For fun, based off a request.
(Cleary Translation)
Case 42. The Girl Comes Out of Samadhi
In ancient times ManjusrI [the great Bodhisattva who represents transcendent wisdom] was present where all the enlightened ones were assembled with the World Honored One. When the time came that all the enlightened ones were returning to their own countries, there was a girl [left behind] sitting in samadhi near the Buddha.
Manjusri then asked the Buddha, “How is it that a girl may sit so close to the Buddha but I may not?”
The Buddha told Manjusri, “Just arouse this girl from her samadhi and ask her yourself.”
Manjusri circled three times round the girl and snapped hisfingers; then he took her into all the heavens of sublime form and of meditative bliss. Manjusri used up all his spiritual powers without being able to bring her out of samadhi.
The World Honored One said, “Even hundreds of thousands of Manjusris could not bring this girl out of her samadhi. But if you go down past twelve hundred million worlds, there is a Bodhisattva [called] Ignorance who can bring this girl out of samadhi.”
At that instant the Mahasattva Ignorance welled up from the ground and bowed in homage to the World Honored One. The World Honored One directed Ignorance [to arouse the girl from samadhi], so he went over to the girl and snapped his fingers once. At this the girl came out of samadhi.
Wumen said,
When old man Sakyamuni staged this play, it was not to convey something trivial. But tell me, Manjusri was the teacher of seven Buddhas; why couldn’t he bring the girl out of samadhi? Ignorance was only a Bodhisattva in the first stage [which is joy brought on by faith in the Dharma]; why then could he bring her out of it? If you can see on an intimate level here, then the frantic haste of karmic consciousness is the great samadhi of the dragon kings, the Nagas, the keepers of wisdom.
Verse
Whether [Manjusri] can bring you out or not,/She and you are on your own./Spirit heads and demon faces/Meet defeat in the flowing wind.
(Blyth Translation)
Case XLII: BUDDHA AND THE LADY
Once, in ancient times, Manjusri went into the presence of the World-Honoured-One where all the Buddhas assembled, but they had all departed to their original dwelling-places. A single woman was there, close to Buddha's throne, in the deepest meditation. Manjusri said to the Buddha, “How is it that this woman is so close to your throne, and I cannot be?” The Buddha spoke to Manjusri and said, “You may awaken this woman from her deep meditation, and ask her yourself how this can be.” Manjusri walked round her three times, snapped his fingers once, (and could not wake her, so he) took her up to the Brahman Heaven, and practised all his magic art upon her, but could not bring her out of her deep meditation. The World-Honoured-One said, “Even ahundred thousand Manjusris could not get her out of her concentrated condition. But down below, past twelve hundred million countries, as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges, there is a Bodhisattva named Momyo. He will be able to awaken this woman from her profound meditation.” Thereupon Momyo emerged out of the earth, and bowed to the World-Honoured-One, who told him what he wanted him to do. Momyo went before the woman, snapped his fingers once, and at this she came out of her meditation.
THE COMMENTARY
The drama Old Sakya puts on the stage is a great hotchpotch. Just tell me now, Manjusri is the teacher of the Seven Buddhas; why couldn’t he get the woman out of her samadhi, when Momyo, a beginner, could? If you can understand the reason for this without discrimination, while living a busy life of worldly affairs, you will ever be in the Dragon Samadhi.
THE VERSE
One could awake her, the other couldn’t;/Both have their own freedom./There is a god-mask, and a devil-mask;/The failure was very interesting.
The idea that fear and ignorance can undo immersion in Buddha nature, while transcendent wisdom does not, isn't the most interesting part to me; rather, why is deep samadhi closer to the Buddha throne than the wisdom that understands the nature of form and emptiness.1
If I reflect on this in the context of Mahayana, the 4NT teach transcendental wisdom, but it is noted in the margins that laity must be put aside eventually. Could the case be pointing at this? ZMs push past all that immediately; what do they say?
What do you think?
1 I moved past the apparently derogatory girl/woman comment. If you have a reflection on this, please share.
Submitted September 20, 2020 at 11:30PM by surupamaerl https://ift.tt/2FKXg8F
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