Clear like a mirror
Human beings have a lot of opposite thinking: like/dislike, good/bad, happiness/sadness, coming/going and so on. This opposite thinking creates opposite worlds within each one of us and our ignorance makes us hold on to these opposite worlds. These opposite worlds are always in conflict with each other, so there is tension and suffering. This is the basic teaching of Hinayana Buddhism: all suffering comes from opposite thinking.
The Buddha taught how to go from these opposite worlds to the absolute world. The absolute world means the world before thinking. What is before thinking? Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." If I am not thinking, then what? Descartes did not explore this question, but Buddhism has always talked about before-thinking. If I am not thinking, there is no I. If there is no I, there are no opposite worlds because opposites are created by "I." When "I" disappears, opposite worlds also disappear; this is called emptiness or nirvana.
So it is said that when mind disappears, dharma disappears; when dharma disappears, name and form disappear; when name and form disappear, coming and going, life and death, happiness and suffering, all these opposite categories also disappear. When there are no opposites, it is nirvana. Its name is Absolute, its name is Stillness, its name is Emptiness. So going from opposite worlds to the absolute world is to move into the nirvana world. This is the teaching of Hinayana Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism begins at the point of emptiness, the absence of self-nature of things. If you attain "no self," it is possible to move to the complete world. The complete world means if your mind is complete, everything in the universe is complete. The sun, the moon, the stars, everything else in the universe is complete, one by one. Complete means truth. When you cut off all thinking there is no "I"; when there is no "I" your mind is clear like space. Clear like space means clear like a mirror; clear like a mirror means a mind which just reflects: the sky is blue, grass is green, water is flowing, sugar is sweet, salt is salty. The mirror-mind only reflects what's in front of it. In the mirror-mind what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, what you touch - everything is just like this. Just like this is truth. Just like this is the complete world, and this complete world is the world of truth.
-Seung Sahn, 1988 lecture
The Buddha taught how to go from these opposite worlds to the absolute world. The absolute world means the world before thinking. What is before thinking? Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." If I am not thinking, then what? Descartes did not explore this question, but Buddhism has always talked about before-thinking. If I am not thinking, there is no I. If there is no I, there are no opposite worlds because opposites are created by "I." When "I" disappears, opposite worlds also disappear; this is called emptiness or nirvana.
So it is said that when mind disappears, dharma disappears; when dharma disappears, name and form disappear; when name and form disappear, coming and going, life and death, happiness and suffering, all these opposite categories also disappear. When there are no opposites, it is nirvana. Its name is Absolute, its name is Stillness, its name is Emptiness. So going from opposite worlds to the absolute world is to move into the nirvana world. This is the teaching of Hinayana Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism begins at the point of emptiness, the absence of self-nature of things. If you attain "no self," it is possible to move to the complete world. The complete world means if your mind is complete, everything in the universe is complete. The sun, the moon, the stars, everything else in the universe is complete, one by one. Complete means truth. When you cut off all thinking there is no "I"; when there is no "I" your mind is clear like space. Clear like space means clear like a mirror; clear like a mirror means a mind which just reflects: the sky is blue, grass is green, water is flowing, sugar is sweet, salt is salty. The mirror-mind only reflects what's in front of it. In the mirror-mind what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, what you touch - everything is just like this. Just like this is truth. Just like this is the complete world, and this complete world is the world of truth.
-Seung Sahn, 1988 lecture
posted by Stephanie at
12:29 AM
3 Comments:
How interesting! Hotboy
Glad you found it interesting. Good to hear from ya HB!
Another good one.
Thanks for posting this Stephanie.
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