I see that you did not comment on why the Bodhisattva chose to
save those beings even though he has the ability to foretell where
they would go and what kind of deeds they would commit during their
temporary lifespan in heaven or human and where they would go after
that.
If an Arahant can fortell where a person would end up after his
death upon doing a simple good deed, surely a great Bodhisattva
like Ksitigarbha would know as well.
Why did he do it if he knew his efforts would be wasted? That is
my main question.
And furthermore, when we talk about hell, most of us would think
of the hell that exists after death, but there is hell on
earth while we are living as well, at least for some of
us.
Some work as slaves, some work as prostitutes,
some are tortured as prisoners of wars, some died
from national famine or drought..To me, this is hell on earth.
Just these alone are enough to make me feel very
frightened.
These people would not care about what Buddhism has to say about
emptiness or Buddha nature. Yes, they would feel empty, instead
of realising the nature of emptiness taught by the
Buddha.
Sometimes I feel as if I'm bluffing myself all the time that all
sentient beings have Buddha nature. I keep on reminding myself that
the Buddha would not lie, but yet it is something I cannot see,
touch or feel. It is something that I would take aeons to really
see a small part of its 'existence'.
It is mentioned that even Arahants see only a bit of their
Buddha nature. Only Buddhas sees the Buddha nature as if they are
looking at the moon in bright sunlight.
Can someone tell me whether this is considering as
self-deceiving that there is Buddha nature?
It's like I have never seen Mount Everest with my own eyes but
at least I believe through pictures taken by other travellers. But
can anybody take a picture of Buddha nature and show it to the rest
of the world? We all know the answer is a firm 'NO'.
Somebody send me to IMH now...
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva will have the wisdom to know what is the
best for the sentient being and how to guide him so that he will go
back on path. Just like Shakyamuni Buddha knows how to guide
sentient beings. But after Shakyamuni taught the dharma, it's up to
us to practice, he can't walk the path for us. Similarly those who
are saved by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva will still have to cultivate
in order not to end up in hell again. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva did
his part. Just like Shakyamuni's efforts to tame the sentient
beings in Jambudvipa is never wasted, so is Ksitigarbha's effort
never wasted. But still he can't control whether you are going to
do good or evil or whether you are going to walk the path to
liberation.
Buddha-nature is unavoidable... but the more you seek the more
you are trying to avoid it, like riding on a bull finding the bull.
Finding the mind outside the mind... In fact precisely because we
have been constantly seeking and desiring we forever miss what is
ever present and undergo numberless rebirths.
The sutras say Mind is Buddha.
The sutras also say, the moment you seek a dharma external to
Mind (which is Buddha), you are an externalist (xin wai qiu fa shi
wai dao). You seek external proof, then you are seeking something
external to Mind, and that can never be the Buddha.
Furthermore, the Buddha said in the Diamond Sutra,
“He who sees me (Buddha) in forms or seeks me in sounds is on a
heterodox path and cannot see the Tathagata (Buddha).”
“All forms are but illusions, in seeing that all forms are
illusory, one sees the Tathagata.”
All forms are illusory, you can never seek Buddha in forms. You
can never find proof of Buddha-nature from anything external,
because everything can be doubted, maybe everything might be the
Matrix, maybe a virtual reality.
But something cannot be doubted, look into it. Because you can
doubt everything from your room to your life story, it may all be a
matrix. But what is undeniable and undoubt-able is the doubting
itself, i.e. THIS Present Awareness, the reality of This Moment,
your very Presence itself, the reality of
Mind/Consciousness/Awareness in which doubting arises and IS the
arising doubt. Even if you were to doubt that, that would be
Mind/Consciousness/Awareness doubting. That is Buddha.
So can you see now why Buddha Nature is unavoidable? Even if you
try to avoid it, it is still Mind running away, Mind trying to
avoid Mind. Mind will always be Mind. Can you see that IT is
Unavoidable, Undeniable, and Certain? So stop looking elsewhere.
Stop all futile seeking and futile avoiding... This is
IT.
You can only know Buddha by turning the light inwards and drop
all concepts and external seeking...
Thusness said to you previously:
May your wish be fulfilled!
For your first wish, you may need to have an initial glimpse of our
inner most essence. You can try the direct approach by asking
yourself this,
“Without using any languages, ‘I’, ‘me’ or any signs or symbols,
how is ‘I’ experienced?”
Of all teachings, no teaching is more important then a direct
‘touch’ of our Buddha essence; but of all dangers, none is more
dangerous than misinterpreting our essence after the
‘touch’.
The ‘touch’ of the pure sense of existence is often
wrongly understood due to our karmic tendencies. Use the
doctrine of Anatta and Emptiness as antidote.
Happy Chinese New Year!
p.s. as for your question on Arhat and Bodhisattva, the great
Zen Master Huang Po (Master of Zen Master Linji) said:
Our
original Buddha-Nature is, in highest truth, devoid of any atom of
objectivity. It is void, omnipresent, silent, pure; it is
glorious and mysterious peaceful joy - and that is all. Enter
deeply into it by awakening to it yourself. That which
is before you is it, in all its fullness, utterly complete.
There is naught beside. Even if you go through all the stages
of a Bodhisattva's progress towards Buddhahood, one by one; when at
last, in a single flash, you attain to full realization, you will
only be realizing the Buddha-Nature which has been with you all the
time; and by the foregoing stages you will have added nothing to it
at all. You will come to look upon those aeons of
work and achievement as no better than unreal actions performed in
a dream.
This is
why the Tathagata said, "I truly attained nothing from complete,
unexcelled enlightenment." He also said: "This Dharma is
absolutely without distinctions, neither high nor low, and its name
is Bodhi." It is pure Mind, which is the source of everything
and which, whether appearing as sentient beings or Buddhas, or as
the rivers and mountains of the world which has form, or as that
which is formless, or penetrating the whole universe, is absolutely
without distinctions, there being no such entities as selfness and
otherness.
***
That
which is called the City of Illusions contains the Two Vehicles,
the Ten Stages of a Bodhisattva's Progress, and two forms of Full
Enlightenment. All of them are powerful teachings for
arousing people's interest, but they still belong to the City of
Illusions. That which is called the Place of Precious Things
is the real Mind, the original Buddha-essence, the treasure of our
own real Nature. These jewels cannot be measured or
accumulated. Yet since there are neither Buddha nor sentient
beings, neither subject nor object, where can there be a Place of
Precious Things? If you ask, "Well, so much for the
City of Illusions, but where is the Place of Precious Things?", it
is a place to which no directions can be given. For if
it could be pointed out, it would be a place existing in space;
hence, it would not be the real Place of Precious Things. All
we can say is that it is close by. It cannot be exactly
described, but when you have a tacit understanding of it, it is
there.
My comments: It is close by! It is Intimacy itself. In fact,
there is no distance at all between 'you' and 'IT', because IT/Mind
is your very Presence.
***
All the
Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind,
beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is
without beginning is unborn and indestructible. It is
not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It
does not belong in the categories of things which exist or do not
exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is
neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all
limits, measures, names, traces and comparisons. It is that
which you see before you - begin to reason about it and you at once
fall into error. It is like the boundless void
which cannot be fathomed or measured.
***
If you
are not absolutely convinced that the Mind is the Buddha, and if
you are attached to forms, practices and meritorious performances,
your way of thinking is false and quite incompatible with the
Way. The Mind is the Buddha, nor are there any
other Buddhas or any other mind. It is bright and
spotless as the void, having nor form or appearance
whatsoever. To make use of your minds to think conceptually
is to leave the substance and attach yourselves to form. Awake only
to the One Mind, and there is nothing whatsoever to be
attained.
If you
students of the Way do not awaken to this Mind substance, you will
overlay Mind with conceptual thought, you will seek the Buddha
outside of yourselves, and you will remain attached to forms, pious
practices and so on, all of which are harmful and not at all the
way to supreme knowledge.
