In the Eyes of the Buddha, All Sentient Beings Are Buddhas; There Is No Mark of Sentient Beings to Be Grasped

We ordinary beings are entirely mired in delusion and confusion. Whatever we perceive and understand manifests through the lens of our unenlightened minds. When looking at Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and all sentient beings, we see only ordinary beings. We slander the Dharma and kill sentient beings, completely unaware of our grave transgressions, yet mistakenly believing such acts to be a source of joy.

Because we are unenlightened beings, we fall into dualistic thinking—the rigid distinction of "you" versus "me"—and we constantly seek to benefit ourselves at the expense of others. Driven by this, we kill sentient beings and prey on the weak. Upon hearing the pure teachings of the Dharma or the truth of our shared, universal Buddha-nature, such people cannot muster even a flicker of faith. Instead, they slander the Dharma as mere superstition, divorced from reality.

Unaware of the karmic transgressions born from this dualistic mindset and the afflictions that produce them, they mistake it all for happiness. Yet this so-called happiness is in truth the very cause of suffering.

Nowadays, many people live utterly exhausted lives. Whether they are government officials or those chasing wealth, they desperately strive for what they do not yet have. Yet once they finally attain it, they discover the price was far too high—and the attainment brings them no joy whatsoever. At this point, if they possess a genuine sense of responsibility toward their own lives, they will begin to ask why and search for the root cause. If they have the opportunity to hear the Dharma at this juncture, they can be saved.

If they do not encounter the Dharma, they may resort to cynicism: "Life is just like this. Might as well grab a little pleasure, muddle through, and drift along." The majority of unenlightened beings live exactly like this.

The Buddha attained complete awakening to this universal, undivided essence of mind. The mind of the Buddha and the minds of all sentient beings—this very present-moment mind-nature—are fundamentally equal and identical, without the slightest distinction. The Buddha sees all sentient beings as Buddhas. Therefore, the Avatamsaka Sutra states that within every single thought of a Bodhisattva, countless other Bodhisattvas are achieving supreme, perfect enlightenment.

These Bodhisattvas, upon attaining Buddhahood, directly perceive the truth that all sentient beings are Buddhas. Thus, in the eyes of the Buddha, all sentient beings are Buddhas; there is no mark of sentient beings to be grasped. Conversely, in the eyes of sentient beings, even Buddhas appear as nothing more than ordinary beings.