The Sword of Wisdom 58

Day 5 The Inexplicability of Enlightenment


Surely this is the true vehicle.
One who disagrees is swayed by emotion.
Going directly to the root is the seal of the Buddha:
No point searching for branches or plucking leaves.


When Yung-chia speaks of the root, he is referring to the totality of experience. The branches and leaves represent the individual phenomena. Everything in the universe is in total harmony. There is no conflict or contradiction among different phenomena; each thing is in accordance with everything else. However, there is no way this can be described with symbols or language. Actually, nothing can truly be explained, neither the innumerable experiences of ordinary existence nor the totality of Buddhahood. Any experience, whether it be an ordinary experience, a shallow enlightenment, or a profound enlightenment, cannot be fully described in words. It is because people share a common humanity that they can explain their experiences and understand one another. If, however, we were to encounter a being who had no knowledge of human existence, it would be impossible to describe any human experience to it.