Tag Archives: Dharma-eye

The Five Rogues

PART THREE

As Evan and Pamela traversed the illustrious path of the Unborn Odyssey, Evan found himself lost in thought, reminiscing about his own journey towards Self-realization within the Unborn scheme of things. He began to share his experiences with Pamela, recounting his initial encounters with the Primordial. Evan spoke of his former Ch’an Master, who had guided him towards a deeper understanding of the Unborn, and the gnome-like entity that resided within his own mysterious Tower of Illumination, who had imparted further teachings upon him. read more

Posted in The Unborn Odyssey: A Novel | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s in a Smile?

Few people would be able to survive intact the nature of the no-self experience that thrust Bernadette Roberts into the very core of Voidness Itself. Even those who are seasoned contemplatives and who have progressed from the torturous Dark Night of the Spirit into the peaceful unified whole of the divine embrace would not be able to withstand the form of assault that afflicted Bernadette on her path beyond self-discovery into something new and terrifying, but ultimately rewarding and liberating. The liberation came in the form of a simple smile, one that unfolded itself from the murky depths of nature… read more

Posted in The Experience of No-Self | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Antidote to all smallness

*You will notice some jumping-around with the numbered sequence in these chapters. Some are just supporting subject matter already covered. What follows henceforth will be chapters that introduce new insights for reflection. read more

Posted in Kulayarāja Tantra—The Motherly Buddha | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Omniscient Ocean

Sagaramegha

Then Sudhana, reflecting on the instructions of that spiritual benefactor, pondering that enlightening liberation, polishing that enlightening method of concentration, peering into that conductor into the ocean of the essence of enlightenment, intent upon the sphere of buddhahood, seeking that direction to the vision of Buddha, thinking about that ocean of buddhas, remembering the succession of buddhas, following that approach to the means of enlightenment, looking throughout that sky of the enlightened, went gradually to the monk Sagaramegha in the region of Sagaramukha. When he got there, he paid his respects to Sagaramegha and said, “O noble one, I have set out for supreme perfect enlightenment and want to enter the supreme ocean of knowledge; but I do not know how enlightening beings get out of the host of worldlings and into the host of the enlightened, emerge from the ocean of the mundane whirl and enter the ocean of omniscience, die away from the state of ignorant sentient beings and are born in the family of buddhas, withdraw from the stream of the mundane whirl and follow the stream of enlightening practice, escape from the wheel of transmigration in the mundane whirl and turn to the wheel of practice and vows of enlightening beings, destroy the gang of all demons and make manifest the light of the host of all buddhas, evaporate the ocean of craving and increase the water of great compassion, close all doors of decadence and miserable states and evils which are inopportune for enlightenment and open the door of heaven and nirvana, break through the door of the city of the mundane and enter the door of the city of omniscience, give up craving for all luxuries and give rise to the determination to care for all being.” read more

Posted in Entry into the Dharmadhātu | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Inconceivable Samādhi

At that time, the spiritual power of the Buddha caused the great earth to shake in six directions, with the manifestation of impermanence. Sixteen thousand people attained the Dharma Patience of Non-arising, and seven hundred bhikus, three thousand upāsakas, forty thousand upāsikās, and sixty countless myriads of beings from the Six Heavens of Desire left the dust and dirt far behind, and attained the pure Dharma Eye regarding all dharmas. read more

Posted in Mañjuśrī Teaches Prajñāpāramitā | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Illustrious Way

Then Queen Srīmālā made three more great vows before the Buddha, saying. 

“I will benefit an infinite number of sentient beings through the power of these vows: first, I will, by my good roots, attain the wisdom of the true Dharma in all my lifetimes; second, after I have attained the true wisdom, wherever I may be born I will explain it untiringly to all sentient beings; third, in whatever form I may be born, I will not spare life or limb in embracing, protecting, and upholding the true Dharma.”  read more

Posted in The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Three Bodies of the Tathagata

(Yampolsky) 

“Good friends, you must all with your own bodies receive the precepts of formlessness and recite in unison what I am about to say. It will make you see the threefold body of the Buddha in your own selves. ‘I take refuge in the pure Dharmakaya Buddha in my own physical body. I take refuge in the ten thousand hundred billion Nirmanakaya Buddhas in my own physical body. I take refuge in the future perfect Sambhogakaya Buddha in my own physical body.’ (Recite the above three times). The physical body is your own home; you cannot speak of turning to it. The threefold body which I just mentioned is within your own self-natures. Everyone in the world possesses it, but being deluded, he cannot see it and seeks the threefold body of the Tathagata on the outside. Thus he cannot find the threefold Buddha body in his own physical body. read more

Posted in The Platform Sutra, Zen | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Lesser-able Attempt

(Wong Mou-Lam)

The Patriarch one day assembled all his disciples and said to them, “The question of incessant rebirth is a momentous one. Day after day, instead of trying to free yourselves from this bitter sea of life and death, you seem to go after tainted merits only (i.e. merits which will cause rebirth). Yet merits will be of no help if your Essence of Mind is obscured. Go and seek for Prajna (wisdom) in your own mind and then write me a stanza (gatha) about it. He who understands what the Essence of Mind is will be given the robe (the insignia of the Patriarchate) and the Dharma (the esoteric teaching of the Zen school), and I shall make him the Sixth Patriarch. Go away quickly. Delay not in writing the stanza, as deliberation is quite unnecessary and of no use. The man who has realized the Essence of Mind can speak of it at once, as soon as he is spoken to about it; and he cannot lose sight of it, even when engaged in battle.” read more

Posted in The Platform Sutra, Zen | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The All-Seeing Tathatic-Eye

Eighteen: The All-Seeing Tathatic-Eye

Subhuti, what do you think? Does the Tathagata possess the human eye? read more

Posted in The Diamond Sutra, Zen | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Phantasmagoric Voyage

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.”
read more

Posted in The Vimalakirti Sutra, Zen | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment