5  Real Seeing According to the Truth

Chapter five—Real Seeing According to the Truth discusses non-appearance, which is very profound. As I recall, it is written in the sutra that Viswakarma, the Craftsman Deva, wanted to sculpt life-size statues of the 8-year-old and the 12-year-old Sakyamuni Buddha. Viswakarma needed to measure Sakyamuni Buddha, so the Buddha sat down to let him measure, but Viswakarma could not figure out the size, no matter how hard he tried. This is because buddhas have an invisible usnisa (crown protuberance), one of the thirty-two marks of perfection. It is impossible to see and measure the Buddha’s crown. Why? Because all appearances are non-appearance. That’s why!

In fact, this is the case in the saha world too. Look at the appearance of Sheng-Yen Lu. Many people take my pictures. Why would you want to take my picture as I am already 77 years old? You want a picture of me when I was still young, like this one that I like most. [Laughing, Grandmaster takes out a photograph of himself when he was young from his left pocket and shows the audience.] That’s right! This young man. Someone compared this photograph to a Korean movie star and said, “Grandmaster, you looked like him!” Can you see it on the screen? Have you seen this photograph before? Very handsome. When I showed this photograph to some girls, they frantically kissed it. How come they kissed the photograph but not me? [laughs] So, this was also Sheng-Yen Lu.

So which Sheng-Yen Lu is the real Sheng-Yen Lu? The newborn Sheng-Yen Lu? The child Sheng-Yen Lu? The youth Sheng-Yen Lu? The middle-aged Sheng-Yen Lu? The prime-aged Sheng-Yen Lu? The now old-aged Sheng-Yen Lu? They are all different. Is there an appearance that can stay unchanged? No! We cannot tell which appearance is the real one; thus, it is referred to as non-appearance.

Any appearance is an aggregate (pindagraha). What is an aggregate? It is a composite, an amalgam, a union. What comprises an aggregate? An aggregate comprises the earth, water, fire, and wind elements. Houses are aggregates, cars are aggregates, and everything and all things are aggregates. Everything!

Can you point out which one is the real Sheng-Yen Lu? Which one would you say I am if I live to be 80, 90, 100, 110, or 120? Someone even asked me to live to be 150! “Grandmaster, I want to go with you to Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati. I am still young. If you don’t live to 150, how can I go together with you?” Me living to be 150 years old? Stop dreaming! 120? Don’t daydream! How about 100? I don’t even dare to dream of that. To live to be 90? Maybe, by luck. When I see someone in their nineties, I think, “Oh my gosh! So ugly!” I am not even sure if I want to live to be 80. We all know I will die one day.

Do you want to go together with Grandmaster? Sure you can, but not in the physical body. We all can go to the pureland; I will go first and you will go later. We will still be together in the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds, where we will have eternal life.

You can go to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds if you cultivate spiritually—letting go of all attachments to self and everything, eliminating afflictions and habitual tendencies, and eradicating all sorts of karmic obscurations! And you will discover that the intrinsic suchness is right there. Then you can rise to the purelands. This is what going together means, not the simultaneous disappearance of physical bodies. Otherwise, if everyone went together physically, no one would be left in True Buddha School, and True Buddha School would disappear.

We are all non-phenomena. This body of ours is superficial. It is merely an aggregate of the earth, water, fire, and wind elements. The flesh, bones, and internal organs are earth; blood is water, temperature is fire, and breath is wind. Everything inside our body is an amalgam of the earth, water, fire, and wind elements. You see yourself as the combination of these four elements.¹Just like atoms form a molecule, and the molecules form substances, our body is a mere and momentary aggregate of these basic elements. What we are talking about here is that we are all non-appearance. If you understand this, then you will be able to see the true reality and understand the concept of non-appearance.

“Subhuti, what do you think? Can one see the Tathagata through his physical appearance?”

“No, World-Honored One. One cannot see the Tathagata through physical appearance. Why? Because the physical appearance as spoken by the Tathagata is not physical appearance.”

When the aggregate of the earth, water, fire, and wind elements disintegrates, what is left is buddhanature—the tathagata. There will be no more appearances [phenomena]. Now you understand this passage.

The Buddha told Subhuti, “All appearances are illusory.”

All appearances are illusory. Do not think that the Earth is real or that it has a real appearance. No! The Earth is also a combination of the earth, water, fire, and wind elements. One day the Earth too will crack, split, or disintegrate. It may happen during a massive natural disaster, such as a flood that entirely covers the Earth. Will the appearance of the Earth still exist then? If a major fire engulfs it completely, or a meteor hits and cracks it, is there any appearance remaining? It is all just an aggregate, a composite, a collective form. Therefore, the Buddha says that all appearances are illusory.

“Only when one perceives all appearances as non-appearance does one see the Tathagata.”

Certainly, you cannot perceive the Tathagata (Sakyamuni Buddha) through physical appearances. The Tathagata appeared differently at eight, twelve, and any other age, and he lived to be 80 years old. What does it mean that one cannot perceive the Tathagata through physical appearances? Do you think Grandmaster always looks this way? How about the handsome one in the past? I carry this photograph with me to illustrate this point. Back then, flicking my hair made girls hysterical, so I had many girlfriends. [laughs]

“Because the physical appearance as spoken by the Tathagata is not physical appearance.”

It is just a temporary aggregate of the earth, water, fire, and wind elements. All appearances are false, unreal, devoid of true reality. This is the Real Seeing According to the Truth. It is a concept of seeing through appearance as non-appearance according to the truth.

Om mani padme hum.