After discussing the Two Conditions of Dharma, we discuss the Buddhist doctrine known as “Such is the Way of Dharma (Chinese=法爾如是)” in this post.
The phrase “Such Is The Way of Dharma” comes from Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese=首楞嚴經), which is “a Mahayana Buddhist sutra that has been especially influential on Korean Buddhism (where it remains a major subject of study in Sŏn monasteries) and Chinese Buddhism (where it was a regular part of daily liturgy during the Song). It was particularly important for Zen/Chan Buddhism. The doctrinal outlook of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra is that of Buddha-nature, Yogacara thought, and esoteric Buddhism.”
Before we discuss “Such is the Way of Dharma,” let’s first understand what “Suchness” means in Buddhism.
Suchness is known in Romanized Sanskrit as tathata.
Tathata (Chinese=真如), according to the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “suchness,” or “thusness,” a term for ultimate reality, especially in Mahayana schools. Along with terms such as “Dharmata, Dharmadhatu, and Bhutakoti …..referring to the eternal nature of reality that is “ever thus,” or “just so” and free of all conceptual elaborations.” In Yogacara/Vijnanavada, the term refers to the ultimate wisdom that is free from the subject-object distinction (grahyagrahakavikalpa)” “In the Madhyamaka school, any attempt to substantiate the nature of reality is rejected, and tathata is instead identified with emptiness and the cessation of all dichotomizing tendencies of thought.”
As discussed in the previous post, Buddha’s cosmos consists of two realms of phenomena: the unconditioned quiescent mentality of the Ultimate Reality and conditioned non-luminosity, where mentality fluctuates. Furthermore, Buddha defines mentality as inconceivable, meaning it cannot be conceptualized. Without conceptualization, mentality cannot become a sensible phenomenon, meaning it cannot be perceived through the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch. Since insensible phenomena are necessarily ineffable, Buddha can only describe the eternal nature of these two inconceivable realms as “ever thus. or “just so.”
As the late CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite used to say after his broadcast every evening, “And that’s the way it is.” “Such is the Way of Dharma” is Buddha’s way of relaying the same message: the inconceivable and eternal nature of their reality is just the way it is, and why he could only describe it as “ever thus” or “just so.”
In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Buddha defines “Such is the Way of Dharma” as “Noncausal, not natural. Such is the Way of Dharma (Chinese=非因緣，非自然，法爾如是.”
Let’s discuss them one at a time.
A) Noncausal
- From the definition of Suchness, one understands that these two realms of inconceivable reality have an “eternal nature.”
- Of course, if these two realms of reality are eternal, they must be noncausal because nothing could have caused them if they were eternal.
- Does that mean the quiescent Citta does not cause the fluctuating non-luminosity?
- Indeed, that is the case. In Aṅguttara Nikāya (Chinese=增一阿含經), Buddha teaches that there is an adventitious relationship between Citta and non-luminosity.
- By the definition of adventitiousness, Citta and non-luminosity are “associated by chance rather than as an integral part.”
- Indeed, if Citta and non-luminosity are associated by chance, there cannot be a causal relationship between them.
- As the definition of adventitiousness shows, Citta and non-luminosity are not integral, thus confirming that there are two realms of reality in the cosmos, separated by the different fluctuating statuses.
- In Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra (Chinese=勝鬘師子吼一乘大方便方廣經), Buddha describes non-luminosity as “without a beginning (Chinese=無始無明).”
- Furthermore, in Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese=大佛頂首楞嚴經), upon inquiry from Purna (Chinese=富樓那), Buddha’s disciple “foremost in expounding the Dharma, “Where does non-luminosity without a beginning come from (Chinese=無始無明是怎麼來的?),” Buddha answers by saying, “There is no reason; it comes from nowhere and goes nowhere (Chinese=它沒有原因，它沒有來處，也沒有去處).”
- It confirms that non-luminosity is eternal because it exists without a beginning or end.
B) Not Natural
- The description “not natural” refers to the fact that the nature of “Such of the Way of Dharma” is not the nature of reality with which humans are familiar.
- Indeed, for humans living in a conditioned world where “all phenomena are produced through the concomitance of causes and conditions,” nothing is unconditioned, noncausal, or eternal.
- By understanding only through inferentially connected word-based knowledge, inconceivable phenomena that are “free from the subject-object distinction (grahyagrahakavikalpa),” “free of all conceptual elaborations,” and have “the cessation of all dichotomizing tendencies of thought” are “not natural.”
- Indeed, humans only understand impermanent, causally related phenomena, which are full of dichotomies of thought, such as the Mind-Body Problem and the central mystery of Quantum Mechanics.
As discussed when discussing direct perception, it enables a Buddha, or any other enlightened person, to become an integral part of the cosmos. By becoming one with the cosmos, Buddha could “open his consciousness to encompass all objects of knowledge.” While “opening one’s consciousness” is another way of describing direct perception, “all objects of knowledge” refers to the “experiential contents” of the cosmos that can be “experienced,” which is what perceiving nature directly means. In Dr. Fisch’s description, “contents” that can be experienced are “empirical facts” of nature that can be “felt.”
Whether it is “experiential contents,” “empirical fact,” or “all objects of knowledge,” they all refer to the raw information embedded in the mental constructs of everything in the cosmos that can be learned when one becomes an integral part of it.
That is why the Buddha is part of the three-body cosmos, alongside the two realms of mentality, which have two different states of fluctuation. Only by mentally becoming one with the mental cosmos could Buddha have learned the inconceivable mental nature of Such Is The Way of Dharma, and that it is eternal. It is certainly not the knowledge that can be gained from inferentially connected word-based knowledge.
Insert the three-body image.
Max Planck was a 1918 Nobel Laureate of Physics and the originator of quantum mechanics. His genius is that, without the ability to perceive the nature of reality directly, he not only understood that consciousness is fundamental in the universe but that humans must be part of the cosmos to solve the mystery of its mental nature as he said, “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness,” and “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.”
Indeed, Dr. Planck was right on both counts. Not only is consciousness fundamental in the universe, but it is only by becoming one with the cosmos that a Buddha, or any enlightened person, can solve the problem that humanity has been struggling to solve since pre-Socratic times: “what exist?”
(If you like this post, please like it on our Facebook page and share. Thank you.)
