“The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra – The Rice Seedling”

The Rice Seedling is one of the most important sutras on the topic of dependent arising. Before talking about the sutra, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche discusses some contemporary questions about Buddhism: Can Buddhism be called a religion or a spiritual path? Is Buddhism compatible with science? Reading the sutras opens a new perspective on these and other questions.

In The Rice Seedling, the Buddha says, “Whoever sees dependent arising sees the Dharma. Whoever sees the Dharma sees the Buddha.” This is the essential teaching of this sutra. One cause of suffering is our delusion that phenomena truly exist, and exist independently. This leads to craving, clinging and ultimately suffering. Yet from a buddhist perspective, everything depends upon context, and nothing exists independently. When the appropriate causes and conditions come together, there is a rainbow. This rainbow is both present and not present: dependent arising actually means non-arising. When we see the truth of dependent arising, we are liberated, and we see the Buddha, which is none other than our own mind.

“The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra – The Rice Seedling” is translated into English by 84000. Click here to read the translation.

Onsite Translation: Portuguese
Subtitles: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, English and Spanish

Photo by Tiago Tardin