Hello, I’m Cheng Qing. Welcome to Relief for Life: Forty Introductory Lectures on Buddhism.

We are nearing the end of the section on contemplating beings, so let us briefly review.

From the Buddha’s perspective,ignorancecomes from cognitive error, while mind’s fundamental nature is already pure and complete. Buddhistawakeningsimply removes cognitive obstruction, transforming ignorance into wisdom.

Changing habitual cognition—attachment—is very difficult. Broadly, ignorance includesattachment to a personal selfandattachment to a self in dharmas,distinguished by the depth of delusion removed. The first examines the five aggregates through the simple method ofanalytic emptiness,breaking body and mind down layer by layer to see impermanent arising and ceasing. But this does not explain how to save countless beings or how mountains, rivers, and stars relate to mind. The Mahayana bodhisattva path therefore addresses attachment to dharmas, driven by compassion and usingskillful meansas flexible methods, along withthe power of vowsdiscussed next, opening a majestic yet simple and innocent road to Buddhahood.

 

Last episode introduced skillful means: expedients for saving beings grounded in prajñā. An expedient implies that truth remains behind it, unrevealed or temporarily beyond the audience. Yet Mahayana wisdom says, as the Diamond Sutra puts it,“All marks whatsoever are false.”Because marks are dreamlike rather than substantial, Buddhas and bodhisattvas can appear in countless forms according to conditions.

Mahayana texts describe inconceivable powers: Śākyamuni manifests billions of bodies; bodhisattvas appear not only as living beings but as mountains, forests, rivers, and ponds. Such scenes exceed ordinary cognition and are called myth. When Jin Yong first read Mahayana texts such as the Lotus Sutra, he found them unbelievable mythology. Only after reading the Āgamas did he grasp Buddhism’s purpose. He had not yet understood prajñā emptiness.

Mahayana’s marvelous realms must be read through emptiness. All dharmas lack essence yet display marks through conditions. Because Buddhas and bodhisattvas completely realize emptiness, they can show forms and skillful means ordinary people cannot understand.