Whenever I used the image of seeds planted
into a good soil and growing into trees was just to explain the potential we
have of becoming Buddhas. However, I have never used it in order to say that
the Buddha nature we discover when we become Buddhas is something created by us
and not already present with all its enlightened qualities beyond the many
layers of illusions and blind passions. As I clearly specified in fascicle 2 of
Amida Dharma, the potential I refer to is to awaken to the Buddha nature that is
already present:
“Just like all
seeds have the natural potential to become trees, all sentient beings have the
natural potential to become Buddhas, that
is, to awaken to their own Buddha nature. Beyond the various layers of our
delusory personality, the Buddha nature is the true reality, uncreated and
indestructible, the treasure hidden in every one of us. When it's discovered,
the causes of suffering and repeated births and deaths are annihilated and the
one who attained it becomes himself a savior and guide of all beings that are
still caught in the slavery of samsara”.
So,
our Buddha nature is primordially pure and primordially enlightened, having all
the innate qualities I talked about in the last chapter. What we call attainment
of perfect Enlightenment, Buddhahood or Nirvana actually means the discovery of
this Buddha nature, like finding a shining jewel hidden in the mud. It does not
at all means that before Enlightenment the Buddha nature did not exist and came
into existence after, or it existed only as a seed, and now it exists as
something different. In fact, the Buddha nature is eternal and has always
existed no matter some discover it or not (attain or do not attain Buddhahood).
This is similar with lighting up a room where there are treasures which were
not seen before due to darkness. One cannot say that the treasures appeared
when the light was turn on, as they existed before too, just they were hidden
in the dark.
Shakyamuni
Buddha said in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra:
“It is not the
case that the inherent nature of Nirvana did not primordially exist but now
exists. Regardless of whether there are Buddhas or not, its
intrinsic nature and attributes are permanently present. Because beings are enveloped by the afflictions (kleshas), they do not
perceive it and they say that Nirvana does not exist.
Bodhisattva-mahasattvas, who train their minds with morality, insight and
meditative concentration, eradicate the afflictions and then come to perceive
it. Hence, they know that Nirvana
is permanently present by nature and is not something which did not exist
primordially but now does exist. Therefore, they deem it to be
permanent. For example, noble son, suppose there was a well containing the
seven kinds of treasures in a dark room. People might know that they are there
but are unable to see them, because of the darkness. Then a wise person,
skilled in means, came bearing a large, bright lamp and illumined things so
that everybody could see them. This person did not think to himself that
originally there was no water or the seven kinds of treasure there but now
there is. Nirvana too is like
that: it is primordially existent and does not just come into existence in
the present. Because of the
obscuring darkness of the afflictions, beings do not see it. The Tathagata,
endowed with all-knowing awareness (sarvajna-jnana) lights the lamp of insight
with His skill in means (upaya-kausalya) and causes bodhisattvas to perceive
the permanence, the bliss, the Self, and the purity of Nirvana. Therefore, the wise will not say that this
Nirvana did not exist primordially but now exists. […]
“For example,
noble son, suppose there is water endowed with the eight tastes below the
ground but nobody is able to reach it. Then some wise person sets to work and
digs down until he reaches it. Nirvana is like that. Or else, suppose there is a blind man who cannot see
the sun or moon. A skilled doctor might cure him so that he becomes able to see
them, though it is not the case that the sun and moon did not originally
exist but now do. Nirvana is like that – it has existed primordially and not
just come into being in the present.”
So,
Nirvana, Dharmakaya, Buddhahood, etc, and Buddha nature are the same thing. They
all refer to the discovery of the inherent Buddha nature, dwelling in it and
never being blind to it again.
In
the Queen Srimala Sutra it is said:
“The ‘extinction
of suffering’ is known as the Dharmakaya of the World Honored One, which
is beginningless, uncreated, unborn, undying, free from destruction, permanent
unchanging, eternal, inherently pure, and separate from all the stores of
defilement. The Dharmakaya is also not
different from the inconceivable Buddha nature. The Dharmakaya of the World Honored One is
called the Buddha nature when it is obscured by the stores of defilement. […]“[2]
When
one is not yet Enlightened we just say he has Buddha nature but he does not see
it – “it is obscured by the stores of
defilement”. When one attains Enlightenment we refer to His Buddha nature
as Dharmakaya body of ultimate reality. So, actually Dharmakaya is the discovered Buddha nature that has always been
there. The same we can say about Nirvana or Emancipation (Enlightenment).
Shinran Shonin himself quoted Mahaparinirvana
Sutra on this topic, in his Kyogyoshinsho:
“Emancipation is
called the supreme that is unexcelled… The supreme that is unexcelled is none
other than true Emancipation; true Emancipation is none other than Tathagata…
If one has attained highest perfect Enlightenment, one is free of desire and
free of doubt. To be free of desire and free of doubt is true Emancipation,
true emancipation is Tathagata… Tathagata is Nirvana, Nirvana is the inexhaustible, the inexhaustible is Buddha-nature,
Buddha-nature is unchanging, the unchanging is highest perfect Enlightenment.”[3]
“The Dharma-body (Dharmakaya) is eternity, bliss, Self,
and purity. It is forever free of
all birth, aging, sickness, and death, of not-white and not-black, not-long and
not-short, not-this and not-that, not learning and not non-learning; hence, whether the Buddha appears in the world or
does not appear in the world, He is constantly unmoving and without change (His
Buddha nature never changes) “[4]
To
be “forever
free” from birth, aging, sickness, death, etc, means to be eternal,
that is, without beginning or end. Also, whether somebody becomes a Buddha or
not (awakens or not to his Buddha nature) that Buddha nature never changes. By
quoting these passages and many others it is clear that Shinran Shonin was very
much aware of the doctrine of Tathagatagarbha and innate Enlightenment.
More
than this, he also wanted to express the idea that Buddha nature itself, which
is the non-ceasing and non-perishing element of all beings, is the very thing
that makes possible the attainment of Enlightenment:
“All sentient
beings are non-ceasing and non-perishing, and thus attain highest perfect Enlightenment.”[5]
The
non-ceasing and non-perishing aspect of sentient beings is their Buddha nature and
exactly because they have Buddha nature,
they are able to attain perfect Enlightenment, that is, to reach a point
when they can see the Buddha nature, as perfect Enlightenment is nothing else
than turning the light on and see the treasure in the room that has always been
there.
This
teaching that because of Buddha nature we can aspire to and become Buddhas
(beings who dwell in their Buddha nature) is very important. Everybody want to
be happy and all beings search for a meaning in their lives. Thus, they
intuitively know there is something stable that can be found beyond the
everyday ups and downs, sorrows and difficulties. That something they always
search and long for is actually the unconscious intuition of their Buddha
nature but unfortunately, they do not know where to search and so they are
looking for fulfillment in the wrong places.
Unlike
false teachers and worldly ideologies, the Buddhas appear in the world to turn
our minds in the right direction and offer us the right tools to dig into our
layers of illusions and blind passions to discover our Buddha nature. The right
tools are the various Dharma Gates and practices associated with them, so if we
do not practice the Dharma we cannot find the Buddha nature, no matter it
already exists with all its innate qualities.
I
heard a lot of people nowadays wrongly assuming that because they have Buddha
nature they are already Enlightened without the need to do anything. However,
we are warned against such an attitude in many sutras and instructions of
various Masters:
“Or a person might say: ‘I have already
attained unsurpassed Enlightenment! Why? Because
I have the
Buddha nature. Any person possessing the Buddha nature has assuredly attained
unsurpassed Enlightenment. Consequently, I attain Enlightenment.’ Then, one
should know, such a person infringes the parajika (does a great sin/offence).
Why so? There surely is the Buddha
nature. But not yet having practiced the best expedient of the Way, the person
has not yet seen it. Having not yet seen it, there can be no attaining of
unsurpassed Enlightenment.”[6]
Tulku
Urgyen Rinpoche also said on this matter:
“Our basic nature is in no way different from that of a Buddha. It’s like pure space, which, whether it is obscured by clouds or is a cloudless and clear sky, remains the same in its basic, essential nature. But if you pretend that your nature is already enlightened and don’t progress along the path of removing the obscurations, then your enlightened nature doesn’t become realized. […][7]
If our nature
wasn’t already enlightened, we couldn’t awaken to it no matter how hard we
tried. Buddha nature cannot be fabricated. Our nature is primordially
enlightened, but at present our ordinary body, speech and discursive thinking
obscures it. The nature of our mind, Buddha
nature, is like space itself, but it is space obscured by clouds. The whole point of Dharma practice is to
remove the clouds and allow the actualization of what already is – the awakened
state of mind, the Buddha nature.”[8]
All
the genuine Dharma Gates of Buddhist teaching talk about three main aspects:
1)
The
Basis, 2) The Path and 3) the Fruit
The Basis is the hidden
Buddha nature which is already perfectly Enlightened and filled with
innumerable qualities. This Buddha nature resides in all beings but it is not
yet manifesting due to being covered by many layers of illusions and blind
passions.
The Path is composed of
the various practices taught in many sutras and Dharma Gates with the intention
of removing the illusions and blind passions that obscure our already present Buddha
nature.
The Fruit is the Buddha nature
that has had the illusions and blind passions that obscured it removed, thus allowing
it to be seen and manifest itself. This fruit is called perfect Enlightenment, Buddhahood,
Nirvana, Dharmakaya, etc
In
the case of Pure Land Dharma Gate or Jodo Shinshu (Amida Dharma), the Path is to
say the Nembutsu of Faith in Amida Buddha, aspiring to be born in His Pure Land
after death where in such a perfectly enlightened environment our illusions and
blind passions will naturally melt like ice meeting fire, thus revealing our innate
Buddha nature. We will talk about this in one of the next chapters.
to be continued
[2] Queen Srimala Sutra, Chapter 8: The
Dharmakaya, https://whatdobuddhistsbelieve.wordpress.com/teachings/queen-srimala-sutra
[3] Mahaparinirvana Sutra as quoted by Shinran Shonin in his Kyogyoshinsho, chapter V, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin
Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.181
[4] Mahaparinirvana Sutra as quoted by Shinran Shonin in his Kyogyoshinsho, chapter V, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin
Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.188.
[5] Mahaparinirvana Sutra as quoted by Shinran Shonin in his Kyogyoshinsho, chapter V, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin
Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.189
[6] Mahaparinirvana Sutra, translated by Kosho Yamamoto from
Dharmakshema’s Chinese version, edition printed by Dr Tony Page, 2004,verse
397, p.65
[7] From the book As it is,
translated by Erik Pema Kunsang, https://quotes.justdharma.com/pretending-enlightenment-tulku-urgyen-rinpoche/
[8] From the book As it is,
translated by Erik Pema Kunsang https://quotes.justdharma.com/buddha-nature-cannot-be-fabricated-tulku-urgyen-rinpoche/
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