What is Buddhahood

A Hindu king asked Parati, “What is buddhahood?”

​Parati said, “Seeing nature is buddhahood.” ​

The king asked, “Do you see nature?” ​

Parati said, “I see the nature of buddhahood.” ​

The king asked, “Where is the nature?” ​

Parati said, “The nature is in function.” ​

The king asked, “What function is this? I don’t see it now.” ​

Parati said, “It is functioning now; it’s just that you yourself don’t see.”

The king asked, “Does it exist in me?”

Parati said, “If you do anything, it is there; if you don’t use it, though, the substance is invisible.”

From Dahui Shobogenzo

Note: Going to get active with sharing quotes on this sub again. Been lazy for months.

This passage reminds me of a few things. Later in the passage Parati goes on to say that the Buddha Nature is called seeing when in sight, hearing when in the ears, and so forth. Makes me think of Linji saying that the true man of no rank goes in and out through our senses all day long. The idea of the Buddha Nature being recognizable in function is also something Bankei talks about, as most of his descriptions of the Unborn are about its function of illumination and how it manages daily activities.

I think most people go into Zen thinking that enlightenment means attaining a state of mind or seeing some "thing". Myself included. But maybe instead of looking for an object we need to pay more attention to our activities of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, and thinking. Not to control them, but to attempt to "observe our nature in it's hidden actions", to paraphrase an earlier section of the book.

Submitted December 23, 2017 at 11:05PM by koancomentator http://ift.tt/2l2f2WJ