Saturday, October 20, 2007
Large and Small in Hwa-Yen Buddhism
Garma C. C. Chang is an authority on both Tibetan and Zen Buddhism.
From "The Buddhist Teaching of Totality: The Philosophy of Hwa-Yen Buddhism" by Garma C. C. Chang
Summarizing the Hwa-Yen or Flower Ornament Sutra, he says:
1. That a universe can be infinitely vast or small depending on the scale of measurement, or the position from which a measurement is made.
2. That the "larger" universes include the "smaller" ones as a solar system contains its planets, or a planet contains its atoms...
3. That a "small" universe, (such as an atom) not only contains the infinite "lesser" universes within itself, but also contains the infinite "larger" universes...
p. 12
SIXTH: The mystery of Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
Ch'eng Kuan observes further in the same essay: "The so-called 'minuteness' is that which, having no space within itself, has no inside; the so-called 'immensity' is that which, having no boundary, has no outside. That which is without an outside, the vast Buddha-Body and Land, can enter that which is without an inside, the minute dust-mote. This is the Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
The large must include the small to be called the large, and the small must contain the large to be called the small. Because they have no Selfhood, the large and the small can mutually contain each other. Thus we know that the so-called "large" is the large of the small, and the so-called "small" is the small of the large. There is no definite nature to the small, because it even stretches to cover all the ten directions, and there is no definite shape to the large, because all aeons are vividly revealed in one moment. Since the very small is the very large, Mount Sumeru is contained in a mustard seed; and since the very large is the very small, the ocean is included in a hair.
pages 164 - 165
From "The Buddhist Teaching of Totality: The Philosophy of Hwa-Yen Buddhism" by Garma C. C. Chang
Summarizing the Hwa-Yen or Flower Ornament Sutra, he says:
1. That a universe can be infinitely vast or small depending on the scale of measurement, or the position from which a measurement is made.
2. That the "larger" universes include the "smaller" ones as a solar system contains its planets, or a planet contains its atoms...
3. That a "small" universe, (such as an atom) not only contains the infinite "lesser" universes within itself, but also contains the infinite "larger" universes...
p. 12
SIXTH: The mystery of Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
Ch'eng Kuan observes further in the same essay: "The so-called 'minuteness' is that which, having no space within itself, has no inside; the so-called 'immensity' is that which, having no boundary, has no outside. That which is without an outside, the vast Buddha-Body and Land, can enter that which is without an inside, the minute dust-mote. This is the Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
The large must include the small to be called the large, and the small must contain the large to be called the small. Because they have no Selfhood, the large and the small can mutually contain each other. Thus we know that the so-called "large" is the large of the small, and the so-called "small" is the small of the large. There is no definite nature to the small, because it even stretches to cover all the ten directions, and there is no definite shape to the large, because all aeons are vividly revealed in one moment. Since the very small is the very large, Mount Sumeru is contained in a mustard seed; and since the very large is the very small, the ocean is included in a hair.
pages 164 - 165
