The Great Mirror Wisdom

    In Buddhist Teaching, one of the best pointer is The Great Mirror Wisdom, using the nature of mirror to represent the Ineffable Awareness [The Absolute Truth and the ONE Reality].

   Now everyone know what a mirror is, but have we ever seen the Real face of a mirror ??

  Let us take a mirror and direct it at a cloudless sky on a bright day. The mirror display a bright Void.
  Now we direct the mirror to face the mountain and river, and it display mountains and rivers,
  Lastly we take the mirror into a dark room and have darkness for its face.

     In these Three states, the real face of the mirror is veiled by its reflections and is always hidden, but present throughout the three states. Without the mirror, non of the three display is possible.

   With this understanding in mind ,let us compare it with our actual experiences. There are three states that cover all our experiences.
    Starting with deep sleep, we have no experience of the world or living beings [mirror in the dark]
  The sleep then give way to dreams followed by waking [Here the mirror is reflecting the space and forms of the dreamscape and landscape]
   During the three states, our Awareness is always present, but awareness like the mirror itself is a stateless state, forever hidden and ineffable, but is known to BE by the knowing of what it is aware. That is we can intuit the existence of the mirror by its reflections. The Real is alluded by the illusions [reflection]
   On the same note, our True nature is ineffable and all that is known by awareness is nothing but Illusions. Illusions like reflections on the mirror comes and go, while the mirror remain still. So the world and all living beings in it being impermanent comes and go, while the Omni present awareness remain still and immutable. As the mirror and its reflections are one, so too Awareness and all the objects of awareness within it are also ONE. As the mirror is known to exist by its reflection, so too is awareness alluded by what its is aware [The illusionary world of samsara]

   The mirror is permanent whether objects are reflected or not. Hence our awareness is always present whether, there is thoughts or no thoughts and this is our nature that is beyond all forms, feelings and thoughts. As the mirror is the source of all reflections, so too is Awareness the source and essence of all phenomena.

The mirror is not the least affected by its reflection, be it war or peace, calamities of storm, flood or fire. So too is our Nature as awareness unaffected by the events of the world [samsara]

Heart Sutra

        The Heart Sutra in its condensed form is the shortest sutra and is the conclusive statement to round off the entire Buddhist teaching. It is a Statement of Reality which is DIRECT and differ from Sakyumuni's earlier teachings relying heavily on expedient, as skillful way to point to the ineffable.

        Buddhist teachings can be broadly classified into four vehicles [carts] They are :

1] The goat cart, [The four Noble Truth ]
2] The deer cart  [ The twelve Interdependent Origin ]
3] The ox cart     [ The Six paramitas ]

and

4] The Great White Ox cart.

The first three uses expedients and consist of skillful ways of pointing to the Truth, while the Great vehicle is Direct without relying on any expedient.

   The Teachings progressively reveal the illusionary nature of all forms[dusts] from the very course [matter] to the very subtle [ thoughts].
    In conclusion, the Heart sutra states that Forms being illusionary is no different from emptiness and have only the existence of emptiness. The Truth being such, there are no living beings and no world. In this Only real condition, concepts of the three poisons of Greed, Hatred and Delusion losses its foothold and the Heart sutra categorily dismisses the first three carts, leaving only the ever present Awareness [ Kuan Zhi Zhai ] As there are no living beings and world, There is nothing to be feared and No one to be in fear.

     Since there is Not a single living being [5 skandas] existing, the first three carts can be discarded as it is only beneficial to reduce outflow, requiring effort from the Ego.

    For the benefits of those still on the Hinayana, with various means of cultivations and meditation methods, the Truth reveal there is Nothing to meditate on and No one to be the meditator. All effort in the dream [samsara] pertain to the dream. Recognizing the dream as a dream is all is needed to awake TO [in contradistinction to FROM] the dream. This is Prajna identifying with the Dreamer [Kuan Zhi Zhai] and remain aloof  to the dream, while witnessing it. The wisdom of Sunyatta. knowing that all IS a dream in the MIDST of the dream and Awake TO it, not waiting for the dream to end

Hence the Victory mantra wiping out all delusions. Gate,gate,paragate,parasamgate, Bodhi shava.

Deepavali

  The Hindus have just celebrated Deepavali which many pass off as a festival of light [over darkness] Being a Chinese, I have always wondered why this day is refer to as ' Chu Yao Jie ' meaning to celebrate the annihilation of the Devil.

     From the many cultures, most of the celebrations are symbolic in nature and points towards a lofty message. The  celebration of Deepavali is always preceded by the breaking of coconut and towards dusk, oil lamps [using only coconut oil] are lit. One must realized the significance of this ritual.

    The coconut represent one's Ego. The Ego in Hinduism and other religions is regarded as the Devil that veiled the Light of Brahman within ALL. The Ego represented by the coconut must be broken [with wisdom] to reveal the essence within [The oil from the kernel ] the Heart which then shines to removes all the darkness of Ignorance. This Light is symbolized by the light from the oil lamp.

    Prior to Deepavali, elaborate designs and pictures [Kolam] were made from coloured rice laid out on floor, all to be swept away after Deepavali. This is to symbolize the impermanent and Maya nature of the Universe. Upon removing the Ego, all illusions disappear and only the Light of Awareness remain. In Buddhism this is known as Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.

   The celebrations continue and will continue, but the message is lost in the festivities.

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