Zandtao began chapter 8 thinking about developing his understanding of sunnata through the suttas (AppD) but he gained little. So he turned back to Buddhadasa and the Heart-wood from The Bo Tree. For Zandtao this did not work as a z-quest. As he read through the text nothing bounced off, he simply accepted what Buddhadasa said. In the second section there were later parts that were not understood and need contemplation, but as a z-quest the best he could do was note down quotes without commenting. His intention was to look at the 3rd section of Heartwood at the end of Stephen's book.
Zandtao first notes that Buddhadasa as slave to the Buddha did not restrict himself to the Pali Canon as this quote from the translator notes:- “Drawing fluently from material in both the Pall canon and the teaching of the Chinese Zen Masters he makes terms and concepts that often seem dauntingly abstract, immediate and practical.”
The Heart-wood from the Bodhi Tree is 3 talks and he begins by looking at the essential points or foundations of Buddhism “To call something a foundation of the Buddhist Teachings is only correct if firstly, it is a principle which aims at the extinction of Dukkha [2] and, secondly, it has a logic that one can see for oneself without having to believe others. These are the important constituents of a foundation.”
“Knowing the root cause of Dukkha, one will be able to extinguish it, and that root cause of Dukkha is delusion, the wrong understanding that there is a self and things belonging to a self.”
Spiritual disease “refers to the subtle aspects of the mind that are ill through the power of defilement, in particular through ignorance or wrong view”, spiritual disease as opposed to physical and mental.” “It was just left a perfect emptiness, which was called Nibbana, as in the phrase, "Nibbanam paramam sunnam" - "Nibbana is supreme emptiness" - that is to say, absolutely empty of "I" and empty of "mine", in every respect, without remainder. That is Nibbana, the end of spiritual disease.”
“At this point we no longer call it egoism but selfishness, because it's an agitated egoism that leads one into low, false ways, into a state of thinking only of oneself without consideration for others, so that everything one does is selfish. One is completely ruled by greed, hatred, and delusion. The disease expresses itself as selfishness and then harms both oneself and others.” “Nothing whatsoever should be clung to. Then the Buddha emphasized this point by saying that whoever had heard this core phrase had heard all of the Teachings, whoever had put it into practice had practised all of the Teachings, and whoever had received the fruits of practising this point had received all of the fruits of the Buddhist Teachings.”
“We can divide the defilements up into lobha, dosa, and moha (or raga, kodha, and moha) or group them into sixteen or as many categories as we want - in the end they are all included in greed, hatred and delusion. But these three, too, can be collected into one-the feeling of "I" and "mine". The feeling of "I" and "mine" is the inner nucleus which gives birth to greed, hatred, and delusion. When it emerges as greed, as desire and craving, it attracts the sense -object that has come into contact. If at another moment it repels the object, then it's hate or dosa. On those occasions when it's stupefied and doesn't know what it wants, hovering around the object, unsure whether to attract or repel, that is moha. Defilement behaves in one of these ways towards sense? objects, i.e., forms, sounds, odors, flavors, or tangible objects, depending on what form. the object takes-whether it is clearly apprehendable or hidden, and whether-it encourages attraction, repulsion, or confusion. But, though they differ, all three 'are defilements because they have their roots in the inner feeling of "I" and "mine". Therefore, it can be said that the feeling of "I" and "mine" is the chief of all defilements and the root cause of all Dukkha, of all disease.”
“We must see that this "I" and "mine" is the root cause of all forms of Dukkha. Wherever there is clinging, then there is the darkness of ignorance. There is no clarity because the mind is not empty; it is shaken up, frothing and foaming with the feeling of "I" and "mine". In direct contrast, the mind that is free of clinging to "I" and "mine" is serene, filled full of truth-discerning awareness. Freedom from "I" and "mine" is truth-discerning awareness. Thus, if one speaks intelligently - which is to say, concisely, although it is somewhat frightening, one says along with Huang Po, along with the Zen sect, that Emptiness is the Dhamma, Emptiness is the Buddha, and Emptiness is the Primal Mind. Confusion, the absence of Emptiness, is not the Dhamma, not the Buddha, and not the Primal Mind”
“If we are empty of egoism there is no consciousness of "I" and "mine". We have the truth -discerning awareness that can extinguish Dukkha and is the cure for the spiritual disease; At that moment the disease cannot be born, and the disease that has already arisen will disappear as if picked up and, thrown away. At that moment, the mind will be completely filled with Dhamma. To put it simply, there will be perfect satisampajanna (mindfulness and self - awareness); perfect hiri (sense of shame); perfect ottappa (fear of evil); perfect khanti (patience and endurance); and perfect soracca (gentleness). There will be perfect katannukatavedi (gratitude) and perfect honesty right up to yathabhutananadassana (the knowledge and vision according to reality) that is the cause for the attainment of Nibbana.”
“We must first be aware of these two categories, "empty of I" and "not empty of I". The former is called "empty" and the latter is called "disturbed" and to save time that is how they will be referred to from now on. Inner emptiness means to be normal, to have a mind that is not scattered and confused. Anyone who experiences this really likes it. If it develops to its greatest degree, which is to be empty of egoism, then it is Nibbana. The disturbed mind is just the opposite. It is disturbed in every way - in body, speech, and mind. It is totally confused, without the slightest peace or happiness.”
“One of the many ways is to constantly contemplate "I" and "mine" as maya, an illusion' or hallucination. This will enable you to see D that the feeling of self, a seemingly solid entity that we are familiar with as ,"I" and" mine", is in fact a mere illusion. This is achieved by contemplating self in terms of the Paticcasamuppada. Please see that as soon as there is contact with a sense? object there is phassa, and that the subsequent development of phassa into vedana, tanha and so on is called Paticcasamuppada, i.e. the process by which various things, existing in dependence on one other thing, condition the arising of another thing, which in turn conditions the development of a further thing, and so on. This process or state is called Paticcasamuppada. It is dependent arising with no self to be found, merely dependence followed by arising. The Paticcasamuppada is the process of dependent arising or dependent origination.”
“How is it to live rightly so the world will not be empty of arahants? To live rightly is to live untouched by forms; sounds, odors, flavors and physical sensations. In other words they are experienced, but they do not enter and confect vedana, tanha, and upadana. We live wisely. We live with truth-discerning awareness, empty of "I" and "mine", as has already been explained. For we have studied sufficiently, we have practised until we are sufficiently adept. Thus having come into contact, the sense-object dies like a wave breaking on the shore; or as if we have a cat in the house that kills the rats that enter from other houses or the forest. But, when we live rightly, there is no way for the disease to arise. To explain this point further, if we live rightly then the defilements have no food to sustain them. They get thin and die. It can be compared to caging a fierce tiger in a pen where there is no food. We don't have to kill it, it will die of its own accord. We encircle forms, sounds, odors, flavors, physical sensations, and mental phenomena right at the point where they contact the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. We cage them right there. Practising rightly towards those things at that point, the defilements have no way to get food, will not be born, will not spread, and the germ will die.”
“If you want a secure life, you must rely on a thorough "understanding of aniccam-dukkham-anatta. Then you will be able to resist the forms, sounds, odors, flavors, and physical sensations that are experienced without getting lost in aversion or attraction. There are just two kinds of confusion - getting lost in attraction and getting lost in aversion, the causes of laughter and of tears. If one sees that laughter is just one form of panting and gasping and crying is another, and that to remain even minded is better, that is called security.”
“Really think about this-why are you studying? Why are you doing the job that you do? Why do you amass wealth and status, fame and followers? It's solely for the sake of sukhavedana. If we understand just this one matter and deal with it correctly, every matter will come right. So we must see sukhavedana in its true light, as one sort of illusion.”
We must deal with sukhavedana in accordance with its illusory nature. To develop an aversion towards it would be utterly foolish, as would be getting infatuated "with it and becoming its slave. To deal with it correctly is Dhamma, and to do so is to be a disciple of the Buddha, for one can thereby defeat Dukkha: and not be forced to suffer from the spiritual disease. It is achieved by the method of contemplating the illusory nature of sukhavedana, that it is like a wave that arises due to the wind blowing across water. In other words, when forms, sounds, odors and flavors have entered, the foolishness of ignorance and delusion goes out to receive them. From that contact, the wave of sukhavedana arises and then breaks up and disintegrates.”
“These three examples I have given are sufficient, for time is running out. We can see the illusoriness of "I" and "mine" through the principle of Paticcasamuppada; the illusoriness of sense - objects through the principle of aniccam - dukkham - anatta or the illusoriness of sukhavedana.”
“But we shouldn't go thinking that absence of birth means that one is so empty that there is no feeling at all. It is not sitting stiffly like a log of wood. On the contrary, one is extremely active. Being perfectly empty of birth, empty of "I", is to have perfect truth-discerning awareness, and so whatever one does is completely fluent. There being no false thinking, false speech, or false action, one acts swiftly and surely. There is no possibility of error because one's truth-discerning awareness is natural and spontaneous.
“we must have unceasing self - awareness. Don't be forgetful and don't be heedless. Keep observing the emptiness and disturbance which are arising daily. Let the mind love and be satisfied with emptiness, the ever - present Nibbana. Don't let it incline into wrong understanding and get lost in things that disturb.”
“Right now, the greatest problem is that nobody is fond of ending Dukkha. herefore, the ending of, or freedom from, the spiritual disease lies in knowing how to prevent the arising of "I" and "mine", and that freedom from disease is called the greatest gift.”
****End-of-1st Talk****
Emptiness
“Emptiness is the most difficult to understand of all the Buddhist Teachings because it is their innermost heart. Being called a heart it must obviously be something subtle and profound. Its understanding does not lie within the scope of mere conjecture or the sort of pondering that ordinary people are accustomed to. It can only be understood by determined study.
The most essential meaning of the word 'study' is of the unceasing, dedicated observation and investigation of whatever arises in the mind, be it pleasant or unpleasant. Only one familiar with the observation of mind can really understand Dhamma. One who merely reads books cannot understand and what's more may even go astray. But one who tries to observe the things going on in the mind and always takes that which is true in his or her own mind as a standard has no way to get, muddled. Such a person will be able to comprehend Dukkha and the cessation of Dukkha and ultimately will understand Dhamma. Then if books are read they will be understood well.”
“When we are suffering from Spiritual Disease with what must we treat it? We must treat it with emptiness. What's more, emptiness (sunnata) is not only the cure of the disease but is also the freedom from disease. There is nothing beyond emptiness.
The medicine which cures the disease is the knowledge and practice that gives birth to emptiness. When emptiness has appeared it will be the cure of the disease and alter recovery from the disease there will be nothing save emptiness, the state void of Dukkha and. void of the mental defilements that are the cause of Dukkha This emptiness, which has that wide breadth of meaning, is self-existent: nothing can come to touch it, develop it, improve it, or do anything to it. Thus it is a timeless state, for it mows neither birth nor death. Its 'being' is not the same as the being of things which are born and die but since we have no other word to use, we say that it has being characterized by immutable emptiness.”
At this point zandtao was greatly disturbed, and noted a pattern of disturbance. First recent disturbance – Eckhart’s 2nd mystery, second recent disturbance – threshold of autonomy, and 3rd recent disturbance – Heart-wood of Bo Tree – Buddhadasa on sunnata. Zandtao called the threshold of autonomy, Prajna, and Buddhadasa is calling it satipanna – a vindication.
Coming out of the disturbance zandtao saw sunnata – satipanna(4DC) and choosing self. In mind there is occupation by sunnata or there is occupation by self. Interesting how this compares with NXIVM LINK. There was KR or self-esteem. Buddhadasa wants us to replace self with sunnata, NXIVM replaces self-esteem with KR. For 2 days zandtao chose self and its addictions, coming out of this indulgence there was the clarity of sunnata or the choice of self and its addictions.
“That being so, we will aim to examine emptiness only as absence of Dukkha and the defilements that are the cause of Dukkha and as the absence of the feeling that there is a self or that there are things which are the possessions of a self. This is emptiness as it relates to our practice of Dhamma. 'Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya' which translates literally as 'No dhamma whatsoever should be grasped at or clung to'. If one amplifies the meaning a little it may be rendered as 'no one should grasp or cling to anything as being I or mine'.”
“The word dhamma signifies nature. This interpretation is in line with the etymology of the word, for the word dhamma means 'a thing which maintains itself'. Dhammas are divided into two categories; those which flow and change and those that do not. Those that flow and change due to some generative force maintain their existence within that very flow and change i.e. they are the stream of transformation itself. That which being devoid of the necessary causal factors does not flow and change is Nibbana or emptiness. It is able to maintain itself without change i.e. it is the state of changelessness itself. Nothing whatsoever should be grasped at or clung to as being 'I' or 'mine'. So from this it can be clearly seen that emptiness is the nature of all things. It is only by ending every kind of delusion that it can be discerned. To see emptiness there must be panna that is undeluded and undefiled. ”
“Thus we must examine the point that just as it is necess?ary to see the danger of fire in order to be afraid of being burnt, so also must we see the dangers of those things which are the root? causes of all fires, the fires of greed, aversion, and delusion, of grasping and clinging, in order to become gradually bored with and averse to them, and be able to relax our grip on them without thought of lighting any more fires.
Here we reach the word 'emptiness' of which it was said that having seen it one will find contentment in Nibbana. We must thoroughly understand that on the first level emptiness is absence of the feeling of 'I' and 'mine'. If those feelings are still present then the mind is not empty, it is 'disturbed' by grasping and clinging. We will use these two words to help our memories: 'empty' meaning free of the feeling of self or that things belong to self; and 'disturbed' meaning confused, depressed, in turmoil with the feeling of 'I' and 'mine'. ”
“This is the mind that is identical with emptiness. If we say that the mind has attained or realized emptiness it leads some people to understand that the mind is one thing and emptiness another. To say that the mind comes to know emptiness is still not particularly correct. Please understand that if the mind was not one and the same thing as emptiness, there would be no way for emptiness to be known. The mind in its natural state is emptiness, it is an alien foolishness that enters and obstructs the vision of emptiness. Consequently, as soon as foolishness departs, the mind and emptiness are one. The mind then knows itself. It doesn't have to go anywhere else knowing objects, it holds to the knowing of emptiness, knowing nothing other than the freedom from 'self' and 'belong to self'.”
Stream-entry – “When they objected that it was too difficult he came down only to the level of Sotapattiyamka -.the practice leading to 'stream - entry' [18] i.e. the genuine realization of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, and of ariyakantasila - the virtuous conduct that is of contentment to the Noble Ones. In fact they were being lured into a trap by the Buddha and were neatly caught in the snare. To speak in coarse everyday terms he completely swindle them. They said they didn't want sunnata so the Buddha gave them instead something which could not escape it, the lasso that would pull them into it. For there is only one way to truly realize the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha and to have the virtuous conduct that is of contentment to the Noble Ones, and that is to be continually seeing the futility of grasping and clinging. ”
This is the 2nd prong – awareness of wisdom and tathata – “The Nibbana - dhamma lies in the minds of each one of you at the moment that you are to some degree empty of the feeling of 'I' and 'mine'. So please be aware of this ego-less feeling, remember it well and keep it with you when you return to your home. If anything is spoken to stimulate interest it is with good intentions. But if anyone has any truth - discerning awareness they will be able to see for themselves without having to believe me, and that seeing will more and more open the way for further study towards the ultimate truth. If that is the case, then we must move our study onto the subject of dhatu (elements).”
“The Buddha called it 'nirodhadhatu.' The words vatthudhatu or rupadhatu refer to materiality whether visible forms, sounds, odors, tastes, tactile objects or whatever.
Arupadhatu refers to the mind and heart, to mental processes, the thoughts and feelings that arise in the mind. There is only one kind of element not included in these two categories an element that is their complete antithesis and annihilation. Consequently the Buddha sometimes called it 'nibbanadhatu' sometimes 'nirodhadhatu' and sometimes 'amatadhatu.' The words nirodhadhatu and nibbanadhatu both mean extinguish, it is the extinguishing element, the element that extinguishes all other elements. Amatadhatu means the 'element that does not die'. All other elements die, it is their nature to die. Nirodhadhatu is not tied to birth and death but is, on the contrary, the utter extinction of the other elements. Sunnata is that which dwells in this element and so it might also be called sunnatadhatu, for it is the element that brings all elements to emptiness. One must go on to know vinnanadhatu, the immaterial consciousness - element, akasadhatu, the space element and sunnatadhatu, the emptiness element that is the utter extinction of earth, water, fire, wind, consciousness and space. The element of emptiness is the most wonderful element in all the Buddhist Teachings. ”
Arahant – “There's a self there all the time, it's all sankhata. Only on the discovery of nirodhadhatu can we withdraw from the conditioned. Thus nirodhadhatu is the final element it is the element of extinguishing. It is the utter extinguishing of 'I' and 'mine'. If there is an absolute and final extinction (anupadisesanibbanadhatu) then one becomes an arahant. If the extinction is incomplete (sa-upadisesanibbinadhatu) then one becomes one of the lesser Noble Ones, for there is still a remnant of ego, it is not the true ultimate emptiness of paramamsunnam. ”
“To summarize: we must know the dhatus, the true constituents of all things. Please understand them according to the main principle whereby there is rupadhatu: elements with form; arupadhatu: elements without form; nirodhadhatu: the element which is the extinguishing of both the form and formless elements. We can confidently assert that there is nothing outside the scope of these three words. ”
“The Buddha stated that He, the Tathagata dwelt and passed His life in sunnatavihara.”
2nd prong – “But Nibbana is not a material object it is a matter of the mind and heart. As I have said, right now most of your minds are empty. This is already a taste. Be diligent in seeing that.”
“Therefore, we should practice mindfulness of, breathing stage by stage, developing kayanupassana, vedananupassana, cittanupassana, and dhammanupassana [23]. It is a constant tasting of emptiness from start to finish. Finally, we will understand emptiness through seeing the painful consequences of grasping and clinging. Then the mind will immediately turn to find contentment with the ayatana of Nibbana. So in this way we are able to see emptiness continually, before actually reaching its supreme level. There is a progress that follows its own law or the law of nature itself. When having firmly comprehended something by oneself the resulting knowledge is firm. It does not sway unstably like false knowledge or knowledge gained by listening to others. We don't have to do anything very much to make ourselves happy, we don't' have to go to any great trouble. All we have to do is to empty our minds of greed. aversion and delusion, or in other words to make it empty of grasping at and clinging to 'I' and 'mine.' When the mind is empty of greed, aversion and delusion then it's truly empty and all Dukkha comes to an end. Even kamma will of itself come to an end. ”
“The last point that we must consider is that, as was said at the beginning, emptiness exists in relation to all things. Don’t forget that 'all things' are nothing other than dhammas and that dhammas are nothing but nature or suchness. They are already empty of self or the belongings of self. The dhammas of foolishness, delusion and ignorance emerge continually, because our culture and the way that we live encourage the dhammas of ego and unknowing. They don't encourage the dhammas of knowledge. ”
“ there arose teachings such as those of Hui Neng and Huang?-Po in which explanations of mind and Dhamma, of Buddha, the Way and emptiness were extremely terse. There emerged the key sentence that mind, Buddha, Dhamma, the Way and emptiness are all just one thing. This one sentence is enough there is no need to say anything more. It is equivalent to all the scriptures. ”
“But you must be very careful regarding the phrases 'Nibbana is the supreme happiness' and 'Nibbana is the ultimate emptiness'. You must grasp their meaning correctly, don't take the word happiness to mean the happiness that you've formerly enjoyed, like the sect before the Buddha's time who took the height of sensual pleasure as Nibbana or others who took the happiness of refined states of meditation as supreme., The Buddha wanted us to completely withdraw from those things, to use nekkhamadhatu as the means to withdraw from sensuality, to use arupadhatu as the means to withdraw from absorptions of the fine-material plane, and finally to use nirodhadhatu as the means to withdraw from the conditioned, so that all the manifold types of confusion converge in emptiness.”
Contents
|
