“_The Myō-kwan-satsu-chi-kyō[54] has said:--‘The mind that detaches
itself from all things becomes the very mind of Buddha.’_”[55]
Visitors to the older Buddhist temples of Japan can scarcely fail to
notice the remarkable character of the gilded aureoles attached to
certain images. These aureoles, representing circles, disks, or ovals
of glory, contain numbers of little niches shaped like archings or
whirls of fire, each enshrining a Buddha or a Bodhisattva. A verse of
the Amitâyur-Dhyâna Sûtra might have suggested this symbolism to the
Japanese sculptors:--“_In the halo of that Buddha there are Buddhas
innumerable as the sands of the Ganga._”[56] Icon and verse alike
express that doctrine of the One in Many suggested by the foregoing
sotoba-texts; and the assurance that he who sees one Buddha can see all,
may further be accepted as signifying that he who perceives one great
truth fully, will be able to perceive countless truths.
But even to the spiritually blind the light must come at last. A host
of cemetery texts proclaim the Infinite Love that watches all, and the
certainty of ultimate and universal salvation:--
“_Possessing all the Virtues and all the Powers, the Eyes of the
Infinite Compassion behold all living creatures._”[57]
“_The Kongō-takara-tō-mei[58] proclaims:--‘All living beings in
the Six States of Existence[59] shall be delivered from the bonds of
attachment; their minds and their bodies alike shall be freed from
desire; and they shall obtain the Supreme Enlightenment.’_”
“_The Sûtra says:--‘Changing the hearts of all beings, I cause
them to enter upon the Way of Buddhahood.’_”[60]