Dao and the Buddha Nature

The Buddha Nature is in All

Shards and Broken Tiles

The Buddha Nature is in all things. There is an interesting passage by 莊子, Zhuangzi, an important philosopher of Chinese Dao active in the 3rd century, in chapter 22 of his text of the same name:

Master 东郭, Dong guo asked Zhuangzi "This thing called the Way--where does it exist?"

Zhuangzi said, "There's no place it doesn't exist."

"Come," said Master Dong guo, "you must be more specific."

"It is in the ant äÝëü."

"As low a thing as that?"

"It is in the panic grass."

"But that's lower still!"

"It is in the tiles and shards."

"How can it be so low?"

"It is in the piss and shit!"

Master Tung-kuo made no reply.

Zhuangzi said, "Sir, your questions simply don't get at the substance of the matter. When Inspector Huo asked the superintendent of the market how to test the fatness of a pig by pressing it with the foot, he was told that the lower down on the pig you press, the nearer you come to the truth.

But you must not expect to find the Way in any particular place--there is no thing that escapes its presence! Such is the Perfect Way, and so too are the truly great words. 'Complete,' 'universal,' 'all-inclusive'--these three are different words with the same meaning. All point to a single reality."

It is important to understand the significance of this, for it is not a trite philosophical statement.

The Buddha Nature, Dharma Nature or what have you is beyond expression in mere terms and that One Buddha Nature is the non-conscious experience that can be said to pervade all things when approached by the human mind. It is the function and essence of all things that give undifferentiated form to all things.

If the experience is divorced from cognition by the blanket of Identity then the unity with all things is ruptured within that cognition.

Is the Buddha Dharma position different from this?

Hui-chung, a contemporary of Shen-hui, declares that insentient things not only possess Buddha-nature, but actually "preach the Dharma."

A Ch'an student asked: "What is the meaning of the saying 'the mind of an old Buddha.'

The Master said: "Insentient things such as walls, fences, tiles, and stones are all the mind of an old Buddha.

The Ch'an student said: "But this is at odds with the scriptures. The Nirvana-sutra says: 'Everything apart from insentient things such as walls, fences, tiles and stones is called Buddha-nature.' Now you say that all insentient things are the mind of Buddha, but you have yet to consider the relationship between 'mind' and 'nature.' Are they different or not?"

The Master said, "To the deluded they are different; to the enlightened they are not different."

The Ch'an student said, "But this also contradicts the scriptures. It is said in a scripture: 'Good son, mind is not Buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is eternal, while mind is not eternal.' Now you say that they are not different. How do you intend to explain yourself?"

The Master said: "You rely on the words, rather than on the meaning. It is like a cold winter night, when water is bound up as ice. When warm weather comes, the ice melts back into water.

When sentient beings are deluded, their nature is bound up as mind, but when they become awakened, their minds are released again as nature. If you still maintain that insentient things are without Buddha nature, then the scriptures ought not to say that the triple realm is only mind, and that the myriad dharmas are only consciousness.

Therefore the Huayan sutra says that all the dharmas of the triple realm are produced by mind.

Now I ask you, do insentient things exist within the triple realm, or do they exist outside the triple realm? Are they mind, or are they not mind? If they are not mind, the scriptures ought not to say that the triple realm is only mind. If they are mind, [the scriptures] ought not to say that insentient things lack Buddha-nature. It is you who contravene the scriptures, not I."

The Ch'an student asked: "If the insentient actually possess mind, can they preach the dharma or not?"

The Master said: "They preach magnificently, they preach continually, and they preach eternally without a moment's pause."

The Chan student asked: "Then why is it that I do not hear it?"

The Master said: "Just because you yourself do not hear it, it does not mean that others do not hear it."

[The Ch'an student] continued: "Then who can hear it?"

The Master said: "All the sages hear it."

The awe that arises from the experience is a true reflection of the Life Force itself.