Buddhism

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Matthew 6

22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Ecclesiastes 11

11 Be generous, and someday
    you will be rewarded.
²Share what you have
    with seven or eight others,
because you never know
    when disaster may strike.
³Rain clouds always bring rain;
trees always stay
    wherever they fall.
⁴If you worry about the weather
and don’t plant seeds,
    you won’t harvest a crop.

Buddha

1. The Buddha Rejects the World in Search of the Path to Truth

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Shakyamuni entered the religious life in search of the true path. Leaving the palace behind, he journeyed as a solitary monk, overcoming many obstacles. He searched for the way for human beings to live according to the Way of Heaven, the Universal Law, which God sought to establish in the world. Yet when he set out on his journey a sea of tears blocked his way—tears from individuals, tears from his family, and tears from his countrymen. Surely the saintly Shakyamuni, who had to overcome all this, walked a most miserable path.34 (101:151, October 29, 1978)

The passing joys of those who delight in the pleasures of the flesh are nothing compared to the bliss experienced by those on the path of enlightenment, who find joy in the midst of simple poverty. Gautama Buddha, who abandoned the luxuries of the royal palace and became enraptured in the pursuit of the Way, was not the only one who wandered about homeless while searching for his heart’s resting place, though he knew not where it was. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Introduction)

Buddha was persecuted by members of the royal family because he gave up his position as the crown prince. People persecuted him in a country where royalty was worshipped. (258:87, March 17, 1994)

Shakyamuni of India was born as a prince of his country, but when he came to understand that life was a “sea of bitterness,” he gave up his position as a prince to search for the path of truth. Buddhism originated in India, but today there are not many Buddhists in India. There has never been a religious founder who was received well in his own country. No nation has treated its saints well during their lifetime. (39:255-56, January 15, 1971)

2. The Buddha’s Enlightenment

Having mastered perfectly all the methods of trance, the prince recalled, in the first watch of the night, the sequence of his former births.
Next the Rightly-illumined One perceived, and thus was decisively awakened: When birth is destroyed, old age, and death ceases; when becoming is destroyed, then birth ceases; when attachment is destroyed, becoming ceases; when craving is destroyed, attachment ceases…35\\
Reflecting his right understanding, the great hermit arose before the world as Buddha, the Enlightened One. He found self nowhere, as the fire whose fuel has been exhausted. Then he conceived the Eightfold Path, the straightest and safest path for the attainment of this end.
For seven days, the Buddha with serene mind contemplated the Truth that he had attained and gazed at the Bodhi tree without blinking: “Here on this spot I have fulfilled my cherished goal; I now rest at ease in the Dharma of selflessness.”
Ashvaghosha, Buddhacarita 14

Through many a birth I wandered in samsara, seeking but not finding the builder of this house. Sorrowful is it to be born again and again.
O house-builder! You are seen. You shall build no house again. All your rafters are broken. Your ridgepole is shattered. My mind has attained the unconditioned. Achieved is the end of craving.
Dhammapada 153-54

In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one.Digha Nikaya 2.15

Know then, that from time to time a Tathagata is born into the world, a fully Enlightened One, blessed and worthy, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy with the knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to erring mortals, a teacher of gods and men, a blessed Buddha. He thoroughly understands this universe, as though he saw it face to face… The Truth does he proclaim both in its letter and in its spirit, lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation. A higher life does he make known in all its purity and in all its perfection.
Digha Nikaya 13, Tevigga Sutta

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
If you establish yourself at a true perpendicular angle [to Heaven] and resonate with the true love of the universe, you will become one with God’s love both internally and externally. Then the universe will belong to you, you will become a great person, and everything will be under your dominion. Shakyamuni experienced this state, and said, “In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one.” (178:299, June 12, 1988)

Shakyamuni Buddha said, “In heaven and earth, I alone am the Honored One.” In what state did he teach this? If you were to enter that state of resonance, you would become one with God. In that state, you would be able to see thousands of years of human history unfold before your eyes. You would experience yourself as having that incredible value.
How can we humans escape from the painful cycle of suffering, life after life? How can we escape from our miserable life’s destiny that ends in the cemetery? This is the homework given to each of us. In order to solve this, we have to receive training to enter the realm of resonance. (38:270-73, January 8, 1971)

Have You Reached the State Where You Can Guard the Zero Point

Cheon Seong Gyeong 237

Movement occurs when centrifugal and centripetal forces become one. If you reach the state of perfect self-effacement, things will automatically rotate. When you start rotating, the axis goes up. When it comes down, an automatic reaction occurs. So it moves up and down, like taking a breath. When a person in such a perfected form establishes a family in the heavenly world, such a foundation will keep them from falling off. They can eternally live together with True Parents. Thus, when you create resonance in heart with True Parents, this standard of deep experience in life becomes a foundation for the eternal world of heart. Unification Church members live together with True Parents and God. They are born with the love of True Parents. Since love makes an eternal connection, the connection of love cannot be cut. Until the day you die, you cannot forget about love. Even when parents die, they die with a heart of love for their sons and daughters. It is the same with the husband and wife. There is no one who forgets about love before he dies. Love goes beyond death and becomes connected to eternity. This is why you, a man or woman who have received life through love, cannot forget your parents who are the fundamental root of love. If your parents are the root and you are the trunk, your sons and daughters are the buds. When they grow together, they will extend to the realm of the tribe, people and nation. (218-127, 1991.7.14)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1342

The 36, 72, and 120 Couples are a team; they cannot be separated. The 36 Couples refer to the successive generations of ancestors. The 72 Couples represent their children. The 120 Couples signify the high priests of nations in the world and represent the twelve tribes. They are the branches of these tribes that have spread out into the world. The matter at hand is to unite the ancestors Cain and Abel and the twelve tribes. That is the great work of restoration. (82-237, 1976.1.31)

2. Buddhist Enlightenment

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When we pray or meditate, as when Buddhists practice Zen, we are seeking a state that is void of self. What is our goal in seeking this state? It is to awaken the elements that can become the nucleus of the mind. If you set that one standard and establish the center of your mind, you will see, hear and cognize everything in accord with the principles of Heaven. Then you can offer a full bow before God and return Him glory. (2:193, May 19, 1957)

Buddhism teaches that one should attain enlightenment and realize one’s self-nature.20 Buddha said, “In heaven and on earth I alone am the honored one.” This means that you reach the state where you know that God exists within you and there is nothing you cannot do. This is the enlightened mind. Your mind is better than a teacher; your mind is your eternal lord. Therefore, you should not have a selfish mind, but a mind to serve the greater good. (133:179, July 10, 1984)

Shakyamuni in his mystical state, when he could declare, “In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one,” is far from the normal thinking of ordinary people. When your committed efforts to reach the state of resonance of mind and body awaken your own self, you will attain the state in which you could say: “I am the best under the sun.” (141:235, February 26, 1986)

Where does God dwell? God is the lord of the “zero point.” That is where God wants to dwell—in the “king zero point.” Since God has such a nature, to meet Him you must become even lower than zero. Then you must guard that king zero point. The king zero point is like the mind, and as the flesh surrounds the mind, you should surround and protect the zero point.
Have you reached the state where you can guard the zero point? It is easy to answer “yes,” but in reality it is not easy. Mind you, all religions have been seeking to reach God or a position where we can correspond to God. This is what Buddhist meditation is about—to search the God-like mind for the deepest point. (230:134, May 1, 1992)

3. An Example of Buddhist Wisdom

Subhuti, do not say that the Tathagata conceives the idea: I must set forth a Teaching. For if anyone says that the Tathagata sets forth a Teaching he really slanders Buddha and is unable to explain what I teach. As to any Truth-declaring system, Truth is undeclarable; so “an enunciation of Truth” is just a name given to it.
Diamond Sutra 21

What has been realized by the Tathagatas—that is my own realization, in which there is neither decreasing nor increasing; for the realm of self-realization is free from words and discriminations, having nothing to do with dualistic ways of speaking… For this reason it is stated by me that from the night of the Tathagata’s Enlightenment till the night of his entrance into Nirvana, he has not in the meantime uttered, nor ever will utter, one word. Lankavatara Sutra 61

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
In the Orient there are many statues of Buddha. Does Buddha’s statue ever say a word? It never speaks a word. It neither praises you nor chastises you; it only thinks. That is what makes it worthy of worship. Also, its gaze is always focused at one point, never looking around. When we are focused in the Ultimate, what is the point of looking around at trivial matters? It teaches us that the best way to solve complications of the world is silence. (228:77, March 15, 1992)

In Heaven and On Earth, I Alone Am the Honored One

Luke 23

⁴⁴Around noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until the middle of the afternoon. ⁴⁵The sun stopped shining, and the curtain in the temple split down the middle. ⁴⁶Jesus shouted, “Father, I put myself in your hands!” Then he died.

Ezekiel 1

²⁴Whenever the creatures flew, their wings roared like an ocean or a large army or even the voice of God All-Powerful. And whenever the creatures stopped, they folded their wings against their bodies.

Buddhism

1. The Values of Buddhism

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In ancient times, Buddhism and Buddhist culture emerged out of God’s will, in order to reform the society of India. Buddhism presented a new ideal through a new understanding of subject and object relationships.15 (144:182, April 24, 1986)

Buddhism, which emerged from India, is a world-level teaching. Only religions like Buddhism, which transcends the practical domain of life and contains a world-level point of view and a transcendental philosophy, will remain in the Last Days. (9:279, June 12, 1960)

Among the Oriental religions, Buddhism is the closest to God’s providence… However, as Buddhism teaches the logic of Sarvadharma [the oneness of all things], it is ignorant of a personal God—a major weakness. Nevertheless, God set things up this way to prepare the people of Asia to one day be united [with God’s Kingdom] through the Oriental religions when Buddhism would connect with Judaism [had the latter received Christ]. (208:311, November 21, 1990)

Buddhism teaches the existence of God, but it focuses on God’s lawful aspect. It does not explain that God is actively working in the world. (53:297, March 4, 1972)

The Buddha’s entire philosophy is based on law (dharma). However, the object of dharma is the circumstances of human beings as objects, not the human being himself. Actually, the measure of a human being is love, not law. But the Buddha taught a standard based on law; hence his teachings are called Law Sutras.

Buddhism teaches self-realization, but what should happen after attaining self-realization? Is that the end of it? That is why, even though Buddhists live solitary lives deep in the mountains and work hard for self-discipline and self-realization, they still are ambiguous about the ideal world of love. (50:116, November 6, 1971)

2. Buddhist Enlightenment

Strive and cleave the stream. Discard, O Brahmin, sense-desires. Knowing the destruction of conditioned things, be a knower of the Unmade.

Dhammapada 383

Since all Dharmas are immanent in our mind there is no reason why we should not realize intuitively the real nature of Suchness. The Bodhisattva Sila Sutra says, “Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and if we knew our mind and realized what our nature is, all of us would attain Buddhahood.”

Sutra of Hui Neng 2

Every Buddha Tathagata is one whose body is the Principle of Nature (Dharmadhatu-kaya), so that he may enter into the mind of any being. Consequently, when you have perceived Buddha, it is indeed that mind of yours that possesses those thirty-two signs of perfection and eighty minor marks of excellence [which you see in Buddha]. In fine, it is your mind that becomes Buddha; nay, your mind is indeed Buddha. The ocean of true and universal knowledge of all the Buddhas derives its source from one’s own mind and thought.

Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 17

In heaven and on earth, I alone am the Honored One.

Digha Nikaya 2.15