Suppose you attain the buddhahood in one second, what then? What do you do for the next five million kalpas?Queequeg wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:59 pmActually, Buddhahood can be instantaneous. It takes a long time because people have hangups about how long it takes.Aemilius wrote: ↑Thu Dec 02, 2021 1:06 pmThe author does not say how long it will take to traverse the Ten bodhisattva stages. It can be 10 000 years, 100 000 years, 100 000 000 years or more..LastLegend wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 10:23 am
Those who get this consciousness to disappear will then destroy the obstructing confusions of the Bodhisattvas of the ten stages. Once this consciousness is gone, then the mind is open and still, quiet, serene and calm, perfectly pure, and enormously stable.[/i]
https://terebess.hu/zen/daman.html
In the Lotus Sutra...
Alternatively, here's the translation of that passage from the Tibetan:Mañjuśrī said: “In the ocean I always expounded only the Lotus Sutra.”
Then Prajñākūṭa questioned Mañjuśrī, saying: “This sutra is profound and subtle. It is a jewel among sutras and rare in the world. If sentient beings
diligently strive to practice this sutra, will they immediately become buddhas or not?”
Mañjuśrī answered: “Yes, they will. There is the daughter of the nāga king Sāgara who is only eight years old. She is wise; her faculties are sharp; and she also well knows all the faculties and deeds of sentient beings. She has attained the power of recollection. She preserves all the profound secret treasures taught by the buddhas, enters deep meditation, and is well capable of discerning all dharmas. She instantly produced the thought of enlightenment and attained the stage of nonretrogression. She has unhindered eloquence and thinks of sentient beings with as much compassion as if they were her own children. Her virtues are perfect. Her thoughts and explanations are subtle and extensive, merciful, and compassionate. She has a harmonious mind and has attained enlightenment.”
The Bodhisattva Prajñākūṭa said: “I see the Tathāgata Śākyamuni who has been incessantly carrying out difficult and severe practices for immeasurable kalpas, accumulating merit and virtue while seeking the bodhisattva path. Looking into the great manifold cosmos, there is not a single place even the size of a mustard seed where this bodhisattva has not abandoned his life for the sake of sentient beings. He attained the path to enlightenment only after this. It is hard to believe that this girl will instantly attain complete enlightenment.” Before he had finished speaking the daughter of the nāga king suddenly appeared in their presence. Bowing until her forehead touched their feet, she withdrew to one side and spoke these verses in praise:
The Buddha is deeply versed
In the characteristics of good and evil,
And he completely illuminates the ten directions.
His subtle and pure Dharma body
Is endowed with the thirty-two marks;
With the eighty good characteristics
Is his Dharma body adorned.
He is adored by devas and humans,
And honored by nāgas.
There is no sentient being
Who does not pay him homage.
Moreover, that I will attain enlightenment
Upon hearing him
Can only be known by a buddha.
I will reveal the teaching of the Mahayana
And save suffering sentient beings.
At that time Śāriputra spoke to the daughter of the nāga king, saying:
“You say that you will soon attain the highest path. This is difficult to believe. Why is this? The female body is polluted; it is not a fit vessel for the Dharma. How can you attain highest enlightenment?
“The buddha path is long. One can only attain it after diligently carrying out severe practices, and completely practicing the perfections over immeasurable kalpas. Moreover, the female body has five obstructions. The first is the inability to become a great Brahma. The second is the inability to become Śakra. The third is the inability to become Māra, and the fourth is the inability to become a universal monarch (cakravartin). The fifth is the inability to become a buddha. How can you with your female body quickly become a buddha?”
Then the daughter of the nāga king presented to the Buddha a jewel worth the great manifold cosmos, and the Buddha accepted it. The daughter of the nāga king spoke to Bodhisattva Prajñā kūṭa and the noble Śāriputra, saying: “I offered a jewel and the Bhagavat accepted it. Was that done quickly
or not?”
They answered, saying: “It was done extremely quickly!”
The daughter said: “Through your transcendent powers watch me become a buddha even more quickly than that!”
Then the assembly there all saw the daughter of the nāga king instantly transform into a man, perfect the bodhisattva practices, go to the vimalā world in the south, sit on a jeweled lotus flower, and attain highest, complete enlightenment, become endowed with the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics, and expound the True Dharma universally for the sake of all sentient beings in the ten directions. Then the bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, eight kinds of devas, nāgas, and so on, humans and nonhumans of the sahā world, all saw in the distance that the daughter of the nāga king had become a buddha and was universally teaching the Dharma for the sake of the humans and devas in that assembly. They rejoiced greatly and honored her from afar.
No offense, but you guys are arguing about angels on a pin. If you think you have a long way, then you're making your own prophecy. That's how it works. But by all means, keep scrubbing those toilets!Mañjuśrī answered, “In the ocean I taught The Sūtra of the White Lotus of the Good Dharma and nothing else.” [F.99.b]
11.92
“This sūtra is profound, subtle, and difficult to see,” said Prajñākūṭa. “There is no other sūtra that is its equal. Is there a being who is able to comprehend this sūtra jewel and attain the highest, complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood?”
11.93
“Noble one,” answered Mañjuśrī, “there is the daughter of Sāgara, king of the nāgas, who was born eight years ago. She has great wisdom, sharp faculties. The actions of her body, speech, and mind are preceded by wisdom. She has attained the retention by which she remembers the words and meaning of the teachings of all tathāgatas. She has attained in an instant a thousand samādhis of meditation on all phenomena and all beings. She has irreversible aspiration for enlightenment. She has made vast prayers. She cares for all beings as she would for herself. She can develop qualities and never lose them. She has a smiling face. She has a perfect, magnificent complexion. She has a loving mind. She speaks with compassion. She is able to attain the highest, complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood.”
11.94
Prajñākūṭa said, “I have seen that when the bhagavān tathāgata Śākyamuni had become a bodhisattva dedicated to attaining enlightenment, he generated much merit, and his diligence never weakened throughout thousands of eons. There is nowhere throughout the worlds of the realm of a billion worlds, not even a place the size of a mustard seed, where he has not given up his own body for the sake of beings. Only after all that did he attain the enlightenment of buddhahood. Who can believe that the daughter of Sāgara could attain the highest, complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood in an instant?”
11.95
Then at that time the daughter of Sāgara, the king of the nāgas, appeared before them. She bowed her head to the feet of the Bhagavān, sat down on one side, and recited these verses:
“His merit, that merit393 is profound,
And pervades every direction. [F.100.a]
His subtle body is adorned
By the thirty-two signs. {49}
11.96
“He has the excellent features.
All beings pay homage to him.
All beings come to him
Like they do to a market town. {50}
11.97
“The Tathāgata is my witness
That my wish is for enlightenment.
I will teach extensively
The Dharma that liberates from suffering.” {51}
11.98
At that time Śāriputra said to the daughter of Sāgara, king of the nāgas, “Noble lady, although you have an irreversible aspiration for enlightenment and immeasurable wisdom, it will be difficult for you to attain enlightenment. Noble lady, a woman may maintain diligence, create merit for many thousands of eons, and complete the six perfections, but still she will not attain buddhahood. Why is that? It is because a woman has still not attained five states. What are these five? The first is the state of being a Brahmā, the second is the state of being a Śakra, the third is the state of being one of the four mahārājas, the fourth is the state of being a cakravartin, and the fifth is the state of being an irreversible bodhisattva.”
11.99
At that time, the daughter of Sāgara, king of the nāgas, had a jewel of the value of an entire realm of a billion worlds. The daughter of the nāga king offered it to the Bhagavān, and the Bhagavān accepted it out of compassion.
11.100
The daughter of Sāgara, king of the nāgas, then asked Prajñākūṭa and Sthavira Śāriputra, “Did the Bhagavān quickly accept the jewel that I offered to the Bhagavān, or not?”
“You offered it quickly and the Bhagavān accepted it quickly,” the sthavira answered.
The daughter of Sāgara, king of the nāgas, said, “Venerable Śāriputra, if I have great miraculous power, I will attain the highest, complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood even more quickly than that jewel was accepted.” [F.100.b]
11.101
Thereupon, in front of the entire world, and in front of Sthavira Śāriputra, the daughter of Sāgara, king of the nāgas, manifested the vanishing of her female genitalia, the appearance of male genitalia, and her transformation into a bodhisattva.
11.102
That bodhisattva now went to the south and, in a southern world realm named Vimalā, manifested the attainment of perfect buddhahood while seated at the foot of a tree made of the seven precious materials.
11.103
That buddha had a body that possessed all thirty-two signs and the excellent features, and shone with a light that pervaded the ten directions as he gave the teaching of the Dharma. All beings in this Sahā world realm saw all the devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans paying homage to that tathāgata and saw him teaching them the Dharma. All those beings who listened to that tathāgata’s Dharma teaching attained irreversible progress toward the highest, complete enlightenment of perfect buddhahood.
11.104
That Vimalā world realm and this Sahā world realm both shook in six ways. Three thousand beings within the circle of Bhagavān Śākyamuni’s assembly attained receptivity to the birthlessness of phenomena, and three thousand received the prophecies of their attainment of the highest, complete enlightenment.
At this, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Prajñākūṭa and Sthavira Śāriputra fell silent.
Amitabha's vows work for the same reason the Wizard of Oz could make the lion brave.
The echoes of Shariputra's encounter with the nymph in Vimalakirti's house should be noted. In that text, he freaks out when he becomes a woman, among other freakouts that prevent him and other sravakas from freely participating in the assembly.
Do you think Buddhahood is substantially existent?