To so expose one's mind that it dwells in all spatio-temporal universe, this is also called liberation. After the Buddha bore witness to the Way, he enjoyed seven days of liberation, as well know from the scriptures: liberation. What is the fun? What does liberation mean to life?
If you are already liberated, then you can comprehend Buddha's joy of liberation, and also comprehend the state of liberation as expounded in the Vimalakirti-irdesha Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, and the Flower Ornament Sutra. What cannot be seen or heard, the mind can see, hear, and substantiate. In Hegel's philosophy there is such a term: "substantiation of spirit". How can spirit be substantiated? After you have attained liberation, you will be able to turn your conscious thought into solid, real, ultimate, perfect ideal substance; only then can substantiation of spirit be implemented, so as to realize so called Pure Land or spiritual universe and natural universe. Since Pure Land (spiritual universe) reveals itself from within the mind, therefore, you only have to think up a cup and substantiate and realize it, as well as make your coffee tasty, and all food that you imagine can become reality, not just coffee; thus, you are primarily liberated. If you succeed in thinking up one item, it is equivalent to billions of items, because Buddhist truth consists in mental activity. Employing the concept of equality in the dharma-realm, one and a hundred millions are equal. Turn one into many, transform many into one; one is all, and all, one. The Flower Ornament Sutra proposes that one is all; if you can think up a cup of tangible, full-bodied coffee, and can drink it, smell it and, without using your five senses, appreciate the taste of that cup of coffee; if you can do this, then the Buddhist Pure Land is within your reach and you are liberated, dropping your mind into Pure Land; liberated and released, you are able to completely let your Primordial Mind be liberated and released from your physical body, and then make manifest the beautiful, majestic world. Starting from that cup of coffee thought up by your consciousness, you have realized the substantiation of spirit expounded by Hegel, and are able to realize that statement of Aristotle; all things in the universe come into being through your conscious judgment - consciousness changes all things; consciousness changes and manifests all things; all dharma lies in consciousness.
The Buddha is able to completely express the content of the true form of all dharma, and revert it to its real self-nature. The conception expounded in Buddhist scripture of the true-form Pure Land as stemming from the real fundamental nature is an eternal, immutable truth: the truth of Buddhism - Pure Land of the Buddhist realm (the true form of all dharma) and the real self-nature. Apart from this everything else is a matter of expediency. Where is Pure Land of the Buddhist kingdom? In your mind! In the real self-nature, just as in the Bible when the Pharisees asked Jesus: "When will the kingdom of God come upon us?" Jesus replied: "The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be seen by the eyes (what the eyes cannot see is the true form, occult vision); it is neither here nor there, because the kingdom of God is right in your mind." If one departs from mind, then one pursues the wrong track! As a result the kingdom of God and Pure Land of the Buddhist kingdom become invisible.
Ten years ago you accepted the view of fundamental substance and developed celestial sight; however, celestial sight for you only has enlightening effects, and it can only see; but is it able to touch, smell, and hear the state of liberation? Yes, this can be seen, touched, and smelled: splendid, solemn, solid, tangible, endowed with Buddha nature, and replete with elan vital. Without using your bodily senses yet you can absorb all entities in the spiritual universe, and the true form evolved from this mind is Pure Land (spiritual universe). The realm of the Buddha in its ten directions and the realm of ultimate bliss are the same, as well as God's kingdom. Jesus says that God's kingdom cannot be seen by the naked eye. The kingdom of God can only be seen with the eye of the Primordial Mind. Hence Jesus says the kingdom of God is in your mind. Why is it in your mind? How can the kingdom of God be in your mind? Do you feel odd? Your inner sense of pure form has been activated; this sense of pure form exists in the dharma nature. When the sense of pure form is clear, the land of dharma nature appears. Thus God's kingdom is conjured up in your mind!
After attaining this state of liberation, then you can understand what is meant by the spiritual universe, what is called eternal Pure Land. It all starts from that cup of true-form coffee brought about by thought. As you are able to drink that cup of true-form coffee, you can so extend this ability as to encompass the great expanse of the limitless spiritual universe. As for turning coffee into tea, tea into wine, and wine into anything - all these changes are possible ("change" here denotes liberation). For example, you hold a cup in your hand and, although it's so small, drink! Now it's empty. Nonetheless it... If you want to eat shark's fin, hey, it changes... naturally becomes bigger (Buddhist scripture states: suddenly enlarged). A small cup changes into a large bowl to contain shark's fin, and then a spoon automatically presents itself as desired, a tangible one! Take a step further and hot water can be changed into ice water, with its heat released, turning into ice, changing all things. Not a change of all things [in themselves], but a liberating change caused by the Primordial Mind in action. Randomly altering the form of matter at will amounts to the interchange between one mass and another which scientists find hard to explain. Such events of the spiritual state changing physical phenomena do really take place! To prove this principle of mutual replacement between matter and energy, there is nothing for it but to wait for the scientists to achieve the state of liberation so that a reasonable explication can be obtained. Now it is not for us to provide evidence for others, but for you to provide evidence for yourself; when you are liberated, you prove to yourself that it is all caused by the changing effects of the Primordial Mind. In order to facilitate your cognition and actual experience, we use the Buddhist scriptures to confirm your convictions, and not to introduce to you the Buddhist scriptures as such; we can only use the Buddhist scriptures to explicate your state. If you have grown in your cognition about the state of liberation, the exhibition of natural consciousness entirely depends on the direct absorption of the Primordial Mind, not on ascetic practices. By not acting you act, and by not acting you achieve absorption. Asceticism is an active procedure; it is only a formality. For example, the Buddha was troubled by the world's distance, as stated in the Rulai-shenli-pin or chapter on Tathagata's divine power, number 21, fascicle 6: Buddha Shakyamuni remotely scattered over the whirling world all kinds of fragrant flowers, necklaces, canopies and other things for personal adornment, treasures and wondrous objects. All things scattered came from the ten directions. For example, gathering clouds became precious tents, covering all over the land of the Buddha when the world in its ten directions was thoroughly sensible and without impediment. This sort of "remotely scattering" from the ten directions over the whirling world, this remote scattering has the force of "coming from above", as in the Bible: God's kingdom is coming. God's kingdom is coming in what manner? Coming and remote scattering both have the sense of "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." The "proximity" of the kingdom of heaven spoken of is as near as the space before one's eyes, which is consistent with the notion of Plato's God "transporting" the universe to place it in the space before one's eyes, thus forming the spiritual universe. Hence the kingdom of heaven in the Bible and the realm of ultimate bliss in Buddhist scripture both belong in the spiritual universe. The spiritual universe is what Aristotle called natural universe. The Pure Land of the Buddhist realm described by the Buddha as "by itself reaching everywhere" or "by itself reaching everywhere exhaustively" is implied by the term "transport", "descent", or "approach". For example, the descent frequently seen in Buddhist scripture: "Sandal twigs rain into the water, in riotous profusion they fall; as birds fly down from sky, to make scattered offerings to the Buddha. Heavenly drums in empty space emit their natural and wondrous sounds. Heavenly garments thousands upon thousands come down in whirls; the wondrous incense burner treasured by all is burning priceless incense, its scent naturally and exhaustively reaching everywhere." The heavenly kingdom or Pure Land comes naturally in whirling motion. In reality, it does not come from heaven, but from the Primordial Mind, from truth itself, and the Primordial Mind is pure truth. The true form of all dharma emerges from the self-nature of pure truth. The advent from heaven or emergence from earth described in the scriptures is nothing but the unrestrained magical power of the liberated. As far as the liberated in concerned, the question of where it comes from does not exist. It comes with one's mind and in response to one's thought. There is "sudden appearance", and there is "sudden disappearance". Now you see and now you don't; now it congeals and now it dissipates; whether expanding or diminishing, rising or falling... the whole content is encased in time and space. Once liberated from time and space, it naturally becomes sensible and without impediment. Then naturally the kingdom of heaven is at hand, the realm of ultimate bliss is before one's eyes.
Once liberated from time and space, there is no more spatio-temporal distance. Witness the Old Testament of the Bible: The shadow of the sun withdrew ten degrees (time was slowed by forty minutes). The Lotus Sutra, section on Gushing forth from the ground: Fifty lesser kalpas was as half a day; The Vimalakirta-irdesha Sutra considers one kalpa as seven days, and seven days as one kalpa; these are all instances of liberation from time and space. The capacity of the human mind is expansive and limitless, embracing the universe, containing the void, encompassing past, present and future, and exhausting antiquity and modernity. Hence any spatio-temporal segment may be manifested in the limitless expanse of the mind. This inscrutable state of liberation all depends on the breadth of mind. When the mind is liberated, its expansion is limitless, so that the universe is contained therein, and the past disappears without a trace; there is nothing for it but to apply the principle of converting spirit into matter to cause it to materialize, actualize, so that the events of the past appears one by one. Recurrences of people, episodes, places, and things of the past are in accord with the principle of knowing the past and compatible with the deterministic intellect. Therefore, we view the spatio-temporal universe at the level of the liberation of mental capacity, and by looking hither with the physical eye and saying it is so and so far away; when a person talks about so and so far away, it is clear this person is not liberated!
The Buddha is liberated, and naturally he can transform and cause the world in its ten directions to appear, not only the realm of ultimate bliss! The content of the true form of all dharma all depends on whether the "true self-nature" has been liberated, and not on discussing the distance, size, history, or elevation of the limitless Pure Land. Hence, do not focus on the content of the true form of all dharma; one should rather consider how to be liberated. Upon liberation one will naturally understand the wherewithal of the true form of all dharma, and Buddhist teaching will naturally become thoroughly comprehensible! The key still lies in liberation. But how can one be liberated? How to become sensible? The masters of today are keen on asceticism. Vimalakirta speaks of not extinguishing folly and desire as starting point of liberation, and of achieving liberation through the five disagreeable behaviors. The Vimalakirti - irdesha Sutra, section on the Buddhist way, states: At that time Manjusri asked Vimalakirti: What do you say about a bodhisattva understanding the Buddhist way? Vimalakirti replies: If the bodhisattva walks in the wrong way, it will lead him to the Buddhist way. "Walking in the wrong way" means no abstinence, continuous defilement... and yet this leads to a thorough comprehension of the Buddhist teaching - a dissenting voice to the modern masters' asceticism. The Buddha in the Ascension Sutra also designates Maitreya, who "does not practice meditation, does not stop defilement", as Buddha of the Future. The idea of not practicing meditation, not stopping defilement and yet attaining enlightenment denotes direct absorption, attainment without cultivation. The Buddha affirmed that Maitreya did not undergo cultivation and yet became a Buddha. The main cause was that the Buddha was able to emit light to make the Primordial Mind of Maitreya capable of direct absorption; thus asceticism was not necessary. The Buddha "emitted light" to illuminate Maitreya; likewise he could emit light to illuminate all the living, so that they might absorb. Emission of light is effected through conscious thinking, not through meditation. The Buddha sitting cross-legged in meditation was perhaps a matter of complying with liturgical requirements to display solemnity, to present the dignity of Buddhist eaching through external ritual. Moreover, the Buddha was of a noble disposition, in possession of perfect moral integrity, so his stateliness took shape on its own; and ritual is a means by which to educate Buddhist followers; its objective is liberation. The liberated can emit light at will, without having to go through any ritual, because light emission is an activity of conscious thought, and the Buddha's light emission is a consequence of the liberation of his Primordial Mind, absolutely not based on external ritualistic solemnity, or on meditation sitting in lotus position! The Buddha can point out that Maitreya ascended to the Pure Land of Tusita heaven. he structural nature of Maitreya's Pure Land comes into being in accordance with the Buddha's light emission. The Buddhist way is free and untrammeled; having neither form nor shape, it is the way of liberation which cannot be seen by the eyes of mortals. Whether or not you have the way, you yourself know it. Capable of liberation, of seeing the changes of all things in heaven and on earth and of all universal phenomena, of liberating oneself through one's own effort and thus manifesting Pure Land in the world, of entering the true form of all dharma in a flicker of thought - this is thorough comprehension of the Buddhist way! Faxian, Dao'an, Xuanzang, and Kuaiji as well as the contemporary masters have propagated Maitreya's Pure Land very well, but that is only theoretical propagation. To really ascend to Tusita heaven does not depend on theoretical propagation. If one had ascended to Tusita heaven, seen Maitreya and waited for 5,6 70,000,000, and then brought the Master down to the world to construct Pure Land in the world together - too much trouble! This was rejected later by a certain Master Shandao; venerating Amitabha is faster, because if it is slow one might feel asceticism is ineffective, hence the emergence of the Amitabha cult! Recitation of Amitabha's name has the efficacy of rebirth in paradise? This is a very good theory! Very simple! Today performing the seven-day ritual will do; at best one can go to the realm of ultimate bliss in seven days? If this is too fast, you will wonder how can it be so fast? You ask yourself: After all, I haven't practiced asceticism; this too is cause for suspicion. Therefore this kind of religion, with its theoretical deliberations, have puzzles many seekers of truth, causing many people to go astray. You must find a fundamental, ultimate method. We have entered the 21st' century; you have to put it into practice, to verify your spiritual state. Instantly you will come to a sudden understanding of the Buddha's Pure Land of Maitreya and of the original meaning of the realm of ultimate bliss. After all. Pure Land is rooted in the true, self-nature, and not descended or welled up from external heaven and earth in a whirling movement.
Go outward and worship idols? Go inward and look for the Primordial Mind! In regard to the question of understanding the way of liberation, first listen to what follows, and the day will come when you have achieved the state of liberation; then when you recollect once again, you will feel that this is reasonable. Learn from experience in the state itself! Get actual evidence from the state itself instead of theory! To improve you actual comprehension, quote from the Vimalakirti-irdesha Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, or the Flower Ornament Sutra to verify you state of liberation. Reference to the content of true form in Buddhist scripture will increase your faith. Also you must treasure the state of your Primordial Mind, so as to really arrive at the practical and ultimate concern of Buddhist doctrine. Only then can one speak of thoroughly understanding the Buddhist way.
In fact, with regard to cultivation there are two varieties of Buddhist methods: one is the ascetic procedure of Buddha Shakymuni, and the other is the direct absorption of Pure Land. Direct absorption is like the people inside you right now; ah, there are children, and there are old people; this is a breakthrough miracle of the millennium! The imalakirti-irdesha Sutra states: At that time the divine powers which Vimalakirti exhibited were such that all the shravaka-pratyekabuddhas, after exhausting all their efforts in transformation for hundreds of thousands of kalpas, were not capable of doing. This demonstrates the high degree of difficulty of Vimalakirti's state of liberation. When the Buddha was expounding Vimalakirti's state, Kashyapa the Elder exclaimed in admiration that it had never happened nor been heard before; how could the state of liberation be possible? Kashyapa the Elder was right beside the Buddha and did not attain the state of liberation, how can people of today have it? The fact is: if the Buddha had used the method of "direct absorption" to guide his disciples, certainly there would have appeared disciples who were ultimately liberated. No need to say: all the shravaka- pratyekabuddhas after exhausting all their efforts in transformation for hundreds of thousands of kalpas were not capable of doing. Why was it the disciples of Buddha at that time could not do it? The Buddha had neglected "direct absorption". The Buddha himself was obsessed with asceticism; the Buddha taught people not to be obsessed with ego, with dharma... yet he himself committed the error of rigidly upholding his own ideas. The Buddha was not aware that his own light emission could enlighten his disciples and enable them to directly absorb liberation in an instant. Direct absorption has as its condition that the person who emits light should illuminate the Primordial Mind so that its functioning capacity is activated; only then will instantaneous liberation take place without reversion. But when the Buddha emitted light, the disciples beside him did not know they could absorb, because they were still under the influence of the ascetic rules and discipline obtaining at the time.
In view of the phenomenon of the Buddha's light emission, it should have allowed many of those disciples who had followed Buddhist teaching to have the state of liberation. On account of the Buddha's neglect in guiding and motivating his disciples, they failed to attain the Buddhist state of liberation. As the Flower Ornament Sutra, section on entering the dharma-realm 39:1 states: "...with omnipotence making all worlds interpenetrate by turns... to see the various worldly forms and shapes. To see a huge stupa in a small space, and a tiny stupa in a large space... to see in all the ten directions without puzzlement, and in an instant to go and visit, thus all the bodhisattvas were present at Shiduolin, which was imbued with the tremendous divine powers of Tathagata. At that time the chief monks, Shariputra, Maudgalyayana the Great, Mahakashyapa... were all in Shiduolin and yet could not see Tathagata's divine powers, fine ornament, condition, frolics, and magical transformations..." When the Buddha was emitting a great amount of light to demonstrate the true-form technique, if the chief disciples could not see it, then they could not know, could not hear, could not enter, could not possess, could not observe, could not measure, could not think, could not distinguish; if the Primordial Mind is liberated, then they are able to see and enter, and to thoroughly comprehend the true form of all dharma. Therefore you must treasure the state of liberation, which your own Primordial Mind has directly absorbed! Stop wondering why you possess it without practicing asceticism! What the Buddha said could not be achieved by exhausting one's effort in transformation for hundreds of thousands of kalpas, was to describe the inefficacy of the hundreds of thousands of kalpas spent in exhaustingly effortful transformation when one had not attained liberation; if liberated, it can instantly be accomplished! Some might think that they have worked hard, versed in the scriptures, and have practiced the six grades of all virtues, given donations to build temples, gone on pilgrimages to honor the Buddha, tireless in spiritual advancement; yet why is it no state of liberation has manifested? Why is it that some have had it without cultivation, obtained it without labor? Is that reasonable? How strange! So this makes you even more doubtful and indignant; speeding up doesn't work, nor does slowing down. If you speed up and liberation becomes possible, then again you get suspicious, just like the Longnü mentioned in the Lotus Sutra, who achieved Buddhahood by a turn of her mind, and in an instant activates her Bodhi- mind so that there was no reversion. In the Lotus Sutra Bodhisattva Zhiji states: "I see that Shakya-tathagata practiced strict asceticism for numberless kalpas to accumulate a great store of merits, pursuing the bodhi-truth unceasingly, and then he succeeded in acquiring the bodhi-truth. I cannot believe that this woman (Longnü) achieved enlightenment instantaneously." Not only Bodhisattva doubted it, so did Shariputra. The Lotus Sutra states: "At that time Shariputra said to Longnü You said it did not take long for you to attain the supreme truth; this is unbelievable. Why is this so? Because a woman's body is dirty and so cannot be a vessel of the truth, so how can you have attained the supreme bodhi? The Buddhist way is steep and barren; only after long periods of assiduous cultivation, having undergone all the trials, can one reach the goal. Besides, a female body has five impediments... How then can a female body attain Buddha hood so quickly?" Both Bodhisattva Zhiji and Shariputra did not understand "direct absorption"!
In sum, the state of liberation is contingent on the Primordial Mind's direct absorption of Pure Land; it comes about naturally! From a free conscious mind a sort of Pure Land effortlessly reveals itself, absolutely true, good, and beautiful, a most ideal spiritual domain. Fit the ideal world into the human realm, into your own life, step into the Pure Land on earth mentioned in Buddhist scripture. The Lotus Sutra, section on seeing the precious pagoda ll, tells of land transformation: "Then the whirling world turned pure, the ground was paved with glazed tiles; valuable trees looked sublime; ropes made of gold were used to mark the eight paths; there were innumerable villages, camps, towns and cities, oceans, rivers, mountains and waters, forests. Large quantities of precious incense were burned; mandrake blossoms were scattered everywhere; over it were spread precious nets and canopies, with hanging bells... gods and men were moved to other locations. "
The Pure Land on earth is entirely realized through the Primordial Mind's absorption and achievement of Pure Land, and the condition of absorption must be obtained from the light of the person who emits it. Without this light, there is no absorption to speak of. Moreover, absorption depends on the Primordial Mind's light extracting capacity, not the doing of the carnal body. In fact, the Buddha had earlier on introduced the idea of "direct absorption". From the Dabaoji Sutra, fascicle 17, Wuliangshou Rulaihui 5:1 we have the following: "The Buddha (referring to Tathagata the omnipotent king of the world) told the monks: 'You must absorb by yourself the pure Buddha realm.' Dharma-ayatana (Fachu/Fazang) said to the Buddha: 'Lord, I do not have the power that can effect absorption; may Tathagata tell us about the purity and sublimity of the rest of the Buddha realm, so that hearing it we vow to fully satisfy your requirement.' So then, the Lord (omnipotent king Tathagata) extensively depicted to them the twenty-one hundred million pure Buddhist lands, which possess full sublimity. As he was preaching the sermon, a hundred million years elapsed...From among the twenty-one hundred million Buddhist lands, the monk Dharma-ayatana absorbed all their sublimity and purity; having done with absorption, he completed the exercises in contemplation in five kalpas... Ananda, the monk Dharma-ayatana exceeded himself in absorbing the Buddhist realm! After the absorption he went to the abode of the omnipotent king of the world Tathagata and bowed his head to the latter's feet; then he walked in circles seven times turning right and said: 'Lord, I have already absorbed in full measure the meritorious, sublime and pure Buddhist land.' The Buddha said: 'Right now is the time for you to tell everything is detail, to make all present rejoice and to make them all want to absorb the perfect Pure Land."' Thus we know that people of later generations should be able to absorb the perfect Pure Land by direct absorption instead of asceticism. The definition of asceticism refers to severance of defilement caused by the seven emotions and six desires. Mahayana Buddhism does not advocate severance of defilement. If defilement is severed, how can attainment of the Bodhi-mind be possible? Hence, the Buddha signaled Maitreya to attain Buddhahood in the future thus: "Maytreya has the appearance of a common man, not practicing meditation and not free from defilement..." Since he does not practice meditation, does not cut off defilement, has the looks of a common man, and yet can become a Buddha in the future, this "signaling of the future Buddha", or "attainment without cultivation", refers to absorption. Maytreya obtained absorption and possessed Pure Land. The Pure Land of Maitreya is right in the Primordial Mind. The Pure Land of Maitreya is also in Tusita heaven, and Tusita heaven is ransformed and is an expedient means when the Buddha teaches his disciples... The liberated can clearly see Tusita heaven; Tusita heaven is Tusita heaven. Following the voice of the liberated, Tusita heaven appears as a state, which may be far away or close by. There is no distance. Not only Tusita heaven, but the heaven of the thirty-three diva-kings. Pure Land of the Buddhist kingdom, realm of ultimate bliss, can all appear at the behest of one single thought. As stated in the Lotus Sutra, section on Devadatta: "Bodhisattva Zhiji asked Manjusri: '...How many people have you enlightened?' Manjusri said: 'Innumerable and uncountable, it cannot be declared by mouth, and cannot be estimated by heart... While saying this, numberless bodhisattvas welled up from the sea sitting on precious lotuses. They proceeded to the Vulture Peak, dwelling in the void. All these bodhisattvas had been enlightened by Manjusri...'" Manjusri recites with his mind and explicated with his mouth the doctrine of true form, which is subtle yet expansive. Bodhisattva praised Manjusri thus: "He thoroughly expounds the meaning of true form, and broadly explicates the principle of one vehicle." Hence, all the liberated, whether ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign, are capable of propagating the doctrine of true form.
The Pure Land brought about by the Buddha's consciousness includes the unlimited number of Buddhist monasteries, the world in its ten directions, the multifarious worlds, the "heaven" of all heavens. Its content is no other than the groves, courtyards, terraces, pavilions, and music formed by the seven treasures, all more beauteous than the human sphere, especially the pearls and gems, precious incense burners, precious garments, precious tents, precious canopies, precious sceneries, precious lights, precious blossoms, precious belts, precious curtains, precious nets, precious scents, precious water... all so "precious". The various Pure Lands of the Buddhist kingdom, with the stateliness of all these treasures, have formed the Buddha's ideal world of such a spiritual level. This needs to be recounted by reference to the background of the Buddha's life and times. For example, the golden land of the realm of ultimate bliss, and the pond of eight treasures, both have something to do with the background of the Buddha's life. Regarding the golden land, it is said that the grounds of the Jetavana monastery were paved with gold, and were surrounded by many pools of clean water. India is very hot, and traditionally people have the idea that bathing can get rid of bad karma, since it purifies the mind and cleanse the body; hence bathing has a religious significance to the ancient Indians. The Buddhist scriptures that you read recount that in every paradise there are pools of clean water, such as the Pool of the Eight Treasures and the Water of Meritorious Deeds; especially starting from the heaven of the four heavenly kings to Tusita heaven as well as each layer of heaven, there are many pools of clean water. Since the Buddha lived in the environs of ancient India, it stands to reason that the ideal world that he brought forth and yearned for had the above- mentioned features.
The changes of thought and consciousness produced by the environment one lives in form a sort of ideal world. When you conceive of an ideal world, it will materialize in accordance with the changes of your consciousness. The Raise the World Sutra, fasciclel, records the Buddha as saying: "These billion worlds change and come together for a while, and the next moment they break apart; they change and are scattered for a while, and then come together again; they change and come together for a while, and stay put. .. .To change and stay in that condition, this is to be securely established." The billion worlds change in a pattern of congregation and dispersion; in congregation they congeal to become a solid mass; in dispersion they spread and turn into nothing. To come into being for a moment and to be extinguished the next instant, to be born and become extinct, to congregate and disperse, all these transformations follow the dictates of the Buddha's change of consciousness. Thus we know that "all dharma is only consciousness". As it is with the billion worlds, so it is with the Pure Land of the Buddhist kingdom, and the same with God's kingdom as well as the realm of ultimate bliss. What solemnity, splendour, authenticity, and permanence! Such is the substantiation of the spirit. Likewise the realm of ultimate bliss, which the Buddha described to Weitixi was thus and thus. Such is the principle of Amitabha and the world of all buddhas in ten directions. One buddha's body equals a limitless realm, and numberless stupas equal one buddha's body. Both Buddha's body and Buddha's land originate in the inherent brilliance of the Primordial Mind. In the Yangjue Moluo Sutra the Buddha states: The myriads of Buddha are equivalent to my body. They are the Buddha's transformations! When the Buddha ascended to the heaven of the thirty-three diva-kings, while expounding the Dizangwang Sutra to his mother he also said: It is all the Buddha himself. The Surangama Sutra also states: All the Buddha is his transformations. Through the ideal world revealed by the Buddha's change of consciousness, one can understand how the spiritual universe, the substantiation of the spirit, is the substantial world --the natural universe - brought about by the spiritual freedom and untrammeled will power of the liberated. All beings in the universe change into substantial beings in accordance with their consciousness; a cup of coffee is substantiated and comes into being by way of your thought; the realms of all Buddha and all beings in the universe also reveal themselves in accordance with your thought, now coming into being, now congregating, now transforming... into a substantiated world, attaining eternity and securely abiding therein. Buddhist scripture mentions the "unthinkable state of liberation"; the unthinkable, unspeakable, ineffable state of ultimate liberation.
It is absolutely possible for this kind of truth, which asserts that the ideal world evolves from the liberation of the Buddha's consciousness, to be realized in the modern world, practiced and implemented in human life in the 21st century. Only if humankind wants liberation, all fantasy and ideal can become reality in the Pure Land on earth. So called pacification, stability, prosperity, purity, eternity, peace on earth, tranquility in heaven, serenity and harmony throughout the universe... all these are contained in the Pure Land on earth.
The slogan of modern religion: "Build together the Pure Land on earth." The Pure Land on earth is not built manually, as Jesus says: Whatever is built by hand will be destroyed. Quite right! God did not create manually. Jesus also says: My kingdom does not belong to this world! Jesus' world belongs to the spiritual realm, and thus is not manufactured by hand, and does not have to accept human management and governance! The spiritual realm has no political model; Jesus' world belongs to the spiritual universe - God's kingdom. God's kingdom belongs to the spiritual realm, which has a vital model. Jesus lived in a time of tribulation, unwittingly manifested the Essence, and saw the kingdom of heaven. What is the world of Jesus? His world is the perfect city; that city of his... the six heavens of desire propounded by the Buddha, also has many castles, palaces, temples of the dharma realm. The Bible says the perfect city, the holy temple is replete with marriages and banquets. When the faculty of pure form takes effect and the spiritual eyes are clear, unwittingly the content of dharma nature reveals itself spontaneously as supernatural vision (reality). The content of all supernatural visions (realities) in the Bible is in your mind, since all dharma is only in the mind and does not come from any external source! Sometimes what you haven't thought of or what you don't know may also be revealed by it (the Primordial Mind) to let you know. All the supernatural visions and realities recounted in the Bible and Buddhist scripture can be reduplicated and expounded by the liberated in modern times.
In your daily life, sometimes you casually encounter certain states of mind or see various kinds of supernatural vision or undergo all sorts of religious mystical experience... Alas, you wonder why you're seeing something? But you don't try to understand from within your mind; instead you blindly look for answers, waste a lot of time, and yet cannot find the answer. Then you suppose... well, you've seen Lord Guan, and must have some sort of affinity with Lord Guan! So you go to the Benefactor Temple, buy some fruit, and pay obeisance. Or you've seen... Jesus; oh! You think Jesus has approached you? So you spare no effort running to the church, and come up with many humanly imaginable forms of worship. Of course this is faith, and there's nothing wrong with it; at least better than gambling! When the occasional heavenly vision occurs, one sees people, events, places, and things, and suddenly a world never seen before appears, very attractive, beautiful... Or all of a sudden you see lotus blossoms, Buddha, bodhisattvas, gods, or your dead grandfather, relatives - All religious mystical experiences or supernatural visionary phenomena that take place in the spiritual realm can make one apprehensive and use one's own judgment to explain them away, thus exhibiting one's ignorance. What? My grandpa is dead, how can he come visiting me? Perhaps already on Jesus' side? Or you conjecture on you own that your grandpa has become a god, while in fact it is a casually occurring phenomenon produced in accordance with your consciousness. All phenomena can have their correct answers if you delve into your mind. All dharma, all Pure Lands of the Buddhist realm, all spatio-temporal phenomena in the universe, including all things in heaven and on earth, such as mountains, rivers, terrains, herbs, trees, tiles, rocks, people, events, places, objects... even Buddha, gods, bodhisattvas - all these things indeed come from the changes in your mind! Already the 21st century! The good intentions of the great masters prompt them to tirelessly preach the scriptural teachings to save all the living; perhaps the efforts fall short of the intentions, so they resign themselves to the difficulty of saving the world, and are instead carried away by the world! It seems a better idea to seek liberation by one's own effort first! All living beings must save themselves by their own efforts, and must each liberate their own Primordial Mind. Do not forget to directly absorb the Pure Land on earth; the no-nonsense, direct, and inscrutable process of liberation is to be found in your mind.
The so-called state of Vimalakirti is the Buddha's state of liberation. The transfigured land of Amitabha - the realm of ultimate bliss, is also the state of liberation of Buddha Shakyamuni. All Buddha in the ten directions, the myriads of Buddha, are the conscious transformations of the Buddha, i.e., the selfsame, including Amitabha, the Great Sun Buddha, Vairokana-buddha, A-buddha of the east, Baosheng-buddha of the south... The Buddha expresses his own state of liberation through all kinds of expedient means. You see, those who abide in the inscrutable state of liberation could cut out and take hold of the one billions worlds, place them in their palms, and cast them over beyond the sandy banks of the Ganges, while all the living in them would have neither perception nor knowledge of where they had gone, and how they had returned to their original location. No one would have any inkling of their departure and return, and yet the world retain its original form. Again all of the Buddhist realm could be placed in the right palm, and sent flying in the ten directions, showing itself to all and yet not moving from its original location. How can this be possible? Well, through the dharma of true form! The liberated mentally recite and orally rehearse, thus forming the reality! The Buddha emits light to illuminate the Pure Land on earth for direct absorption. It content includes what the Vimalakirti-nirdesha Sutra states: The one billion worlds can be contained in a box (dharma of true form): the waters of the four oceans may enter a capillary, and the Buddhist realm in ten directions can be seen in the capillary? Certainly! Now you believe, don't you? This is called the state of liberation. This is not occultism, and the state of liberation all comes from within your mind; it is in every person's mind.
Why is it that everyone has it? The Buddha points out that all living things have Buddha nature. When Buddha nature is manifested, it naturally reveals the Pure Land of the limitless Buddhist realm, revealing the perfect, eternal world of light! In the last thousand years what human religion has been seeking is this Pure Land on earth. Thus humans have carnal bodies, such bodies have their original forms, and the world manifested by these original forms is Pure Land of the Buddhist realm, pure and eternal! The world seen by the physical eye obviously contrasts with the one seen by mental vision. Thus spoke Shariputra: "The world I see is so filled with ditches, rubble... (bramble), full of dirt!" So the Bodhisattva told him to view it in accordance with the Buddha's wisdom; then you shall attain Pure Land. In accordance with the Buddha's wisdom! At present we raise our eyes and all we see is a bunch of earthlings, one bigger than another, showing their own ignorance, full of self-conceit, glib and worldly-wise, at ease with complacency, but eventually going the way of all flesh; for after all they remain earthlings. Since earthlings do not possess the Buddha's wisdom, let them manifest themselves with the breadth of their mental capacity, and directly absorb by way of the Primordial Mind's causal functioning! Reflect on your own mind in a humble, yielding mentality, then you will be able to see the Pure Land of the Buddhist realm. This is not hallucination! It is fully living! Extremely perfect! It is absolutely different from the world of today.
Rebirth in Amitabha's world is focused on the afterlife - or the time after death. How can you know about the possibility of rebirth after death? Since the state of liberation can be attained now, you can right away enjoy the experience of rebirth in the Pure Land on earth or Pure Land of the Buddhist realm, enjoy the realization of the spiritual living space, the lifestyle, and the eternity of life in the realm of ultimate bliss. No matter when or where. Pure Land is right here and now; nirvana is right in this life. No need to wait for the afterlife. If in the time of your life you fail to give expression to the Pure Land on earth, to personally access the realm of ultimate bliss, to perceive the Pure Land of the Buddhist realm in ten directions expounded by the Buddha, to attain ultimate liberation, to substantiate the spirit; then after death it is unlikely you will be reborn in paradise! Can you count on Amitabha's reception? Amitabha is the conscious transformation of Buddha Shakyamuni! His relationship with Shakyamuni is absolute, while with you the relationship is at best contingent on faith; it may even be no relationship at all! The main topic of the Buddha's discourses dwells on your true, self-nature; after it manifests and liberates itself, you will reveal the spiritual world, which belongs to yourself. Your ideal, spiritual world may be comparable to the Buddha's realm of ultimate bliss, because the mind of all beings, the mind of the dharma realm, and the Buddha's mind are all equal. All the Pure Lands of the Buddhist realm are equal. Hence your spiritual world and the Buddha's realm of ultimate bliss are also equal. As for the statement in Buddhist scripture, that Buddha Amitabha is the most outstanding, that his brilliance is the most encompassing, that his realm is the most sublime, that Buddha Amitabha is the king of all Buddha; this contradicts the Buddha's doctrine of no differentiation, of the equality of all realities in the dharma realm. If there is no equality, how can there be kalavinka birds, peacocks, and birds of common destiny? Soaring birds and running beasts are all equal with Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara, or Dashizhi; life and the dharma realm are characterized by equality.
Exposition of the notion of equality in the dharma realm can be found in a passage from the Sutra of Consecration, fascicle ll: Bodhisattva Puguang-mahasattva asked the Buddha: "What differences are there in the land of wonder and purity in the Buddhist realm?" The Buddha said; "No differences." All are equal then. So why do people of later generations say Amitabha is the most outstanding, that the Buddhist realm is the most brilliant? This is because the Buddha had described another land which was also in the west, just like the kingdom of Buddha Amitabha, where the Buddha's appellation was not Amitabha, but was the Redoubtable Tathagata, meaning no one could overcome him. This western redoubtable Buddhist realm was also equal to any other. Afterwards the masters determined that the realm of Amitabha was redoubtable, the most outstanding! In view of the concept of equality in the dharma realm, no differences can be found there; the alleged differences have their source in the distinctions made in the human mind.
Thousands upon thousands of words tell us that the Buddha teaches manifestation of the true self-nature, that clarity of mind leads to perception of nature. How can we comprehend liberation and disentanglement of the substantial body? First of all you see light! When we moderns see light, can we judge by ourselves that God has come close to us? What about Moses, who saw the light on Mount Sinai? When Jesus went up the mountain to pray, he also saw light. What can we do? If fact, the light that Moses saw was emitted by his own substantial body. The light you see is the light of your substantial body. The substantial body is the metaphysical essence of luminosity. When the essence of humankind is manifested, light is seen naturally, right before one's eyes, seemingly out there, while it comes from within. The Vimalakirti-nirdesha Sutra states: "The mind is neither within nor without." For example, in your mind you think of your home now; is your mind inside or outside? If you only think, this thinking is illusive and impractical, resulting in insubstantial, vacuous thought. Through thinking the concrete image is achieved, the real and substantial image formed, and your substantial image released by way of physical dissociation. What? Suddenly people at home see your dissociated body, entirely identical to your real person. What? Are you there, or here? I see, you are both here and there. Some people at home see the dissociated body, and some see it elsewhere. The dissociated body also appears in the sky, and is seen by someone? If the person is here, where is the dissociated body? Not here, and not there. Not inside and not outside, it's everywhere. Yet the person still stays put here. It's like the Buddha ascending to Tusita heaven, to Yama heaven, or to the heaven of the thirty-three diva-gods, to explain the doctrine to his mother; or ascending, he turns omnipotent, his brow emitting light, his physical body completely taken over by his dissociated body; "not moving his position", or not rising from his seat. Not moving from his position of sitting under the bodhi tree, yet separating and dissociating his body, the Buddha sits under the bodhi tree; is he in Tusita heaven as well? How can he be there? He is also in the ten directions, all over the ten directions of the world! Hence the mind is neither inside nor outside. Good! So you do see the light; well, how can you see the light? By the same principle, the light that you see comes from the substantial body, neither inside nor outside, not residing in the six faculties nor leaving them. This proves the initial manifestation of your real self-nature! If Jesus saw the light and at that time people did not have the concept of substantial body, they would take it to be an external God. After the idea was propagated, people of later generations would then worship light! With the notion of "God", Jesus recognized and firmly believed in light. Thus light became God. Because Jesus has now become God, he is beyond discussion! However, with respect to truth, there is no disparagement of either Jesus or the Buddha, since they introduced to later generations the so-called light! At that time Jesus did not have the notion of essence; the external God constitutes the religious cultural background. But the Buddha understood that light has its origin in the causal ground of reality, that all dharma is mind! Hence the Buddha can emit light. Light also comes from mind; the mind generates all dharma! The principle of light perception is thus identical to that governing the Buddha's mind.
Buddhist scripture states: "All Buddha's arise from the mind"; it also states: "All Buddha's arise from light." Are not light and mind the same? Everything does come from your essence! Hence nothing wrong with Jesus seeing light and taking it to be God! You too can externalize it and internalize it; while outside it becomes a great luminary in the universe, present throughout the spatio-temporal universe. When it returns to the inside of the body, it becomes the essence of Jesus. The three entities become one body. It can be subject as well as object. When light is manifested externally, Jesus may be regarded as subject or "Lord", or as the external object - God. According to the judgment of Jesus, and in view of the doctrine of the Trinity, there may well be no distinction between subject and object. For example, when your dissociated body goes home, are you the master, or your dissociated body? You say the person is the master, and Xuanzang considers the substantial body to be the master! When your dissociated body goes out, then it is the master/subject! You can also regard it as guest/object! What is separated and goes out from here is called guest/object! In fact, the physical body is "visitor dust", and visitors are transient. The dissociated body is master/host, because it comes from the Primordial Mind. The Primordial Mind is eternal; it is the vital controller of the physical body. If subject and bject are unified, then the celestial and human spheres become one, and the three entities also merge into a single body.
In ancient India, or ancient Egypt, religion and culture both venerate the sunyou're your substantial body is manifested, not only can you see the light that various colours and shapes turn into, but they shine and congeal to form a sun. Therefore, the sun becomes evidence of the manifestation of the Primordial Mind. At the back of the dissociated body of the liberated person there is a halo, proving that when the Primordial Mind has been liberated, then a halo will be there. All occurrences of metaphysical, spiritual phenomena directly point to the Primordial Mind. This is not a display of novelty, but rather a direct personal experience, which does not depart from orthodox teaching, but can certainly withstand examination. As the Primordial Mind reigns supreme, and one's own mind takes command, while the substantial body dominates, ventually one will be able to see the day of liberation.
The Vimalakirti-nirdesha Sutra has aptly put it: The straight mind is a place of worship; the deep mind is a place of worship; the bodhi-mind is a place of worship; liberation is a place of worship; the divine capacity is a place of worship; still, there is no departure from the mind. The divine ability is contingent on the Primordial Mind; using the Primordial Mind as its place of worship, it exhibits magical powers and brings about liberation; whether the Buddhist scriptures or the Bible, they all point to the Primordial Mind. Where is the kingdom of God? Right in your mind! Jesus said so! The Pharisees asked: Where is the kingdom of God? But it's right in your mind! Not here, not there, but right in your mind! This is what Jesus said! So you'd better return to the Primordial Mind! When you find your Primordial Mind, you will comprehend the true form of all dharma, and understand the reality of life in the universe. As the Vimalakirti-nirdesha Sutra states: For the liberated, the height and breadth of the Himalayas can be accommodated in a mustard seed without any loss to its dimensions. The substance of the Himalayas as the king of mountains remains the same. While the four gods, the heaven of the thirty-three divas and the other heavens are not aware of what they are getting into, only the enlightened will see how the Himalayas enter into a mustard seed. The liberated with their divine capacity can also reveal themselves in the form of Buddha-bodies, of pratyekabuddha-bodies, of dishi-bodies, or of various kinds of bodies. Or eat multi-scented rice? Vimalakirti transformed himself into the dissociated body of a bodhisattva; that bodhisattva was the dissociated body of Vimalakirti, and went to the Kingdom of Accumulated Fragrances to eat the multi-scented rice. When he came again with nine million bodhisattvas, the city of Bishari was redolent with the aroma of scented rice. Turning spirit into matter is the prerogative of the liberated. Once you are liberated, in your living-room or bedroom or anywhere you can conjure up with your thought all kinds of enjoyment, express pleasure-seeking through a mundane lifestyle, while in fact the objective does not lie in pleasure-seeking, but in expressing the freedom of life. The boundlessness of life enables us to follow our hearts' desires without impediment; people, events, places, objects, any niverse, all time and space, including the ten directions and the three eras. No impediment means liberation, omnipotence, transcendence, liberty; it means freedom from any bondage, and one is no longer hampered. When the physical body is hampered, then use the dissociated body to represent oneself, projecting one's five senses and consciousness into the dissociated body. Establish the principle of all dharma as consciousness only, and all dharma will naturally be revealed through consciousness. Thus the dissociated body has divine capacities, which the physical body does not possess. The physical body is restricted by obstacles everywhere, and that's why it does not have divine capacities. The dissociated body has no restrictions; no impediment spells divine capacities!
The masters of religion are against divine capacities, and they even forbid discussions on divine capacities. But manifestation of the Primordial Mind entails natural revelation of divine capacities; if the masters do not allow discussions on divine capacities, how can liberation and disentanglement be effected? The scripture state: Liberation is a place of worship. The divine capacity is a place of worship. Yet the religious masters object to divine capacities, which means they are against liberation, against Buddhist doctrine! Objection for the sake of objection, how can life and death be transcended? How can ultimate liberation be achieved? In the first section of the Vimalakirti-nirdesha Sutra, fascicle 14, zhulei section, the Buddha told Bodhisattva Maitreya: "Now I entrust you with the dharma of anuttara-samyak-sambhadhi which have been collected through the numberless samghika-kalpas, in the same way as the scriptures were transmitted in the latter days after the Buddha's demise, and enjoin you to preach and propagate it with divine power, so that it will not terminate." In short, the doctrine must be disseminated and kept in circulation by means of the divine capacities, so that it will not come to an end. The masters put on their solemn demeanors and forbid people of today to talk about divine capacities; isn't this apostasy, trampling the Buddhist teaching underfoot?
Exhibiting the divine capacities by physical dissociation is quite in step with the modern trends, and consistent with propagation and circulation the Buddhist teaching so that it won't come to an end. Why then do the masters deride physical dissociation? To pursue the Buddhist path is to really seek truth and attain the Buddhist goal, not to exert one's effort to tie oneself up with how to perform the rituals, how to sit in meditation, observe the vinaya rules, recite the sutra, say the prayers; how to build temples, perform the rites of benefaction; but rather to seek out the way to liberation! The masters have not been liberated, so building temples and performing the rites of benefaction constitute the correct Buddhist doctrine? Rather this is falling into the four delusions, among which that of the ego. Building temples and performing the rites of benefaction are enterprises of public welfare, neither a way of liberation in accord with the Buddhist teaching, nor the aim of religion. The Vimalakirta-irdesha Sutra, section on discipleship states: "No profit and no benefaction, this is what becoming a monk/nun is about. In terms of conditioned existence, it may be said there is profit and there is benefaction. But monks and nuns are supposed to walk in the path of unconditioned existence, and in such a mode of existence there is no profit, no benefaction. Hence, monks and nuns should practice unconditioned existence, and guide the faithful into such a state as well. If all one does is to focus on building temples and performing the rites of benefaction, then it smacks of what is stated in the Diamond Sutra: All that is conditioned is delusive, like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows. The Buddha's teaching consists of thousands and thousands of words and discourses, but it never departs from the theme of the true self-nature, instructing all the living how to be liberated and how to transcend the causality of the six paths of karma. Once liberated and let out of the three realms, the body may remain in the three realms, but the mind is beyond them. When the severance and exit of body and mind are both unimpeded, then one has attained the state of unhampered liberation. You see how elegant Vimalakirti has expressed it. Coming and going untrammeled, the mind is not tarnished. The main topic, the untarnished mind, precisely means no impediment! He enters a house of pleasure to demonstrate the transgressions of desire; he enters a tavern and is able to maintain his resolve; he goes to a gambling den often to enlighten people. Exposed to waywardness, and yet the right conviction is not damaged. With the untarnished mind, one passes by without leaving any track, walks over without a trace, and enters the right path with a dubious appearance. Only the other hand, those that take the right position cannot reveal the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambadhi; the "right-position takers" are scrupulous and methodical and look very proper, with solemn demeanours, their mouths stuffed with benevolent, righteous, and moral injunctions, acting out the charade of great kindness and mercy, in the manner of upper-class gentlemen! Such right-position takers cannot make manifest the bodhi-mind. Why can't they? This is because their superiority complex and worldly attachment have obstructed the Primordial Mind. The superiority complex stemming from their being respected by the public leads to idol-worship, this is how they lose the Primordial Mind. Firmly attached to their own authority, and with blotted egos they consider themselves super-superiors, incomparable masters, great priests, religious leaders or great philanthropists; yet in the end they fail to be liberated. Vimalakirti describes people suffering from defilement as lotus flowers growing in mud. Palaces cannot breed lotus flowers! Hence, the right-position takers cannot reveal the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambadhi. Defiled people can easily raise the seed of tathagata, and thus lotus flowers are raised in mud! Stained but not tainted (no impediment). The Buddha employs all kinds of expedients to express the way to make manifest the true self-nature, the Primordial Mind. It doesn't have to involve sitting in meditation, eating vegetarian food, building temples, and performing the rites of benefaction! Has the Buddha built any temples? Has the Buddha founded any hospitals? Has the Buddha ever helped anybody financially? The Buddha had to beg for his meals, how could he help the poor with money? The aim of the Buddha's teaching consists in revelation of the true self-nature! Were the Buddha born in modern times, he would be considered backward, falling behind the times, inferior to the modern grand masters. Of course, charitable activities such as building temples are good deeds, ways, and beliefs; but these have nothing to do with the way of liberation and transcendence of life and death. If this way of belief exists, it doesn't really matter! The way of liberation doesn't affect belief, and belief will not impede the way of liberation either. Beliefs is one thing, and liberation quite another. While you espouse a belief, don't forget liberation, but pay attention whenever and wherever to the movements of the Primordial Mind. When the substantial body starts to move, sensitively take hold of the revealing phenomenon of free consciousness. Liberation often is determined by the changing phenomenon of that instant and something is achieved thereby.
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隨喜實證好文出自：宋七力
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