Mountains and Rivers of ZEN

Lately, my earthly [samsaric] friend Pun2 used the ZEN metaphor of the mountains and rivers during several of his conversation. For the benefits of those who have not heard of it, it is as follows:

  Beginning mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers [a]
  Then mountain are not mountains and rivers are not rivers [b]
  Finally mountains are again mountains and rivers are rivers [c]

Without the wisdom of the sutra, it can sound quite confusing and meaningless

a] This refer to the general view of common people. This view assume that I AM is a person having
    consciousness and is Separate from the world [mountains and rivers] around him/her
    [ I Am identify with a wave in the ocean of consciousness]

b] At this stage there is realization that the Self [I AM] is Awareness and all objects of awareness are
     illusionary and have void as its nature [hence no mountains and river]

c] Finally the Objects of awareness are reconciled as the myriad expressions of awareness. The
    Mountains and rivers are accepted as in [a], but with a new understanding that both the person and
    the world around him Appear within the ONE borderless Consciousness, as a WHOLE, WITHOUT any separation.
    I Am is Awareness [void] and also the Totality of the world.[every things and the void in between.]
    [ I Am is correctly Identified with Ocean and  recognize  the totality of the waves AS the
    expression of Itself and share the same essence of water.
   The world of separation of many is now seen as unity with all objects held together by the FORM 
   of void. [ in contradistinction with an infinite solid fill with myriad holes of various sizes]

In conclusion, I AM NOthing and Everything.  The unconditioned containing the conditioned, like the reflections in the mirror inseparable from the mirror [an immutable whole]

       For clarity, let us revisit the three views and see their significance.

a] The world consist of countless things which are separated and different from one another, giving
     rise to concepts of individuality and generality.

b] The world does not exist and All are Void.

c] The world IS ONE Whole without any division within the Whole and is of one essence. All
     concepts that arise from [a] is totally misplaced and form the seeds of delusion that turn the
     wheel of samsara

A further illustration will be :

a] This shore [samsara]
b] The other shore [nirvana]
c] Neither this or the other, the unification of both.

Living Buddha

The word 'Living Buddha' is the imperfection of language to capture Perfection and often lead to deviant view that assume a person have attained IT [perfection]. Buddha being unborn is the ONLY living there is and ever so. The world of sentient and insentient are illusionary images that appear and disappear within it from moment to moment .
    To assume an image to be living is Delusion, as how is it possible for something that never truly exist to have a life. All the so call secular lives are only Apparent in the dream
   Jesus say, the living [Awareness] never die, and the dead sentient beings never live. And the 'I' [Awareness] is in the world, but NOT of the world.

  In the Diamond Sutra, Lord Sakyumuni say The Thatagata can not be seen in forms or heard in sound. Whosoever have this view that Buddha have form that speak is on the deviant path and will never realize the Truth.
Also in the same sutra, it is mentioned that Buddha is already perfect and being Unborn is stranger to any stage of attainment and NO further addition or deduction can make it more perfect. Awareness is already aware [enlighten] and need nothing more to make it aware or more aware [to enlighten it]

Non Believer

  Many societies including religious groups consider Non Believers as evil and must be treated as enemies. This discrimination demonstrate a gross lack of wisdom which I will demonstrate with a story [parable]
   Imagine, someone have invented a time machine and you are selected to go on a mission into the past to meet up with one of your great, great grandfather during a period when everyone believe the earth was flat. Your mission is to inform your ancestor that the world is a sphere. As to the truth of the mission, your ancestor is a Non believer and your task is to remove his ignorance and guide him to the Truth. You have a year to turn a non believer to accept the truth that the earth he stood on is like a ball. At the end of the one year, if your ancestor still disbelieve the Truth, you are to kill him.
      With the knowledge of present day, you set up props to represent the sun, earth and the moon and demonstrate that the shadow of earth cast onto the moon is circular. That is to say you have to first convince your ancestor that the moonlight is the reflected light of the sun. With one week to go, you noticed the gleam of acceptance in your ancestor's eye and you are relieved that you need not kill him. As you prepare to return to mission control, your ancestor rush to the time machine and say 'Young man, the earth cannot be round. If it is, people on the side and the lower half will fall off the sphere.!' Well the time is up and you have no time to dwell on the phenomena of gravity. But to kill your ancestor will also mean his descendants including you will be wipe out in the time line that follows.
  Time stood still and you ponder, is the non-believer, evil and deserve to die or he is just a victim of Ignorance?? That he still disbelieve, was because those[YOU] who knows the Truth Failed to enlighten him.
   In this timeless moments of NOW, our present day religious bigots should realize the non believers are victims and the faults lies with those who hold the Truth, lacking skillful way to convey the wisdom.

  Now, what is the Truth that was revealed in the holy texts of every religion ?. The Truth is ONE and Absolute. In Islam it is the teaching of Tawhid . Lord Jesus preached on the rebirth into the spirit of ONEness and Moses famous Quote on the nature of God as I AM that I AM. The Hindus and Buddhists have Advaita [non duality] and the oneness of Brahman [Father, Thatagata, Allah, Tao or simply The Light of ordinary Awareness]. The Chinese Taoist have the Eternal TAO

   In my earlier posts I have dwell on various pointers to the Truth that is INNATE in all of us. Unlike physical laws which are conceptual, the Absolute Truth expounded in all religion is NON conceptual [beyond all speculations and cannot be conceptualized]. The concept God is NOT God. Saint Francis of Assisi put is nicely as that[Truth] which we look for is that which IS Looking !!!!

Images

   Many will be familiar with the statement 'Thou should have no other images before ME' The most common interpretation is, one should not be involved with Idol worship, as images are often associated with figurines of deities. Well a miss is as good as a mile. In the context of Truth the Images in the holy texts refer to our self-image. What are the self Images ??? The common one is I am a man or a woman [gender], a nationality [Malaysian, Thai, etc.], a profession [lawyer, doctor, etc.] an age group [child, adults, senior citizen ], a personality [friendly, reserved, open minded, etc.] an association [ Buddhist, socialist, democrats, etc.], a disposition [Clever, stupid, lazy etc.].a status [Rich, poor, famous, respected, etc.]

   By accepting this identification [out of Ignorance], we have inadvertently given "I Am" a form while its True nature is I Am the Light, the Way and the Truth. "I Am" cannot be objectified [given an image] and the best that words can point is 'I Am that I Am'. 'The Tao that can be practiced or describe is not the eternal Tao'. It can simply be a non descriptive word such as 'That' or 'Thus' [The Buddhist sutra refer to such words as finger pointing to the moon]

  The concept of an Ego give birth to all other concepts and the dualities that arises results in the multiplicity of names and forms [ I and Others] and turn the wheel of Samsara