The Realization of Arhatship
When one attains this stability (Flame Samadhi), one becomes an arhat. An arhat is someone who has realized the inherent emptiness of a hard-core identity in the ego, others, and all sentient beings. This state is described by a sentence in the Diamond Sutra: "All things are devoid of selfhood, devoid of personality, devoid of entity, and devoid of separate individuality." In this realm, due to the fire which one ignites and uses to incinerate and obliterate the ego, others, and all sentient beings, everything merges together into this single, great fire of the Flame Samadhi. When this realm is reached, one attains the level of an arhat. However, many practitioners of the Skeleton Visualization eventually develop an aversion for their own bodies, as well as a grayish outlook on life. In a realm where oneself, others, and everyone else "no longer exist," what is the purpose for living? What else is there to do? What is the meaning in life?
When such a Samadhi is generated, one needs to go and sing Karaoki [audience laughter] or go and do some dancing exercise. When this kind of realm is reached, one might develop a pessimistic outlook on life and become disheartened. It is all a dream! What is the difference between being alive and being dead? This bleak outlook can lead to the conclusion that life is meaningless. That is why one needs to go singing or dancing once in a while. One must prevent oneself from becoming mired down in nihilism. This way one will find that there are still many lovely things offered by life. [audience laughter] One needs to know that the ultimate realization of the Skeleton Visualization is emptiness! That is why one has to find some pleasure to enliven one's life! Pleasure is emptiness and emptiness is pleasure when the nondual Samadhi of the union of bliss and emptiness is generated. Continuing to experience some of life's pleasures, one will not end up in abject nihilism. Dancing, singing, love, hatred, or any activityis, ultimately, empty, empty, and empty. [audience laughter]
Amid all this is the wonderful realization that many worries, troubles, and anxieties [kleshas] are eliminated in the state of Flame Samadhi. Do you know why I, Sheng-yen Lu, have no worries at all? Because I practice Flame Samadhi. In the state of Flame Samadhi, one gains the insight that, in this world, the ego, others, and all sentient beings are inherently empty of self and individuality. What is there to worry about? Please give this some consideration: since there is not a separate and
independent existence of the self, others, or everyone else, what is there to trouble one? No more worries!
What is there to worry about? People who criticize and denounce one? Newspaper and magazine articles that slander one? One realizes that both good and bad conditions are empty, both praise and criticism are empty. Reaching this Samadhi, one becomes completely identified with the Void and, in this state of mind, there is practically no substantiality to any worldly personality
Who exists to slander one? Isn't the slandering itself also empty in nature? Do worries exist? It isn't that one is deaf or insensitive to the criticism, it is just that in one's view, all criticism is empty in nature! This is an extraordinary state of mind! In this state of mind, to be killed is also an expression of emptiness! If someone came after me with a knife, I would just burst out laughing, "Ha ha! It is emptiness after all!" [uproar of audience laughter] "I am still the great Void even if I am killed!" I have already reached this level of Flame Samadhi wherein there is no self, no others, and no sentient beings, so even if I am murdered, it is still emptiness! I am inherently empty of self-existence! To recognize this is to have a transcendent view of life.
I have remarked before that, if my parents were to abandon me, Mrs. Lu were to abandon me, my children, Fo Ching and Fo Chi, were to abandon me, and all of my students were to abandon me, it would not make any difference to me. If my students made this announcement, "Oh my! Sheng-yen Lu does not look like a Buddha at all, I am going to leave him." Would it really have anything to do with me? In this universe, there is no inherent "self' or "other," nor are there any inherently existent living beings. When one attains the level of the Flame Samadhi, no such inherently self-sustaining beings are foundanywhere in the universe!
"There is no Buddhahood above to attain and there are no sentient beings below to be delivered" — this is the state of mind of the arhats. I also have reached this level of realization! At this level, I can make the same statement. My heart would remain unperturbed even if someone were to beat me to death. Try to reflect on this: would someone who has attained this level of realization lose his mind to dancing girls, liquor, and singing? Could it be possible? At the time when one enters into and identifies with the Void, one attains the state of non-birth and non-death, even while still physically alive. The accomplishment of this Skeleton Visualization is extraordinary.
After his Enlightenment, Buddha Shakyamuni taught the Four Noble Truths (suffering, causes of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path to cessation of suffering.) At the end of his life, he also talked about the Four Noble Truths. The path of the Four Noble Truths is the path of the arhats. During his lifetime, Buddha Shakyamuni did not give a great deal of teachings on the Mahayana pathway. His main focus was on Hinayana teachings — existence of suffering, causes of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path to cessation of suffering. That is why during the lifetime of the Buddha, his ten chief disciples all became arhats.
The Buddha talked about the five hundred arhats; why did he not speak of the five hundred Bodhisattvas? Because the disciples became arhats, and thus there are references to the five hundred arhats and the eighteen maha-arhats.
The ten chief disciples were actually the ten maha-arhats. Bodhisattvas are from the outer space. When Buddha Shakyamuni gave the discourses, many Bodhisattvas were present. Where had Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Avalokitesvara, Maitreya, and the other Bodhisattvas come from? From the other dimensions. Do we know where Avalokitesvara was born and where he died? No, he had come from the outer space.
Basics [29]. More to come.....
Readers can write to purekarmaservices@gmail.com for a .pdf or .doc copy of this book.
Om Guru Lian Sheng Siddhi Hom
Lama Lotuschef
When one attains this stability (Flame Samadhi), one becomes an arhat. An arhat is someone who has realized the inherent emptiness of a hard-core identity in the ego, others, and all sentient beings. This state is described by a sentence in the Diamond Sutra: "All things are devoid of selfhood, devoid of personality, devoid of entity, and devoid of separate individuality." In this realm, due to the fire which one ignites and uses to incinerate and obliterate the ego, others, and all sentient beings, everything merges together into this single, great fire of the Flame Samadhi. When this realm is reached, one attains the level of an arhat. However, many practitioners of the Skeleton Visualization eventually develop an aversion for their own bodies, as well as a grayish outlook on life. In a realm where oneself, others, and everyone else "no longer exist," what is the purpose for living? What else is there to do? What is the meaning in life?
When such a Samadhi is generated, one needs to go and sing Karaoki [audience laughter] or go and do some dancing exercise. When this kind of realm is reached, one might develop a pessimistic outlook on life and become disheartened. It is all a dream! What is the difference between being alive and being dead? This bleak outlook can lead to the conclusion that life is meaningless. That is why one needs to go singing or dancing once in a while. One must prevent oneself from becoming mired down in nihilism. This way one will find that there are still many lovely things offered by life. [audience laughter] One needs to know that the ultimate realization of the Skeleton Visualization is emptiness! That is why one has to find some pleasure to enliven one's life! Pleasure is emptiness and emptiness is pleasure when the nondual Samadhi of the union of bliss and emptiness is generated. Continuing to experience some of life's pleasures, one will not end up in abject nihilism. Dancing, singing, love, hatred, or any activityis, ultimately, empty, empty, and empty. [audience laughter]
Amid all this is the wonderful realization that many worries, troubles, and anxieties [kleshas] are eliminated in the state of Flame Samadhi. Do you know why I, Sheng-yen Lu, have no worries at all? Because I practice Flame Samadhi. In the state of Flame Samadhi, one gains the insight that, in this world, the ego, others, and all sentient beings are inherently empty of self and individuality. What is there to worry about? Please give this some consideration: since there is not a separate and
independent existence of the self, others, or everyone else, what is there to trouble one? No more worries!
What is there to worry about? People who criticize and denounce one? Newspaper and magazine articles that slander one? One realizes that both good and bad conditions are empty, both praise and criticism are empty. Reaching this Samadhi, one becomes completely identified with the Void and, in this state of mind, there is practically no substantiality to any worldly personality
Who exists to slander one? Isn't the slandering itself also empty in nature? Do worries exist? It isn't that one is deaf or insensitive to the criticism, it is just that in one's view, all criticism is empty in nature! This is an extraordinary state of mind! In this state of mind, to be killed is also an expression of emptiness! If someone came after me with a knife, I would just burst out laughing, "Ha ha! It is emptiness after all!" [uproar of audience laughter] "I am still the great Void even if I am killed!" I have already reached this level of Flame Samadhi wherein there is no self, no others, and no sentient beings, so even if I am murdered, it is still emptiness! I am inherently empty of self-existence! To recognize this is to have a transcendent view of life.
I have remarked before that, if my parents were to abandon me, Mrs. Lu were to abandon me, my children, Fo Ching and Fo Chi, were to abandon me, and all of my students were to abandon me, it would not make any difference to me. If my students made this announcement, "Oh my! Sheng-yen Lu does not look like a Buddha at all, I am going to leave him." Would it really have anything to do with me? In this universe, there is no inherent "self' or "other," nor are there any inherently existent living beings. When one attains the level of the Flame Samadhi, no such inherently self-sustaining beings are foundanywhere in the universe!
"There is no Buddhahood above to attain and there are no sentient beings below to be delivered" — this is the state of mind of the arhats. I also have reached this level of realization! At this level, I can make the same statement. My heart would remain unperturbed even if someone were to beat me to death. Try to reflect on this: would someone who has attained this level of realization lose his mind to dancing girls, liquor, and singing? Could it be possible? At the time when one enters into and identifies with the Void, one attains the state of non-birth and non-death, even while still physically alive. The accomplishment of this Skeleton Visualization is extraordinary.
After his Enlightenment, Buddha Shakyamuni taught the Four Noble Truths (suffering, causes of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path to cessation of suffering.) At the end of his life, he also talked about the Four Noble Truths. The path of the Four Noble Truths is the path of the arhats. During his lifetime, Buddha Shakyamuni did not give a great deal of teachings on the Mahayana pathway. His main focus was on Hinayana teachings — existence of suffering, causes of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path to cessation of suffering. That is why during the lifetime of the Buddha, his ten chief disciples all became arhats.
The Buddha talked about the five hundred arhats; why did he not speak of the five hundred Bodhisattvas? Because the disciples became arhats, and thus there are references to the five hundred arhats and the eighteen maha-arhats.
The ten chief disciples were actually the ten maha-arhats. Bodhisattvas are from the outer space. When Buddha Shakyamuni gave the discourses, many Bodhisattvas were present. Where had Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Avalokitesvara, Maitreya, and the other Bodhisattvas come from? From the other dimensions. Do we know where Avalokitesvara was born and where he died? No, he had come from the outer space.
Basics [29]. More to come.....
Readers can write to purekarmaservices@gmail.com for a .pdf or .doc copy of this book.
Om Guru Lian Sheng Siddhi Hom
Lama Lotuschef
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