The first way of seeing is through the physical eye. The physical eye uses the same function for all ordinary people with sight. This is a simultaneous seeing, and it is not outside of the specific form.
The second way of seeing is with the dharma eye. The dharma eye’s sight is wide and boundless. It embraces all of the species and things in the Universe, including mountains, rivers, and continents, and all of these pertain to the specific form and belong to thousands of dharmas’ metamorphoses. As for the aspects of thought (fixed thought, reflective thought, disposition of thought, etc.), they are called specific elements and are all thousands of dharmas. Thousands of dharmas affect every person. What is perceived through hearing, seeing, and knowing are also thousands of dharmas. In this regard, a single substance can be transformed into thousands or tens of thousands of end substances, including endless space and thousands of accomplished forms. All of these belong to thousands of dharmas. This is the reason for Buddhism saying, “One essence is metamorphosed into ten thousand dharmas.”
As an example: One kind of flour could be made into thousands of different types of bread or cake. Their shapes, additional ingredients, and tastes are all different, but their substance is still flour. Humans and the Universe are not outside of the fundamental nature. The fundamental nature is transformed into mountains, rivers, and continents, and all the things in the Universe. All of these are called dharma.
Humans in general use the physical eye to observe. Buddhism utilizes the dharma eye to become acutely aware. For this reason, every limited thing, every object, every gesture, and every movement cannot be fully understood by the physical eye. On the contrary, the dharma eye fully perceives it. The physical eye can only see the surface, whereas the dharma eye can see the core. The physical eye sees a cake by its shape. Therefore, study and comparison are needed to know the ingredients, the taste, and the method of baking if one has never encountered this type of cake before. In other words, a person who recognizes thousands of different cakes with physical eyes has already learned about every one of them. In contrast, a person with dharma eyes just has to look and know clearly and thoroughly without experimentation.
Buddhism relies uniquely on fundamental nature to release the thoughts of specific elements and to be self-aware of thousands of dharmas. Owing to releasing thoughts, reflective thoughts, fixed thoughts, dreamy thoughts, and false expectations, the conclusion is reached that all previous elements give rise to unpractical life and acts. Thus, how can one obtain thorough knowledge?
When one acquires dharma eyes, one perceives the true form of reality. First, it is a look at other people’s thoughts. Later, it is an examination of our own thoughts, seeing the relationship between the polluted thoughts of specific elements and their effects on habitual acts. What are our own actions? Do our words and actions match? If yes, why do they match? If no, then why not? What are our predetermined habits? What are our habitual acts? How are these acts polluted? If the answers to these questions are transparent, one will thoroughly know the movements of thousands of dharmas and completely understand the movements of the outburst mind and how it is initiated in all people. At this point, there is no need to closely examine the specific form or fabricate theory in the mind; one fully comprehends the reasons and facts of every person as well as every other species and completely understands the correlation between actions and thoughts. When this level of understanding is reached, the individual path forward (after the current lifetime) is clearly defined, which is a consequence of reward or maltreatment based upon the merits acquired during one’s lifetime of thoughts and actions.
The one who can truly see with dharma eyes is the one who has performed the conduct, vow, and practice sincerely. His or her thoughts are clear of preserving individuality, thought, and self-karma. This one understands the motion of thousands of dharmas with a mind that is not entangled, obstructed, or involved with anger, resentment, hatred, or love. His or her nature is impartial, yet inclined to help others and save unhappy people. Seeing with dharma eyes means leaving the greedy mind and its unreal reputations. One’s mind is not being attracted by expectation and praise for wealth, nor is it immersed in the specific form. If someone is aware of thousands of dharmas and yet his or her mind is still immersed in thousands of dharmas, he or she is not attested as having the dharma eye. This is important to remember.
The complete dharma eye attests to the divine eye. The vision of the divine eye is that of the third level. It is a comprehensive way of seeing the Universe and Devas as well as the Three Thousand Great Worlds. Furthermore, one with the divine eye is clearly aware without error of which natural seeds and specific elements of thoughts took root to become the formation of the lands and planes. Those with the divine eye can see the acts and way of king-life of Devas as clearly as seeing a sweetsop (sugar apple) that is sitting in front of them. With this knowledge, the mind does not desire to become a Deva or Fairy. Why? The answer is that Devas and Fairies are not outside of thousands of dharmas. Ordinary people build their living worlds in specific forms, while Divine Fairies create fine forms as a residence for Fairies and Deities. This Universe houses thousands of planes and lands. Each plane and each land is administered by a species. Each plane establishes its main characteristic as its mind. For example:
- This solar system is inhabited and administered by humans and houses hundreds of different worlds that coexist in the Earth. Together, they take Earth as their mind and are called by the name Earth’s mind. All of the materials for living are supplied by the Earth.
- There are eighteen planes that make up the Heaven’s Land. They adopt the primary element of fire as mind, nobility, generosity and administration as precepts, authority as law, and indulgent luxury as a way of living.
- Outside of the Heaven’s Land is the Fairy Plane, which is made of three levels: Divine Fairies, Plane Fairies, and Earth Fairies. They use fine substance as mind, their plane as world, supernatural powers as law, and nobility and tolerance as a way of living.
- There are countless planes and lands, including those of Hungry Ghosts, Animals, and Hell, which hold starvation, lust, and austerity as mind. The causes of these three ways specialize in killing and lust’s Tao. Consequently, they use killing along with lust’s Tao as their mind.
Each plane or land houses millions and millions of Divine species and Fairy species. Their consciousness levels are different, but they are divided into classes that are not different from humankind on Earth. The living standard and way of life is uniform on each plane, but different from that of every other plane. This is the same as for people living in different countries or regions. Each country has its own customs and living standards; regardless, the Earth houses all human beings.
The fourth way of seeing is with the eye of contemplative Intelligence of Buddhism. The Buddhist contemplative intelligence’s eye is generated from fundamental nature. It functions as a spotlight. How so? It embraces the three previous ways of seeing. As its nature and essence are impartial, all human beings and animals are born with it; however, each species has different capabilities and different ways of gaining knowledge. When a person sees and reflectively thinks in order to gain knowledge, it is called intellectual knowledge. What people acquire through teachings is also called intellectual knowledge. What people acquire through research and experimentation to expand their understanding is known as contemplative Buddhist knowledge. What a person knows instinctively is called Buddhist intelligence. Comprehensive learning through many progressive consciousnesses is called awake intelligence. The awake-intelligent person knows how to light up every place, immediately allowing him or her to develop what is called seeing knowledge.
Buddhist contemplative intelligence’s eyes are omnipercipient. The person who is not heavily greedy in the specific form or individuality can acquire wisdom eyes easily. From the human world’s viewpoint, each person develops contemplative intelligence of Buddhism in proportion to his or her level of consciousness and capability. Since individuals vary in the ability to gain contemplative intelligence of Buddhism, some are viewed as intelligent, and some are not. The truth is that we all have fundamental nature within ourselves. Ignorance is created when too many specific elements of illusory thoughts are clouding our vision and hindering our Buddhist contemplative intelligence’s eyes in development. This is why each person should practice through many levels to ultimately acquire Buddhist contemplative intelligence’s eyes. The ones who do not recognize the self-enlightenment of the Buddhist contemplative intelligence’s eye and use passive knowledge to see clearly, only see and know the specific element and specific form.
The majority of educated intellectuals do not believe something simply from hearing it. They only believe something when it is shown to them. Due to this, their belief belongs to the belief of the specific form. The specific form usually relates to illusion rather than the self-confidence of the fundamental nature. When the believer practices and gains the fundamental nature belief, belief in specific elements and specific form is eliminated. This results in gaining seeing and knowing. Science is highly based in the specific forms and the specific elements of thoughts, so scientists find it difficult to realize the fundamental nature.
The fifth way of seeing is through the Buddha eye. The Buddha eye is all-embracing and equal. No one has the ability to be aware of it, except the Buddhas, and thus there is no discussion about it.
When we speak of science, we think of it as a whole. Science is divided into many branches. Each branch includes specialists who research and experiment in their own fields. For instance, in scientific medicine, each doctor specializes in his or her own field. This is why a scientist’s knowledge is limited to a certain field of study. This situation is not unlike how one kind of flour could make a hundred different cakes or breads and how different shops specialize in each kind of cake or bread.
As far as Buddhism is concerned, authentic practitioners learn to self-subdue uncontrollable characteristics and self-pride, aiming to acquire natural characteristics to release unworthy, wishful thoughts, which are polluted specific elements that have been inherited in their bodies and minds. They tend to re-evaluate their thoughts in order to be more aware of them. When the awareness is clear, they begin to absorb the fundamental nature. The process of accumulating fundamental nature is the most important one in Buddhism. When this process is completed, which means that the fundamental nature is completely absorbed, authentic enlightenment is achieved. This is similar to the process of cleaning a pearl that is accidentally coated with dirty substances, oil, and other substances, which are dimming its illumination.
In examining Buddhism from the outside, one might see Buddhism as passive or as simply an exercise in controlled mind. Someone with this perception does not understand Buddhism at all. As one steps deeply inside of Buddhism, one admits that Buddhism is extremely active. True Buddhist practitioners are willing to forgo and control their own desires, to release ambition, selfishness, and egotism. They are willing to bear hardships without harming others. They dare to advise cruel people and actively encourage others toward good deeds to form a still-salvation for humanity, which provides the way of escape in advance of reaching the end road of one’s difficulty and aims to restore fundamental nature.
As far as simply controlling the mind process, Buddhism does not emphasize mind only. Nor does it consist solely of physical practice. Buddhism usually exhorts: “You should vow and truly perform your own vow in order to be fully enlightened; not because of your work, being immersed in what you are doing.” Neither mental nor physical practice should be neglected or prioritized. They should co-exist. This is the ultimate process. Imagine a person who is trying to level a mountain. If this person tries to rely on physical strength alone to do it, it will be a very difficult task. A person must utilize his or her intelligence to undertake the feat. With intelligence, one can accomplish any work. If you desire to eliminate ignorance, you should utilize performance to understand ignorance. If you only use performance without an understanding of ignorance, the harder you try, the greater your ignorance becomes. The fact is that Buddhism also utilizes physical works in order to be clearly aware, but this is not the same as being immersed in physical practice.
The practice of solely relying on mind is related to fanaticism. Buddhism fully understands this and says, “On account of the unsettled mind, humans are immersed in illusory reputation. As the mind entertains wishful thoughts, humans become greedy, dishonest, and evil. The mind is the horse that carries the specific elements of our usual thoughts, which are trapping humanity. However, humans are closely attached to the mind and therefore subject themselves to the birth and death karma.”
Buddhism aims at conquering the mind by understanding and controlling mind until the true nature of the mind is obtained, which means that the mind is completely managed. If one would like to acquire the true nature of the mind, he or she must be fully aware of the mind’s behavior. That is called clairvoyant mind. Once clairvoyant mind is acquired completely, it should be thrown away in order for one’s mind to become smooth and to reach full enlightenment, which is called without mind. So, does Buddhism exclusively specialize in mind?
Buddhism is a self-strengthening religion that emphasizes correcting yourself and practicing the body-mind to become a recording apparatus to communicate and exchange with the Universe to solve the birth and death problem. From the vantage point of the physical eye, perceived seeing is passive seeing. Passive seeing never truly sees. It should, therefore, release each covered thought, each layer of color, to create a pair of eyes that actively and actually see. This is known as the dharma eye. Once the dharma eye is obtained, the dharma challenge is much greater than before. The inner mind and the outward appearance are not entangled and become smooth without taking up the karma of thousands of dharmas. This leads to acquiring divine eyes. Seeing with divine eyes, one will know the planes and lands are created by fixed-thoughts’ karma seeds, and are filtered by specific elements of thoughts to become specific forms of fine dharmas. This is not very different from humanity. It has longevity, but when the limit is reached, it decays and passes. The acquisition of divine eyes is obviously superior to that of dharma eyes. The person with divine eyes is fully aware that his or her seeing and knowing is nonetheless limited. Therefore, this person is not entangled with dreamy, confused, and insane thoughts and thus truly acquires the Buddhist contemplative intelligence’s eye. Buddhist contemplative intelligence’s eyes fully see and comprehend the reasons for each being’s transmigration in each lifetime. They clearly see the movement of the characteristics—Human Creature, Divine Creature, Fairy Creature, Animal, Hungry Ghost, and Hell. This becomes as clear as examining one’s own hand and seeing all of the fine lines and cracks in the palm as well as the hand itself.
It is a unique situation when Buddhism talks about science in our day. These words are bright and confirming statements, recapitulating the complete attestation of the three generations of Buddhas, which is handed down to increase human knowledge or to pave the way to liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving of humanity in the current and future generations.
The knowledge of Buddhism, from hearing to seeing (through the five ways of seeing mentioned above) to knowing, is never wrong for those who have completely acquired the fundamental nature. This is a noteworthy statement. Now, let’s listen to the words of the Meditation Master.
