Continuing with the last part of Ch. 17,
Subhuti, there is actually no such thing called a bodhisattva.
All phenomena are free from the ideas of a self, a person, a sentient being, or a life span.
If a bodhisattva says ‘I will transform the world into a Buddha world,’ then he is not a bodhisattva. Why? The Tathagata teaches that one who transforms the world is not the one who transforms the world. That is to transform the world.
If a bodhisattva realizes the Dharma of non-self, the Tathagata says this is a real bodhisattva.
We discussed three fundamental observations in Buddhism:
1. What is created will perishThese three concepts are intimately related to another, and not so difficult to observe. What is more difficult to see is a fourth, related concept: emptiness.
2. All that are created come from something else.
3. These "something else" are the specific causal conditions that must be met for something to happen or appear. These specific relationships lead to the Principle of Causality. And since all conditions change, all creation will perish.
4. Because all things depend on other conditions, therefore all things are empty of their own, instrinsic nature. All the observed characteristics of anything, including people, are empty.
And a fifth concept:
5. What is uncreated is unconditioned and cannot perish. The bodhi mind, which is formless and empty, is such an example.Questions:
- Name some examples of specific causal relationships.
- Give examples of the empty nature of specific objects, e.g. water, rock, mountains. (That is: why is water empty?)
- Give examples of the empty nature of events, e.g. winning an award, losing a job, breakup, getting sick.
- Why is that we should make the bodhisattva resolve but yet there no such thing as a bodhisattva?
- What else did you learn in this class?
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1. Here are some examples of specific causal relationships:
ReplyDeletea. Uphold the 5 precepts: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no intoxication, you are guaranteed to be reborn as human at minimum.
b. If you perform good deeds, you will bring good karmas to yourself.
c. If you hurt other sentient beings, you will bring bad karmas to yourself.
2. Here is an example of the empty nature of an object: Take our Zen Center; it did not exist prior to 2004; then it was located at 1031 N Fair Oaks, and now it is located at 750 E Arques. 750 E Arques is an address for a place. The building was a factory before, then we re-modeled the place with a meditation hall and classrooms, put in buddha and bodhisattva statues, and have dharma masters to teach the Dharma and people to come to learn and practice Buddhism. With all these come together, the place is called Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale. Otherwise, it is just a building with walls which can be turned into a restaurant, an office or space used for other purpose and would have been called something else. An object can take on different forms and functions, therefore, it is empty.
3. Here are 2 examples of the empty nature of an event:
a. Seeing a movie, some would say it is a good movie, other would say it is a bad movie or boring movie. It is the same movie, but people evaluate it differently. Therefore, seeing a movie is empty.
b. Losing a job, we can get depressed about the situation and negatively impact your love ones and others around you. Or we can view this as an opportunity to spend more time with your love ones, to learn a new skill and craft, to change the career, or to come to the Zen Center to attend class to learn Buddhism to help you cope with the situation.
The reaction and outcome about the above events can be different depending on our feeling, conception, violition, and consciousness. Therefore, they are empty.
4. It is explained in the Diamond Sutra:
a. “Subhuti, if bodhisattvas abide in the notions of a self, a person, a sentient being, or a life span, they are not bodhisattvas.”
b. “Subhuti, so it is with a bodhisattva. If someone says, ‘I will bring countless sentient beings to nirvana,’ then he is not a bodhisattva. Why? Subhuti, there is actually no such thing called a bodhisattva.”
c. “Subhuti, if a bodhisattva says ‘I will transform the world into a Buddha world,’ then he is not a bodhisattva.”
d. “Subhuti, if a bodhisattva realizes the Dharma of non-self, the Tathagata says this is a real bodhisattva.”
5. All phenomena are conditioned dharam that arise and eventually perish. They are relative and always have good and bad function depending on how we choose to react to them.
Is water empty because it is simply a concept for something which is simply an experience of a combination of other elements? Those elements, themselves, are simply made up of protons and electrons which, when endlessly broken down, are simply energy.
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