Episode 866 – We Return to the One Vehicle with Faith
>> The Buddha, over boundless great kalpas, has steered the ship of compassion across the sea. Forever upholding compassion, He seeks Bodhi and delivers all to the other shore. With faith and understanding that the Three Vehicles are the One True Dharma, we resonate with the Buddha’s intent. The only way to truly repay His grace is to accept the teachings and walk the Bodhisattva-path.
>> The Chapter on Faith and Understanding and the two previous chapters explain how as skillful means, the Buddha established the Three Vehicles, which eventually return to the One True Dharma. This was for the sake of those with average capabilities, who could not yet awaken through His teaching of the Dharma to understand the principles of their nature.
>> These four great disciples of the Buddha heard the wondrous Dharma He had expounded and gave rise to Right Thinking and faith in the true path of the One Vehicle, leading to wondrous understanding, deep realization and penetrating insight.
>> Sariputra, with his great capabilities, heard the Buddha speak and faithfully accepted and understood. From Sariuputra’s description, we can see the Buddha did not need to use many words to awaken him. As for Subhuti and the three others, after understanding, they told the Parable of the Poor Son, which was especially lengthy. For this reason, the Chapter on. Faith and Understanding was established.
>> The Chapter on Faith and Understanding can actually be called the Parable of the Poor Son. In particular, this parable can only be taught after faith and understanding are established. Faith and understanding are the foundation, while the parable is the end result, hence the name of the Chapter on Faith and Understanding.
>> In the past, Subhuti and others may have understood the Three, but had no faith in the One, or they may have had faith in the Three, but did not understand the One. Today, after listening to the teachings and the parable, they understood the One and also had faith in the Three.
>> Entering the Great Vehicle and realizing the path is called having faith. Aspiring to cultivate the path of the Great Vehicle is called understanding.
>> With faith, we turn from the Small to the Great. With understanding, we know we will certainly attain Buddhahood.
>> By understanding the provisional and the true, through faith we return to the One Vehicle. By listening to the perfect teachings, we enter the perfect state.
>> A state of perfect harmony is replete with the Four Siddhantas and the Four All-Embracing Virtues. Thus it is called the Chapter on Faith and Understanding.
>> The Four Siddhantas: 1. The mundane world siddhanta. 2. The individual siddhanta. 3. The curative siddhanta. 4. The supreme meaning siddhanta.
“The Buddha, over boundless great kalpas, has steered the ship of compassion across the sea.
Forever upholding compassion, He seeks Bodhi and delivers all to the other shore.
With faith and understanding that the Three Vehicles are the One True Dharma, we resonate with the Buddha’s intent.
The only way to truly repay His grace is to accept the teachings and walk the Bodhisattva-path.”
This verse is to tell everyone that in order to truly repay the Buddha’s grace, we must understand how great the Buddha’s grace toward us is
[He crossed] the boundless sea of great kalpas. Great kalpas are a very long period of time, a period of time that is incalculable. So, it is called a sea of great kalpas. To us, a couple of decades make up a lifetime. We also [know] that from the Buddha’s lifetime to the present, it has been more than 2000 years. This is a length of time that is calculable. In fact, though the Buddha attained Buddhahood more than 2000 years ago, before attaining Buddhahood, throughout the boundless sea of great kalpas, He continually steered the ship of compassion to come to the Five Realms and four forms of birth. He seized opportunities to cultivate affinities with the beings He met and form assisting conditions. He also developed His wisdom while among sentient beings. Cultivating both blessings and wisdom all depends on our minds; this mindset is one of “forever upholding compassion [and] seeking Bodhi.”
We should all remember that the Buddha formed His initial aspiration when. He saw sentient beings suffering in hell. He personally experienced suffering and saw the suffering of sentient beings, thus He gave rise to a thought of compassion. As His compassion arose, He sought Bodhi, the path to enlightenment. He did not only want to enlighten Himself, He also wanted to deliver sentient beings to the other shore. This is the Buddha’s heartfelt wish. So, for such a long time, [the Buddha] has solely worked to deliver sentient beings, giving His time to help others out of His compassion.
How can we repay the Buddha’s grace? We must have faith and understanding that the Three Vehicles are the One True Dharma. The Buddha hoped that everyone could have faith and understanding. Now, we must realize that the Three Vehicles taught in the past were actually the Buddha’s true intent, the One True Dharma. This One True Dharma is the enlightened nature of True Suchness that everyone intrinsically possesses. The Buddha wants to tell us that if we can all “resonate with the Buddha’s intent” and draw close to His mind, we will understand that we all inherently have Buddha-nature. This means that if we want to repay His grace, as long as we have faith and understanding, we know no matter what method the Buddha uses, His sole purpose is to teach us how to become awakened.
“The only way to truly repay His grace is to accept the teachings.” The Buddha wants us to not merely accept the teachings. As we learn these teachings, we must truly put the Bodhisattva-path into action in order to comprehend sentient beings’ ways of thinking and the source of their creating suffering. Then, we will be able to transform sentient beings. We must not only awaken ourselves, we must also awaken others. Only this will truly repay the Buddha’s grace.
The Buddha hopes we will fully understand the truth of suffering, how suffering is created, how the causes of suffering are accumulated and how this becomes a boundless sea of suffering with 10,000 surging waves. Layer upon layer, these waves continually surge like this. This is something that cannot be fully explained in two or three sentences. The Buddha wants us to experience it ourselves. So, we must have faith and understanding.
The Chapter on Faith and Understanding comes after the Chapter on Parables, and before the Chapter on Parables is the Chapter on Skillful Means. The Chapter on Skillful Means talks about establishing the Three Vehicles. The Buddha taught the Dharma His whole life by using skillful means
The Chapter on Faith and Understanding and the two previous chapters explain how as skillful means, the Buddha established the Three Vehicles, which eventually return to the One True Dharma. This was for the sake of those with average capabilities, who could not yet awaken through His teaching of the Dharma to understand the principles of their nature.
Thus, in the Introductory Chapter, [the Buddha] emitted a light, which was different from past assemblies. These were things that never occurred before. Everyone was waiting for the Buddha and wondering if He was still going to teach the Dharma further. At this time, He manifested many auspicious signs. Manjusri Bodhisattva then began to speak about the Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddhas. This is mentioned in the Introductory Chapter.
After the Buddha emerged from Samadhi, He continuously praised the state of Buddhahood and the Buddha-wisdom. The Chapter of Skillful Means expounds on the Buddha’s wisdom, the wisdom of all Dharma, all-encompassing wisdom, wisdom of enlightenment and so on. The depth of these roots of wisdom are explained in the Chapter of Skillful Means.
This continued until Sariputra began to realize the Buddha was not teaching in the usual way. So, Sariputra continued to ask whether the Buddha could explain more clearly so that everyone could understand the Buddha’s “profound, profound, infinitely profound” great wisdom, the state of His mind, the state of enlightenment. The Buddha understood Sariputra’s wisdom; he had truly comprehended the Buddha’s intent. Thus, in the Chapter on Parables, He began to bestow a prediction of. Buddhahood on Sariputra.
So, the Chapter on Skillful Means already describes the wisdom of the Buddha. The wisdom of the Buddha is the Dharma; everything in the universe is encompassed by the Buddha’s ocean of enlightenment. This very profound wisdom had already been brought together; this the path of the One Vehicle. The true principles of all things in the universe can be summed up as the One Reality Vehicle, the nature of True Suchness. This is returning from the Three to the One; it is returning from the Three Vehicles to the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle. “This was for the sake of people with average capabilities, who could not yet awaken through His teaching of the Dharma.” People with average capabilities, Hearers and Solitary Realizers, those with average capabilities, were unable to comprehend the One Reality Dharma and could not “understand principles of their nature.” They just could not comprehend.
This is what the Buddha observed of His disciples with average capabilities. Although, among the disciples of the Buddha, Sariputra was the foremost in wisdom, he was still considered to have average capabilities. So, in the Chapter on Skillful Means, the Buddha continually praised [this]. It was not until the Chapter on Parables that Sariputra finally opened up his mind and understood his capabilities were not just average. Even with average capabilities, he had already unlocked his wisdom and penetrated the subtle truths; He had now reached a state of great capabilities. His great capabilities had already surfaced. So, he received a prediction of Buddhahood. “You finally understand. You can attain Buddhahood in the future.”
These four great disciples of the Buddha heard the wondrous Dharma He had expounded and gave rise to Right Thinking and faith in the true path of the One Vehicle, leading to wondrous understanding, deep realization and penetrating insight.
Next, because of this prediction of Buddhahood, these four great disciples, Subhuti, Mahakasyapa, Mahakatyayana and Maudgalyayana, saw the Buddha confirm that. Sariputra would be able to attain Buddhahood. These “four great disciples of the Buddha heard the wondrous Dharma He had expounded and gave rise to Right Thinking and faith in the true path of the One Vehicle, leading to wondrous understanding, deep realization and penetrating insight.” These four disciples had begun to understand the wondrous Dharma that the Buddha taught. The Three Vehicles in the past had now become the One Vehicle, the true path. Everyone should be able to understand. So, now they “gave rise to Right Thinking.” They had to earnestly contemplate, needed to have Right Thinking. They had to earnestly use Right Mindfulness to [comprehend] the Buddha’s original intent. They had to earnestly use subtle and intricate insight to thoroughly understand the principles and enter the broad and great direct Bodhi-path. They knew they must continue down this path.
Sariputra, with his great capabilities, heard the Buddha speak and faithfully accepted and understood. From Sariuputra’s description, we can see the Buddha did not need to use many words to awaken him. As for Subhuti and the three others, after understanding, they told the Parable of the Poor Son, which was especially lengthy. For this reason, the Chapter on. Faith and Understanding was established.
This shows that, “Sariputra, with his great capabilities,” had heard what the Buddha taught and faithfully accepted and understood it. Sariputra had faithfully accepted and understood. He was very straightforward, [saying,]. “I believe in the Buddha’s intent. With the wisdom taught by the Buddha, I can experience and awaken myself.” This is how Sariputra’s mind and the Buddha’s mind already resonated as one. So, describing it was simple; not much text was required for everyone to be able to understand this.
As for Subhuti and the three others, although they also understood the teachings, their kind of understanding was different from Sariputra’s understanding. So, these four great disciples described the Parable of the Poor Son. The passages about the poor son are so long, all describing the minds of ordinary people. They also describe those spiritual practitioners. Though they had been at the Buddha’s side, they were still unable to comprehend and awaken to the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma. They thought it was exclusive to the Buddha. They thought they only had to seek liberation from samsara. They did not know that to escape from samsara they still had to [eliminate] traces of ignorance. Our mind is similar to water in a lake. When nothing comes, it is quiet, and we will be clear on everything. But, if even a tiny pebble or a tiny leaf is thrown into the water, it will cause the water to ripple.
The Buddha hoped we would cultivate our minds and eliminate afflictions. “Good, you have eliminated afflictions. Now you should immediately go among people without being contaminated by them. When afflictions come, do you train yourself? If you do, they will seem like small matters. You can simply be calm and let them go.” This is a settled mind. When we are unattached to things of this world and can let go of interpersonal conflicts, then our minds will remain settled and at ease. This is the reason we must go among people, to be refined, as if in a furnace. With refinement and reforging, things can recover their intrinsic quality. They will become fine things again. The same principle [applies to humans]. So, we must put effort into being mindful.
As for Subhuti and the other three, they were the Buddha’s senior disciples. They all understood that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature, but they themselves had walked a circuitous path. Now they finally understood. So, the analogy described here, that of the poor son, is a very long passage. As we have been saying for a long time, the Chapter on Faith and Understanding can actually be called the Parable of the Poor Son
The Chapter on Faith and Understanding can actually be called the Parable of the Poor Son. In particular, this parable can only be taught after faith and understanding are established. Faith and understanding are the foundation, while the parable is the end result, hence the name of the Chapter on Faith and Understanding.
In particular, this parable can only be taught after faith and understanding are established. It is only after gaining faith and understanding that the analogy of the poor son could be told. Previously, in the Chapter on Parables, there was the Parable of the Burning House. The burning house and three carts are analogies. The elder enticed his children to come out using the three carts. Everyone aspired to take the great white ox-cart and deliver themselves and others. Everyone understood this [analogy], and Sariputra was given a prediction of Buddhahood so now they all had faith and understanding. After this, the Parable of the Poor Son was taught in the [Chapter on] Faith and Understanding.
So, “Faith and understanding are the foundation,” while the parable is the end result. Actually, the most fundamental and important are faith and understanding. After faith and understanding were established, [the disciples] expressed their state of mind. “Our past state of mind was like this. Because we now have faith and understanding, we can speak of the past and how much time we spent [seeking]. Now we can finally realize this.”
In the past, Subhuti and others may have understood the Three, but had no faith in the One, or they may have had faith in the Three, but did not understand the One. Today, after listening to the teachings and the parable, they understood the One and also had faith in the Three.
So, in the past, Subhuti and everyone [had] “understood the Three but had no faith in the One.” They understood the Three Vehicles, but did not believe in the One Vehicle Dharma. Or they may have “had faith in the Three, but did not understand the One.” They believed in the Three Vehicles, but could not understand the One Vehicle Dharma. That was all in the past. “Today, after listening to the teachings and the parable, they understood the One and also had faith in the Three.” They “understood the One.” They understood the One Vehicle Dharma and also believed in the Three Vehicles that the Buddha taught. They understood all of this now.
Entering the Great Vehicle and realizing the path is called having faith. Aspiring to cultivate the path of the Great Vehicle is called understanding.
Now they entered the broad path, the great, direct Bodhi-path, this great road “[This] is called having faith.” Now they were willing to walk this road, the great Bodhi-path, this direct path. “Aspiring to cultivate the path of the Great Vehicle” means we must have Great Vehicle aspirations and walk the great Bodhi-path. This is truly “understanding” the Dharma.
With faith, we turn from the Small to the Great. With understanding, we know we will certainly attain Buddhahood.
“With faith, we turn from the Small to the Great.” Because we have faith, “the source of the Way, mother of merits,” we now turn from the Small to the Great. The Small Vehicle Dharma of the past has been set aside. Now, we are turning to the Great Vehicle. “With understanding, we know we will certainly attain Buddhahood.” We believe, so now we eliminate the selfishness of benefiting ourselves. We have opened up our limited selves to include all things of the universe and treat all sentient beings as one. So, now we have broadened our minds. Because of this, we understand. Because we understand, one day we can also attain Buddhahood.
By understanding the provisional and the true, through faith we return to the One Vehicle. By listening to the perfect teachings, we enter the perfect state.
“By understanding the provisional and the true…”. The Buddha opened up the provisional to reveal the true. Now they fully understood it. “Through faith we return to the One Vehicle.” We have this faith now. We believe in the True Dharma of the One Vehicle;]. It is the perfect teachings; it is truly perfect. We believe that the Three Vehicles taught before also began with the One Vehicle. We now believe in the Buddha and that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. In the future, we can also attain Buddhahood and return to the nature of True Suchness. This is called the “perfect teachings.” They are very complete and perfect teachings. Everyone already realizes and understands this, so this is being in “a state of perfect harmony”
A state of perfect harmony is replete with the Four Siddhantas and the Four All-Embracing Virtues. Thus it is called the Chapter on Faith and Understanding.
“A state of perfect harmony….” We talked about the Four Siddhantas before. As we mentioned earlier, the Four Siddhantas refer to universally giving in this world. We can universally give to the world. The individual siddhanta is to give to people. The curative siddhanta is the many methods to cure the afflictions of sentient beings. The Dharma we obtain is “the supreme meaning.”
The Four Siddhantas: 1. The mundane world siddhanta. 2. The individual siddhanta. 3. The curative siddhanta. 4. The supreme meaning siddhanta.
All the Dharma that we obtain can also be given universally to sentient beings. So, the Four Siddhantas are universal giving.
We also need the Four All-Embracing Virtues. We must go among people to benefit sentient beings. We give to sentient beings, use loving speech and collaborative work. In this way, we will be able to attain Buddhahood, not merely seek to benefit ourselves.
Dear Bodhisattvas, the grace that the Buddha gives to sentient beings is truly great. In the boundless sea of great kalpas, He steers the ship of compassion, upholding compassion, seeking Bodhi and delivering sentient beings to the other shore. Think about it; with such great grace, how can we ever repay Him? The only way is by what the Buddha hopes for us, which is to have faith and understanding and to truly transform sentient beings. We must faithfully accept and practice and transform sentient beings. This is the way to repay the Buddha’s grace. Therefore, we must always be mindful.