Chan or Zen Buddhism - Being in this world but not of this world Part 1

In a recent blog called CHEOK HONG CHUAN Interpretation of Life - I concluded - This is the dilemma! you have to practise; but you have to lose yourself [your ego] to find yourself [that is without an ego] to attain or achieve. But when you so achieve or attain, because there is no ego of self, nothing is achieved or attained! That is understanding the God of Adam before the Fall of Adam and his ego! That is understanding the Emptiness of the Heart Sutra, of no birth, no death, no Nirvana! That is understanding Taoist wu-wei and Taoist being beyond the world while being in this world

In another recent blog on Taoism I related the encounter between Lu Tung-Pin and Zen Master Huang-Lung Nan - Personally I take as my starting point Lu Tung-Pin or Lu Chun-Yang, who is one of the Eight Taoist Immortals. Read for yourself how this failed Confucian scholar became a Taoist Immortal with his famous flying sword and later became a Buddhism Dharma Protector after his encounter with Zen Master Huang-Lung Nan at Mount Lu in Kiangsu. Lu Tung-Pin thought that as he was an immortal that he was beyond physical and spiritual challenge with his magic powers and his magic sword, but he lost to Zen Master Huang-Lung Nan. In the repartee with the Zen Master he realised that his immortality was still mortality, but in a longer term relative sense. In excelling in seeking change through Taoist alchemy of I-Ching and other arcane methods, he was nonetheless still caught within inevitable change!

If we follow the same path as Lu Tung-Pin then Chan or Zen Buddhism contemplation of the Buddhist Doctrine of Interdependent Origination is the basis for being in this world but not of this world i.e. transcending the world whilst living in its midst. In simple terms Interdependent Origination refers to :[1] the relativity - the interdependence and coexistence - of all dharma i.e. of all phenomena and noumenon and other constructs of duality [in Taoist terms the yin and yang of everything] or; [2] the impermanence of all dharma - there is no "self" in the sense of a permanent absolute integral autonomous being within an individual, entity or being that stays unchanging from one moment to the next or; [3] the sunyata [a special sort of emptiness in Buddhist exegetical sense, which will become apparent in due course or in the course of this exposition] of all dharma where if any difference is subjective based on mental senses data, then in objective terms there is no difference, when there are no senses data.

Everything is interconnected. Everything affects everything else. Everything that is, is because other things are. This is the teaching of Dependent Origination. In Huayen or Avatamsaka or Brahma Net 1

Sutra terms this is expressed as All in One, One in All or more correctly, since One enters or permeates All, and in accord with the inclusiveness of the One, then All enter or must be comprised in One. The All melts into a single One or whole. There are no divisions in the totality of Ultimate Reality behind Interdependent Origination. All these will become apparent soon.

That is quite a mouthful of Chan or Zen Buddhism for a few words for an introduction. Particularly, when it has been a long time between drinks so to speak; for it has been a long time since I have written anything in detail about Buddhist cultivation, having in recent times been tied up with Taoism and Confucianism and even Christianity of late.

Buddhism particularly Chan and Zen Buddhism is sometimes thought of as a lazy mans Buddhism or to some others, an elite form of Buddhism. But if you are a true Buddhist practitioner, it is neither simple nor elitist. It is in fact very difficult and very few succeed, so there is nothing elitist in being more likely to be a failure! In fact you can never succeed unless you let go of your worldly knowledge and worldly ego and worldly mind, as a top scientist or lawyer or engineer or doctor or academic or any smart Alec. And in fact, you have to let go of yourself as a human being! Spiritual practice requires spiritual wisdom and for this you have to be a spiritual sentient being!

To be continued ..... CHC 8/5/12

Chan or Zen Buddhism - Being in this world but not of this world Part 2

Strict Buddhist protocol requires that Buddhists cultivate spiritual wisdom gradually in their personal journey to the other shore by their progressive skill and expedient means appropriate or in concordance with their spiritual capacity. Each and every one should get to enlightenment at his or her own pace or rhythm. Even if this mission or journey should take a million life times!

I am not a monk but a lay practitioner. I am going to break the rules. Why? I have been prompted to write this personal exposition on Chan or Zen Buddhism, at or on the highest level or echelon or exegesis of Buddhist eschatology and hermeneutics because: [1] there are many smart Asiawind forumites out there, professionals and academics, very highly qualified; but how many [if they are Buddhists] have the time for gradual practice? 2

[2] recently my sister got to understand the egolessness of wu-wei; my foster-sister got to understand that if there is no ego then why should there be a reverential physical clinging to a wooden statue of Buddha, let alone to allow Buddha to obsess your mind; and my elder son got to understand how to be practise mindfulness on the present and where you go or are at, there you will be; which indicates that they are ready for some expedited rocket travel to the pinnacle of Buddhism! [3] I am personally appalled by the number of Chinese Buddhists that are still at the basic level of practice; just lighting joss sticks or ending up comatose sitting meditating with a blank mind under the coconut tree or simply endlessly chanting incantations in an archaic language! That is simply not true Buddhism!

There are 3 basic practices in Buddhism Morality, Meditation and Wisdom.

Most Buddhists do not go beyond the practice of Morality they do not go beyond the Five Precepts.

Some get beyond Morality and then get started on the Noble Eight-Fold Path and thence to Meditation. They practise Vipassana Breathing and Mindfulness on the Present, but few excel because the you meditating is still with his or her I, his or her ego. The question to all is whether you are still meditating conscious of your meditating? Ask yourself this? When you drive are you conscious of your driving? It is just like when you are sitting, standing, walking, eating or shitting; you are doing so mechanically, in auto-drive and usually quite unconscious of it. The trick or art of skilful means in Buddhist practice is to be equally mechanical or in auto-drive when it comes to your self-consciousness there should be no I in you and no ego in you. It goes without saying that the more Western or Westernised you are, you get all tied up or hung up as to how rich or how clever or how beautiful you are, and you are forever keeping up with the Jones, which means, in effect, that you will never ever get past pride and gluttony in the Five Precepts in Morality.

Here I am jumping the gun and proceeding directly to expounding the 3rd practice of Wisdom. In theory, there is no way you will get anywhere far with Wisdom, if you fail Morality and Meditation. I am going to try anyway. It is a risk and a challenge and possibly a no-hoper. But who knows? Maybe, if I show you the shortcut to Spiritual Wisdom, it might just happen that you can kill 3 birds with one stone? Therefore assuming you have no ego of self, then the doors of Wisdom will open wide for you. Without ego of your worldly self, of your human being, you can for instance be a butterfly! When you see as a butterfly you may perhaps then understand the allegory of Chuan Tzus Butterfly Dream?

When you are delving directly and headstrong into attaining Spiritual Wisdom through Chan or Zen Buddhism, I have to give you a few hints or shortcuts. Come into the Meditation Hall as a sentient being, i.e. any being that has consciousness, but your worldly being with an ego of self. It can be a ghost, a plant, a bacterium, and a pulse of energy or spirit in a rock or a blow-fly in a cowdung heap. I like to pretend to be a butterfly or a grasshopper. Role playing this way will also help you to understand the Law of Karma. In simple terms the Law of Karma says that we will suffer the consequences of our thoughts and deeds i.e. our dharma. This is just another variant of Interdependent Origination. As mentioned in Part 1 - Everything is interconnected. Everything affects everything else. Everything that is, is because other things are. All things are born from causes and conditions and are interdependent in co-existence. Understanding the cause and effect of karma advances us to the point of understanding that dharma exist independently of other dharma. All dharma are caused to exist by other dharma. Further, the dharma thus caused to exist cause other dharma to exist. Dharma perpetually arise and perpetually cease because other dharma perpetually arise and perpetually cease. All this arising and being and ceasing go on in one vast cosmos or nexus of beingness or existence. And there we are with Law of karma comprised in this Doctrine of Interdependent Origination.

As a human being with your worldly mind, it is by going from having an ego to having no ego' that you proceed to take the next step in abstract philosophical logic or ratiocination reasoning to transcend in syllogism terms above the duality of yin-yang, above the relativity in duality, to a higher transcendental level; where you see that although there is ego and no ego in function, that there is however no ego and no no ego in essence. There is a functional difference between the same human being when he had an ego and when he changed and had let go of his ego; but in essence he is still the same person!

It is with this understanding of syllogism of ego and no ego that enables you to understand that the karmic consequences of what you and I enjoy or suffer when reborn in another beingness or existence in another afterlife have or bear no relationship with the earlier beingness or existence that the karmic consequences were interdependent on. Accordingly, there is no permanent soul or self that is said to have been reincarnated [as distinct from the rebirth of interdependent causes and conditions] and enjoying or suffering the karmic consequences of its earlier life or existence or beingness. To reiterate, in Buddhism you just have rebirth as in interdependent causes and conditions in origination.

To be continued ..... CHC 8/5/12

Chan or Zen Buddhism - Being in this world but not of this world Part 3

Now let us begin our Zen Buddhism discussion on Wisdom or a fast track version of it. Let me teach you how to get past the incessant whacking you may get from the Zen Master, no matter what answers you give him when he throws a koan [those enigmatic posers that appear to have no answers] at you. The usual one is Who are you? or What is your Original Face? or Where are you going? the answer, by the way, is I am Nobody and I am going Nowhere. Let me also teach you how to clap with one hand. This is just a metaphor by the way! Once you rise above duality and relativity, above yin and yang, there is no left hand and right hand and in egolessness, the right hand does not know what the left hand does or vice-versa!

Let me first explain certain keywords:

sunyata means emptiness in the sense that dharmas [i.e. entities, whether persons, forms, objects or things] have no fixed or independent nature. Therefore this type of emptiness is not the same as nothingness or void or space.

dharma means things, events, phenomena, law, doctrine, and concept etc. In contrast Dharma [with a capital D] means Buddhas teachings or Buddhist Scriptures.

Now, let us get down to the technical discourse on the Buddhist Doctrine of Interdependent Origination.

The Buddha explained - When this is, that is. This arising, that arises. When this is not, that is not. This ceasing, that ceases. The Buddha also expounded on the Twelve Causal Links of Transcendental Interdependent Arising in the Upanisa Sutta - [1] Ignorance [2] Volitional Formation [3] Consciousness [4] Name and Form [5] Faculties and Objects - [6] Contact - [7] Sensation - [8] Craving - [9] Clinging or Grasping - [10] Becoming - [11] Birth - [12] Old Age and Death. The circular links illustrated here, any link of which can be the starting point, is quite helpful when examining this doctrine in relation to the Law of Cause and Effect as in Karma. As earlier discussed in Part 2, this is only a sub-set or variant of the Doctrine of Interdependent Origination.

In Zen Buddhism we are going straight to the highest level of intuitive transmission of wisdom from mind to mind. We all know about how when Buddha held out a flower to his disciples only Kashyapa 5

knew what it meant and Kashyapa smiled in cognition. So, we are not going to go the long way by gradual realisation but by the way expedited by immediate rigorous mental analysis.

Let us discuss the spiritual or metaphysical aspect of relativity, duality, impermanence and sunyata of dharma using or referring in point to, as a provisional aid, the scientific concepts of Time, Matter and Space used in Physics

We are going to do it by two different analytical approaches. Firstly we will use our normal or worldly mind in negative dialectic or negative logic to deduce something is not quite right or amiss. Secondly we will use syllogism, which is a form of reasoning in which from two given or assumed propositions or premises having a common factor or feature, a third is reduced where the common factor is missing. In this 2nd method we switch to an abstract lateral philosophical mind to critically appraise or test our worldly mind, to think behind the thinking, to see behind the seeing and to go beyond the conventional beyond.

Let us start with analysing with Time with our conventional worldly mind. We know intuitively that time is relative because from personal experience during puppy love days, we know that waiting for your girlfriend to arrive at the bus stop is like forever; and yet when you meet and date, time passes so quickly, it is like you had barely had time to say hello! In this sense time is elastic and rubbery as well. Of course, what is a short time even if quantified in standard gauge of hours or minutes and so on to a sentient being like a human being might be infinity to another sentient being like a microbe! There is no permanent absolute fixed point in time! Time as we know it has been arbitrarily set in accordance to a human invented or designed Gregorian calendar based on a presumed date of birth of Jesus!

Past, present and future are also relative aspects of time. When you hear and see me you are actually hearing and seeing me in the past. The stars appear in the present but they are actually in the past. In the relativity of relativity itself, and when you get to various levels of perception i.e. into multi-dimensional perspectives, the past, present and future may all exist in the same time-frame! If you cannot have a permanent absolute fixed point of reference, there is in fact also no beginning or ending in the infinity that is time. In mindfulness you are supposed to focusing on the moment of the 'present'; but soon you realise how elastic these provisional labels of past, present and future are! Everything seemed so illusory!

To be continued ..... CHC

8/5/12

Chan or Zen Buddhism - Being in this world but not of this world Part 4

Next, let us deal with the relativity of Matter. We may or may not see a chameleon, for like a kaleidoscope it changes relative to its ambience. We see a mirage as real when it is a not. We see a situation or a familiar face and we have a sense of dj vu! We see a wheel and yet when we stripped it down to its basic components or ingredients we might not be able to recognise what it might be or become! A cup is not a cup, nor a window a window in its function without the void of space as its essence. So what something is or is not is interdependent and relative to various causes and conditions. It is in this sense that we have the famous dictum in the Heart Sutra that Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form But of course as we shall establish later in these lessons that in sunyata both Form and Emptiness are empty!

We have to penetrate this elusiveness of relativity in matter further, to get to the spirituality behind it. We have to look at it from different angles, different perspectives, and different dimensions and from the view of different sentient beings. We have to go beyond rocket science for we are interpenetrating to and fro and back and forth. We try to evaluate matter from the rocket or cosmos point of view, from the microscopic point of view and from a cross-dimension point of view. What is obviously apparent is the sense of relativity in that for anything small there is something smaller; for everything big, there is something bigger; for someone poor, there is someone poorer, for someone rich there is someone richer!

Taking our own body, we can see that there are millions of cosmos within our body, till we get down to our DNA Helix and beyond. So, where is the elusive I or Ego? We are no different than or from the cup or the wheel or the window, although our respective function is different. Maybe the fact that we have an ego and they have not and whether they are sentient or not, might account for the functional difference? But even so, as between different and disparate sentient beings and their different functions, with ego or without, what then is their relative essence?

Then we get to the relativity that is inherent in change in matter. This was Buddhas own awakening moment; when he saw the sick, the aging and death in men. This was Buddhas opening tenet Life is Suffering! In more objective language, life is unsatisfactory because you live to die! Death is an important meditative contemplation subject matter in Buddhism, whether Zen or otherwise. Thus in Vipassana Breathing we contemplate that death is just a breath away. That is why the Japanese and the Chinese watch cherry blossoms till they fade away.

This change is the only constant in the cycle of life. So in a negative logic sense, this is latent relativity. If change is the inchoate permanent constant; then nothing is permanent! The relativity or the duality that ensues with change is uncertain like a lottery, like the toss of a coin, whether head or tail! In uncertainty you have relativity in the possible outcome! Change can bring hope or it can bring dread and fear? The new king may be a good ruler or a bad tyrant! Even as an individual person we change through our personal passage in life. We go from being a baby, child, teenager, adult to an old person; but in the process our personality may go through a metamorphosis, could have a chameleon trait, even a schizophrenic personality! We can be predictable sometimes and unpredictable other times, depending on which side of the bed we wake up in the morning. We can be stable or unstable depending on our current circumstances in life. The same cruel king, who kills at a whim, the murderer, can also be magnanimous and benevolent, pious and saintly and gentle and angelic, to his children or love ones.

Generally speaking, all matter is like phenomena. Through worldly eyes we cannot see the other side of the duality noumenon. We think somewhat in simplisistic terms that space is noumenon, but this is not quite so. We will discuss space in the next Part 5. Let us get back to phenomena. The Taoists express phenomena within the ideology that all is like earth, wood, fire, metal and water, with their respective yin-yang qualities. You can read all about this in the Book of Change or I-Ching. Phenomenon is like an ever changing kaleidoscope of phantasmagoria. Every frame of sight you see is already history; unlike the common saying, this frame of history, like what you see in a kaleidoscope, does not repeat itself! It is in this sense that Buddha said in the Diamond Sutra The world is fleeting like a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning, a flickering lamp, an illusion and a dream.

In this phantasmagoria where existence is experienced as real when in the relativity of duality and of change what the experience is, is like an illusion, like a dream; and yet as we know dreams can be just as real, when we sweat in fear and have wet dreams! This interpenetration of one in all and all in one; of phenomenon in noumenon, of form in space, is like Alices experience in Alice in Wonderland. This was exactly my advice when somebody said that the Huayen or Avatamsaka or Brahma Net Sutra, where the Doctrine of Interdependent Origination comes together to explain Ultimate Reality, was too difficult to understand. I said read Alice in Wonderland as if it were the Avatamsaka Sutra and then go back and read the Avatamsaka Sutra.

Conversely, in the sunyata of all things, of all dharmas; if phenomenon is empty, so by logical deduction, noumenon [the opposite of phenomenon] will also be empty, since the relativity of 'duality' is empty.

To be continued ..... 8

CHC 8/5/12

Chan or Zen Buddhism - Being in this world but not of this world Part 5

I said in part 4 that we think somewhat in simplisistic terms that space is noumenon, but this is not quite so; and that we will discuss Space in this next Part. In Part 4 we established that matter is not simply just matter but that in relative terms it was quite elusive and empty of any permanent absolute self or being or existence.

Similarly, space is not space! It is all relative. It is all an illusion! The same skies where you see almost empty space with a few stars in New York at night is fulsome and ablaze with sparkling stars like grains of sands of diamonds in the darkness of the night out in the Prairies. There is hardly any space in the clear Prairies skies! Imagine, if we have this relativity as to what space we see as an individual in two different locations, what the consequence or result would be if we have different sentient beings. It illustrates that what we cannot see and imagine to be space may in fact be matter that we cannot see! In this sense we should not be adamant and assume anything! We have to go beyond human mental acumen and senses.

By evaluating the duality of worldly or human concept of matter v space in the format of universal or any sentient beings concept of phenomenon v noumenon; we can at least clearly draw the dichotomy or demarcation line along relativity terms as follows. Noumenon permeates all the background space or void, whether that space or void be a three dimensional dream world or more; and therefore it is like it is part of every phenomenon, for without the noumenon, we cannot perceive the phenomenon. In Buddhist terms we say that because noumenon permeates the entire curtain backdrop it [the noumenon] enters all that is in the curtain backdrop and because you cannot perceive phenomenon without the curtain backdrop, it [the noumenon] enters the phenomenon. Without noumenon, phenomenon is not phenomenon or phenomena are not phenomena, so noumenon is not noumenon! Without phenomena, noumenon is not noumenon, so phenomena are not phenomena! This is what is meant by the Buddhist expression one enters all, and all enter one or all in one and one in all in the Avatamsaka Sutra. I will elaborate on this in a later Part dealing with transcendence beyond relativity; whence the absolute unites with the relative.

Of course matter is not synonymous with phenomenon as matter is not animated. As an illustration, "you" are a phenomenon of human society in the same way a wave is a phenomenon of 9

ocean. A wave is animated unlike a brick in a wall. A wave as a phenomenon cannot be separated from the ocean like a brick can be taken out of a wall. Waves rise and fall and yet the ocean remains the same. It is as if the waves which contain the water are not still, while the water which contains the water is not in motion. So when we talk of one enters all, and all enter one or all in one and one in all as in the Avatamsaka Sutra, of phenomena and noumenon, we are dealing with the spiritual dynamics of relativity. So phenomenon is not quite matter and noumenon is not quite space! Phenomenon v Noumenon is just a device to understand duality and that behind the relativity of duality there is no duality but sunyata of the Doctrine of Interdependent Origination.

At the end of the Vimalakirti Sutra, Bodhisattva Manjushri asked Vimalakirti How does the bodhisattva enter the gate of nondualism [Doctrine of Interdependent Origination]? At that time Vimalakirti remained silent and did not speak a word. Manjushri sighed and said Excellent, excellent! Not a word, not a syllable this truly is to enter the gate of nondualism! Understand space in this esoteric spiritual sense, not in any worldly sense. The noumenon of space is like silence; it is not what you worldly see, worldly hear or worldly speak! But silence also does not mean that [as a salient being] you do not see, do not hear or know nothing because you do not speak, either!

To be continued ..... CHC 8/5/12

Chan or Zen Buddhism - Being in this world but not of this world Part 6

In Part 3 I said - We are going to do it by two different analytical approaches. Firstly we will use our normal or worldly mind in negative dialectic or negative logic to deduce something is not quite right or amiss. Secondly we will use syllogism, which is a form of reasoning in which from two given or assumed propositions or premises having a common factor or feature, a third is reduced where the common factor is missing. In this 2nd method we switch to an abstract lateral philosophical mind to critically appraise or test our worldly mind, to think behind the thinking, to see behind the seeing and to go beyond the conventional beyond.

Let us get straight to getting behind our worldly mind, to see whether it too is subject to relativity and is no mind just an illusion! Imagine! 'Mind' itself is just imaginary! Is it possible? Let us cut the chase and get to the provisional conclusion. Our idea of the world or strictly speaking 10

our worldly mind perspective of the world is based on conceptions based on perceptions based on sensations. What or when we see or think or feel we see mental reflections of our mental impressions of things. Mind itself is not mind because it must depend on an object to trigger the conceptions based on perceptions based on sensations. This is the foundation exegesis of the Heart Sutra. That all are skandas! skandhas are - form, sensation, perception, mental formation and consciousness - mental states of the mind the senses data that we derive our perceptions from and then construct our conceptions! Refer to the Surangama Sutra for a detailed discussion of skandhas.

Let us summarise how our worldly mind is not quite it seems and is really a very quirky diabolical indecisive mischievous monkey of a mind:-

[1] One mans meat is another mans poison. Our mind is fickle and sometimes fancy free. It is at the mercy of the senses or is it something else? But what is that something else? Is that also an evasive relativity? The worldly mind thinks there is self or ego or soul whatever you wish to call it. In Buddhism this doctrine or hypothesis is called Atman [idea of a self] whereas the opposite doctrine or hypothesis is called Anatman. [2] Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder. Ridiculous how can something clearly ugly could be beautiful to another otherwise sane and rational person. If objectivity is synonymous to absolute then this subjectivity must clearly be relativity [3] Mind-will or will-power can even cure illnesses [often mistaken for the placebo effect]. If so there must be a hidden power behind this subjectivity of the mind; so that the relativity in subjectivity means that what is apparently real [the sickness] can be made unreal! That means sickness itself is relative and is an illusion! [4] To the mind a dream, a fancy idea and conventional reality are different shades of grey. We plan and aspire or scheme and conspire, it all comes down to a relative point of view! [5] Since the mind can keep on perceiving something as smaller again or something as larger again, there is therefore infinite divisibility or aggregation; so there is therefore no quantifiable minimum starting or building block to matter, space, time or dimension. Once an atom was the smallest, now it is a quark or string. As to time there is no perceivable beginning or ending of time. [6] We daydream and at night we dream or have nightmares. Our mind is either uncontrollable or it is creative at its own initiative or volition. We can have an ever-changing kaleidoscope of phantasmagoria in our mind.

Let us analyse this duality of the subject and the object. Is either or both or neither the subject or object absolute and permanent? If perception of the worldly mind is established by the object of perception then the perception and the respective object of the perception are mutually established 11

and interdependent. Thereby subject and the object of perception of the worldly mind are interdependent. They are mutually conditioned. Note that the skandas, the senses data are not themselves objects. They must depend on the mind. But mind itself is not of itself mind. It must depend on an object. Because the object and the subject mind are interdependent, there is no definite independent origination in the objective realm of a permanent absolute worldly mind! All dharmas are therefore products of imagination or discriminating thoughts of senses data or mindobjects. What does this tell us? If worldly mind is no mind then worldly knowledge therefore like any concept, any dharma, lacks independent self-existence and is therefore empty in the sunyata sense!

If there is no self, no ego, no entity, no thing, no dharma that is absolute and permanent i.e. there is nothing that is permanent, that stays the same as it is, from one moment to the next; that it is all conceptions based on perceptions based on sensations, broadly called ones impressions; we must be merely reflecting the impressions in the mirrors of our mind! There is no mind without the object! The reflectivity of the mirrors of our mind is the true Thusness of mind. The reflections or mental states of the mind are not the mind! The reflectivity is the true pure mind! It is empty of self or ego, luminous and pure. When you are aware in the sense of being infatuated by the senses of the mind [by the reflections of the mirrors in your mind] then you are in the state of the ego of that false mind. If you are aware [through the reflectivity of the mirrors in your mind] but not infatuated by the senses [by the reflections of the mirrors in your mind] then you are in the egolessness of the true mind! The reflections (Discriminating Awareness) and the reflectivity, the Thusness (Underlying Basic Equanimous Awareness) are said to interpenetrate because one cannot exist without the other. It is in this sense that we are Being in this world but not of this world.

The Avatamsaka or Brahma Net Sutra when it refers to the Brahma jewelled net where each jewel shines and reflects on every other jewel and every other jewel on that one jewel refers to the interconnection, the interpenetration of the reflections and the interdependence on each other whereas the reflectivity, the Thusness, within each and every jewel is constant, luminous and pure whatever the dust that settles on each jewel, whatever dust or bad impressions are reflected to other jewels. This is what is meant in the spiritual sense by the Buddhist expression one enters all, and all enter one or all in one and one in all in the Avatamsaka Sutra.

In the Avatamsaka or Brahma Net Sutra the reflectivity, the Thusness, is encapsulated in the Doctrine of the nature of the Thatagatagarbha which is rendered elsewhere as The Dharma Gate of Interdependent Origination of Dharma-Dhatu.. Dharma-dhatu means spiritual realm or dimension and Thatagatagarbha means Buddha-nature

Please read the Heart Sutra, Lotus Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Lankavatara Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra, Huayen or Avatamsaka or Brahma Net Sutra, The Platform Sutra of the 6th Patriarch and 12

Samdhinirmocana Sutra. Most of the sutras are either discursive (rambling) and didactic (telling you what to do) or both, rather than arcane (mysterious) in the Taoist sense. Vimalakirti was a layman by the way; which is why the Vimalakirti Sutra is one of my favourite Sutras.

If you can read do read [1] the exegetical writings by Acarya Nagarjuna [2] the profound Zen writings of layman Li Tung Hsuan [3] The Tree of Enlightenment by Peter Della Santina [he was blind at age 11], another layman [4] All the books you can get on Zen Buddhism you can get by Robert E Buswell Jr., particularly on Korean Zen, particularly Tracing Back the Radiance Chinuls Way of Zen.

THE END CHC 8/5/12

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