- Light

People are fond of brightness and dislike darkness.

In the darkness, one cannot see things clearly and it is not convenient to do anything. When you walk in darkness, there is  considerable danger regardless of how carefully you grope your way. If you are somewhat careless, you might endanger your own life or other lives.

In the Buddhist discourses and commentaries, there is an analogy of a dark store in which various treasures are deposited. If one does not carry a lantern into the store, one cannot see any of the treasures at all, then how can one retrieve them for usage? It is thus clear that light is extremely important. Mankind cannot survive without light.

How do we get the perception of light?

According to the explanation given by modern science, the vibrations of photons emitted from a luminous body set up transverse waves around it in all directions. When these transverse waves reach our eyes, the perception of light arises. If the light waves do not get transmitted to our eyes, we will not perceive the light.

In the Buddhist teachings, light symbolises prajnā (wisdom). If a Buddhist practitioner visualises his mind-body immersed in wisdom-light, this brightness not only can illuminate the surroundings of his body, but also illuminate immeasurable worlds.

The brightness of the sun and moon in the sky, as well as the brightness of lamplight on earth, have their illumination functions, but these are not as powerful as our own wisdom-light. Therefore, Buddhist practitioners should strive conscientiously for wisdom-light.

Light is often mentioned in the Buddhist discourses. In some discourses, two types of light are mentioned:

1. The light emanated from material objects such as lamps, the sun, the moon, fire and so forth;

2. Wisdom-light, also known as mind-light, which is the light of the mind.

There is another categorisation of two types of light:

1. Evil light

The evil forces cause disturbance to spiritual practitioners and prevent them from doing spiritual practice in peace. These evil forces are capable of emitting light. When spiritual practitioners come into contact with evil light, they will feel restless and not peaceful, as well as lack awareness and self-mastery.

2. Buddha-light

Buddha teaches and helps sentient beings out of great loving-kindness and compassion. Any Buddhist practitioner who comes into contact with Buddha-light will feel peaceful in the mind-body. His mind will be lucid and pure like clear water.

There is yet another categorisation of two types of light:

1. Constant light, which is steady in illumination, is seen by both the enlightened and unenlightened beings alike;

2.  Manifested light, which is auspicious light manifested to suit the spiritual capacities of sentient beings. The light may be obscure or manifest. Its radiance varies, that is, its illumination is at times long and at times short, without any constancy.

In the Buddhist discourses, there is also mention of three types of light. The following is one categorisation of three types of light.

1. The bodies of Buddhas, bodhisattvas and heavenly beings emit light which can dispel all darkness in any place.

2. Before Buddha expounded His wonderful teachings, he would manifest various auspicious signs, including emission of light to illuminate sentient beings. Buddha emitted light that was suitable for the spiritual capacities of sentient beings and then expounded teachings that were suitable for them, to enable them to eradicate the darkness of ignorance and gain the excellent benefits of hearing Buddha’s teachings.

3. External light, such as the light of the sun, moon, fire and so forth, can dispel darkness so that we may move forward smoothly without getting impeded by darkness.

In cyclic existence, human beings are shrouded by darkness and often feel inconvenienced by darkness, so they naturally have a yearning for brightness and progress. In accordance with this fervent wish of sentient beings, Buddha used the bright, clear sky, sun and moon as symbolisms for the most excellent virtues.

For instance, the first great vow of Medicine Buddha was:

“In a future life, when I attain the Unexcelled Full Enlightenment, may brilliant rays shine forth from my body, to illuminate  innumerable, countless, boundless worlds”.

This is true not only of Medicine Buddha, but also true of all buddhas.

It is said in Discourse on Contemplation Upon Buddha of Immeasurable Life, “At that moment, a golden ray of light shone forth from between the eyebrows of the World-Honoured One, illuminating all the innumerable worlds of the ten directions. The ray returned to settle on the top of Buddha’s head and transformed into a golden pillar just like Mount Sumeru, within which all the pure and wonderful Buddha-lands of the ten directions were manifested.”

This is true not only of Medicine Buddha of the eastern pure land, but also true of Amitabha Buddha of the western pure land.

It is said in  Buddha’s Discourse on Amitabha,“That Buddha’s light is immeasurable, illuminating the lands of the ten directions without any obstruction.”

In Buddha’s Discourse on the Immeasurable Life of the Great Vehicle with Majestic, Pure and Equal Enlightenment, which is one of the five discourses used in particular by the Pure Land school, the thirteenth vow of Amitabha Buddha is mentioned. This was a vow to attain immeasurable light:

“When I become a Buddha, may I emit immeasurable light to illuminate all ten directions. The light will be brighter than that of the light of the suns and moons by billions of times.”

Amitabha Buddha’s fourteenth vow was a wish for sentient beings to experience serenity and happiness when they encounter His light:

“If sentient beings see my light shining upon their bodies, may they all be serene and happy, perform wholesome deeds with loving-kindness and be born in my land.”

It is thus clear that the light of Amitabha Buddha is immeasurable and boundless. Thus, in Chinese Buddhism, the name of Amitabha Buddha is rendered as “Buddha with Immeasurable Light”.

The teachers of Buddhism in the two major pure lands of the east and west emit such excellent Buddha-lights. What about Buddha-light emanated from Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism in our world?

The introductory chapter of Discourse on the Lotus of the Wonderful Teachings describes what happened just as Shakyamuni Buddha was about to expound His wonderful teachings:

“Buddha emitted a ray of light from the tuft of white hair between his eyebrows. This light illuminated all the eighteen thousand words in the east.”  Moreover, all these eighteen thousand illuminated worlds manifested purity and majesty.

This is true not only of Shakyamuni Buddha’s exposition of Discourse on the Lotus of the Wonderful Teachings.

In the past, there were twenty thousand buddhas with the brilliance of the sun, moon and lamps. They had the same name  Candra –sūrya-pradīpa. When they expounded Discourse on the Lotus of the Wonderful Teachings, they had also emitted light in the same manner.

Furthermore, the name of Vairocana Buddha is rendered in Chinese with the meaning of universal illumination, that is, emitting great brilliance to illuminate the ten directions.

Why do buddhas emits rays of light from the tuft of white hair between their eyebrows? This is for the purpose of ‘revealing the truth of the reality of all things’.

The immeasurable light of buddhas show that their wisdom is extremely profound, immeasurable and equal, with no difference. If we practise in accordance with the methods taught by Buddha, when we attain the Unexcelled Full Enlightenment, we will also attain immeasurable light. Do not think that immeasurable light is a unique quality of buddhas.  If we practise the Buddhist teachings, we can also attain immeasurable light when we eventually attain Buddhahood.

Why do the buddhas and great bodhisattvas use light to educate and guide sentient beings?

In Lectures on Discourse about Medicine Buddha, Venerable Yin Shun said,

“The quest for progress and brightness is an instinctive and common wish for human beings. Buddhism is inclined towards truth and brightness. In polytheistic religions, there is worship of the sun and moon. Other religions, in general, also aim for progress and brightness. Even though God is said to be formless, visions of God are also of brilliant brightness. There is worship of heavenly beings. ‘Devā’, as heavenly beings are called in Sanskrit language, means brightness.

Therefore, the human admiration for the radiance of the sun and moon, or the clarity of empty space, is but an inner manifestation of the longing for brightness and clarity. Human beings are, by nature, inclined towards brightness. However, due to inadequate knowledge, one is unable to realise for oneself the true significance of one’s admiration for brightness, which is to take refuge in Buddha, so as to arouse and realise the pure clarity of one’s own Buddha-nature.”

In this world, there is none who is not inclined towards brightness. We need brightness in life. Brightness is also needed in our society. It is only by leading a life of brightness and living in a bright society that one can accomplish the ultimately perfect human life. However, this cannot be achieved with the ordinary brightness. It is only by progressing steadily and earnestly along the bright, great Buddhist path that one can achieve the brightness of liberation and live in infinite brightness.

There are many luminous objects that emit light, such as lamps and lit candles.

In the past, most Buddhists used oil lamps and lit candles as light offerings to Buddha.

In the present times, oil lamps and lit candles are still used in temples as light offerings to Buddha. In the villages of China, the writings  “one needs to make lamp offerings to Buddha if one wishes to be reborn in the human or heavenly realm” are mounted on the walls of temples when the lunar new year approaches. These serve as an encouragement for people to make light offerings to Buddha.

Actually, Buddhism does not put emphasis on rebirth in the heavens, but instead encourages people to seek liberation from cyclic existence. This statement is therefore more appropriate if it is revised as: “One needs to make lamp offerings to Buddha if one wishes to attain liberation.”

In the modern times, apart from oil lamps and lit candles, electric lamps can also be used to symbolise brightness. The merits of making offerings of electric lamps are the same as the merits of light offering in the form of oil lamps or lit candles.

The practice of making lamp offerings to Buddha started during Buddha’s time. According to the Buddhist records, King Prasenajit of Shravasti city in central India was full of immense joy after hearing Buddha’s exposition. He became a supporter and protector of Buddha’s teachings, as well as made frequent offerings to Buddha and the monastic community.

One day, King Prasenajit thought of making offerings of butter lamps to Buddha. As a sovereign, he could use as much butter as he wanted. He thus put light offerings all around Jetavana Monastery. The radiance of these lamps made the night even brighter than the day and rendered the earth incomparably bright and clean. Seeing Jetavana Monastery brightly lit up, the people living within and outside Shravasti all came to view the grand light offerings. Everyone marvelled at the brilliant spectacle and could not help gasping in admiration. Only the king was capable of making light offerings on such a grand scale. The ordinary people could not have done so. Therefore, the people held their king in even greater esteem and respect. They had deep conviction that their king would gain vast meritorious virtues as a result of this deed.

Even though there were many people in the crowd that came to view the lights, nobody expressed any wish to make light-offerings except a poor old woman called Nanda. She wished to make a lamp offering to Buddha. She had neither a thatched cottage to live in nor extra clothes for changing. She never had a full meal.

Lamenting at her own miserable life as well as the hardships experienced by many others, she thought of offering a lamp before Buddha, so as to get rid of the root cause of her own suffering as well as the suffering of others. However, she did not have any money at all and so she went begging in Shravasti. Yet, nobody gave her any money.

She then went to a shop and begged the shopkeeper to give her a little butter. The shopkeeper asked her the reason for obtaining the butter.

The poor woman Nanda said, “I wish to make a butter-lamp offering before Buddha, so as to seek blessings universally for all sentient beings who are suffering in poverty.”

The shopkeeper was touched by Nanda’s sincerely, so he brought out a lamp and filled it with butter. Full of joy, Nanda thanked the shopkeeper again and again. Then, she immediately hurried to Jetavana Monastery to make the lamp offering to Buddha. When she placed the butter-lamp offering before Buddha, this lamp shone with exceptional brilliance amidst thousands of bright lamps.

The next morning, Maudgalyayana, one of Buddha’s disciples, found that all the butter-lamps in the monastery were about to extinguish, except the lamp offering made by Nanda, which was still shining with resplendent radiance. Maudgalyayana wanted to extinguish this lamp, but he could not do so even by exhausting all his supernatural powers.

Early in the morning, Nanda came to the monastery and saw the lamp offering that she made the previous day was still shining brilliantly like a fresh lamp offering. Full of joy, she paid homage to Buddha and generated the aspiration to attain the Unexcelled Full Enlightenment. Buddha knew of Nanda’s aspiration and said to his attendant Ananda, “This old woman who made a light offering here last night is very poor now, but she will certainly attain Buddhahood when her meritorious practices reach perfection in future.”

Everyone needs light. If there is no light, our world will become a dark world. How difficult it will be to live in darkness! We not only need the illumination of light, we further need to arouse our inner light, so as to get rid of darkness in the external environment as well as eradicate our inner darkness.

What is meant by “inner darkness”?

This refers to our defilements such as desire, ill will and delusion.

What is meant by “inner light”?

This refers to pure wisdom. It is by eradicating the darkness of ignorance that we can lead bright lives of freedom in the great treasury of brightness and no longer feel the menace of darkness.

Therefore, we should seek wisdom and brightness conscientiously!