We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track. If this problem persists help us by reporting it so we can investigate it.
Watch this talk
Login or create a free account to watch this talk and discover other teachings from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Log in or create an account
The Flower Ornament Lion's Roar Chapter 7
Today we continue to study the ten schools according to the Avatamsaka (Flower Ornament) School, beginning with the school of “both self and dharmas exist together,” which accepts the existence of both self and dharmas. However, the Mahayana rejects both self and dharmas; all the schools that assert the existence of both self and dharmas (Pudgalavada) are collectively called Pudgala, among which the Vātsīputrīya school originated from the Sthavira school about 200 years after the Buddha’s parinirvana, with 66,000 monks out of a total of 250,000. Their argument is that if there is no self, then there is no one to practice, no one to receive the fruit, and there is a school with the view of “the self is neither identical with nor separate from the aggregates,” like fire and wood: not the aggregates, but intimately connected with the aggregates.
Next is the school of “self does not exist, only dharmas exist” (Sarvāstivāda), which holds that the three times—past, present, and future—all truly exist, citing the Middle Length Discourses and the Samyukta Agama as evidence; in contrast, the Sthavira or Mahāsāṃghika schools only recognize the present as real. The real existence of the three times is compared to a film reel; the three times are just three ways of looking at a single reality, just as gold or the number one, though they may take different forms, never lose their essence. When we practice walking meditation, each step carries our ancestors, six million departed ones, and 82,000,000 living compatriots, manifesting the practice of mindfulness to heal the past and create a peaceful future.