THROUGH THE EYES OF BUDDHA:
EMPTINESS, IDENTITY AND INTERCAUSALITY IN THE
AVATAMSAKA SUTRA
Rev. Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont
Introduction
The Avatamsaka Sutra is the Foundation of the Hua-Yen school of Buddhism, a
syncretic philosophy that incorporates all the major traditions of practice and
metaphysical understandings of all the major schools of Buddhism. It is a rich integration of Theravada,
Mahayana, Zen, and Pure Land that places emphasis on the interconnectivity of
all things in a fundamental essence of emptiness and change. The following essay will present some of the
fundamental concepts contained in this extraordinary sutra and show how the
Universe, as seen through the eyes of a Buddha, can be our orientation to living
a life based on mutual respect, caring for others, and freedom from suffering.
History of the Avatamsaka Sutra
The Avatamsaka-sutra, the short title for the Buddhavatamsaka-sutra, means
in sanskrit “Flower Ornament” or “The Sutra of the Garland of Buddhas”. It is the basis for the Mahayana teachings of
the Chinese Hua-yen school, emphasizing the mutually unobstructed
interpenetration of all things. It
teaches that the human mind is the universe itself and is identical with the
buddhas. This means that the Buddha,
mind, and all sentient beings and things are one and the same thing. The teachings that are presented are not
uttered by Shakyamuni Buddha himself, who is present but remains silent, but
rather through the mouth of other bodhisattvas, which are thus the expression
of the dharmakaya aspect of all the buddhas.
The silence of the Buddha corresponds to emptiness, shunyata, and the
pronouncements of the teachings comes out of this silence as a manifestation of
the true reality that is graspable by human consciousness. The syncretistic nature of this sutra draws
from two aspects of Chinese philosophical tendencies: 1. A totalistic view of
reality based on intercausality, interdependence, a kind of living body
organism much like the metaphor of the human body to all its parts; 2. A
respect and proclivity for the natural, whereby nature is seen as the source to
which one returns, which is synonymous with enlightenment, a non-dual
understanding of reality that transcends the idividual as well as opposites of
reasoning and calculating, entering into what the Chinese call wu-wei, or
nonaction in action. By returning to the
source, the individual completely resolves all contrarities (Cook, 1977,
2:20-33).
The Avatamsaka Sutra is
based on the Sanskrit Indian writings of India from about the 2nd C
c.e., including the Dasabhumika
describing the “10 stages” of becoming a Bodhisattva and the Gandavyuha describing the Bodhisattva’s journey to
Enlightenment through the character of Sudhana and his quest for the truth, a
kind of Pilgrim’s Progress of Buddhist philosophy. In addition there is brief reference to the Siksasamuccaya. It is assumed that somewhere in Central Asia,
one or many compilers, inspired by the Dasabhumika
an Gandavyuha, assembled a number of
independent sutras into a work that described in great detail the Bodhisattva’s
progress from beginning practice right up to Enlightenment. Probably new sutras
were added to fill in gaps in this preconceived structure. The finished work was then put into Chinese
by Buddhabhadra in 420 c.e. It was also
later translated by Siksananda in eighty volumes around 699 c.e. and later the
Gandavyuha section translated into Chinese by Prajña in the late eighth century
(Cook, 1977, 2:20-33).
The
Hua-Yen school of Buddhism is based on the early 5th C c.e. Chinese
traslation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. From
that time up to the T’ang dynasty (610-907 c.e.) many Ti-lun and She-lun
Chinese scholars, along with other schools and scholars including Hua-yen and
Tu-shum schools, developed and expanded the fundamental ideas of the Avatamsaka
Sutra. The emergence of an identifiable school of thought began with the first
patriarch Tu-Shun (557-640 c.e.) and the second patriarch Chih-yen (602-668
c.e.) who began to piece together, systematize, and expand the prior
scholarship into a a coherent whole, though incomplete in its objective. The third patriarch Fa-tsang (643-712 c.e.)
is attributed to assembling the somewhat still disparate pieces of the prior
two patriarchs into a complete and coherent whole. Fa-tsang refined and developed the work of
his predecessors, sycretizing the prior scholarship into a coherent whole, like
taking pieces of a puzzle and making a complete and recognizable picture out of
them. He was able to organize and
syncretize a large body of fragments, seeing their interrelationships and
refining their intellectual supports.
The last two patriarchs, Ch’eng-kuan (737-820 c.e.), under whose
leadership the school gained great support, and Tsung-mi (780-841 c.e.), who
was considered an outstanding master of the school, both served to refine,
define, and filled in details of Fa-tsang’s work. The school flourished up to
845 c.e., when persecution from Emporer Wu, who destroyed temples, defrocke
monks, and appropriated their wealth, along with a lack of mass appeal required
to provide the material and financial resources and moral support to sustain
the tradition, ended the Hua-Yen’s existence as a thriving institution of
thought. However, it contributed to future developments of Buddhism through its
syncretism of many Buddhist schools and as a philosophical basis for other
schools of practice, including Pure Land and Chan (Cook, 1977, 2:20-33).
The
Hya-Yen school of Buddhism is primarily concerned with causation mainly in the
form of interdependent origination of the universe. Though it arose and was developed in China,
its antecendents have their origin in the earliest days of Indian Buddhism. The Chinese needed to incorporate all aspects
of the Indian scriptures into their system, since the words and teachings of
the Buddha were considered sacred and indispensible, though certain aspects of
those original teachings were not as developed in the Chinese system as
others. But the challenge for the
Chinese was to gather together all the important Indian doctrines that had been
previously maintained in separate traditions, and now recombine them into an
intrinsic whole. For this reason, the
Hua-Yen tradition referred to itself as the “One Vehicle” (Skt. eka-yana). They maintain the position
that there is only one path leading to the goal of Buddhahood, and all other
traditions are only partial imcomplete aspects of that. Therefore, they create a one vehicle
universalism or catholicism, seeing all the different traditions as embodying
different stages of development, but which are ultimately all mutually
complementary. In this sense, all Dharmas are valid, all are included in the
one Dharma, and all will eventually lead to the final goal of Buddhahood. As a consequence, Hua-Yen incorporates Dharma
theory of Sarvastivadins, anatman doctrine, the ten stages of becoming a
Bodhisattva, doctrines of emptiness and mind-only schools, the Madhyamika
dialectic, doctrines of Buddha-nature, and the womb of Buddhahood or tathagatagarbha. The uniquely Chinese contribution to this
one-vehicle interdependent origination teaching is that depending on one’s
point of view, all objects are both the primary object that gives rise to all
other objects while at the same time that same object is secondary, arising as
consequece resulting from other objects.
Everything is both a primary and a secondary object depending on one’s
point of view (Cook, 1977, 3:34-55).
Emptiness
“Sarvam shunyam” means that everything is empty, the most
fundamental concept in Mahayana Buddhism, which was first appeared in the
Indian group of scriptures written about 350 years after the Buddha’s death,
known as the prajñaparamita. The
teachings prabably existed in oral form well before that. At a later period of
development, a synopsized version of the prajñaparamita was composed, and
became known as the Heart Sutra, which challenged older belief in certain
irreducible independent entities, showing that they are all empty, including
the holy truths of Buddhas, such as skandhas, ayatanas, dhatus, The Four Noble
Truths, ignorance, the elimination of ignorance, and the attainment of the
goal, nirvana. It stated that nothing is to be obtained, which allows the
Bodhisattva to attain the “nothing-to-be-attained” or the final nirvana (Cook,
1977, 3:34-55).
However,
what appears to be a straightforward and clear teaching of emptiness, in fact
became highly misinterpreted over time as nihilism (nothing whatsover exists)
or some kind of distinct metaphysical entity or inner essence, leading to
eternalism. The Buddhist scholar
Nagarjuna refuted both of these claims, since emptiness does not mean
non-existence nor nihilism, but is rather a device to criticize all views. As soon as one attaches to any view, it
become a reification or a deification.
The correct position is that even emptiness itself must be empty,
therefore, the correct view is that there is no view whatsoever. Nagarjuna shows that it is precisely because
all things are empty which allows for the Bodhisattva to overcome ignorance,
lead a holy life, and attain final nirvana, because if there were any real,
independent, permanent existence to anything, then there is the possibility
that one could not ultimately change, and therefore would be locked into a state
of ignorance and suffering. Any thing or
concept one adheres to becomes an obstacle to one’s transformation and
liberation. So even the concept “all is
empty” must be emptied of any dogmatic adherence to an idea. It is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism
that all is continually changing while at the same time there is nothing that
is ultimately changing. This is because there is no permanent locus for that
change, so there is only ceaseless becoming, or pure flux. Everything conditions everything else, but at
no point is anything fixed or permanent or separate from the continual flow of
change. There can be no real entity
undergoing any modification. Likewise,
there is no real object to possess, since all is in constant flow, like trying
to grasp the water of a moving stream with our hands, it all just slips by
(Cook, 1977, 3:34-55).
In
this emptiness, there is no real permanent separate “me” that exists, but
rather this “me” is also a part of the changing interdependence. Likewise, there is nothing to possess, no one
to possess, and no action of possessing.
There is nothing that is intrinsically me, like passing states of
anger. These are all just momentary states
that will change to be replaced by new ones. Any concept of an existing “thing”
is just an abstraction from the process.
For Nagarjuna, emptiness and interdependent being are synonymous. This is primarily a teaching as a way of
knowing of how things are as the highest truth, a way of aprehending the world,
which challenges our ignorant perception of appearances. Though one may not be able to see this
operating in phenomena directly, knowing that this is so, gives one the freedom
to act as a Bodhisattva, saving other beings, free to grow, help, and change,
with the intention to help save all beings, because, in essence, there is no
one to be saved, but one also transcends the concept of emptiness itself, and
just is present in each moment doing what apparently presents itself to do for
apparently helping others. This means
that there is a fundamental change that takes place in the perceiver with a new
nondual perception that frees one from samsara.
One does not adhere to appearances, but functions with the highest Truth
of emptiness and interdependent being (Cook, 1977, 3:34-55).
One cannot speak of form without
emptiness, they both co-exist. Dharmas
exist and are real in an illusory way to the senses as something
permanent. But we cannot deny that they
exist. Likewise, emptiness is real in
the sense that it is always operating through the dharmas of phenomenal
existence. Real emptiness does not
negate form, since emptiness is not some nonbeing apart from form. Form does not negate emptiness because forms
do not exist as an ultimate, permanent, separate reality. Things only exist because they are
empty. Form and emptiness are mutually
creative. If things were not empty of
substance, they couldn’t exist, because they would be locked into some dead
static thing that could not be impacted upon nor impact other things. Likewise,
without things, there could be no emptiness, because things that arise and
change and are caused by other things that in turn cause other things, is what
emptiness is. Therefore, form arises from condition and perishes, which is
emptiness itself. Emptiness does not
cause form; it is form in its mode of arising, causation, and perishing.
Neither does emptiness extinguish form, since form is that which arises and
perishes, which is what emptiness is itself. Emptiness is not some separate
entity that either causes or extinguishes form.
Emptiness is form, depending upon whether we are talking about its
underlying reality of immutable essence or its apparent existence of phenomenal
appearance (Cook, 1977, 6:90-108).
Identity
Shih is the term Fa-tsang uses to describe phonemena,
or dharmas, and li is the term he
uses to describe the absolute. What Fa-tsang sets out to do is show how the
phenomenal world, which appears to be real, permanent, and enduring, is in
fact, impermanent, conditioned, empty and dependent on prior causes. Nevertheless, the appearance of an illusory
world depends upon an immutable absolute that manifests itself through the
conditioned aspect of emptiness. The
absolute is both immutable, being the true essence at all times, while able to
manifest as conditioned in the phenomenal world of appearances. What appears to
be real with regard to phenomena is
actually a misperception in the mind based on the experience of the senses. But this same illusory world, when viewed
from the perspective of a Buddha, or without delusion, is seen to be a vast
Universe of interconnected, intercausal conditions, much like a great organism
that manifests itself through the intricate dynamic relationship of all its
parts to the whole and the whole to its parts.
He also shows how each part derives its significance as a primary causal
agent of the whole, while at the same time, the whole is the causal agent of
each aspect, much like a wooden beam to a barn. The beam has the power to
create the barn, in terms of allowing the barn to come into existence, while at
the same time the barn is the condition for the manifesting of a beam. Finally, each dharma derives its existence
from all other dharmas, that it embraces giving it the power to cause other
dharmas to manifest, while all these other dharmas are in turn causal agents
resulting in the appearance of that first dharma in question. Each phenomenon is real and different from
other phenomena due to its function and form, while all phenomena are
ultimately empty, meaning they do not have a separate self and are dependent
upon other causal factors, and are impermanent in nature. But phenomena are ultimately real in their
essence of shared emptiness which is immutable and manifests itself in infinite
forms and functions. Therefore, samsara
and nirvana are the same world, just different perspectives when viewed by ignorance
or when viewed through the eyes of a Buddha (Cook, 1977, 4:56-66).
Fa-tsang discusses the
identity of phenomena and the absolute using a description of three natures: 1.
Dependent nature (paratantra-svabhava); 2. Discrimitive nature
(parikalpita-svabhava); and 3. Perfected nature (parinispanna-svabhava). Dependent nature consists of existence totally
dependent on exterior conditions. Discrimitive nature is the erroneous
appearance of things to the mind as being distinct from the subject and having
a real self-existence. The Perfected
nature is the real essence of the obect without the distorting projections on
it of the thoughts and words of the little conditioned mind; in other words,
its suchness. However, these same three
natures are shown to actually be two, since the dependent nature is actually
the perfected nature, the only difference is how it is mistakenly perceived
through our projections, as opposed to how it really is. Fa-tsang discusses these two aspects of the
three natures in terms of emptiness and existence. He says that the dependent nature seems real,
but has no separate essence of its own.
The Discrimitive nature exists to the senses but does not exist in
reality (is empty). The Perfected nature
is immutable and absolute in its emptiness yet it obeys the law of causation
and appears in differing forms and functions.
What is unique to Fa-tsang from prior Buddhist doctrines is how he shows
that the absolite is both immutable, true emptiness, that can manifest as false
appearances of phenomenal existence, that there is both a pure and impure
aspect of the absolute, which are themselves empty because they are only differing
perceptions of the underlying essence of emptiness. In reality, there is no impure, it being only
a misperception of the little mind of the all pervading pure of the absolute.
This gives rise to the vision of the Dharma-Dhatu Kaya, that the whole universe
is actually the body of Buddha, all is Buddha essence (Cook, 1977, 4:56-66).
Fa-tsang
uses the analogy of the 10 coins as a way of describing the inter-causal
relationship between the parts and the whole, each defining the others and
being defined by the others of the group.
If you have ten coins, each coin is exactly like the other coins in that
they are all coins. This is the
underlying essence that is emptiness itself of the absolute. Now, coin one has a causal relationship to
coin two. Coin two has its identity as
coin two in its relationship to coin one, in that coin two only exists in
relationship to the other coin, because if you removed coin one, then coin two
would not continue to be coin two, but rather coin one. At the same time, coin one has a dependent
relationship to coin two, as well as to all the other 10 coins, since it could
not be coin one of ten coins if there were any other coin missing. That universe of 10 coins only exists if all
10 are present and all define each other.
Each coin has this same causal and dependent relationship to all other
coins. The key factor is the qualifying
agent naming each coin in its relation to the others, coin 1,2,3, etc. Take away any coin, it no longer is that same
universe. Each coin, in having the power
to cause any other coin, produces a causal agent in the other coin which then
causes the existence of coin one. Now we
have mutual intercausality where every element is both the cause of the other
elements and is dependent on the other elements for its own existence. In this way, the analogy shows both emptiness
of the absolute in the sameness of all coins being coins in and of themselves,
yet all being unique in serving distinct forms and functions in relation to
each other, while all mutually define and are defined by each other, or
phenomenal existence (Cook, 1977, 4:56-66).
Interdependent Origination
There are six characteristics of interdependent
origination: universality,
particularity, identity, difference, integration, and disintegration. These are
varying descriptions of the interrelationship of the fundamental oneness of the
universe to the infinite diversity or manyness of the particulars that make up
that universe, or in other words, the relationship of the parts to the whole.
These are paired into three aspects of the absolute, called the “three greats”
(Cook, 1977, 6:75-89).
Universality
is paired with particularity, showing that from the perspective of the whole,
the essence of everything is the same, while at the same time, individual
particulars make up the whole. The
particulars make up the whole, while the whole defines the reality of the
particulars. Neither the whole nor the
particulars have any separate identity apart from the causes and conditions
created by the interrelationship between the whole and the particular. The particular is the cause of the whole
being a reality, while at the same time the whole is the condition giving
reality to the particulars that make it up.
Each co-exist in relation to the other. Without one, the other does not
exist as components of that particular universe in that particular perfect way
that it is (Cook, 1977, 6:75-89).
The
second pair is that of identity to difference, seen from the perspective of the
particular characteristics of the parts to each other. In identity, all particular parts have the
same identical function overall of contributing to the make up of the whole.
Nevertheless, each particular part is unique in what it contributes to the make
up of the whole. So all parts are both different in themselves, but the same in
their make up of the whole (Cook, 1977, 6:75-89).
Finally, there is the pair of integration to
disintegration. All parts come together
in cooperation to form the whole, they all integrate their qualities and
characteristics to form the whole. At
the same time, each part has its own characteristic that it maintains, being
always in itself what it is, and not changing its individual characteristics in
its interraltionship with other parts nor as an aspect of the whole. The part does not literally become the whole,
it maintains its reality as a part, and the whole does not in some way
literally become the part, it is what it is, too. But in their intercausal relationship, they
arise together giving meaning and reality to both the part and the whole as
both necessary causal agents of the totality and its parts. That universe is made up of those parts in
relation to each other and to the whole, in exactly the fashion they are, and
any removal of any one part changes the whole from what it is to a different
whole, a different universe (Cook, 1977, 6:75-89).
One can use the analogy of
a rafter to a building to illustrate mutual Interdependent Origination of the
whole to the particulars. Here, one sees
that the universality of the building, the whole, only can arise due to the
power and conditions inherent in the rafter.
The rafter, likewise, only can exist in its relation to the whole
building, which is the causal capacity of the building to give reality to the
rafter that makes it up. Each rafter is equal to any other part of the
building, such as the tiles or nails, in that they all equally contribute to
the causing of the building to arise.
And without any one of them, a perfect building could not exist, it
would then be an imperfect building.
This building is also a necessary condition for the rafter to exist, for
without the building the rafter would not be a rafter, it would just be a
two-by-four piece of wood. The moment that two-by-four is put in place, and the
whole building now exists, then that two-by-four is now a real rafter and not
just a piece of wood. The building
defines the rafter, and the rafter defines the building. They both arise simaltaneously. Though the
rafter is different from the tiles and the nails, it is in their difference
that they have the power to cause the building, so in that way they are all the
same. Also, the rafter takes on the
inherent power of all the other parts, the nails and the tiles, taking those
causal capacities to now make the building.
And with the making of the building, the rafter is dependent on each of
the other parts and the whole to make up its reality as a rafter. Each part absorbs the power of the other
parts to make up the whole, and is in turn dependent upon the causal power of
the other parts to exist itself. Now the
rafter has to be able to integrate with all other parts to function altogether
to make up the whole, i.e. the whole building, and the whole building is in
turn the condition which integrates with all other conditions to become the
causal agent of the rafter. However, the
rafter is always still a rafter, and the rafter does not literally become the
barn, because if it were literally the barn building, then it would lose its rafterness,
and therefore there would be no causal agents for a building. Likewise, the building is always still a
building, and does not somehow become the rafter, which would make it that the
rafter has no final relationship to the whole, and therefore would not be a
rafter now, but only a piece of wood. So
the qualities of rafterness and buildingness, the parts to the whole, are
always maintained, even though neither has a separate identity apart from its
relationship to the other parts of the building, the other rafters, tiles,
nails, and the whole, the building itself (Cook, 1977, 6:75-89).
There
is ultimately a loss and a gain in order to understand and perceive this
teaching: one must first lose oneself, transcending the erroneaous belief that
one has a separate permanent identity apart from the whole, but this is
compensated by a gain in that one now has the ability to see the Universe as it
is, enhancing one’s experience of the world, and seeing everything as wonderful
and good, that everything is just as it is, from the blade of grass to the
infinity of the universe, because all of it is a meaningful, integral, and
necessary condition to all being just as it is.
This universe, this life, this experience in all its complexity and
variety and joy and pain, is necessary to be able to both know this passing
impermanent moment of time and place, which gives one the gift of knowing the
unconditioned Absolute of eternity, the dew drop in the ocean of existence, and
the ocean in the dew drop of particularities (Cook, 1977, 6:75-89).
The
Bodhisattva Path
The Bodhisattva path is one of action working for the freeing of all
beings, both sentient and insentient in all the universe, from suffering. This is initiated by the sincere vow to not
enter Nirvana until all beings, right down to the blade of grass, enter
together. The Bodhisattva renounces personal emancipation out of compassion for
all other beings, knowing that all of us are parts of one great Cosmic Being,
the spiritual essence of Dharma-Dhatu. In
making this sincere vow, one is expressing the innate essence of Enlightenment
already present in everything. One’s Buddha-Nature is that which provides the
initial impulse to work toward the salvation of all the beings in the universe,
and in so doing, one is already expressing the ultimate acquired Enlightenment
of a fully manifest Buddha. With this
vow, one is both a beginning bodhisattva that although may not be fully
emancipated him or herself, nevertheless, is displaying the qualities of a
fully realized Buddha. We are both then
the Buddha in seed form, being watered by our spiritual practice to help
others, that is bringing to fruition the full flowering of acquired
Enlightenment and Full Buddhahood. The
Bodhisattva perceives this knowing that all is empty, all is consequent of
prior causal agents, all is also causal agent to all other things, that there
is an interdepedence throughout the universe, that as phenomena, nothing has a
separate identity of its own, is impermanent, and totally impacts all other
things. Therefore all is one big
organism of Being, in both form and emptiness, unique dharmas of phenomena and
eternal essence (Cook, 1977, 8:109-122).
The bodhisattva then sets about the task of
perfecting his or her expression of Buddha-Nature leading toward acquired full
enlightenment, which involves 52 stages. This is the bodhisattva “marga”, the
long spiritual development of the individual in becoming a fully realized
Buddha. However, since the individual is
from the beginning a Buddha, there is also the acceptance that one is on a path
to deepen that understanding and expression of Buddhaness, therefore, one
trains and practices, because every step one takes in coming to full acquired
enlightenment, brings more and more capacity to help others, and the more one
helps others, the more one can progress toward full enlightenment and
Buddhahood. And yet, while there are
still beings in the world that are suffering, the bodhisattva may continue to
consciously maintain certain kleshas, or impurities, in order to continue in
samsara to help others, since he or she has detached from any sense of personal
salvation, and is more and more focused on how to help others be free from
suffering. Nevertheless, this
renunciation of final enlightenment is actually true enlightenment, for there
is no longer any clinging to an idea of a self that needs to attain anything.
Therefore, one is neither attached to samsara nor nirvana, one is free from all
duality (Cook, 1977, 8:109-122).
The Bodhisattva practices meditation, not to
attain anything, but rather to draw out that which is already present, the
Buddha-Nature, and to comfort him or her in their journey of perfection on the
53 stages of the bodhisattva career, which begins with faith, and
this faith is the first step as a causal agent to full Buddhahood. And being a causal agent, it
also contains within it full Buddhahood itself, like the interdependence of a
rafter and a barn. The
meditation, in its aspect of shamatha, is tranquilizing the kleshas that cause
suffering. At the same time, meditation
in the aspect of vipasyana: one sees reality for what it is, marked by
impermanence, dukkha, no permanent separate self, the impurities of the
kleshas, and the possibility of Nirvana.
As a consequence of meditation, compassion is manifest, which is the
active aspect of enlightenment in the world acting to alleviate the suffering
of all beings. Therefore, Buddhas, in
the form of bodhisattvas, meditate, which give them comfort, tranquility,
calming the kleshas, and insight into the true nature of reality, and which is
the expression of enlightenment, which then flows into compassionate acts
toward all (Cook, 1977, 8:109-122).
Such
selfless dedication to alleviate all suffering in the world requires certain
guidance and support, as found within the last chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra,
called a spiritual friend, a kalyanmitra.
What is such a good friend like?
It is more than just a good acquaintance who helps you out when you need
him or her. The kalyanmitra is a
spiritual friend who motivates, teaches, and makes the Dharma accessible to
you, for the benefit of others. A
kalyanmitra is a spiritual friend that understands your needs and adjusts
himself accordingly, giving comfort when necessary, and support to connect with
the Dharma (Atul Bhosekar, 2013).
The
kalyanmitra is someone who uplifts others, makes others feel a little clearer,
a little more noble, a little closer to his or her real Buddha-Nature. Two people working together in this way, as
food friends, can generate a great deal of energy toward Enlightenment. They recognize the higher in themselves and
the higher within others. A good friend
is one who sees the good in others, sees the possibilities for the good,
without judgments of their limitations.
A good friend is the Bodhisattva ideal on the human plane, someone who
works together with us as a brotherhood aiming for the welfare of all beings
and the alleviation of their suffering (Santideva, 2013)
In the
last chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra, there is the appearance of a character
that enters a spiritual pilgrimage and is guided by such a spiritual
friend. His name is Sudhana, which means
Good Wealth, who is the son of a merchant-banker. He is the archetype of all of us as we enter
upon our quest for wisdom, liberation, and Enlightenment. The bodhisattva encourages Sudhana to seek
out spiritual guides, good friends, in order to be guided and supported on the
spiritual journey and learn how to be a bodhisattva himself. Sudhana then sets out on his travels visiting
fifty-two guides all throughout India, which finally leads him to a supreme
vision of reality and his merging with the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, whose
name means Universal Good, and who teaches him that wisdom only exists for the
sake of putting it into practice; that it is only good insofar as it benefits
all living beings (Atul Bhosekar, 2013).
Sudhana’s
pilgrimage ends in the Vairocana Tower
Dharma-Dhatu
The cosmos is a
self-creating, self-maintaining, self-defining organism, a universe where each
individual is at once the cause for the whole and is caused by the whole, a
vast infinity of individuals sustaining and defining each other. Such a universe in Hua-Yen practice is called
the Dharma-Dhatu, and is represented iconographically as the Cosmic Buddha,
Vairocana (Cook, 1977, 1:3).
The Avatamsaka Sutra outlines four
stages of the Dharma-Dhatu. The first
stage is the Dharma-Dhatu of the Phenomenal World, which is our physical and
material world. It is the world of
extremes where beings experience anger, envy, greed, sorrow, despair, and pain,
as well as feelings of joy, happiness, love and compassion. It is the world of interdependent
origination, since they are all contingent upon other beings and objects in
order to manifest and exist. It is the
world of impermanence where nothing lasts forever, but in which nothing really
goes away for good either. The second
stage is the Dharma-Dhatu of the Ruling Principle, which also arises and
disappears, but is more associated with the world of consciousness, the world
of thoughts and ideas. The Dharma and
the middle path belong to this stage, and in which can be found the wisdom of
emptiness. The challenge in this stage
is to avoid judgment and experience reality without prejudice. It is the stage of awareness. The third stage is the Dharma-Dhatu of
Unhindered Phenomenal World. It is the
stage that is free from the effects of dependent origination, which results
from complete understanding of the first and second stages. Here, though one still experiences the realms
of Consciousness and Phenomena, they are nevertheless divorced from the
experience of dependent origination. One
can see the big picture of things, and it is the stage of the bliss of
Enlightenment. The fourth stage is the Dharma-Dhatu of Unhindered Ruling
Principle, where the universe has neither form, nor boundary, nor individual
consciousness. It permeates all and every form.
It is the unhindered body of the universe, where everything contains the
entire universe and the universe contains every single thing. Here all is one and unified. All dualities and boundaries are erased. All is ultimately the same in essence. Though in the first three stages there are
perceived differences in the world, such as in countries, ethnicities, ranks,
religion, wealth, power, intelligence, and property, but now in the fourth
stage one tears down these boundaries of the mind, where one discovers true
oneness, the world of Vairocana (Park, 2010).
Vairocana: The Cosmic Buddha
Vairocana
is the cosmic Buddha in esoteric Buddhism of China, Korea , and Japan . He is most often associated with the Chinese School Mount Meru
Vairocana
is the whole universe itself, which includes both immutable emptiness and
conditioned phenomena, whereby everything is the result of changing conditions,
the transcendent law of mutually interdependent origination, while at the same
time, everything is empty of an independent separate existence, the immanent
aspect of the law of change in the world of the apparent reality of forms and
phenomena. All things change, all things
are mutable and subject to the law of conditions, including both the Absolute
and the phenomenal, depending upon one’s point of view. The Absolute in immutable in that it is the
true essence or existence of all, no matter how things may appear to come and
go, there is this inviolate, pure, constant, fullness of creative potential
within a plenum void of emptiness. This
always just is and is not affected by the arising and disappearing of
phenomenal existence. At the same time,
the Absolute as the eternal law of change, is itself subject to the law of
causality, conforming to the ever changing conditions that give rise to forms. In this sense, the Absolute is empty, because
it is subject to the conditions of causality.
Anything that is subject to causality is empty. From the perspective of phenomena, things
appear to exist; therefore they have quasi-existence, which is existence that
is conditioned. Because it is
conditioned, it has no separate, permanent essence of its own; therefore it is
empty, or nonexistent. In fact, the
emptiness (conditioned-ness) of the absolute is the apparent existence of
phenomena, while the emptiness of phenomenal things is none other than the
existence of the immutable absolute.
The real existence of conditioned things is the immutable absolute, and
the emptiness of the absolute is the apparent existence of conditioned things.
They are one and the same, just seen from different perspectives. The absolute
cannot exist without the phenomenal, and
the phenomenal cannot exist without the absolute, because without
things, there is no emptiness operating in the sense of the law of
interdependent causation, all changing all the time, and if things were not
empty (subject to conditions with no separate identity of their own) then
nothing could exist. They both always co-exist.
Entities always exist in relation to other entities, a mode of being,
and emptiness cannot exist apart from these entities, they are in fact one and
the same thing, emptiness is form, form is emptiness (Cook, 1977, 6:90-108).
The implications of this are that Vairocana is not a god,
nor has the function of a god, nor is it the absence of something, a prior
existing, separate entity or thing, from which all other things emanate into
phenomenal existence. Vairocana is not
some immutable absolute emptiness apart from phenomena. Vairocana is emptiness that appears as form
and the mode of being of change, as nothing having a separate permanent essence
of its own, and nothing staying the same.
It is a dynamic fullness, a creative over brimming of creativity, not a
static existing thing, but rather nonexistence as the source and essence of all
that comes into being, changes, and passes away to form other things. Emptiness
is not an entity in itself, it is identical to form. One should not try to reify emptiness making
it into a separate thing. Emptiness is
the law of interdependent origination, which is always in operation and never
ceases to be. It is not affected by
merit or demerit. It is not soiled in
its form of samsara, or ignorance. Nor
is it purified when the kleshas are eliminated. It is not something that can be
prayed to, asking favors from. Vairocana is the emptiness of phenomenal
reality; all things are the body of Vairocana.
It is the law of interdependent origination, which denies the existence
of an independent entity, including emptiness itself. It is
the immutability of mutability, which has become anthropomorphized into the
image of Vairocana. Illumination is therefore our withdrawal of our projections
on the world of phenomena, which imposes our ideas and beliefs on reality,
instead of seeing the way things really are.
In seeing that all is empty, we are seeing Vairocana, which is to
realize Vairocana in oneself. Therefore,
to see emptiness is to see Vairocana, and to see Vairocana is to become
Vairocana, or emptiness in itself (Cook, 1977, 6:90-108).
As
human beings, the symbol of Shakyamuni Buddha is our example of one who has
searched his heart and found the Truth of salvation, a way to transcend
suffering through connection to the omnipresent Enlightenment of
Vairocana. The Buddha’s message is one
of hope for all of us, as when he stated:
There is something that is unborn,
not become, not created, uncompounded; for if there were not, it would not be
possible to find a way of escape from what is born, become, created and
compounded. But since there is that which is unborn, not become, not created,
uncompounded, we know that a way of escape from what is born, become, created
and compounded is possible. [Udana,
VIII.3]
This unborn,
uncreated, and uncompounded is the essence of the entire Universe, as represented
by Vairocana. By looking into his heart,
Shakyamuni discovered the illuminating wisdom of Vairocana, and in so doing,
could set about the noble task of helping all other beings to free themselves
from suffering likewise. He was now to
become the good friend, the kalyanmitra to all, the bodhisattva that works
tirelessly toward the emancipation of all beings throughout the universe, and
yet remains whole and complete, still and calm, the embodiment of the Mystery
of Life itself, the Cosmic essence of endless joy. Though Enlightenment may seem impossible at
times to achieve, Hua-yen practice assures us that it is constantly present and
accessible, both within our minds and in the world all around us. We only need to open our eyes to it, and we
will discover our true nature of Vairocana (Prince, 2013).
Conclusion
The wisdom contained in the
Avatamsaka Sutra inspires us to leave behind our petty habits that cause
ourselves and others suffering, and instead enter the universe of compassion
and service to others, the world of the Bodhisattva, the spiritual friend, and
the Buddha in action. This type of compassion is simultaneously
altruistic, ecological, and ethical. It
can be likened to the Hindu story of the man at the gates of heaven with his
loyal and beloved dog. The gatekeeper
says that only humans can enter, so the man informs his that he could never
enter without his dog, and refuses to go any further. Surprisingly, this is the last test of
spiritual preparedness for heaven, for now both the dog and the man can enter
together. This is our plight as well:
either we all enter Nirvana together, are all freed together, or none of us are
free, since others are literally aspects of this one great Self that is the
universe. This compassion ecological,
since all things, even the rocks and trees and blades of grass, are part of
this Cosmic interdependence and identity.
All completely depend on each other, and how we treat the paper cup in
our hand, whether we throw it aside carelessly or with gratitude recycle it,
also reflects how we honor or disrepect the trees in Canada, the fish in the
nearby lake, and the polar icecaps. This
demands of us an ethical attitude, since we depend on all these things for our
survival: we must actually destroy and consume others to live. While we eat our food, our attitude toward
the carrot on our plate is important.
This carrot gives us life. We
must honor and respect it, giving thanks for its life that gives us life. In fact, all is alive: the rocks and trees
and blades of grass and this carrot.
They are used by me and sacrifice their lives for our welfare. So we give thanks, and know that likewise, we
may be called upon to sacrifice this life for others. It is a great circle of
interconnectedness and interdependence.
In serving others through compassionate action, we no longer seek
anything for ourselves, because we already have everything; we are already in
the bliss of Nirvana, without having to attain Nirvana, because Nirvana is
right here in samsara, and we are free to move through both, without attachment
to either, choosing the light of Buddha to illumine the darkness of ignorance
and suffering. And for that, Buddha
appeared in this world, and for that, we are here, and we and Buddha are One.
In our imperfect groping in the dark to walk the path of the Buddhas, we are
already perfect in our vow to love and help everyone and everything. Now we know we not integrally linked to the
moon, the stars, and the galaxies. The
Infinite is literally manifesting right here, right now, through each of
us. Knowing this brings joy, and
inspires us to continue on this great journey of discovery while we move toward
universal salvation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bhosekar, Atul. (2013). “Ideal Friend as Defined in the
Gandavyuha Sutra.”
Sutra
Cleary, Thomas. (1984-87). “The Flower
Ornament Scripture: A
translation
of the Avatamsaka Sutra.” Boulder : Shambhala.
Cook, Francis H. (1977). Hua-yen
Buddhism: The jewel net of Indra. The Pennsylvania State University Press: Pennsylvania, USA. [First Indian
Edition Delhi: India, 1994].
Heisig, James W. (2013). “Way of Enlightenment, Way of
Salvation: The Pilgrimages of Sudhana
and Ramon Llull”
Park, Ven. Dr. Jongmae. (2010)
“Fa Tsang’s Four Stages of the Dharma Dhatu and its Modern analytic view.” An article extracted from the
Huanyen Forum of Globalization Huayen
Summit Talk.
http://www.hwayen.org.sg/webpages/Chinese_Article7.aspx
Prince, Dr. Tony. (2013) “Huayen Studies: Becoming
Samantabhadra: Part I Vairocana.”
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