Every Suffering is Buddha Seed

When the mind reaches nirvana, you don't see nirvana, because the mind is nirvana. If you see nirvana somewhere outside the mind, you're deluding yourself.

Every suffering is a buddha-seed, because suffering impels mortals to seek wisdom. But you can only say that suffering gives rise to buddhahood. You can't say that suffering is buddhahood. Your body and mind are the field. Suffering is the seed, wisdom the sprout, and buddhahood the grain.

The buddha in the mind is like a fragrance in a tree. The buddha comes from a mind free of suffering, just as a fragrance comes from a tree free of decay. There's no fragrance without the tree and no buddha without the mind. If there's a fragrance without a tree, it's a different fragrance. If there's a buddha without your mind, it's a different buddha.

Notes:

Folksonomies: zen

Taxonomies:
/religion and spirituality/buddhism (0.999334)

Concepts:
Suffering (0.932522): dbpedia_resource
Gautama Buddha (0.925491): dbpedia_resource
Nirvana (0.925351): dbpedia_resource
Mind (0.855134): dbpedia_resource
Buddhism (0.779024): dbpedia_resource
Moksha (0.698300): dbpedia_resource
Nirvana (Buddhism) (0.694202): dbpedia_resource
Dharmakāya (0.665349): dbpedia_resource

 The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Pine, Red (1989), The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, Retrieved on 2025-05-21
  • Source Material [archive.org]
  • Folksonomies: zen