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The Lifespan of the Tathagata and the Original Gate of Mindfulness
Between Chapter 15, “Emerging from the Earth,” and Chapter 16, “The Lifespan of the Tathagata,” there is a thread of connection. Chapter 15 poses a question, and Chapter 16 provides the answer. The question is: Why has the Tathagata, having only recently attained enlightenment and taught the Dharma for about forty years, already liberated countless bodhisattvas? The answer in Chapter 16 is that the Buddha attained Buddhahood countless, boundless, hundreds of thousands of millions of nayutas of kalpas ago. The presence of the Buddha is not only limitless in time but also boundless in space. The nature of the Buddha is “birthless and deathless,” “neither coming nor going.” Birth is not truly birth, but a manifestation of birth. Entering nirvana is also only a manifestation of entering nirvana. To illustrate this, the Buddha gives the example of a physician whose children have accidentally taken poison. Because the children are dependent and refuse to take the medicine, the father must pretend to go far away and then send word that he has died. Only then do the children agree to take the medicine.
Our practice is to be able to touch the ultimate dimension—the world of the unborn, the undying, the neither coming nor going. The practice of mindfulness is so that we can touch that ultimate dimension. When we look deeply into an autumn leaf, we see that it also manifests birth and manifests nirvana; it is neither born nor does it die. When we see the lifespan of the leaf, we also see the lifespan of the Buddha. Maintaining mindfulness helps us to have samadhi not only when sitting in meditation but also in our daily life. There are many kinds of samadhi, such as: the Lotus Samadhi, the Samadhi of Impermanence, the Samadhi of Non-Self, the Surangama Samadhi, and the Pratyutpanna Samadhi (the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi).
In the Tripitaka, there is the Sutra Pitaka, the Vinaya Pitaka, and the Abhidharma Pitaka. Precepts (Sila) are guiding principles, while Vinaya includes the constitutions and rules for living in harmony. A practicing community (sangha) must have at least four fully ordained members. However, a sangha of four cannot perform three things:
- Full ordination
- Pavarana (invitation for admonition)
- Lifting of a grave offense (Sanghadisesa)
A sangha of five can perform the first two but not the third. The method for resolving issues in the sangha is called Karmavacana (Karma), which means collective decision-making. There are three types of Karmavacana: Mental Karmavacana, Face-to-Face Karmavacana, and Sangha Karmavacana.
