Introduction: Here is the instance where the Avatar of Vajradhara, MulaVijju, speaks directly to his disciple Dappaṇa while they walk thru the forest near an eminent monk monastery. The monastery had produced countless Arhats with MulaVijju as the abbot during his term of 80 years as the abbot. This is the intimate talk between master and disciple before Dappaṇa attained enlightenment.
V1. Dappaṇa: Lord, how beautiful these blossoms are in spring, how wonderous their fragrance. So much so, I want to pick them and keep them near at all times. Yet, if I pick them, they will wither sooner, furthermore, if I visit them daily, they will wither in autumn. Why must all phenomena bloom and fade? Why must all phenomena be temporary.
V2. MulaVijju: These blossoms here, by our feet, how are they now?
V3. Dappaṇa: They are beautiful but….
V4. MulaVijju: They are beautiful it is true. Only this is true.
V5. Dappaṇa: But when they wither, we cannot behold their beauty when they wither.
V6. MulaVijju: When do they wither? I don’t see it.
V7. Dappaṇa: In autumn, with all the foliage, trees, and summer bush, for all of the plants become bare to the branch. The flowers bear no petal, nor give fragrance to the wind.
V8. MulaVijju: This what you speak, is in your mind only. Only the mind withers. For you have left this moment with your mind, to imagine another, in thought, where all of this beautiful nature has become as describe it. Verily these blossoms do not change. Nor do any plant of the land.
V9. Dappaṇa: Great Lord! I humbly ask you, expound the nature! Help me see it clearly then!
V10. MulaVijju: Dappaṇa, you have meditated for some 17 years now, in and out of practice, and 9 years steadily. You have come to a place where you may understand the nature. So this moment naturally occurred, and I must show you the proof of nature now.
V11. Dappaṇa: Anjali Great Lord! Anjali!
V12. MulaVijju: We will start with the deciduous trees and shrubs, and the seasonal crop. Then to your beloved blossom. The oak tree that you speak of remains an oak tree, it has its process, so that process gives it the tree the label deciduous. To the eye of wisdom, it does not wither or become bare to the branch. It sheds leaves and grows them again and again, unfailingly. At any moment you look at it, it is an Oaktree. The mind that clings to one phase of the Oaktree has either never seen its process, or is voluntarily ignorant. The wise know that the trees needs its total process to be the tree it is. So in the moment you see it, stay there, say not, oh it is so lush, yet it must shed the leaves in autumn, nor say, oh it is so bare, it must grow the leaves in spring. Just stay in the nature of it that present moment, and it is still an Oaktree. Do you see it now?
V13. Dappaṇa: Santi, Anjali Great Lord, I see the Oaktree here now. Anjali, Anjali, Give thanks , Give Thanks!
V14. MulaVijju: The farmer sows his seeds in mud soil. At that time, he does not say, oh poor soil, so ugly and useless, it must bear fruit to be of use, and have beauty, what a waste of land, nor does he say, I cannot wait any longer for harvest, I need fruit now, these seed are useless, what a waste of nature. The farmer knows the seed is the fruit, as is the soil. He beholds it in that moment and becomes the nature himself. In that moment, though it is the season to sow a seed, to the eye of wisdom, it also the season to harvest. In this way knowing how to be one with nature, the farmer does see the mud soil, when he sees it with the eye of wisdom, he also sees the fruit. The person who sees mud soil as useless, has never seen the farming process to know better, only eating fruit from the market, or they are voluntarily ignorant. The wise know, as the nature is, it always is, thus it can always be cultivated and harvested. Dappaṇa, do you understand this principle?
V15. Dappaṇa: Santi, Anjali, Great Lord I understand! Anjali, Anjali, Give Thanks, Give Thanks!
V16. MulaVijju: The seasons and their equinoxes are natural reminders of the impermanence of phenomena, yet the permanence of nature. All the beauty of summer must disappear says the law of impermanence, simultaneous the exact same law of permanence says that beauty must sprout again in spring. As it is with night and day. This balance of nature is flawless and indestructible and is the perfect platform for detachment. Few will become aware, fewer will use this vehicle for detachment. Those who utilize this natural vehicle, have great adaptability, are not superstitious, are kind to all, and never troubled, always balanced in the center of the middle of the path.
V17. Dappaṇa: Anjali Great Lord! Anjali!
V18. MulaVijju: Dappaṇa, the unwise cling to the phases, and when a phase has past, the imagination haunts them and the mind is not present even enough to have basic concentration, let alone meditation. The attachment creates a multitude of craving, and aversion, and thus a cycle of suffering is initiated. The great meditators however, keep free of clinging to phases, knowing the truth of nature to be indestructible, and the nature of phenomena to be ever transforming, they keep the meditation, allowing the awareness only to the present nature, never to the temptations of clinging from the mind, thus they do not follow craving or aversion, and do not experience the delusion. The great meditators only experience the truth of the nature.
V19. Dappaṇa: Santi, Anjali Great Lord! How, I humbly ask, is this possible? Having experienced the changes of phenomena, how can one act as if there is no change?
V20. MulaVijju: By beholding the nature, and not the phenomena. Thus nature is as it is, and the nature of phenomena is as it is. You must use your awareness this way, which can only be accomplished by only allowing it to behold the nature. Do you understand your mind?
V21. Dappaṇa: Great Lord! Help me see clearly! Anjali!
V22. MulaVijju: The nature is, you are aware of your mind, yet the nature of your mind, is to perceive the senses. So which one will you be? Which one is true? The nature of air is that it is air, it is what we breath, yet the mind will say, the air is cold, or warm. Yet it is still air, and you still breath, regardless as to what the mind says of the climate. It only abandoned awareness of the breath, to imagine a temperature, and an opposing temperature. Same is for the tree, or the soil. The nature of the Oaktree is that is an Oaktree, and this is true in any season, yet the mind will say, it is shedding, or it is lush. It has only abandoned the awareness of it as an Oaktree to imagine it is in phase of phenomena. Yet, it is still an Oaktree. The mud soil is mud soil, the nature of it is steady, yet the mind will say, its is barren or yielding crop, when these imaginings are phases of cultivation, of the mud soil. It has only abandoned the awareness to the fact that, it is mud soil, to give definition to it as a phase of phenomena. This is the nature of the mind. Knowing the truth of nature, one also knows the nature of the mind and only then, can one see the blossom that never withers and only blooms.
V23. Dappaṇa: Santi! Anjali! Give Thanks! Anjali! Forgive me Great Lord, I humbly as, when will I see this blossom Great Lord!?
V24. MulaVijju: Dappaṇa, Blessed One, you have meditated and will keep meditating, and as it is the nature of meditation, that you will reach a point, you will have had enough of your mind, and in that instant, you will abandon following it. You will forget about anything you think, have thought, and might think, and with all that gone, only you will remain there aware.
V25. At that point you will know the unvanquishable nature that is, that you are and all is. You can remove everything and every point in time and space, and you will remain here aware, the unvanquishable nature. Whether cold or warm, shedding or lush, barren or bearing fruit, dry or moist, withering or blooming, you are there to see it all, as the unvanquishable nature that is. All of these states and phases, merely expressions in emptiness of the unvanquishable nature. In total darkness enlightened like the flash of a lightning bolt with the power, might and brilliance of 99 trillion lightning bolts all in that single lightning bolt, in that instant, that flash of awareness is all it takes to see forever, the unvanquishable nature that is, for once this lightning bolt strikes, it remains forever.
V26. Dappaṇa: Santi! Anjali! Anjali! Give Thanks! Give Thanks! Great Lord!
V27. MulaVijju: Santi, Santi.
