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[152] Concerning the similarity in meaning of this statement to the one just preceding, a commentator says that the sixth is the statical view of Suchness (or Dharmakâya) and the seventh its dynamical view. One explains what the highest reality of Buddhism is and the other what it does or works. ([return])
[153] The Discourse on Buddha-essence by Vasubandhu. The Japanese Tripitaka edition of 1881, fas. II., p. 84, where the stanza is quoted from the Sûtra on the Incomprehensible. ([return])
[154] This is expressed in the first verse of the Mâdhyamika Çâstra, which runs as follows:
“Anirodham anutpâdam anucchedam açâçvatam
Anekârtham anânârtham anâgamam anirgamam.”
Literally translated these lines read:
“No annihilation, no production, no destruction, no persistence,
No unity, no plurality, no coming in, no going out.”
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[155] Compare this Buddhist sentiment of universal love with that of the Christian religion and we shall see the truth that all religions are one at the bottom. We read in Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ (ch. XIII): “My son, I descended from heaven for thy salvation; I took upon me thy sorrows, not necessity but love drawing me thereto; that thou thyself mightest learn patience and bear temporal sufferings without repining. For from the hour of my birth, even until my death on the cross, I was not without suffering of grief.” This is exactly the sentiment that stimulates the Bodhisattvas to their gigantic task of universal salvation. Those who are free from sectarian biases will admit without hesitation that there is but one true religion which may assume various forms according to circumstances. “Many are the roads to the summit, but when reached there we have but one universal moonlight.” ([return])
[156] The Dharmapada, XIV. 5. Mr. A. J. Edmunds’s translation is,