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Tathagatagarbha Buddhism (18)
Continuation of the "Angulimaliya Sutra": (start of the sutra: http://www.webspawner.com/users/tathagatagarbha16/index.html)
“Moreover, Mañjuśrī, people churn milk because they understand that butter is present therein. Why do people not churn water ? Because that substance is not present there. Likewise, Mañjuśrī, people maintain moral discipline (śīla) and engage in the holy life (brahmacarya) because of the existence of the tathāgata-garbha.
“Moreover, Mañjuśrī, people who want gold and are endowed with discernment dig in cliffs. Why do they not dig in trees ? They dig in rocks where gold-ore (suvarna-dhātu) is present, but they do not dig in trees where there is no gold. Likewise, Mañjuśrī, people who discern the presence of the dhātu think to themselves, ‘I shall become a Buddha’ and so maintain the moral discipline and engage in the holy life. Furthermore, Mañjuśrī, if there were no dhātu, the holy life would be pointless. Just as butter will never be produced from water even if one were to churn it for a billion years, similarly there would be no benefit for those attached to a self who engage in the holy life and the moral discipline if there were no ātma-dhātu .”
Mañjuśrī asked, “You speak repeatedly of the holy life, but what does that mean ? Why did the Tathāgata abandon disporting with the five sensual objects ?”
Angulimāla also said, “There are many gods and humans who abandon thoughts about the objects of desire, knowing that these are phenomena which will certainly cause them to fall.”
The Blessed One replied, “Do not say that, Angulimāla ! Since the tathāgata-garbha is present in all beings, all males are Dharma brothers, all females are Dharma sisters.”
Aṅgulimāla asked, “If King Śuddhodana and Queen Māyā were siblings, then how could they become husband and wife ?”
The Blessed One replied, “That was displayed by the deeds of an emanation from another world in order to liberate beings. For example, a thousand coins were wagered on two champions of a king, but then they pre-arranged matters and rigged the bout. It appeared that the wager of a thousand coins was lost, but in that manner, they delighted the king and all his entourage, though the masses were unaware of the distinction. Similarly, the blessed Buddhas employ skilful means and manifest their parents and themselves as worthy people, and then, when they liberate multitudes of beings from the inexhaustible ocean of samsaric existence, beings are unaware of the distinction.
“Again, for example, an actor may perform before an audience at a show, and in the course of dancing and speaking his lines, he transforms into a man, a woman or a hermaphrodite and quickly delights many people. Similarly, the blessed Buddha also displays his own body just like a great actor and liberates masses of beings, but beings are unaware that it is his skilful means taking on a human form.
“Again for example, an illusionist may cut his body up in pieces before an audience at a show and delight many people though he has not actually injured or struck himself. Similarly, I myself also display illusory emanations, like the illusionist, in order to benefit masses of beings.
“Again, Mañjuśrī, when the Tathāgata, who is all-knowing and endowed with all forms of awareness (jñāna), carefully gazes at all the worlds of beings and sees that while repeatedly transmigrating and wandering through samsāra from time without beginning, a mother does not necessarily become a mother, a sister does not necessarily become a sister, for a mother might become a daughter, a servant might become a father, a father might become a servant. Because the worlds of beings live their lives over many generations [in different forms] like actors, the Tathāgata engaged in the holy life.
“Again, Mañjuśrī, any of these performers who desire to be united with their own dhātu will secure for themselves a small degree of happiness, for they will become as they say. If they are born as a hermaphrodite, a heap of suffering will arise with that happiness. The tathāgata-garbha is present in women and likwise also in men. How could they secure that and become as they say by themselves ? Therefore, the dhātu of all beings is a single dhātu. [The Tathāgata] applied himself to the holy life all the while that he had not established himself therein and [eventually] arrived at tathāgatahood."
Mañjuśrī asked, “Why does the Tathāgata not establish all laymen (upāsaka) and laywomen (upāsikā) in the holy life ? Why are there great sinners who go forth as monks even though you have taught that laypeople, monks and nuns are the bais of the authentic Dharma, like the four of a house ? Why is it that there are laymen and laywomen who are sinful in that manner ? Why have you created a moral code for laymen and laywomen ?”
The Blessed One replied, “Mañjuśrī, that is a contrary notion, what I would call a mundune notion. Even though the Tathāgata establishes all beings in buddhahood, he does not regard them in the manner of Rāhula . The ideas of the Tathāgata and the notions of the world are different. Those questions should be called ‘non-questions’.
“Mañjuśrī, he who has abandoned the taking of life because it is the dhātu of all beings is a Buddha. Noble son, taking life in the world is like killing oneself, for it destroys one’s dhātu.”
Mañjuśrī asked, “Bhagavat, why have you taught severing and killing, in accordance with heterodox people who cling to the fault of severing their own dhātus, although you view all beings as though they were Rāhula ?”
The Blessed One replied, “Noble son, do no say that ! The Tathāgata does view beings as though they were Rāhula. For example, Mañjuśrī, there was a man who longed for the Dharma and ate just twice a day, but somebody said to him that he should take a meal just once a day – yet he would still kill eighty species of minute organisms. If that is the case, then people would not be able to become pure with respect to the taking of life !
“Moreover, Mañjuśrī, a noble person who has turned away from the heppiness of pleasurable objects of desire might kill himself to overome desire. If noble ones were to do thus, they would be guilty of the sin of suicide. If somebody gives rise to desire, let them sit in the presence of another and say, ‘If I give rise to desire, what should I do ?’, and rouse a sense of shame. Nga’i lus gcig yod kyang rung | med kyang rung dpa’-bo ltar ‘dug-pas bdag gsod-pa ni, then would one’s dhātu be destroyed ?”
“No, Blessed One, that would be a mass of merit.”
“Likewise, Mañjuśrī, noble ones also kill themselves in this manner. Why is that ? Because of the poison of the afflictions, yet they do not kill others ...
Mañjuśrī asked, “Do Buddhas not eat meat because of the tathāgata-garbha ?”
The Blessed One replied, “Mañjuśrī, that is so. There are no beings who have not been one’s mother, who have not been one’s sister through generations of wandering in beginningless and endless saṃsāra. Even one who is a dog has been one’s father, for the world of living beings is like a dancer. Therefore, one’s own flesh and the flesh of another are a single flesh, so Buddhas do not eat meat.
“Moreover, Mañjuśrī, the dhātu of all beings is the dharmadhātu, so Buddhas do not eat meat because they would be eating the flesh of one single dhātu.”
Mañjuśrī asked, “What about honey, conch-shell, leather, silk and so forth ? They are not flesh of anybody’s dhātu.”
The Blessed One replied, “Mañjuśrī, do not say that ! The Buddha has abandoned the bodies of all mundane forms of life, so if the Buddha is not a body of flesh (āmiṣa-kaya), there is no possibility that he would make use of tainted substances. If he appears to rely on things of the flesh, that is merely skilful means in nature.
“Now, you may make use of those substances that have come to you, passed along indirectly, but you should not use substances at their point of origin. You may use those substances that have come to you indirectly without having been touched by killing.”
Mañjuśrī asked, “If a cobbler in a market stitches shoes from leather and presents them to the Tathāgata, Arhat, Perfect Buddha, would you say that [the leather] has come to you indirectly ? Furthermore, if a buffalo dies of natural causes, its leather obtained from the candala owner of the bufflao and given to a cobbler who then sews it into shoes which are given to somebody upholding the moral discipline, has that passed indirectly ?”
The Blessed One replied, “If the buffalo has died of natural causes and the owner has the cobbler sew shoes and then gives them to somebody upholding the moral discipline, then he would act in accordance with his monkhood if he were to refuse them. On the other hand, he would lack compassion if he were to accept them, although his moral discipline would not be compromised.”
Mañjuśrī asked, “Neither ploughing and tilling are fitting, nor should food cooked with impure water be accepted. If such is the case, then should monks accept such things ?”
The Blessed One replied, “This is a mundane notion. If there is a layperson, let them prepare the food with pure water. Where there is a layperson, ploughing and tilling should not be done [by monks]. Wherever there is not a layperson, then even Buddhas would do such things, for there are creatures in the earth, creatures in the water and creatures in the air. If no sin arises for such beings who have achieved purity, then how could there be any basis for mundane people to become pure ? This question I call a ‘non-question’.”
Mañjuśrī asked, “Blessed One, mundane [teachers] themselves have not indulged in meat-eating for a long time.”
The Blessed One replied, “Were the words of any mundane teacher to accord with those of the Buddha, then you should know that these are the words of the Buddha in all respects. Mañjuśrī, mundane teachers also speak of liberation yet they are devoid of liberation, while liberation is found in the teachings of the Blessed One. They also mention renunciation yet they are not renunciates, while renunciation is found in the teachings of the Blessed One. Mundane teachers also say that eating meat is eating oneself and they themselves do not eat their own flesh, but it is only according to the Blessed One’s teachings that this is definitely eating one’s own flesh.
“MañjuśrI, do you want to hear my account in this sūtra of the arising in the world of all heterodox paths ?”
He replied, “Yes, I ask the Blessed One to do so.”
[For continuation of selected quotes from the "Angulimaliya Sutra", please go to:
http://www.webspawner.com/users/tathagatagarbha19/index.html
Or click on "Tathagatagarbha 19" below!
Tathagatagarbha 19
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