..續本文上一頁ities are slightly different to an arhat”s

　　Answer: Pratyekabuddhas appear in the world during the time after the previous Buddha”s teachings have become extinct and before the next Buddha has started to teach. Although they do not preach the Dharma through words, through emitting light from their body and demonstrating various miraculous powers, they enable sentient beings to gain faith and believe in Buddhism, and, ultimately, attain nirvana. This is also a way of teaching Dharma—“preaching Dharma through the body.”

　　Buddha said in the Karma Xia Gatha that ordinary people easily gain confidence in miraculous powers. They feel it is more important than the ability to teach Dharma. Thus, the Pratyekabuddha manifests miraculous powers to show to beings. This is also a kind of skilful means. Otherwise, even if we earnestly speak to ordinary beings, they may not necessary accept what we say, and some may even create a deviant view of Buddhism. When a Pratyekabuddha flies in the sky, they gain faith and are lost in admiration, starting to prostrate on the ground.

　　Question: In the Han area, we believe that even if beings realize the nature of mind in this life, they still need to practice for three great eons to eliminate all ignorance before they can gain perfect buddhahood. However, in Tibetan Buddhism, it is said that we can achieve enlightenment in a single lifetime. I have always doubted the relationship between enlightenment in a single lifetime and perfect buddhahood.

　　Answer: Regarding attaining buddhahood in three great eons, there is no difference between Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism. Chinese Buddhism also emphasizes the sudden path of revealing the luminous nature of the mind, or swiftly achieving enlightenment by revealing the nature of reality. Including “Fayuan ZhuLin” and the commentaries on the Lotus Sutra in Chinese Buddhism, some eminent masters also explain about enlightenment within a single lifetime; this view is in concordance with Tibetan Buddhism.

　　Regarding the three great eons, omniscient Longchenpa said in his teachings that this should be understood or established in accordance with the mental disposition and efforts of sentient beings. Someone who possesses extraordinary effort and sharp mental faculties can accumulate several eons of merits in a single instant. For that reason, this type of person doesn”t need the timeframe of three great eons. For example, two great eons are needed from the first ground of the bodhisattva until buddhahood, yet it says in the Prajñaparamita Sutra that once the first ground of the bodhisattva is attained, you can attain buddhahood in seven days if you wish.

　　In this matter, Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism are not contradictory. Many Han Buddhist masters also believe that the three great eons are established based on the total number of dualistic thoughts of a sentient being. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain how the daughter of the dragon king attains buddhahood in an instant, as it mentions in the Lotus Sutra.

　　Question: If someone attains buddhahood in a single lifetime, what kind of buddhahood will this be

　　 Can he or she eliminate all obstacles or ignorance, gaining knowledge of all things (omniscience)

　　 For example, if he worked in the computing software industry, he would need to surpass what Bill Gates can do; if he built a monastery, he would need to know how to construct it, budget, and so on.

　　Answer: Je Tsongkhapa and some Buddhist masters hold that enlightenment in a single lifetime is about truly attaining complete buddhahood. However, the appearance of this kind of buddha may not necessarily be like Amitabha Buddha or Maitreya Buddha, who have a solemn appearance and are endowed with all the noble marks. In this world, there are man…

《Question and Answer Session at Shanghai Fudan University National Study Society》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…