Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte, and#8220;Manjughoshaand#8217;s Swordand#8221; is an excerpt from the talk and#8220;Cutting Away the Oldand#8221; by the very dynamic Dharmachari Abhaya.
Swords and#8211; lots of swords and#8211; as he explores the deep significance of Manjughosha/Manjushri and the blade he uses to cut deep into ignorance and the suffering it leads us into. In this track we are invited to visualize the symbols of swords as we are reminded of Zorro, Excalibur and other sword fights in films.
Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2003
[Music] Dharma Vites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for real life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, come and join us at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. Thank you, and happy listening. [Music] Thank you very much, Vedanya. Hello to everyone. Yes, well, one day last year, Samanata, he asked me if I give a talk on manjigoshya at this men's event. And, well, it was pretty well a year away, and I'm very fond of manjigoshya, so I said, "Yes, I will." And then I got into preparing the talk. Well, not thinking about it, and being a, you could say, a bookish kind of person, I was beginning to get into the implications of some of the ideas of manjigoshya's book. When, some considerable time later, Vedanya came up to me, phoned me up actually, and said that I am to concentrate on the sword. I could smuggle in a few remarks about the book. Yeah, that was okay. But it's the swords, the thing. So, well, I thought, "Yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it." Because, come to think of it, I've always liked swords. I used to play for hours on my own when I was a kid, about six or eight, piercing the hearts and slatting the heads off enemies, single-handed. You know, I'd jump from sofa to armchair and all over the place, under the table, just decimating and cutting down these enemies. I also used to love films about Zoro. You heard of Zoro, the black masked swordsman. And he'd always leave his mark when he'd done his saving of the damsel-indy stress or whatever. He'd always use his mark by slashing a zed on whatever piece of furniture that was available. Could be the side of a stage torch. I used to love that. But in the latest version, I don't know whether you saw the latest version of Zoro. It was a huge flaming zed on the side of a valley. Brilliant. I also used to love the ring of steel on steel in sword play. I've always liked sword fights in films. There's a sword fight in the latest James Bondville, by the way. And I used to like the clatter of the blade falling on the stone, when Robin Hood finally cornered this evil sheriff of Nottingham. Rob Roy's a good one too. I don't know why you've seen it. Some great sword fights in Rob Roy. And I mustn't forget to give Excalibur a look in. The wondrous, jewel-hilted sword of King Arthur, who, as he lay dying, asked his man, Sir Bedevir, to deliver the sword back to the lake from whence it came. And as a boy, I was always enchanted by that image of the arm appearing, breaking the surface of the lake and brandishing the sword. Of course, the Bedevir funks. He won't throw the sword back the first time in the second time, and Arthur threatens to kill him if he doesn't throw the sword back the third time. So he goes back to the edge of the lake, looks at the beautiful jeweled hilt, and finally he throws it. And this arm appears out of the lake and catches the hilt of the sword. This arm clothed in white Samite, mystic, wonderful. And the arm brandishes the sword three times and disappears into the depths. So I'm sure that all this, in each way, had some influence on my attraction to Manjugosha when I first came across the figure in my interest in Buddhism. And I'm sure it was quite an influence in my asking Bante, my preceptor and spiritual teacher, if I could do the Manjugosha practice. Because there it is, the sword. One of the two chief emblems of Manjugosha or Manjugosha, they're both the same figure, the sword and the book are the two chief emblems of Manjugosha or Manjushri. And sometimes, and I like this image very much, sometimes you see the two of them together. You don't see Manjugosha, you just have this beautiful symbol of a fully opened lotus, usually pale blue lotus flower, fully open and cushioned on the lotus flower is the moon mat. And then on top of the moon mat, resting on the moon mat is the wonderful book of wisdom, wrapped in gold silk. And then, poised above, resting on top of the book, there is the sword, vertical. And the sword of Manjugosha is, of course, a flaming sword. And the flames are depicted usually in rather stylised fashion as a wreath of flames winding round the tall slender blade. But I prefer to imagine the polished steel of the blade as glowing, as if it's radiating an aura of white heat from its inner power. The Vajra hilt is freshening gold, and it's studded with jewels. Perhaps three jewels arrange one beside the other along the length of the shaft. One amber, one sapphire, and one ruby for Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. We hope you enjoyed the talk. Please come and help us keep this free at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. And thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] You [BLANK_AUDIO]
