Subscriber Access Required
This teaching is reserved for active UnbornMind.com subscribers.
To continue reading, please subscribe using the link below:
Already a subscriber?
Log in here.
If you have completed your PayPal subscription but were not automatically redirected,
please create your account here:
“There, in a wild marsh, seated under a Banyan tree with his legs crossed, he enters the Heroic Progress meditation and all the pores of his skin emit rays of golden light as a result of the strength of his samadhi.”
This great Bodhisattva knew the value of spiritual practice in a swamp, which is itself a heroic proposition. I also bet that Manjusri, unlike many of Buddha’s disciples today, never became so bewildered as to confuse a Bodhi Tree with a Banyan Tree. A good thing too because they are completely different!
It’s what the translation said, smarty. So nice to see that your ever-erudite eye has gleamed the difference.
I don’t have the source text handy but my guess is this is indeed a Banyan, a very sacred tree with unusual roots that likes water. Sometimes they get hollowed out, making a shelter for other beings, and they can grow all together from one vast interconnected network of roots( like Indra’s hairnet), which are very great beings. It is truly wonderful. Since Manjusri is sitting in a wetland area, it is likely a Banyan. Note that Buddha himself is recorded as telling a disciple he lived as a tree spirit in a previous lifetime. Trees are indeed exactly like a friend.
(Which of course is no excuse for so many Buddhists going around thinking a Banyan is the same thing as a Bodhi Tree.)