Wisdom as the sea

Lectures on the Maha-Prajna-Sutra：Comparing the Merits (31)

Written by Kuo Yun-Ling Translated by Shou-chiang

1. The Origin of Wisdom：Sutra

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Eye-realm is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Eye-realm is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Eye-realm is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Form/See-realm, Eye-consciousness-realm, Eye-contact, the perception of Eye-contact-conditions are Upayas. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Form/See-realm, Eye-consciousness-realm, Eye-contact, the perception of Eye-contact-conditions is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Form/See-realm, Eye-consciousness-realm, Eye-contact, the perception of Eye-contact-conditions is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

Ananda! Therefore, I said：No-split of Eye-realm…… is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Ear-realm is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Ear-realm is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Ear-realm is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Sound/Hear-realm, Ear-consciousness-realm, Ear-contact, the perception of Ear-contact-conditions are Upayas. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Sound/Hear-realm, Ear-consciousness-realm, Ear-contact, the perception of Ear-contact-conditions is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Sound/Hear-realm, Ear-consciousness-realm, Ear-contact, the perception of Ear-contact-conditions is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

Ananda! Therefore, I said：No-split of Ear-realm…… is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Nose-realm is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Nose-realm is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Nose-realm is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Smell-realm, Nose-consciousness-realm, Nose-contact, the perception of Nose-contact-conditions are Upayas. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Smell-realm, Nose-consciousness-realm, Nose-contact, the perception of Nose-contact-conditions is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Smell-realm, Nose-consciousness-realm, Nose-contact, the perception of Nose-contact-conditions is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

Ananda! Therefore, I said：No-split of Nose-realm…… is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Tongue-realm is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Tongue-realm is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Tongue-realm is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Taste-realm, Tongue-consciousness-realm, Tongue-contact, the perception of Tongue-contact-conditions are Upayas. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Taste-realm, Tongue-consciousness-realm, Tongue-contact, the perception of Tongue-contact-conditions is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Taste-realm, Tongue-consciousness-realm, Tongue-contact, the perception of Tongue-contact-conditions is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

Ananda! Therefore, I said：No-split of Tongue-realm…… is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Body-realm is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Body-realm is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Body-realm is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Touch-realm, Body-consciousness-realm, Body-contact, the perception of Body-contact-conditions are Upayas. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Touch-realm, Body-consciousness-realm, Body-contact, the perception of Body-contact-conditions is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Touch-realm, Body-consciousness-realm, Body-contact, the perception of Body-contact-conditions is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

Ananda! Therefore, I said：No-split of Body-realm…… is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Mind-realm is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Mind-realm is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Mind-realm is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

The noble Buddha! Why? No-split of Dharma-realm, Mind-consciousness-realm, Mind-contact, the perception of Mind-contact-conditions are Upayas. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

Ananda! The nature of Dharma-realm, Mind-consciousness-realm, Mind-contact, the perception of Mind-contact-conditions is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of Dharma-realm, Mind-consciousness-realm, Mind-contact, the perception of Mind-contact-conditions is Emptiness; alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita are No-splits in nature.

Ananda! Therefore, I said：No-split of Mind-realm…… is Upaya. No-birth is Upaya. No-attain is Upaya. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice alms giving, commandments keeping, tolerating under insult, great efforts, meditation and Prajna-paramita.

2. Vivid Explanation

Next, Ananda asked the Buddha：Why? The Eighteen-realms, the Six-contacts, the Six-perceptions are Upaya of No-split, No-birth, No-attain. Return to the wisdom of all wisdoms. Practice the Six_paramitas. The Buddha said：The nature of the Eighteen-realms, the Six-contacts and the Six-perceptions is Emptiness. Why? Because of the nature of the Eighteen-realms, the Six-contacts, the Six-perceptions is Emptiness; the Six_paramitas is No-split in nature. There in after, using the same structure, the Buddha talked about the Twenty-emptiness, the True Suchness, the Incomprehensible-realm, the Four-noble-truth… and the Uppermost-right-bodhi.

In this paragraph of sutra, via Ananda’s questions, we knew：the nature of the Eighteen-realms, the Six-contacts and the Six-perceptions is Emptiness; the nature of the Six_paramitas, the Twenty-emptiness, the True Suchness, the Incomprehensible-realm, the Four-noble-truth… and the Uppermost-right-bodhi is Emptiness too. Because the nature is Emptiness, they are No-split, No-birth and No-attain. What are the Six-roots, the Six-aspects, the Six-consciousness, the Six-contacts and the Six- perceptions? There are: Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body and Mind-root; Form/See, Sound/Hear, Smell, Taste, Touch and Dharma-aspects; Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body and Mind-consciousness; Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body and Mind-contacts; the perceptions of Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body and Mind-contact-conditions. These roots, aspects, consciousness, contacts and perceptions compose the connection between us and the world and our feelings. Therefore we knew, Buddhism is a precisely science. It can analyze our lives in detail. The sensory world, the spirit world and all feelings can be collected into the life science. The operation of life is very speed, complex and changeable. For instance, when we saw a pretty flower, all at once, we had a happy feeling. In fact, observing with the precisely Buddhist science, there were numerous actions happened between roots, aspects, consciousness, contacts and perceptions to produce that happy feeling.

Let’s analyze in detail：when the Eye-root saw the Form/See-aspect of a flower, the Eye-consciousness started to realize the beauty of the flower. When the Eye-contact completely knew the beauty of the flower, the Eye-perception felt the happy feeling. This is a model analysis about the root, aspect, consciousness, contact and perception of the eye. In fact, all the Six-roots, aspects, consciousness, contacts and perceptions attended the operation from the first moment of seeing a flower to the raise of the feeling of happiness.

Therefore we know completely why man is called _ the wisest of all creatures. Man really is worth the name. That also explains why man’s body is call _ the small universe. If you pick up any life phenomenon and analysis it, you will find it is too complicate and beyond any logical thinking. Therefore, Buddhism is very great. No matter how complicate a matter is, Buddha-dharma can decode the matter completely. The origin of Buddhism is in India that seems not a very modern country in any way. However, Buddhism goes to enhance and glorify in India and latter, affects numerous people in the world. Speak reason, Buddhism is truth. As long as it is truth, where the truth originated? Who say the truth? These questions are not important at all. The most important thing is we already have the life and we must understand the truth of life. Although, the origin of Buddhism is the archaic India and the Buddha is an Indian, India is not India and Indian is not Indian beneath the great truth of Buddhism. The most important matter is that you make sure truth is truth. Therefore, Buddhism is equality between matters and beyond any condition. If man evaluate a country with modern science and technology, it seems that we are supposed to believe in the sciences of modern countries instead of believing in the archaic India and do what they said. Further more, in culture point of view, Chinese are supposed to believe in Chinese traditional culture instead of believing in the Buddha. However, man is really the wisest creature. As long as Buddhism is the truth, man realizes the truth. As long as the truth is superior to the science, the culture, the art… the truth is the most important treasure and the best property of all mankind. Therefore, Buddhism is the greatest science, the most developed civilization, the perfect art… All and All beauty and goodness id the Buddha-dharma.

Buddhism is truth. Meanwhile, the world is too messed-up, especially we are in the last-dharma-era. As long as a cultivator resumes his spirits nature, he simply can’t stand the messed-up any longer. In the flame of five poisonous passions, greediness, anger, stupidity, arrogance and doubt have a strong magnetic field on man. Even you are a cultivator can’t get rid of the effect of the magnetic field completely. Therefore, a cultivator becomes lazy and stubborn. Although this is the last-dharma-era, which means Dharma still exist. A dharma-era and a non-dharma-era are totally different with each other. Therefore, as long as we are Buddhists, especially Maha-yana bodhisattvas, we must understand the truth of Buddhism and make everyone in the world realizes the truth. In this global village, the truth has close relation with every one of us. Why does the world messed-up and every one lived in the world is worrying, sad, suffered and upset? The reason is man don’t understand the truth.

(to be continued)

3. The High Lights

Therefore, as long as we are Buddhists, especially Maha-yana bodhisattvas, we must understand the truth of Buddhism and make everyone in the world realizes the truth. In this global village, the truth has close relation with every one of us. Why does the world messed-up and every one lived in the world is worrying, sad, suffered and upset? The reason is man don’t understand the truth.

4. The Profile of Wisdom

Overview of Maha-Prajna-Sutra：

Chapter 26

Learn the Prajna (Volume 86~89)

Sudarsana Bodhisattva has profound wisdom. He explains intrinsic nature of the Dharma via extrinsic terminology.

Chapter 27

Pursue the Prajna (Volume 89~98)

We are supposed to practice Prajna according Maha-bodhisattva’s teachings; moreover, surrender ourselves to the Buddha.

Chapter 28

Praise the Merits (Volume 98~98)

A bodhisattva’s practicing of Prajna has characters of great, numerous and limitless Paramita. That practicing may attain to the supreme enlightenment.

Chapter 29

Apply the Prajna (Volume 98~103)

A bodhisattva is supposed to practice Prajna and should never give up the practicing under any circumstances.

Chapter 30

Comparing the Merits (Volume 103~168)

The merits of Prajna are numerous and limitless. The merits of worshipping Prajna are much greater than the merits of worshipping a Buddha’s pagoda.

Chapter 31

Alms of the Merits (Volume 168~172)

A bodhisattva should never attach him to any merit and give alms to whoever needs merits.