Fire Falls, Yosemite

Practice like Your Hair’s on Fire

Gelek Rimpoche

  All sentient beings, including myself, have gone through continuous ups and downs, life after life, experiencing the sufferings of samsara. The reason we keep having all of these problems is because we haven’t managed to fulfill our life’s mission.

  What is our mission? In the most basic sense, we all have a desire for peace and happiness, and we all wish to be free from pain and suffering. But though we may experience happiness here and there, it is not the kind of happiness that has never known suffering. In fact, for most of us it is the kind of happiness that is based on suffering.

  The kind of comfort most of us seek is a kind of stopgap comfort. We haven’t really addressed the root of suffering or developed the true cause of happiness.

  We put a lot of effort into having material comforts, and on top of that we want mental and spiritual comfort. But even when we think we are working for spiritual benefit, if we dig deeply we may find that it is simply attachment—the attachment of bringing ourselves to a state of material or spiritual or emotional comfort.

  The kind of comfort most of us seek is a kind of stopgap comfort. We haven’t really addressed the root of suffering or developed the true cause of happiness. Once we realize that, and reflect and meditate on it, we can begin to see the true nature of suffering and the cessation of suffering. From there, one can make the decision to seek true peace, nirvana, which means freeing ourselves and others once and for all from suffering and its causes.

  Why haven’t we been able to achieve that yet? Why haven’t we fulfilled our mission? Because we don’t yet realize how important this life is. We don’t realize the limitless capacity of our human body and mind, and how difficult it is to find. We don’t have a sense of urgency because we don’t realize how easily this human life can be lost. Instead, we keep ourselves busy chasing after happiness and running away from suffering, life after life.

  Many of us complain, “I have no time.” I like to call that a good, fancy, stylish excuse. Everybody likes to say, “I’m too busy,” because everybody would like to seem important. It is a great excuse that offers several benefits: you can avoid what you don’t want to do; it gives you a showbiz idea of being important; and all the important people do it, so you can include yourself with them.

  Even if we have time, we put the most important thing in our life—our spiritual development—on the back burner. Our laziness is well suited to these upside-down priorities.

  I refer to that as busy laziness. We experience this kind of laziness because we have a problem recognizing our real priorities. Even if we have time, we put the most important thing in our life—our spiritual development—on the back burner. Our laziness is well suited to these upside-down priorities.   The sense of urgency becomes a monetary issue for us, because we live in an age where we have to pay our bills for every little thing we need. If we don’t pay our bills then not only will the bill collectors chase us, but even our electricity and water will eventually be shut off.

  As spiritual practitioners, we need to balance our priorities. This means being able to balance the needs of this particular life with our long-term spiritual goals. Of course we have to manage our bills and make sure we have a place to live and food to eat. And we have to meet our responsibilities to our friends and family. But we also need to make our spiritual work a priority. If we can balance that, we are intelligent and capable. If we cannot, we are just the opposite.

  But to do that, we have to convince ourselves that this life is important. It shouldn’t take too much convincing, since we already have some sense that our life is precious. We recognize this when our life is threatened, but on a day-to-day basis we tend to take our precious human life for granted. For the most part, we keep ourselves busy meeting one urgent requirement after another, and that makes us think we’re managing. But the truth is, we don’t want to think about changing our priorities. We think we’ll squeak by with some spiritual development at the last minute. For those who do have a regular practice, how many leave it until the very last thing at night or rush through it like some chore you have to finish? That’s what most people do. But the Buddha told us that unless we reflect on the rarity of this human life and how easily it can be lost, and also think about how capable we can be if we apply ourselves, we will never be able to utilize the richness of this life.

  By richness, I’m not speaking about wealth but about opportunity. Our most important opportunity is that we are human beings. We may think the samsaric gods and spirits are able to do much more than us. Forget it. They are equally miserable, even more than us sometimes.

  In old Tibet, we had to keep reminding ourselves that human beings can do anything. These days we don’t have to, because science clearly shows us what human beings are capable of. Human beings alone are responsible for tremendous scientific achievements, not the ghosts and samsaric gods. Those achievements are because of the extraordinary capabilities of our human minds. We really have brilliant minds. As human beings, we all have tremendous capacity. But if we don’t utilize it, then it remains weak.

  If you have a car and you leave it sitting outside for two years, it won’t work when you try to start it. You can push it and bang it, but nothing works. Then you have to tow it to a garage and pay a mechanic a fortune to fix it, if you’re lucky. Otherwise you have to send it to the junkyard, and it’s wasted. If we don’t use the capacity of our minds, that’s what we can expect. If we make the effort to develop ourselves, our capacity will be limitless. That is the example that the Buddha and all the other enlightened beings have provided for us.

  If you want to be fully enlightened, if your ultimate spiritual goal is to achieve enlightenment, then this life is capable of delivering that.

  In short, our human life, with the limitless capacity of our minds, is capable of producing any result we wish. If your goal is to get rich, your human life is capable of producing it. If you want to become famous, your life is capable of doing it. Hollywood is full of such people. It’s the same with anything else you choose to do. Whether you are satisfied with the results or not is a different story, but human life is capable of delivering the goods. If you want to be fully enlightened, if your ultimate spiritual goal is to achieve enlightenment, then this life is capable of delivering that as well. From our point of view we may fail, but it won’t be because our human life lacked the capacity for total enlightenment. It’ll be because we didn’t take advantage of it.

  Consider the Buddha, who had a human life just like ours. There was nothing extraordinary in his life, except that he happened to be an Indian prince. From the point of view of the capability of human life, his opportunity was no different than ours is now. Everyone has the same potential. Not only that, but we are fortunate enough in this life to have access to the teachings and the shared experience of the Buddha. It is a message that has survived in a living tradition. And we also have many other non-Buddhist traditions that teach us the value and potential of our human lives and what we can achieve if we put our minds to it. As well, we have a sangha that is with us on this journey, and we have spiritual teachers who can give us the teachings and also offer their own example. In fact, within this life we have everything we need to achieve freedom and perfection.

  Once we realize the importance of life, we begin to let go of our attachment to wasting time. Things we once viewed with great urgency gradually seem less important. We begin to make choices that help our spiritual development rather than hinder it. We rearrange our priorities, and the push and pull of busyness begins to lose its hold on us. We no longer want to waste time. That is the sign that we have begun to understand the value of our lives.

  A few people might take this the wrong way. They can become very rigid about it and say, “Well, that’s it. I’m not going to waste time. I’m not even going to waste a second with useless activities like paying my bills or visiting the doctor.” That can become a neurosis; it is a form of nervousness and fear, rather than a realization of the importance of this life. When you have a realization of life’s importance, you actually become much gentler and calmer and sweeter and develop a better personality, instead of a rigid and twisted one. Realizing the rare and precious opportunity of human life helps make us better human beings.

  When you realize the importance of this life, you become motivated to find the right balance. Right now, most of our priorities are on one side—the material side. That’s what I mean by unbalanced. Sometimes people throw everything on the spiritual side and completely neglect their responsibilities as family members, citizens, students, or whatever their roles might be. That’s not so good either, unless you happen to live in a cave.

  I also want to touch on another aspect of appreciating human life, one that has to do with realizing the difficulty of finding this human life. The Buddha used an example to describe just how rare it is to obtain this human life. He was asked by a king, “How many human beings from the lower suffering realms will be able to come up to the wonderful human life that you talk about?” The Buddha looked around and saw a big mirror. He picked up a handful of peas and threw them at the mirror, and all the peas fell down. Buddha said that the chances of getting a precious human life are even less than the chance of any peas sticking to the mirror.

  The life we have is not just a gift; it didn’t just happen to you. You have earned this life—this opportunity, this capability and potential for the ultimate achievement of enlightenment.

  And then there is a very famous example in which the Buddha said that if this whole continent became a huge ocean, and within that ocean you had a yoke floating on the waves and a blind tortoise that popped up once every five hundred years, the chances of obtaining precious human birth would be equal to the chances of that blind tortoise emerging with his head poking through the yoke.

  Actually, the life we have is not just a gift; it didn’t just happen to you. You have earned this life—this opportunity, this capability and potential for the ultimate achievement of enlightenment. You have earned it because of the great karma you have accumulated. According to the teachings, the basis of that karma is a pure morality.

  Sometimes we ignore the issue of morality, and we just enjoy whatever we are doing. But morality is very important. Even our normal human understanding can tell you how important morality really is. I cannot emphasize this enough. Would you like to be an immoral person? Nobody will say yes, right? Common sense tells us how important morality is. It is morality, with the help of the other six activities—generosity, patience, enthusiasm, concentration, and wisdom—that enabled us to achieve the karma of this wonderful human body and mind. These virtues are the support for the basic morality that has brought us this life.

  We need to recognize the rarity of this life. We need to realize how difficult it is to obtain, and we need to understand that it is unlikely to come again unless we lay the groundwork of perfect morality and the other virtues right now. It is almost too late already.

  But understanding and realizing the preciousness and opportunity of human life won’t come from just hearing about it. We have to meditate on it so that it becomes part of our lives and our way of thinking, influencing our actions and shaping our personality. If we don’t meditate, it remains merely as information. If we meditate and incorporate this knowledge into our lives, then it becomes a quality within us. That is what makes a difference. We need to fulfill our mission while we still have the time and ability. The way to do this is to have a continuous relationship with the enlightened ones and a connection to the teachings that the enlightened ones have shared. By practicing that every day, we should be able to reach enlightenment in a short time. If it takes three minutes, let it be three minutes; if takes three years, let it be three years. But let it not be three lifetimes.

3 – A Parable

tuesday morning, beginning with chapter 3 of the lotus sutra – “A Parable,” the first of seven parables found in the Lotus Sutra, continuing with Chapter 4, “Faith Discernment,” Chapter 5, “Parable of the Herbs,” Chapter 6, “Prediction,” and concluding with Chapter 7, “The Parable of the Magic City,” the second of the seven parables in the Lotus Sutra.

the parable of the burning house, first of seven parables in the Lotus Sutra, begins with a dialogue between Shariputra and Shakyamuni, Shariputra “filled with ecstasy” on “obtaining that which he’s never heard before.”

AT THAT TIME Shariputra, ecstatic with joy, instantly rose up, folded his hands and looking up at the honorable face, spoke to the Buddha, saying: “Now, hearing the sound of the Law from the World-honored One, I am filled with ecstasy, obtaining that which I have never experienced before. Wherefore? Because of yore when I heard of such a Law as this from the Buddha and saw bodhisattvas who were predicted to become buddhas, we were never prepared for these things and greatly distressed ourselves at having lost the Tathagata’s infinite knowledge. . . Constantly when dwelling alone in mountain forests or under trees, whether sitting or walking, I was occupied with this thought: ‘We equally have entered the Law-nature, mind-emptiness!

  “But why does the Tathagata save us by the small-vehicle law? This is our own fault, not the World-honored One’s. Wherefore? Because had we attended to his preaching in regard to the accomplishment of Perfect Enlightenment, we should certainly have been delivered by the Great-vehicle. . . We, not understanding his tactful method of opportune preaching, on first hearing the Buddha-law only casually believed, pondered, and bore witness to it.

  “World-honored One! ever since then I have passed whole days and nights in self-reproach. But now, on hearing from the Buddha the unprecedented law which I have never before heard, I have ended all my doubts and regrets, am at ease in body and mind and am happily at rest. Today I indeed know that I am really a son of the Buddha, born from the mouth of the Buddha, evolved from the Law, and have obtained a place in the Buddha-law.”

  Shariputra announces his meaning over again in verse, telling how self-deluded he and others have been, wondering why as Buddha-sons and daughters they cannot proclaim the supreme-way, recalling the merits of an enlightened one which they have missed entirely:

“The golden thirty-two signs,
the ten powers and eight emancipations
are all included in the one Law . . .

“On first hearing the Buddha’s preaching,
in my mind there was fear and doubt
lest it might be Mara, the evil one, acting as Buddha,
distressing and confusing my mind.
But when the Buddha with various reasonings
and parables, speaks so skillfully,
one’s hearing is peaceful as the sea . . .”

  Shariputra has removed all doubts and regrets, hearing that he will become an enlightened one. “The evil one has no such truths as these.” He proclaims that he is forever at rest in real wisdom hearing the gentle voice of the Buddha expounding the pure Law, certain that he will become a buddha teaching many bodhisattvas.

  The Buddha declares to Shariputra how he continuously taught him and how, “By reason of my tactful guidance, you have been born into my Law. . . Now again desiring to cause you to recollect the Way which you originally resolved to follow, I preach for all the shravakas this Great-vehicle sutra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law. . .”

  “Shariputra! in a world to come, after infinite, boundless and inconceivable kalpas when you have served some thousand myriads of countless of enlightened ones, maintained the Right Law, and completed the way which bodhisattvas walk, you shall become a buddha whose title will be Flower Light Tathagata, Worshipful, All Wise, Perfectly Enlightened in Conduct, Well Departed, Understander of the World, Peerless Leader, Controller, Teacher of Gods and Living Beings, Buddha, World-honored One, and whose domain shall be named Undefiled, whose land will be level and straight, pure and ornate, peaceful and prosperous, replete with celestial people; with lapis lazuli for earth, having eight intersecting roads with golden cords to bound their cities, and by each road a line of precious-seven trees always filled with flowers and fruits. The Tathagata Flower Light also will teach and convert all living creatures by the three vehicles.

  “Shariputra! when that buddha appears, though it is not in an evil age, he will preach the three-vehicle Law because of his original vow. Its kalpa will be named Ornate with Great Jewels. . . [it is so named] because in that domain the bodhisattvas are considered great jewels. These bodhisattvas will be infinite, boundless, inconceivable, beyond computation or compare, such as none can apprehend who has not a buddha’s wisdom. Wherever they walk, jewel flowers will receive their feet. These bodhisattvas will not have started in this conception for the first time, for all of them will have cultivated the roots of virtue for a long time, purely performing noble deeds under infinite hundred thousand myriads of countless buddhas, being always praised by buddhas, constantly practicing the Buddha-wisdom, perfecting the great spiritually pervading power, knowing well the way of all the laws, and being upright and genuine in character, firm in will and thought. Such bodhisattvas as these will fill that domain.”

  Again the Buddha speaks of the grand scheme of things in this world—that we exist within inconceivable periods of time—“kalpas,” during which universes are born and destroyed; the “periods of the Law” thus passing through periods which in relative terms, are “short” indeed! After the extinction of this Flower Light Buddha, two of three “buddha-periods” will abide in the world: for thirty-two minor kalpas, the Righteous Law when the Law is practiced in its pure form;  the during the same kalpas, the Counterfeit law, a time during which the Law is a mere copy without power, remaining in form only.

  In prose and verse all in the great assembly rejoice greatly at Shariputra’s prediction, recalling the teachings they have heard from the Buddha. Shariputra, although he himself has no doubts and regrets, asks the Buddha to further explain for the others so they may be free from doubts and regrets.

  Then the buddha spoke to Shariputra: “Have I not before said that the buddhas, the world-honored ones, by various reasonings, parables, and terms preach the law tactfully, all for the purpose of Perfect Enlightenment? All these teachings are for the purpose of transforming bodhisattvas. But Shariputra! let me now again in a parable make this meaning still more clear, for intelligent people through a parable reach understanding.

Parable of the Burning House

  “Shariputra! suppose in a certain kingdom, city, or town there is a great elder, old and worn, of boundless wealth, and possessing many fields, houses, slaves, and servants. His house is spacious and large, having only one door, and with many people dwelling in it, one hundred, two hundred, or even five hundred in number. Its halls and chambers are decayed and old, its walls crumbling, the bases of its pillars rotten, the beams and rooftree toppling and dangerous. On every side at the same moment fire suddenly starts and the house is in flames.

  The children of the elder, say ten, twenty, or even thirty, are in this dwelling. The elder on seeing this conflagration spring up on every side, is greatly startled and reflects: Though I am able to get safely out of this burning house, yet my children in the burning house are pleasurably absorbed in amusements, without apprehension, knowledge, surprise, or fear. Though the fire is pressing upon them and pain and suffering are imminent, they do not mind or fear and have no impulse to escape.

  “Shariputra! this elder ponders thus: I am strong in my body and arms. Shall I get them out of the house by means of a flower vessel (the wisdom of the Buddha), or a bench (the four fearlessnesses of the Buddha), or a table (the powers of the Buddha)? Again he ponders: This house has only one gate; moreover, it is narrow and small; my children are young, knowing nothing as yet and attached to their place of play; perchance they will fall into and be burned in the fire. I must speak to them on this dreadful matter, warning them that the house is burning and that they must come out instantly lest they are burned and injured by the fire.’ Having reflected thus, according to his thoughts, he notifies his children: ‘Come out quickly, all of you!’

  “Though the father, in his pity, lures and admonishes with kind words, yet the children, joyfully attached to their play, are unwilling to believe him and have neither surprise nor fear, nor any mind to escape; moreover, they do not know what is the fire he’s told them about, or what the house, and what he means by being lost, but only run hither and thither in play, glancing at their father.

  “Then the elder reflects thus: This house is burning in a great conflagration. If I and my children do not get out at once, we shall certainly be burned up by it. Let me now by some tactful means cause my children to escape this disaster. Knowing that to which each of his children is predisposed and all the various attractive playthings and curiosities to which their natures will joyfully respond, the father informs them, ‘The things with which you are fond of playing, so rare and precious—if you do not come and get them, you will be sorry for it afterward. Such a variety of goat carts, deer carts, and bullock carts are now outside the gate to play with. All of you must come quickly out of this burning house, and I will give you whatever you want.’

  “Thereupon the children, hearing of the attractive playthings mentioned by their father, and because they suit their wishes, every one eagerly, each pushing the other and racing against each other, comes scrambling out of the burning house. Then the elder, seeing his children have safely escaped and are all in the square, sits down in the open, no longer troubled but with a mind at ease and ecstatic with joy. Then each of the children says to their father: ‘Father! please now give us those lovely things you promised us to play with, goat carts, deer carts, and bullock carts.’

  “Shariputra! then the elder gives to each of his children equally a great cart, lofty and spacious, adorned with all the precious things, surrounded with railed seats, hung with bells on its four sides, and covered with curtains, splendidly decorated also with various rare and precious things, linked with strings of precious stones, hung with garlands of flowers, thickly spread with beautiful mats, supplied with rosy pillows, yoked with white bullocks of pure white skin of handsome appearance and of great muscular power which walk with even steps and with the speed of the wind, having also many servants and followers to guard them.

  “Wherefore? Because this great elder is of boundless wealth and all his various treasures and granaries are full to overflowing. So he reflects, My possessions being boundless, I must not give my children inferior small carts. All these children are my sons and daughters whom I love without partiality. Having such great carts made of the precious seven, infinite in number, I should with equal mind bestow them on each one without discrimination. Wherefore? Because if I gave them to the whole nation, these things of mine would not run short—how much less to my children!

The Buddha’s “Salvation”

  What a difference here from religious teachings in today’s world. The Buddha does not offer sack cloth and ashes, nor great sacrifices; he offers a distinctly different kind of salvation—finding “heaven” in this life—even reaching beyond “heaven” (temporary enlightenment) to the world of learning, escaping from suffering caused by the desire to live forever in “the burning house,” not aware of our “greed for gain, endurance of much suffering, poverty, distress, separation from loved ones, union with hateful beings,” neither apprehending nor perceiving, neither alarmed nor afraid, “without satiety, never seeking to escape but in the burning house of the triple world running about thither and thither, and although they will meet with great suffering, count it not a cause for anxiety.”

  And how shall  the children be saved by the Buddha’s teaching—how does the Buddha motivate them (and us) to escape? By offering “great carts” which promise far greater rewards than are ever to be found in the burning house.

  In the parable, the father easily could round all his children up in a cage and drag them unwilling out of the burning house. He could insist they blindly follow his precepts if they wish to be saved. But he does not insist on rigid obedience. He uses the tactful method of promising pleasures far exceeding what’s to be found in the burning house.

  The Buddha asks Shariputra if this method is deceitful, if the elder in giving great carts of precious substances to his children equally, he has been somewhat guilty of falsehood? Shariputra answers, recalling here the impact his answer had when I first read it—a resounding:

  “No, World-honored One! that elder only caused his children to escape the disaster of fire and preserved their bodies alive—he committed no falsity. Why? He has in such a manner preserved their bodies and also they have obtained those playthings; how much more by tactful means has he saved them from that burning house! World-honored One! even if that elder did not give them one of the smallest carts, still he is not false. . . That elder from the first formed this intention: I will by tactful means cause my children to escape.’ For this reason he is not false. How much less seeing that this elder, knowing his own boundless wealth and desiring to benefit his children, gives them great carts equally!”

  The Buddha replies, "Good! Good! it is even as you say. Shariputra! the Tathagata is also like this, for he is the father of all worlds, who has forever entirely ended all fear, despondency, distress, ignorance, and umbrageous darkness and has perfected boundless knowledge, powers, and fearlessness; is possessed of great spiritual power and wisdom; has completely attained the paramitas of tactfulness and wisdom; who is the greatly merciful and greatly compassionate, ever tireless, ever seeking the good, and benefiting all beings. And he is born in this triple world, the old decayed burning house, to save all living creatures from the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, suffering, foolishness, darkness, and the three poisons, and teaches them to obtain Perfect Enlightenment.

  The Buddha doesn’t force the children to come out of the burning house, he motivates them to come out of their own free will—not to depend upon gods or enlightened ones to deliver them. Salvation is achieved through self-motivation and personal practice, and the ultimate goal of such practice is to go beyond the little self—the ego, and become obedient only to the universal truth, one with the great life-force of the universe. Faith comes from the power within—our own will and effort taking refuge in that absolute power that causes us to live.

  His house is spacious and large, having only one door – later described as only one narrow, small gate, symbolizing how difficult it is to escape a dominating egoistic self. Discarding the ego, releasing it, is the great revolution of mind and heart. Paraphrasing Nikkyo Niwano: The first stage of releasing the illusory power of the ego is awakening to the simple truth that human suffering is brought about by collection of greeds and wants—desires, all graphically described in the parable. But this is not enough.

  At the second stage, we realize that in accordance with the Law of Causation, all that we so urgently desire and are attached to is a temporary appearance brought about by coming together of primary and secondary causes. The origin of these desires is ignorance, a basic misapprehension that the flesh is oneself. What we cling to has no real substance. Realizing this, automatically removes us from self-centered thinking and suffering.

  The Buddha describes the treasures received by the children for coming out of the house for the sake of the goat and deer carts—although he has surprised them by giving all of them the bullock cart:

  “If there are living beings who, following the Buddha, the World-honored One, hear the Law, receive it in faith, diligently practice, and zealously advance, seeking the complete wisdom, the wisdom of the Buddha, the natural wisdom, the wisdom without a teacher, and the knowledge, powers, and fearlessness of the Tathagata, who take pity on and comfort innumerable creatures, benefit gods and living beings, and save all beings, these will have the vehicle named the Great-vehicle. Because the bodhisattvas seek this vehicle, they are named mahasattvas. They are like those children who come out of the burning house for the sake of a bullock cart.”

  “Shariputra! Just as that elder, seeing his children get out of the burning house safely to a place free from fear, and pondering on his immeasurable wealth, gives each of his children a great cart, so also is it with the Tathagata. Being the father of all living creatures, if he sees infinite thousands of countless creatures by the teaching of the Buddha escape from the suffering of the triple world, from fearful and perilous paths, and gain the joys of nirvana, the Tathagata then reflects thus: ‘I possess infinite, boundless wisdom, power, fearlessness, and other law-treasuries of buddhas. All these living creatures are my sons and daughters to whom I will equally give the Great-vehicle, so that there will be no one who will gain nirvana alone but all gain nirvana by the same nirvana as the Tathagata. All these living creatures who escape the triple world are given the playthings of buddhas, concentrations, emancipations, and other playthings, all of one form and one kind, praised by sages and able to produce pure, supreme pleasure.’

  “Shariputra! even as that elder at first attracted his children by the three carts and afterward gave them only a great cart magnificently adorned with precious things and supremely restful, yet that elder is not guilty of falsehood, so also is it with the Tathagata; there is no falsehood in first preaching three vehicles to attract all living creatures and afterward saving by the Great-vehicle only. Wherefore? Because the Tathagata possesses infinite wisdom, power, fearlessness, and the treasury of the laws and is able to give all living creatures the Great-Buddha-vehicle, but not all are able to receive it. Shariputra! for this reason know that the enlightened ones, by their tactful powers, in the One Buddha-vehicle discriminate and expound the three.”

“Now this triple world
all is my domain;
the living beings in it
all are my sons and daughters,
but now this place abounds with distresses;
and I alone
am able to save and protect them.”

  This, the first of seven parables of the Lotus Sutra, is a significant one, for it explains the value of practicing in the realms of the three vehicles—learning, becoming self-enlightened, reaching toward the world of the universally compassionate ones. However, the ultimate reward for escaping from distresses of the burning house is the attainment of absolute awareness—at peace even in the midst of illusion and suffering—Perfect Enlightenment; the realization that since all living beings, including human beings, are manifestations of the great life force of the universe, the great perfection, all are equal in terms of the fundamental value of their existence. Thus a sense of unity arises—all are our brothers and sisters—all equally partake of the great life-force of the universe and are caused to live by it. When one has come this far, the self vanishes.

  The Buddha desires that all equally shall attain that which he possesses—infinite wisdom, power, fearlessness, and the treasury of the law. These, he proclaims are accessible to everyone.