The Jeweled Stupa Within the Human Body

While the great assembly was listening, suddenly from the ground there rose a stupa made of seven jewels, five hundred yojanas tall and two hundred and fifty yojanas wide. The stupa hovered in mid-air, radiating the fragrance of sandalwood that perfumed the entire land. Hundreds of thousands of banners, strings of pearls, and precious ornaments hung down on its four sides, gleaming brilliantly. Everyone was astonished, for they had never seen anything like it.

But do not rush to think this is some distant myth. That stupa is precisely the body of each one of us. The seven jewels are the seven elements: earth, water, wind, fire, space, consciousness, and knowledge. This body is formed from dust, from the earth. We eat and drink, and our food grows from the earth; the animals we eat also come from the earth. That is why the body rises from the ground yet rests in mid-air — meaning it is fragile, temporary, easily broken. A house that wants to stand firm must have deep foundations, but our body hangs suspended in mid-air — how can it be secure? Today we sit here together, but who knows what will happen on the way home? Some catch a chill, some are hit by a car, some eat something wrong and end up in the emergency room. Disaster gives no warning, and death waits for no one. And yet we keep cherishing this body, tending to it in every little way: fragrant soap, perfume, cosmetics, expensive clothes. We polish our gold and jewels, we build tall houses with grand doors. This body is like seven jewels because we treasure it so much. But it remains only a fragile stupa suspended in mid-air.

Then from within the stupa a loud voice rang out in praise: "Excellent! Excellent! The World-Honored One Shakyamuni Buddha is teaching the Lotus Sutra to the great assembly, and all of it is true." Everyone wondered: who is speaking inside the stupa? No figure could be seen at all. This is a great koan of the Zen tradition. Once a monk came and asked Zen Master Zhaozhou: "Venerable Abbot, what is your family style?" Master Zhaozhou said: "I have a hearing problem — speak louder." The monk spoke louder: "What is your family style?" Master Zhaozhou smiled: "You asked about my family style, but I already know yours." The monk was asking about the Way, yet in the very moment he was able to ask, what was it that made him raise his voice to ask? This body is flesh, skin, blood, and bone — all insentient. So what is it within the body that makes us walk, stand, and speak, so full of vitality? That is precisely the question, the lamp that shines into the deepest recesses of ourselves.

The fourfold assembly, hearing the voice from the stupa, all received the dharma joy, rose from their seats, respectfully pressed their palms together, and stood to one side. They were puzzled, they were amazed, but they bowed their heads in humility. The bodhisattva Great Joyful Speaker — the bodhisattva whose name means "one who loves to speak" — knowing the doubts in everyone's hearts, addressed the Buddha: "World-Honored One, by what conditions has this stupa risen from the ground and issued forth such a voice?" The Buddha taught: "Within this stupa is the complete body of a Tathagata. In the distant past, countless kalpas ago, in the East there was a land called Abundant Treasures, and a Buddha named Prabhutaratna. While still practicing the bodhisattva path, he made this vow: 'After my passing into nirvana, wherever the Lotus Sutra is taught in the ten directions, my stupa shall rise up before it, having heard the sutra, to bear witness and offer praise.'"

Now, understand this to mean: within the body of every person there is Buddha-nature, without beginning and without end. That Buddha-nature was not born of our parents; it has no starting point. It is precisely because of that Buddha-nature that we live, we walk, we speak. But because it is veiled by ignorance and delusive thoughts, we cannot see it. To see the Buddha-nature, there must be an earnest vow, a longing for enlightenment. At that time the bodhisattva Great Joyful Speaker addressed the Buddha: "We wish to see the body of Buddha Prabhutaratna." The Buddha said: "That Buddha made a profound vow: if any Buddha wishes to reveal my body to the fourfold assembly, then all the emanation Buddhas of that Buddha in the ten directions must first gather together in one place, and only then will my body appear."

What is the deeper meaning? Each of us has emanation Buddhas — and these are our delusive thoughts. Sitting here, the mind runs off to the North, flies off to America, worries about the pot of rice, worries about husband and children, worries about aging parents. Our mind keeps splitting into emanations throughout the ten directions, never at rest. To see the Buddha-nature, we must gather all these delusive thoughts back into one place; we must steady the mind. This is an indispensable condition. And once the emanation Buddhas have been gathered, they must be offered up — meaning that when delusive thoughts are seen, they are released. Sitting quietly, when a thought arises, see it and let it go. When another thought arises, let it go again. Continue like this, keeping only a pure mind. That is the practice of the chapter on the Emergence of the Treasure Stupa.

The Buddha then emitted a light from the white tuft of hair between his eyebrows, illuminating the ten directions, revealing countless lands and countless bodhisattvas teaching the Dharma to sentient beings. That light is wisdom; it is awakened awareness. Within our mind there are always two parts: one is the part that is thinking, and one is the part that knows the thinking is happening. When we drift along with delusive thoughts, that is delusion. When we look back and see that we are thinking, that is awakening. Delusion and awakening are only inches apart, right here in this very place. We need only wake up, see the delusive thought, let it go, and stop chasing after it. Continue like this, day after day, and gradually we will turn inward toward the mind, watching over delusive thoughts and releasing them all. When every delusive thought has been completely released, the Buddha-nature will manifest before us.

A true practitioner must know how to wonder: from where does this body receive its fullness of life? One must be humble, never believing oneself already skilled or complete. One must speak little, for those who love to talk rarely understand the Way. One must see delusive thoughts and release them, not letting the mind run wild in every direction. That is the only path to recognizing the Buddha-nature within oneself, to enlightenment and liberation.

The Meaning of the Story

The human body is as fragile as a stupa suspended in mid-air, yet within it hides a Buddha-nature without beginning and without end. To recognize the Buddha-nature, we must steady the mind, gather in all delusive thoughts, and see and release each thought as it arises. Awakened awareness and delusion are only inches apart — we need only look back, let go, and stop chasing delusive thoughts, and the Buddha-nature will reveal itself.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thich Chan Quang.