Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra

So even the origin of the number is debated.

Now, travel to East Asia, to the Buddhist tradition that grew up around the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Huayen school, whose thinkers, including Fadzong in the 7th century, taught that everything contains and reflects every other thing.

The famous image of Indra's net, an endless web hung with a jewel at every knot where each jewel reflects every other jewel so that touching one is touching all.

As I understand it, this net is developed in the school's commentaries and its teachings about interpenetration rather than being a physical claim about the world.

But then in the diagonal lower section, you have a different illustration, totally not from Le Dode's story.

but it's from the other very popular sutra, known as Huayuan Jing or Avatamsaka Sutra.

It's very long, very arcane.

But in the Chinese sources, One story of this Hua Yuanjing got extracted and is to depict or talk about a child Sudhana visiting 53 sages to get knowledge and so on and so forth.

Even mere images of the Buddha can be so sacred that they themselves emit miraculous light.

Or consider the Flower Garland Sutra, which states that at the moment of the Buddha's enlightenment, a ray of light emanated from his body to illuminate every corner of the world, This may not have been literal light as we perceive it, visible photons and so on.

It's the light of understanding, wisdom, the light of enlightenment, if you will.

It's all metaphor, anyway.

I only know that because I had a teacher who scolded me for skipping over the introduction, which in some sutras is very long.

I'm talking about the Avatamsaka Sutra.

Okay.

Okay.

We cannot be situated in space and time.

Uh, that is why in, uh, the Avatamsaka Sutra it is said that the one contains the multitude.

And that is why when we speak of, uh, an electron as object of science, it is an object.

Uh, how can it observe? How can we definite, uh, the position, uh, the mass of, uh, an electron? The electron is not only is, uh, naked mass.

The same thing is true with, uh, uh, an electron.

An electron is like that.

In the Avatamsaka Sutra, there is, uh, also many beautiful things, many teachings that, that say the same, same thing.

The Bodhisattva Manjushri has a young disciple, thirteen or four year old, fourteen year old only.

yes.

I think in the recent lecture of Master, I think the Avatamsaka Sutra lecture, Master talked about Master Hsuan Ho said that some afflictions are necessary for our practice, right? So, there you go.

No,

because on top of that, on top of the layer of my ego, when it boils down, I see the ego.

Why is that? Any, any thought to share? [laughs] That's number eight.

Um, Master Z, he didn't want to-- did he want to learn the Avatamsaka Sutra? Because I thought that was the highest, um, the highest profound teaching.

I guess so.

Yeah, I agree with, with Mar- you, Malcolm.

I guess so.

It may be, be it's about, uh, Mahayana teaching, right? The complete teaching that, uh, Avatamsaka Sutra that we've been hearing that from, from master lecture.

And the Four Noble Truths, yeah, even...

I don't know.

Let alone trying to explain the Avatamsaka Sutra.

화엄경을 설하는 것은 두 번째고요.

So you're coming to the temple and following lecture, uh, I'm very grateful for that.

And it's, uh, you're doing a lot more good for the future of Buddhism, not just here in Korea, but all over the world.