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Signlessness, Unborn Nature – The Ten Profound Gates, Part 1

Thich Nhat Hanh · November 29, 2007 · Plum Village, France · Audio Only
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The whole body of the lion is only gold; outside of gold, one cannot find the form of the lion, so it is called signless. The signs of arising–ceasing, being–nonbeing, beautiful–ugly are only creations of the mind; in reality, there is only gold. When we recognize the arising of the lion, it is the arising of gold; since gold is by nature neither increasing nor decreasing, it is called unborn, that is, undying. Therefore, there is no need to search for gold outside of oneself; the lion–gold does not need to be fabricated further, so it is called non-doing.

The Avatamsaka (Flower Ornament) teaching presents ten wondrous gates, among which the first two mysterious gates are:

  1. The Gate of Simultaneous and Complete Correspondence
    • Gold and lion simultaneously establish each other, are perfect and respond to each other; that is, one is all, all is one.
  2. The Gate of All Storehouses, Pure and Mixed, Fully Endowed with Virtues
    • Each faculty (eye, ear…) contains the whole body of the lion; at the same time, each itself is already complete, that is, all is contained in one, one contains all.
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