrakirti in the sixth century, and Santideva in the seventh century. In China, the Three Madhyamika Treatises is divided into two groups. The first tradition is called the ‘old’ follows the tradition from Nigarjuna to Kumarajiva; and the second is called the ‘new’ tradition from Chi-Tsang (549-623 A.D.), a disciple of Kumarajiva, to the time of its decline in the eighth century A.D. The San-Lun-tsung was a Buddhist sect which expressed the Madhyamika doctrine according to absolute truth (paramartha-satya). These schools stress the doctrine of conventional truth (samvrti-satya), according to which all beings are conditioned and merely interrelated, but do not come into existence in the absolute sense. The practical aspect of the Madhyamika philosophy was expressed by these schools in their approach to human life. Although these schools contributed to the cultural development of ancient China for eight centuries, today they are only objects of historical, textural and philosophical study. They no longer exist as religious institutions in China, except in the modified form of Tibetan Lamaism. Chief texts which constitute the San-Lun literature of Chinese Madhyamika Buddhism: the Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra, the Dasabhumivibhasa-sastra, the Madhyamika-sastra, the Sata-sastra, and the Dvadasanikaya-sastra. In China, the groups which embrace Madhyaminka Buddhism are Si-Lun-Tsung, Prajna tsung, Hsing-tsung, in which the San-Lun-tsung and Hua-Yen-tsung are also included.
520. Mahayana
Northern or Mahayana is also called the Major Vehicle, the greater vehicle, one of the two great schools of Buddhism (Hinayana and Mahayana). The Mahayana arose in the first century BC. It is called Great Vehicle because its objective is the salvation of all beings. It opens the way of liberation to a great number of people and indeed, expresses the intentionto liberate all beings. One of the most critical in Mahayana is that it stresses the value on laypersons. It emphasizes that laypersons can also attain nirvana if they strive to free themselves from worldly bondages. Major Mahayana sects include Hua-Yen, T’ien T’ai, Zen and the Pure Land. It should be noted that Mahayana spread from India to Tibet, China, Korea and Viet Nam. We must recognize that the Mahayana has contributed a great deal to Buddhist thought and culture. It has produced a wonderful Path of Bodhisattvas. Sakyamuni Buddha set an example by his own career that people could emulate. The goal of this career was Enlightenment and Buddhahood, and the way was the way of the Bodhisattva. The Third Council was held during the reign of Emperor Asoka in the third century B.C., there were already at least eighteen schools, each with its own doctrines and disciplinary rules. Among them, two schools dominated the deliberations at the Third Council, an analytical school called Vibhajyavadins, and a school of realistic pluralism known as the Sarvastivadins. The Council decided in favor of the analytical school and it was the views of this school that were carried to Sri Lanka by Asoka’s missionaries, led by his son Mahendra. There it became known as the Theravada. The adherents of the Sarvastivada mostly migrated to Kashmir in the north west of India where the school became known for its popularization of the path of the perfections of the Bodhisattva. However, another Council (the Fourth Council) was held during the reign of King Kanishka in the first century A.D. in Kashmir; two more important schools emerged, the Vaibhashikas and the Sautrantikas. These two differed on the authenticity of the Abhidharma; the Vaibhashikas holding that the Abhidharma was taught by the Buddha, while the Sautrantikas held that it was not. By this time, Mahayana accounts tell us, a number of assemblies had been convened in order to compile the scriptures of the Mahayana tradition, which were already reputed to be vast in number. In the north and south west of India as well as Nalanda in Magadha, the Mahayana was studied and taught. Many of the important texts of the Mahayana were believed to have been related by Maitreya, the future Buddha and other celestial Bodhisattvas. The written texts of Mahayana as well as those of other schools began to appear about 500 years after the Buddha’s Nirvana. The earliest Mahayana sutras such as the Lotus Sutra and the Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom are usually dated before the first century A.D. The essence of the Mahayana Buddhism is the conception of compassion for all living beings. The Mahayana, with its profound philosophy, its universal compassion and its abundant use of skillful means, rapidly began to attract the majority of people, not only in India, but in the newly Buddhist lands of central Asia. The origin of Mahayana may be traced to an earlier school known as Mahasanghika and earlier literary sources known as Mahayana Sutras. By the first century A.D., the formation of the Mahayana Buddhism was virtually complete, and most of the major Mahayana sutras were in existence. Theoretically speaking, Mahayana Buddhism is divided into two systems of thought: the Madhyamika and the Yogacara.
A Sanskrit term for “Great Vehicle.” One of the two main strands of Indian Buddhism, the other being Nikaya-Buddhism, referred to by Mahayana as “Hinayana.” Mahayana emphasizes the ideal of the Bodhisattva, which it contrasts with the Arhat, the ideal of the “Hinayana.” It considers the Arhat to be selfish because the Arhat path leads to nirvana for oneself alone, while the Bodhisattva strives to bring all sentient beings to salvation. The Mahayana is called Great Vehicle because its objective is the salvation of all beings. It opens the way of liberation to a great number of people and indeed, expresses the intentionto liberate all beings. One of the most critical in Mahayana is that it stresses the value on laypersons. It emphasizes that laypersons can also attain nirvana if they strive to free themselves from worldly bondages. Major Mahayana sects include Hua-Yen, T’ien T’ai, Zen and the Pure Land. It should be noted that Mahayana spread from India to Tibet, China, Korea and Viet Nam. The origin of Mahayana may be traced to an earlier school known as Mahasanghika and earlier literary sources known as Mahayana Sutras. The Mahayana Buddhism is also called the Supreme vehicle. The highest vehicle, another name for Mahayana.
The Mahayana is not only a highly developed and profound philosophy and psychology, it is also an accessible, dynamic vehicle for achievement of Buddhahood. The basic practice doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism is the cultivation of the six paramitas; among them, the perfection of wisdom is the crown of the six perfections, for it is the penetrative, direct understanding of emptiness will transform the practices of generosity, morality, patience, energy, and meditation into perfections. The role of the perfection of wisdom is unique among the six perfections, for it is in the light of the perfection of wisdom that we see the emptiness of the subject, object, as well as action of the other five perfections. For example, in the perfection of generosity, it is the perfection of wisdom that causes us to understand the emptiness of the subject of the action of giving or the giver, the emptiness of the object of giving or the recipient, and the emptiness of the gift. Similarly, in the perfections of morality, patience, energy, and meditation, it is through understanding the perfection of wisdom that one understands the purity or emptiness of the subject, object, and action present in every sphere of action. The practice of the six paramitas results in the accomplishment of the two accumulations of merit and knowledge. The perfection of generosity, morality, and patience result in the accumulation of merit; while those of meditation and wisdom result in the accumulationof knowledge; the perfection of energy is necessary in both accumulations of merit and knowledge. These two accumulations is very necessary for the cultivation and achievement of the Buddhahood. Besides, four infinite minds or four perfections of virtues may also be termed stereological or altruistic perfections. They are great vows of the enlightened ones with intention to free all sentient beings. These Enlightened Beings use all kinds of skillful means to save themselves as well as to save others.
An alternative understanding of the Buddhist goal began to emerge around the time of the Second Council, although its exact origins are not clear. This strand of Buddhism was later called Mahayana, or “Great Vehicle,” and today it is the dominant form of Buddhism in China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Tibet, and Vietnam. Unlike Theravada Buddhism, which is still a relatively unified tradition, the Mahayana constitutes a variety of different schools, such as in China, there were The Three-Sastra Sect, based on the Madhyamika-Sastra; Dharmalaksana Sect; Avatamsaka Sect, based on the Buddha-Avatamsaka-Sutra; Vinaya or Discipline Sect, based on the Vinaya-Pitaka; Satyasiddhi Sect, based on the Satyasiddhi Sastra; Abhidharma-Kosa Sect, based on the Abhidharma-Kosa Sastra. In Japan, the Japanese Tendai and Pure Land. However, the Mahayana never formed its own monastic code. Mahayana monks can practice alongside monks of other traditions, even though they may have different aspirations or visions of the path. The Mahayana accepts Gautama as a Buddha but greatly expands the notion of Buddhahood by recognizing a rich “pantheon” of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (those whose essence is enlightenment). It also recognized scriptures that are not accepted by other forms of Buddhism as the word of the Buddha. Broadly speaking, the Mahayana differs from the Theravada in its representation of the final goal that a Buddhist ideal of the arhat, who devotes himself to gaining insight, while Mahayana offers the path of the Bodhisattva as the ultimate accomplishment. Through the perfection of wisdom and compassion, the Bodhisattva teaches others so that they too may achieve enlightenment. The Mahayana considers other paths as inferior to that of the Bodhisattva, referring to them derogatively as “Hinayana” or Lesser Vehicle. A characteristic feature of Mahayana Buddhism is the notion that Buddhas or advanced Bodhisattvas can, through their immense powers, create “Buddha Fields” or “Pure Land.” These Pure Lands are seen as unique and blissful paradises, which are accessed by a favorable rebirth following a life of devotion to the presiding Buddha. In a Pure Land a being is able to hear and practice Dharma in conducive circumstances, enabling swift enlightenment. Of the many Pure Lands, the Pure Land of the West, ruled by the Buddha Amitabha (in Japanese, Amida), is one of the most important Buddhas in Mahayana Buddhism.
After the Buddha’s death, Buddhism was divided into many schools. The two main branches were Hinayana and Mahayana. Whoever seeks to become an arhat belongs to the Hinayana; while whoever seeks to become a Buddha belongs to the Mahayana. Right after the Buddha’s death the school of Mahayana, attributed to the rise in India of the Madhyamika (the school ascribed to Nagarjuna) and the Yoga; the rest of the sects belonged to the Hinayana. The Madhyamika and Yoga were called Tsan-Luan and Dharmalaksana in China. In Japan, only Kosa and Satyasiddhi belong to the Hinayana; the rest of other schools belong to the Mahayana. The Mahayana teachingswere given by the Buddha to an audience with strong interest in the Bodhisattva’s path to Buddhahood. After the Buddha passing away, the Mahayana teachings weren’t practiced publicly, but were passed down privately from teacher to student. According to the Buddhist legends, some Mahayana sutras were taken to another land to be cared for until conditions were right for their widespread propagation in our world. From the first century B.C. onwards, the Mahayana sutras began to appear publicly, and this way of practice became more widely known. The Mahayana has two methods of practice, Paramitayana and Vajrayana. Paramitayana is a general Bodhisattva path found in the sutras, and it emphasizes the altruistic intention and the practice of the six far-reaching attitudes. Zen, Pure Land and others are included in the Paramitayana. Vajrayana contains the Theravada and Paramitayana methods and adds the practice of meditating on various manifestations of the Buddhas or Buddhist meditational deities. Vajrayana techniques are found in teachings the Buddha gave called mantras.
The development, or of the metaphysics of spirituality happened around two centuries after the Buddha’s Nirvana led to the basic division between Hinayana and Mahayana. In the Hinayana there is, first of all, the Old Wisdom School, which, about 200 years after the Buddha’s Nirvana, split into two branches: In the East of India the Theravadins, who at present still dominate Ceylon, Bruma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos; and in the West the Sarvastivadins, who flourished for 1,500 years, with Mathura, Gandhara and Kashmir as their centers. In addition, there were a number of other schools, of which almost no record is preserved. The Mahasanghikas, in Magadha and in the South round Amaravata, organized from 250 B.C. onward, the dissenters from the Old Wisdom School into a separate sect, which perished only when Buddhism was destroyed in India. From the Mahasanghikas developed a new doctrines. Its followers first called it the Bodhisattvayana, and, later on, the Mahayana or the Great Vehicle. On the contrary, the followers of the Old Wisdom School were occasionally referred to as Hinayana or the Lesser, the Inferior, or the Small Vehicle. There are no clear proportions between Hinayana and Mahayana followers in India at different times. Perhaps the Mahayanists began to outnumber the Hinayanists only after 800 A.D., when Buddhism completely declined in India, and when it found its way to China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Tibet and Vietnam. Despite the division, both followers of the Mahayana and the Hinayana lived together in the same monastery for a very long time, they observed the same Vinaya rules, they recognized the same five precepts, practiced the same Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Noble Path.
The Mahayana Buddhism is the main doctrinal innovations of Buddhism. As concerns the goal there is a shift from Arahan ideal to the Bodhisattva ideal. In Mahayana Buddhism, a new way of salvation is worked out, in which compassion ranks equal with wisdom. Before the development of the Mahayana Buddhism, skill in means was an entirely new concept, but after the development of the Mahayana, it became an essential method of salvation that utilized by Bodhisattvas. It was placed even above wisdom, the highest virtue so far. Besides, Mahayana Buddhism introduced some coherent doctrines dealing with emptiness and Suchness, and so on. Mahayanists believe that all dharmas are empty in the sense that each one is nothing in and by itself. Any dharma is therefore indistinguishable from any other dharma. In consequence all dharmas are ultimately non-existent and the same. The above mentioned emptiness can be called “Suchness”, when one takes each thing “such as it is”, without adding to or subtracting any thing from it. There can be only one Suchness and the multiple world is only a construction of our imagination. If all is one and the same, then also the Absolute will be identical with the Relative, the Unconditioned with the Conditioned, Nirvana with Samsara. So, the Mahayanists conclude that true knowledge must rise above the duality of either subject and object, or affirmation and negation.
Some reliable sources said that Mahayana Buddhism spread to Vietnam by Indian monks who travelled to the east by sea from the beginning of the first century A.D., and later it entered China mainland. In the Great T’ang Persecution of 842-845 A.D., Buddhism was severelly repressed in China. All of the traditions except for Ch’an and Pure Land were essentially destroyed, although their influence remains and there is interest in them today. After 845, Ch’an and Pure Land became the principal Buddhist traditions, both of them studying the Middle Way and Mind-Only philosophies. Since the 16th century, Ch’an and Pure Land practices have been blended together in many Chinese monasteries. There are some other sources said that from China Mahayana spread to Vietnam beginning in the second century A.D. and to Korea in the fourth century. Ch’an became prevalent in both Vietnam and Korea, although in Vietnam Pure Land and Theravada traditions became popular as well. In the sixth century, most Chinese Buddhist traditions reached Japan via Korea. In the 12th and 13th centuries, many new traditions proliferated in Japan. This occurred because people were bewildered by the vastness of the Buddha’s teachings and sought a single effective practice to engage in. During this time, two Pure Land traditions branched off from the T’ien-T’ai tradition. Of these, the Jodo-Shin-Shu, the True Pure Land Sect, emphasized the family as the center of religious life. It began the custom of married monks, who take vows and lead religious practices in temples. The temples are passed down from father to eldest son. Although Ch’an came to Japan as early as the seventh century; however, it became popular in the twelfth. Many Zen traditions exist, but Rinzai and Soto became the most well-known. In the 13th century, the Nichiren tradition, based on the Lotus Sutra, appeared. Shingon, the Japanese tantric tradition, was also revitalized around this time. In the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Japanese government decreed that all Buddhist clergy be allowed to marry. During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 20th century, non-celibate priesthood was introduced. But now most Korean Sangha follow the ordination vows of monks and nuns, which necessarily include celibacy. Post-was Japan has seen the arising of many small groups, each with its own way of practice. Some have integrated the pre-Buddhist Shinto beliefs into their system, other have adopted a Christian bent. Further studies should be accomplished to examine the teachings of these groups to determine if their interpretation is still faithful to the Buddha’s teachings. From Japan in particular, Zen and Nichiren-Shu have spread to Western countries. Zen has become very popular in the West, where lots of lay people attend meditation sessions and retreats. Some Zen centers have begun social welfare: hospices to help the terminally ill or people with AIDS.
The Buddhist texts brought to China by Indian missionaries and Chinese pilgrims weren’t initially systematized. Over time, people became unsure how to resolve seeming discrepancies between sutras, and how to practice the teachings in this vast amount of literature. Thus in the seventh century there were spontaneous attempts to organize the Buddhist teachings in China. Groups were formed around various monks, each of whom chose a particular sutra or group of sutras as the central point of their study and practice. These groups later evolved and became Buddhist traditions, each one passed down by a lineage of masters. Eight major traditions developed in China, as well as some minor ones. The were at least eight principal traditions and many branches. First, San-Lun, which followed the Madhyamika (Middle Way) philosophical school of Indian Buddhism. Second, Fa-Hsiang, which followed the Yogacara (Cittamatrin or Mind-Only) philosophical school of Indian Buddhism. Third, Satyasiddhi (Ch’eng-Shih), a Theravada tradition. Fourth, Hua-Yen, which was based on the Avatamsaka Sutra and dealt with an array of metaphysical concepts for contemplation. Fifth, T’ien-T’ai, which took the Lotus Sutra as foremost and presented a balance between meditation, philosophical study, and good deeds. Sixth, The Third Period School (San-Shih-Chiao), a method for purification based on strict observance of monastic vows and charitable actions. Seventh, Ch’an (Zen), which emphasizes meditation and the Lankavatara Sutra. Eighth, Pure Land, in which practitioners strove to be reborn in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha or Maitreya Buddha.
As for the main texts, the Mahayana Buddhism has twelve kinds of Buddhist scriptures distinguished according to different styles of exposition. Arranged in Pali Scriptures. First, the sutra, the Buddha’s exposition of the Dharma in prose. These are short, medium, and long discourses expounded by the Buddha on various occasions, such as the Discourse on Blessings (Mangala Sutta), The Jewel Discourse (Ratana Sutta), Discourse on Goodwill (Metta Sutta), etc. Second, geya or singing or songs, or verses which repeat the ideas already expressed in the preceding prose, in honour of the saints, such as the Sagathavagga of the Samyutta Nikaya. Third, gatha, or verses containing ideas not expressed in prose. Gatha includes verses found in the The Way of Truth (Dhammapada), Psalms of the Brethren (Theragatha), and Psalms of the Sisters (Therigatha), etc. Fourth, Nidana, or narratives of the past which explain a person’s present state. Fifth, Itivrttaka or Itivuttaka, or narratives of past lives of the Buddha’s disciples. Itivuttaka includes 112 discourses in the Khuddaka Nikaya. Sixth, Jataka which includes 547 birth-stories or narratives of past lives of the Buddha. Seventh, Adbhuta-dharma, or accounts of miracle or wonderful dharmas performed by the Buddha or a deva. The Adbhutadharma includes a portion of the Majjhima Nikaya. Eighth, Avadana, or an exposition of the Dharma through allegories. Ninth, Upadesa or discussions of doctrine. Tenth, Udana or sutra which spoken voluntarily without being asked. An exposition of the Dharma by the Buddha without awaiting questions or requests from his disciples, i.e. Amitabha Sutra, and a portion of the Khuddaka Nikaya. Eleventh, Vaipulya or an extensive exposition of principles of truth. Twelfth, Vyakarana or Veyyakarana, or prophecies by the Buddha regarding his disciples’ attainment of Buddhahood. Arranged in Chinese Scriptures: Principal Sermons, Metrical Pieces, Prophecies, Verses, Introductory Parts, Selections (Quotations), Story of the Past, This is said, Birth Places, Detailed Explanations, Wonderful Dharmas, and Explanation of Meaning.
According to the T’ien-T’ai School. Mahayana Texts include the five chief Mahayana sutras: Avatamsaka Sutra, Mahasanghata Sutra, Mahaprajna Sutra, Lotus Sutra, and Nirvana Sutra. The Five Agamas: Dirghagama, Madhyamagama, Samyuktagama, Ekottarikagama, and Huddaka-Nikaya (Ksudrakagama). According to master Tz’u-En, there are six works in the Dharmalaksana school. First, the Flower Adornment Sutra. Second, Sandhi-Nirmocana-Sutra (skt). The chief text of the Dharmalaksana school, translated into Chinese by Hsuan-Tsang around the fifth century A.D. Third, Sutra of the Virtues of the Manifestation of Tathagata. Fourth, Abhidharma Sutra. Fifth, the Lankavatara Sutra. Sixth, the Secret Adornment Sutra. There are also nine Mahayana Texts. Among the Mahayanist sutras, nine texts are regarded as the most important. These are called the Vaipulya sutras: Astasahasrika-prajna-paramita, Sadharma-pundarika, Lankavatara, Lalitavistara, Suvarna-prabhasa, Gandavyuha, Tathagata-guhyaka, Samadhi-raja, and Dasabhumisvara. Besides, there are other Mahayana Texts: Sukhavati Vyuha Sutra (Longer Sukhavativyuha Sutra or Longer Amitabha Sutra), Amitayurdhyana Sutra, Sukhavati-vyuha, Ying-Lo-Ching, Ratnakuta Sutra, Pratyutpannabuddhasammukha-Vasthitasamadhi-Sutra, Sutra on the Eight Awakenings of Great People, Prajnaparamitahrdaya-Sutra, Pratimoksa, Bodhicaryavatara Sutra, Jataka, Itvritaka, Saddharma-pundarika-Sutra, Vimalakirtinirdesa-Sutra, Bhaisaya-guru-vaiduryaprabhasapurvapranidhanavisesavistara, Mahaparinirvana-Sutra, Mahakaruna Dharani Sutra, Adhyardhasatika-Prajnaparamita-Sutra, MahaVaipulya-Avatamsaka-Sutra, Maha-samnipata-sutra or Mahasamghata-sutra, Ksitigarbhapranidhana-Sutra, Maitreyavyakarana Sutra, Avatamsaka, Vajracchedika-Prajna-Paramita, Sarva-tathagatatattvasamgrahama-Hayanabhisamayamahakaparaya, Suvarnaprabhasa-Sutra (the Sutra of Golden Light), Lankavatara Sutra, Surangama Sutra, Liu-Tsu-Ta-Shih-Fa-Pao-T’an Ching, Sutra on Questions of King Milinda, Samadhirajacandrapradipa-Sutra, Kandrottaradarikapariprccha-Sutra, Karunikaraja-Prajnaparamita-Sutra, Parinirvana Sutra, Brahmajala (Brahma-Net Sutra), Brahmajala Bodhisattva-Precepts Sutra, Dharmapada (Dhammamapada ), the Unisha Vijaja Dharani Sutra, Lalita Vistara-sutra, Buddhacarita, Vaipulya, Amitayurdhyana Sutra, Srimala Sutra, Dasabumika-sutra, Astasahasrika-Prajnaparamita-Sutra, Sutra in Forty-Two Sections, Upasakasila-Sutra, Manjusripariprccha, Wonderful and Marvellous Dharmas, Sutra Of Perfect Enlightenment, Sutra of Infinite Meaning, Sukhavativyuha Sutra, and the Ullambana Sutra.
Chapter 521 – 540