Shared with Your friends
As I said before this is like one of my favourite sutra.
Sound is empty and merely designated like chariot, D.O. and empty, has no coming nor going nor a producer, cannot be found in the parts or conditions nor apart from them.
The Bhagavān replied, “Sister, birth does not come from anywhere. Aging does not come from anywhere. They do not go anywhere. Sister, sickness does not come from anywhere. Death does not come from anywhere. They do not go anywhere. Sister, form does not come from anywhere. Sensation, notions, formative factors and consciousness do not come from anywhere. They do not go anywhere. Sister, the earth element does not come from anywhere. The water element, the fire element, the wind element, the space element and the element of consciousness do not come from anywhere. They do not go anywhere. Sister, the eye does not come from anywhere. The ear, the nose, the tongue, the body and the mind do not come from anywhere. They do not go anywhere.
“Sister, it is as follows: as an analogy, a fire arises based on a stick to rub with, a stick to rub on, and and also a person’s effort to generate it. That fire, moreover, once it has burnt the grass and wood, will have no more causes and will die. Sister, where do you think the fire comes from and where does it go?”
She answered, “O Bhagavān, that fire comes into being owing to the power of a collection of causes. It ceases and dies when it lacks the collection of causes.”
The Bhagavān said, “Sister, likewise, all phenomena [F.311.b] come into being owing to the power of a collection. They cease and die when they lack the collection. Whatever the phenomena, they do not come from anywhere, nor do they go anywhere. Sister, it is as follows: although the eye consciousness arises based upon the eye and form, the eye consciousness does not have a producer, nor anything that makes it cease. Nowhere is it brought together at all. The aggregates do not come from anywhere, nor do they go anywhere. When one has accumulated karma through the conditions of the consciousnesses, the fruits manifest as the results of three types1 in the three realms. That fruit is empty too. It has no coming. It has no going. No one makes it arise. It is not stopped by anybody. Sister, all phenomena have stopped due to their very natures.
“Likewise, although the mental consciousness arises based upon the ear and sound, the nose and smell, the tongue and taste, the body and touch, and the mind and phenomena, the mental consciousness2 does not have a producer nor has it anything that makes it cease. Nowhere is it brought together at all.3 The aggregates do not come from anywhere, nor do they go anywhere either. When one has accumulated karma through the condition of mental consciousness, the fruits manifest as the results of three types in the three realms. That fruit is empty too. It has no coming. It has no going. No one makes it arise. It is not stopped by anybody. Sister, all phenomena are inherently stopped.
- Mahallikā­paripṛcchā (Toh 171, Degé Kangyur, vol. 59, folios 310.b–314.a.)
“Sister, it is as follows: as an analogy, the sound of a drum arises based on wood, hide and a stick, and also on a person’s effort to make it arise. The past sound of that drum was empty, the future sound will be empty and the sound that arises at present is empty. The sound does not dwell in the wood, neither does it dwell in the hide, nor does it dwell in the stick, nor does it dwell in the person’s hand. However, because of these conditions, it is termed sound. That which is termed sound is also empty. It has no coming. It has no going. No one makes it arise. It is not stopped by anybody. Sister, all phenomena are inherently stopped.
“Sister, likewise, all phenomena depend solely on conditions, i.e., ones such as ignorance, craving, karma and consciousness. When these latter phenomena are present, the terms death and birth are designated. [F.312.a] That which is designated death and birth is also empty. It has no coming. It has no going. No one makes it arise. It is not stopped by anybody. Sister, all phenomena are inherently stopped.
“Sister, in this way, whoever understands the nature of a drum’s sound well also understands emptiness well. Whoever understands emptiness well, understands nirvāṇa well. Whoever understands nirvāṇa well has no attachment to any entity, and despite designating conventional things with all sorts of terms—‘this is mine,’ or ‘that is me,’ or ‘sentient being,’ or ‘life force,’ or ‘living being,’ or ‘man,’ or ‘person,’ or ‘born of Manu,’ or ‘son of Manu,’ or ‘agent,’ or ‘inciter of action,’ or ‘appropriator,’ or ‘discarder’—he teaches Dharma without attachment to these. He teaches Dharma well. He teaches the final reality. He teaches the final reality well.
- Mahallikā­paripṛcchā (Toh 171, Degé Kangyur, vol. 59, folios 310.b–314.a.)
“Mañjuśrī, whenever not much rain falls from the atmosphere and the sky above, all the sentient beings in Jambūdvīpa think, ‘Here there is not a cloud.’ But when, Mañjuśrī, a lot of rain falls on the great earth from the atmosphere and the sky above, they say: ‘Oh, a great cloud [F.282.b] is pouring down water, satisfying the great earth.’
“However, Mañjuśrī, when this happens there is neither a cloud, nor anything that can be designated as a cloud. Mañjuśrī, a large mass of water is generated by the wind, and then it falls from the atmosphere above. Mañjuśrī, the mass of water disappears in the atmosphere itself, due to the ripening of sentient beings’ previous karma. [42]
“Mañjuśrī, that cumulus of water above in the atmosphere, stirred by the wind and releasing water, is designated a cloud due to the maturation of sentient beings’ previous karma. However, Mañjuśrī, no cloud can be found there, nor anything that could be designated a cloud. Mañjuśrī, the cloud is non-arisen and non-ceasing; it does not enter the way of mind, and it is free from coming and going.
“In the same way, Mañjuśrī, for bodhisattva great beings who have accumulated previous roots of what is wholesome; for other sentient beings who wish for the awareness of a hearer or a pratyekabuddha; and for those sentient beings who have accumulated roots of what is wholesome and possess the causes to be shown the path to nirvāṇa, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Perfect and Complete Buddha with unobstructed brilliance comes to be counted as arisen in the world.
“Whatever he says is thus (tathā), undistorted, thus and not otherwise. Therefore, he was given the name Tathāgata among gods and men. [44] Mañjuśrī, this word appears among gods and men: Tathāgata. However, Mañjuśrī, there is no Tathāgata to be found. The Tathāgata, Mañjuśrī, is not a sign, and he is free from signs. [F.283.a] He is not placed in any of the primary or intermediate directions. He is unreal, non-arisen, and non-ceasing.
“On the other hand, Mañjuśrī, the appearance of the Tathāgata satisfies and entertains this world, including the gods, through the Dharma. And then, due to the ripening of previous karma of beginner bodhisattvas and immature, ordinary people who are guided by means of nirvāṇa, it appears that the Tathāgata is no more to be seen. They think, ‘The Tathāgata has passed into complete nirvāṇa.’ However, Mañjuśrī, the Tathāgata neither arises nor ceases. The Tathāgata, Mañjuśrī, is non-arisen and non-ceasing. Mañjuśrī, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Perfect and Complete Buddha is primordially in complete nirvāṇa.
“Mañjuśrī, when some water is taken as a point of reference for an unreal cloud that has not arisen nor ceased, and is non-existent, the designation ‘cloud’ is established in the world. In the very same way, Mañjuśrī, when the teaching of the Dharma is taken as a point of reference for an unreal tathāgata who has not arisen nor ceased, and who is non-existent and primordially unborn, the designation ‘the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Perfect and Complete Buddha’ becomes established in the world. [46]
- The Ornament of the Light of Awareness that Enters the Domain of All Buddhas (Toh 100, Degé Kangyur, vol. 47, folios 276.a–305.a.)
Labels: Dependent Origination, Emptiness, Mahayana, Non-Arising |
 
Comments

  • Yin Ling
    Oh this is so good!


  • André A. Pais
    I'm reminded of Stian's "knock-sound" experiment. Knocking on the table, sound appears: but where is it?
    Is it in the fingers? In the wood? In the air? In the eardrum or the mind? Is it in the space accommodating all this? In the temporal series expressing this activity?
    Sound is nowhere to be found, and yet it is vividly present. It lies not in any of the individual conditions, but if a single one of them is removed, sound does not manifest. It arises from nothing in specific, and yet it exists inseparable from all. Ultimately, the whole universe is embodied in this knock-sound movement, but in the whole universe never is it found.
    It's like the fresh-looking water in a mirage. It is so obviously there - a tired wanderer will spend his last sliver of energy dragging his hurt feet over burning sand to taste that deliciously-looking water. And yet, there is not one atom's worth of water in the mirage.
    The absolute absence of water is perfectly aligned with and inseparable from the appearance of fresh and vibrant water. The emptiness of water is none other than the form of water.
    Sound is like the water in a mirage. It is as gloriously present as it is unfathomably absent. It is the entire field of causes and conditions, stretching all space and time, and yet magically abiding and resting nowhere.
    All causes and conditions are like this. All effects. All reality - space, time, self, other, mind, matter, world. All is gloriously present, vibrant and poignant; all is mysteriously absent, unfindable and ungraspable.


  • Soh Wei Yu
    If im not wrong, i think i made a small donation to 84000 because of this sutra some years back







  •  
    Shared with Your friends
     
    Dependent arising and non-arising.
    .. Is a most important concept in Buddhism to understand. The nature of all “things” or mind can be understood only when we understand non-arising.
    Most when explain dependent origination, or dependent arising, explain the contributions of causes and conditions, parts, towards the EXISTENCE of a whole, towards the existence of an inherent event. They still see the whole car 🚗 , they still see the whole person, with an essence, with a core. That is still not good enough.
    This is just the very start and basic teaching of understanding causes and conditions, but not yet the true intent of the Blessed one.
    This way of seeing essence / existence also reflects the deep grasping of our mind on Inherency, our minds always to want to pin something down, have something to wrap around, to solidify. Can you feel that tendency? The propensity of wanting to see the existence of a whole is so hypnotising… so much so that we are not able to be freed of the root that propels our cyclic existence - the grasping mind onto Inherency- that is the root.
    Also, Understanding dependent arising this way, we will not be able to transcend birth and death. We won’t be able to explain rebirth clearly. There will be contradictions in our thought process.
    However, if one understands when a thing is dependent on causes and conditions, on parts, on the consciousness that apprehends and conceptualises it, when that “thing” is shred to pieces like that, there is no one true thing there
    with an ESSENCE, there is no true arising.
    There is only a coreless appearance.
    Like a hologram.
    No essence. Nothing to grasp.
    This is what is meant by “non-arising”.
    It is the true meaning of dependent origination.
    It is emptiness.
    There is Not an inherent thing, not an inherent process, not an inherent mind, not an inherent world, nothing inherent, only dependent arising.
    When we see clearly like that, our mind has nothing to wrap around, our mind cannot pin something down..
    When asked, where is the car? The mind is stunted by this question because if it looks, it cannot pin “CAR” in its part, in the ppl who make the car, or even in the consciousness that apprehend it. Where is the car?
    Understanding dependent arising or dependent origination this way,
    from there we can see non-arising,
    Hence non-abiding
    And non-cessation.
    What is there to arise, abide or cease?
    Then one can understand the heart sutra’s intent of “all dharmas are empty, there is no birth, no death, no stain, no stainlessness, no increase, no decrease”. (是诸法空相,不生不灭,不垢不净,不增不减)
    You will also understand why the 6th patriarch Hui Neng in his reply poem says :
    ”There is nothing truly there,
    Where can dust alight?”
    (本来无一物,何处惹尘埃)
    You will be able to understand Nargajuna 8 negations dedicatory verses to the Buddha in his monumental “Fundamental wisdom of the middle way”:
    I prostrate to the Perfect Buddha,
    The best of teachers,
    who taught that
    Whatever is dependently arisen is
    Unceasing, unborn,
    Unannihilated, not permanent,
    Not coming, not going,
    Without distinction, without identity,
    And free from conceptual construction.
    Then you can understand Tsongkhapa’s 3 principle of the path , his saying about one’s analysis is only complete after one sees both dependent origination and emptiness as complementary and not separate.
    Then there is no separate 2 truths.
    And we understand nature of reality. Just that.
    And you will eventually with repetitive seeing sees nirvana, unleash the mind from many lifetimes of grasping to true existence , and stop suffering so much 🙏🏻
    May all sincere practitioners be able to see clearly with wisdom and liberate. 🙏🏻
    0 Responses