Tag Archives: Tathagata

The Inconceivable Master

“World-Honored One, the cycle of birth and death [samsara] is based on the Tathagata-embryo. Because of the Tathagata-embryo, the beginning [of samsara] cannot be known. World-Honored One, if one says that because there is the Tathagata-embryo there is samsara, he speaks well.  read more

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To Tell the Truth

For Baby-Boomers the old TV Game-Show, To Tell the Truth, has some fond memories, in particular during its Black & White heydays from the mid-50’s into the mid-60’s. Its inception runs as follows: read more

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The Pure Lands

Bassui had the distinction of empowering others to see beyond their literal notions of the Buddha Pure Lands. However he would not make the attempt if the inquirers were exclusively attached to the phenomenal world and incapable of seeing beyond it. For those who were in earnest, i.e., who could see beyond phenomenal categories with the clear-light of zen, he would engage them with that clear-understanding. The following are extracted portions from his Pure-Land Dialogs. read more

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The Pure Zen of the Tathagatas

A layman asked: “Though Zen is said to be transmitted outside the scriptures and not through words, there are many more incidents of monks questioning teachers and inquiring of the Way than in the teaching sects. How can Zen be said to be outside the scriptures? And can reading the records of the old masters and seeing how they dealt with koans ever be considered outside the realm of words? What is the true meaning of the statement, ‘Outside the scriptures, not through words’?”  read more

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The Hidden Jewel

“O Bhagavat! We have always thought we had attained complete nirvana. We now realize that we were ignorant. Why is this? We should have attained the wisdom of the Tathāgatas. Yet we were satisfied with little wisdom! read more

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The Prodigal Sons

The thing that strikes me most about the parable in Chapter 4, the “‘Buddhist’ Prodigal Son”, is that it is told to the Buddha (instead of vice-versa) by four of his most loyal disciples, Subhuti, Maha Katyayana, MahaMaudgalyayana and particularly by Mahākāśyapa. Two of them are well-known, Subhuti, who often plays a prominent role in sutras, in particular the Diamond Sutra, and of course, Mahākāśyapa, who was the first one to receive “Dharma-Mind transmission” from Gautama Buddha. Like devoted adepts on a long spiritual-journey, they were late in coming to realize their own share in “Buddha-nature”, yet their devotion to principles within the Buddhadharma led many to become enlightened. Hence, this parable is truly about them and other “devoted ones”, who at first without the added benefit of the Marvelous Bodhi-Pearl of Noble Wisdom, eventually progress through various spiritual-stages before setting their sights on the ultimate prize. read more

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(22) The Monastic Mind

When the mind reaches a spiritual need and maturity to contemplate its true nature, it is most wise to first try entrance into the monastery of Mind Only, which is Unborn. read more

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(12) The Tathagata

The undivided and real body of the Mind, the Tathagata is unborn.

This “unborn-ness”, is a non-tangible and indestructible essence with a highly dynamic and animative self-nature of sheer productiveness. read more

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(6) The Womb of Light

The desireful, skandha-poisoned “false” self, is doomed to fail and become reborn in different forms (depending on its karma) as long as it does not acknowledge the treasure that follows it wherever it goes. read more

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The Cardinal Dynamism of the Unborn

TWO: THE CARDINAL DYNAMISM OF THE UNBORN       

Vajradhara Buddha addressed Vajarpanī: 

“Noble Bodhisattva, attend well to this instruction! The Unborn Mind is the All-Creative Sovereign—the cardinal-dynamism of all created spheres and organisms.  read more

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