Zen in Ten: "All Dharmas Are Unreal. They’re Like an Echo."
The Wisdom of "The Empty Bowl Sutra"
All the passages below are from Red Pine’s book “A Day in the Life” which contains his translations of “The Diamond Sutra” and “The Empty Bowl Sutra.” According to the distributor’s book notes, “In the ‘Empty Bowl Sutra,’ which appears here in English for the first time, the Buddha's disciples' question Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, on his way to town to beg for food, and he responds with the teaching of emptiness—that anything we might think of as real is illusory and its ‘thingness’ is based on nothing more than our own projections.”
Manjusri said, “The essential nature of all things is like that of space: ultimately empty, immutable, and devoid of anything to get rid of. Moreover, since everything is like space, neither devas, Mara, Brahma, monks, nor any being can get hold of anything. And how so? Because the essential nature of everything is ungraspable, there is nothing they can get hold of.”
Nagasri said, “If that is as you say, why then do bodhisattvas struggle against Mara?
Manjusri said, “Bodhisattvas don’t struggle against the drumbeating forces of Mara, nor do they see the slightest thing real on which to meditate. And how so? Even though bodhisattvas might see those demon drummers, they aren’t frightened. It’s as if a magician conjured a hostile enemy. Despite the appearance of danger, bodhisattvas aren’t alarmed, for they know that the nature of everything is essentially empty and illusory. Hence they aren’t frightened.”
Nagasri asked, “Who realizes [enlightenment]?”
Manjusri said, “Those with no name, concepts, or anything to say, they can attain it.”
Nagasri asked, “How would you describe enlightenment?”
Manjusri said, “Enlightenment is present in all things at all times and in all places. Just as nothing obstructs space, which is present in all things at all times and in all places, the same is true of enlightenment. Because nothing obstructs it, it’s present in all things at all times and in all places. Thus, nothing is greater than enlightenment.”
Manjusri said, “All dharmas are unreal. They’re like an echo. They possess neither name nor appearance nor anything you can grasp. To grasp such a thing would be to engage nonsense. And to engage in nonsense would be to turn the wheel of samsara. Things like echoes aren’t knowable and only give rise to arguments. When arguments arise, the mind becomes confused. And when the mind becomes confused, falsehoods flourish. And when falsehoods flourish, the wheel of existence keeps turning.”
Nagasri said, “But who can believe or understand the statement ‘they are never apart from the teachings of the buddhas’?”
Manjusri answered, “All true disciples of the buddhas can believe and understand this. . . And how so? These bodhisattvas are already adept at reflecting on the teachings of ultimate emptiness and nonattainment and cannot be shaken. They are as unmovable as the hitching post of Indra. Even the strongest ox can’t budge them.”
Manjusri said, “Enlightenment is free of conceptions. It isn’t something that’s better or worse. It isn’t a contraction or an expansion. It’s the mind free of disturbance, language free of fiction. It doesn’t contain anything to count or measure. This is the enlightenment a bodhisattva seeks. [Nagasri], if Sir, you can go forth like this, then by all means go on your begging round.”
“Due to the power of this instruction and admonition, Nagasri entered the Oceanic Samadhi. Like the ocean whose waters are vast and deep and full of all kinds of treasures and aquatic creatures, the power of this samadhi is likewise vast and deep and full of treasures of merit that nourish sentient beings and an unimaginable spiritual force that stills the three kinds of karma.”
Nagasri said, “Today I have tasted the unsurpassed dharma of the Oceanic Samadhi. I no longer seek ordinary food. What I seek now are charity, morality, acceptance, devotion, meditation, wisdom, skillful means, transcendent vows, powers, and knowledge, as well as other boundless bodhisattva practices whereby I can quickly realize complete enlightenment and turn the wheel of the Dharma and liberate beings from the sufferings of samsara so they can dwell in the ultimate purity of nirvana.”
Manjusri said, “Can you fill space?”
Nagasri said, “No, I can’t.”
Manjusri said, “Can you fill an echo, a reflection, a dream, an illusion, a mirage, a shadow, an apparition, or a city of gandharvas?”
Nagasri said, “No, I can’t.”
Manjusri said, “Can you fill the ocean with mere streams?”
Nagasri said, “No, I can’t.”
Manjusri said, “Since everything is like this, how are you going to fill anyone? Trying to fill others would be like trying to fill space, or like trying to fill an echo, a reflection, or a dream, or like trying to fill the ocean, or like trying to fill what is empty, without form and without passion, what isn’t created and what doesn’t create, what doesn’t begin and what doesn’t end. It would be like trying to fill the transcendence, quiescence, and purity of nirvana and ultimate liberation, or like trying to fill the formless, invisible, nondual, ungraspable Dharma Realm of Suchness whose every characteristic is the same as space.”