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Crossing the Ocean of Life and Death
- Book 163: Crossing the Ocean of Life and Death
- Chapter 29:
Crossing the Ocean of Life and Death
- Written by Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated and edited by True Buddha Foundation
- Translation Team (Cheng Yew Chung, Satch)
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To my knowledge, a practitioner must attain Self-Realization and gain mastery over life and death before he is regarded to have crossed the ocean of life and death. These departed spiritsare completely purified, and in the view of Tantrayana, they have transformed their consciousness into wisdom. The wisdom attained is known as the Root Wisdom, and the individual is said to have attained buddhahood within this present lifetime.
The Sutric School`s method of cultivating to attain Self-Realization and gain self-mastery over life and death hinges on the Path of Liberation and the Path of Enlightenment (bodhi) of the Three Vehicles. This journey takes one through the stage of Arhat and the ten stages of bodhisattva, covering the fifty-two stages to buddhahood, finally entering into such stages as Buddha-enlightenment and Wonderful-enlightenment before attaining the fruition of buddhahood.
Actually, both the Tantric and Sutric Schools have their versions of bardo deliverance. The teachings of the two schools place great importance over the guidance for the dying.
I feel that the forty-nine day period in the bardo state is very important, because a spirit could take advantage of this period in the bardo stage to easily cross over the ocean of life and death. If the individual is unable to take advantage of this phase, he may have to face karmic obstacles which arise to pull him towards the six realms of reincarnation.
I thus feel that the bardo realm is an important state that is not to be overlooked.
During this period, one would go through these stages:
Sleep.
Spirit leaving the body.
Completely moving out of the physical body.
The appearance of the inherent pure consciousness.
The appearance of the bardo states (The entanglement of karmic illusions).
The appearance of the respective stages of the six realms of reincarnation.
Rebirth.
(End of the bardo state).
These experiences are very similar to the experience in the dream state. Except for those who have already become enlightened and have gained self-mastery, most spirits in the bardo state dwell in confusion, absorbed in illusory thoughts and attachment. Some spirits in the bardo state are unaware that they are dead, and when they finally realize it, a great desire to regain a new body arises, and they may be drawn to rebirth in any of the six realms.
Most people would behave in this fashion, since it is extremely difficult to maintain a clear mind. This is because you reap what you sow.
A way to attain Self-Realization and gain self-mastery to cross the ocean of life and death is revealed through the following Zen story.
A monk by the name of Mei An Miguang once asked the Zen Master Dahui Yuguang, `I could not attain the ultimate realization. Where lies my illness?`
Dahui replied, `Your illness is certainly grave, and no physicians could cure you. Why? Others die and therefore could no longer live, but you are still alive and have not faced death. Yet to reach the Land of Great Bliss, you must first experience death once before you can ever hope to reach it.`
This `death experience` is a journey I have taken.
When I put on the `spiritual travel shoes` given by Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the four elements of earth, wind, fire and water within me disintegrated, splitting my skull into eight pieces, and revealing the True Buddha; then I died.
Naturally this `death experience` was not really my death. Instead it meant the death of all worries, all sense of self-perception and attachment.
Emotional afflictions, self-perception and self-attachment all arise from false perception and false sensory awareness, whose absence allow the complete revelation of the True Identity, the True Self, the True Reality and the True Buddha. This explains the `death experience.`
Similarly, when an individual resides in the bardo, the physical self is already dead. If the spirit can remove all emotional afflictions, all sense of self-perception and self-attachment, it would be cause for celebration.
When a spirit immerses with the primordial Buddha Light, this light within naturally illuminates. How does one explain this? It is simply due to the absence of emotional afflictions, self-perception and self-attachment that reveals the intrinsic presence of the Buddha Nature, but you are unaware of it.
This is known as Tantra, Zen, Prajna, Consciousness-Only, the Middle Way.
In the past I often said, `Remove self-attachment. Detach! Detach! Detach! When perception and sense awareness disappear, the indestructible Suchness or True Reality will reveal itself. This is the best opportunity to attain Self-Realization and self-mastery over Samsara.`
Dwelling in the bardo promises the best opportunity. Hence, we should awaken the spirits in the bardo state in this manner:
`Lotus practitioner! You have been wandering in the six realms of cyclical existence ever since time immemorial, suffering countless births and deaths in the ocean of suffering to this present day. Isn`t such ignorance, such afflictions, and such attachment overwhelming? Now that you are free from the physical body, you must therefore free yourself from ignorance, from worries, from self-opinion, from self-perception and from sensory awareness. Once you leave behind all forms of self-attachment, you will be liberated from all that which binds you. Lotus practitioner! You must do as instructed, and seek rebirth in the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and be born from its lotus.`
What constitutes self-attachment? It is the ego `I,` along with things such as status, wealth, spouse, children and grandchildren, sexual lust, etc.
If a spirit in the bardo can expel his self-attachment, he will be free from all entanglements. This is because the individual is bound by whatever his thoughts may manifest, thus forever preventing him from crossing the ocean of life and death. The Lotus practitioner must feel aversion towards existence in the six realms of reincarnation, and recognize that these realms are only full of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self-existence.
Thus, the spirit should move without distraction towards the Other Shore, in the direction of the Western Paradise, the Pure Land of Maha Twin Lotus Ponds, towards the Pure Land of Joy and Bliss, towards the Eastern Pure Land of Lapis Jewel Light...
These sacred grounds are where saints would dwell. These Pure Lands are free from the contamination of the five impurities.
Our spiritual duty towards spirits in the bardo state is to awaken them. It is crucial that these spirits stay in meditative stability, and focus on Emptiness.
It is important to be removed from self-attachment. It is crucial that one understands that all phenomena are illusory. It is essential to remain immovable and keep the mind away from all distractions. Hence, it is vital to take refuge in the Guru, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Chanting the Buddha epithet is essential, just as it is important to chant the mantras.
Transfer and transform your consciousness to the purity of the Buddha`s Pure Land! Be liberated and attain buddhahood! Abide in the birthless and deathless realm of the Dharmakaya! Dwell in the fruition of non-birth and perfect awareness! You are thus the Compassionate One!
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