Koan Study Group, Roshi Albrizze, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Book of Equanimity (BN)
A wash basin is a base thing. Today, it would be as if a master asked one to fetch a roll of toilet paper in answer to a question about the nature of the Great Illuminator. |
Case 42: Nanyo’s Wash Basin
PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY
Vairocana (users.skynet.be) |
Washing bowls and filling the wash basin are both Dharma gates and Buddha's affair.
Carrying firewood and drawing water are nothing but marvelous activity and supernatural power.
Why can't one obtain liberating radiant splendor [releasing effulgence like splitting the atom] in shaking the earth?
MAIN CASE
Attention!
A monk asked Zen Master [Chu of] Nanyo, "What is the original body of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana?"
Master Nanyo replied, "Go and fetch me the wash basin."
The monk brought the wash basin to him.
Master Nanyo said, "Now, go put it back."
The monk asked again, "What is the original body of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana?"
Master Nanyo remarked, "The old Buddha is long gone."
APPRECIATORY VERSE
A fish dwelling in water.
Rivers and lakes both forgotten, one aspires to clouds and heaven.
A thread of doubting mind, and they're facing ten-thousand miles apart.
How many people understand and repay such unselfish kindness?
Who is Vairocana?
Buddha and Bodhisattva Directory (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)
Vii-ro-cha-na means "one who is like the sun" or "the radiating one."
In Chinese Vairocana is called Pe-Ru-Gher-Na or Da-Ze-Zu-Lai ("Great Sun Buddha"), in Japanese, Dainichi Nyorai or Roshana, in Tibetan, Rnam-par-snang-mdzad or Rnam-snang ("Maker of Brilliant Light").
Maha Vairocana ("Great
Illuminator") in Hinduism-influenced Mahayana Buddhism is conceived of as the "Supreme Buddha." This is how this deified figure is regarded by many Mahayana
Buddhists in Far East Asia, Tibet, Nepal, and Java.
In the devotional Mi-tsung
sect of China and the Shingon sect of Japan, Vairocana is the chief object of
reverence and is regarded as the source of the entire universe -- a Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo" or powerful creator) figure made completely Buddhist.
Tibetan (manjushri.com) |
The other gesture popular in Vairocana
statues is in the Dharma-chakra-mudra ("teaching gesture").
As the supreme Buddha, Vairocana is usually located in the center of
mandalas of the five tantric Dhyani Buddhas.
(A possible explanation) |
In paintings, Vairocana is colored white
to symbolize a pure consciousness.
Vairocana represents either the
integration or origin of the Dhyani Buddhas. His wisdom is the
Wisdom of the Dharmadhatu ("realm of phenomena"). The Dharmadhatu is the Realm of Truth, in
which all things exist as they really are.
Vairocana's wisdom is also
referred to as the All-Pervading Wisdom of the Dharmakaya ("Body of the Dharma"), the absolute
Buddha nature. Therefore, Vairocana's symbol is the dharmachakra, the "Wheel of the Buddha's Teaching." It denotes the teaching of the Buddha. Its eight
spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path. More
Vairocana in Brief
Wikipedia entry edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Vairocana is a celestial buddha often interpreted, in Mahayana texts like the Flower Garland Sutra, as the Bliss Body of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of emptiness. In the conception of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the center. His "consort" (a popular Hindu concept about gods) in Tibetan Buddhism is White Tara. (In the Tibetan tradition, there is an affiliated female figure for every one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas.) This glorious figure is not to be confused with Virocana, who appears in the eighth chapter of Hinduism's Chandogya Upanishad as the king of the Titans (asuras). More
Wikipedia entry edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Tibetan Vairocana (Dharmaflower.net) |
PHOTOS: ANGKOR WAT (Cambodia) in its state of preservation is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and luxury surpassing that of a Pharaoh or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal.
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