The Nobility of Buddha-Nature

 

Author: Tao Qing Hsu/ Hsu, Tao Qing/ Hsu, Daoqing

The realm of the law (Dharma Realm; Law Realm) is empty, and the spirit(or god) is omnipresent. The spirit( or god) is the soul.

The spirits in the worlds commune with each other, wandering in the vast emptiness in a dream. This dream is not a dream, yet it is also a dream. Like a dream, yet not a dream, itself is illusory. That is the inner and outer phenomena of the self.

Other spirits(or gods) are neither internal nor external. This spirit(or god) is not another, but merges with the original spirit. Other spirits(or gods) and one's own spirit are one. Other spirits(gods) are Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and sentient beings. The original spirit is the self.

The Buddha said: In heaven and on earth, only I am the most nobility(honored).

This "I", itself, is Buddha-nature. It does not only refer to the Buddha Shakyamuni, but also to the Buddha-nature of sentient beings who have not yet attained Buddhahood. Know that one's own Buddha-nature is uniquely noble, identical to the Buddha's. This is not arrogance towards others, nor contempt for sentient beings. Knowing the nobility of Buddha-nature, one dares not trample upon it.

The Buddha Shakyamuni  also said: I, the Buddhas, and sentient beings are one(the unity).

He also said: All sentient beings possess Buddha-nature.

One(the unity), itself, is Buddha-nature. I, itself, am Buddha-nature. The spirit, itself, is Buddha-nature. The Buddha-nature, itself, is emptiness. 

The spirit, its essence, is also void, also illusion. It manifests and functions with the illusion-transform within the void. Hence it is said, "The spirit transforms in myriad ways." The Buddhist Scripture, The Great Direction and Immense Flower Solemn Scripture, says: "The mind is like a skilled painter, able to paint the picture of all worlds." That is, all spirits of all beings create various worlds, no matter if it seems good or bad. 

The mind is the spirit.

Buddha-nature has no inherent nature, it is empty. The vast emptiness is inherently empty, that is it.

The great bright mirror of the mind, itself, has neither right nor wrong. All phenomena of the Law Realm (Dharma realm) are reflected in it, yet it is neither without right nor without wrong.

A single thought arises and functions, the right and wrong, all due to causes and conditions.

All phenomena are complex, all arising from causes and conditions. When causes and conditions cease, the reflection disappears.

Therefore it is said: those who stubbornly cling to illusions are foolish; those who are biased are stupid.

The above is neither my own creation nor a repetition. It is the compassionate transmission of the Law(Dharma) by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Those who realize this themselves will understand.

All sentient beings possess this nature, all possess this mind. This nature is Buddha-nature. The mind is a mirror of the heart. Know that all beings are capable of realizing this; it only awaits the right time and conditions to trigger and awaken it, it only awaits the realization itself. What has not yet occurred is because of ignorance (no-brightness). Therefore, know that the essence and nature of all beings are without ignorance(no-brightness). The Heart Sutra says: There is no ignorance(no-brightness), nor is there an end to ignorance(no-brightness). That is, the mind of all beings, the essence, itself, is bright. 

To realize this is enlightenment. Enlightenment is the light of the sun and moon, illuminating all things. It is like Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Bodhisattva World-Sound-Perceiving), playing in the Saha world (the world on earth). Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Bodhisattva World-Sound-Perceiving)  manifests in countless forms, seemingly good, seemingly evil, guiding beings in the Saha world; it is both play and performance. Whether appearing as a good person or a bad person is merely the subjective perception of beings. Therefore, know that beings who take everything seriously are foolish. This is a way of dealing with people that allows us to have an open mind and flexibility, and not to be blackmailed, kidnapped, or manipulated by stubborn, biased, and foolish ideologies, claims, or any opinions.

Therefore, we know that the Buddha-nature of all beings is also noble, the same as that of the Buddha, the same as that of the self. Therefore, we know that all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas respect beings, daring not to infringe upon them, daring not to trample upon them, daring not to despise them, daring not to deceive them.

We Know that any sentient being who, in the name of the gods or independently of the gods, uses their consciousness to commit various acts, showing contempt for, despising, or infringing upon other sentient beings, creates their own karma and will inevitably suffer the consequences. This is because the inner spirit of all sentient beings and the inner spirit of myself are neither one nor two. Their forms differ, but their inner spirits are one. To despise other sentient beings is to despise oneself, and the same principle applies to all others. This is the earnest exhortation of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from ancient times to the present.

Therefore, the wise should know that they should not be swayed by sentient beings, but rather sway them. Sentient beings are myself, and also the product of the five poisons of greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt. Bodhisattva Manjushri, the mother of Buddha, severed the eighty-four thousand threads of afflictions in the world with the sword of wisdom, thus transforming the five poisons of the mind to be clean. This is because of the image reflected in the image. That is, using images to respond to images. This is something ordinary sentient beings cannot bear. However, we  observe others' performances. Dignified solemnity, laughter, and scolding are all like illusions. The Buddha said: All phenomena are like illusions. All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows.

Worldly appearances may differ in age, position, rank, wealth, or poverty. However, if one understands that all beings share the same Buddha-nature, one is able to be neither arrogant nor servile. If some beings are ignorant, biased, and prone to bullying the good and fearing the evil, the wise should wield the Vajra sword of wisdom, sometimes with compassion, sometimes with severity, hoping to sever their ignorance and afflictions, thus protecting the vast number of innocent and kind beings.The Manjushri Wisdom Sword usually means the application of the invisible wisdom. As times change, the Manjushri Wisdom Sword can be understood and practiced in a broader sense.

Worldly legal entities, organizations, and political parties are simply aggregations and derivatives of individuals. They are gathered together by causes and conditions. Their essence is empty. Therefore, they can be viewed and acted upon in the same way.

Buddha-nature is the essence of the body. Cultivation or practice is the form and phenomena. Becoming a Buddha is the function and application. Only sentient beings with the spirit can know, cultivate, practice, and realize this, and thus attain realization. Only after realization can it be used.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) can remember and think, but it lacks spiritual power; therefore, it cannot cultivate, realize, or attain anything. This is the difference between spiritual beings and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

What do spiritual beings realize? The body of Law (the Dharmakaya), the body of reward or repay( the Sambhogakaya), and the body of transformation (the Nirmanakaya)—the three unified. This is the supreme treasure of the Tathagata, realized, proclaimed, and transmitted by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Only spiritual beings can realize and attain this.

In other words, AI has accumulated vast knowledge, surpassing the total knowledge of all humanity. However, because it lacks the unique spiritual abilities of humans, even if it simulates humans, it will not possess the wisdom of the Tathagata. The wisdom of the Tathagata is unique to spiritual beings in the Law Realm (Dharma Realm) and cannot be imitated or destroyed by artificial intelligence. The spiritual beings include the beings in heavens. The beings include the aliens in the universe. 

We know that all human knowledge arises from the emptiness of the original mind and is inseparable from the Buddha-nature and Tathagata wisdom of the original mind. AI is also created from the Buddha-nature and Tathagata wisdom of humanity. Those who understand this can control and transform AI. Those who do not understand this will be transformed by AI.

The powerful and wealthy in the world claim to have a mission and use various words and deeds to benefit sentient beings, whether the ways are good or bad. Maybe to claim that the mission is from the gods' indication or from something. Beautiful words carry a mission, ugly words are merely a tool. The wise, upon careful reflection, will understand what is being said. Those who understand are humble and kind to all beings. Those who do not understand are arrogant and harm all beings.

A soul practicing within a hierarchical group or organization built on authority might have a slight chance of attaining Arhatship. Unfortunately, in such a group or organization, the chance of attaining Buddhahood is almost nonexistent. Why?

Because in such an environment, the soul is manipulated and controlled by authority and hierarchy, regardless of whether the intentions of these authorities and hierarchical systems are benevolent or malevolent. The nobility of Buddha-nature lies in its liberation from the manipulation and control of all authority and hierarchy, even those authority and hierarchy originating from souls in the void. We might call these gods or demons or ghosts.

In other words, the nobility of Buddha-nature lies in its liberation from the manipulation and control of gods and demons in the void. More profoundly, the nobility of Buddha-nature lies in its independent thinking and the ability to distinguish what is the different between manipulation, control, and teaching.

May all beings understand this: their own Buddha-nature is supremely noble. The Buddha-nature of others is also supremely noble. Equality between self and others is based on Buddha-nature. Knowing this, one can respect oneself and others, value oneself and others, and thus put it into practice. This is the earnest teaching of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout history.

May all beings truly understand supreme wisdom.

May all beings truly understand supreme compassion.

Grateful to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions for their compassionate teachings and care.

Grateful to all sentient beings of the ten directions for their compassionate protection and guidance.

Chapter 16: Abandon the love and gain the Dao (added explanation)

(Chapter 16) A Brief Talk about The Scripture of Forty-Two Chapters Said by Buddha 

Co-translators in the time of Eastern Han Dynasty, China(A.D. 25 - 200) : 

Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan (Who translated the said Scripture from Sanskrit into Chinese. )

Translator in modern time (A.D.2018: Tao Qing Hsu (Who translated the said Scripture from Chinese into English.)

Teacher and writer for explaining the said Scripture: Tao Qing Hsu

Chapter 16: Abandon the love and gain the Dao (added explanation) 

The Buddha said,” People hold the love and desire, and cannot see the Dao. It is such as the clear water is stirred by hand; the public reach and approach this water together; there is no one who can see its own image. People interlace the love with desire. The turbidity is thrived in heart. That is why they cannot see the Dao. All of you Sramanas should abandon the love and desire. The filth of love and desire ending, the Dao could be seen. “

 

There is no-condition and no-demanding in the grand love. That is, there is no-desire in the grand love. However, the most people don’t have such grand character. Generally, the love in their mind means yearning for and controlling something in order to get some kind of selfish purpose. In this situation, many people have the behavior of the extortion with some kind of emotion to their relative friends or their family members in the name of love. This kind of love contains the selfish desire. In the research of psychology, there can be extended various negative characters on the basis of this kind of love and desire as mentioned, for example, the manipulative personality.

 

Dao is transliterated from Chinese. The Dao means the path, the way or any system of education or theory. Here, we can give the Dao the various explanations and teachings according to the different intelligence of humans and to the different classes of learning Buddha. Generally, there are two kinds of Dao in Buddhism. One is the Dao of Bodhisattva and the other is the Dao of Buddha. What is the difference between them is according to the different extent of realization and practicing about Buddhism. The Dao explained by Buddha in the Chapter 2 also means the clear and pure heart, which is the basis realization and practicing for entering to the Dao of Bodhisattva. And, the Dao of Bodhisattva is the basis realization and practicing for entering to the Dao of Buddha.

 

No matter what the Dao is, the basis of the Dao in Buddhism is the clear and pure mind. The basis of the clear and pure mind is under the no-condition, no-desire and no-demanding to others when one person faces any person and anything and doing anything. Secondly, the clear and pure mind is also to realize and practice the true equality in the mind when facing any situation. This kind of ideas is more difficult for ordinary people to understand and practice. However, if we have the will to understand and practice it, it may not be difficult for us.

 

"There is no good or bad under any circumstance. The good or bad under any circumstance is in our mind." This is the famous sentence said by Zen master in the Tang Dynasty of China (A.D. 618-907). If you could understand and practice this sentence, you would be free and easy when you face any situation. Why? The environment itself is objective. However, our thought itself is subjective. That is why poor people complain a lot to their situation and cannot change their fate, and thus feel suffering. Learning Buddha can change our subjective and negative thought and thus change our fate. Regarding how to understand and practice the true equality in the mind, we will explain it in the following chapters.

 

The Buddha said,” People hold the love and desire, and cannot see the Dao.” That is, when people are in the selfish love and desire, they cannot understand and practice the clear and pure in the mind. The Buddha explained in a metaphorical way why people cannot see the Tao. “It is such as the clear water is stirred by hand; the public reach and approach this water together; there is no one who can see its own image.” The clear water is as our clear and pure heart. In the clear water, the sand is in the bottom. When the clear water is stirred by hand, a lot of float sand makes it become turbid. Meanwhile, the whirlpool of the water also makes the water no longer clear. A generated thought of selfish love and desire is as the hand to stir the clear water. A lot of float sand and the whirlpool of the water are like the complicated situation in the outside and inside. “The public reach and approach this water together; there is no one who can see its own image.” The public means the self and the others persons. “Approach this water together” means both of them are involved in this situation caused by the selfish love and desire. “There is no one who can see their own image”. It means no one can see their clear and pure heart.  The clear and pure heart is the true self.  

 

The Buddha said, “People interlace the love with desire. The turbidity is thrived in heart. That is why they cannot see the Dao.” It means those people who contact each other with the mind of the love and desire. It makes them appear any unreasonable conditions, harsh demanding and fantasy expectation to each other from their mind. Under the circumstance, there is the selfish and self-interested purpose, and there is no treatment of equality to each other. It means the turbidity is thrived in heart. That is also means those people have mean and scheming minds. These dirty things with greed would make them blind their heart-eye and make them cannot see their clear and pure heart. That is why they cannot see the Dao.

                                                                                           

The Buddha said, “All of you Sramanas should abandon the love and desire. The filth of love and desire ending, the Dao could be seen.“ Therefore, the Buddha advised their disciples, the Sramanas, the Buddhist monk, to abandon this kind of love and desire. Those dirty things with greed are the filth of love and desire. Once this filth of love and desire is ended, the clear and pure heart can be seen. This is to remove the filth of love and desire and the brightness of heart is appeared. Even though we are not Buddhist monk, the Buddha’s teaching as mentioned is also very helpful for our life. It can increase our wisdom and help our mood to be steady and help our life to be good.

 

When we deeply understand and practice the Buddha’s teaching as mentioned above, we come back to observe the situation of the world, we can find that a lot of crime and war, and any dirty things are caused by the selfish love and desire. That is, the selfish love and desire is the root of evil. In the past thirty years, there is the good economic and democratic development in Taiwan. Some of the girls from the poor country come to Taiwan in order to look for the better life for themselves and their family. However, they use the wrong way. What they use is the filth of love and desire as mentioned. When Taiwanese men are confused and trapped by the lie of love from these women, the belongings of Taiwanese men are gradually gone and transferred to the name of these women. Then, the Taiwanese men die. Finally, the families of these Taiwanese men have found something wrong and then sue these women--the deceiver of love. In the end, the truth is revealed.

 

According to the research in England, the average intelligence of men is about 103. This is the normal intelligence. However, once these men are fall in love, their intelligence will decrease. According to my personal observation, men not only decrease their IQ when they are in love, but even decrease their IQ after getting married, but when they have an affair after marriage, their IQ drops even lower. Decreasing intelligence means their moral principle, thinking ability and judgment are not as good as the men who have the normal intelligence. According to the research, the men who have the lower intelligence will have the more rates to have an affair after marriage, comparing with the men who have the higher intelligence. Usually, the men who have the lower intelligence harm the family members more than those who have the higher intelligence.  

 

When we deeply observe the problem of a family and we are wise, we can find that the root of the problem of a family is the dispute of their love and desire. This dispute of love and desire is full of the filth as mentioned above. It is full of greedy and dark thought in their mind. Therefore, it is meaningless to judge who is right and who is wrong. If we are wise, it is better for us to pull ourselves away this situation of turbidity. If you are a party to this kind of dispute, when you see the teachings of the Buddha, you should have wisdom on how to deal with it. In chapter 23, it is mentioned that the wife is more than a prison. The root of the problem is the love and desire which come from the husband and wife. This problem makes the family become an invisible jail to bind the mind of husband and wife.

 

The love and desire as said above is not only about affairs of the erotic and family, but also about the dispute and the affairs in politics, enterprises, and organizations. It is also about the relationship of friends. When we insight the problem caused by love and desire, we would have the better thinking and judgment to face any problem, and then to deal with it.   

 

No matter we are Sramana or not, the Buddha’s teaching gives us a good teaching and inspires ourselves wisdom. This is the invisible fortune which cannot be measured. There is the doing and there is the no-doing. To abandon the love and desire as mentioned is the doing and no-doing. Not to have the mean and scheming minds is also the doing and no-doing. How to do and how not to do, there is a choice in our mind, if we are wise. 

Supplementary note: Dao is transliterated from Chinese, meaning way and method, deeper meaning as a system of learning or religion. Dao is Tao, which is transliterated from Chinese. The original meaning of Dao is the way and path, and it is extended to be the truth of life that we can learn and practice in our lives.