To discuss the Buddha’s soteriological goal, we must first recall that the Buddha was still a young prince when he was first allowed to leave his father’s place. During the trip, the Buddha had his first meditation as his mind naturally drifted into a calm, contemplative state as he watched a farmer plow his field and dig up worms that would become food for the birds. This insight enabled him to see the fleeting nature of all existence. He realized that all existence is impermanent and causally related. Furthermore, fleeting existence is the source of suffering. He decided he must find a way to end the misery for all. Eventually, he eloped from the palace and started a life as a mendicant monk, determined to find a way to liberate all living beings (Romanized Sanskrit: sattva; Chinese: 眾生) from their misery of fleeting existence. In other words, his soteriological goal was to liberate all living beings from the misery of their fleeting existence.
Avatamsaka Sūtra (Chinese: 大方廣佛華嚴經/華嚴經) “is one of the most influential Mahāyāna sūtras of East Asian Buddhism. The text has been described by the translator Thomas Cleary as the most grandiose, the most comprehensive, and the most beautifully arrayed of the Buddhist scriptures.” [4] The Buddhāvataṃsaka describes a cosmos of infinite realms upon realms filled with an immeasurable number of Buddhas. This sūtra was especially influential in East Asian Buddhism. The vision expressed in this work was the foundation for the creation of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism, which was characterized by a philosophy of interpenetration. The Huayan school is known as Hwaeom in Korea, Kegon in Japan, and Hoa Nghiêm in Vietnam. The sūtra is also influential in Chan Buddhism.”
As recorded in the Avatamsaka Sūtra, upon awakening from his deep meditative state of enlightenment, the first thing the Buddha said concerned how he wanted to carry out his soteriological goal, as he said, “Surprise! Surprise! All the living beings of this land, while possessing the wisdom of a Tathāgata, are foolish and confused and have neither knowledge nor insight. I must teach them the proper path, turn them permanently away from their delusions and attachments, so they realize from within the immense wisdom of a Tathāgata, without any difference from a Buddha (Chinese: 奇哉奇哉,此處眾生,雲何具有如來智慧,愚癡迷惑,不知不覺,我當教以聖道, 令其永離妄想執著,自於身中,得見如來廣大智慧,與佛無異.).
In other words, to achieve the Buddha’s soteriological goal, all living beings must be like him, “without any difference,” by realizing “the immense wisdom of a Tathāgata.”
Furthermore, realizing “the immense wisdom of a Tathāgata” requires one to “turn permanently away from their delusions and attachments.” In other words, realizing “the immense wisdom of a Tathāgata” does not require gaining knowledge from without because “the immense wisdom of a Tathāgata” is already “within.”
The Lotus Sūtra is “one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras.” “For many Buddhists in East Asia since early times, the Lotus Sūtra contains the final teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha—complete and sufficient for salvation.”
In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha said,
“I vowed from the beginning. (Chinese: 我本立誓愿）
To make all living beings (Romanized Sanskrit: sattva; Chinese: 有情/眾生) my equal without any difference. （欲令一切眾, 如我等無異)
What I have vowed in the past, I have now fulfilled. (如我昔所愿，今者已滿足.)”
Transformed them so they all enter the path of Buddhahood.” (化一切眾生，皆令入佛道).”
In other words, towards the end of his teaching career, the Buddha was satisfied that he had “fulfilled” the vow he made in the Avatamsaka to make “all living beings” his equal “without any difference.”
From what the Buddha said in the Lotus Sūtra, we can surmise that he considers himself a teacher, which justifies Buddhism as his teachings, as discussed in the last post.
However, what is the meaning of wisdom being “within all living beings?” To understand that, we start with what wisdom is in Buddhism.
Wisdom, known in Romanized Sanskrit as prajna, is, according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, “having connotations perhaps closer to ‘gnosis,’ ‘awareness,’ and in some contexts ‘cognition’; the term has the general sense of accurate and precise understanding of reality that transcends ordinary comprehension.”
In other words, wisdom in Buddhism refers specifically to “precise understanding of reality that transcends ordinary comprehension.” From an epistemological perspective, “ordinary comprehension” is knowledge gained from without through word-based knowledge. Also known as inference, as discussed in Post 12, word-based knowledge is “How Humans Know What They Know.” On the other hand, knowledge that “transcends ordinary comprehension” comes from Direct Perception, which is “How Buddha Knows What He Knows,” discussed in Post 18.
Direct perception is done through enlightenment. Therefore, wisdom in Buddhism refers to understanding of reality from enlightenment.
To understand why wisdom is “within all living beings,” we use Adyashanti’s enlightenment experience as an example. As discussed in Post 1 and Post 25, upon his enlightenment, the “material” universe and his “material” body vanished. Consequently, Adyashanti felt he was left in a “void,” the “void” of “nobody” and “no something.” At the same time, Adyashanti realized that, while the universe was gone, he was still aware that he was in a “void.” This led him to understand that awareness is the nature of existence, as he acknowledged after his enlightenment: “You Are Awareness” and “you and awareness are not two different things.”
Understanding that awareness is one’s nature of existence matters because awareness also refers to Citta, the quiescent mentality of the cosmos, which the Buddha deemed enlightened and luminous, as discussed in the last post.
Having one’s nature of existence the same as Citta means that what exists in the enlightened mind of the cosmos also exists in one’s mind. However, as Adyashanti’s enlightenment shows, he did not know that awareness is the nature of existence before his enlightenment. He became aware of it only after his enlightenment, when he could acknowledge that “you are awareness,” and “you and awareness are not two different things.” In other words, rather than providing him with new knowledge, enlightenment makes what is hidden apparent.
Understanding that awareness is the nature of one’s existence is certainly an “accurate and precise understanding of reality,” especially compared with Adyashanti’s lack of that understanding before his enlightenment. The wisdom thus gained is what the Buddha calls the wisdom “within.”
Just as dust covering a mirror prevents one from seeing oneself, attachments and delusions prevent one from realizing what is already in one’s mind. Similarly, just as a piece of cloth can remove dust from the mirror and let one see oneself in it, enlightenment can overcome attachments and delusions and make apparent to the enlightened what has always existed in one’s mind before enlightenment but went unnoticed.
How much of the wisdom “within” one realizes depends on how much of “all objects of knowledge” one encompasses, which, again, depends on the profundity of one’s meditative state. The first enlightenment enables one to understand the illusory nature of the universe deemed “material” or “physical,” because it vanishes upon one’s first enlightenment. When one has “encompassed all objects of knowledge,” one becomes a Tathāgata, as discussed in Post 5. In between, other objects of knowledge include the Buddha’s teachings on topics such as Epistemology, Four Ways of Understanding Reality, Where the Cosmos Expands, A Conscious Quantum Field, Epiphenomena-Where Buddhism Meets Quantum Mechanics, etc.
So, how does it apply to “all living beings?” To understand that, one needs to understand Buddhadhatu.
Buddhadhatu (Chinese: 佛性), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, ‘buddha-element,’ or ‘buddha-nature’; the inherent potential of all sentient beings to achieve Buddhahood.”
So, what is the potential to achieve Buddhahood?
The potential for all living beings to achieve Buddhahood is their consciousness. This is potential because all living beings can calm their minds to a state of “no thought.” When they are successful, they become enlightened and on their way to becoming a Buddha. It is not easy, but the potential exists for all who are conscious. Since all living beings are conscious, they have the potential to be enlightened. As long as they can be enlightened, anyone can realize “the immense wisdom of a Tathāgata” from “within.”
In the next post, we will discuss the benefits of becoming like the Buddha “without any difference,” and what happens to one’s existence after one is freed from one’s fleeting existence. In other words, we will answer, “Why Does Buddhism Exist?”
(If you like this post, please subscribe, like it on our Facebook page, and share. Thank you.)
