We believe that the Buddha entered his final nirvana a long time ago. But really, whoever sees the dharma sees the Buddha. This point is difficult to reach. When you see Buddha, you see dharma. When you see Buddha and dharma, you see Sangha. They exist in the mind. But see them clearly; don’t just pick up the words to be played with. Otherwise, people will say, “Buddha is in my head,” but their behavior will not match, and they will never practice or realize anything the Buddha intended.
It is the mind that knows the dharma. The one who knows is the Buddha. Buddha taught dharma. He became enlightened to the dharma, but he did not take the enlightenment with him. For example, you can be a teacher. You were not born to be a teacher; he studied to accumulate knowledge and gained experience in teaching people. You work on it for several years, then one day you retire and then you die. But we can say that the teacher does not die, because the virtues that make one a teacher have not disappeared. The dharma of ultimate reality, the truth that makes one a Buddha, does not disappear. So we can say that there are two Buddhas, his physical form and his mind. The Buddha said, “Ananda, practice well, cultivate well England. He who sees dharma sees me, and he who sees me sees dharma.”
We hear the words and don’t really know what they are about. It gets confusing – dharma is Buddha and Buddha is dharma. But that’s the truth. In the beginning there was no Buddha. When he realized the dharma, he received the title of Buddha. Before him was Prince Siddhattha Gotama. we are the same. We may be called Joe or Alice or perhaps Prince, but if we recognize the dharma, we are Buddhas too, no different from it. So understand that the Buddha is still alive.
Where is Buddha? Whatever we do, the truth is there. We think we can do evil and it doesn’t matter, no one sees it. Be careful! The Buddha sees. The Buddha still exists to support us to walk the path correctly and continuously, but we do not see it, we do not know it. Those who practice it do not doubt right and wrong; they are their own witness. But we believe that we can act in unhealthy ways and no one sees it. There is no such thing. we see. Wherever we are, whatever we do, good or bad, we don’t get over it. This is called karma. Truth exists in actions. Buddha taught according to this principle. If everyone in the world practiced and realized the truth, they would all be transformed and become Buddhas who teach the way of virtue. So the Buddha still exists. You should be happy about that. It’s not something sad. But some people feel disappointed and say, “Oh man, if the Buddha were still here, I would have already succeeded. I would be enlightened.” But it is actually here, by way of practice, on the standard of good and bad.
“He who sees dharma sees me and he who sees me sees dharma.”
The Buddha called humans “special beings” who can realize the dharma. Unlike, for example, animals, we can understand concepts. Trained by a qualified teacher, we can practice and realize the truth. It is much easier for us than for other creatures.
The teachings say that human birth is difficult to achieve. This is hard to understand. We think how can this be? People are born all the time. Sometimes they are born in pairs. We don’t quite understand because we don’t know what a real person is. We look around and see a lot of people. A man without virtue is a kind of man, but barely a man. He is a different kind of animal, only he bears the name of man.
We come into this world and as children we do not know what it is about. We don’t know what to practice, we don’t know what the true richness and virtue of human existence is. As we grow, we learn from parents and teachers, we gradually develop virtues and become whole people. Then we can say that a person is born.
As humans, we have more potential than animals. I have sometimes given the example of a dog sleeping on a pile of threshed rice. When you get hungry, you have to go find food. No matter how big the pile of rice is, he cannot use it because the dog cannot thresh and cook rice. You may wander around and find nothing, only to return to the pile of rice. He will lie there, empty stomach growling. It is right at the source of food, but it can starve to death.
So people have more potential. It can be used for good or bad. An evil man, who may be called a human animal, may even destroy a whole nation, but we never hear of a dog destroying a country. On the other hand, if a person is interested in the dharma and practices sincerely, he can achieve things that are impossible for an animal.
Indeed, virtuous dharma is not easy to practice. Right, but hard to do. Let’s take a simple example: the five precepts. We are constantly monitoring them. The measure of a real person. Refrain from killing or harming any living being and from spreading goodwill to all; not to steal, respect the rights of others; knowledge of restraint and moderation, as well as knowledge of the correctness of sexual relations; true speech; and abstinence from intoxicants. If everyone observed them, there wouldn’t be much trouble in the world. Even without the realization of dharma, there would be little conflict and we would have a truly human world. There is not much in it, but those who follow the five rules will enjoy it. Remembering the past, everything will be fine, because we have done no wrong, and when death comes, we will not regret it. So we study to become real people.
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Extract from Being Dharma ©2001 by Ajahn Chah. Reprinted by Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. www.shambhala.com in its agreement
