When the moon sets; people say that the moon has disappeared: When it rises, they say it has appeared. In fact, it never comes or goes, but shines continually in the sky. Buddha is exactly like the moon: He neither appears nor disappears; He only seems to do so out of love for the people that He may teach them. People call one phase of the moon a full moon, they call another phase a crescent moon; in reality, the moon is always perfectly round, neither waxing nor waning. Buddha is precisely like the moon. In the eyes of men, Buddha may seem to change in appearance, but, in truth, Buddha does not change. The moon appears everywhere, over a crowded city, a sleepy village, a mountain, river… It is seen in the depths of a pond, in a jug of water, in a drop of dew hanging on a leaf. If a man walks hundreds of miles, the moon goes along with him. Buddha is like the moon, following people in all their changing circumstances, manifesting various appearances; but his essence does not change.

The fact that Buddha appears and disappears can be explained by causality: namely, when the causes and conditions are propitious, Buddha appears; When they are not, Buddha seems to disappear from the world. Buddhahood always remains the same. Knowing this principle, one must keep to the path of Enlightenment and attain Perfect Wisdom, undisturbed by the apparent changes in the image of the Buddha, in the condition of the world, or in the fluctuations of human thought. It has been explained that Buddha is not a physical body but is Enlightenment. A body may be thought of as a receptacle; then if this receptacle is filled with Enlightenment, it may be called Buddha. Therefore, if anyone is attached to the physical body of Buddha and laments His disappearance, he will be unable to see the true Buddha. In reality, the true nature of all things transcends the discrimination of appearance and disappearance, of coming and going, of good and evil. All things are substance less and perfectly homogeneous. Such discriminations are caused by an erroneous judgment by those who see these phenomena. The true form of Buddha always is… .