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November 23, 1978
Ano Nuevo, California
Dear Master,
It says in the Avatamsaka:
According to what living beings
practice in their minds,
The visions of kshetras
follow suit.
I have found this to be really the case with dreams.
"Vow Power"
The Buddhadharma is vast and great, without bounds or distinctions. So are the Bodhisattva's vows:
He further makes great vows, vowing within all
worlds to achieve Anuttarasamyaksambodhi without
leaving the place of the tip of a single hair; in
every place of a hair tip to make appear being
born, leaving home, going to the Way place, ac-
complishing Proper Enlightenment, turning the
Dharma Wheel, and entering Nirvana... in thought
after thought, in accord with the minds of living
beings to display the accomplishment of Buddha-
hood... With a single sound to speak Dharma and
cause all living beings to be delighted at heart
--vast and great as the Dharma Realm, ultimate as
empty space, exhausting the boundaries of the
future, throughout all numbers of kalpas without
cease.
Avatamsaka Sutra
"The Ten Grounds" Chapter
In May of 1977 when we began from Gold Wheel Temple in Los Angeles, the Master noted in a lecture that all of us had been together with Vairocana Buddha in the past investigating the Buddharma. And way back then the Master said we should all go to America and investigate the Dharma there. "So now we are here together to fulfill our vows. Causes and conditions in the past create a strength of togetherness here, now, that stays through all circumstance. From limitless kalpas past, our conditions with one another are deep. ...Everyone is Vairocana. All around you, in front, behind, all around you is the Buddha. The pure Dharma body of the Buddha fills up all places."
All living beings are deeply related and connected. Who can say where we have been in the past or will be in the future cultivating the Way and fulfilling the vows of Bodhisattvas. Nothing is fixed. What we can see isn't always real, and what is real we often cannot see. The Master ended that lecture with this remark, "In the midst of a dream, we are all here doing the work of the Buddha."
Peace in the Way,
Disciple Kuo T'ing
(Heng Ch'au)
bows in respect