In Buddhism, our familiar human mind is trying to penetrate through itself hopefully to reach its very essence which alone is real and non-contradictory. Facing itself, the human mind has to pass through its self-produced constructions, its conceiving, thinking, imagining, assuming, planning, inventing, devising, etc. These are like a magic spell which, in the case of our human mind, act to deceive it from birth to death and even rebirth.
The totality of what faces us, according to the Buddha, is mâyâ or a fiction, including this human body of ours. According to the Vimalkirti Sutra:
"This body is like a machine, a nexus of bones and tendons. It is like a magical illusion, consisting of falsifications. It is like a dream, being an unreal vision. It is like a reflection, being the image of former actions. It is like an echo, being dependent on conditioning. It is like a cloud, being characterized by turbulence and dissolution. It is like a flash of lightning, being unstable and decaying every moment. The body is ownerless, being the product of a variety of conditions."
Nowhere do we find an adequate refuge in this fictionally constructed world and the body that inhabits it. Certainly, the products of our human mind are likewise without a refuge. It is only the very substance or essence of mind which is real, which I call pure Mind. It alone is not mâyâ or a fiction. This is what the Buddha wants us to recognize.
Conveying this to the common people of his time was extremely difficult for the Buddha if not vexing. In fact, the Buddha said, “If I were to teach the Dhamma and others were not to understand me, that would be a weariness, a vexation for me” (M. i. 168). The problem the Buddha faced is that people are fascinated and addicted to illusion. The simplest means of overcoming this problem is by the human mind penetrating through its maculate, conditioned side returning to its true essence, but even this proves extremely difficult for the common person to accomplish. How many common people are possessed of the abilities of Gautama? Very few are willing to believe their human life is a fiction, let alone seek the stuff from what such fictions are composed.
The nature of illusion is multifarious and difficult to dispel. Even death itself, which is certain, takes on an illusory shine because we cling to mind. Since it has not happened, we see it as a concept. Our opportunity in carnal form is not meaningless, but the means to shatter the stream of habit energy which flows from mind. When we see death as a transformation, not as an end, we can perceive this principle embodied as the dharmakaya.
Posted by: n. yeti | December 10, 2013 at 07:32 AM