vajra (diamond) sutra march 11, 2011 lecture

8/7/2019 Vajra (Diamond) Sutra March 11, 2011 Lecture

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The Vajra (Diamond) SutraMarch 11 lecture

as outlined by a Buddhist monk(Listen live or recorded audio explanations atwww.wondrousdharma.org)

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a n n e eg po n ng o e m nS 26 The Dharma Body is not appearances

S 27 Not destroyed nor annihilated

S 28 No greed and nothing acquired


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Verse for opening a sutra

Homage to the Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra and theVajra assembly of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (3x)

The unsurpassed, deep, profound, subtle, wonderfulDharma,

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In a hundred thousand million eons, is difficult toencounter, Now that Ive come to receive and hold it, within my

sight and hearing,

I vow to fathom the Thus Come Ones true andactual meaning.


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Q&A

Question: Is there a balance between letting it be and takingaction to uncross the legs when you feel the pain?

Comments:

Let it be is to be patient.

Taking action is to uncross the legs.

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Q&A

When you first sit in full lotus, you may find that you havepain in the legs and back in the first half hour.

Then after persevering and constant practice, you findthat you begin to feel the pain in, say, after an hour.

Then from more practice and perseverance, you find thatyou begin to feel the pain in after an hour and a half ofsitting.

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Q&A

Whatever happened to the pain in the first half hour and the firsthour? It disappeared.

But because you practiced constantly, that it takes a period oftime to come to this. This is the gradual teaching.

Had you not uncross your leg at any point in time you feelpainful, you will find that the pain disappears faster. This issimilar to the sudden teaching.

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Q&A

The point is this: it is the mind that is in pain rather than the leg.

Pain or pleasure comes from the same discriminating mind

when fathomed truly doesnt exist at all because this is the falsemind.

Similarly let it be and take action to uncross the legs comesfrom the discriminating false mind.

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Q&A

The point when you uncross your legs is the point where you letthe false mind take over.

Though you endure the pain by letting it be, you are alsorecognizing the false mind because there is a person whoendure.

Patience is a virtue but the thought of emptying the pain has not

been fully emptied.

If you ignore the pain through the mind as if it doesnt exist,then you will succeed it.

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Q&A

To ignore the pain through the mind is to focus the mind

on the meditation topic rather than on the pain and theobject of pain which is the self.

To do so it is either ou do raduall or suddenl

gradually or suddenly realizing that the true mind is themind that doesnt think of the pain.

In the alternative, you use patience to endure and let itbe but with deep contemplation as

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Q&A

Though patience may take you to the limit, it will not

transcend the limit until the thought in mind is put down

To penetrate the limit is to suddenly realized that

therefore it is not real.

In this case, the mental pain and the object of pain dont

exist at all; hence there is not even the person whoendures the pain.

This qualifies as prajna paramita when realizing it was all

made from the mind. 9


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S 26 The Dharma body is not appearances

Sutra: Sutra: Subhuti, what do you think, is it possible tocontemplate the Thus Come One in his Thirty-twoPhysical Appearances?

Subhuti said, So it is. So it is. It is possible tocontemplate the Thus Come One in his Thirty-twoPh sical A earances.

The Buddha said, Subhuti, if one could contemplatethe Thus Come One in his Thirty-two PhysicalAppearances, then a Wheel Turning Sage King

would be the Thus Come One.

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Sutra: Subhuti addressed the Buddha, World HonoredOne as I understand what the Buddha has said, oneshould not contemplate the Thus Come One in his

Thirty-two Physical Appearances.Comments:

Why shouldnt we see the Buddha in his Thirty-two

Physical Appearances? It is because the appearance is just the Transformation

body and not the true Dharma Body.

The Transformation body dwells in this false world ofexistence and therefore it is not permanent.

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Question: The Appearance of Reality is withoutappearance. (s 14). What do you mean by without

appearance and how do we apply in our daily life?Comments:

The Buddhas life span knows no birth or death. Thus it

eons: eternal in the Pure Land of Eternal Stillness andLight, not produced and not extinguished

The Buddha-nature is light; but that refers to the

wonderful light of basic enlightenment. Basicenlightenment is the natural inherent enlightenment of us

all, and it is also the Buddhas light. And it is from thislight that the beings are transformed.(VM Hsuan Hua)

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Eternal stillness and not produced and not extinguishedis expressed in the Vajra Sutra s 29 The Thus Come

One does not come from anywhere nor does he goanywhere. Therefore he is called the Thus ComeOne.

And s 32 of the Vajra Sutra teaches how to be withoutappearance: By not grasping at appearance andbeing in unmoving thusness. what is meant by unmoving

thusness?...

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Venerable Master Hsuan Hua explains, Everything is

produced from the self nature and within the mind whichis thus, thus unmoving true reality is to be found. Seenin this way this state is the original nature exactly; it isthe hi hest enli htenment.

Great Master Sixth Patriarch explains it as:

Fully able to discriminate among appearances,

But unmoving in the primary sense The very act of viewing in this way

Itself is the function of true Reality.

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S 26 The Dharma body is not appearancesSutra: At that time, the World Honored One spoke a verse

saying:

One who looks for me in forms,

Seeks me in sounds, Practices a deviant path

And will never see the Thus Come One.

Comments: The Buddha here is reassuring that one who sees appearances

are not practicing the Way.

Any other way of looking at appearances as empty and false iscertainly not the teaching of the Buddha.

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Therefore the Buddha is emphatically sweeping all

appearances but that does not mean annihilationbecause every living being has the Buddha nature whichis eternal.

Buddhadharma ultimately leads us to nothing at all yet itis not annihilation nor emptiness.

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Sutra: Subhuti, you might have thought, It was notbecause he perfected his Physical Appearances thatthe Thus Come One attained

anuttarasamyaksambodhi. Subhuti, do not think, Itwas not because he perfected his PhysicalAppearances that the Thus Come One attained

. .

Comments:

The Buddha here is cautioning that we might think that

when the Buddha swept away all appearances in s 26,

we might misunderstand it to be annihilationism. This isnot the case.

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Sutra: Subhuti, if you think in that way, then those who haveresolved their minds on annuttarasamyaksambodhi wouldaffirm the destruction of all dharmas. Do not think like that.

Why? Those who have resolved their minds onanuttarasamyaksambodhi do not affirm the destruction ofthe appearances of all dharmas.

The above passage is affirming that the Buddhadharma is not

about annihilation but to dwell in the Middle Way.

The Buddha nature is eternally and inherently complete andperfect and everything manifest from it.

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Sutra: Subhuti, a Bodhisattva might fill up world systems equalin number to the grains of sand in the Ganges River withthe seven precious gems and give them as a gift. But ifanother person were to realize that all dharmas are devoid

of self and attain patience, that Bodhisattvas merit andvirtues would surpass the merit and virtues of the previousBodhisattva.

ommen s:

All dharmas means everything living beings, the entire universe that is:

It means even the teachings of the 3 Vehicles within theBuddhadharma

All dharmas include our self, living beings and the environmentwhich we come into contact as sense objects including our

thoughts. 19


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Why is everything devoid of self? It is without identity; it was allone true appearance; being appearances from or projections of

the mind.

One true appearance is without appearance (our inherent true

mind) yet within nothing everything manifest. (this world ofexistence)

All dharmas are devoid of self would then mean everything isoriginally empty; everything is fundamentally non existent but

appearances of the mind.

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Because we see through everything as devoid of self, we seethrough its true character that everything is inherently non

existent and empty.

Therefore it is not surprising that the sutra says:

all dharmas are devoid of self and attain patience- devoid.

Because everything or Reality is seen as empty and not realbut projections of the mind, one attains patience.

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Extract of s 28: But if another person were to realize

that all dharmas are devoid of self and attainpatience

appearances of mind.

2. He sees every phenomena including thoughts as not realor empty being appearances of the mind.

3. Therefore he attains patience with non producing of

dharmas or phenomena; nothing was produced nor

destroyed because originally there was nothing at all. 22


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Sutra: Why Subhuti? Because Bodhisattvas do notacquire blessings and virtues.

Comments:

Bodhisattvas do not acquire blessings and virtueswould mean blessings and virtues originally dont exist

because every living being is replete with blessings andv r ue o a u a.

They are expedients to negate the false and reveal thetrue. As such they are a product of projection of the

mind. This accords with Reality.

Therefore nothing was acquired. This is prajna paramita

to see Reality in its true form. What is Reality? 23


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What is Reality?

The Appearance of Reality is without Appearances.(s 14) Basically there was nothing at all.

From absolute nothingness comes this world of

existence which fundamentally doesnt exist.

When seen in this way, no blessings or virtues areacquired in this world of existence which fundamentallydoesnt exist.

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Sutra: Subhuti addressed the Buddha, World HonoredOne, how is it that Bodhisattvas do not acquireblessings and virtues?

Subhuti, Bodhisattvas should neither be greedy for,nor be attached to the blessings and virtues which

.

blessings and virtues.Comments:

Because we now see the Reality of Appearance of

blessings and virtues, we see it as fundamentally emptyand thus we do not greed for or attached to them.

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Dedication of merit

May every living beings,

Our minds as one and radiant with light

Share the fruits of peace, with heart of goodness

luminous and bright. If people hear and see, how hands and hearts can find in

giving unity

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, ,

and to joy. May kindness find reward; may all who sorrow leave their

grief and pain;

May this boundless light break the darkness of theirendless night.

Because our hearts are one, this world of pain turns intoparadise;

May all become compassionate and wise (2x)

vajra (diamond) sutra march 11, 2011 lecture

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