#dharmatalk

The Buddha said to Subhūti: “The bodhisattvas and mahāsattvas should subdue their thoughts like this: All the different types of sentient beings, whether they be born from eggs, born from a womb, born from moisture or born spontaneously; whether or not they have form; whether they abide in perceptions or no perceptions; or without either perceptions or non-perceptions, I save them by causing them to enter nirvana without remainder. And when these immeasurable, countless, infinite number of sentient beings have been liberated, in actuality, no sentient being has attained liberation. Why is this so? Subhūti, If a bodhisattva abides in the signs of self, person, sentient being, or life-span, she or he is not a bodhisattva.”

Bodhisattvas don’t come to save the day. They don’t do it for praise, fame, fortune, to accumulate merit, or even for a Great Cosmic “Attaboy.” It’s our true nature to help, and when one is helped, all are helped. Although it appears that there are countless separate sentient beings, the reality is that there’s only one, albeit with countless personalities.

Myeong Jin Eunsahn gave the Dharma talk February 26, 2025.

And you’re in it, right now, right where you are…and you’d know that if your mind is pure. If you suffer from greed, anger, and delusion, you’re still in the Pure Land, you just don’t realize it. In the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Buddha teaches that the reason we don’t realize this world is the Pure Land is because think it’s seem imperfect. It’s not as if the pure land has changed to an impure land; we aren’t seeing correctly, nothing else. When the Mind is pure, the understand Buddha fields are pure.

If we live according to our Bodhisattva Vows, if we practice the Six Perfections, if we manifest the Four Immeasurables, in other words, if we do what we’re supposed to be doing, then our Mind is right. We intuitively know what function is correct in what situation and in what relationship. And when our Mind is right, then we can see that our Awakened True Nature has been attained right here in this Pure Land.

Then we can go out into the marketplace and help all those who are suffering that they can go out and help someone else who is suffering, and so on, until all sentient beings can realize that this is it. Just this.

Myeong Jin Eunsahn gave the Dharma talk February 12, 2025.

Have you ever noticed that all the Sutras start with, “Thus have I heard?” Or maybe what you’ve read started something phrased differently. All the written Suttas & Sutras are based upon Ananda’s prodigious memory. It was’t until hundreds of years after Ananda’s death that any of the Buddha’s sermons were written down. Then these were translated into Pali, then Sanskrit, then probably a few more local dialects and languages, then Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, English, German, French, and all the rest. 

All the Buddhist scripture we have, all the writings of Nagarjuna, Ashvaghosa, Wonhyo, Jinul, Bodhidharma, and the rest are one big game of telephone. From translation to translation, even in just one level there can be variations. Go from Sanskrit to all the others mentioned above, there are bound to be differences; different translators will translate the same writing from Chinese into English and come up with different words. 

Going from some languages like Chinese to English are never one-for-one. The Chinese character is a representation, not spelling. It’s not like “chat” in French = “cat” in English. The best we can hope for is that the translator captures the spirit of the teaching, and that we don’t get hung up on one version of something. 

In his talk of November 20, 2024, Min’Ui Maitri points out that he found 23 translations of the Xinxin Ming, without even trying. They’re all relatively close to one another, some possibly embellished more than others, some more literal. We can have favorite translations that work for us, even in the case of a teaching whose opening line is “The Great Way is easy for those not attached to preferences.” 

How many versions of the Heart Sutra have you heard? How about the Four Great Bodhisattva Vows? Does one translation render all others incorrect because the words differ? Sanghas can prefer one version of a chant or a teaching, and Sangha members will get used to them, and may be taken aback when they hear to a different way. But that doesn’t make the other versions used in other Sanghas heretical.

“There’s something happening here, and you don’t know what it is…”

Certitude is the gateway to hell. Assuming we have a handle on what is happening, making sense of it, can be very comforting. It helps us cope with what can seem to be a horrifying life full of suffering and lack of control. But like all coping mechanisms, they work…until they don’t.

Or…

That “not-knowing” is also the gateway to freedom, liberating us from our “Little-I” lives and giving us the opportunity to experience emptiness (shunyata) as complete boundlessness rather than a void. Keep this Don’t-Know Mind, answer “What is this…” with “Don’t Know,” and become open to all things being possible.

~The Great Way is not difficult for those not attached to preferences~

Xinxin Ming, 3rd Zen Patriarch Sengcan

One of the great opening sentences of all time, better than “Call me Ahab,” better than “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Certainly that one.

For the last six weeks, the One Mind Zen Sangha have been sharing our favorite/go-to Sutras and other teachings. This one ranks among the best for me.

We tell a story about something to ourselves, and we believe them. Likes & dislikes are mental formations determining goodness or badness. They’re the manifestation of ignoring impermanence and non-self. Its denying emptiness. Attachment to them is the trigger that leads to our dis-ease, our dukkha, our suffering.

We’ve seen the statues our the Buddha looking peaceful, even having the hint of a smile. We’ve seen the equanimity. That equanimity is the lack of attachment to preferences.

~When not attached to love or hate, all is clear and undisguised.~

When we go to the extremes of love and hate, we’re also missing the Middle Path. When our “love” is clingy, needy, and possessive, it is not the love of the buddhas. Hate is just another emotional form of anger. It’s an oversimplified “I’m right, you’re wrong!” It’s the expression of the separation of self/other, denying the buddhas teaching of non-self and emptiness, where the story is that the separation is real and permanent.

~As long as you remain attached to one extreme or another you will never know oneness.~

Tenaciously grasping for what we determine to be the self or the other gives rise to the environment that creates our sense of separation. The duality of our preferences separates of from reality. And what is our practice if not the direct experience of reality?

For me, Sengcan could have ended the Xinxin Ming with the first sentence. It is only his compassion to go further for the benefit of all beings who need more meat to chew on.

~Words! Words!
The Way is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday,

no tomorrow

no today.~

This is the Buddha teaching the Bodhisattvas present how to break their own misconceptions and confusion about what they have gleaned from his previous sermons. And it’s not just so the assembled Bodhisattvas can realize their own awakening, but how to help and teach all sentient beings (of the degenerate age, as the Sutra terms it). And, we sentient beings (of the degenerate age) can break some our bad habits. How many of us fall into the trap of Sudden Awakening…and nothing else, or silent illumination is the way (gradual), or in our Sangha’s case, Sudden Enlightenment, Gradual Cultivation. How many fall into the Mahayana/Hinayana trap (even if we don’t use the “H” word any more), going back 1,500+ years to when that division was first made?

This Sutra, through the questions/dialogues with twelve bodhisattvas runs the gamut form Sudden (Manjushi’s opening chapter), all the way through to Perfect Enlightenment bodhisattva and Most Excellent of Worthies bodhisattva in the gradual end. The SPE’s key message is, as ZM Seung Sahn might say, “Try, try, try for 10,000 years, become enlightened, and save all beings.” The Buddha emphasizes to tool of meditation, for the bodhisattvas to make retreats of varying lengths, and for all sentient beings also practice it diligently also. For them he gives us the “try, try, try” approach—if samatha doesn’t do it, try samapatti, and if needed, to dhaysna. Calm the mind, become mindful of emptiness, then focus and concentrate. The Buddha doesn’t specifically say that they must go consecutively in that order, or that dhayana is superior to samatha.

Do whatever it takes to dispel preconceptions (and conceptions generally), realize the emptiness of them, and in so doing, liberate ourselves from hindrances. One vehicle isn’t great or lesser, the Pali Canon isn’t superior to the Mahayana (SPE is a Mahayana Sutra, after all) or vice versa. Anything that causes confusion or leads to misconceptions needs needs to be corrected, and through the bodhisattva’s questions provides an “owner’s manual” of what to do to make the repairs.

It’s not one of the better-known Sutras in the West, although it has been a formative teaching in China and Korea. It emphasizes the need for persistence, patience, and dedication to realizing the inherent ability for us all to Awaken, and the need for all of us to help all sentient beings to realize it.

The SPE has been a favorite of mine since I was initially introduced to it, if for no other reason than to break down barriers, and the need to “Try, try, try for 10,000 years, become enlightened, and to save all beings.”