Big Talk about Buddhist Wisdom

Author: Su Shuhua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: The essence of Buddhist culture is fundamentally worldly, because in Buddhism, without the "worldly," there is no "transcendent." The worldly and the transcendent are not two places in the universe; they are ignorance and enlightenment in the mind. Ignorance is the worldly, and enlightenment is the transcendent. In Buddhism, the so-called "transcendent" is an enlightened life, a life of wisdom. Therefore, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said, "The Dharma is in the world, yet not separate from it. To seek enlightenment outside the world is like searching for a rabbit's horn." To attain an enlightened life, one must turn back and honestly recognize oneself. Confucian culture calls this "introspection," while Buddhist culture calls it "looking inward" or "returning to the shore." In other words, turning back and recognizing oneself is the shore of enlightenment.