buddhakaya

[micki]

Chapter 2 is on the 3 refuges: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. "The root word buddh means to wake up, to know, to understand; and he or she who wakes up and understands is called a Buddha. It is as simple as that. The capacity to wake up, to understand, and to love is called Buddha nature. When Buddhists say "I take refuge in the Buddha," they are expressing trust in their own capacity of understanding, of becoming awake. The Chinese and the Vietnamese say, "I go back and rely on the Buddha in me." Adding "in me" makes it very clear that you yourself are the Buddha." And then later he says "Buddha is in everyone of us. We can become awake, understanding, and also loving."

Then he tells Siddhartha's story of awakening (and I definitely must have read this before, because of the "one sesame seed a day" part--though he says it was actually one piece of fruit a day, and his companions shunned him not only for taking milk but one bowl of rice a day).

"When we say, "I take refuge in the Buddha," we should also understand that "The Buddha takes refuge in me," because without the second part the first part is not complete. The Buddha needs us for awakening, understanding, and love to be real things, and not just concepts....We are all Buddhas, because only through us can understanding and love become tangible and effective....For Buddhism to be real, there must be a Buddhakaya [literally, Buddha body], an embodiment of awakened activity. Otherwise Buddhism is just a word."