Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

Baizhang

‘To talk of living beings having the buddha nature is to slander the buddha, dharma, and saṅgha; to talk of living beings having no buddha nature is to slander the buddha, dharma, and saṅgha. If we say they have the buddha nature, this is called the slander of grasping; if we say they have no buddha nature, this is called the slander of vacuousness. If we say the buddha nature exists, that is the slander of reification; if we say the buddha nature does not exist, that is the slander of nihilism; if we say the buddha nature both exists and does not exist, that is the slander of contradiction; if we say the buddha nature neither exists nor does not exist, that is the slander of conceptual proliferation.’ (quoted in Shobogenzo Bussho)

So, as always, the question is: what do you do then?

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  1. maximo hudson Avatar
    maximo hudson

    This seems like a rather limited way of looking at things hamstrung it were by a lack of creativity, a lack of imagination and some sort of rigid definition of “Buddha Nature” which apparently just does not work! Like staring at a wall and saying, “It’s impossible to walk through this door.” In this instance (as in the Buddha Nature contention on which I am commenting) that which is being defined is being done so poorly. One cannot walk through the door because it is a wall not a door. One cannot say all beings have Buddha Nature because what is being described is apparently not Buddha Nature.

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    1. shundo Avatar
      shundo

      This quote comes from a long Dogen fascicle all about Buddha Nature, so he is chewing on it from all angles. Generally speaking, the “having” Buddha Nature puts it in the category of separating self from this “thing” that we have.

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