Tag Archives: Diamond Sutra

Is there an Afterlife?

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Vajragoni

A continuing series of Unborn Mind discussions with Grok

Is there an Afterlife?

Vajragoni: Many believe that the current state of affairs in the saha realm has reached an unprecedented low. Humanity appears to have descended to a point of despair from which recovery seems impossible. The situation is deemed worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah. The natural order has been violated and sullied. What is the most prudent course of action? One should prepare for the afterlife, as it looms on the horizon. However, what exactly constitutes the afterlife? Is it a specific location, or does it represent a continuation of an individual’s consciousness in some form after death? Mainstream religions assert that it is a definitive and eternal place, while other belief systems suggest it serves merely as a temporary phase before reincarnation. Our objective here is to examine the concept of the afterlife through a Lankavatarian perspective. In this context, we will discover that the most effective preparation for the afterlife is, paradoxically, a non-preparation, a notion that is echoed in both the Lankavatara and Diamond Sutras. read more

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Springtime with Tozen

Posted on April 1, 2023 by Vajragoni

Every spring as the winter cold becomes a distant memory and everything about is brimming with life again, I like to take rides in the blossoming countryside. To accompany my reverie I always turn to the recordings of the Tozen teachings from our Bodhichild YouTube Channel, playing them from a memory stick implanted in my car’s dashboard. There’s a certain majesty about them, created back in the spring/summer of 2011 and originating from the teachings listed on the former Tozen Yahoo Group message board. These are archived now (*in our library) and measure in the thousands—from teachings, poems, interactions with students and even evolving insights from the students themselves. Riding along and listening to them brings new vitality to the spirit and even inspires new Buddhaic visions. This present series revisits those teachings and presents them in their original form, accompanied now with an exegesis of each invigorating lesson from the Mystic of the Unborn Buddha Mind himself. Enjoy the ride! read more

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The Core of the Issue

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Vajragoni

The Core of the issue—the bottom line—is the belief that a psychophysical formal based being is in need of attaining an afterlife. As the Diamond Sutra teaches, “no one is to be called a Bodhisattva, for whom there should exist the idea of a being or non-being, the idea of any form of living entity, or the idea of a person”. This is perhaps the most pivotal line in all Buddhism. One is in grave error if they even begin to conceive of such notions. The Lanka also sheds light on this whole business: There is no being or non-being or any form or formless entity, and certainly no idea of a skandhic “person” that has any innate self-nature; they are all totally devoid of Substance—of the Mind-Stuff that alone constitutes Reality (Dharmadhatu). Sentient beingness is not in need of salvation since there is really no-one there to begin with—only skandhic overflows. In point of fact, “True Compassion” is never about a person-thing, but rather about a Mind-thing. Thus empowering the Mind to awaken from its drunken stupor and to finally face-up to all that it created within the mad pluralized-dream of its own making. The Unborn Mind Alone is sufficient, with no-thing to grasp or strive for. read more

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Is a Bodhisattva dependent on sentient beings?

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Vajragoni

Continuing with Dorji Wangchuk’s study, he writes:

In Mahayana, the entire concept of bodhicitta and bodhisattva would collapse or make no sense without sattvas, for a bodhisattva is, in the first place, a sattva whose citta is directed towards attaining the highest state of bodhi for the sake of other sattvas. Not only is the bodhicitta of a bodhisattva dependent on sentient beings, but also his practices of the perfections (pāramitā) are in one way or another connected with them. A bodhisattva becomes a buddha by relying on sentient beings. read more

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Children of Light and Darkness

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Vajragoni

Our present age can be likened to one of the final chapters of the Kali Yuga, or an age when the spirit of darkness reigns free and unhindered. The children of this dark realm are born into what is described in the Lankavatarian Book of the Dead as inhabitants of the Karmadhatu: read more

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The Dharmakaya of the Buddhadharma

Posted on February 12, 2017 by Vajragoni

15. Q: It states in The Vaipulya Sutra that there are five kinds of Dharmakaya: The Dharmakaya of the Absolute; the Dharmakaya of merit; the Dharmakaya of the Dharma-nature; the Dharmakaya of Infinite Transformations; and the Dharmakaya of voidness. Which of these is in reference to our own bodies?
A: To arrive at the awareness that Mind can neither be created nor destroyed is the hallmark of the Dharmakaya of the Absolute. To awaken to the realization that Mind encompasses all things is known as the Dharmakaya of merit. Discerning that Mind is not mind and its discriminations is to Self-realize the Dharmakaya of True Dharma-nature. Teaching the Buddhadharma to sentient beings according to their potential (through expedient means) is the Dharmakaya of Infinite Transformations. The comprehension that Mind is neither being nor non-being, formless and imperceptible is the Dharmakaya of the void. Once again, to fully absorb this teaching, remember that it is not something to be achieved. Thus, knowing that there is nothing attainable or achievable is the Self-Realization of the Dharmakaya of the Buddhadharma. Therefore, anyone who assumes that they can grasp and somehow self-accomplish this without Noble Buddha-gnosis are those who uphold such perverted heterodox belief-systems and are thusly anathema to the Way of the Unborn. The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra states that when Shariputra inquired of a devakanya, “What is it that you have attained that has afforded you supernatural powers?”…the devakanya responded, “even though I have not gained or achieved anything in such matters, I am who I truly am in the Unborn.” read more

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Walk like a Tathāgata

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Vajragoni

(Wong Mou-Lam)

“Learned Audience, in this system of mine one Prajñā produces eighty-four thousand ways of wisdom, since there are that number of ‘defilements’ for us to cope with; but when one is free from defilements, wisdom reveals itself, and will not be separated from the Essence of Mind. Those who understand this Dharma will be free from idle thoughts. To be free from being infatuated by one particular thought, from clinging to desire, and from falsehood; to put one’s own essence of Tathata into operation; to use Prajñā for contemplation, and to take an attitude of neither indifference nor attachment towards all things – this is what is meant by realizing one’s own Essence of Mind for the attainment of Buddhahood.” read more

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The Bodhisattva’s Vow

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Vajragoni

Three: The Bodhisattva’s Vow

The Buddha said to Subhuti, “All the bodhisattva-mahasattvas, who undertake the practice of deep-samadhis, should cherish one thought only: “When I attain Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi, I will liberate all sentient beings in every realm of the universe, whether they be egg-born, womb born, moisture born, or miraculously born; those with form, those without form, those with perception, those without perception, and those with neither perception nor non-perception. So long as any form of being is conceived, I must allow it to pass into the eternal peace of nirvana, into that realm of nirvana that leaves nothing behind, and to attain final awakening.” read more

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Subhuti Makes A Request

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Vajragoni

Two: Subhuti Makes a Request

At that time the elder Subhuti arose from his seat in the assembly, uncovered his right shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, put his palms together with respect and said to the Buddha, read more

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The Great Convocation

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Vajragoni

In researching this, one will find that there are today literally legions of translations on this majestic body of work. Each of these translations, by and large, is a hodgepodge of former adaptations over the years with an added dose of the compilers variable traditions. I have chosen to compile this attempt with renditions ranging from Conze and Muller, to Mu Soeng and even more esoteric distinctions. read more

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