“How can you say emptiness is existence and existence is emptiness? That is too confused,” you may say.

Is it the principle that is confused, or is it you, or I? When you are confused you think that emptiness is emptiness and existence is existence. When the confusion is cleared, you know that emptiness and existence are equal. Do not attach to either annihilationism or eternalism. The equality and non-duality of emptiness and existence is called the Middle Way. Here true emptiness does not obstruct wonderful existence and wonderful existence does not obstruct true emptiness. True emptiness is wonderful existence; wonderful existence is true emptiness. When there is existence, then emptiness manifests; when there is emptiness, then existence is apparent. There is no emptiness, and there is no existence. They are not two. The non-duality of emptiness and existence is the equality of emptiness and existence.

When I was sixteen I wrote a matched couplet upon reading the Sixth Patriarch Sutra. Having lectured to the place where the text says “Dharma is not sudden or gradual, confusion and enlightenment are slow and quick.” I thought, “How can there still be a sudden and a gradual? What is sudden? What is gradual? Are sudden and gradual different? Are they two?” So I wrote the following:

Although sudden and gradual are different,
Upon completion they are one.
Why make divisions of North and South?

Sagely and common are parts of the one:
The basic nature is absolutely the same.
Do not discuss East and West.

“Although sudden and gradual are different, upon completion they are one.” Sudden refers to instantaneous realization of Buddhahood; gradual refers to slow cultivation to Buddhahood. Sudden and gradual are two distinct methods, but when one finishes the work, there is no sudden and no gradual in evidence. They no longer exist. …

When I read the Sixth Patriarch Sutra, I thought that the reference to Sudden and Gradual lacked equality, so I wrote the line, “Although sudden and gradual are different, upon completion they are one.” What is the origin of sudden? Although one suddenly attains enlightenment, one cultivates life after life for a long time within the Buddhadharma prior to that enlightenment. When one reaps the fruit of that long process of cultivation, that is called sudden. Gradual refers to the long process of cultivation, but the day the cultivation is complete, there is sudden enlightenment. For that reason I say there is no sudden or gradual. …

“Sagely and common are parts of the One.” Sagely refers to the Buddha; common refers to living beings. The world is divided into these two types, but “the basic nature is absolutely the same.” Buddhahood is the realization of the Buddha-nature. Living beings can also realize their Buddha-nature.

The marks of the dharma are spoken of by the Tathagata as no marks of the dharma; therefore they are called the marks of the dharma. They are merely given a false name.

The Vajra Sūtra expresses prajña, the wonderful principle of true emptiness, and also expresses the dharma door of equality found within the wonderful principle of prajña. In general there are Five Aspects of Equality evident in the sūtra.

1. The equality of living beings and Buddhas,
2. The equality of emptiness and existence,
3. The equality of all dharma,
4. The equality of one and many,
5. The equality of all views.

Most people do not understand equality dharma doors, so they put a head on top of a head, add marks to marks, and change what is basically equal to what is unequal.

If we travelled by rocket for a great length of time, we would only cover a short distance compared to the extent of three thousand great thousand world systems. Although those world systems are big, they are created from motes of fine dust. The largest things are created from the smallest. Although one mote of dust is small, many of them together become a great thousand world system. In the same way, the merit and virtue we do comes from small deeds. By doing many good deeds we become adorned with ten thousand virtues. You should not think you need not bother doing small good deeds or that you can get away with doing small bad ones. Many seemingly inconsequential good deeds will accumulate into great goodness. Although you may only do minor bad deeds, many will accumulate into great evil. In just the same way, a whole world comes from a collection of small dust motes.

The deviant path of grasping at the sight or the sound of the Buddha leads one into the extreme of clinging to conditioned existence. When one is not in accord with the Middle Way, one cannot see the Tathagata. The Avataṃsaka Sutra says: “Response and transformations are not the true Buddha.” The thirty-two marks belong to the response and transformation bodies, and certainly not to the Buddha’s dharma body. One who holds to annihilationism views everything as doomed to extinction. One who holds to permanence views everything as eternal. Both views are biased and not the Middle Way. If one seeks the Tathagata’s dharma body by some path other than the Middle Way, it will be impossible to find it.

Once Mahāmaudgalyāyana wanted to see how far the Buddha’s voice carried, so he used his spiritual penetrations and went as far east as he could. He passed through thousands of ten thousands of millions of Buddhalands – 70,000 times farther than a rocket can go in space. But even when he had travelled that great distance, the Buddha’s voice was still as clear as if he were speaking dharma right into Mahāmaudgalyāyana’s ear. That is a case of searching for the Buddha in sound.

Let us look further into the five eyes. Are they produced from within or do they come from outside? The five eyes are not produced from within; nor do they come from outside; nor do they exist in the middle. Cultivate, use effort, and when your skill is sufficient you will have them naturally. Before sufficient skill is attained, no amount of seeking will cause them to function. Seeking is false thinking. Seeking without the thought of seeking brings a response.

In what way does one make an effort to open one’s eyes?

You need to be wise in managing affairs, and wise in cultivation. It is wise to recognize what is good and then courageously and vigorously work towards it. The characteristic of wisdom is to recognize and vow to cut off and cast out what is bad. Realizing something is good and yet not acting in accord with it is the characteristic of stupidity. It is stupid to recognize that something is bad business and still go ahead and become involved in it. If you are stupid, it is not easy to obtain the five eyes. In order to obtain them, everything you do must be done extremely clearly. You must be very precise and cannot be confused.

A Bodhisattva who commits himself to undertaking practices which are meritorious and virtuous should proceed without hesitation to do just that. Seeds planted in the field will in the future yield a harvest. There is no benefit in speculating on the size of the crop. Attention need only be paid to the planting and cultivation of the field. If care is taken and the conditions of earth, water, and wind are right, then the plants will grow. If the field is never planted, however, no yield at all can be expected. In just that way a Bodhisattva takes living beings across to the other shore without actually taking any living beings across. A Bodhisattva does not waste energy worrying about the outcome, he just does his work.

When an ordinary person does meritorious deeds he becomes attached to subject and object. “I did that meritorious deed. He is the recipient of my good deed.” That is the way a common person thinks.

Bodhisattvas should adorn Buddhalands without the thought of adornment. That is not to say they should not adorn Buddhalands. It means they should adorn them as if they had done nothing.

To adorn a Buddhaland is to cause the country of a Buddha to be especially beautiful. Our offerings of flowers, fruit, and incense to the Triple Jewel are adornments of Buddhalands. That is not to say you should not adorn Buddhalands. It means you should adorn them, and yet not adorn them. Offerings to the Triple Jewel of flowers, fruit, and incense also serve as adornments for Buddhalands.

From the point of view of common truth there is adornment of Buddhalands. From the point of view of actual truth there is no adornment. If viewed from the doctrine which is perfectly fused without obstruction, adornment is merely a name and nothing more.

When Śākyamuni Buddha first resolved to cultivate the Way, he was a master potter named Expansive Splendor. At that time there was a Buddha in the world named Sakya Tathagata who saw that conditions were ripe to take across the master potter. When the potter Expansive Splendor saw that Sakya Tathagata had come, he welcomed him eagerly. It was with extreme pleasure that he said, “Ahh, I too see the Buddha.” He gazed at the Buddha and then asked him to speak dharma. Upon hearing the dharma the potter immediately made the vow: “Buddha, you are truly superb. In the future when I realize Buddhahood, I will be a Buddha just like you. My name will also be Śākyamuni.” He made the vow to cultivate the Way before that Buddha. Seventy-five thousand Buddhas appeared in the world after that Sakya Buddha, the last of whom was Accumulation of Jewels Tathagata. The period of these 75,000 Buddhas is called the first asaṃkhyeya kalpa. The actual length of time in that first asaṃkhyeya kalpa is certainly incalculable. From Accumulation of Jewels Tathagata to Burning Lamp Buddha is a period in which 76,000 Buddhas appeared in the world, and is called the second asaṃkhyeya kalpa. From Burning Lamp Buddha to Victorious Contemplation Buddha is a period in which 77,000 Buddhas appeared in the world and is called the third great asaṃkhyeya kalpa. It was during those three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas that Śākyamuni Buddha cultivated the Way to the realization of Buddhahood.

Therefore the Buddha said, “Prior to Burning Lamp Buddha, I encountered eighty-four thousands of millions of billions of nayutas of Buddhas, and made offerings to them all, and served them all without exception.” Throughout his long period of cultivation Śākyamuni Buddha never failed to serve the Buddhas who appeared in the world. He made offerings to them all.

However the Buddha further pointed out that “If there is someone in the Dharma Ending Age who can receive the sūtra with his mind and hold it with his body, and who can read or recite it, his merit and virtue is greater than mine for having made offerings for three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas to all eighty-four thousands of millions of nayutas of Buddhas, by several hundred, thousand, million, billion times. Neither calculation, nor analogy, nor comparison can adequately express it.