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In fact, sutras that teach absolute truth can be better understood in the light of sutras that teach relative truth.
When we train ourselves in understanding the most basic discourses, we will be able to grasp more easily those that are more esoteric.
Such as teaching by means of parables.
The Third Reliance is that we should rely on the meaning and not on the words.
The Fourth Reliance is that we should rely on the insight of looking deeply (jñana) rather than on differentiation and discrimination (vijñana).
We can rely on discriminative as well as nondiscriminative wisdom.
The teachings of the Two Truths, Three Dharma Seals, Two Relevances, Four Standards of Truth, and Three Doors of Liberation are important guides to help us understand the language the Buddha used when he taught. Without understanding the Buddha’s language, we cannot understand the Buddha.
the Three Doors of Liberation — emptiness (shunyata), signlessness (animitta), and aimlessness (apranihita). All schools of Buddhism accept the teaching of the Three Doors of Liberation.
We are empty of a separate, independent self. We cannot be by ourselves alone. We can only inter-be with everything else in the cosmos.
Emptiness does not mean nonexistence. It means Interdependent Co-Arising, impermanence, and nonself.
In the Diamond Sutra, we are taught that a human being is not independent of other species, so to protect humans, we have to protect the non-human species.
We have to learn to see ourselves in things that we thought were outside of ourselves in order to dissolve false boundaries.
When we maintain awareness that we are all linked to each other, this is the Concentration on Emptiness (shunyata samadhi). Reality goes beyond notions of being and nonbeing.
The Concentration on Emptiness is a way of staying in touch with life as it is, but it has to be practiced and not just talked about.
If we only study emptiness as a philosophy, it will not be a Door of Liberation.
Emptiness is a Door of Liberation when we penetrate it deeply and we realize Interdependent Co-Arising and the interbeing nature of everything that is.
Signs are instruments for our use, but they are not absolute truth, and they can mislead us. The Diamond Sutra says, “Wherever there is a sign, there is deception, illusion.”
“If you see the signlessness of signs, you see the Tathagata.”
Tathagata means “the wondrous nature of reality.”4
To see the wondrous nature of water, you need to look beyond the sign (appearance) of the water, and see that i...
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An organic gardener who looks at a banana peel, dead leaves, or rotting branches can see flowers, fruit, and vegetables in them. She is able to see the nonself nature of flowers, fruit, and garbage. When she can apply this insight to all other spheres, she will realize complete awakening.
Young people harm themselves and others because life has no meaning for them.
Signlessness is not just an idea. When we look deeply into our children, we see all the elements that have produced them. They are the way they are because our culture, economy, society, and we ourselves are the way we are. We can’t simply blame our children when things go wrong. Many causes and conditions have contributed. When we know how to transform ourselves and our society, our children will transform also.
very few school programs teach young people how to live — how to deal with anger, how to reconcile conflicts, how to breathe, smile, and transform internal formations. There needs to be a revolution in education. We must encourage schools to train our students in the art of living in peace and harmony.
If we teach children properly, by the time they are around twelve, they will know how to live harmoniously with others.
When we go beyond signs, we enter the world of no-fear and no-blame.
We see that the Buddha, Jesus, and all of our other spiritual ancestors have not died. The Buddha cannot be confined to 2,600 years ago.
The Diamond Sutra enumerates four signs — self, person, living being, and life span.
We get caught in the sign “person.” We separate humans from animals, trees, and rocks, and feel that non-humans — the fish, the cows, the vegetation, the earth, the air, and the seas — are there for our exploitation. Other species also hunt for food, but not in such an exploitative way. When we look deeply at our own species, we can see the non-human elements in it, and when we look deeply at the animal, vegetal, and mineral realms, we see the human element in them.
The third sign is “living being.” We think that sentient beings are different from insentient beings. But living or sentient beings are made of non-living or non-sentient species. When we pollute the so-called non-living species, like the air or the rivers, we pollute living beings as well. If we look deeply into the interbeing of living and non-living beings, we will stop acting this way.
The fourth sign is “life span,” the period of time between our birth and our death. We think we are alive for a specific period of time that has a beginning and an end. But when we look deeply, we see that we have never been born and we will never die, and our fear dissolves.
The Third Door of Liberation is aimlessness, apranihita. There is nothing to do, nothing to realize, no program, no agenda. This is the Buddhist teaching about eschatology.
This teaching of the Buddha allows us to enjoy ourselves, the blue sky, and everything that is refreshing and healing in the present moment.
Be yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here.
The Heart Sutra says that there is “nothing to attain.”
In aimlessness, we see that we do not lack anything, that we already are what we want to become, and our striving just comes to a halt. We are at peace in the present moment,
Aimlessness and nirvana are one.
Anxiety is the illness of our age.
Even though things are not as we would like, we can still be content, knowing we are trying our best and will continue to do so. If we don’t know how to breathe, smile, and live every moment of our life deeply, we will never be able to help anyone.
The most important practice is aimlessness, not running after things, not grasping.
Aimlessness is stopping and realizing the happiness that is already available.
The practice of apranihita, aimlessness, is the practice of freedom.
Dharmakaya,
Sambhogakaya,
Nirman...
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Kaya means “body.”
The original meaning of Dharmakaya was quite simple — the way to realize understanding and love.
Anything that can help us wake up is part of the Dharmakaya — trees, grass, birds, human beings, and so on.
The living Dharma is
mindfulness manifesting in your daily life.
Dharmakaya is expressed not only through words and actions, but also through non-action.
