What is Buddha?

What is Buddha?

◎ChenYiXin: would you please define “Buddha” in a simple way?

●Xuemo: Budda is an awakened man and he perceives the universe thoroughly. “Song of Enlightenment” (A Dharma poem written by Zen Master, YongJia, in Tang Dynasty,who wrote this poem after the enlightenment.) It says: In dream, I have seen all the living beings in the six realms of existence; when I wake up, I see no world but emptiness only .” In the illusion, you see the existence of the six realms of the samsaric existence. After the enlightenment, you will find that even this boundless universe is an illusion. There is another poem says: “If one wants to know how it feels to be a Buddha, he just needs to clear his mind, like void.” Buddha has found citta and seen the Buddha-nature. The sixth patriarch, HuiNeng had seen the Buddha-nature. All of the great enlighteners had seen the Buddha-nature. The Buddha-nature is all the same in essence. The nature found by the sages, is emptiness (Shunyata). The only differences are what they choose to do after the enlightenment and whether they go on to enlighten others or perfect the enlightened practice. The self enlightener is Arhat; an enlightener who moves on to enlighten others and assist others to see the Budda-nature, is Bodhisattva; the Bodhisattva who still moves forward to achieve the perfection of the enlightened practice, is Buddha.

Put it in easy way, the one who have himself enlightened, but doesn’t help the others to have it, is Arhat; after finding the true self, the one who assists others to get it, is Bodhisattva; the one who makes it himself and helps other to make it and have this done perfectly, is Buddha. We must emphasize the fact that, this perception is the ultimate understanding and that is to say, he realizes the emptiness.

Of course, someone says that there is difference in the nature that they attained, between Arhat and Bodhisattva. Arhat breaks Atma-graha (egocentrism). But Buddha and Bodhisattva also breaks Dharma-graha ( attachment to （the reality of） elemental constructs).  

◎ChenYixin: Many people don’t know what it is like, after accomplishing the Buddha-hood. What does a Buddha do?

●XueMo: It is a state of “No Heart (indeliberateness)”. Mind and body enjoys the great freedom. Nothing can disturb him and the mind is absolutely free from everything. Of course sometimes, the body still gets sick and pain, however the pain in the body can’t bother him any more. As a Buddha, his saying and doing naturally benefits all the living beings. There’s no more need to make effort in purpose, saying that I want to preach Dharma and want to benefit the living beings.

◎ChenYiXin: So how does a Buddha benefit the living beings?

●XueMo: By conduct. Siddhi itself is a conduct. It has a huge impact. A Siddha influences the people and the world, by his conduct. For example, he can preach Dharma or write books, or set an example for the other people to follow, with his conduct. When you achieve enlightenment, the outside world as appears doesn’t matter any more. Your life possesses great power of blessing and you carry the merit of great benevolence. According to tradition, when a great sage lives in a place, he will affect the place in many aspects. There will be Dharma seed in this place. His conduct makes great influence, which can change some established notions.

After you achieve Mahamudra, you have no more discrimination and go beyond duality, no ‘him’ and ‘me’, no ‘his or mine’, no subject or object. It is Mukti, the ultimate liberation. In the respect of liberation, Mahamudra is supreme. It is the absolute freedom, with no attachment.

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什么是佛？

◎陈亦新：请您简单地给佛下个定义？

●雪漠：佛就是觉悟者，就是明白的人。《永嘉证道歌》中说：“梦里分明有六趣，觉后空空无大千。”你在迷中，分明发现有六道轮回。当你觉悟之后，你就会发现连大千世界也仅仅是个幻影而已。还有诗说：“若人欲知佛滋味，自净其意如虚空。”佛在明心见性后的那个见性，跟六祖慧能明心见性后的那个见性，跟一切大成就者明心见性后的那个见性，本质是一样的。见到的那个“性”，就是空性。他们的区别在于自觉后的觉他和觉行圆满。只能自觉者，叫罗汉；自觉之后，能觉他，能让别人也见性者，叫菩萨；自觉、觉他且觉行圆满者，就是佛陀。

用一种通俗的话说，自己明白了，但懒得去叫别人明白，就是罗汉；不但自己明白，还要让别人也明白，就是菩萨；自己明白后，也要叫别人明白，而且这种叫别人明白的行为很圆满，就是佛。需要强调的是，这种明白，是究竟的明白，也即证得了空性。

当然，有人也说罗汉的见性跟佛菩萨的见性尚有区别，罗汉仅仅是破除了我执，而佛菩萨除我执外，连法执也破了。

◎陈亦新：许多人不太明白成佛后是什么样子，成佛后，佛还做些什么？

●雪漠：那就是无心了，身心大自在了。没有什么事可以干扰他了，心灵绝对自由。当然肉体还可以生病、有病痛，但肉体的病痛干扰不了他的心灵自在。成佛以后，他的言行自然而然能利益众生，不需要想我要说法、我要利益众生了。

◎陈亦新：那么，它靠啥利益众生呢？

●雪漠：靠行为。成就本身也是一种行为，它本身就有一种巨大的影响力。成就者也靠他的行为影响着别人、影响着世界。比如他可以通过说法或者著述，或是通过他的行为本身，就能给这个世界做一种可以效仿的表率。当你真的证悟了空性时，许多外现已经并不重要了。你的生命本身就有了巨大的加持力，你本身就承载着非常善的东西。按传统的说法，当一个地方有一个大修行人的时候，就会影响那个地方的许多方面，那个地方就有了法脉，那个人的行为本身就会产生巨大的影响力，改变一些既成的观念。

证得大手印之后，就没了那种分别心，就超越了二元对立，没有了他我，没有了能所，没有了东家西家，它是一种非常究竟的解脱。在解脱方面，大手印它是最究竟的。它是了无牵挂后的绝对自由。

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