Episode 321 – How to Encounter the Buddha and be Transformed
>> When delusions of views and thinking and dust-like delusions cover their minds, people conceal their shortcoming and proclaim their virtues without self-reflection. Having Leaks, they lack discipline and remorse. When their turbidities are purified, they manifest their great potential.
>> “[After] the Buddha has crossed into extinction, [there] is no Buddha present.” So. “After the Buddha crosses into extinction, those who accept, uphold, read, recite and understand the meaning of sutras such as this are very rare.”
>> “Encounter other Buddhas, they will then obtain thorough understanding of this Dharma.”
>> If they encounter other Buddhas: When the Tathagata encounter beings of the other nine Dharma-realms, in worlds as numerous as dust, He always teaches this Dharma to tame sentient beings and to enable them to return to the ocean of pure nature.
When delusions of views and thinking and dust-like delusions cover their minds,
people conceal their shortcoming and proclaim their virtues without self-reflection.
Having Leaks, they lack discipline and remorse.
When their turbidities are purified, they manifest their great potential.
“When delusions of views and thinking and dust-like delusions cover their minds….” I often think about how we clearly understand that afflictions arise from our views and understanding. So why is it still so difficult to treat just the afflictions that arise from our views and thinking? If we cannot treat and tame these delusions of views and thinking, we will never eliminate our habitual tendencies. Our habitual tendencies are the reason we influence and entangle each other. Those with bad habitual tendencies will be scorned by others, In this way, they hinder themselves and others because their minds are covered by afflicted views and thinking and dust-like [delusions]. This causes the most pain and is also the source of suffering.
So, “we conceal our shortcomings and proclaim our virtues without self-reflection.” We cannot reflect on ourselves, so our minds constantly cover things up. We conceal our faults, we conceal the violations we have committed and the ones we have yet to commit. All these wrongdoings, past, present and future, are covered up by our minds. We just keep talking about our positive aspects. People who are like this refuse to reflect on themselves.
So, this comes out of “having Leaks. Having Leaks, we lack discipline and remorse.” We have allowed our pure intrinsic nature to leak out. We have allowed the rules we must uphold to leak out. We have allowed methods of practice like listening, contemplating, practicing and cultivating precepts, Samadhi and wisdom to leak out. We hear these teachings, but after hearing them, we do not contemplate them carefully. Even if we do contemplate them, we cannot put them into action. All this is due to our Leaks.
We let all these things leak away. The Dharma that we should be retaining is not retained in our minds. [Yet], our habitual tendencies and our dust-like delusions of views and thinking remain in our minds while the pure Dharma has completely leaked out. For this reason, we lack discipline.
So, we all have to remember, in our daily living, if we are self-disciplined people will see our demeanor and feel, “This is a spiritual practitioner!” So, spiritual cultivation is worthwhile because after we engage in this practice, our attitudes and demeanor will be different from those of most people. This is a virtue that is cultivated internally and manifested externally.
We must transform turbidity to purity, and no longer “have Leaks” or “lack discipline and remorse.” We must be remorseful right away and openly repent, so that our minds will be truly be purified. “When our turbidities are purified, we manifest our great potential.” If we can eliminate our turbidities, dust-like delusions of views and thinking, if we can eliminate all of these, our intrinsic nature will naturally manifest its great potential.
Sakyamuni Buddha actualized His potential because He attained enlightenment. He penetrated all truths of the universe, so His nature of True Suchness manifested its potential, and He repeatedly returns to this world. How can sentient beings’ ignorance be eliminated? With His love and compassion. He could not bear to let sentient beings suffer, so He returns to teach the Dharma. How can He stabilize sentient beings’ minds? How can He transform sentient beings and help them transcend this world full of turbidities? How can He help [their minds] be pure again?
As I walk outside every day, when I see the clear sky, my mind opens up as if it has been completely cleared. Yet, sometimes when I see that the clouds are thick and gray, or black, my heart feels heavy. This is how we ordinary people are [affected by] our external conditions. As for the Great Enlightened One, everything is clear and bright to Him. Even if there are clouds covering the sky, the sky’s nature is to be clear and bright. The universe itself is forever pure and clean, non-arising and non-ceasing, very free, much like the Buddha’s enlightened state.
Because of sentient beings’ afflictions and this world’s turbidities, the Buddha [comes here] out of compassion, but His intrinsic nature remains undefiled. Following the same principle, when we engage in spiritual practice we must practice this way; we must have compassion while among people, but not be polluted by their habitual tendencies.
As for wisdom, by learning to be understanding, we will not be polluted by other people’s habitual tendencies. We need to abide by precepts and rules to develop discipline and a dignified demeanor. We must work to [change] our habitual tendencies, so we do not act in ways that force other people to be understanding. “You need to be understanding of me!” If we all eliminate our habitual tendencies, naturally we do not need other people to be understanding of us. This is our fundamental discipline; this is our fundamental spiritual practice. If we can achieve all of this, “when our turbidities are purified, we manifest our great potential.”
In learning the Buddha’s teachings, we must learn to develop a mindset equal to His. If we cannot achieve the same mindset as Him, then we will always be ordinary people, always have delusions of views and thinking and dust-like delusions, hinder ourselves and others, and thus develop many afflictions. So, we must immediately seize the moment to reflect on ourselves, openly repent and quickly change our ways. We must manifest a dignified demeanor to be considered spiritual practitioners.
We often listen to our Commissioners and Faith Corp members share their personal stories with everyone. “In the past, I had these habitual tendencies, I was so bad. When people saw me, they felt strong resentment, hatred and aversion. Now everyone says I have changed a lot; everyone says I am more approachable. Everyone is happy to see me.” Other people will also testify, “He was such a bully in the past. When we saw him, we didn’t even want to come in contact with him. We would take a detour. People didn’t want to even walk where he had walked.” He was so terrible, [but] what about now? “Now he is different, he is very compassionate, always helping people. Now he looks younger and more approachable.” There is proof of this because many Tzu Chi volunteers say the same.
So, appearances arise from our minds. How can we help people get close to us? That depends on whether we can be someone we would not despise. We must not feel an aversion toward ourselves. Sometimes when we are wrong and we know it, [we think], “I hate that I did something wrong again. I really despise myself.” But then we just cover it up. We do not want this to be known and we do not reflect on it. If self-reflection leads to self-loathing, then why don’t we openly repent?
“I’m sorry, in the past, I was like this; I made this kind of error. I have done unforgiveable things toward you. Can you please forgive me?” By openly repenting in this way, we are broadening our own hearts as well. By forgiving ourselves, other people will be able to forgive us. If we are the kind of people we despise, then other people will definitely despise us. Thus, we have to be people who are truly and mindfully accepting of the Dharma and putting it into practice.
As we mentioned earlier, we must learn the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha-Dharma is still in this world, and we must apply it. These days I keep saying that we must apply the Dharma in this world. After we apply it, we must share the good things we learn.
For example, years ago when we built the hospital, many people put in a lot of work. It was very tiring. People, who themselves were not rich, who earned a living through manual labor, found more work in order to support the hospital. Someone even donated his beginning-of-the-year payment from physically doing hard labor. Kind people moved by these acts said, “To help fulfill your goal, I’ll lend you. NT
300,000 right away. I believe you will pay it off through your work. I believe in you. Not only do I believe in you, I will also do the same thing.” This is a mission that benefits others. People who do this beneficial work are Bodhisattvas. In this world, they actively apply the Dharma.
The Buddha teaches us to have loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity and understand how to transform sentient beings. This Dharma is so simple; how can we apply it to help others? Do we help one person or two people? Will this be a short-term or long-term project? This is what we must contemplate. To help one person, only a few people are needed. To save many people, many people are needed. If it will be a short-term project, [we can] simply tell them, “Here is how I will help resolve your problem.” Just doing that makes us happy. This is for the short-term. If we want to help them long-term, then we need to consider the rest of their lives and their future generations.
When a place experiences a disaster, after providing disaster relief, we help them construct shelters and [reestablish] their livelihood. In this way, the suffering of this generation will be relieved. Then, future generations will also benefit. Generation after generation, they will continue to lead safe and secure lives.
So, we must apply the Buddha’s words to ourselves, so we can continue to pass it on in many ways. The Dharma is infinite; from one arises infinity. One single teaching, one phrase of the Dharma, can be applied in various, infinite ways, so it remains in this world and teaches people. When people collectively apply the Dharma, it is living Dharma.
Yesterday we talked about how,
“[After] the Buddha has crossed into extinction, [there] is no Buddha present.” So. “After the Buddha crosses into extinction, those who accept, uphold, read, recite and understand the meaning of sutras such as this are very rare.”
People like this, who, after the Buddha is no longer in the world, after [He] crosses into extinction, can accept and uphold, read and recite, and understand [this sutra’s] meaning, are truly hard to find.
I constantly discuss how we read the sutras and [chant them] during morning recitations and so on. As we chant the sutras, do we think that by doing so the sutra will protect us? It will not. We chant a sutra in the hope that this sutra will not disappear. If we all continue to accept and uphold, read and recite it, this sutra will remain in this world.
By reading and reciting the text aloud, we strengthen our understanding. The mouth chants, the mind understands. We have to read it until we have memorized it to consider ourselves familiar with it. Once we can recite it from memory, then we can say that we have read and recited it. We must do both. As we read it, we need to recite it, repeating [the text] over and over again.
Sometimes, I see some people reading the sutras, but their lips do not move. Many people just look at the sutras without really reading them. “I do not hear anything. But I am reciting the sutra! How come I do not hear anything? I am reading it.” This is just reading, not reciting. To recite the sutras, we need our eyes to read them and we use our mouths to chant them. Otherwise we are only reading. Looking with our eyes is reading, chanting with our mouths is reciting. We must both read and recite at the same time.
Remembering teachings by just looking at them with our eyes is difficult. If we read until [recitation] becomes natural, that is because after we read it, we recited it, and thus we have memorized it.
So, we must [also] accept and uphold it. To accept and uphold, we need to read and recite. Only then can we accept and uphold. If we accept the Dharma, then we need to apply it to ourselves. This is known as accepting and upholding. If we only read, but do not recite, we are only reading the sutra, we are not accepting and upholding it. If we want to accept and uphold, besides reading and reciting, we also need to understand the meaning within. Yet, are there many people who understand? Probably not that many, so “they are very rare” and are very precious.
Those who truly accept, uphold, read and recite, and truly understand the meaning are hard to find, so they are very precious. When these people.
“Encounter other Buddhas, they will then obtain thorough understanding of this Dharma.”
If we can accept, uphold, read, recite and understand the meaning, even in times without Buddhas, we have sutras to read and recite, and can continuously realize their meaning. There is an old saying, “[He is] well-read from previous lives.” Indeed, many young children only need to read or be told something once to know it right away. We frequently [hear of] such child prodigies.
In summary, we really must believe that we read sutras not to ward off disasters or to protect ourselves, but to take [the principles] into our hearts to reach our nature.
To take them into our hearts and our nature is to accept and uphold them. If we can do this, even if we did not encounter the Buddha this time, “encountering other Buddhas” means we will encounter other Buddhas in future lifetimes, not Sakyamuni Buddha. Other Buddhas will come to this world and if we live at the same time as one of Them, if we can do this, we will “obtain thorough understanding of this Dharma.” We will be able to understand all of it.
Look at how, as Sakyamuni Buddha began to give the Lotus Teachings, 5000 people left the assembly. Many of the remaining people still could not really understand [the Dharma]. That requires having read, recited, accepted, upheld and understood its meaning. Though they had sutras to listen to and read, they were not mindful. So, we must know this and understand as much as we can in this life. Then if we encounter a Buddha in a future life, we will be transformed.
“If they encounter other Buddhas,” refers to how the Tathagata appears in the nine realms, not counting the Buddha-realm. Two days ago, I told everyone that including. Buddhas and sentient beings there are ten realms.
If they encounter other Buddhas: When the Tathagata encounter beings of the other nine Dharma-realms, in worlds as numerous as dust, He always teaches this Dharma to tame sentient beings and to enable them to return to the ocean of pure nature.
Aside from the Buddha realm, there are nine other realms. When He is in the other nine Dharma-realms, He uses His perspective as a Buddha to view these sentient beings. They live in worlds as numerous as dust, so there are myriad sentient beings. For these sentient beings, the Buddha “always teaches this Dharma to tame sentient beings to enable them to return to the ocean of pure nature.”
We all have the nature of ordinary people; dust-like delusions, ignorance and afflictions cover our minds. When the Buddha manifested in this world, sentient beings of the other nine Dharma-realms were in worlds as numerous as dust. Each speck of dust is like an entire world. [Worlds include land and oceans;] on our planet, the ocean is larger than the land mass. It is 60 percent ocean and 40 percent land. That is what I have heard. In summary, there are worlds as numerous as dust. You see, for these many sentient beings, the Buddha constantly comes to teach various Dharma, especially this Dharma. “This” refers to the great Dharma. What was this great Dharma? The One Vehicle Dharma, which teaches the Bodhisattva Way. It is just that simple.
So, [He came to] tame sentient beings. Because they are stubborn and hard to tame, He had to find ways for the Dharma to penetrate their minds, ways to train them. This enables people as numerous as dust to return to their intrinsic purity. We talk of the world of the Avatamsaka-assembly. The Avatamsaka state is already the state of the Buddha.
So, I hope we are all mindful as we learn the Buddha’s teachings. We must not be attached to the text; we must put it into practice in daily living. By understanding old teachings with new insight, everything is Dharma. The Dharma comes from very simple things and very simple teachings can be expanded to transform sentient beings. It can expand from a small to a very big scope. The Dharma can be pervasive in worlds as numerous as dust,
So, we must truly value the Buddha-Dharma and apply it in present times. We must encourage each other. Most importantly, we must eliminate our own delusions of views and thinking so we do not hinder ourselves or others. We must help one another perfect our practice. In the present time, in this era, we must promptly and always be mindful.