We can see that knowledge, love, and power exist in the animal realm (I use the
animal realm as an example because the devils of hell and the hungry ghosts are
invisible to us). For example, even though no one taught ants how to care for their
babies, they still do it very well. When fire or water destroys their nest, without
concern for their own precious lives, they try to save their eggs by carrying them to
a safe place. Have you seen that? This is proof right in front of our eyes that all
sentient beings have compassionate mind.
In the human realm, we have knowledge to the extent that when we feel cold,
we move into the sun; when we become hot, we look for a cool place; and when
there is danger of fire, water, or wild animals, we escape to a safe place. Moreover,
animal researchers have found that each animal or bird species has its own
unique knowledge. Elephants can tell where there is underground water in the
desert through the sensation in their feet. Birds can tell when it is going to rain.
Creatures living underground can tell when an earthquake will occur, and they
come out from their holes and make strange noises. This proves that beings have
knowledge.
Animals also have power. Each animal is capable of helping or harming its
group. Creatures that are more powerful snatch food from inferiors and take it to
their own place. Ants, though smaller than tiny pebbles, associate in thousands to
build their huge and beautiful nests up to two or three feet in height. This is
evidence of their power.
In 1979, at Nakchuka in Tibet, a nomad encampment was threatened by wolves.
In a meeting to discuss the problem, the community decided to kill the wolves;
accordingly, they began a hunt. But the pair of wolves that threatened them
escaped. The hunters, enlarging the area of their search, finally found three wolf
cubs. But before they could kill the cubs, one sinful elder objected that that was
not the best thing to do. “We should tie the cubs to a pole,” he suggested, “and in
the night light a fire around them. This will bring the mother wolf, which we will
then also kill.” They did as he suggested, and at about ten o’clock, they lit a big fire
and hid nearby with swords, guns, and stones. When the wolf cubs cried, the
mother wolf came to help her poor babies, jumping within the circle of fire to save
them, and the hunters emerged from their hiding places shouting, shooting, and
throwing stones. At first the wolf retreated, but when she heard her cubs crying,
she returned to save them, challenging guns and stones: she became trapped
inside the circle of fire, and the mother and cubs were then killed.
This example shows that a wolf, like any animal, naturally, without need of
instruction, treats its young with love, understanding what is beneficial and what
is harmful. We can infer thereby that we all possess buddha-nature of primal
awareness, compassion, and power. Certainly if we do not possess the seed of
buddha, then it is impossible to attain buddha. It is universally known that without
the seed of barley, for example, there cannot be a barley shoot. If we do not possess
the seed of buddha, no matter how we strive, all effort is useless. No matter how
much we squeeze sand, there is no chance of obtaining juice. In his In Praise of
the Dharmadhatu, the second buddha, Nagarjuna, says,
If a stratum of gold exists,