I once wrote a poem:

The work of building will take ten thousand lifetimes.
But dear one, look –
that work has been achieved ten thousand lives ago.

This is speaking from the point of view of the ultimate dimension. Do you need to become a Buddha? Do you need to run after enlightenment? The wave does not have to seek to become water – she is water, right here and now. In the same way, you are already nirvana, you are already a Buddha; you are already what you want to become. What is essential is to enter the path of practice in order to realize this truth and help others realize it too.

With his limitless life span, the Buddha has unbounded capacity to help living beings throughout space and time, in all the realms of existence. But he plays at the pretense of coming and going, being born and passing into nirvana, as a kind of skillful means to encourage living beings to enter the path of practice.

We sometimes use the expression “The Eight Outer Forms of Realizing the Path” to mean the appearances or forms through which every Tathagata passes: entering the womb, being born, getting in touch with suffering, becoming a practitioner, following the path, attaining enlightenment, teaching the Dharma, and entering nirvana. We practice in order to see that these outer forms of reality are really only magical appearances. In fact, the Buddha is not born and does not die; that is the true nature of the Buddha and of everything else. When we look deeply enough into any phenomenon – a pebble, a drop of dew, a leaf, a cloud – we recognize its ultimate nature in the Three Dharma Seals of impermanence, no-self, and interdependence. In this way we can discover its true nature of no birth, no death, which is exactly the same as the true nature of the Tathagata. A beautiful golden leaf in autumn is also just putting on a magical show for us. First the leaf plays at being born in the springtime, and later it pretends to fall down to earth and die. As far as the phenomenal world is concerned, we believe that the leaf comes into being and then passes away. But in terms of the ultimate dimension, birth and death, coming and going, existence and nonexistence are only a magic display, a mere appearance.

The appearance of the Buddha in the historical dimension, as a particular person born into a particular family, and having a normal human life span, is like a magic show designed to capture the attention of the living beings of that time and guide them to the path of transformation. In the chapters of the Lotus Sutra discussed in Part One, on the historical dimension, the Buddha used various skillful means in teaching the paths of the three vehicles, when in fact there is really only One Vehicle. We could say that of all the Buddha’s methods of teaching, his appearance in the form of various historical Buddhas throughout time and space is the ultimate skillful means. Through this method, the Tathagata has never stopped teaching and guiding beings to liberation.

The Buddha says, “I have been living in this saha world for this great incalculable period of time, teaching the Dharma to innumerable living beings; and I have also been in an equally vast number of other world-spheres, teaching and helping beings.” The life span of the Buddha is not only spoken of in terms of time but also of space – immeasurable, infinite dimensions of time and space that are beyond the reach of intellectual conceptualization. So our idea of the Buddha as a purely historical person who lived 2,600 years ago, who passed into nirvana and is no longer able to be present with us here and now, is merely a misperception.

Other Mahayana sutras speak of the unborn and undying nature of the Buddha. For instance, the Vajracchedika Sutra says, “The Tathagata comes from nowhere and goes nowhere.” But in the Lotus Sutra, this truth is expressed in vivid images, like a beautiful painting, and for some it can be easier to understand and grasp through such visual imagery.

The Buddha said to them, “My friends, you should trust and understand that the words spoken by the Tathagata are the truth. When I speak, I tell the truth and you must believe and understand my words.” The Sutra notes that the Buddha repeated this admonition three times. Because we do not hear the explanation right away, this scene serves to heighten the suspense. First, we have to trust the Buddha’s teaching. A Tathagata never utters a falsehood, never says anything that is not in accord with the truth. The Buddha’s word and person are in themselves a guarantee of the truth of his teachings, but there are those among the assembly who still feel some doubt, because what the Buddha has taught is not in accord with their own perception of things.

This detail is to show us that reasoning, concepts, and our general way of observing reality through our intellect only is a limited perception and it can be mistaken. So we should not be attached to ideas and concepts, we should not base too much on them. We may feel that what the Buddha teaches is quite unbelievable, but that is because our insight is not yet very deep. If we had deeper insight into the true nature of reality, as the Buddha does, we would be able to perceive things differently. We have to generate a spirit of trust toward the teachings, be willing to let go of our notions, and examine the teachings in the light of our practice of mindfulness.

This part of the Lotus Sutra is concerned with “appearance.” In order to be able to reach the minds of human beings, who are still attached to their perception of the historical dimension of reality, the world of birth and death, coming and going, existence and nonexistence, the Buddha appeared as a historical person called Shakyamuni. He appeared to be born, to realize the path, teach the Dharma for forty years, and then to “disappear” into nirvana. But this manifestation of the Buddha was only a kind of skillful pretense in order to enter the world of human beings and help them to liberation.

One day while practicing walking meditation in the Upper Hamlet, I looked down and saw that I was about to step on a golden yellow leaf. It was in the autumn, when the golden leaves are very beautiful. When I saw that beautiful golden leaf, I did not want to step on it and so I hesitated briefly. But then I smiled and thought, “This leaf is only pretending to be gold, pretending to fall from the tree.” In terms of the historical dimension, that leaf was born on a branch as a new green bud in the spring, had clung to that branch for many months, changed color in autumn, and one day when a cold wind blew, it fell to the ground. But looking deeply into its ultimate dimension, we can see that the leaf is only pretending to be born, to exist for a while, and to grow old and die. The teachings of interdependence and no-self reveal to us the true unborn and undying nature of all phenomena. One day that leaf will pretend to be born again on the branch of another tree, but she is really just playing a game of hide and seek with us.

We are also playing a game of hide and seek with one another. It is not only the Buddha who pretends to be born and to enter nirvana, we also pretend to be born, to live for a while, and to pass away. You may think that your mother has passed away and is no longer here with you. But her passing away was just a pretense, and one day, when the causes and conditions are sufficient, she will reappear in one form or another. If you have enough insight you will be able to recognize your mother in her other forms. We need to look deeply into all those we love and recognize their true nature. We love our teacher, our father and mother, our children, our brothers and sisters, and when someone we love passes away, we feel great sorrow and believe we have lost that person. But ultimately nothing is lost. The true nature of those we love is unborn and undying. If we can be in touch with the ultimate dimension, we shall smile with the yellow leaf, just as we can smile at all the other changes that take place in our lives.

So with the help of their teacher, the disciples on the The Gridhrakuta Mountain Peak saw into their own true Buddha nature. And just as the life span of a Buddha is limitless, so too the life span of all beings is limitless in the ultimate dimension.

In Chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra, “Welling Up Out of the Earth,” we begin to see the unborn and undying nature of the Buddha. From the point of view of our conventional understanding, we see reality as limited by the two barriers of time and space. But the Lotus Sutra reveals to us the eternal presence of the Buddha; time and space are not separate.

In the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village where I live there is an area where wild daffodils manifest in late February. When we first arrived on the land to begin building Plum Village, we were not aware that there were so many beautiful daffodils, hundreds of thousands of them, waiting there to manifest in early spring. We had only a historical perception of the land; we had not yet seen its ultimate dimension. The daffodils don’t bloom any other time of the year, and then suddenly tens of thousands of them spring up, just like the bodhisattvas welling up from the Earth. When these golden flowers manifest, it is very beautiful, and so we have named that place “Treasure of the Dharma Body.” You can’t see the Dharma realm (dharmadhatu), until it manifests to you. If you’re too attached to your perception of the historical dimension of reality, you may not be able to see the ultimate dimension manifest. When you know how to look deeply into the historical dimension, you touch the ultimate dimension.

The Buddha says:

For the sake of the Buddha Path,
I, in incalculable lands,
From the beginning until now,
Have broadly preached the scriptures,
But among them,
This scripture is first.
If there is anyone who can hold it,
Then he holds the Buddha body.

The Buddha body is the Dharma body, the dharmakaya, ultimate reality. We cannot confine the true nature of the Buddha into the space of eighty years, into the framework of a country with a population of 500 million, into the small space and small time of the historical dimension. The Buddha is always present throughout the trichiliocosm in an infinite, incalculable number of transformation bodies. And just as the Buddha manifests in various forms in the historical dimension but his true body, the dharmakaya, abides in the ultimate, we too exist in the historical dimension but at the same time we have a Dharma body in the ultimate dimension. Our historical body has a beginning and an end, and we experience the cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death. But our Dharma body is indestructible. So while in living in our historical body we practice being in touch with our Dharma body, because when we can touch the nature of our Dharma body – the ultimate dimension – we are no longer afraid of birth and death.

[In Chapter 10] the Lotus Sutra opens the door of the ultimate dimension to us. The Buddha is none other than the Dharma. The true body of the Buddha is the Dharma body (dharmakaya). Through the Dharma, we can touch the Buddha right in the present moment. Whenever we show respect and make offerings to the Dharma, when we hear, practice, and teach it to others, we are at the same time showing respect to the Buddha. The Buddha is always with us, right here in the present moment. We need only receive this wonderful Dharma and put it into practice.