Episode 907 – The Dharma Fully Nourishes All Parched Minds
>> The Buddha-Dharma responds to the world’s causes and conditions the way dense clouds gather to bring rain and moisture. It removes the world’s fiery afflictions of anger and ignorance. The teachings are given to cool everything down and nurture peace, stability and happiness. In tranquil stillness, one attains the True Dharma.
>> ” The Great Sage, the World-Honored One, in the presence of heavenly beings, humans and the entire assembly, made this proclamation ‘I am the Tathagata, the Two-footed Honored One I have appeared in the world’.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 5 – The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs]
>> “[I am] like a great cloud that fully moistens all withered and dried out sentient beings so that all will be enabled to escape suffering and attain peace, stability and joy, both the joys of this world and the joy of Nirvana.” [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 5 – The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs]
>> [I am] like a great cloud that fully moistens all withered and dried up sentient beings: His reward-body is like a cloud, and the Dharma is like rain, which can fully moisten all things. When people’s hearts cannot be moistened by the Dharma-water, they are withered and dried up sentient beings.
>> All will be enabled to escape suffering: Knowing the teachings of the Four Noble Truths, they can escape the suffering of the evil realms, along with fragmentary samsara and transformational samsara.
>> All sentient beings in the Three Realms and the Six Destinies have limited lifespans where they are born and die. This is called fragmentary samsara. The noble beings of the Three Vehicles have already eliminated delusions of views and thinking and ended fragmentary samsara.
>> As deluded thinking gradually ceases, our awakening gradually increases. These changes are wondrous, unfathomable and inconceivable. Thus this is called transformational samsara.
>> The Dharma-rain fully moistens all withered and dried up sentient beings. That is the vow to deliver countless sentient beings, to enable sentient beings to escape suffering.
>> All will be enabled to escape suffering: He helps them eliminate all afflictions. Causation is the seed of suffering. When the seed is eliminated, there is no fruit of suffering. Thus the Five Precepts enable escape from the suffering of the Three Evil Destinies, and the Ten Good Deeds enable escape from the suffering of the human realm. Hearers can escape from the suffering of the impermanence in the Three Realms, Solitary Realizers can escape the suffering of having to hear the Dharma from others and Bodhisattvas can escape by inwardly having no suffering of benefiting only oneself and outwardly having no suffering of discriminating between oneself and others.
>> [All] attain peace, stability and joy: He enables them to learn all Dharma-doors. The noble path is the cause of joy. By practicing the methods of the noble path, one will attain peace, stability and happiness.
>> Both the joys of the world and the joy of Nirvana is referring to achieving the state of Buddhahood. So, The Buddha did not abide in the Nirvana of the Two Vehicles. Thus He had the worldly joy of delivering beings. The Buddha’s birth and death is different from that of unenlightened beings, thus He had the joy of Great Parinirvana.
>> The joys of the world: Attaining the karmic rewards of birth in the human and heaven realms and receiving the joy of the five desires. The joy of Nirvana: The joy of tranquil extinction brought by the Three Vehicles and the One Vehicle.
>> To fully moisten: To deliver all sentient beings. To enable all: To eliminate all afflictions. Peace and stability: To learn Dharma-doors. Nirvana: To attain Buddhahood.
“The Buddha-Dharma responds to the world’s causes and conditions the way dense clouds gather to bring rain and moisture.
It removes the world’s fiery afflictions of anger and ignorance.
The teachings are given to cool everything down and
nurture peace, stability and happiness.
In tranquil stillness, one attains the True Dharma.”
The Buddha-Dharma responds to the world’s causes and conditions. In this evil world of Five Turbidities, sentient beings’ minds are like parched land that needs rain immediately. Where does the rain we need come from? There must be a gathering of dense clouds for there to be rain to universally moisten the earth. If the Dharma-water universally moistens us, naturally this “removes the world’s fiery afflictions of anger and ignorance.” With fiery and deluded afflictions, we need the rain to universally moisten us. Having rain and dew is like the Buddha-Dharma being taught. Teachings are given to cool everything down. When the fiery afflictions of the mind are cooled down, that nourishes our peace, stability and happiness. If people in the world take the Dharma to heart and everyone’s mind can be open and understanding, then we can be joyful, peaceful, stable and happy. What is most important is for the mind to be able to be tranquil and still and attain the True Dharma. Thus the Buddha-Dharma responds to the causes and conditions of this world. The Buddha hoped He could spread the principles even more widely so that everyone could accept them.
This is like what happened after the Buddha attained enlightenment. King Suddhodhana was hoping for his son, the World-Honored One who attained Buddhahood, to return to the kingdom of Kapilavastu; this is like that story. When the Buddha asked for alms in the kingdom of Kapilavastu, He transformed many people. The Buddha-Dharma responds to the world’s causes and conditions, so He returned to His home country to transform everyone from the nobles to the regular people throughout the kingdom. Then, when the causes and conditions were mature,
the Buddha left the kingdom of Kapilavastu for the kingdom of Varanasi. At this time, Maitreya entered the city to beg for alms. On seeing such a dignified person, everyone surrounded him. The many people surrounding him felt great respect for him, but no one placed food into his alms bowl. Just then, a master pearl-stringer saw that this dignified monastic’s alms bowl was empty. So, he asked, “Would you like to follow me home? I will make you an offering of food.” So, Maitreya followed him home.
Then the master pearl-stringer made offerings to Maitreya and listened to Maitreyateach him the Dharma. He became very happy as he listened. But around this same time, an elder who was about to marry off his daughter had sent him a box of pearls, hoping that this pearl-stringer would string them into a pearl headdress for his daughter to bring as her dowry. The elder had brought the pearls by earlier, but the man just kept listening to the Dharma. Listening to the Dharma made him very happy, but it delayed his work on these pearls. The elder could wait no longer, so he took the pearls back. Thus, this master pearl-stringer lost 100,000 coins in wages. His wife was very angry and kept scolding him. As the master pearl-stringer was being angrily scolded by his wife, he too gave rise to fiery afflictions. At this time, no matter how afflicted he felt, he knew he had to find a way to eliminate his afflictions. So, he followed Maitreya to the abode.
There, AjnataKaundinya talked to the pearl-stringer, telling him, “Actually, if one can make offerings to a spiritual practitioner advanced in cultivation and pure in heart, the merits and virtues from that will far surpass the value of any worldly wealth.” After that, Sariputra, Maudgalyayana and the others, using many analogies, described pure-hearted spiritual practitioners who received offerings, and the merits and virtues of the people making such offerings. Then the pearl-stringer’s mind opened up again, and he became very happy.
This meant that he had taken the Dharma to heart and attained realization. He said that the happiness from obtaining material wealth was only temporary, but the happiness he felt from attaining the Buddha-Dharma completely penetrated his heart. When the True Dharma arose in his mind, none of the things and matters he saw in the world could cause his mind to give rise to afflictions. Thus, the Buddha-Dharma spread in this country.
This is all due to causes and conditions. The Buddha guided His Sangha to travel around and transform people in this world. With the direct teachings of the Buddha and the extensive affinities created by the Sangha, everyone would be able to achieve tranquility and attain the True Dharma. This is why the Dharma must be spread
The previous sutra passage says, “The Great Sage, the World-Honored One, in the presence of heavenly beings, humans and the entire assembly, made this proclamation ‘I am the Tathagata, the Two-footed Honored One I have appeared in the world’.”
While the Buddha was in the assembly, He wanted all to have even more faith. Thus, He proclaimed to all, “I am the Tathagata, the Two-footed Honored One. I have appeared in the world.”
The next sutra passage goes on to say, “[I am] like a great cloud that fully moistens all withered and dried out sentient beings so that all will be enabled to escape suffering and attain peace, stability and joy, both the joys of this world and the joy of Nirvana.”
This sutra passage begins to help everyone understand that when the clouds have already gathered, the Dharma-rain will begin to fall universally to moisten withered and dried up sentient beings. So, the reward-body is like the clouds and the Dharma is like the rain. When the Buddha manifests in the world, it means the world will soon have the Dharma. So the Dharma is like rain; it moistens all things.
“When people’s hearts do not have the Dharma-water to moisten them, they are called withered and dried up sentient beings”
[I am] like a great cloud that fully moistens all withered and dried up sentient beings: His reward-body is like a cloud, and the Dharma is like rain, which can fully moisten all things. When people’s hearts cannot be moistened by the Dharma-water, they are withered and dried up sentient beings.
The Dharma responds to this world. Why is it that we need the Dharma-rain? We can use an analogy for how people’s minds have not been moistened by the Dharma-water, so they have become dry and withered. Thus, they are called “withered and dried up sentient beings.” Their minds are completely arid. Even if there are plants, they are dried up. It is also difficult for seeds to grow there. This represents how there is ignorance in the minds of sentient beings who have not been moistened by Dharma-water. If our withered and dried up minds can be moistened by the Dharma-water, then “All will be enabled to escape suffering.” If our minds are moistened by Dharma-water, naturally we can be liberated from suffering and leave the evil realms.
All will be enabled to escape suffering: Knowing the teachings of the Four Noble Truths, they can escape the suffering of the evil realms, along with fragmentary samsara and transformational samsara.
So, the Buddha taught the Dharma using the Four Noble Truths. If we all can accept the Four Noble Truths, we will understand that suffering in this world is caused by the accumulation of many afflictions. Because we create many karmic causes, our birth in the Six Realms is beyond our control. We bring karma into this life and suffer, then reproduce our afflictions and ignorance so we continue to suffer. Thus, the Buddha came to this world not only to teach humans and heavenly beings the Ten Good Deeds and the Five Precepts, but also to teach spiritual practitioners how to transcend the cycle of birth and death “so that all will be enabled to escape suffering.” He taught “the teachings of the Four Noble Truths for us to escape the suffering of evil realms” and the suffering of “fragmentary samsara” and “transformational samsara.”
Thus the Buddha used the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence to explain this in detail to practitioners in the hope that we can transcend samsara, fragmentary samsara and transformational samsara.
All sentient beings in the Three Realms and the Six Destinies have limited lifespans where they are born and die. This is called fragmentary samsara. The noble beings of the Three Vehicles have already eliminated delusions of views and thinking and ended fragmentary samsara.
“All sentient beings in the Three Realms and the Six Destinies” have a limited lifespan. They experience birth and death, or “fragmentary samsara.” But the noble beings of the Three Vehicles who accepted the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence have already “eliminated delusions of views and thinking.” So, they can transcend fragmentary samsara. They no longer create karma out of delusion and then bring that karma into their next life. They will not do this any more. They will not bring karma into their next life, so “Their deluded thinking gradually ceases.”
As deluded thinking gradually ceases, our awakening gradually increases. These changes are wondrous, unfathomable and inconceivable. Thus this is called transformational samsara.
As we slowly eliminate delusions from our minds, deluded thinking will cease, and we gradually understand the Buddha-Dharma. The more we understand, the more Dharma we realize; this is our understanding. So, with the Dharma, we gradually progress
There are numerous forms and appearances in this world. “These changes are wondrous and unfathomable.” This refers to our mind. With our mind, we can do good and engage in spiritual practice, or we can commit evils and create conflict. This is truly frightening. Our minds are truly inconceivable. This is the way our minds are. Now that we are engaging in spiritual practice, we understand that the changes in our minds are unfathomable. We understand that in our minds there is transformational samsara. We must practice flawless Dharma; we must be firm in cultivating precepts, Samadhi and wisdom and strengthen our spiritual aspirations. This is how we end transformational samsara. This requires a great deal of effort.
So, the Buddha comes to this world to spread the Dharma-rain ․”The Dharma-rain fully moistens all withered and dried up sentient beings.” That is the vow “to deliver countless sentient beings,” to enable sentient beings to escape suffering.
The Dharma-rain fully moistens all withered and dried up sentient beings. That is the vow to deliver countless sentient beings, to enable sentient beings to escape suffering.
If we accept the Buddha-Dharma, we should not benefit only ourselves, but benefit others as well. We need to eliminate our afflictions before we can deliver sentient beings and enable them to escape suffering. This is “helping them eliminate all afflictions.” There are many afflictions; we must eliminate them all
All will be enabled to escape suffering: He helps them eliminate all afflictions. Causation is the seed of suffering. When the seed is eliminated, there is no fruit of suffering. Thus the Five Precepts enable escape from the suffering of the Three Evil Destinies, and the Ten Good Deeds enable escape from the suffering of the human realm. Hearers can escape from the suffering of the impermanence in the Three Realms, Solitary Realizers can escape the suffering of having to hear the Dharma from others and Bodhisattvas can escape by inwardly having no suffering of benefiting only oneself and outwardly having no suffering of discriminating between oneself and others.
To eliminate afflictions we must eliminate the causes of suffering. We must understand “causation,” how our minds’ connecting to external conditions gives rise to afflictions. Right now, we must know that we must not be deluded by external phenomena. We must quickly eliminate the causes of suffering we have accumulated. By eliminating these causes, we will not experience their painful effects.
Take the Five Precepts for example. The Buddha taught them to sentient beings to enable them to leave the Three Evil Destinies, the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. By upholding the precepts, we will not fall into the Three Evil Destinies. The Buddha also taught sentient beings the Ten Good Deeds so that they can transcend the human realm, the place where the Five Destinies coexist, and all the suffering here. That is the blessing of being born in heaven.
Of course, those who resolved to practice, the Hearers, want to transcend the suffering of impermanence in the Three Realms. Thus, the Buddha taught them the Four Noble Truths so they could free themselves of the causes of suffering in the Three Realms. Solitary Realizers can connect to conditions and thus analyze the principles [on their own]. As for Bodhisattvas, they inwardly “have no suffering of benefiting only oneself and outwardly have no suffering of discriminating between oneself and others.” They form great aspirations and make great vows to benefit everyone. They are not selfish and do not discriminate between themselves and others. They always manifest the spirit of great love. Lay practitioners can be this way, and monastics can also be this way. This makes them Bodhisattvas. Inwardly and outwardly, they are selfless and do not discriminate. If we can be like this, we will “attain peace, stability and joy.”
[All] attain peace, stability and joy: He enables them to learn all Dharma-doors. The noble path is the cause of joy. By practicing the methods of the noble path, one will attain peace, stability and happiness.
The Buddha gave sentient beings many teachings. Whether the Five Precepts, the Ten Good Deeds, the Four Noble Truths or the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, the most important is actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions. This means [practicing] all Dharma-doors.
“The noble path is the cause of joy.” If we take the Buddha-Dharma to heart, every day we leisurely swim in the Dharma-sea. This is the noble path; in the ocean of enlightened wisdom, we are immersed in wisdom. We “deeply penetrate the sutra treasury and have wisdom like the ocean.” So, “by practicing the methods of the noble path,” we will attain peace, stability and happiness
Both the joys of the world and the joy of Nirvana is referring to achieving the state of Buddhahood. So, The Buddha did not abide in the Nirvana of the Two Vehicles. Thus He had the worldly joy of delivering beings. The Buddha’s birth and death is different from that of unenlightened beings, thus He had the joy of Great Parinirvana.
Unlike Hearers and Solitary Realizers, who focus only on transcending their own samsara, He repeatedly returns to this world. “The Buddha’s birth and death is different from that of unenlightened beings.” The Buddha repeatedly returns to this world by journeying on the Dharma. He comes journeying on the Dharma of True Suchness to transform sentient beings in response to their conditions. He is not like us unenlightened beings; we bring karma with us and do not know from where we come, to where we go. He is not like this. Thus, “He had the joy of Great Parinirvana.” Great Parinirvana means. He has eliminated all samsara, and when He comes to this world, He returns on the ship of compassion to universally deliver sentient beings
The joys of the world: Attaining the karmic rewards of birth in the human and heaven realms and receiving the joy of the five desires. The joy of Nirvana: The joy of tranquil extinction brought by the Three Vehicles and the One Vehicle.
Coming to this world, though we live among people we can be the rich among the rich, those who are rich in possessions and enjoyment, but also have the hearts of Bodhisattvas, rich in open and expansive love. This is having the joy of the five desires but not becoming contaminated by these desires.
Then there is “the joy of Nirvana, the joy of tranquil extinction brought by the Three Vehicles and the One Vehicle.” Whether we practice the Three Vehicles or the One, we will be full of Dharma-joy and very happy, without afflictions of gain and loss
To fully moisten: To deliver all sentient beings. To enable all: To eliminate all afflictions. Peace and stability: To learn Dharma-doors. Nirvana: To attain Buddhahood.
[Our minds are] “fully moistened.” Because our minds are dry, because the fields in our minds are arid, we need rain and dew to fully moisten them. By helping us take the Dharma to heart, He is delivering sentient beings and enabling all to attain peace and joy. This helps all sentient beings to eliminate afflictions so they can have the stability to learn the Dharma. When our minds follow the direction of the Dharma, naturally we will be peaceful and stable.
In “the joy of Nirvana,” Nirvana refers to Parinirvana or great Nirvana. This is unlike Small Vehicle [practitioners] who only benefit themselves. He does not remain in an unenlightened state, yet also does not have the afflictions of samsara as He repeatedly returns to this world. This make Him the Buddha
The Buddha comes to this world for one great cause. He comes so that when the causes and conditions are mature, He can be like a great cloud gathering to bring rain to moisten the earth. Then sentient beings who have accepted the Dharma, who are moistened by the Dharma-water, can attain tranquil stillness and true principles. If we can eliminate afflictions from our minds, our pure nature of True Suchness will manifest. This is the direction we are pursuing. So, we must always be mindful!