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The Golden Lion's Roar Chapter 5
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The lion is a symbol of conditioned dharma—all phenomena arising and passing away in each instant—while gold represents unconditioned dharma, which neither arises nor ceases nor changes. Each instant is further divided into three times (past, present, future), and each time contains the other three, forming nine times (the nine worlds), and then further expanding to a tenth, making the “tenfold gate of the differentiation of dharmas through the ten directions of time.” Seeking an unchanging ontological ground outside the world of arising and ceasing is like abandoning the form (the lion) to search for gold; this is a mistake, because the unconditioned only reveals itself right within the conditioned, just as gold is only found in the golden lion.
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The operation of time and space is perceived through the interbeing of the three times:
- The past embraces the present and the future,
- The present embraces the past and the future,
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The future embraces the past and the present.
The notion of “only the present moment” is merely a skillful means for mindfulness; looking deeply into interbeing is necessary to truly understand the nature of time. All phenomena—from the cloud to the flower—are both arising and ceasing, and at the same time unborn and undying, right in that very instant.
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The Avatamsaka teaching points out the six characteristics of reality and the three contemplations to be practiced:
- Six characteristics: general characteristic, particular characteristic, characteristic of formation, characteristic of destruction, characteristic of sameness, characteristic of difference—these aspects are always harmonizing and transforming into one another.
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Three Contemplations:
- Contemplation on True Emptiness—understanding that form is emptiness, emptiness is form;
- Contemplation on the Non-Obstruction of Principle and Phenomena—the noumenon and phenomena do not obstruct each other;
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Contemplation on Mutual Containment and Interpenetration—the one and the many inter-are and embrace each other.
The application of the six characteristics and the Three Contemplations helps to break through delusion, bringing the mind back to “the turning of the mind toward the wholesome gate,” dwelling peacefully in the wisdom that comprehends all.