Feelings of gratitude come and go in response to having been given something. A present, teaching, advice, the extended hand of friend. And as it has come this day, a tea treat delivered by a man with a van; a gift via a courier service on a clear sunny spring day. Moved to tears earlier in the morning, once again realizing that Sangha friendship is a gift well past what might be exchanged.
During formal meals traditionally taken during zen retreats, and at other times too, we recite the names of the Ten Buddhas out of gratitude. The first one is Vairochana Buddha:
The completely pure Buddha,
Vairochana Buddha,
Dharma itself;
Vairochana is associated with/representative of emptiness or Original Body. With clear eyes Vairochana is manifesting everywhere and at all times, a gift well past what is being made manifest in form.
Thank you Sangha Friends for pointing to the pure body of the Buddha. Tomorrow I’ll enjoy tea, scones and jam with a visiting friend.
Vairochana Buddha on Lotus Throne
The above image is from this source with gratitude.
At that moment the Bodhisattva known as the Lord whose Light Blossoms Forth to Penetrate the Deepest and Most Subtle Truths, having emerged from his samadhi in the great and splendours light, arose from within the assembly and, through the spiritual powers of the Buddha, poured forth a radiance in the form of a while cloud, brilliant as a diamond, in order to illumine all those worlds. The whole multitude of Bodhisattvas came and gathered within it to ask, in different ways but with the same intention, what caused this radiance. Shakyamuni Buddha then respectfully welcomed all this great multitude from these worlds within the lotus pedestal and led them back to the palace that glistened with millions upon millions of purple-hued diamond lights. There they beheld Vairochana Buddha seated upon His lotus pedestal which glittered brightly with thousands upon millions of lotus flowers.
After Shakyamuni Buddha and the whole assembly had simultaneously prostrated themselves in homage at the feet of Vairochana Buddha, Shakyamuni asked, “How can all sentient beings of earth and sky within those universes attain the path of the Ten Stages of Bodhisattva? What signs do Bodhisattvas display when they are about to realize the fruition of Buddhahood? Amongst the multiplicity of aspects that have their origin in the absolute Buddha Nature, pray explain in detail what the seeds of the Bodhisattvas are.”
From the The Scripture of Brahma’s Net, Buddhist Writings, Shasta Abbey Press.
This is a long and detailed scripture and this post and the previous one give a flavour of what is to come. From time to time I’ll return to it.
On The Foundations of Training.
At the time when Shakyamuni Buddha, whilst in the Fourth Region of the Meditational Heavens, was residing in the palace of the deva king Maheshvara along with the immeasurably great deva king Brahma and millions upon millions of Bodhisttvas, He spoke of the various aspects of the Dharma regarding the Foundations of Training which Vairochana proclaims whilst enthroned upon His lotus pedestal which contains all worlds within it.
On this occasion, Shakyamuni’s whole being glowed with the light from His discerning wisdom. This light shone forth from the palace of the deva king, reaching all the worlds contained within the lotus pedestal. All sentient beings living in all those worlds looked at each other with delight and joy, but as they could not yet grasp what the cause of this radiance was or what brought it about, they all gave rise to misgivings, and the innumerable devas also felt apprehensive.
With great gratitude to Michael in Canada for this image sent a few hours ago via email. He said, This is my work Buddha sitting on a window ledge. He seems particularly luminous today. It’s the perfect image to accompany the above text which comes at the start of The Scripture of Brahma’s Net Wherein Vairochana Buddha Explains for Bodhisattvas the Foundations of Training and the Precepts. Buddhist Writings, Shasta Abbey Press.
Most often the Buddha Dharma is approached via a bottom or side door and then the truth of it emerges in a less direct fashion. [Jade Mountains is an example.] Today the light of Buddha is shining directly in through the skylight, brilliant and awe inspiring. With all this awesome radiance even the innumerable devas felt apprehensive and all had misgivings [about grasping it’s profundity?]. With compassion for those present Shakyamuni Buddha asks Vairochana Buddha (Dharma Itself), on behalf of everybody present, to please explain in detail. Which is what happens.
Vairochana Buddha has the title – One Who Is the Source of the Luminosity
There is a woman I know who is waiting for the results of a tissue biopsy. She will know what they are on Tuesday. One can only imagine the stress and anguish this long week-end of waiting brings. Yes, and she is no doubt anticipating the results and what they might be and what each outcome might bring in terms of life itself. This is one among many such waiting-scenarios happening all around the world. No amount of rational thinking, or even just-sitting, can ease the stress completely. Kind and understanding friends can support and sympathise however that waiting time is at heart a private time when one draws on inner resources, best one can.
Sometimes the best one can do is engage in some well-aimed distractions. Go for a walk. Watch a DVD. Take a long bath. Bake! Play a game with the children. Read a novel. I’d say this is skillful action which purposefully redirects the mind away from one thing, worry and fear, and into some other activity. You could call it skillful forgetting. There is, just for a short time, slight respite. However nobody is fooled, we all know such distractions are temporary and engaged in to relieve a specific set of circumstances. Even in the midst of distractions inner resources such as forbearance, patience and resilience are still present.
So I hope anybody who is in a waiting and wondering place, and I know of several others, will take heart and listen to an audio book or do whatever it is that helps the anxious mind settle. I term this as well-aimed distraction or better purposeful distraction. Mindless distraction is when you don’t know you’re distracted!
Merit for those who wait and especially for those who see no end to it.
There can come about a stooping physically and stooping mentally/emotionally and really the two go hand in hand. We are after all, all-of-a-piece, psycho-physical beings. To some extent everybody has their stoopingly moments. Times when life gets a bit too much and we curl up, contract and withdraw into ourselves. Hopefully, and I’d say inevitably, contracting ourselves is sooner or later replaced with expansion, of regaining our full height and width and inner resilience. Hah! The WordWeb dictionary defines resilience thus: The physical property of a material that can return to its original shape or position after deformation that does not exceed its elastic limit. And also: An occurrence of rebounding or springing back. How very resilient we are when considering, for example, the way seriously damaged youngsters (babies even) live on into adulthood. Yes, and at any age a life event can have us peering out from behind frightened eyes, tensed right through to the toes. Yes, sometimes we are stretched past our elastic limits and regaining our shape, so to speak, may not be possible. But not impossible.
These two ponies are not stooping behind the wall, they are just short! I loved their expressions, they are 100% HERE. The black pony stood on tiptoe to reach through the wire and over the wall to see if there was anything I had of interest. Hungry? You can’t help but love ’em and small ponies seem to have an extra dollop of presence which, if you’re dealing with them, can be a problem. But this post isn’t about small ponies it’s about Buddhist practice and an instruction which is too often picked up and run with when it is wisest to question what the teaching actually is. The instruction, almost a mantra for some, is ‘get self out-of-the-way’. In practice I understand that as grasping ones will and turning down the volume of the me, me, me aspect of oneself. Parents have to teach their children how to do that without crushing their life and vitality into the ground and we have to do that for ourselves. As adults, mature adults, turning down the volume on one’s personal wants, needs and desires (and hurts) is to live in society in reasonable harmony while at the same time being as kind as a kind and loving parent.
The problem or difficulty comes when the teaching, get self out of the way is mistakenly heard as get rid of self, deny oneself in a harsh and uncompromising way. As with children and small ponies so too with us fallible adults we can lose it. When this happens our individual self-nature appears infinite, and it’s obvious we are a problem to ourselves let alone for others! The fact is we are unified body/minds which left alone (read that as stop and sit still) will move from needy and contracted to expanded, curious, generous. Kind. (My self teaching/reminder is the right thing does itself, given half a chance.)
The thing is even the needy and hurt who stoop behind frightened eyes (and with historic good reason), are still Buddha. Here is the last paragraph from a post titled A World of Difference by Rev. Alicia. My post was inspired by hers.
It is hard to let go of blame, but I see more and more that it doesn’t help things. And I’m not denying that we sometimes have to deal with circumstances that are a cause for deep concern. Recognising and accepting our own fear and distress is a necessary step in becoming still. Allowing skillful action to be called forth from us, it is more likely that we will do what is of most benefit to all beings, and that, of course, includes ourselves.
Let there be generous applications of compassion and acceptance for that which we call the self.
Practice Within The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives
