Buddhism refers to the Divine Light in reference to a cosmic, God-like Buddha

[Guest guest]

>

> God Almighty (Brahman) resides within all humans as Light, a fact

> that is supported by all scriptures. Thus we can meditate on Him

> within and that long search for the Creator is at last over,

> ending within ourselves. That is why Jesus kept telling the

> ignorant masses two millennia ago that the Kingdom of God is

> within.

>

> A few months ago i asked my daughter Lalita what is that Light

> above Shri Mataji in her Sahasrara (Kingdom of God). She

> replied " God! "

>

> i remained silent for a long time to absorb the immensity of that

> single word answer.

>

> jagbir

>

 

The Brilliance

 

The experience under investigation is described quite plainly in

certain Zen texts. After a series of Zen exercises, one disciple

found that he was " 'astonished that unnoticeably the Zen hall and

myself were radiant in an absolute light.' All this time he

experienced an unspeakable feeling of happiness. " 1 Another Zen text

describes the experience poetically, hinting that the inward self,

fully realized, reaches cosmic proportions:

 

The mind mirror illumines all ingenuously.

Its penetrating, limitless rays reach

everywhere in the universe.

Without exception everything is reflected

in this mirror

The whole universe is a gem of light

beyond the terms of in and out.2

 

 

Zen and like-minded schools of Buddhism do not recognize the concept

of God as such, so the examples above are attempts to describe pure

experience. However, most other Buddhist schools and texts that

refer to a Divine Light do so in reference to a cosmic, God-like

Buddha. The Dammapada, dating as far back as the 6th century BC,

tells us that " the sun shines by day, the moon shines by night;

continually, day and night, does the luminous Buddha shine. " 3 Other

texts tell us that " the brilliance of Buddha's light is

measureless. " 4 Buddha, " the Great Enlightened, " is " brilliant...

highly bright. " 5 The " Enlightened Teacher Buddha " has " illuminated

all nations with the bright light of the doctrine... thinking in the

brightness. " 6 Buddha, the " World Honoured One, " is " Light

Brightness. " 7 In a very famous passage from the Lotus Sutra, written

around the 3rd century CE, we read that

 

The Buddha emitted a light from

between his eyebrows,

manifesting signs that are rarely seen.

This light illumined the eastern direction,

eighteen thousand Buddha lands...

One could see how these Buddha lands

adorned with numerous jewels,

shone with hues of lapis lazuli and crystals,

was due to the illumination of Buddha's light.8

 

 

The brilliance of the Buddha's light is often said to be

indescribable. In the Sutra of the Contemplation on the Buddha of

Immeasurable Life, written in various versions between the 5th and

13th centuries CE, we read that " no words can fully describe [the

brilliance] of this light. " That having been said, the author(s) go

on to say that " the Buddha of Immeasurable Life is a billion times

as [bright as] the jambunada gold of the Yama heavens. " Further,

 

The Buddha of Immeasurable Life

has eighty-four thousand features;

each feature has eighty-four thousand

secondary attributes;

each secondary attribute sends forth

eighty-four thousand rays of light;

each ray of light shines out over

the world of the ten quarters;

and those sentient beings

who are mindful of the Buddha

are embraced [by that light],

never to be abandoned.9

 

 

In the 8th century texts of the Mahayana -- a branch of Buddhism

meaning the " Greater Vehicle " -- the light of Buddha is said to

be " beautiful, " " extremely powerful, " " incomparable, " of " infinite

splendour " and " infinite brilliance. " 10 The body of Buddha issues

forth " brilliant rays, " and is called the " King of Light. " 11 These

images were applied to a mythological account of the Buddha's birth.

When the newborn Buddha was first " gazed at, though of such

surpassing brightness, he attracted all eyes like the moon. With the

radiant splendour of his limbs, he extinguished like the sun the

splendour of the lamps; with his beautiful hue as of precious gold

he illumined all the quarters of space. " 12

 

The Flower Ornament Scripture, written between 359 and 710 CE,

contains an overwhelming number of references to the Buddha as a

Divine Light. Most of the references are in verse. To quote just a

few examples:

 

The Buddha's great light of knowledge

Illumines all lands in ten directions...

 

The Buddha-body is peerless, it has no compare;

Its light shines throughout ten directions...

 

Traversing all realms of existence for countless ages,

His light is everywhere as pure as space...

 

Emanating inconceivable nets of lights,

Everywhere purifying all conscious beings...

 

All the lights in the world

Cannot match the light of a single pore of the Buddha --

This is how inconceivable the Buddha's light is...13

 

 

The great ocean of worlds has no bounds;

Its circumference of jewels

is pure and multicolored...

 

Made of masses of diamonds,

Also raining beautiful jewels,

Their jewel atmospheres

are unique and different,

Radiating pure light beautifying everywhere.14

 

 

Buddha emanates a great light...

That light touches all with its glow,

Pervading the whole cosmos.15

 

The Buddha sits on the site of enlightenment

Pure and clear is his great radiant light,

Like a thousand suns emerging

Illumining all over space...

 

Illuminating the world

With light that has no end.

 

Behold the Buddha's body

With webs of light so pure...

Filling the ten directions.16

 

 

I see the great pure light

Of Buddha's ocean of worlds

Calmly realizing enlightenment

Pervading the whole cosmos.

 

The Buddha's body emanates great light

With physical forms boundless and totally pure,

Filling all lands like clouds...

 

From each hair pore appear clouds of light

Filling all space, emitting great sound:

All dark places are illumined,

Causing the pains of hells to disappear.17

 

 

One light illumines boundlessly

Filling all lands in the ten directions,

Causing all worlds

to gain great brightness...18

 

 

The scripture goes on to say that the " Buddha is a boundless

treasury of light. " A great assembly " all saw the Buddha's body emit

a hundred trillion infinities of inconceivable great lights. " 19

 

Many other Buddhist texts also identify the Buddha as a super-

brilliant being of light. In the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma,

we find that the " Buddha's radiance none shall be able to

succeed. " 20 The Buddha's body is said to be of a " wonderful

brightness. " 21 The " brilliance of a trillion suns, moons and pearls "

are " outshone by the pure lights emanating from the mouth of

Sakyamuni Buddha. " 22 Similarly,

 

The lights of the World-Honoured One

Illuminate all the countless Buddha-lands

Throughout the ten directions.

The brilliance of the sun, [and] the moon...

Cannot bear comparison

With the brilliance of the Tathagata (Buddha).23

 

 

Very interesting in the context of near-death experiences is the

Tibetan Book of the Dead, written sometime in the 8th century CE.

After we die, we are told, we can expect to encounter the " Clear

Light of Reality. " When we do, we are advised to " try to abide in

that state. " The " radiance of the Clear Light of Pure Reality "

is " naturally void... the All-Good. " 24 The Tibetan text tells us

that " in that state... being experienced by thee, "

 

in an unbearable intensity,

Voidness and Brightness inseparable, --

The Voidness bright by nature

and the Brightness by nature void...

The Brightness [is] inseparable

from the Voidness.25

 

 

Further, we are told that

 

Thine own consciousness,

shining, void and inseparable

from the Great Body of Radiance,

hath no birth, nor death,

and is the Immutable Light

-- Amitabha Buddha...

 

Recognizing the voidness of thine

own intellect to be Buddhahood,

and looking upon it as being thine

own consciousness, is to keep thyself

in the divine mind of the Buddha.26

 

 

Nirvana

 

There is not much doubt that supreme happiness is felt when one

encounters this " Buddha-light. " The Lotus Sutra asks, " why from the

white tuft between his eyebrows of our leader and teacher does this

great light shine all around? " The same work answers that this was

done in order to " adorn and purify " the world, and to fill believers

with " joy and delight. " 27 The Book of the Dead tells us that the

Clear Light is " blissful. " 28 A Mahayana text says that " His light,

pure and immense, makes all sentient beings feel joyful in body and

mind. " 29

 

The Flower Ornament Scripture details this theme extensively. Seeing

the " Pure Light... gives rise to joy. " The appearance of the Buddha

causes " all to give up suffering and attain peace and bliss. " The

exceptional joy and happiness of those who encounter the Buddha is

told throughout this sutra:

 

The Buddha in vast eons past

Amassed an ocean of joy, endlessly deep;

Therefore all who see him are glad...

 

The Buddha showers the rain of truth without bound,

Able to make the witnesses greatly rejoice;

Supreme roots of goodness are born from this.

Such is the realization of Exquisite Light...

 

All who see or hear receive benefit,

Causing them all to dance for joy...

 

In the past Buddha cultivated an ocean of joy --

Vast, boundless, beyond all measure;

Therefore those who see are all delighted...

 

To save all beings in all the worlds:

This is the liberation of Blissful Happiness.

 

I see the independent power of Buddha,

His light filling the universe...

Causing delusions to vanish and joy to abound:

This is what's seen by Immutable Light.30

 

 

Illumined by the Buddha's light,

All beings are peacefully happy;

All pains of existence cleared away,

Their minds are full of joy...

 

Everyone's paying reverent respect,

All greatly joyful at heart...

Gazing at the King of Truth.31

 

 

Those people who are " doing all sorts of bad things and suffering

all sorts of misery and pain " are " being hindered by this from

seeing the Buddha. " Therefore the enlightened should help

others " attain ultimate bliss... immeasurable bliss... undying

bliss, and the bliss of universal knowledge. " 32 This achievement

ends suffering -- the ultimate goal of Buddhism. The end of

suffering, as one can imagine, is ultimate joy. This final

liberation from pain goes hand-in-hand with the point at which we

encounter the divine light:

 

There is a supreme concentration

called peace and bliss

Which can universally save

and liberate all sentient beings,

Radiating a great light, inconceivable,

Causing those who see it to all be pacified.33

 

The Brilliance

http://lovinglight.com/bbain/buddhism/brilliance.htm

 

Notes

 

1. Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Enlightenment: Origins and Meaning (N.Y.:

Weatherhill, 1979), 145.

 

2. Shin-jen-mei, trans. and ed. by Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth S.

McCandless, in Buddhism and Zen (N.Y.: Philosophical Library, 1953),

55.

 

3. In W. Woodville Rockhill, Udanavarga: A Collection of Verses from

the Buddhist Canon (London: Trubner & Co., 1883), 199.

 

4. Hsuan Hua, Amitabha Sutra (San Francisco: Buddhist Text

Translation Society, 1974), 31.

 

5. " Innumerable Meanings Sutra, " in The Three Fold Lotus Sutra,

trans. by Bunno Kato, Yoshiro Tamura, and Kojiro Miyasaka (Tokyo:

Kosei Publishing, 1986), 6-7.

 

6. The Diamond Sutra, trans. by Nicholas Poppe (Wiesbaden: Otto

Harrassowitz, 1971), 145.

 

7. The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra, vol. 6, trans. by

Kumarajiva of Yao Ch'in (San Francisco: Buddhist Text Translation

Society, 1980), 1116.

 

8. Lotus Sutra, trans. by Burton Watson (NY: Columbia University

Press, 1993), 18.

 

9. Trans. by Ryukoku University Translation Centre, under the

direction of Meiji Yamada (Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1984), 35, 57

& 59).

 

10. " The Land of Bliss, " in The Buddha-Karita of Asvaghosha, trans.

by E.B. Cowell (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894), 28-29.

 

11. " Amitayur-Dyana Sutra: Meditation on Buddha-Amitayus, " in

Cowell, 180-185.

 

12. Cowell, 6.

 

13. " The Wonderful Adornments of the Leaders of the World, " in The

Flower Ornament Scripture, vol. 1, trans. by Thomas Cleary (Boulder,

Col.: Shambala, 1984), 82-83.

 

14. " The Flower Bank World, " Creary, 204.

 

15. " The Flower Bank World, " Creary, 251.

 

16. " Vairocana, " Creary, 257.

 

17. " Vairocana, " Creary, 262-264.

 

18. " Ten Practices, " Creary, 483.

 

19. " Ascent to the Palace of the Tushita Heaven, " Creary, 510-511.

 

20. Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, trans. by

Leon Hurvitz (NY: Columbia University Press, 1976), 127.

 

21. W.E. Soothill, The Lotus of the Wonderful Law (Oxford: The

Clarendon Press, 1930), 242.

 

22. " On Emptiness, " in Garma C.C. Chang (ed.), A Treasury of

Mahayana Sutras: Selections form the Maharatnakuta Sutra (University

Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), 92.

 

23. Chang, 18.

 

24. W.Y. Evans-Wentz (ed.), The Tibetan Book of the Dead (London:

Oxford University Press, 1960), 92-95.

 

25. Evans-Wentz, 167.

 

26. Evans-Wentz, 96.

 

27. Watson, 7.

 

28. Evans-Wentz, 150.

 

29. " On Pure Land, " in Chang, 348.

 

30. Cleary, 84-128.

 

31. Cleary, 258.

 

32. Cleary, 534-535.

 

33. Cleary, 346.

 

34. Chang, 18-19.

 

35. Chang, 192-193.

 

36. Chang, 203.

 

37. Chang, 346-347.

 

38. Shurangama Sutra, vol. 5, trans. by Bhikshuni Heng Ch'ih

(Talmage, Ca.: Dharma Realm Buddhist University, 1981), 60.

 

39. Cleary, 75.

 

40. Cleary, 354-355.

 

41. Evans-Wentz, 90-91.

 

42. Evans-Wentz, 125; see also 125n.

 

43. Evans-Wentz, 135.

 

44. Evans-Wentz, 176.

 

45. Evans-Wentz, 199.