Author: Tao Qing Hsu
The word Tathagata is transliterated from
the Sanskrit. The word Tathagata is translated to be As-it-is or As-it-comes.
It also means thus come and thus go. It means how it comes and let it goes as
the same. That is, to image there is a clean and bright mirror, when something
is reflected in a mirror, it will appear exactly the same. It will never appear the different. When this thing is removed, there will be nothing in the mirror. That is, the emptiness and silence in the mirror. Such a mirror and its function which it presents can be compared to be our
hearts. Each of our hearts has such a mirror-like function and state. When we can realize
this and stabilize such a state of mind, it means that we see our heart of
Tathagata’s root. This Tathagata is not others, but our self. However, when we
do not understand the Buddhism or when we are the beginner of learning Buddha,
we always think that Tathagata is some kind of gods with supernatural power, or
is someone else who doesn’t matter with us.
When Buddhist scriptures mention a certain
Tathagata, it means that they were once sentient beings just like us. After
countless time and generations of practice in Buddha-law, they finally achieved
enlightenment and became Buddhas one day, and they were conferred the title
Tathagata. The practicing and enlightened achievement of Tathagata is the same
as Buddha. Therefore, Tathagata is and means Buddha.
There are a lot of metaphor and describing
about Tathagata, which are explained by the Buddha Shakyamuni in the different
Buddhist scripture. In the content of Buddhist scriptures translated in the
future, there will be also opportunities to mention it one after another. The
word Rulaifo is transliterated from the Chinese. It means Tathagata-Buddha. The
word Rulai or Rulaifo is universally used in the society or novel or drama of
China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In this circumstance and for the common sense, the
word Rulai or Rulaifo usually means the Buddha Shakyamuni. But, if you have
read a lot of different Buddhist scripture, you will own the different
knowledge about the word Tathagata.
And why we are not the Tathagata, we know
that our inner mind is always like a thick-dust and no-bright mirror which is
unable to truly reflect anything. Meanwhile, our mind is always like a drama
automatic making machine, what happened outside of our mind would be possible
to be distorted or to be mistakenly understood by us, thus to generate a lot of
troubles and worries for us which makes us feel bad and emotional. We thus
couldn’t make a correct decision when encounter anything. If we want to change
our self to be a person with a steady mind, it is worth for us to learn
Buddha.
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