One & Many

Ven Yongjia wrote in his Song of Enlightenment:

"One nature penetrates into all natures;

One Dharma encompasses all Dharmas.

One moon is reflected in all waters;

All the water-moons come from one moon."

In Mahayana Buddhism we always hear about the teaching of Oneness. What is One and what is Many? One refers to the full moon in the night sky. Many refers to the myriad reflections of the moon in all the bodies of water on Earth. The reflections on Earth are our 5 aggregates. The full moon refers to our nature of knowing. The reflections, which are all different in their own way, arise and dissolve endlessly, but the full moon shines on unaffected. When a reflection realizes its true self is the full moon, it achieves enlightenment and is no longer affected by its own arising and dissolving anymore. But the reflection is still the reflection, the full moon is still the full moon; each still follows its own nature as it always has. The only difference is that the awakened reflection no longer suffers like other ignorant reflections. To quote from a Tibetan Dharma riddle:

"How do you prevent a drop of water from ever drying up?
By throwing it back into the ocean."

Among the infinite number of sentient beings, there is not a single being that does not possess the Buddha-nature. This Buddha-nature is our bare naked awareness, the mind detached from all its aggregates, your "original face before your parents gave birth to you". Because we cling on to the aggregates which are by nature unstable and unsatisfactory as ourselves, we subject ourselves to suffering endlessly. How can you prevent your body (rupa) and mind (nama) from drying up again and again? I leave that for readers to contemplate on their own.