Or some of the writings of Sun Lotus (13th century)
this may be interesting to you some early writings of Sun Lotus
(Nichiren)
Thesis on Becoming a Buddha in a Single Lifetime
Isshô jôbutsu shô
Goshô Shimpen, p.45-47
The seventh year of Kenchô (1255) at 34 years of age
If those who are detained, in the beginningless chain of living and
dying, should this time firmly decide to substantiate their supreme
enlightenment, then they ought to contemplate the inherently infinite
existence of the intrinsic Utterness in the lives of sentient beings.
The intrinsic Utterness in the lives of sentient beings is Myôhô renge
kyô, the Sutra on the Lotus Flower of the Utterness of the Dharma.
Therefore reverently reciting Myôhô renge kyô is to contemplate the
inherently infinite existence of the intrinsic Utterness in the lives
of sentient beings.
Because this textual line of the Dharma Flower Sutra is entirely
correct it is the king of sutras, whose words and ideograms are not
separate from the real aspect, and the real aspect is not separate
from the Utterness of the Dharma.
However, what this comes down to is that to expound and reveal the
meaning of the dharma realm, as the oneness of mind, is to say that it
is the Utterness of the Dharma, therefore this sutra is said to be the
wisdom and discernment of All the Buddhas.
The significance of the ten realms of dharmas and their three thousand
existential spaces of the dharma realm is the oneness of mind, its
subjectivity, its dependent environments, its materiality and mind,
its insentient plants and trees; without ignoring its empty space, the
flash of time in the terrain of where the one instant occurs or even
one particle of its dust, all of these are stored away in a single
instant of mental activity.
What this one instant of mind means, is that it is the whole content
of the dharma realm. This is referred to as, all of the dharmas.
To be knowingly aware of this principle is to have to admit that the
dharma realm is the oneness of mind. However, even though you may hold
to reciting Nam myôhô renge kyô , if you think that the dharma is
somewhere outside your mind, then it is in no way the Utterness of the
Dharma but some inferior teaching.
Such inferior teachings are not the present sutra; if it were not for
this sutra then it would be an expedient means, or something from the
provisional gateway, and it could not be the direct path for becoming
a Buddha. By not being the direct path then it will be an attempt to
become a Buddha through practicing for numerous lifetimes, over
countless kalpas, and it would be impossible to become a Buddha in a
single lifetime.
You must give rise to a deep mind of faith to understand that when we
recite and read Myôhô renge kyô, which is the Sutra on the Lotus
Flower of the Utterness of the Dharma, it refers to the one instant of
thought containing three thousand existential spaces that make up our
lives. They too are Myôhô renge kyô, the Sutra on the Lotus Flower of
the Utterness of the Dharma.
You must under no circumstance ever imagine that the repository of the
eighty-four thousand dharmas of a lifetime of holy teaching as well as
all the Buddhas of the past, present and future of the ten directions,
exist anywhere else other than in your own mind.
Although you may well have studied the Buddha teaching, if you do not
contemplate the nature of your own mind you will never get entirely
away from the cycles of living and dying. If you do search for a path
outside of your own mind and then do ten thousand austerities and ten
thousand good deeds, they will all be as useless as a poor man who
counts his neighbour's wealth day and night without gleaning from it a
share as small as half a brass coin.
However among the explanations, with regard to this in the writings of
Tendai, (Chi-I) we have, ‘If you do not contemplate your own mind you
will never eradicate the layers of karmic entanglements in your life.'
Through not contemplating our own minds we condemn ourselves to a
lifetime of countless bitter austerities.
Because even though the people who behave in such a way have studied
the Buddha dharma, they bring shame upon it by becoming just like
those of other sects. With regard to this, there is a comment in the
Universal Desistance from Troublesome Worries in order to See Clearly,
that says, ‘Although they study the Buddha teaching, their views
become the same as those of the heretics.'
In the meantime you must build a mind of faith by reciting the name of
the original Buddha, reading the Sutra, spreading flowers and offering
pinches of powdered sandal wood over burning incense, all of which in
the oneness of our minds becomes the meritorious virtues of good
roots. In the Sutra concerning Yuimakitsu, it makes it very clear that
should one look for the freedom and release of all the Buddhas, from
the sufferings of living and dying, then it is to be found embedded in
the minds and practices of sentient beings, because a sentient being
is not separate from the enlightenment of which he is capable of
attaining, as those who suffer in the cycles of living and dying are
not separate from Nirvana of which they are capable of reaching.
Again if sentient beings befoul their minds their dependent terrain
is also befouled, likewise if they purify their minds then also their
dependent terrains become purified, nonetheless at the same time the
terrain that is befouled or the one that is purified are not two
places. They are seen as such due to the good and evil in our minds.
So it is the same with whom we refer to as sentient beings and those
whom we refer to as Buddhas, when a person is bewildered he is talked
of as being a sentient being but on his enlightenment he is then
called a Buddha.
For instance, a tarnished metal mirror when polished up will shine
like a jewel. If when the mind is bewildered, just for one instant by
its fundamental unenlightenment, it immediately becomes like a mirror
that has been neglected, but once it is polished it will attain the
brilliance of the true suchness of the dharma nature. You must give
rise to a deep mind of faith in order to polish this mirror mornings
and evenings. How should you polish it then? Just by reverently
reciting Nam myôhô renge kyô, which is what this polishing is called.
Now then, what does Utterness [myô] really mean? Utterness is the part
of our one instant of thought that can neither be thought out nor be
expressed [since it is utterly all embracing]. It is what the mind
cannot ponder over nor put into words. However as soon as you
diligently look for it in your mind, you find that it has neither a
colour nor a shape to show that it exists. Again, if you say it is not
there, then all sorts of things come into your mind to show that it
is. You cannot say that it does not exist neither can you say that it
does.
The two words for existence or non existence do not cover it, nor can
it be explained by the meanings of these two words either. It is
neither existence nor non existence, yet it is omnipresent in both.
By being the embodiment of Utterness of the sole reality of the middle
way, it becomes imponderably inexpressible and goes by the name of
Utterness [myô]. By giving such implications to the word Utterness it
is then referred to as dharmas [as its manifestation]. This gateway to
the dharma, with its revelation of the imponderably inexpressible,
alludes to the phenomenal dharmas assuming the role of the lotus
flower which is the simultaneity of cause and effect.
When you realize that your own mind is Utterness, then in turn you
realize that other minds are the Utterness of the Dharma also, this is
called the sutra which is its own utter and intrinsically infinite
path. It is the king of sutras and the direct path to becoming a
Buddha since it explains that the actual fundamental substance, from
which both good and evil arise, is the fundamental substance of the
Utterness of the Dharma itself. If you hold a deep faith in the
significance of this and recite Nam myôhô renge kyô, you will without
any doubt become a Buddha in this lifetime. Because in the text of the
Sutra it tells us that, ‘After my passing over to extinction you must
indeed hold to this Sutra, those people who do so shall decidedly,
without any doubt whatsoever, be on the path of enlightenment.' On no
account must you have any doubts. With awe and respect. You must have
a mind of faith and become a Buddha in this lifetime. Nam myôhô renge
kyo, Nam myôhô renge kyô .
Thesis on the Whole being Contained
in the One Instant of Mind
Sôzai ichinen shô
Goshô Shimpen, p.111-116
The second year of Shôka [1258] at 37 years of age
In the sixth fascicle of the Explanatory Notes on the Recondite
Significance of the Dharma Flower it says, ‘The whole is contained in
the one instant of mind which, in further detail, is divided into
materiality and mind.’ The question is asked: what are the
implications of the whole being contained in the one instant of mind?
The answer is given: it is not easy to give an even perfunctory
answer, there is, however, one significant point that is decided, it
must be what happens in the primal instant of life of sentient beings
when they are first conscious. If one carefully investigates the
samâdhi of stopping all mental activity and allowing no distraction
whatsoever, then one can say that nothing is repressed by it nor is
anything recorded by it, nothing is taken for being good and nothing
is taken for being evil, it is a state of mind that is like the ocean
depths overflowing with darkness. This is said to be the eighth
cognition. This eighth cognition, by being the embodiment of all
existence and because it contains all dharmas, is said to be the whole
contained in the one instant of mind. It is, however, the one instant
of mind of the eighth cognition in a practical sense.
However when this one instant of mind moves and fluctuates, looking
out towards the environments that are determined by karma, it does not
yet discern what those karmically determined realms, with which it
associates, are. This is called the seventh cognition.
This seventh cognition, by fluctuating and being agitated by
confrontation with good and evil situations and its delight in
joyfulness and grief through sadness gets itself entangled with both
good and bad karma. This is called the sixth cognition.
When this sixth cognition is made aware of its karma it then becomes
aware of its physical form [shiki] and the karmically deserved
situation such as family, race, country and economic conditions, etc,
for life in the future [hô]. It is as though the primal one instant of
mind is cavernous, unfathomable water; by its undulation and swell it
faces all kinds of situations but even if the wind blows and makes the
water billow it does not break into waves and bubbling foam.
Through the fluctuations of being agitated, through facing both good
and evil environments that are conditioned by karma, the delight in
joyfulness and the grief in sadness are like the appearance of the
undulating waves of the water rising to their height. Then, with the
acquisition of the physical form and the requitals for life in the
future, the waves break upon the rocks and turn into a mass of foaming
bubbles both large and small. The bursting of those bubbles is like a
return to death. You should skilfully and thoroughly think this
through.
Whether one refers to waves or whether one refers to bubbles both come
from the one water we have been using as a metaphor. In terms of the
dharma, the progressive changes of the primal one instant of mind
become our physical characteristics and what we karmically deserve.
This is due to the fact that there is absolutely no exception to the
totality of mind becoming our person and body. You must take care that
every single exception to this concept has to be discarded. For
instance, when all this water becomes extremely cold it turns into
smaller or larger pieces of ice. Consequently one might say that this
is a person who falls into hell in the midst of a cavern of raging
fire and becomes completely consumed by the flames.
We can continue until we come to the reality of the Buddha realm which
becomes its own sublime and solemn manifestation. Nevertheless this is
all the working of the oneness of the mind. Similarly, when wickedness
comes to the surface we become sensitive to the embodiment of the
three evil paths and when we resolve to attain to a mind of
enlightenment we feel the personification of the Buddha and the
bodhisattvas. In this way the awareness of the workings of karma
solidify into pack ice in the ocean of the oneness of mind with the
ten realms becoming separate entities since the source of the ten
realms of dharmas is the singularity of the fundamental substance.
Although there may only be one realm of dharmas called hell, hell is
also endowed with nine realms of dharmas. It is also the same with all
the realms of dharmas including that of the Buddha. In this way the
ten realms of dharmas are mutually furnished with the same ten realms
so that the total of these dharma realms becomes one hundred. Then as
each single one of these hundred realms of dharmas is equipped with
the ten such qualities, the hundred realms of dharmas become a
thousand such qualities. These thousand qualities by being furnished
with the existential spaces of sentient beings, the existential space
of the five aggregates and the existential space of abode and terrain,
the thousand such qualities become three thousand. The dharma gateway
of these three thousand existential spaces is fully present in the
primal instant of mind without any omission whatsoever. It is due to
the fact that the one instant of mind is not separate from the
physical body but is endowed with the three thousand existential
spaces. This is the dharma gateway of the one instant of mind
containing three thousand existential spaces.
In this way the realm of hell is not to be feared nor is the Buddha to
be particularly venerated, they are the perfect combination of our
physical aspect and what we are essentially. You should abide
completely in the unshakeable silence of the oneness of mind without
any further thought. The dharma gateway, which I have just mentioned,
is an insight that is referred to as the contemplation of the real
aspect.
Superfluous cogitation becomes the movement of thought, the movement
of thought becomes a lack of clarity and this unenlightenment becomes
bewilderment. But if one abides in the contemplation of the real
aspect, then what is projected from the inseparability of our person
and the fundamentally existing three thousand existential realms is
called the Buddha.
In view of this the Universal Teacher Myôraku says, ‘Indeed you should
know that in the body and its terrain there are three thousand
existential realms. Because, when one attains to the path it is in
accordance with this fundamental principle, the one instant of mind in
the body includes all the realms of the dharmas.’
Those who cannot hold on to this insight pass on to other
contemplations but they should contemplate the state of mind that
arises out of the primal instant of thought. The condition of mind
that arises and sets the stillness of this one instant of thought in
motion becomes one of bewilderment. This movement of thought is
entirely the threefold axiom of relativity, phenomenon and the middle
way.
The threefold axiom is in the midst of the fundamental substance of
our minds, the instant of thought that arises in it is phenomenon and
the non-existence of self-nature in the instant of mind is relativity.
When this threefold contemplation of the dharmas is realised, the
instant of mind that moves becomes inseparable from the instant of
mind that is immovable. This insight into the inseparability of
enlightenment and unenlightenment is referred to as the insight that
existence is nothing other than cognition.
Nonetheless, even though it becomes the insight that existence is
nothing other than cognition, it is ultimately the insight into the
real aspect of all dharmas. Myôraku says in his explanation, in
Illustrations of the Significance of Desistance from Troublesome
Worries in order to See Clearly, ‘The roots and the branches reflect
each other, phenomena and its intrinsicality are not two.’ The roots
are the insight of the real aspect of all dharmas; the branches are
the insight that existence is nothing other than cognition.
Phenomena become the insight that existence is nothing other than
cognition and the essential point of that insight is the insight into
the real aspect of all dharmas. When this imponderably unutterable
insight is attained to then one ascends to the consequent fruition of
temporarily cutting off and destroying the ever-revolving cycle of
birth and death. This is called the single fundamental substance of
phenomena and its essential quality is that the whole of existence is
contained in the one instant of mind.’
The manifestation of each and every thing being endowed with the one
instant of thought containing three thousand existential spaces is the
revelation of the thirty-two bodies of Kannon and the luminosity of
everything being endowed with this intrinsic fundamental of the one
instant of thought containing three thousand existential spaces is the
manifestation of the thirty-four bodies of Myô.on. If it were not so
then the emanations of the Buddha or the transformations of the
bodhisattvas would have no reason to become apparent. Again, when this
principle of the one instant of thought containing three thousand
existential spaces is not adhered to, then the one thousand two
hundred Buddhas of the two mandalas of the Womb Store Realm
[Garbhadhâtu] and the Vajra Realm [Vajradhâtu], the homogeneous body
of the Tathâgata Dainichi as well as his transformations would be
difficult to know. The essential to these gateways to the dharma is
each and every thing being endowed with the one instant of thought
containing three thousand existential spaces.You must retain this
secret and keep it to yourself.
On explaining this one instant of thought containing three thousand
existential spaces Tendai said, ‘In the oneness of mind there are ten
realms of dharmas and then when each realm of dharmas is again
furnished with the same ten realms it comes to one hundred. Each realm
of dharmas is then provided with three thousand sorts of existential
space so that the hundred existential realms amount to three thousand.
These three thousand are present in the one instant of thought in the
mind. If there is no mind we need go no further but if there is even
the tiniest scrap of mind, it is provided with the three thousand.’
Myôraku said, on explaining the words‘tiniest scrap’, ‘It alludes to
the feeblest presence of mind. What is intended is hardly any.’
Consequently we must understand this as whatever the occasion the
oneness of mind is the root and the ten realms of dharmas are the
branches. This is a gateway to the dharma that can be thought out and
deliberated upon. But when it is taken as an imponderable that cannot
be deliberated upon, it is because the whole fundamental substance of
the oneness of mind is the ten dharma realms becoming the three
thousand, there is no one thing that can be set apart from it neither
has it an inside nor an outside. The oneness of mind is not separate
from the three thousand and neither is the three thousand separate
from the oneness of mind. One could make a comparison with the
unknowing person who believes that ice exists apart from water.
Therefore one should realise that there is no disparity between the
one instant of thought and the three thousand, they are both a single
dharma. Accordingly Tendai explains this by saying,‘At all events mind
is all dharmas and all dharmas are mind. There is neither a vertical
nor a horizontal and there is neither oneness nor multiformity. It is
abstruse, utter, profound and superlatively all embracing.
There is no way of knowing that can know it and there are no words
that can formulate it. Therefore we refer to it as the imponderable
that cannot be deliberated upon, it is here where the meaning lies.’
The one instant of thought is not the one instant of thought by being
inseparable from the three thousand. The three thousand is not the
three thousand by being inseparable from the one instant of thought.
Therefore it is the dharma gateway to the cultivation of the essential
non-duality of the fundamental substance and its intrinsicality.
What is unthinkably unutterable about this one instant of thought
containing three thousand existential spaces is that the existential
space of abode and terrain is a part of the three thousand so that
plants, trees, tiles and stones, by being also furnished with the
three thousand, are completely filled with the fundamental substance
of enlightenment. However, that may be because we are provided with
three thousand existential spaces, we too, are the originally existent
fundamental substance of the Buddha. Therefore it follows that the
sentient beings in the hell of incessant suffering by being endowed
also with the three thousand existential spaces are at one with the
fundamental substance of the Tathâgata who is enlightened to utterness
without any discrepancy whatsoever. This is why Daibadatta, who in the
flames of the hell of incessant suffering due to his unpardonable sins
of creating a schism in the community of monks, stoning the Buddha to
the shedding of his blood and killing a nun, received, contrary to all
expectation, the prophecy by the Buddha that he would become the
Tathâgata Tennô. If this is the case of a person in hell, then why
should it not be so with the other nine realms? When their
discriminative thinking and intellectual knowledge is cleared away and
even people of the two vehicles can become Buddhas, then why should it
not be so with people of the remaining eight realms?
As each and every blade of grass, trees, as well as all the rest of
the environment is the originally existent Buddha substance with its
three thousand existential spaces, it is not a matter of casting aside
evil thoughts and evil dharmas nor adopting good thoughts and good
dharmas. Because this principle by being discussed and revealed in the
present sutra, it is given the title Myôhô renge kyô, the Sutra on the
Lotus Flower of the Utterness of the Dharma. The Utterness of the
Dharma is furnished with the ten realms of dharmas and the three
thousand existential spaces of plants and trees without a single
dharma being left out. As for the Lotus Flower, the person who has
become enlightened to this principle, must, as an equal to the Buddha,
be placed upon the calyx of the Lotus Flower. The Lotus Flower
solemnly ennobles that person and it is said that the Lotus Flower is
the adornment of abode and terrain. That is to say that his body is
not separate from the fundamental substance of all the Buddhas of the
past, present and future. Without a grasp of this principle it cannot
be referred to as the seeds of the Buddha. Myôraku explains this when
he says, ‘If it is not the objective realm of the Buddha wisdom, if it
is not a random counterfeit, even then it cannot be the seeds.’ You
are already aware that since all the sutras that were expounded prior
to the Dharma Flower have provisional dharmas entwined into them, so
that even if one were to accept and hold to them for a continuity of
kalpas, as many as there are grains of dust, they can never become the
seeds of Buddhahood. Due to the fact that the sutras do not reveal and
account for the totality of the Buddha wisdom, nor do they expound the
whole of the wisdom of the Buddha, nor do they state that women and
people of evil disposition can become Buddhas. Among the elucidations
of Tendai it says, ‘In the other sutras the Buddha prophesied that
only his disciples who were bodhisattvas would become Buddhas and that
people of the two vehicles would not be able to do so and that only
good people can become Buddhas and wicked people could not. He
prophesied that only men could become Buddhas and that women were
excluded, that only humans and devas could become Buddhas but not
animals; but in the present sutra all these categories are foretold as
being able to become Buddhas.’ Myôraku justifies this by saying, ‘Even
if there are sutras that are designated as the King of Sutras they are
not said to be the foremost to have been expounded, are expounded or
will be expounded in the future. You must be able to understand the
significance of the doctrine that the particular teaching stands in
addition to the others, that it is only the teachings of the three
receptacles, that the equally broad teachings were in answer to people
who had the propensities for the four teachings and that the wisdom
teachings include both the interrelated and particular doctrines in
preparation for the all-inclusive teachings.’ Just as these
explanations infer, all the sutras prior to the Dharma Flower are an
expedient means and are not the direct cause for becoming a Buddha.
The question is asked: among all the sutras that came before the
Dharma Flower, are there any that illustrate the so-called all-
inclusive teachings as being particularly superior, how is it that you
pick out all those sutras that came prior to the Dharma Flower as not
being the seeds for Buddhahood? The answer given is that even though
the all-inclusive teachings are dealt with, the all-inclusive
teachings prior to the Dharma Flower Sutra let the Buddha seeds go
astray since it does not discuss the hearers of the voice, those who
are partially enlightened due to circumstances, people of evil
disposition and women becoming Buddhas. This is the ultimate extremity
of the all-inclusive teachings. Without this final superlative they
would not uphold the original intention of the Buddha and also because
they are devoid of the Buddha’s wisdom they could not be the seeds for
becoming a Buddha. It is on this account that I have pointed to all
the sutras in contrast to the Dharma Flower. Referring to this point
there is a Universal Teacher who said, ‘Both people who are refined
and those who are coarse have made this mistake [through not
understanding the simultaneity of cause and effect] which means that
both those who are refined and those who are coarse can be referred to
as being crude and oversimple.’Consequently none of the other sutras
are called the Sutra on the Lotus Flower of the Utterness of the
Dharma.
The question is asked: what advantage would a dunce who cannot read
have in reciting Nam myôhô renge kyô? Answer: even though somebody who
may be illiterate and who does not even know one ideogram were to
exert his faith by reciting it, then, out of the three karmas of body,
mouth and mind, it would be his mouth that would be the first to
realise its meritorious virtue. When this meritorious virtue is
accomplished with the Buddha seeds being stowed within his breast, he
evidently becomes a person who is coming out of the bewilderment of
the realm of life and death. The fact that this sutra surpasses all
other sutras, it is taught that those who ridicule and disparage it
reverse their karmic relationship for enlightenment and become people
whose values are mean disregard and vilification. What would one then
say about the people who exert a mind of faith and comply with the
affinities to become a Buddha? Accordingly the Universal Teacher
Dengyô wrote, ‘It is decidedly preordained that both the person who
slanders and the person who has faith will become Buddhas.’
The question is asked: on becoming a Buddha what is the significance
of the three bodies?
Answer: the three thousand existential spaces that are in our bodies
by being completely merged into each other are the same as dharmas.
The body whose wisdom exhaustively knows this principle is that which
is called the reward body. As this principle is the final superlative,
then from the eighty four thousand features and distinguishing marks
on the body of the Buddha to the bodies of the tigers, wolves and
jackals which are made apparent for the effective benefit of all
beings, are understood as being designated as the corresponding body.
The Dharma Flower Sutra in its exposition of these three bodies says,
‘Such an appearance, such a nature, such a substance.’ The appearance
is the corresponding body, the nature is the reward body and the
substance is the dharma body. We have been endowed with these three
bodies since the primordial infinity with no exceptions whatsoever.
However, the clouds of our bewilderment hide these three bodies so
that we are not aware of their existence. But he who is referred to as
the enlightened Buddha knows this essential element and is also the
practitioner of the Dharma Flower Sutra.
Having been unaware and ignorant of these three bodies since time
immemorial, we become closer to an enlightenment to them by being
induced by the preaching of a moderated Buddha discourse which is
called the temporary gateway. Without any sort of confusion with
regard to the fundamental principle of our being endowed with these
three bodies, it is also explained that they have their abode in the
past, present, future and throughout eternity. There is no dimension
that is not pervaded by these three entities. This is referred to as
the original gateway to the dharma. Even though it may be that the
difference between the original and temporary gateways is merely a
matter of the relatively recent past and primordiality, the
fundamental substance of the dharma remains the same. This is the
reason why Tendai says in his explanations, ‘Even though the original
and temporary teachings have their peculiarities their oneness is
their imponderable inexplicability.’
When we say enlightenment, it simply means to be enlightened to and to
know what the intrinsicality of the fundamental substance is. It could
be compared to the opening of a door of a storehouse of wealth and
taking away the treasure within. Enlightenment does not come from the
outside, when we clear away the clouds that bewilder the oneness of
mind it becomes the substance of dharmas which is the axiom of
relativity, phenomena and the middle way that always abides in the
past, present and future and throughout eternity. It is like a mirror
that no longer reflects because it is covered with dust but when it is
cleaned every kind of image glides across it.
The dust is removed by people cleaning the mirror but if it were not
cleaned the images would not appear. It is supposed of course that the
person who transforms the bewilderment into an enlightened awakening
is the one who practises. The intrinsicality of the substance that is
the three thousand existential spaces, the three axioms of relativity,
phenomena and the middle way as well as the three bodies are
inherently and infinitely existing, which have nothing to do with the
makings of humankind. Again, even though the cultivation of
bewilderment is something that is done by human beings, one does not
see this bewilderment going away of its own volition. It is like
sitting in a dark room for a hundred years with a burning candle
wherein the lightlessness does not go away entirely. This transforming
of bewilderment into an enlightened awakening is to turn back the flow
and finish at the source.
The inseparability of enlightenment and unenlightenment as only being
bewilderment and enlightenment is none other than the single entity or
the oneness of the substance of unenlightenment and the dharma
essence. I respectfully fear and beg of you to be prudent and discard
all other ways of knowing. If you ever perceive bewilderment and
enlightenment as two separate entities, you will be distancing
yourself from becoming a Buddha; it will be like climbing one Mount
Sumeru after another. Those who, since the origins, have been
bewildered about the non-dual nature of the intrinsicality of the
fundamental substance are called sentient beings and the person who is
enlightened to this non-duality is called the Buddha.
You must really get to understand the all embracing significance of
what I have written without any omissions or misconceptions. These
writings involve the Buddha’s one universal concern about living and
dying. Also these writings are the Buddha’s fervent desire to come
into the world in order to save people from the bewilderment of living
and dying. How can you enter into a treasure mountain and come out
with empty hands? It would bring about a thousand myriad regrets and
there would be no advantage to it whatsoever. When Emma takes someone
to task or the lictors of hell raise their staves, they do not choose
people at random but only those who have done wrong. If these
wrongdoers can get away from this harsh situation by being born as
human beings, they will live through hundreds of thousands of myriads
of kalpas without even hearing of the name or ideogram for the Buddha.
They will also become progressively immersed into the three realms
where (i) sentient beings have appetites and desires which (ii) are
incarnated in a subjective materiality with its physical surroundings,
who (iii) at the same time are endowed with the immateriality of the
realms of thoughts and ideas, as well as being persons who must drift
about the six paths of unenlightenment. To not be able to hear the
essential dharma in order to escape from the bewilderment of the realm
of life and death is sad indeed, it is also frightening to suffer the
punishment of the ox-headed demon lictors of hell.