Monthly Archives: February 2012

A Phantasmagoric Voyage

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Vajragoni

3. The Disciples’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakirti, cont’d

The Buddha then said to the venerable Mahakatyayana, “Katyayana, go to the Licchavi Vimalakirti to inquire about his illness.” Katyayana replied, “Lord, I am indeed reluctant to go that good man to inquire about his illness. Why? Lord, I remember one day when, after the Lord had given some brief instruction to the monks, I was defining the expressions of that discourse by teaching the meaning of impermanence, suffering, selflessness, and peace; the Licchavi Vimalakirti came there and said to me, ‘Reverend Mahakatyayana, do not teach an ultimate reality endowed with activity, production, and destruction! Reverend Mahakatyayana, nothing was ever destroyed, is destroyed, or will ever be destroyed. Such is the meaning of “impermanence.” The meaning of the realization of birthlessness, through the realization of the voidness of the five aggregates, is the meaning of “suffering.” The fact of the nonduality of self and selflessness is the meaning of “selflessness.” That which has no intrinsic substance and no other sort of substance does not burn, and what does not burn is not extinguished; such lack of extinction is the meaning of “peace.”‘ “When he had discoursed thus, the minds of the monks were liberated from their defilements and entered a state of nongrasping. Therefore, Lord, I am reluctant to go to that good man to inquire about his illness.”
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BON APPÉTIT

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Vajragoni

3. The Disciples’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakirti, cont’d

Then, the Buddha said to the venerable Subhuti, “Subhuti, go to the Licchavi Vimalakirti to inquire about his illness.” Subhuti replied, “Lord, I am indeed reluctant to go to this good man to inquire about his illness. Why? My Lord, I remember one day, when I went to beg my food at the house of the Licchavi Vimalakirti in the great city of Vaisali, he took my bowl and filled it with some excellent food and said to me, ‘Reverend Subhuti, take this food if you understand the equality of all things, by means of the equality of material objects, and if you understand the equality of all the attributes of the Buddha, by means of the equality of all things. Take this food if, without abandoning desire, hatred, and folly, you can avoid association with them; if you can follow the path of the single way without ever disturbing the egoistic views; if you can produce the knowledges and liberations without conquering ignorance and the craving for existence; if, by the equality of the five deadly sins, you reach the equality of liberation; if you are neither liberated nor bound; if you do not see the Four Holy Truths, yet are not the one who “has not seen the truth”; if you have not attained any fruit, yet are not the one who “has not attained”; if you are an ordinary person, yet have not the qualities of an ordinary person; if you are not holy, yet are not unholy; if you are responsible for all things, yet are free of any notion concerning anything. “‘Take this food, reverend Subhuti, if, without seeing the Buddha, hearing the Dharma, or serving the Sangha, you undertake the religious life under the six heterodox masters; namely, Purana Kasyapa, Maskarin Gosaliputra, Samjayin Vairatiputra, Kakuda Katyayana, Ajita Kesakambala, and Nirgrantha Jnaniputra, and follow the ways they prescribe.
“‘Take this food, reverend Subhuti, if, entertaining all false views, you find neither extremes nor middle; if, bound up in the eight adversities, you do not obtain favorable conditions; if, assimilating the passions, you do not attain purification; if the dispassion of all living beings is your dispassion, reverend; if those who make offerings to you are not thereby purified; if those who offer you food, reverend, still fall into the three bad migrations; if you associate with all Maras; if you entertain all passions; if the nature of passions is the nature of a reverend; if you have hostile feelings toward all living beings; if you despise all the Buddhas; if you criticize all the teachings of the Buddha; if you do not rely on the Sangha; and finally, if you never enter ultimate liberation.’ read more

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Three Blind Mice

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Vajragoni

3. The Disciples’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakirti

One perhaps asks the question, why do such noble personages—like Sariputra, Subhuti, and later the Bodhisattvas themselves—have such a reluctance to go and visit the ailing Vimalakirti? They are not, says Thurman, “pretending” but rather through their previous encounters with Vimalakirti, are indeed unwilling to make a return visit. My sense is that their lack of enthusiasm in this enterprise is, in effect, a literary device to quicken Vimalakirti’s resolve to heighten the adept’s determination to break-free from all dichotomies. One needs to have a steady resolve in avoiding all extremes—the dualistic quagmire of falling into all frames of attachment, from sense-gratification, to self-mortification and even Absolute categories of existence and non-existence. Vimalakirti is emphatic that these extremes are not just meant to be avoided…but unequivocally transmuted, through Buddha-gnosis into Bhutatathata—Deathless Suchness. read more

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Leviathan from the Deep

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Vajragoni

Just a little commercial break from the Sutra—this rare, 27-pound oddity (lobster) was recently discovered off the coast of Maine. Could it be that this giant crustacean is a throw-back from some dark and foreboding primordial sea—the great grand-daddy of them all? Or perhaps a monster freak as portrayed in the ol’ 1950s Sci-fi thrillers…a hideous genetic manipulation due to the effects of the Atomic Age? Then again, maybe its genetic structure has been altered due to all the polluted waste material that is periodically dumped into our oceans. Along the same angle as those sci-fi flicks, imagine this critter somehow being manifested from the darkest corner of the Alaya. Whatever its origin, don’t fret—this lobster-delight will not find its way into the boiling-pot to satisfy someone’s palate anytime soon; I’m sure it will be scrutinized and studied in the foreseeable future. read more

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A Man for all Seasons

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Vajragoni

2. Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Technique

Thurman masterfully translates upaya (expedient tool) as a liberative method skillfully employed by Vimalakirti, who cleverly deploys many and diverse expedient means for the liberation of sentient beings. read more

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Field of Dreams

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Vajragoni

This vast throng of spectators is in total awe of the Buddha, sitting majestically upon his royal Lion throne. As they circumambulate-round him clockwise seven times, they lay down at his feet a spectacular parasol (a canopy): read more

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Now Voyager

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Vajragoni

Purification of the Buddha-field, cont’d

Their mindfulness, intelligence, realization, meditation, incantation, and eloquence all were perfected. They were free from all obscurations and emotional involvement, living in liberation without impediment. They were totally dedicated through the transcendences of generosity, subdued, unwavering, and sincere morality, tolerance, effort, meditation, wisdom, skill in liberative technique, commitment power, and gnosis. They had attained the intuitive tolerance of the ultimate incomprehensibility of all things. They turned the irreversible wheel of the Dharma. They were stamped with the insignia of signlessness. read more

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Other voices…Other rooms

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Vajragoni

I have chosen Robert Thurman’s translation of the Vimalakirti Sutra for our 40-day Dharma study. Charles Luk’s version is fine, but Thurman’s version seems to resonate more for me. Also, Luk’s subtitle of his published translation of the sutra is “Ordinary Enlightenment”. As we shall see, there is nothing Ordinary or Extraordinary when it comes to Vimalakirti (Vimalakirti supersedes all known categorical imperatives). read more

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Mara

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Vajragoni

On Wednesday for many quarters the solemn season of Lent begins. The whole premise is based on the encounter that the Bodhisattva Jesus had with Satan (Mara) in the desert of karmadhautu for 40 days. For many, they just outwardly “deny” themselves something for this time period before Easter rolls-around—but it’s all really just superficial—no true inner Metanoia occurs. Yet, that encounter in the desert is another metaphor for something that constitutes the inner warfare that occurs daily between the force of Good and Evil—that bifurcation that denies the Self its rightful Recollection in the realm of dharmadhatu. That’s the choice really…either to continue bowing allegiance to the collective forces that keep one imprisoned within the samsara of their own mind—or to truly make that inner-turn-about (Metanoia) and awaken to the Noble discovery of Self-Realization that Alone can break the endless karmic cycle of the no-self regenesis. read more

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The Root of the Matter

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Vajragoni

Yesterday’s blog made reference to The Awakening of Faith Shastra and its revelation that all apparent interdependency is really a reflective reality and manifestation of the One Mind—Dharmadhatu. The hologram was also utilized as a metaphor of how the many becomes One and the One becomes many. This is a reflection of the Dharmakaya, whose Suchness “illuminates the entire Universe.” The following is a salient portion from the Shastra—it really pinpoints the root foundation from which many of the key terminologies utilized throughout this blog are derived; for instance, the numerous references to the Unmoving and Moving Principles are no arbitrary formulations—as you will see they are essentially procured from this seminal and foundational work within Mahayana thought. It’s interesting, no one really knows just who the original author of this work is…the main speculation is that it is most likely Paramartha—the ancient Indian translator and sage—although for those with little sand in their eyes it is without question, from the quill of a most advanced Black Dragon (one instilled with incomparable wisdom). read more

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