Zen Speak: Walk on Vairocana's head

Blue Cliff Record:

Emperor Su-tsung asked National Teacher Chung, “What is the Ten-Body Controller?”

The National Teacher said, “Patron, walk on Vairocana’s head.”

The emperor said, “I don’t understand.”

The National Teacher said, “Don’t acknowledge your own pure body of reality.”

The book Rude Awakenings by James W. Heisig & John C. Maraldo says of the above (as they're a better source than Wikipedia to some),

The ten bodies referred to in the expression “Ten-Body Controller” are the ten forms of Buddha bodies. The Controller is the particular Buddha body that is able to freely control all the other Buddha bodies. Expressed in terms of the triple-body system of dharmakya, sambhogakya, and nirmnakya, the Controller represents the dharmakya, the most fundamental of the bodies. Vairocana and pure body of reality are simply other names for the dharmakya. The emperor is asking what the nature of this most fundamental of the Buddha bodies is. Hui-chung replies that only by stepping beyond even this pure, fundamental dharmakya can he ever come to know the true dharmakya.

Now, Vairocana, as we know represents sunyata, cosmic space emptiness, the radiant void, the space element, and is Buddha. Vairocana is the center of the Five Dhyani Buddhas (which map the four elements of form and the four wisdoms, and the eight consciousnesses).

The lower form of the elements needing to be transcended can be found referred to in Linji's work, such as in Case 177 of Entangling Vines, Linji's Four Realms:

A thought of doubt in your mind and you’re obstructed by the element of earth; a thought of desire in your mind and you drown in the element water; a thought of anger in your mind and you’re scorched by the element fire; a thought of joy in your mind and you’re blown about by the element wind.”

And in Linji's famous discourse:

"This physical body of yours, composed of the four great elements, can neither expound the Dharma nor listen to it... Then just what can expound the Dharma and listen to it? This very you standing distinctly before me without any form, shining alone—this can expound the Dharma and listen to it! Understand it this way, and you are not different from the Patriarch Buddha."

Shining alone, that radiant void, Vairocana.

"If you wish to differ in no way from the Buddha, just don't seek outside. The pure light in your single thought—this is the Dharmakaya Buddha within your own house. The non-discriminating light in your single thought—this is the Sambhogakaya Buddha within your own house. The non-differentiating light in your single thought—this is the Nirmanakaya Buddha within your own house. This Threefold Body is you, listening to my discourse right now before my very eyes. Only because there is no running around seeking outside are there such meritorious activities.

According to the masters of the sutras and sastras, the Threefold Body is regarded as the ultimate norm. But in my view this is not so. This Threefold Body is merely a name; moreover, it is a threefold dependency. A man of old said, "The Buddha-bodies are posited depending on meaning; the Buddha-lands are postulated in keeping with this substance." Therefore we clearly know that Dharma-natured bodies and Dharma-natured lands are no more than reflections.

Virtuous monks, you must recognize the one who manipulates these reflections. He is the primal source of all the buddhas, and every place is the home to which the follower of the Way returns." - Linji

The reflections are found in the mirror. In the Five Dhyani Buddhas, the water element is represented by Akshobhya who also represents the Wisdom of Perfect Reflection.

From Dahui's Shobogenzo:

Tong said, “May I hear about the meaning of the fourfold knowledge?”

The patriarch said, “Once you understand the three bodies, you understand the fourfold knowledge—why ask further? If you speak of the fourfold knowledge apart from the three bodies, this is called having knowledge with no embodiment, so this having knowledge turns into having no knowledge.

The Patriarch then offers a verse which when examined present the Five Dhyani Buddhas.

Let's let Mazu sing us off...

The true Suchness of mind is like a mirror reflecting forms.

and

The realization of nonduality is called equal nature. Although the nature is free from differentiation, its function is not the same. When ignorant, it is called consciousness; when awakened, it is called wisdom. Following the principle is awakening, while following phenomena is ignorance. Ignorance is to be ignorant of one's original mind. Awakening is to awake to one's original nature. Once awakened, one is awakened forever, there being no more ignorance. It is like when the sun comes, and then all darkness disappears. When the sun of prajñā (wisdom) emerges, it does not coexist with the darkness of defilements.

Submitted December 24, 2018 at 09:50AM by Dillon123 http://bit.ly/2EO1oTn