His Light within - Buddhism

This spiritual light is unbroken from the infinite past through the infinite future, this is called perpetual energy. Utterly free of senses and objects, the essence manifests, real and eternal, this is called permanent stability of radiance.

Dhammapada

Dhamapada:
The Sayings of Buddha

Just as when those born blind don't see the sun
It is not because there is no sun
appearing in the world—
All those who have eyes can clearly see it,
Each doing their work
according to their occupations,
So it is with the lights of the Great Being—
Those who have wisdom all can see,
While ordinary folk with false beliefs
and low understanding
Cannot perceive these lights at all...
So it is with the Great Being's lights:
Those of deep knowledge are all illumined,
While the ignorant, with false beliefs
and poor understanding
Are not able to see these lights at all.

Flower Ornament Scripture

The Buddha emitted a light from
between his eyebrows,
manifesting signs that are rarely seen.
This light illumined the eastern direction,
eighteen thousand Buddha lands...
One could see how these Buddha lands
adorned with numerous jewels,
shone with hues of lapis lazuli and crystals,
was due to the illumination of Buddha's light.

Lotus Sutra

The lights of the World-Honoured One
Illuminate all the countless Buddha-lands
Throughout the ten directions.
The brilliance of the sun, [and] the moon...
Cannot bear comparison
With the brilliance of the Tathagata.

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma

The Buddha in vast eons past
Amassed an ocean of joy, endlessly deep;
Therefore all who see him are glad...
The Buddha showers the rain of truth without bound,
Able to make the witnesses greatly rejoice;
Supreme roots of goodness are born from this.
Such is the realization of Exquisite Light...
All who see or hear receive benefit,
Causing them all to dance for joy...
In the past Buddha cultivated an ocean of joy—
Vast, boundless, beyond all measure;
Therefore those who see are all delighted...
To save all beings in all the worlds:
This is the liberation of Blissful Happiness.
I see the independent power of Buddha,
His light filling the universe...
Causing delusions to vanish and joy to abound:
This is what's seen by Immutable Light.

Flower Ornament Scripture

“The Sacred Lotus grows in stagnant water, murky places where it sends a long taproot into the muck below. The flower itself floats on top of this muck, transcending what is below with an eternal beauty recognized by all. Typical of water flowers, they close and open with the night and day. Taking a quotation from the Bhagavad Gita, we can get a sense of the religious symbolism:

One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.

The Sacred Lotus symbolizes purity, freedom from desire, both having one's roots in physical existence and transcending it through non-attachment. The flower represents the search for eternity. Commonly, in Hindu mythology, certain gods and goddesses have associations with the Sacred Lotus. The opening of the flower is connected with divine things. It represents the opening of what is human to what is divine, the opening of the soul to Divine Light and inspiration.

Paul Branch, M.D.

"Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'This light of lights is not blue, yellow, red, white, or black. It is not matter, not mind. It is not existent, nor nonexistent. It is not a phenomenon resulting from causes. It is the source of all Buddhas, the basis of practicing the Way of enlightening beings, fundamental for all Buddhists.' . . Why do students today not keep this in mind or believe in it resolutely? Because they do not believe in it resolutely, they become lowly ignorant fools, not escaping vicious circles ... Those who erroneously cling to the ego do not believe in the light, so they are herein arbitrarily making themselves bob and sink in birth and death...

Dwelling in the great treasury of light all day and all night, you turn yourself into a lowly hireling, roaming in misery, a longtime pauper. This is your own conceit of inferiority, having forgotten the call of your noble origins. How sad it is to take up a nightsoil bucket and become a cesspool cleaner, thinking of the body of pure light as a defiled body full of misery. This is the saddest of the saddest, which nothing can surpass ... Nowadays, those who shave their heads and wear black as latter-day followers of Buddha spend the days and pass the months illumined by the light of Dipankara, 'The Lamp,' but they do not wonder what Dipankara Buddha, The Lamp Illuminate, really is. Therefore they are not real students; they just make use of the appearance of renunciation in order to grab donations. In reality, they are actually vagrants and roustabouts. If you deny this, let me ask you, what are the marks and refinements of the Lamp Buddha? You cannot say anything, yet you cannot say nothing; speak quickly, speak quickly!

How sad that you only learn of the Lamp Buddha as an illuminate of the past and do not know that the Lamp Buddha shines throughout all the time. How then could you believe that it is teaching and attaining nirvana in your nostrils, in your eyes? Now there is a group of the lowest type of hearer, who repeatedly weary of life and death and hurriedly seek nirvana, arousing their determination on the basis of the idea of something really existing and something being attained. Adding religious greed on top of selfish conceit, their seeking mind never rests until they die. Teachers without perception praise them as good people of faith, so they take pride in egotistical clinging and possessiveness as diligent spiritual practice, eventually turning into ghouls ... This spiritual light is unbroken from the infinite past through the infinite future, this is called perpetual energy. Utterly free of senses and objects, the essence manifests, real and eternal, this is called permanent stability of radiance. Trusting in this spiritual light, abiding peacefully, imperturbable, is called the supreme concentration of simply sitting ... If you cannot investigate truth through your own eyes, even if you shave your head and dress in black, you are pitiful living beings. Even if you can interpret a thousand scriptures and ten thousand treatises, you are"counting the treasures of another house," you are"seafarers who know there's something valuable but do not know the price.” Tell me, right now as you defecate and urine, dress and eat, ultimately whose experience is it? And what, moreover of the colors of the waters, the scenery of the mountains, the coming and going of heat and cold, the spring flowers, the autumn moon, thousand of changes, myriad transformations — what brings all this about? Truly this is a"countenance most wondrous, light illuminating the ten directions.”It is"samsara and nirvana are like last night's dream.”It is"being is nonbeing, nonbeing is being.”If not thus, even if you speak of"Always being there on Spiritual Mountain," it is a false teaching, it is specious discourse, even if you hear of"eternally silent light that neither comes into being nor passes away," I would only say it is only talk, with no meaning....

However, as I see students today, being grounded on ignorance, they spend their lives polishing day and night, expecting to eventually see through to the light in this way. Then again, some try to see this radiant pure light by practicing meditation to get rid of random thoughts flying around, repeatedly trying to beat out the flaming fires, hoping to see the eternally silent light thereby. If you think the total nourishing of thought to be right, then are wood, stones, and clods of earth right? All of you are the lowest kind of hearer, who drowns while trying to avoid being burned. How foolish! Clinging to the sitting of two vehicles and the inclinations of ordinary people, you want to realize supreme universal enlightenment; there is nothing more stupid and perverse. For this reason it is said," Those on the two vehicles may be diligent but lack the spirit of enlightenment; outsiders may be intellectually brilliant, but they lack wisdom. Ignorant and stupid, petty and fearful, they think there's something real in the empty fist.”... Some of them may wrongly give definitive approval to a temporary surge of energy, or it may happen that through a temporary inspiration they sit for a long time without lying down, so that the mind and consciousness are thoroughly fatigued, everything becomes the same to them, activity and function stop for a while, and thoughts quiet down; then they misunderstand this state, which resembles the solitary radiance of ethereal spirituality, misconstruing it to be the state where inside and outside become one, the original ground of the fundamental state of essential self. Taking this interpretation to Zen teachers who have no true perception, they present the view. Since the teachers have no eyes to perceive people, therefore they go along with the words of those who come to them, giving them worthless approval, so that the call themselves graduate Zen monks. Countless followers of the Way with shallow consciousness and little learning fall into this poison. Truly, even as we say it is the age of dereliction of the teaching, is it not all pathetic? I humbly say to people who are real seekers, who have the same aspiration, do not cling to one device or one state, do not rely on intellectual understanding or brilliance, do not carry around what you learn by sitting ...

This is the light in which the ordinary and the sage, the deluded and the enlightened, are one suchness. Even in the midst of activity, it is not hindered by activity. The forest and the flowers, the grasses and the leaves, people and animals, great and small, long and short, square and round, all appear at once, without depending on the discrimination of your thoughts and attention.. This is manifest proof that the light is not obstructed by activity. It is empty luminosity spontaneously shining without exerting mental energy. This light has never had any place of abode. Even when buddhas appear in the world, it does not appear in the world. Even though they enter nirvana, it does not enter nirvana. When you are born, the light is not born. When you die, the light is not extinguished. It is not more in Buddhas and not less in ordinary beings. It is not lost in confusion, not awakened by enlightenment. It has no location, no appearance, no name. It is the totality of everything. It cannot be grasped, cannot be rejected, cannot be attained. While unattainable, it is in effect throughout the entire being. From the highest heaven above to the lowest hell below, it is thus completely clear, a wondrously inconceivable spiritual light. If you believe and accept this mystic message, you do not need to ask anyone else whether it is true or false; it will be like meeting your father in the middle of town. Do not petition other teachers for a seal of approval, and do not be eager to be given a prediction and realize fruition... . This essay should not be shown to anyone but people who are in the school and have entered the room. My only concern is that there should be no false and biased views, whether in one's own practice or in teaching others.”

Zen Master Ejo, Absorption in the Treasury of Light
(Thomas Cleary, Minding Mind, p.65-82.)