The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment, White Lotus Sutra

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the Bodhisattva should represent or symbolize the dimension of time, because, as we have seen, the Bodhisattva follows the path, engages in certain activities, originates, that is to say, a certain sequence of thoughts and words and deeds, and this sequence is progressive. In other words the Bodhisattva manifests the relative Bodhicitta to an ever increasing degree, and all this – this whole process – takes place in time. …We have therefore two principles: we‘ve a principle of Buddhahood out of time, in the dimension of eternity, and we‘ve a principle of Bodhisattvahood in the dimension of time. One, the principle of Buddhahood, eternity is transcendent, the other, the principle of Bodhisattvahood, in time, the principle of growth, evolution, development, is immanent. The one, the first represents perfection eternally complete, eternally achieved. The other represents perfection everlastingly in process of achievement, in the world order, through the evolutionary process. And the two are discontinuous. The one does not lead into the other. They are discontinuous, discrete. Now the question that arises is, ‗Can we leave them like this?‘ Is this the last word that can be said on the subject, that here you‘ve got Buddha, there you‘ve got Bodhisattva, there you‘ve got eternity, there you‘ve got time, discontinuous, discrete. Is this the last word that can be said on the subject? Well certainly not according to the Mahāyāna, and especially not according to the Tantra. There‘s no question though of merging one into the other. The solution isn‘t as easy as that. It isn‘t saying, ―Well time is illusory, merge it in eternity,‖ or, ―Eternity is illusory, merge it in time.‖ No. They both are, irreducibly there – Buddhahood, Bodhisattvahood, eternity, time – they can‘t be merged, the one in the other. So it isn‘t a question of doing that. Rather, according to the Mahāyāna and again especially according to the Tantra, it‘s a question of realizing both of them simultaneously. In other words realizing Buddha and Bodhisattva simultaneously, eternity and time simultaneously. Seeing everything as eternally achieved and at the same time eternally in process of achievement. Seeing that these two do not contradict each other. One may say one has to see that everything moves but nothing moves. Sometimes one may have that feeling, that sensation, one is moving, one is walking perhaps, even running, but nothing moves. The two are there both, in a sense, contradictory – movement but no movement – but they‘re both there – one can deny neither of them. In the same way, one may say the Buddha sits eternally beneath the Bodhi tree. The Buddha has always sat beneath the Bodhi tree and always will sit. At the same time the Bodhisattva is eternally practising the pāramitās, the Perfections, life after life to infinity, and that these two, Buddha and Bodhisattva, represent different aspects of one – one might even say the same, Reality. Reality as existing out of time in, as it were, eternity, and Reality as progressively revealed in time. Now it‘s very difficult for the mind to go beyond this point. …To begin with, we have to realize that however long time goes on, time never reaches eternity; time just goes on and on. Time, we may say, does not go beyond time. There‘s no question of any getting nearer and nearer to eternity as time goes on, any nearer to the Absolute, any nearer to Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras Year Four – Module 4: The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment Parables, Myths and Symbols of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra http://freebuddhistaudio.com/study Page 142 of 150
Buddhahood, which is in the dimension of eternity. So that in say a million years we‘ll be no nearer to eternity than we are now, no nearer to Buddhahood – no nearer to Enlightenment, just by going on and on in time. We‘ll be no nearer at all. So this sounds pretty hopeless. That however long you go on in time you never get there, you never reach eternity, never reach Buddhahood. It‘s a different dimension. But it isn‘t really as hopeless as it looks, because you can turn it the other way round and you can say that at this very moment we‘re as near to Enlightenment, to eternity, as we shall ever be. We might even say that even a Bodhisattva, on the very threshold of Enlightenment, just a minute before he gets it, is no nearer really than we are at this moment. And this is really something to meditate upon, something to ponder. That every moment is the last moment. After all every moment is the last moment, whether it‘s this moment, or the next, or whether it‘s a moment occurring after a million years. Every moment is the last moment, and beyond the last moment there‘s only Buddhahood. Whether it‘s this moment or the moment that comes in a million years when perhaps we‘re on the threshold of Enlightenment. There‘s only this moment, and after this moment there‘s only Buddhahood. So every moment in fact, though we don‘t know it – if we did know it what a terrible reaction there would be! – that every moment we find ourselves at the top, in fact, of the flagpole, and all that we have to do is... well, what?! So you can see that we‘ve gone quite a long way. At the same time we haven‘t gone anywhere. We‘ve completed our journey, our journey along the Bodhisattva path. At the same time we‘ve realized that the goal of the journey is eternally achieved and eternally in process of being achieved. The Buddha and the Bodhisattva, eternity and time, are one – or are not two. References ‗The Buddha and Bodhisattva: Eternity and Time‘, Unit 8 of the Bodhisattva Ideal series in the second year of the Triratna Dharma Training course: http://tinyurl.com/yb9aclc The original audio talk (and transcript) is available at: http://freebuddhistaudio.com/talks/details?num=72 or in Sangharakshita, The Bodhisattva Ideal – Wisdom and Compassion in Buddhism, Windhorse, 1999: http://www.windhorsepublications.com/CartV2/Details.asp?ProductID=454 Triratna Dharma Training Course for Mitras Year Four – Module 4: The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment Parables, Myths and Symbols of the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra http://freebuddhistaudio.com/study Page 143 of 150
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Triratna Dharma Training Course for
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you could share this with other gro
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We may discover it comes as quite a
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References affinity with it, becaus
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Unit 2 - The Mahāyāna’s Stance
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The Mahāyāna derives its inspirat
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that the eternally youthful Bodhisa
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Sangharakshita, ‗The Magic of a M
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In the group Discuss your experienc
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congregation is ready for his ultim
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offering his children different car
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is in reality his son and the natur
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Unit 6 - The Jewel in the Lotus Aim
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Enlightenment, he would be the guar
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In the group 1. Assigning parts to
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Saddharma-puṇḍarīka, XXIV, vv
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Read Chapter Five of the Sūtra. As
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incoming multitudes untold millions
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Unit 9 - The Eternal Buddha Aim In
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These Bodhisattvas are my sons Who
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―To see a World in a Grain of San
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In the group Rather, according to t
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He adds: ‗If any one reads and re
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White Lotus Sūtra Appendix Introdu
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Subhuti, Chapter 10: ‗The Psychol
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Horner, Snellgrove, Waley, (Eds.),
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extreme. They tend to be moved and
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passive, feminine principle. Fire r
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faculty of archetypal knowledge, wh
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Appendix: Unit 3 - The Saddharma-pu
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Whatever be the truth of the matter
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as by a class of Mahāyāna Sūtras
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The Great Drama concludes with Śā
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Abridgement of the White Lotus Sūt
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Delight our every heart. The earth
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Though they pooled their capacities
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But bhiksus and bhiksunis Obsessed
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Such hear not the name of Buddha, N
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‗The Buddha-way which I walk, I w
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Adornment.‘ Why? Because your Bod
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capable of pulling the chariot smoo
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Chapter 4: Belief And Understanding
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eing seized?‘ But the attendant h
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‗You shall become Buddhas!‘ We
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Homage all prostrate, Every kind of
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The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment, White Lotus Sutra

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