Understand The Realm of Buddhas
There’s a short poem that comes from the Avatamsaka Sutra. It appears in the Compass of Zen that we use. “If you want to understand the realm of Buddhas, keep a mind that is clear like space.” So a mind that is clear like space has no line and no end, no opinion, no conception, not holding anything, not making anything. So if you want to understand the realm of Buddhas, keep a mind that is clear like space. Let all thinking and all desires, all conceptualizing and all grasping, fall far away, and let your mind go anywhere with no hindrance.
So the mind of no hindrance, the no end that has no hindrance, is the bodhisattva way. If you have no hindrance then you can connect with anything. Then compassion arises freely and easily in interaction because you’re not hindering, you’re not holding back, you’re not interfering with the free flow of give and take. No end has no hindrance; you’re not impeding anything. The first three of our four great bodhisattva vows are: “Sentient beings are numberless; we vow to save them all. Delusions are endless; we vow to cut through them all. The teachings are infinite; we vow to learn them all.” Because if you’re not thinking of an end, an end result or an end gain of some kind, then there’s freedom; there’s no hindrance. You don’t care. There’s just living your life and being helpful in any way you can. Someone is hungry, you give them something to eat. No end. Not looking for an end. Even with practice: “What am I going to get from practice?” If you let go of having some gaining idea, an end gain, then there is no hindrance, no problem.
From At the End of the Line Is No Line by Zen Master Wu Kwang
Primary Point Fall 2017, Volume 34, Number 3