Author: Scott Ogata

Episode 860 – Only Offerings of Dharma Can Repay the Buddha

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>> To benefit all life, having compassion is the prerequisite. To wade through our existence, being patient is the foundation. To teach the Dharma, this is how we can benefit ourselves and others.

>> “Providing offerings with our hands and feet, fully prostrating to pay respect, all the offerings we make could never repay His grace. If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, and fully express our respect….”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Next, [If we were to] offer wonderful meals, countless articles of precious clothing, and all sorts of bedding, various kinds of medicine, or use ox-head sandalwood and all kinds of treasures to build stupas and temples, or cover the ground with precious cloth….”      [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> This refers to the offerings of material wealth, which are food, clothing, bedding and medicines. These are the Four Offerings.

>> After the Buddha entered Parinirvana, practitioners used precious sandalwood to build stupas to protect His sariras. Making offerings like this over kalpas numerous as the Ganges’s sand still cannot requite [the Buddha’s grace].

>> Why are we still unable to requite it? Of all offerings, the offering of the Dharma is the foremost. Only the offering of the Dharma. can truly repay the Buddha’s grace.

>> Because all Tathagatas respect the Buddha-Dharma, following and practicing what is taught gives birth to all Buddhas.

>> [If we were to] offer wonderful meals, countless articles of precious clothing, and all sorts of bedding, various kinds of medicine: We may offer fine and wonderful food, countless kinds of expensive and precious clothing and all sorts of beds and mattresses to lie on. Or we may offer all kinds of superior medicine.

>> Ox-head sandalwood: Break-away-from-Defilement Mountain is also called Lanka Mountain. The most precious fragrant wood comes from there. If ground into powder and applied to the body, fire will not burn the body.

>> The [Sutra of] Mindfulness of Right Dharma says: There is a mountain in Uttarakuru called Tall Mountain which produces ox-head sandalwood. The peak of this mountain is shaped like an ox head, and on this peak grows many sandalwood trees.

>> [If we were to use] all kinds of precious treasures to build stupas and temples: They use fragrant woods and all sorts of precious materials to build all kinds of stupas and temples for the Buddha.

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To benefit all life, having compassion is the prerequisite. To wade through our existence, being patient is the foundation. To teach the Dharma, as such, we can benefit ourselves and others.

“This is how we can benefit ourselves and others.” We must be mindful! We have been talking about how the Buddha comes to this world in hopes that everyone who hears the Dharma will be able to comprehend. With faith and understanding, we can take the Dharma to heart and turn its principles into something we can apply. This is the Buddha’s greatest hope and. His purpose in coming to this world.

Unfortunately, we sentient beings always have ignorance and afflictions obstructing the path before us. So, the Buddha continues to mindfully [teach] according to sentient beings’ capabilities. Whatever our capabilities, He uses methods and principles suitable for us to teach us the Dharma.

The Buddha spent decades teaching in this way. Look at His disciples; how much Dharma did they actually comprehend? Though they formed aspirations and practiced according to the teachings, the more they listened, the more they felt that the world [was filled with] suffering and worried that people, matters and things would contaminate their minds. So, they became increasingly scared and increasingly only wanted to care for themselves. They did not dare to contrive affinities with sentient beings.

“The Buddha said the Bodhisattva Way is about engaging with worldly matters. He must be teaching it for people in the world to go among the people in order to transform sentient beings. Although the Bodhisattva Way is good, He was not teaching it for me.” The Buddha saw that His disciples remained the same; they had not yet given rise to great aspirations. He was growing old, and His conditions for transforming this world were coming to an end. After He entered Parinirvana, who would pass on the Dharma? It had to be monastic practitioners who would transmit the Dharma-lineage. To do this, without forming great aspirations and great vows and teaching by example, how would they go among people to inspire them to become Living Bodhisattvas? So, the Buddha began to continuously praise [the Buddha-wisdom] at the Lotus Dharma-assembly. In the Chapter on Skillful Means, He continuously praised the Buddha-wisdom.

Everyone including Sariputra felt that the Buddha’s wisdom was profound and unlimited; it includes wisdom of all Dharma, natural wisdom, untaught wisdom, all-encompassing wisdom, wisdom of enlightenment and many other kinds. With this, Sariputra gave rise to a joyful heart. He repeatedly asked the Buddha to explain everything in more detail and analyze the Buddha’s wisdom and the state of the Buddha’s mind to know what state these have reached.

The Buddha then began to make this analysis, and as Sariputra comprehended the Buddha-mind, he began to form great aspirations and make great vows; he was willing to pass on the Dharma-lineage. The Buddha bestowing a prediction of Buddhahood on him inspired many to have confidence in themselves. “If Sariputra can attain Buddhahood in the future, we should be able to as well.” Thus, they began to contemplate. They became repentant. They repented that in the past they had been walking in place on this path. They just continued to practice [the teachings of] suffering, causation, cessation and the Path. Some actually asked, “How will the Bodhisattva-path benefit me? Even if I only seek to awaken myself, at least I will not fall back into the Six Realms and the four forms of birth.” For this reason, they were unable to open up their hearts. Now, they understood. “I should also comprehend, better understand, how to truly realize the Buddha-mind and attain a state equal to the Buddha’s. I should know how to do that.”

“As the Buddha engaged in spiritual practice, life after life His spiritual aspirations never changed. What about us?” Ordinary people form spiritual aspirations and earnestly engage in spiritual practice, then retreat from their aspirations midway, so they fall back [into the Six Realms]. However, for a long period of time, for countless kalpas, Sakyamuni Buddha [practiced] without interruption. By seeking the Dharma and transforming others in this way, He was able to attain Buddhahood. Now we understand that after benefiting ourselves, we must benefit all life; we must also benefit other people. We do not just practice for our own sake; we do it for everyone in the world. We must be concerned with all worldly matters and cherish all life in the world. Benefiting all things begins with compassion.

“To benefit all life, having compassion is the prerequisite. To wade through our existence, being patient is the foundation.” The willingness to give is compassion, as we cannot bear for sentient beings to suffer. We just want them to attain peace and happiness; we do not seek to enjoy anything in return. But, in order to transform sentient beings and go among people, we must go through a lot. “To wade through” means to undergo, to experience, to deal with many worldly matters and things. We must patiently endure so much! People, matters and things are very complicated. When we go among people, when we take on a responsibility, we have to endure many things. Since we formed aspirations to go among people, we face many people, matters and things; this is truly very taxing. Thus, we must have patience as our foundation. Compassion is the prerequisite and patience is the foundation. So, we must have a spacious heart and be able to patiently endure the challenges. This is having patience as our foundation.

“To teach the Dharma, being selfless is the root.” To teach the Dharma, we cannot be attached to ourselves, [thinking,] “I can teach the Dharma. I am so amazing.” Even the Buddha said, “The Dharma teacher has no Dharma to teach,” This is because the Dharma is a natural principle. Where is the Dharma actually stored? It is not stored anywhere. It is a natural principle. It has always been there. The Dharma has always been in our minds. If our minds are open, free of discursive thoughts, afflictions and selfish thoughts about personal gains, we can open up our hearts and not be attached to our limited self. Every corner [of this world] contains its own principles.

This is because everything in the world is Dharma. The universe is filled with true principles. As long as our wisdom is unlocked and our minds are free of afflictions, if we have eliminated our attachment and habitual tendencies, what other Dharma is there to speak of? “To teach the Dharma, being selfless is the root.” Our hearts and minds must be very open so that we can see all things in the world and the principles of the laws of nature. This means we must let go of our limited self. Then we can find principles everywhere. This is what we must learn. Truly, our minds must be open. “This is how we can benefit ourselves and others.” If we can achieve this, then we can benefit ourselves and others.

To benefit ourselves, we must put our efforts into having a mindset and perspective of self-respect. Respecting ourselves means that we must not be influenced by external people, matters and objects. If we allow the slightest affliction to cause us to waver in our perspective, that is ignorance and foolishness. If we do not thoroughly understand the principles, we can be easily influenced. This causes suffering in life. Suffering comes from ignorance and lack of understanding.

As spiritual practitioners, as we listen to the Buddha-Dharma, we think about so many things. We fear that by interacting with others, we will be contaminated by them. Think about it; if doctors and nurses are afraid of being infected by their patients, they would be unable to be doctors and nurses. So, being a doctor or a nurse takes courage. They understand the workings of the illnesses and how to protect themselves against them so they can wholeheartedly help their patients. The same thing applies here. As spiritual practitioners, by understanding many principles, we will know how to protect ourselves. Principles are meant to be applied among people, not just on ourselves. For this reason, we must have compassion as the prerequisite and patience as the foundation. “To teach the Dharma, being selfless is the root.” If we can achieve this, we can benefit ourselves and others.

How can we repay the Buddha’s grace? In fact, we repay the Buddha’s grace by benefiting ourselves and others. This was the Buddha’s purpose in teaching sentient beings. It was also His most important cause for coming to this world. If we want to repay the Buddha’s grace, we must help Him fulfill His vow and His mission. This is truly repaying the Buddha’s grace.

As the previous sutra passage states, “Providing offerings with our hands and feet, fully prostrating to pay respect, all the offerings we make could never repay His grace. If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, and fully express our respect….”

If we do this for a long period of time, using our physical labor to express our utmost reverence, are we able to repay the Buddha’s grace?

Next, “[If we were to] offer wonderful meals, countless articles of precious clothing, and all sorts of bedding, various kinds of medicine, or use ox-head sandalwood and all kinds of treasures to build stupas and temples, or cover the ground with precious cloth….”

Now, this is using food and other material things to make offerings. This refers to “offerings of material wealth.” First we talked about making offerings with physical labor. Now, we are talking about making offerings with material wealth, which can be “food, clothing, bedding or medicine.” These are the Four Offerings.

This refers to the offerings of material wealth, which are food, clothing, bedding and medicines. These are the Four Offerings.

People’s lives are truly inseparable from these four things. In our daily living, we need to maintain our physical health. Diet is very important in providing nutrition to keep our body healthy. Even as spiritual practitioners, the Buddha and His disciples went out daily to beg for alms. On one hand, it was to obtain food for their bodies’ nutrition, to sustain their lives. On the other, it was to exercise their wisdom-life and transform sentient beings.

We also need to have clothing. We need clothing to cover our bodies. We must have light clothing for summer and heavy clothing for winter. We also need a place to live as well as bedding. We need a place to stay, our own “spot,” a bed to sleep in. We also need medicine. In our daily living, these four things are necessities. These are the Four Offerings.

After the Buddha entered Parinirvana, practitioners used precious sandalwood to build stupas to protect His sariras. Making offerings like this over kalpas numerous as the Ganges’s sand still cannot requite [the Buddha’s grace].

“After the Buddha entered Parinirvana, practitioners used precious sandalwood to build stupas to protect His sariras. Making offerings like this” over kalpas numerous as the Ganges’ sand, over a long time, “still could not repay His grace.”

Even after the Buddha entered Parinirvana, practitioners still made offerings with the best things they had. They used precious sandalwood to build stupas; this was the best building material. They used treasures to decorate them. These grand stupas were built to protect His sariras “[They] made offerings like this.” In this way, they used these precious objects to build stupas as offerings. “Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand,” even after such as long period of time, they “still could not repay His grace.”

This means the Buddha’s grace is hard to repay. The Dharma that the Buddha gave us is an intangible treasure. It can transform our mental state, enable our hearts to be open and spacious and prevent us from creating [negative] karma so we can develop our wisdom-life. Thus, the Buddha’s grace is not easy to repay. His grace is immense.

Why are we still unable to requite it? Of all offerings, the offering of the Dharma is the foremost. Only the offering of the Dharma. can truly repay the Buddha’s grace.

So, “Why are we still unable to repay it?” Why is it that we are still unable to repay the Buddha’s grace? “Of all offerings, the offering of the Dharma is the foremost. Only the offering of the Dharma can truly repay the Buddha’s grace.”

If we put our body to work [to make offerings] but have not taken the Dharma to heart, the Buddha would still worry about us. Thus we have not have repaid the Buddha’s grace. No matter how many things we give as offerings, the Buddha would still worry about us. There is only one way to repay the Buddha’s grace. Among all offerings, the offering of Dharma is the foremost.

In the past, we have spoken of offerings of wealth, offerings of reverence and offerings of conduct. Offerings of wealth are material possessions. Offerings of reverence are physical actions such as earnestly prostrating. However, only the offerings of conduct are truly [offerings] of the Dharma. Among the offerings of wealth, reverence and conduct, the most important is conduct. Putting the Dharma into practice is the greatest offering.

So, we must take the Dharma to heart and follow it in our actions. Then naturally, everything we do, every action we take and every word we say, is teaching the Dharma. Everything we do teaches and transforms sentient beings. So, “Only the offering of the Dharma can truly repay the Buddha’s grace.” Thus, we must practice the Dharma and manifest it in our actions

“Because all Tathagatas respect the Buddha-Dharma, following and practicing what is taught gives birth to all Buddhas.”

All Buddhas, from the past to the present, including Sakyamuni Buddha and countless other past Buddhas, respect the Buddha-Dharma. So, it is said, “All Buddhas share the same path.” Each Buddha respects the path to enlightenment. They practice according to the teachings and continuously engage in spiritual practice without interruption or letting anything leak away. They always remain in the Buddha-Dharma. Regardless of which lifetime, Their [practice] was never interrupted nor did They let any Dharma leak away. They did this until They attained Buddhahood

[If we were to] offer wonderful meals, countless articles of precious clothing, and all sorts of bedding, various kinds of medicine: We may offer fine and wonderful food, countless kinds of expensive and precious clothing and all sorts of beds and mattresses to lie on. Or we may offer all kinds of superior medicine.

“[If we were to] offer wonderful meals, countless articles of precious clothing, and all sorts of bedding, various kinds of medicine…”. Delicious foods are part of the four offerings, as are precious and high-quality clothing and bedding or furniture to sleep on, etc. People only used the best things to make offerings to the Buddha. In the end, they even used ox-head sandalwood to build stupas for sariras. These were all material things; they are offerings of wealth

Ox-head sandalwood: Break-away-from-Defilement Mountain is also called Lanka Mountain. The most precious fragrant wood comes from there. If ground into powder and applied to the body, fire will not burn the body.

“Ox-head sandalwood” was named after [the shape of] a mountain. It is from Break-Away-from-Defilement Mountain, which is also called Lanka Mountain. That place is the mountain that the most precious wood came from. The wood from that mountain could be ground into fragrant powder, like what we use today for sandalwood or agarwood [incense] and so forth. The mountain resembled the head of an ox, so it was called “ox-head sandalwood.”

The [Sutra of] Mindfulness of Right Dharma says: There is a mountain in Uttarakuru called Tall Mountain which produces ox-head sandalwood. The peak of this mountain is shaped like an ox head, and on this peak grows many sandalwood trees. 

“The [Sutra of] Mindfulness of Right Dharma says, ‘There is a mountain in Uttarakuru called Tall Mountain’.” This mountain was in Uttarakuru. It had “ox-head sandalwood”; this kind of wood was found in that mountain. Its peak resembled the head of an ox. The wood from there was [very precious].

[If we were to use] all kinds of precious treasures to build stupas and temples: They use fragrant woods and all sorts of precious materials to build all kinds of stupas and temples for the Buddha.

So, “[They used] all kinds of treasures to build stupas and temples.” They used this high-quality material. So, they built stupas and temples out of this kind of wood. “They use fragrant woods and all sorts of precious materials” to build all kinds of stupas and temples for the Buddha. They made offerings to the Buddha in this way, but they still could not repay the Buddha’s grace.

In summary, as Buddhist practitioners, to make true offerings we must use the Dharma. Only by earnestly engaging in spiritual practice are we repaying our teacher’s grace, truly repaying the Buddha’s grace. So, to truly engage in spiritual practice, we must mindfully dedicate ourselves. We must have compassion as the prerequisite and patience as the foundation to be able to teach the Dharma and truly repay the Buddha’s grace. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 859 – Repaying the Buddha’s Immense Grace

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>> Practice with reverence means having thoughts of utmost reverence and propriety, without any indolence or retreating. Practice with nothing further means being replete with blessings and wisdom, the two kinds of spiritual provisions. Uninterrupted practice is courageously and diligently advancing without any pause or interruption. Extended practice is practicing for many decades without changing from the first day.

>> “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless trillions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?”        [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Providing offerings with our hands and feet, fully prostrating to pay respect, all the offerings we make could never repay His grace even if we were to carry Him on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, and fully express our respect….”       [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> With regard to sentient beings, the Buddha’s grace and virtues are tremendous. He teaches, transforms and benefits us. His grace and virtues are so deep and vast, they are inexpressibly difficult to repay.

>> We diligently practiced, accepted the teachings and put them into action to realize the small fruits. They thought they had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace.

>> Today with our meticulous contemplation and careful assessment, when it comes to the Buddha’s great grace, how could we repay it in a single life or kalpa? Even over countless kalpas, who could repay this?

>> Providing offerings with our hands and feet, or fully prostrating to pay respect. Even if we labor our entire lives to provide, if we use all our might, we still could not repay it.

>> Fully prostrating to pay respect: Placing the forehead upon the ground to reverently pay respect. We wholeheartedly visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions as if They were here before us, then reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground. This is how we pay respect to all Buddhas.

>> All the offerings we make could never repay His grace: These are the most reverent offerings made through the karma of body, speech and mind. Offerings made with all kinds of material goods are insufficient to repay this grace.

>> If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders: We carry the Buddha on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders. This is like Guanyin Bodhisattva, who always carries the Tathagata in his crown. This shows our utmost sincerity and respect.

>> Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand, [we] fully expressed our respect: Even going through kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand we would fully express our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect.

>> Bodhisattvas, with the merits and virtues of cultivating the roots of goodness, undertake the mission and make offerings to all the infinite and boundless Buddhas. Of all those around them, no one is missed. This is to repay the grace of all Buddhas.

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“Practice with reverence” means “having thoughts of utmost reverence and propriety, without any indolence or retreating. Practice with nothing further means being replete with blessings and wisdom, the two kinds of spiritual provisions.
Uninterrupted practice is courageously and diligently advancing without any pause or interruption.
Extended practice is practicing for many decades without changing from the first day.”

This is telling everyone that these four aspects of spiritual practice are very important for us.

The minds of spiritual practitioners must always be reverent. With reverence, we respect the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, the heavens, the earth, the human world and all things. I often mention to everyone that no matter what happens, we must feel gratitude, as well as respect. Finally, we should feel love. If we are able to constantly maintain this sense of reverence as we engage in spiritual practice, then as we interact with people, matters, things, and even in our attitude towards ourselves, naturally we will always have thoughts of utmost reverence. This is the most sincere and reverent form of spiritual practice.

Only if [individuals] have this sense of reverence will the group be orderly and harmonious. So, practicing with reverence is very important. On one hand, we must diligently carry out our spiritual aspirations, while on the other, when we go among people, we must interact with them harmoniously. This begins with sincere reverence; we cannot be indolent or retreat.

Next, we must “practice with nothing further. Practice with nothing further” means our minds are focused on one thing without any discursive thoughts. We have already chosen this course of practice, so we should not be distracted by anything and must focus on walking along the Bodhisattva-path. To walk the Bodhisattva-path is to go among people to cultivate blessings and attain wisdom. These are the two kinds of spiritual provisions we need as we walk the Bodhisattva-path. Thus, we cultivate both blessings and wisdom.

Then, there is “uninterrupted practice. Uninterrupted” means without pause. As time continuously passes, we do not relax our efforts for even an instant. We do not slack off, but continue on, always with a mind of courage and diligence.

When the weather is very cold, it is not easy to leave our warm beds. But, as long as we have a diligent mind, when we hear the striking of the wooden boards, we begin to move in that instant. We hear it, wake up, push aside our blankets and start moving to diligently enter the Great Hall. “Hearing the bell, afflictions are alleviated. Wisdom grows; Bodhi arises.” So, to be diligent, we must be courageous. No matter what we do, we absolutely must have a diligent mind and must not be lacking in courage. So, we must courageously and diligently advance.

Then, when afflictions arise, because of our courage and diligence, we immediately guard against wrongs and stop evil. With this sense of discipline, we will no longer engage in improper behavior. This is attained through diligent practice. This is the only way to eliminate unwholesome ignorance and afflictions. Therefore, our will to practice must continuously be present in our every thought, without interruption. We must guard against past habitual tendencies to avoid returning to them. Our thoughts of diligence must be uninterrupted. This is “uninterrupted practice.”

“Extended practice” means over a long time. “Extended practice” means over a long time. Over a long time, many decades, we remain the same as on the first day. In fact, we spiritual practitioners talk about tens of kalpas, countless kalpas, very long periods of time. Yet, in our countless subsequent lifetimes, we must consistently maintain our diligent mind.

For spiritual practitioners, these four methods of spiritual practice are essential.

In a previous sutra passage, Venerable Kasyapa also said that, in the past, the Buddha had taught them over and over. But over this long period of practice, they stopped halfway, so they let their diligent resolve leak away. When ignorance arises, there are Leaks. “Leaks” are ignorance. They cause us to fall into an unenlightened state and transmigrate through the Five Realms and the four forms of birth. So, we should take good care of our minds.

The Buddha was earnest and had compassion for sentient beings, so He repeatedly returned over countless kalpas. Since Beginningless Time, He has transmitted the Dharma to people to give us all a chance to accept the Buddha-Dharma and take it to heart. He helps us all to recognize that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. This shows His single-minded resolve to help sentient beings attain Buddhahood. The Buddha’s grace is so great; how can we repay it?

Thus the previous sutra passage says, “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless trillions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?” How can we repay the Buddha’s grace? The Buddha’s grace is so immense.

In the past they thought, “Accepting what the Buddha taught and attaining benefits through our own practice is the way to repay the Buddha’s grace.” Is it enough to merely practice and attain benefits for ourselves? No. What the Buddha hopes is not that we are the only ones who benefit from our practice. After we have attained benefits, we must also benefit others. Only then are we truly repaying the Buddha’s grace. The number of people rescuing people must increase so that suffering people of the world have more chances to be rescued. This is what the Buddha hopes for, that everyone will engage in spiritual practice to become Bodhisattvas and help deliver sentient beings. This is truly repaying the Buddha’s grace.

The next sutra passage states, “Providing offerings with our hands and feet, fully prostrating to pay respect, all the offerings we make could never repay His grace even if we were to carry Him on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, and fully express our respect….”

From this [sutra] passage, we should know that the Buddha has shown great grace and virtue to sentient beings. In lifetime after lifetime, He repeatedly returned to the Five Realms and the four forms of birth to go among people and benefit them.

Perhaps in many of our lifetimes we lived in the same era as the Buddha and received the Buddha’s teachings. Though He did not reveal Himself as a Buddha, He has taken on all kinds of identities in the world. From our state of ignorance and confusion, He taught and guided us to help us understand the principles, awaken from the delusion of our afflictions and repent and change our past mistaken ways. Perhaps changing our behavior and changing our lives allowed us to create positive causes. Then with these causes and conditions, in this life we are still able to immerse ourselves in the Buddha-Dharma. So, we must be grateful for the Buddha’s grace. The Buddha truly showed great grace and virtue to sentient beings.

If we consider the Buddha’s great grace as expressed by Venerable Kasyapa, what can we do to repay Him?

The Buddha “teaches, transforms and benefits us. His grace and virtues are so deep and vast.” They are higher than the sky, deeper than the ocean and more vast than the universe. Indeed, they are greater than these great spaces. This conveys the scope of His grace and virtue. The grace and virtue that. He has shown to sentient beings are so great.

Look at the people in prison. When Living Bodhisattvas go into prisons and hold study groups with [the inmates], they bring these truths into the prisons. With patient guidance, they help the inmates encounter [these principles and realize], “What I did in the past was wrong. Everything I did before was harmful. Now, I still have the chance to change.” Once the inmates have changed, they go from a place of suffering, a place where they have no freedom, to being able to liberate their minds and resolve their afflictions and ignorance. While in prison, they aspire to make the prison a place of spiritual practice. While there, they change their own behavior, which is expressed for others to see. One day they will leave that place and go out into this vast world to be completely free, body and mind. With this mental and physical freedom, they devote themselves to the greater world, benefiting society and sentient beings.

Think about it; just a set of principles can change someone’s life. By leaving these principles for us, hasn’t the Buddha shown us great grace and virtue? So, His grace and virtue are deep and vast. “They are inexpressibly difficult to repay.” To speak of them all would take a very long time

We diligently practiced, accepted the teachings and put them into action to realize the small fruits. They thought they had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace.  

“We diligently practiced, accepted the teachings and put them into action to realize the small fruits.” They thought they had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace. Venerable Kasyapa felt that they had all earnestly followed everything that the Buddha taught, had practiced according to the teachings. “We engaged in spiritual practice by upholding the Buddha’s teachings.” So, by accepting and following them, they had eliminated afflictions and ignorance, and thus they had realized the small fruit, the Four Fruits of the Small [Vehicle], the first, second, third and fourth fruit. They thought these were the ultimate fruitions. This means they had already cleansed their minds of ignorance and put an end to fragmentary samsara. They had not eliminated transformational samsara, but they thought, “I am so earnest in my spiritual practice that I have lived up to the teachings the Buddha gave us.” Haven’t I thus already repaid the Buddha’s grace?”

Today with our meticulous contemplation and careful assessment, when it comes to the Buddha’s great grace, how could we repay it in a single life or kalpa? Even over countless kalpas, who could repay this?

However, at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, Venerable Kasyapa and others further contemplated this carefully. They earnestly thought about this. “I only seek to benefit myself, to attain realizations myself. Have I truly repaid the Buddha’s immense grace? All I do is seek to awaken myself. He showed us such great grace and virtue by having taught us. For our sake, the Buddha repeatedly returned to deliver us and called on everyone to walk the Bodhisattva-path. Can this possibly be repaid in a single lifetime or in a single kalpa?” Today with our meticulous contemplation and careful assessment, when it comes to the Buddha’s great grace, how could we repay it in a single life or kalpa?

Even over countless kalpas, who could repay this? Even over countless kalpas, who could possibly repay this? Even if we have had these aspirations for countless kalpas, if we think about it and compare, the Buddha has given everyone so much, but the stage we have achieved [is limited]. So, have we really repaid the Buddha’s grace? Even over an extended period of time, who is able to give as much the Buddha has? Who can repay the Buddha’s grace?

Providing offerings with our hands and feet, or fully prostrating to pay respect. Even if we labor our entire lives to provide, if we use all our might, we still could not repay it.

Repaying the Buddha’s grace is more than “providing offerings with our hands and feet,” or “fully prostrating to pay respect.” Even if we “labor our entire lives to provide,” if we use “all our might,” we still could not repay it.

Whether with tangible [offerings] in our lives, or expressions of deep reverence when we are with the Buddha, whether fully prostrating to pay respect or providing offerings with our hands and feet, these are ways in which we can express deep reverence and labor on the Buddha’s behalf, doing many things. Whatever the Buddha wishes to be done, we do it for Him. In life, this is a way of giving and showing respect.

Fully prostrating to pay respect: Placing the forehead upon the ground to reverently pay respect. We wholeheartedly visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions as if They were here before us, then reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground. This is how we pay respect to all Buddhas.

“Fully prostrating to pay respect” means that we touch our forehead to the ground. Placing our forehead upon the ground is a way of paying our respects

“We wholeheartedly visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions as if. They were here before us, then reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground.” This is how we “pay respect to all Buddhas.”

To sincerely pay respect, we must place our forehead on the ground with a heart of deep reverence. When we express respect in this way, it is not just the Buddha statue that is before us. We must also visualize all Buddhas of the ten directions before us [We do this] because the Buddha-Dharma is not just transmitted by Sakyamuni Buddha; He likewise received it from countless Buddhas. Thus, we must pay our respects to all Buddhas.

So, would this be repaying the Buddha’s grace? To “reverently and earnestly place the five points of the body on the ground” is a way to pay respect to all Buddhas. Isn’t this repaying the Buddha’s grace? It is indeed, yet,

All the offerings we make could never repay His grace: These are the most reverent offerings made through the karma of body, speech and mind. Offerings made with all kinds of material goods are insufficient to repay this grace.

“All the offerings we make could never repay His grace.” In fact, this is merely a form of expression, an expression of body, speech and mind in making reverent offerings. “Offerings made with all kinds of material goods” like all those we have mentioned are insufficient repayment. This is also only an expression of reverence; it is only the outward appearance of respect. We need to have this type of appearance; this is part of our organization’s way of life. But, are we truly repaying the Buddha’s grace?

The next part of the passage says, “If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders….”

If we were to carry Him on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders: We carry the Buddha on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders. This is like Guanyin Bodhisattva, who always carries the Tathagata in his crown. This shows our utmost sincerity and respect.

“[We] carry the Buddha on our heads, or bear Him on our shoulders.” In fact, we often see this on Bodhisattva statues. Of those wearing a crown, we see another Buddha’s image carved into it. This is one way to express reverence. Another way is to labor on behalf of the Buddha by transporting many things by placing them on our heads; this is the same. Perhaps we place things on our shoulders and carry an abundance of material things as a way of making offerings. Thus, we “bear Him on our shoulders.” We carry the Buddha on our heads or bear Him on our shoulders. This is like how Guanyin Bodhisattva and others [carry Him] in their crowns; this effort expresses their utmost reverence.

Next we discuss, “Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand, [we] fully express our respect.”

Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand, [we] fully expressed our respect: Even going through kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’s sand we would fully express our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect.

Even after kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand of “fully expressing our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect” means this will take a very long time, not merely a single lifetime. It may take many kalpas, as numerous as the Ganges’ sand. If one grain of sand is equivalent to one kalpa, and it takes as many kalpas as the Ganges’ sand, how long is that? As for “fully expressing our wholeheartedness in practicing reverence and respect,” we must be able to achieve this level. It takes a very long time to express this. We must exercise a sincere, reverent mind to repay the Buddha. Then is this really enough? Bodhisattvas must, “with the merits and virtues of cultivating the roots of goodness, undertake the mission and make offerings to all the infinite and boundless Buddhas. Of all those around them, no one is missed. This is to repay the grace of all Buddhas.”

When it comes to Bodhisattvas, they walk the Bodhisattva-path to cultivate the merits and virtues of their roots of goodness. Walking the Bodhisattva-path to benefit sentient beings, to save and transform them, is truly having a Buddha-mind.

All Buddhas hope that the minds of sentient beings can be the same as that of the Buddha. To achieve the same mind as the Buddha, we must walk the Bodhisattva-path. Bodhi is the cause, and Bodhisattva-practice is the effect; these are the cause and effect. If we do not put this path into practice and only cultivate the Small Vehicle, no matter how respectful we are, we are still merely benefiting ourselves. The Buddha hopes that we can all open up our hearts and take the Dharma we understand and truly share it with other sentient beings to turn them from ignorance toward a radiant path of goodness.

Think of the inmates who lost their freedom; how can we go into those places to open up their hearts? In a world of deep suffering, how can we help people tap into their spiritual wealth? We must help them plant the seed of Bodhi, the seed of walking the Bodhisattva-path in this life, so they can carry them into subsequent lifetimes and benefit many people. Wisdom arises from blessings, and blessings come from doing good deeds, as doing them makes us very happy. Wisdom comes from understanding and allows us to have true freedom. All this is what we attain by working with others. Similarly, finding a way to truly draw near the Buddha’s mind depends on our mindfulness and how determined we are to be diligent and courageous and engage in the four forms of spiritual practice. We must engage in practice with reverence, practice with nothing further, uninterrupted practice and extended practice. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 858 – The Buddha’s Unmatched and Boundless Grace

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>> The Buddha’s grace is boundless, incomparable. It is the grace of guiding us to enter the Tathagata’s room, the grace of bringing joy and ease with great loving-kindness, the grace of liberating us and relieving suffering with great compassion, the grace of the warmth provided by the clothing of gentleness and patience and the grace of the peace found in the seat of the emptiness of all phenomena.

>> “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless millions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?”        [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> The World-Honored One’s great grace: His lifetime of teaching and transforming was all a great grace. Beginning with the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka, He prepared [to teach us], we failed to live up to this great grace.

>> The Agama teachings suited limited capabilities; they were a guarantee and biased toward emptiness. This shows the World-Honored One’s compassion for us. During the Vaipulya and the Prajna periods, He criticized and weeded this out. This is how the World-Honored One taught and transformed us.

>> For 40 years we had received the great grace of the Tathagata’s patient guidance, right up until today. Having taught the sutra, He entered Samadhi. Radiating light in His perfect manifestation, He then bestowed predictions of Buddhahood to benefit all of us. These were all extraordinary matters.

>> The Buddha sat upon His seat, composed in body and mind, having quickly attained peaceful stability. The sound of the Buddha’s teachings enabled all to hear. Universally worthy to receive offerings from humans and heavenly beings alike, the Tathagata on His seat has enabled us to be replete with the grace of cultivating ourselves and transforming others.

>> He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. The Agama teachings suited limited capabilities; they were a guarantee and biased toward emptiness. This was the. World-Honored One’s compassion for us. This was how the Buddha treated His disciples. During the Vaipulya and the Prajna periods, He criticized and weeded this out. These were the World-Honored One’s methods of teaching and transforming.

>> Such compassion, such teaching and transforming and such benefit are all great grace and virtue. No words can describe how to repay this.

>> Even over countless millions of kalpas, who can ever repay this? When we first attained the small fruits, we thought we had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace. But from our assessment today, how can we repay it in a single life or kalpa? Even over countless kalpas, who can repay this?

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“The Buddha’s grace is boundless, incomparable.
It is the grace of guiding us to enter the Tathagata’s room,
the grace of bringing joy and ease with great loving-kindness,
the grace of liberating us and relieving suffering with great compassion,
the grace of the warmth provided by the clothing of gentleness and patience
and the grace of the peace found in the seat of the emptiness of all phenomena.”

The Buddha’s grace towards sentient beings is truly great. Sentient beings are deluded, so we cycle endlessly through the Six Realms. Over countless kalpas the Buddha has repeatedly returned, all for one great cause, to teach all sentient beings that everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature. Everyone who is lost can find their way back to the path to enlightenment and be liberated from suffering and cyclic existence. This is what the Buddha did for incalculable lengths of time, over spaces so vast that they cannot be described in words.

Thus, the Buddha’s grace toward sentient beings is extraordinarily great indeed. It cannot be quantified or compared to anything in the world. The Buddha often used the sands of the Ganges as an analogy for large numbers. Actually, the sands of the Ganges is not an adequate analogy because its number is finite while the Buddha’s grace is boundless and incomparable.

In so many ways, He [expresses] His love for us so that, by giving us love, little by little, He guides us into the Tathagata’s room. It is as if we are wandering vagabonds or impoverished people, with no possessions and no place to call home; exposed to the wind and freezing cold, the suffering is unbearable! But the Buddha hopes that we can all have something we can rely on, not just for one lifetime, but for many lifetimes to come. To have this [refuge] life after life, we must return to our nature of True Suchness. This is the analogy of “the Tathagata’s room.” With the Tathagata’s wisdom, we can be equal to and abide in the same place as the Buddha. We will not need to wander about out there, physically tormented by the cold and snow. We will have a place to live. It is a very warm and cozy place. This is the Buddha’s great loving-kindness; He helps us peacefully abide in the Tathagata’s room. This grace of helping us to attain joy and ease is likewise the Buddha’s grace toward us.

There is also “the grace of liberating us and relieving suffering with great compassion.” In a state of confusion, not knowing where we are going, we transmigrate in the Five Realms and four forms of birth without any control. For this reason, the Buddha spent a long time repeatedly returning to look for chances to approach sentient beings. Those with the affinity have the conditions to be delivered; this is how He saves us from suffering. He hopes to have the karmic conditions to enable sentient beings to encounter the Buddha-Dharma and through it, attain liberation. This is the Buddha’s grace of relieving our suffering with great compassion so that we can be liberated.

Next is “the grace of warmth provided by the clothing of gentleness and patience.” If it is freezing cold, what should we do? When there is wind and frost, snow and ice, what people need most is warm clothing. We need soft clothing that can keep out the cold. Similarly, the Buddha taught us how to live in a way that is both gentle and full of warmth. Just like putting on like clothing, we must cultivate gentleness and patience.

In our interactions, when others act harshly, we should respond with gentleness. This is like throwing a ball at the ground. If the ground is hard, the ball will bounce back up even higher. If the ground is covered with something soft, like a pile of sand, when the ball is thrown, it will rest in the sand, unable to bounce back up. We need to exercise gentleness and patience in the way we interact with sentient beings as we work with other people. When sentient beings are saved, we ourselves will feel very warm and happy. We can apply all Dharma in this way; by avoiding attachments, we will be at peace.

Seeing how many disasters there are in the world, it is fortunate that there are Bodhisattvas in this world. In the beginning of the year in Zimbabwe, as people were celebrating the New Year, a heavy rain began to fall. Once this rain started, things got out of hand. With the flooding, there were two meters of water in people’s homes, almost putting the entire roof underwater. Some places were immersed in over a meter of water for nearly an entire month.

The people there live impoverished lives. Their housing is very crude, if not built out of straw, then wit clay bricks if not built out of straw, then with clay bricks. How could they possibly withstand such heavy rain? So, entire houses collapsed. Many people could only watch as their houses broke apart before their eyes, leaving them without a place to shelter and rest, a place to protect them from the wind and rain. Local Tzu Chi volunteers were also affected, but the Dharma was already in their hearts. Having the Dharma is like being in the Tathagata’s room. They tossed aside worries about themselves and quickly made helping the suffering their priority. So, they went out with goods prepared for distribution, bags of rice as well as blankets. They delivered these to disaster areas.

Just looking at the pictures, one would think, “That must be hell. That is not the human world!” There was a 14- or 15-year-old child whose eyes had somehow become infected. Whatever the disease was, his eyes became swollen and deformed; all day long he was crying. Many people who saw him were frightened, but not Tzu Chi volunteers. We saw that volunteers in gray and white uniforms, our local volunteers, approached him and quickly used both arms to embrace him. This child was in such a sad state. When people in the village saw the volunteers approach the child to embrace him, to hold and comfort him, many of them gathered around, saying, “How are there such good people in this world? Why are they not afraid? How are their hearts so tender and loving?” Everyone was very touched.

After the volunteers comforted the child, they saw that his clothing was very tattered, so they immediately covered him with a blanket. They gave him rice to help him and his grandfather get by. This is giving. Teachings of love come from the Buddha-Dharma.

When we encounter this kind of environment, we must be brave and diligent. The volunteers’ actions were truly an example of “the clothing of gentleness and patience.” Those who saw their actions were very touched, and the recipients found it very heartwarming. To achieve this we must sit on “the seat of the emptiness of all phenomena.” We must not have attachments or worry about sullying our image. With love in our hearts and the courage to give, we will be at peace. After giving to others, we attain Dharma-joy, thus we feel very peaceful and at ease and the suffering receive our help. That is what the Buddha taught us. With this kind of Dharma, we can benefit both ourselves and others; this is the Great Vehicle Dharma. This is the Buddha’s grace toward us.

The previous sutra passage states, “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless millions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?”

The Buddha’s great grace is truly very extraordinary. He has such compassion and loving-kindness. For sentient beings’ sake, over countless kalpas, a time that is impossible to calculate, He has continuously come to the world to teach and transform sentient beings. He did all this out of compassion. So, He came to benefit sentient beings. “Benefit all of us” is benefiting all beings. “Countless millions of kalpas” is a very long time. The Buddha has not left or abandoned us even after all these lifetimes. How can we ever repay this grace? Who can repay it?

The World-Honored One’s great grace: His lifetime of teaching and transforming was all a great grace. Beginning with the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka, He prepared [to teach us], we failed to live up to this great grace.

“The World-Honored One’s great grace” is. “His lifetime of teaching and transforming” The World-Honored One’s great grace: His lifetime of teaching and transforming was all a great grace. Beginning with the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka, He prepared [to teach us], we failed to live up to this great grace. In the Buddha’s lifetime, everything He taught was to benefit and transform all sentient beings. During that lifetime, as we have said, the Buddha had engaged in spiritual practice from the past up to this time. Through His practice, He awakened; this is the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka. At that time, He had awakened, so initially, He wanted to teach this. However, the people listening seemed to be deaf and mute. Though they listened, they did not hear clearly and were unable to explain it. Thus, they failed to live up to His great grace!

The Agama teachings suited limited capabilities; they were a guarantee and biased toward emptiness. This shows the World-Honored One’s compassion for us. During the Vaipulya and the Prajna periods, He criticized and weeded this out. This is how the World-Honored One taught and transformed us.

So, during the Agama period, He suited their capacities with limited teachings. The Buddha had to use the Agama teachings, teachings of the Small Vehicle, to teach everyone the law of karma and tell them to earnestly eliminate their afflictions. “Refrain from all evil and do all good deeds; I guarantee you will attain blessings and wisdom.” This was what He taught. This was how the Buddha used skillful means to guide and transform sentient beings; but these teachings were biased toward emptiness

The World-Honored One showed compassion to us all; from the Agama, He gave the Vaipulya teachings, and after the Vaipulya period came the Prajna period. After the Prajna period, He “criticized and weeded this out.” At first, we were attached to emptiness, but this was insufficient. From true emptiness we needed to move toward wondrous existence. We must immediately go among people to teach sentient beings. So, He “criticized and weeded this out,” this kind of Small Vehicle mindset.

For 40 years we had received the great grace of the Tathagata’s patient guidance, right up until today. Having taught the sutra, He entered Samadhi. Radiating light in His perfect manifestation, He then bestowed predictions of Buddhahood to benefit all of us.

The World-Honored One taught and transformed for more than 40 years. With the great grace of patient guidance, He taught us repeatedly until we could understand. He did this “right up until today. Having taught the sutra, He entered Samadhi”  These were all extraordinary matters. “Until today” refers to the Lotus Dharma-assembly. After He finished expounding the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, He entered Samadhi. In the Introductory Chapter, He radiated light, leading Bodhisattvas to engage in a dialogue. Then He bestowed a prediction of Buddhahood upon Sariputra, etc. This entire process was a reminder to everyone that we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature “[It was] to benefit all of us.” This helped everyone understand that all of this was very extraordinary. In the Buddha’s teaching, He exercised His wisdom to, stage by stage, sequentially teach according to our capabilities.

The Buddha sat upon His seat, composed in body and mind, having quickly attained peaceful stability. The sound of the Buddha’s teachings enabled all to hear. Universally worthy to receive offerings from humans and heavenly beings alike, the Tathagata on His seat has enabled us to be replete with the grace of cultivating ourselves and transforming others.

So, “The Buddha sat upon His seat.” Sitting on the Dharma-throne, He was “composed in body and mind.” In this state, He “quickly attained peaceful stability.” He looked very peaceful and stable in the state of Samadhi

“The sound of the Buddha’s teachings enabled all to hear. The sound of the Buddha’s teachings,” His more than 40 years of earnest teaching, was all so that sentient beings could hear. This was not only heard in the human world, but by both heavenly beings and humans. Buddhist sutras state that heavenly beings often asked the Buddha for teachings. So, His teachings were not only heard by humans, but also by heavenly beings. Thus He was “worthy to receive offerings.” After these heavenly beings accepted the teachings they made offerings of conduct.

“The Tathagata on His seat has enabled us to be replete with the grace of cultivating ourselves and transforming others. Now that I have formed aspirations, I benefit myself by earnestly engaging in spiritual practice; I am even willing to go out and transform others.” This is the grace of the Buddha’s teaching

He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. The Agama teachings suited limited capabilities; they were a guarantee and biased toward emptiness. This was the. World-Honored One’s compassion for us. This was how the Buddha treated His disciples. During the Vaipulya and the Prajna periods, He criticized and weeded this out. These were the World-Honored One’s methods of teaching and transforming.

“He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. The Agama teachings suited limited capabilities; they were a guarantee and biased toward emptiness. This was the. World-Honored One’s compassion for us.” This was how the Buddha treated His disciples. “During the Vaipulya and the Prajna periods, He criticized and weeded this out.” These were the World-Honored One’s methods of teaching and transforming. From the limited teachings to the great teachings, the Buddha [taught us all] by exercising. His wisdom and love “Such compassion, such teaching and transforming and such benefit are all great grace and virtue. No words can describe how to repay this.”

Such compassion, such teaching and transforming and such benefit are all great grace and virtue. No words can describe how to repay this.

The Buddha, in His mindfulness and patience, spent countless past kalpas endlessly giving of Himself out of love [Even] having attained Buddhahood, it was the same. The Tathagata is simply replete with compassion, so He could not bear for sentient beings to transmigrate through the Five or Six Realms. For the Buddha to deliver all sentient beings on His own will take a very long time; truly this is very hard work. He needs more people to give rise to compassion and likewise teach and transform sentient beings and benefit them. This is the only way the suffering can be saved.

So, it is with great grace and virtue that the Buddha taught us “[This is His] great grace and virtue. No words can describe how to repay this.” Indeed, how can we say that we have a way for to repay His grace? So, we engage in spiritual practice and repay Him by going among people. This is the way to repay the Buddha’s grace.

Even over countless millions of kalpas, who can ever repay this? When we first attained the small fruits, we thought we had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace. But from our assessment today, how can we repay it in a single life or kalpa? Even over countless kalpas, who can repay this?

“Even over countless trillions of kalpas, who can ever repay this?” Who is able to repay this grace? “When we first attained the small fruits, we thought we had lived up to the teachings and sufficiently repaid the Buddha’s grace.” In the past we thought that by working hard to transform ourselves, we were living up to the Buddha’s teachings. “But from our assessment today,” now that we have measured, evaluated and compared, how can we repay it in a single life or kalpa? Life after life, the Buddha saved and delivered sentient beings. Only by helping Him deliver sentient beings are we truly requiting the Buddha’s grace. We cannot do this for just one lifetime, or for one kalpa; it must be over countless kalpas. This is how we repay the Buddha’s grace. This is what we call “repaying the Buddha’s grace.”

“Who can ever repay this?” Who can possibly be able to do this? Indeed! We should ask, “Who can possibly do this?” We have to ask this of ourselves. “The Buddha’s grace is boundless and incomparable. It is the grace of guiding us to enter the Tathagata’s room.” We have already encountered the teachings, which is like entering the Tathagata’s room. We ourselves are at ease. Not only are we at ease, but in this room we feel very happy, having attained Dharma-joy. With this Dharma, we can help people; thus we attain Dharma-joy. This allows us to feel at ease.

Take Zimbabwe for example. The locals were affected by the disaster and are very impoverished themselves, yet they still feel at ease and are still able to help others. This is the “grace of liberating us and relieving suffering.” Then, with the “grace of the warmth provided by clothing of gentleness and patience,” we are able to give to others and teach people in this way. Once we have helped them, we will feel very happy.

There are many things that appear to be difficult or filled with suffering, as if in a state of hell. If we are brave enough to go there and do what we can to help others, in the end we will feel peaceful and at ease. So, let us always be mindful.

Episode 857 – The Buddha’s Grace Is as Deep as the Ocean

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>> This is the Buddha’s great grace of teaching and guiding sentient beings to turn delusion into awakening. The World-Honored One’s immense grace is an extraordinary matter; He taught and transformed out of compassion. To benefit all of us, He transformed the unenlightened so we could enter the Dharma of the Great Noble Path.

>> “Now we have truly become Arhats. In all the various worlds of heavenly beings and humans, of Mara and Brahma, we are universally worthy to receive offerings.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless billions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> The World-Honored One’s great grace is extraordinary: This is the Buddha’s great grace of constantly teaching and guiding sentient beings to abandon ignorance and turn delusion into awakening. Thus it says, The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter; He taught and transformed us out of compassion to benefit all of us.

>> The Buddha has great loving-kindness and great compassion. He teaches and transforms out of compassion, all for the benefit of sentient beings. For a long time, in many places, with firm resolve, traveling everywhere, He Himself suffered to benefit others. His grace is as deep as the ocean.

>> This grace as vast as the sky covers everything in this way. Thus it says, “Over countless millions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?”

>> The World-Honored One’s lifetime of teaching and transforming is all His great grace. This is an extraordinary matter. Starting with the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka, He prepared to directly show us how to understand our minds so we can realize our nature. But sadly, it was as if we were deaf and mute; we failed to live up to this great grace.

>> The great grace of the World-Honored One: First, the Buddha began by making a compassionate [vow] to relieve the sufferings of the Six Realms and bring the joy of the Four Noble Realms. He led all in the Ten Dharma-realms to enter the Four Great Vows. This is the grace of the Tathagata’s room.

>> Second, the Tathagata practiced the Bodhisattva-path, revealing to us its benefit and joy. He had previously taught us the Great Vehicle. Though we later forgot midway down the path, our wisdom and vow were not lost. The Tathagata’s room brings coolness and warmth. This is the grace of giving joy through great loving-kindness.

>> Third, sentient beings encounter suffering, like the son only looking at the father. The Buddha observes, waiting for a suitable moment. This is like a calf pursuing its mother. He prepares the practices of the Six Perfections to benefit sentient beings. The Tathagata’s room blocks the cold and heat. This is the grace of relieving suffering with great compassion.

>> Fourth, the Buddha, having attained enlightenment, should have enjoyed Nirvana’s unconditioned joy. Nevertheless, He concealed these spiritual virtues and applied the Dharma that those of limited capabilities delight in, the Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds. This is like sprinkling cold water on our faces to wake us up; this is the grace of the Buddha’s clothing protecting us from the heat of greed and desires.

>> Fifth, He manifested old age as a skillful means to draw His disciples near, giving them a day’s wages. This is the grace of the Buddha’s clothing eliminating the coldness of views and giving warmth.

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“This is the Buddha’s great grace of teaching and guiding sentient beings to turn delusion into awakening.
The World-Honored One’s immense grace is an extraordinary matter; He taught and transformed out of compassion.
To benefit all of us, He transformed the unenlightened so we could enter the Dharma of the Great Noble Path.”

The Buddha’s grace is immense, difficult to repay. Although the Buddha manifested the attainment of Buddhahood in the human realm to teach and transform sentient beings, in fact, for many kalpas, the Buddha has been coming here for the sake of sentient beings. He only has this one thought; He cannot bear to let sentient beings suffer. Thus, He repeatedly returns to the Saha World. This is the Buddha’s compassion. He comes to teach and guide sentient beings, hoping they turn their delusion into awakening. With such tremendous grace and virtue, how can we ever repay the Buddha’s grace?

“The World-Honored One’s immense grace is an extraordinary matter.” The immense grace He shows sentient beings is truly extraordinary. With the love and compassion He has for them, He teaches and transforms sentient beings. He absolutely never abandons any sentient beings. No matter how evil they are, or how mischievous they are, the Buddha never abandons them.

“To benefit all of us, He transformed the unenlightened so we could enter the Dharma of the Great Noble Path.” The Buddha’s loving-kindness is immense, infinite. He helps sentient beings to accept the Dharma. If they take the Dharma to heart, they can transform their mindset and improve their behavior. In this way, the Buddha never leaves or abandons sentient beings. Thus, sentient beings must truly know His grace. We must earnestly remember His immense grace.

So, let us look at the previous sutra passage, “Now we have truly become Arhats. In all the various worlds of heavenly beings and humans, of Mara and Brahma, we are universally worthy to receive offerings.”

“We” refers to. Venerable Kasyapa, Subhuti, Katyayana and Maudgalyayana, leaders of the assembly. On behalf of the assembly, they expressed their feelings about following the Buddha in spiritual practice. The Buddha, at the Vulture Peak Assembly, had already expounded the Introductory Chapter, the Chapter on Skillful Means and the Chapter on Parables, teaching them one by one. All those with great capabilities, whether beings of the heaven realm, the human realm, or above the heaven realm, such as the sixth heaven in the desire realm or the Brahma Heaven in the form realm, had already accepted the practices that they must cultivate as Arhats and given rise to Great Vehicle aspirations. They could already subdue heavenly beings, humans, Mara and Brahma. They could subdue them all because those beings were already fully convinced and had accepted their teachings. This was how they safeguarded the teachings and made offerings.

Thus, the next sutra passage further says, “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter. He taught and transformed us out of compassion and to benefit all of us. Even over countless billions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?”

The Buddha’s great grace is truly tremendous; truly it is extraordinary. The Arhats, practicing according to the teachings, had gradually come to understand and could thus receive offerings and respect from heavenly beings, humans, Mara and Brahma. This grace and virtue was all due to the teachings of the World-Honored One. So, His grace is extraordinary. Out of compassion, He teaches and transforms us lifetime after lifetime, over countless kalpas. He never gives up on or abandons us, but follows sentient beings through the Five Realms and four forms of birth to teach and to benefit us. “We” refers to sentient beings, to all of us. “Even over countless billions of kalpas” is a very long time. So, who can ever repay the Buddha’s grace?

Thus, when it comes to this great grace, “This is the Buddha’s [great grace of] constantly teaching and guiding sentient beings to abandon ignorance and turn delusion into awakening.” This is His great grace

The World-Honored One’s great grace is extraordinary: This is the Buddha’s great grace of constantly teaching and guiding sentient beings to abandon ignorance and turn delusion into awakening. Thus it says, “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter; He taught and transformed us out of compassion to benefit all of us.”

Sentient beings want to eliminate ignorance and turn delusion into awakening, but isn’t it easier said than done? As we listen to the Dharma, can our habitual tendencies and our afflictions actually be eliminated?

The Buddha always comes to teach sentient beings. Over the last 2000-plus years, there is no telling how many times He has returned to this world. As He goes among people, He is always continually teaching and transforming sentient beings; He has never stopped. It is just that He must adjust to conditions; whatever their causes and conditions, He observes their capabilities and steers the ship of compassion to go among people to transform sentient beings.

Thus, He is “constantly teaching and guiding sentient beings.” He absolutely never abandons nor rejects sentient beings. He never becomes vexed with sentient beings for being stubborn and hard to train, He just single-mindedly teaches and guides us to eliminate our ignorance. This is how the Buddha treats us. In lifetime after lifetime. He continues to teach us, hoping we will turn delusion into awakening. This is His great grace. So it says, “The World-Honored One’s great grace is an extraordinary matter.” This is because of His compassion. He teaches and transforms with great compassion to benefit all of us

The Buddha has great loving-kindness and great compassion. He teaches and transforms out of compassion, all for the benefit of sentient beings. For a long time, in many places, with firm resolve, traveling everywhere, He Himself suffered to benefit others. His grace is as deep as the ocean.

This is the Buddha’s great loving-kindness and great compassion. To act “all for the benefit of sentient beings” takes a very long time. It has taken a long time, since Beginningless time. Over countless kalpas, since Beginningless time, the Buddha has repeatedly come to the human realm for the sake of sentient beings. This is what He has done for a long time. “In many places” means He went to many places. On this planet alone, He was not only in India. He may have gone anywhere in the world. The Buddha may have appeared in any country. In any one of the world’s wealthy countries or in the most impoverished places, He might have manifested to save suffering people. That is also possible. He has been coming and going for a long time and across a vast space, not just in the human realm. He has gone throughout the Five Realms, transforming sentient beings according to their causes and conditions.

The Buddha’s mind is diligent. Diligent means He is absolutely never indolent. At all times, He is constantly seeking the Dharma and transforming sentient beings, widely transforming sentient beings. He is willing to go anywhere, using the same mindset of diligently practicing for the sake of sentient beings. The footprints of His travels, all the places He has been, cover all places [in the world], as He has taught and transformed sentient beings in all places. So, “He Himself suffered to benefit others.” He could endure all sufferings and hardships; He was willing to endure suffering and hard work for the sake of benefiting everyone and teaching and transforming sentient beings. The Buddha treated sentient beings with such grace and virtue. Think about it; this grace is as deep as the ocean!

This grace as vast as the sky covers everything in this way. Thus it says, “Over countless millions of kalpas, who could ever repay this?”

“This grace, as vast as the sky, covers everything in this way.” This is why it says in the sutra, “Over countless billions of kalpas,” over this long period of time, “who could ever repay this?”

The World-Honored One’s lifetime of teaching and transforming is all His great grace. This is an extraordinary matter. Starting with the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka, He prepared to directly show us how to understand our minds so we can realize our nature. But sadly, it was as if we were deaf and mute; we failed to live up to this great grace. 

The Buddha spent so much time on sentient beings, never stopping to rest. He went to countless places, across a boundless area. He worked hard, diligently advancing,, all for the sake of transforming sentient beings. This was so, even in His one lifetime of teaching. More than 2000 years ago in the kingdom of Kapilavastu, the Buddha was born in the palace. After manifesting the attainment of Buddhahood, He gave a lifetime of teachings; this was all part of His great grace ․The World-Honored One’s lifetime of teaching and transforming is all His great grace. This is an extraordinary matter. Starting with the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka, He prepared to directly show us how to understand our minds so we can realize our nature. But sadly, it was as if we were deaf and mute; we failed to live up to this great grace. In fact, He did not only do this in that lifetime but for vast kalpas and infinite lifetimes, continually teaching and guiding others. In that life, He manifested the attainment of Buddhahood in order to teach and transform. For countless kalpas in the past, He manifested as a spiritual practitioner to continuously go among the people to teach. Now He has already attained Buddhahood, which is an extraordinary matter.

“Starting from the Great Dharma of the Avatamsaka” refers to the time of His enlightenment. In the instant His spiritual practice brought Him to that awakening, He hoped and wanted to quickly let everyone know, “All of you inherently have the innate enlightenment of True Suchness, the same as the Buddha. You are able to, in this world, awaken to the truths of all things.” Everyone innately has this, but sentient beings truly have very limited capabilities, so they were unable to understand. He wanted to let us know, but nothing could be done. So, “It was as if we were deaf and mute.” Sentient beings are still covered in ignorance. Thus, “We failed to live up to this great grace.” From the beginning the Buddha wanted to pass on the true principles He had awakened to to us yet we were unable to take it in and unable to express it. In this way we have truly failed to live up to the Buddha’s great grace.

The great grace of the World-Honored One: First, the Buddha began by making a compassionate [vow] to relieve the sufferings of the Six Realms and bring the joy of the Four Noble Realms. He led all in the Ten Dharma-realms to enter the Four Great Vows. This is the grace of the Tathagata’s room.

How great is the World-Honored One’s grace? Of course, it is truly very great. First, the Buddha made a compassionate [vow] “to relieve the sufferings of the Six Realms.” He “began by making a compassionate vow.” He began by making a vow of compassion to relieve sentient beings from their suffering in the Six Realms. For sentient beings suffering in the Six Realms, He wants to teach them everything to “bring the joy of the Four Noble Realms.” He even “led all in the Ten Dharma-realms.” The Four Noble Realms are. Hearers (Arhats), Solitary Realizers, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas; these are the Four Noble Realms. They engage in spiritual practice; when they began forming aspirations to practice, they comprehended the Buddha-Dharma by listening. “He led all in the Ten Dharma-realms.” He [went] everywhere in the Ten Dharma-realms. The Ten Dharma-realms include, in addition to the Four Noble Realms, the Six Unenlightened Realms. The Six Unenlightened Realms are the Six Realms of sentient beings. So, in the Six Realms and the Four Noble Realms, the Buddha-Dharma has spread everywhere.

He led them to “enter the Four Great Vows,” hoping all could unite with this state of mind. “I vow to deliver all sentient beings. I vow to eliminate endless afflictions. I vow to learn infinite Dharma-doors. I vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood.” These are the Four Great Vows. “I vow to attain unsurpassed Buddhahood” is to continually advance in spiritual practice. This is the grace of the Tathagata’s room. He has guided us into the Tathagata’s room, into the same space as the Buddha so that we can comprehend the Buddha-Dharma.

Second, the Tathagata practiced the Bodhisattva-path, revealing to us its benefit and joy. He had previously taught us the Great Vehicle. Though we later forgot midway down the path, our wisdom and vow were not lost. The Tathagata’s room brings coolness and warmth. This is the grace of giving joy through great loving-kindness.

Second, “The Tathagata practiced the Bodhisattva-path, revealing to us its benefit and joy.” The Buddha came to teach us by revealing the Bodhisattva-path, the Great Vehicle Dharma. The Great Vehicle Dharma helps us approach sentient beings and after we give we experience such joy! But we gave up halfway. We forgot the Great Vehicle Dharma, so after coming halfway, we stopped. “Though we later forgot midway down the path,” nonetheless “our wisdom and vow were not lost.” Our spiritual aspirations still existed. “Our wisdom and vow were not lost.” So, “The Tathagata’s room brings coolness and warmth.” We continue to engage in spiritual practice without creating more negative karma. Engaging in these pure practices is like being in a shelter provided by the Buddha, like being in the Tathagata’s room. In a place of spiritual practice, our lives can be very peaceful and free, a very refreshing feeling. “The Tathagata’s room brings coolness and warmth.” This is the grace of giving joy with great loving-kindness. The Buddha’s great loving-kindness gives sentient beings a place of peace and joy, a place for spiritual practice. This is the Buddha’s grace for sentient beings.

Third, sentient beings encounter suffering, like the son only looking at the father. The Buddha observes, waiting for a suitable moment. This is like a calf pursuing its mother. He prepares the practices of the Six Perfections to benefit sentient beings. The Tathagata’s room blocks the cold and heat. This is the grace of relieving suffering with great compassion.

Third, “Sentient beings encounter suffering, like the son only looking at the father”. As for the teachings the Buddha gave, the disciples did not accept them, like the poor son looking at the father, still unaware that he had a part in the treasure. He still did not know this. So, “The Buddha observes,” “waiting for a suitable moment.” The Buddha observes that sentient beings are only looking and listening, uninspired and not taking action. So, He patiently waits for an opportunity. He is “like a calf pursuing his mother.” He is like a calf chasing his mother; the Buddha makes use of all kinds of methods.

Before, the Four Noble Truths and Twelve Links were what He continually taught. Then later, “He prepared the practices of the Six Perfections.” After using all kinds of methods, He began using the method of the Six Perfections. Eventually He taught the Great Vehicle Dharma “to benefit sentient beings.” The Buddha slowly guided them, gradually bringing them in. “The Tathagata’s room blocks the cold and heat.” The Tathagata’s room keeps everyone in it warm so no one will feel too cold nor will anyone have fiery afflictions. This is the “grace of relieving suffering with great compassion.”

Fourth, the Buddha, having attained enlightenment, should have enjoyed Nirvana’s unconditioned joy. Nevertheless, He concealed these spiritual virtues and applied the Dharma that those of limited capabilities delight in, the Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds. This is like sprinkling cold water on our faces to wake us up; this is the grace of the Buddha’s clothing protecting us from the heat of greed and desires.

Fourth, “The Buddha already attained awakening” and “should enjoy Nirvana’s unconditioned joy. Nevertheless, He concealed these spiritual virtues”. The Buddha attained enlightenment. He had spiritual virtues, but never manifested those spiritual powers. Just like other people, He went through birth, aging, illness and death. However, in His state of unconditioned Nirvana, “He applied the Dharma that those of limited capabilities delight in” so those of limited capabilities could joyfully enter. Thus, they accepted the Buddha’s teachings of the Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds. This was like “sprinkling cold water on our faces to wake us up.”

“This is the grace of the Buddha’s clothing protecting us from the heat of greed and desire.” It is like clothing that protects us, that helps us understand that we can no longer continue to be greedy. This is the Buddha’s grace toward sentient beings.

Fifth, He manifested old age as a skillful means to draw His disciples near, giving them a day’s wages. This is the grace of the Buddha’s clothing eliminating the coldness of views and giving warmth.

Fifth, He manifested old age “as a skillful means to draw His disciples near.” He gave them the value of a single day’s wage. He also did this with an aged appearance. Like the elder who sought the return of his child, as He grew old. He wanted to pass on the Dharma to His disciples. With various methods and analogies He taught them. This is “the grace of the Buddha’s clothing eliminating the coldness [and] giving warmth.”

The Buddha showed sentient beings an abundance of grace. In order to repay the Buddha’s grace, we must earnestly engage in spiritual practice. By loving ourselves we repay His grace. By giving to others we show our gratitude. In summary, the power of love is found a single thought. I hope everyone will [make use of] this love, this pure and undefiled great love, this love that benefits sentient beings. The Buddha is like this, and we must be as well. We must not allow our aspiration to learn the Buddha’s Way to weaken. We must not let any time go to waste. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 856 – Unifying Minds and Actions

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>> When we take the True Dharma to heart, our faith, understanding and practice are proper. When our wisdom of True Suchness resonates with the principles, our minds and actions become unified. Exercising compassion inspires wisdom of the Path, so blessings and wisdom are cultivated together. Our innate enlightenment opens up the Buddha’s understanding and views and the noble path.

>> “Immersed in the Dharma of the Dharma-king, we have long cultivated purifying practices. Now, we have attained the flawless state which is the supreme, great fruition. Today we are truly Hearers, and with the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear it.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Now we have truly become Arhats. In all the various worlds of heavenly beings and humans, of Mara and Brahma, we are universally worthy to receive offerings.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> Now we have truly become Arhats: Now refers to the moment when they truly knew that they had realized the Path and attained the fruit. They are true Hearers, true Arhats, and are determined to become Buddhas too..

>> Having previously realized the fourth fruit, we were Arhats of the Small Vehicle. Now, having already entered the perfect teachings, we have become true Arhats of the Great Vehicle.

>> In all of the various worlds of heavenly beings and humans, of Mara and Brahma: Existing within the Three Realms there are many heavenly beings, humans of the world, King Mara and King Brahma. The lord of the desire realm is King Mara. The lord of the form realm is King Brahma.

>> Mara here is the Mara of Mahesvara Heaven. He is called the lord of the desire realm. He is King Mara who interferes with the Right Dharma. Of the mara of afflictions, the mara of the Five Skandhas, the mara of death and the Mara of heaven, the four kinds of maras, he is the Mara of heaven

>> Brahma is King Brahma

>> We are universally worthy to receive offerings: Among heavenly beings, humans and the assembly, having cultivated the wisdom of the Tathagata, they were all worthy to receive those respectful offerings.

>> Worthy to receive offerings: One of the ten epithets of the Buddha. He is called Arhat, which means “one worthy of offerings”. Since the Buddha has eliminated all afflictions and attained all-encompassing wisdom, He is worthy of receiving offerings from all of the world’s sentient beings. 

>> They were true Hearers, true Arhats: In regards to the teachings, this means that having perfected the ten stages of faith, they entered the stage of the first abiding conduct. With partial realization of great Nirvana they attained the true Three Virtues. With the one truth that is all truths, [Sakyamuni] could, in a world without a Buddha, manifest the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment to benefit sentient beings

>> In the past, we internally hid the Bodhisattva-practice but outwardly manifested the bodies of Hearers. It could be said our manifestations were not true. Now we can let it be known that we are truly Bodhisattvas and will become Buddhas. Thus we are true Buddha-children.

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“When we take the True Dharma to heart, our faith, understanding and practice are proper.
When our wisdom of True Suchness resonates with the principles, our minds and actions become unified.
Exercising compassion inspires wisdom of the Path, so blessings and wisdom are cultivated together.
Our innate enlightenment opens up the Buddha’s understanding and views and the noble path.”

We “take the True Dharma to heart.” With all the Dharma that the Buddha taught, we must listen, take it in and not let it leak away. With no Leaks, with our afflictions eliminated, we will give rise to faith and understanding; naturally, with faith and understanding the Dharma will be in our hearts. Therefore, I always say, take the Dharma to heart and manifest it in your actions. When we take it to heart and put it into action, in this way, “Our wisdom of True Suchness resonates with the principles.” When our nature of True Suchness resonates with the principles of the Dharma that the Buddha taught, our “minds and actions become unified.” The principles have resonated with us, and we have taken them to heart, so when we put them into practice, our knowledge and understanding will be unified. We will know and we will understand, and we will also put it into practice, acting and cultivating in accord to the Dharma.

Therefore, “Exercising compassion inspires wisdom of the Path.” Blessings and wisdom are cultivated in parallel. A path is something that connects. It is like a road; it must take you somewhere to be called a road. Likewise, when principles are expressed clearly, we must carry them out successfully. Only then is it the True Path. If our path of spiritual practice is free of obstacles, after we form the aspiration to engage in spiritual practice, the whole way it will be smooth and unimpeded, taking us straight to great Nirvana. This is called “the wisdom of the Path.” To attain “the wisdom of the Path,” we must have compassion within our hearts. With “universal compassion,” we will be willing to go among people. By going among people to train ourselves, we can smoothly walk this Path to the destination. If we can walk without obstacles, naturally we cultivate blessings and wisdom in parallel. By cultivating blessings among people and developing our wisdom among people, we are cultivating blessings and wisdom together.

Thus, “Our innate enlightenment opens up the Buddha’s understanding and views and the noble path.” This is our nature of True Suchness. When we use the True Dharma in our daily living, our minds will naturally be replete with precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. We will have no afflictions; all of our afflictions will have been eliminated. Our innate enlightenment is without Leaks. When our innate enlightenment no longer has any afflictions mixed in with it, we will already be in a state without Leaks. We will can naturally “open up the Buddha’s understanding and views and the noble path.”

Yesterday, a group from northern, central and southern Taiwan came and met here in the east. These young Bodhisattvas came to meet each other, make friends and share their experiences. The first child was only four years old; he was a three- or four-year-old child. He was responsible for everyone’s notebooks. He carried the notebooks in his hands and walked up to the front. He introduced himself and then shared what he had learned from listening to the morning Dharma teachings.

He could not yet write, so he drew pictures. There was a picture of two fish that were bound together with a string. This was just one of the pictures. There was another picture drawn below the first. He drew a square piece of paper, and next to it he had drawn a bundle of sticks, like incense wrapped in paper. I only realized later that they were incense, after he explained it to me.

He told the story of how one day the Buddha and a disciple were walking on a road. The Buddha wanted the disciple to pick up a string and smell it. “It stinks!” The Buddha said to the disciple, “It is because this string was used to bind fish; that is why it stinks.” They walked on and then saw a piece of paper blowing in the wind. The Buddha said to the disciple, “Go and pick up that piece of paper,” so he picked it up. Then the Buddha told him, “Smell the paper. It smells good!” The Buddha said to the disciple, “If one does evil things and has evil thoughts, one will stink just like that string that was used to bind fish. If one engages in spiritual practice and upholds the precepts, one will be like that paper used to wrap incense. The fragrance still remains on the paper.”

After finishing the story, he added some concluding remarks. He said, “This is like all of us. If we do good deeds, our hearts will smell good. If we do bad things, our hearts will stink, just like that string.”

You see, his mind is pure. This innate enlightenment is every person’s intrinsic nature of True Suchness. After understanding the Dharma, he can interpret it in his own way, can have his own understanding. Isn’t this knowing the Buddha’s understanding and views?

The previous sutra passage states, “Immersed in the Dharma of the Dharma-king, we have long cultivated purifying practices. Now, we have attained the flawless state which is the supreme, great fruition. Today we are truly Hearers, and with the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear it.”

Those at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, Sariputra, Venerable Kasyapa and all the other Hearers had, in the past, practiced only for their own awakening. Now, at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, Sariputra had already received a prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddha. Subhuti, Mahakasyapa, Katyayana and Maudgalyayana, four leaders of the Sangha, had already comprehended this. So, they expressed that they now had attained faith and understanding.

All the Hearers felt, “Today we are truly Hearers, with the sound of the Buddha’s teachings.” Now with the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, all the teachings He had given, they had taken the Great Vehicle Dharma to heart and would not let it leak away. So, “With the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear it.” Not only had they taken in the Dharma, they also wanted to take the Buddha’s teachings and teach them to everyone in the world. Thus, “We will lead all others to hear it.” This was the great aspiration they formed after having understood the Dharma.

The next passage continues on to state, “Now we have truly become Arhats. In all the various worlds of heavenly beings and humans, of Mara and Brahma, we are universally worthy to receive offerings.”

This sutra passage states, “Now we have truly become Arhats.” At this time, all of their afflictions had been eliminated. Their minds were all already pure. Not only had their minds become pure, they had already formed great aspirations. “In all the various worlds,” even those “of heavenly beings and humans, of Mara and Brahma” and so on, “we are universally worthy to receive offerings.”

Now their hearts had been opened, and they could take that Dharma and adapt it that so all in the world might be able to listen to the Buddha-Dharma. They had formed this aspiration to benefit themselves and others. Their virtue had been elevated. They were no longer only receiving offerings of food from people. Now they should also be able to receive respectful offerings from heavenly beings, humans, Mara and Brahma. This is “virtue.” Their virtue had been elevated, so heavenly beings and humans would respect and make offerings to them. This is what it means.

Now we have truly become Arhats: “Now” refers to the moment when they truly knew that they had realized the Path and attained the fruit. They are true Hearers, true Arhats, and are determined to become Buddhas too.

Let us look at the text. “Now we have truly become Arhats” “Now,” refers to this moment. This moment is the Lotus Dharma-assembly. “They truly knew that they had realized the Path and attained the fruit.” With the Buddha’s teachings at the Vulture Peak Assembly, they had begun to pave the Bodhi-path. This path of enlightenment was the cause, and their putting it into practice was the effect. Not only did they pave the path to enlightenment, but they had also begun putting it into practice, so they were already true Hearers. Now, listening to every word the Buddha taught, they did not let any of it leak away. They took all of it to heart. They were true Arhats. They were now true spiritual practitioners, who practiced for the sake of sentient beings. “And they were determined to become Buddhas too.” To attain Buddhahood, we must be determined. If we have the resolve, we will naturally move in the direction of the True Great Vehicle Dharma and advance forward. In the future, we can definitely attain Buddhahood.

Having previously realized the fourth fruit, we were Arhats of the Small Vehicle. Now, having already entered the perfect teachings, we have become true Arhats of the Great Vehicle. 

In the past, they had “realized the fourth fruit” and “were Arhats of the Small Vehicle.” Although they had attained the fourth fruit, they still only sought their own awakening, so they were known as Small Vehicle [Arhats]. “Now, [we have] already entered the perfect teachings.” They had already begun, during the Lotus Dharma-assembly, to set aside the gradual teachings. It was now time for the perfect and complete teachings, the Great Vehicle Dharma. With the teachings of the Great Vehicle Dharma, they were now true Arhats. Only by taking the teachings of the Great Vehicle Dharma to heart could they be perfect and complete great Arhats, meaning they would reach the state of Buddhahood.

In all of the various worlds of heavenly beings and humans, of Mara and Brahma: Existing within the Three Realms there are many heavenly beings, humans of the world, King Mara and King Brahma. The lord of the desire realm is King Mara. The lord of the form realm is King Brahma.

“In all the various worlds of heavenly beings and humans, Mara and Brahma. This means, existing within the Three Realms there are many heavenly beings, humans, King Mara and King Brahma.” There is the desire realm; the lord of the desire realm is King Mara. He comes to the human realm to disturb our spiritual aspirations. He is called King Mara. The lord of the form realm is called King Brahma.

Mara here is the Mara of Mahesvara Heaven. He is called the lord of the desire realm. He is King Mara who interferes with the Right Dharma. Of the mara of afflictions, the mara of the Five Skandhas, the mara of death and the Mara of heaven, the four kinds of maras, he is the Mara of heaven

“Mara” here is the Mara of the heaven of those who take pleasure in the conjuring of others. This heaven, Mahesvara Heaven, is the sixth heaven of the desire realm. This is stated in the Buddhist sutras. [He rules] Mahesvara Heaven in the desire realm. This is “King Mara who interferes with the Right Dharma.” This is because he feels that if everyone in the human realm engages in spiritual practice, beings in the desire realm will decrease in number. The number of unenlightened beings under his command and control will be reduced. If there were fewer people in the desire realm, his power would weaken. So, he hopes there will be more descendants of Mara in the desire realm. Therefore, he obstructs people who practice the teachings of the noble path.

What kind of methods does King Mara use to bring afflictions, distorted thinking and delusions to the human realm? What methods does he use? Unenlightened beings suffer from the mara of afflictions, the mara of the Five Skandhas, the mara of death and the Mara of heaven. These are four kinds of maras in the desire realm.

We speak about afflictions every day. Right! They all destroy Right Dharma and ruin our thoughts of engaging in practice. This is the mara of afflictions. There is also the mara of the Five Skandhas, form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. With these things, we give rise to afflictions. There is also the mara of death. Humans life is painfully short. Although we may engage in spiritual practice, in this time, we have just formed aspirations and just begun to understand the principles when before long, aging, illness and death come, and then our life is over. Thus, the mara of death is another hindrance to spiritual practice. Next is the Mara of heaven. The Mara of heaven is the lord of the sixth heaven of the desire realm. He is always in the human realm disturbing people’s minds.

Brahma is King Brahma

When it comes to Brahma, Brahma refers to King Brahma, the lord of the form realm, [one who has] cultivated purifying practices.

We are universally worthy to receive offerings: Among heavenly beings, humans and the assembly, having cultivated the wisdom of the Tathagata, they were all worthy to receive those respectful offerings.

Next it states, “We are universally worthy to receive offerings” ․We are universally worthy to receive offerings: Among heavenly beings, humans and the assembly, having cultivated the wisdom of the Tathagata, they were all worthy to receive those respectful offerings.

Worthy to receive offerings: One of the ten epithets of the Buddha. He is called Arhat, which means “one worthy of offerings”. Since the Buddha has eliminated all afflictions and attained all-encompassing wisdom, He is worthy of receiving offerings from all of the world’s sentient beings. 

They had already attained Arhatship and transcended the form realm. “Among heavenly beings, humans and the assembly, having cultivated the wisdom of the Tathagata….” They had begun to follow the Buddha’s teachings and put the Tathagata’s wisdom into practice. Because of this, they had firm resolve and could overcome Mara and Brahma. After overcoming Mara, they would not linger in the form realm. They would be liberated from everything. Because of this, Mara would be vanquished. Moreover, they “received respectful offerings.”

“Worthy to receive offerings” is one of the ten epithets of the Buddha. One of the ten epithets is One Worthy of Offerings. In fact, He was a great Arhat. He appeared as a monastic, a transcendent spiritual practitioner, “universally worthy to receive offerings. The Buddha had eliminated all afflictions. Afflicted” implies being “bound.” All the bonds of afflictions had been completely eliminated and He had “attained all-encompassing wisdom.” So, He was worthy of receiving offerings from all of the world’s sentient beings.

They were true Hearers, true Arhats: In regards to the teachings, this means that having perfected the ten stages of faith, they entered the stage of the first abiding conduct. With partial realization of great Nirvana they attained the true Three Virtues. With the one truth that is all truths, [Sakyamuni] could, in a world without a Buddha, manifest the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment to benefit sentient beings

“They are true Hearers, true Arhats.” This [refers to] the teachings, how the teachings are divided into levels. There is the Small, the Middle and the Great Vehicle Dharma; these are different teachings. So, “Having perfected the ten stages of faith, they entered the stage of the first abiding conduct.” Bodhisattvas have the Ten Grounds, as well as the “ten stages of faith” and so on. We must go through these ten stages of faith to experience and understand the subtle and intricate Dharma. After removing many subtle, intricate afflictions, we can begin to take many subtle and intricate teachings to heart. So, “With partial realization of great Nirvana, they attained the true Three Virtues.” This means that they were drawing near the level of the Buddha.

“With the one truth that is all truths, [Sakyamuni] could, in a world without a Buddha, manifest the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment to benefit sentient beings.” This is truth, True Suchness. With the one truth that is all truths, in a world without a Buddha. He could truly “manifest the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment.” Sakyamuni Buddha came to the human realm, to a world without a Buddha. When He came to the Saha World, He “manifested the Eight Aspects of Attaining Enlightenment.”

In the past, we internally hid the Bodhisattva-practice but outwardly manifested the bodies of Hearers. It could be said our manifestations were not true. Now we can let it be known that we are truly Bodhisattvas and will become Buddhas. Thus we are true Buddha-children.

There is both an intrinsic and a manifest Buddha. Speaking of the intrinsic and manifest, “Today while listening to the Lotus Sutra, the provisional opened up to reveal the true.” The Lotus Sutra taught now [came after] the Three Vehicles of the past. In the past there was the Small Vehicle Dharma, followed by the Middle and Great Vehicles. At this point, the Three were opened up to reveal the One, simply the One Reality. Thus, “The manifest was opened up to reveal the intrinsic.” This means that the “manifest Buddha” is the appearance. He manifested when He attained Buddhahood. This is the “manifest.” It is like the footprint He left ․In the past, we internally hid the Bodhisattva-practice but outwardly manifested the bodies of Hearers. It could be said our manifestations were not true. Now we can let it be known that we are truly Bodhisattvas and will become Buddhas. Thus we are true Buddha-children. In fact, the intrinsic Buddha is True Suchness, which everyone inherently possesses.

“We” refers to these spiritual practitioners, to Kasyapa and the others expressing themselves. “In the past, we internally hid the Bodhisattva-practice.” In the past everyone had the Bodhisattva-practice contained within them. “Human nature is inherently good.” So, they “outwardly manifested the bodies of Hearers.” Everyone had this heart of goodness. They all knew the Dharma the Buddha taught, thus they manifested the bodies of Hearers.

However, they now understood it, and after understanding it, they still told the others that they were Hearers. However, they were transformed within, so their hearts were already those of Bodhisattvas. Thus, the internal and external [were different]. Externally, they looked like Hearers. Although these were their transformation-bodies, internally, they were beginning to draw near the Buddha’s enlightenment. This is the process of spiritual practice.

“Now we can let it be known that we are truly Bodhisattvas and certainly will become Buddhas.” They could walk the Bodhisattva-path, and in the future they would also become Buddhas. They were all “true Buddha-children.” That is right! We should have faith. In fact, we all have the same aspiration, to attain Buddhahood, and we know that before attaining Buddhahood, we must walk the Bodhisattva-path. Now, we have truly formed aspirations, and there are no obstacles in our path, so we can focus on walking the Bodhisattva-path. The direction is correct, we just need to walk it. To do this, we must always be mindful.

Episode 855 – Treating Unwholesomeness with Purifying Practice

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>> Brahma refers to purity. This means leaving faults behind and engaging in purifying practices. The Bodhisattva practice of benefiting others is treatment for all unwholesomeness.

>> “Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts. Today, we have finally attained this fruition.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Immersed in the Dharma of the Dharma-king, we have long cultivated purifying practices. Now, we have attained the flawless state, which is the supreme, great fruition. Today we are truly Hearers, and with the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear them.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> Immersed in the Dharma of the Dharma-king, we have long cultivated purifying practices: The Buddha is the Dharma-king, free and at ease in the Dharma. Immersed in the Dharma, we have long cultivated and upheld the Tathagata’s pure precepts and practices.

>> Purifying practices: These refer to the Four Demeanors and more generally to the Three Flawless Studies. Bodhisattvas do not have the defilements of the craving for or attachment to the extremes of emptiness and existence, so they are said to be pure.

>> Now, we have attained the flawless state which is the supreme, great fruition: The flawless state of the Small Vehicle is liberation from fragmentary [samsara]. The flawless state of the Great Vehicle is liberation from the suffering of transformational [samsara]. Complete cessation of both types of death is the supreme fruition. With perfect and complete purifying practices, we attain the flawless, supreme, great fruition.

>> Today we are true Hearers: In the past, we heard the teachings and thus entered the Path. Thus we were called Hearers of the Small Vehicle Now we are true Hearers of the Great Vehicle.

>> With the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear them: The subtle and wondrous path that leads to Buddhahood is Bodhi. Though these teachings are infinite and inconceivable, with the subtle and wondrous sound of teachings, we will lead everyone to hear and thus attain Buddhahood.

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“Brahma refers to purity.
This means leaving faults behind and engaging in purifying practices.
The Bodhisattva practice of benefiting others
is treatment for all unwholesomeness.”

We often talk about “Brahma,” how it refers to purity. When engaging in spiritual practice, we must eliminate all forms of affliction and ignorance. Why are human lives full of suffering? Because we are full of ignorance and afflictions. These cause us to take actions that prevent the world from being in harmony. This comes from us, from our minds, our ignorance, afflictions and the like. When these converge, they give rise to turbidities, very severe pollution. As spiritual practitioners, we must understand that all of us are [inherently] pure and undefiled. Like a great, perfect mirror, our nature is pure and undefiled. But starting at some unknown time, ignorance began to unceasingly replicate and contaminate us, blacking out [our nature]. So, we must start at the beginning and earnestly engage in spiritual practice. We must find a way to continuously wipe this mirror clean.

Engaging in spiritual practice is similar to wiping a mirror clean. In the past, there was a Zen Master. His disciple said to him, “Master, I have listened to your teachings and. I uphold the rules you asked me to follow, but I still do not know how to eliminate afflictions and engage in practice.” His master remained silent.

One day, the master began to polish a brick. He kept polishing and polishing the brick. His disciple saw him and asked, “Master, why are you polishing this brick here? I want to polish it into a mirror.” The disciple said, “Master, a brick is a brick. Even if you polish it, how will it become shiny? Indeed! If a brick cannot shine through polishing, how could you attain Buddhahood solely by sitting in meditation?”

The disciple understood and said, “Indeed, spiritual practice is not only about sitting here and saying I am engaged in spiritual practice. It takes work, like polishing. It is not about seeking quick attainment, but about seeking refinement in my practice. If we think that with spiritual practice we can immediately attain spiritual powers, spiritual transformation and realization, if we are so impatient, we will forget that it takes years to train our minds before we settle our minds and achieve Samadhi. The rules you teach every day are precepts. We need to proactively do what we should do and avoid transgressions by not doing what we should not do. We must earnestly take care of our daily living and fix our minds on always coming back to precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, If we can discipline body, mind and thoughts by properly upholding the precepts and settle our minds in Samadhi, then no matter how long it takes us, as long as we do what we must do, when we engage with people, matters and things, we will attain wisdom.”

With this story we can comprehend how we should cultivate in our spiritual practice. We often give rise to discursive thoughts and immediately speak out to vent our emotions. With our sharp tongue, our words come out quickly, and we do not consider how our words [can affect] our own reputation as well as the other person’s state of mind. It may have a powerful impact. So, I often talk about self-love, how we must be careful with ourselves and earnestly guard our actions, speech and thoughts to return to our pure intrinsic nature. These are purifying practices. As for “leaving faults behind,” how do we attain purity? By leaving transgressions behind. We must not only prevent them, we must also leave wrongdoings behind. This is why it is called purifying practice.

“Bodhisattvas” are those whose spiritual practice is not only to awaken themselves, but also to benefit others. Bodhisattvas benefit themselves and others. They use this practice as the treatment for all unwholesomeness.

In the past, we have spoken of how. Sakyamuni Buddha’s spiritual practice started. How did He begin His spiritual practice? His spiritual practice began in hell. He himself was also one undergoing punishment. But while he was suffering in hell, he and another person were assigned to pull a fiery cart that was red-hot. When the person who pulled the cart with him approached the red-hot iron cart, that person already could not bear it and nearly died on the spot. When he saw this, he felt it was too much. He told the jailor, “He cannot bear it anymore. It is better that I pull this cart alone and use double the strength to make up for him. He is suffering; let him rest. I will bear this suffering by myself.” The jailor was enraged on hearing this and said, “You can hardly bear your own negative karma, yet you want to bear another’s negative karma? You do not know your own limitations.” In a rage, the jailor killed him with one blow.

After the yaksa or demon struck him dead, he ascended to heaven and was reborn there. Once he was in heaven, he thought to himself, “What virtues and ability did I have that allowed me to be reborn in heaven?” Then he thought to himself, “When I was in hell, I gave rise to a thought of goodness by willingly taking on suffering for another. Perhaps this thought of kindness and good will reduced my time of suffering in hell so that I was suddenly reborn in heaven.”

When he looked around in heaven, he saw people enjoying blessings everywhere. Then he thought, “The human realm is full of suffering. How do people come to be reborn in hell?” It is because in the human realm, people are ignorant and do not know the principles. They create a lot of negative karma and thus fall into hell. So, this heavenly being formed great aspirations and made vows to dedicate all of his future bodies and lives to helping suffering sentient beings. He wished that all sentient beings could be free from suffering, without seeking peace and happiness for himself. Thus, he began to seek to be reborn in the human realm.

This what the Buddha recalled of the period countless kalpas before, the time when He formed aspirations; it started in hell, that place of greatest suffering. Since the time He formed aspirations, countless kalpas had passed. He unceasingly went among the people to form affinities with them and create blessings. After realizing many truths among people, He perfected His wisdom.

“The Bodhisattva practice of benefiting others,” therefore, “is treatment for all unwholesomeness.” To go among sentient beings and transform them, we must purify our own minds. We must benefit others; while we benefit ourselves, we must benefit others. In so doing, we will be able to transform others. This is what spiritual practitioners must do.

Next, the sutra passage says, “Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts. Today, we have finally attained this fruition.”

See, in everyone’s past, all had spent such a long time in the long night. From countless kalpas ago until now, they have had ignorance and afflictions. They brought these as they engaged in practice so they are still unable to completely wipe their mind-mirrors clean.

During that lifetime, they were able to meet the Buddha and “uphold the Buddha’s pure precepts.” However the Buddha taught them, that is how they practiced all the way until the Vulture Peak Assembly. “Today,” refers to the time when the Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra to that Dharma-assembly. They “attained this fruition.” In the past, they had heard of the Bodhi-path; this was the cause.

Putting the Dharma into practice is the effect. Now that we have awakened and understood, we begin to use enlightened love to go among the people, among sentient beings. This is how we got here. No matter how long the path is, if our direction is right, we must keep walking.

The next sutra passage says, “Immersed in the Dharma of the Dharma-king, we have long cultivated purifying practices. Now, we have attained the flawless state, which is the supreme, great fruition. Today we are truly Hearers, and with the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear them.”

Immersed in the Dharma of the Dharma-king, we have long cultivated purifying practices: The Buddha is the Dharma-king, free and at ease in the Dharma. Immersed in the Dharma, we have long cultivated and upheld the Tathagata’s pure precepts and practices.

In this passage of the sutra, “Immersed in the Dharma of the Dharma-king,” means the Dharma-king is [at ease] with the Dharma. “We have long cultivated purifying practices.” This is also praise for the Buddha. The Buddha has already attained Buddhahood and become the Dharma-king, [at ease] with the Dharma; all the Dharma of the universe is encompassed in His ocean of enlightenment, in the Buddha’s mind. There is nothing He does not know or understand. Thus, “The Buddha is the Dharma-king” and. He is “free and at ease with the Dharma.”

The Buddha was already free and at ease. As ordinary beings, we often worry a lot. We are not free and at ease, for we worry over gain and loss. But the Buddha is the Dharma-king; He is “free and at ease with the Dharma.”

So, His disciples were “immersed in the Dharma.” As Venerable Kasyapa said, “I have been immersed in the Dharma for a long time, an unknown number of years. For such a long time, I have upheld the Tathagata’s pure precepts and practices. In this lifetime, I am very fortunate to have met the Buddha. I formed aspirations to engage in practice and have done so for so many years.” They practiced according to the teachings; whatever the Buddha taught, that is what they practiced. These were purifying practices; this is how they upheld pure precepts. So, these were purifying practices.

Purifying practices: These refer to the Four Demeanors and more generally to the Three Flawless Studies. Bodhisattvas do not have the defilements of the craving for or attachment to the extremes of emptiness and existence, so they are said to be pure.

Purifying practices also refer to the Four Demeanors. We are already learning the Buddha’s Way; Buddhist practitioners must understand propriety. As practitioners, in our comings and goings, in everything we do, through our actions we should demonstrate that we are spiritual practitioners. This is our dignified demeanor. “More generally, [these refer] to the Three Flawless Studies.” When we express ourselves in a dignified manner, it is not just that our appearance is proper and orderly. It is not merely this. With the Three Flawless Studies, precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, nothing leaks away. We must continue to go deeper until we attain the state of Bodhisattvas, until we no longer have the “defilements of the craving for or attachment to the extremes of emptiness and existence.” We should keep our minds away from attachment to the extremes of emptiness and existence.

Some people are attached to emptiness, others are attached to existence. People who are attached to existence fear going among people. Those who are attached to emptiness regard everything as non-existent, and thus think there is no need to go among people. Both extremes are wrong. Bodhisattvas’ purifying practices are not attached to either emptiness or existence. They walk the Middle Way of wondrous existence and true emptiness as they go among people. This is the state of Bodhisattvas. This is purity, the upholding of pure precepts. This is how it is; we must earnestly uphold them

Thus, “With pure minds like this, we exercise our compassion to bring joy to sentient beings and relieve them of their suffering. This is known as purifying practices.” These are what we call “purifying practices.” If we can purify our minds and further cultivate compassion, we will find a way to help sentient beings eliminate afflictions and be joyful every day. Only when they take the Dharma to heart can sentient beings eliminate afflictions. If they do not take the Dharma to heart, even with more wealth, property, fame, profit and higher social status, they cannot be happy, because they lack Dharma. Sentient beings suffer in many ways. Look at how many sentient beings are suffering in this world. We must work to relieve sentient beings’ suffering. This is the resolve we must have. Then we are also engaging in purifying practices.

Now, we have attained the flawless state which is the supreme, great fruition: The flawless state of the Small Vehicle is liberation from fragmentary [samsara]. The flawless state of the Great Vehicle is liberation from the suffering of transformational [samsara]. Complete cessation of both types of death is the supreme fruition. With perfect and complete purifying practices, we attain the flawless, supreme, great fruition.

So, “Now, we have attained the flawless state, which is the supreme, great fruition. With the flawless state of the Small Vehicle,” they escape fragmentary samsara. The Small Vehicle eliminates afflictions and allows one to depart from fragmentary samsara, but the flawless state of the Great Vehicle provides “liberation from the suffering of transformational [samsara].” This is “the supreme fruition”

“With perfect and complete purifying practices, we attain the flawless, supreme, great fruition.” We must calm and settle our minds. This kind of cyclic existence is not something Bodhisattvas cling to; they return with Dharma to transform all beings. Following the natural laws of this world, appearances arise and cease, but Bodhisattvas have eliminated this [attachment]. They do not suffer from change. They do not need to worry about being old or dying or so on. None of these worry them. They are only concerned about how to spread the Dharma. “Have we taken good care of our own minds? Do we have firm spiritual aspirations?” This is the True Dharma. Otherwise, we are simply wasting time in birth, aging, illness and death.

We must earnestly engage in spiritual practice to achieve the state of being “without Leaks,” that of the flawless Dharma. This means we eliminate afflictions and take the Dharma to heart without losing it. The Dharma is in our minds; it enters and stays there. It has not leaked out. Thus, the Great Vehicle is already without Leaks. When we are liberated from the phenomena of transformational [samsara], that is “the supreme fruition.” To learn the Buddha-Dharma, we must engage in spiritual practice with this mindset, or we will forever just be coming and going. We must earnestly and mindfully practice. “With perfect and complete purifying practices, we attain the flawless, supreme, great fruition.” When purifying practices are perfect and complete, we achieve the state of flawlessness. This is the greatest fruition.

Today we are true Hearers: In the past, we heard the teachings and thus entered the Path. Thus we were called Hearers of the Small Vehicle Now we are true Hearers of the Great Vehicle.

Thus, “Today we are true Hearers.” Thus, “Today we are truly Hearers, In the past, we heard the teachings and thus entered the Path.” By listening to the Buddha’s voice, they practiced according to the teachings. So, they “heard the teachings and thus entered the Path. We were called Hearers of the Small Vehicle.” But at this time, “Now we are true Hearers of the Great Vehicle.” Although there is not much difference in the way of their spiritual practice, their state of mind has been transformed. Although from their appearance it seems as though they still only listen to the Buddha’s teachings, they have taken the Dharma to heart. “Now our mind is in a state of flawless Dharma. Now our mind does not let the Dharma leak out. We have truly taken the Dharma to heart.” Thus, they are already. Hearers of the Great Vehicle who have formed great aspirations.

With the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear them: The subtle and wondrous path that leads to Buddhahood is Bodhi. Though these teachings are infinite and inconceivable, with the subtle and wondrous sound of teachings, we will lead everyone to hear and thus attain Buddhahood.

So, “With the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear them.” The sound of the Buddha’s voice gives us a path, which is the Bodhi-path ․With the sound of the Buddha’s teachings, we will lead all others to hear them: The subtle and wondrous path that leads to Buddhahood is Bodhi. Though these teachings are infinite and inconceivable, with the subtle and wondrous sound of teachings, we will lead everyone to hear and thus attain Buddhahood. The Buddha’s words are the Bodhi-path. So, we hope everyone comes and hears them together. Thus, “We will lead all others to hear them.” This is the “path that leads to Buddhahood.” It is a subtle and wondrous path to enlightenment. This subtle and wondrous path to enlightenment is called Bodhi.

“Though these teachings are infinite and inconceivable….” There are so many teachings that for the average person to thoroughly understand is truly very difficult. Yet the Buddha’s subtle and wondrous sound can lead all who hear it to attain Buddhahood. So, they led everyone to hear it. Although these teachings are inconceivable and hard to understand, we should help the Buddha’s voice be spread extensively to all places for more people to hear the path to Buddhahood. We want to give people hope,

but we must also recognize that we must start by putting it into practice ourselves. We ourselves must engage in spiritual practice, must engage in purifying practices. Through our actions, our dignified demeanor and our words, we help everyone hear and feel touched. We invite everyone to walk this Bodhi-path with us and experience the True Dharma. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 854 – Constantly Uphold the Tathagata’s Precepts

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>> Be constantly mindful of the precepts and remember and uphold them without forgetting. To uphold precepts is to not do evil. To guard against wrongdoings and stop evil is to uphold the Tathagata’s precepts; this can prevent evils of body, speech and mind.

>> “World-Honored One, today we have realized the Path and attained the fruit. From the flawless Dharma, we have obtained pure eyes.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> Because our wisdom resonates with the principles, we realize both the Path and the fruit. When the Buddha’s understanding and views are opened for us, we see the principles of ultimate reality.

>>”Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts. Beginning today, we are attaining the fruition.”       [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts: Before, during the long night of ignorance, our wisdom-eyes were covered by delusions of affliction. We continued to cycle through birth and death. This is compared to the darkness of a long night.

>> So, We cultivate and uphold the Tathagata’s pure precepts. We must uphold precepts and absolutely must not violate them. This is upholding the precepts cleanly, remaining as clean as a pure and radiant pearl.

>> Pure precepts are the cause that allows us to attain great effects. Thus it says, Beginning today we are attaining the fruition.

>> As a previous sutra passage states: Precepts are the foundation of supreme Bodhi. Thus, we must wholeheartedly uphold pure precepts.

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“Be constantly mindful of the precepts and remember and uphold them without forgetting.
To uphold precepts is to not do evil.
To guard against wrongdoings and stop evil is to uphold the Tathagata’s precepts;
this can prevent evils of body, speech and mind.”

The most fundamental part of spiritual practice is to uphold precepts. We must know and abide by the precepts. We unenlightened beings do not realize that we need to uphold precepts, so we constantly break them. We break them without even realizing it, so we are ignorant and deluded. With ignorance and delusion, we endlessly transmigrate in the Five Realms and four forms of birth. This is because we do not know the precepts. If we do not listen to the Dharma, how will we know the precepts? So, in learning the Buddha’s Way, it is important for us to listen to the Dharma. When we listen, we must take it to heart; with the Dharma we internalize, we must constantly heighten our vigilance. When we are doing the right thing, we must firmly keep advancing in that direction. This is diligence.

So, we must be constantly mindful of the precepts, constantly use them to discipline our minds and “remember and uphold them without forgetting.” We must always remember. We must not hear and then immediately forget. If we do, no matter how much Dharma we hear, it will all leak out. If it leaks out, we regress to the state of unenlightened beings. If our perspective deviates, we regress and become unenlightened beings and create much ignorance and afflictions. In this unenlightened state, we will constantly replicate our afflictions and can easily fall into the Three Evil Realms. So, we must eliminate our delusions of views.

The perspective of unenlightened beings is that everyone else is wrong and we are right. When we [pursue] worldly fame, wealth and status, we do not think about others, only of ourselves.

“Do you listen to the Dharma lectures? I do. I go beyond listening; I also do good deeds. But, if I see the right opportunity, I will try to make a lot of money. No matter what I need to do, if it benefits me, I will definitely do it.” This is not being mindful of the precepts and not thoroughly understanding the Dharma [Some people] think, “I will make more money, and as long as I do some good deeds, I am still benefiting people. Therefore, I should still reap blessings.” But they do not think of the karma they create.

Although they benefit people, they have no restraint; they continuously exploit [the land] and pursue their own personal gain. As long as this is their perspective, [the Dharma] will readily leak out. This comes from having Leaks, which are afflictions. If we give rise to many afflictions and much ignorance, we will regress to an unenlightened state. Not only will we be in an unenlightened state, we will fall into the Three Evil Destinies without any control. It will feel as if we are in the hell realm, or in the hungry ghost or the animal realm. Our suffering in the Three Evil Destinies is beyond our control.

So, after learning the teachings, we must “remember and uphold them without forgetting”; this is very important. To “remember” means to constantly recall, to recall that we must always uphold precepts. We must thoroughly understand that life is impermanent. We do not need to fight for or grasp at things. If we fight too much, we may easily regress to an unenlightened state and fall into the Three Evil Destinies. This leads to suffering. We must not forget this. In life, we must keep the Dharma in mind and

“not do evil,” avoid creating bad karma; this is “to uphold precepts.” If we can practice this, we can be content with only what we need. Why would we need to strive for more than that? If we are not careful and make enemies, that will create a lot of bad karma, which will be very harmful to us. So, our resolve must be firm, and we must uphold pure precepts. Then naturally we will not do evil, will not create negative karma; this is truly upholding precepts. We will immediately be able to resist external temptations. Or if our minds give rise to a thought of greed, we can quickly put a stop to this evil thought. As long as we remember and uphold the precepts, we are “upholding the Tathagata’s precepts.”

We must prevent those actions; when unwholesome things arise, we must stop them immediately. This is “upholding the Tathagata’s precepts. This can prevent evils of body, speech and mind.” So, if we make an effort to uphold precepts, naturally we will be able to guard against wrongs and stop evil. Guarding against wrongs and stopping evil is all about the body, speech and mind, our Threefold Karma. Through our body we take action, with our speech we express ourselves and from our minds we give rise to greed. Greed in our mind affects the speech from our mouth and the actions of our body. If we are not careful, we will create evil karma. If we are always mindful of the precepts and remember and uphold them without forgetting, naturally we will prevent the evils of body, speech and mind.

So, after volunteers join Tzu Chi, when they form aspirations to dedicate themselves in the ranks of Tzu Chi’s large organization, they must go to introductory and advanced training. This does not just apply to volunteers in Taiwan, but all over the world. These are rules based on love. In our great love, we must uphold precepts; this is Tzu Chi’s rule and is also the foundation for practicing and learning the Buddha’s teachings. So precepts are a foundation that is necessary for any large organization. The Buddha’s Sangha also cannot do without them. So, as Buddhist practitioners, this is mandatory homework. In the past, the Buddha placed great importance on the Sangha upholding precepts. In the present day in Tzu Chi, as volunteers around the world are trained, we also place great importance on the precepts. Thus, as everyone learns the Buddha’s Way, we must be mindful.

The previous sutra passage states, “World-Honored One, today we have realized the Path and attained the fruit. From the flawless Dharma, we have obtained pure eyes.”

We need to practice the Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path is the cause for the Great Vehicle; the Bodhisattva-path is the effect achieved by Bodhisattvas of the One Great Vehicle. So, regardless of whether it is the Bodhi-path or the Bodhisattva-practice, both are subject to the law of cause and effect. To engage in Bodhi-practice, we must put [the Dharma] into action. We must awaken to and understand what is right or wrong in this world, what we can or cannot do. We must do all that is good and diligently go among people to help. We must refrain from all evil and uphold the precepts. This is the only way the Dharma will not leak away.

“Having Leaks” means that as we continually take in virtuous Dharma, it will continually leak out; we will forget it. If we forget it, our perspectives will remain unenlightened, and we will continue to create afflictions and karma. This is the way unenlightened beings are. So, to practice “flawless Dharma” means to eliminate all afflictions and ignorance. When all the Dharma we take in never leaks out, we have flawless Dharma. This is the only way to realize the principles of ultimate reality, the only way to obtain “pure eyes.”

Only with pure eyes can we realize the wisdom of ultimate reality. Then we can see the truth of things and will not be confused by appearances. Upon seeing things and hearing about them, we will be very clear about them; we will know what we should and should not do, what we should and should not obtain. These are the principles of ultimate reality. As spiritual practitioners, what we want to obtain are principles. What ordinary people want to obtain are things. These are very different. The principles are pure; when we use pure eyes to look at all things, the actions we take will be in accord with the principles. This is being pure. This is “the wisdom of ultimate reality.” We do not do things for our own benefit, but for the sake of helping all sentient beings. This is using pure eyes to realize the wisdom of ultimate reality.

If we see things and think, “I want more of this. I want more of that. I want many more things. I want more wealth. I want more recognition. I want even more….” These are all things. These are all illusory. These are all defilements. People with wisdom will recognize that these are all illusory and will not fight to get them; what they seek are principles. This is the wisdom of ultimate reality. If we can be like them and have “wisdom [that] resonates with principles,” our wisdom, our wisdom-life, will truly grow. When it comes to people, matters and objects, we should not look at their tangible substance, but at their intangible principles. In this way, “Our wisdom [will] resonate with the principles” ․Because our wisdom resonates with the principles, we realize both the Path and the fruit. When the Buddha’s understanding and views are opened for us, we see the principles of ultimate reality. So, “We realize both the Path and the fruit.”

We walk the Path, which is the cause of the Great Vehicle; the One Great Vehicle is the fruit of Bodhisattva-practice. So, as we walk the Bodhi-path we also engage in Bodhisattva-practice. We advance in cause and effect at the same time. After awakening, we go among people to help them. This is advancing in cause and effect concurrently. These are the two “feet” of blessings and wisdom. This is realizing both the Path and the fruit. We create blessings and at the same time gain wisdom; in this way, we continue to walk forward. This is realizing both the Path and the fruit. This means “the Buddha’s understanding and views are opened to us.” We understand them. The Buddha’s original intent, everything that He understood when His mind was united with the universe and. His awakened nature merged with True Suchness, is the Buddha’s understanding and views. We now understand what the Buddha realized; “From the flawless Dharma, we have obtained pure eyes.” With flawless Dharma, we have eliminated all our afflictions and can use this clear mind to view everything in this world. We have realized all of this.

Next, we want to understand, “Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts. Beginning today, we are attaining the fruition.”

Throughout the long night, for a very long time, “We upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts.” For how long did they practice the Small Vehicle? In this life, they spent many decades on this, not to mention in their past lives over countless kalpas. The long night is boundless; it has lasted a very long time. They had not yet thoroughly realized [the Dharma], but they had firmly “upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts.” When it comes to precepts taught by the Buddha, the disciples had been upholding all of them to eliminate their ignorance. This is because they recognized suffering and life’s Four Noble Truths. “We understand, so we are vigilant and never forget to uphold the precepts”

Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts: Before, during the long night of ignorance, our wisdom-eyes were covered by delusions of affliction. We continued to cycle through birth and death. This is compared to the darkness of a long night.

In “before, during the long night of ignorance,” the “long night of ignorance” refers to afflictions. Although we have spent a long period of time continuously engaging in spiritual practice, our “wisdom-eyes were covered by delusions of affliction.” Our eyes still seem to be covered by something; delusions of affliction prevent us from attaining a thorough understanding. “We continued to cycle through birth and death.” In our past lives, for infinite kalpas, we have engaged in spiritual practice. But along the way we lost clarity, so we went astray and fell into an unenlightened state, led by our ignorance. This is analogous to a long night, which is so dark we cannot find our way

So, We cultivate and uphold the Tathagata’s pure precepts. We must uphold precepts and absolutely must not violate them. This is upholding the precepts cleanly, remaining as clean as a pure and radiant pearl.

So, “We cultivate and uphold the Tathagata’s pure precepts.” We must uphold precepts and absolutely must not violate them. This is “upholding the precepts cleanly, remaining as clean as a pure and radiant pearl.” We must earnestly maintain purity, self-respect, make an effort to protect our body and mind so they remain as clean as a pure and radiant pearl.

One time, during the Buddha’s lifetime, a group of bhiksus had just passed through a village and were walking through the wilderness. Suddenly, a group of bandits appeared and surrounded them. “What do you want? We are all spiritual practitioners. We have no possessions. What is the use of surrounding us? Although you have no possessions, you are wearing clothes. If I stop someone but come away empty-handed, that is bad for my reputation.” So, he forced the monastics to take off all their clothes. One bandit said, “We should just kill them. Otherwise, if they report us to the authorities, we will not be able to evade punishment.”

But a kinder one among them said, “These monastics are the Buddha’s disciples. They uphold precepts and guard their speech. They will not report our crime and cause us to be arrested by the authorities. So, we should trust them [to follow precepts]. In fact, let’s weave together some grass to wrap them up and bind them on the side of the road.”

The next day at dawn, a group of soldiers were on their way to the city. When they passed by they saw the group of monastics and asked, “Why are you sitting there like that? We encountered bandits. Why are you [still here]? This is only grass. How can it possibly restrain you? We uphold precepts; we do not cross any lines. So, we remained here.” The soldiers quickly gathered clothing for the monastics to wear. This made it possible for them to leave, and they also escorted them back to the abode.

When they saw the Buddha, He praised them, “My disciples! Because you uphold precepts, you had the bandits’ trust. Thus, you escaped with your life. Furthermore, your upholding of the precepts awakened people’s conscience.” These were true spiritual practitioners. This happened during the Buddha’s lifetime. So, to maintain purity and self-respect and remain as clean as a pure and radiant pearl, we need to uphold precepts.

Thus, “Beginning today we are attaining this fruition.” This was what Venerable Kasyapa said. In the past, they remained in the Small Vehicle, but the Buddha taught them with skillful means. In the past, the Buddha also taught the Great Vehicle Dharma. It is just that they did not want to accept it. This continued until the Lotus Dharma-assembly. “Beginning today” means they had now arrived at the Lotus Assembly “[The Hearers] listen to the Buddha’s teaching.” The Hearers had listened to the Buddha’s voice and the Dharma He taught, and they had now comprehended it. “Thus [they] were attaining the true fruition of the achievement of Buddhahood. We have now comprehended. We have now understood. Other than seeking to awaken ourselves, we should also go among people to benefit them and to develop our own wisdom.” This is the true path to attaining Buddhahood, the true fruition.

Pure precepts are the cause that allows us to attain great effects. Thus it says, Beginning today we are attaining the fruition.

So, “Pure precepts are the cause that allows us to attain great effects”  We must awaken to the Bodhi Way. “Bodhi” means awakening, but it must be a very pure awakening. So, “Pure precepts are the cause.” We must uphold the flawless Dharma; we must eliminate all afflictions, all Leaks, to be flawless. If a bucket is flawed, no matter how much water you put in it, it will leak out. What remains will be filth. We should clear out the filth and keep the clean water. The Dharma is like water. We must take it into our hearts so our minds can be clean.

Thus “beginning today” means that with what we heard today, we have finally awakened “[We have] attained this fruition.” We understand we must walk the Bodhisattva-path

As a previous sutra passage states: Precepts are the foundation of supreme Bodhi. Thus, we must wholeheartedly uphold pure precepts.

As a previous sutra passage states, “Precepts are the foundation of supreme Bodhi. Thus, we must wholeheartedly uphold pure precepts.” The foundation of awakening is the precepts. Wholeheartedly upholding the precepts is what Great Vehicle practitioners, those who walk the Bodhisattva-path, must do. We must uphold precepts; this is the fundamental duty of a Bodhisattva-practitioner. So, we must always be mindful.

Episode 853 – Attaining Flawless Dharma and Pure Eyes

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>> The Bodhi-path is the cause of the Great Vehicle. The One Great Vehicle is the effect of Bodhisattva-practice. What is realized through the flawless Dharma are the true principles of ultimate reality. What is seen and observed with pure eyes is the absolute truth of emptiness.

>> “Today we are able to attain what we never had before. This is not what we first hoped for, yet today we spontaneously attained it. This is like how the poor son obtained infinite treasures.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “World-Honored One, today, we have realized the Path and attained the fruit. From the flawless Dharma, we have obtained pure eyes. Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts. Today, we have finally attained the fruition of this.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> World-Honored One, today, we have realized the Path and attained the fruit: We rejoice for ourselves that today we attained the fruit of the Path. In the past, we were content to remain on the Small Vehicle path, while now, through supreme Great Vehicle Dharma, we have realized the enlightened Bodhi-path.

>> Thus, Those who realize the Path are those who realize the path of ultimate reality; they realize the path of the One Buddha Vehicle. This means they realized the Buddha’s sequential teachings of opening and revealing His understanding and views so they may realize and enter them.

>> Those who attained the fruit in stages attained unsurpassed Bodhi and the fruit of learning the Great Vehicle. Upon first abiding in the perfect teachings, with every bit of ignorance we destroy we realize a bit of the Dharmakaya. This is called the fruit of learning

>> The Path is the cause of the Great Vehicle. The fruit is the effect of the Great Vehicle.

>> From the flawless Dharma: In the past, we eliminated the delusions of views and thinking. With the flawless Dharma of views, we have no Leaks and will not fall into the state of unenlightened beings.

>> We have obtained pure eyes: In the past, their wisdom-eyes saw the principles of emptiness. Today, their pure eyes see the Middle Way. Their Six Roots are pure, and the practices of the Ten Faiths fill their minds completely.

>> The flawless Dharma: This refers to unsurpassed virtues and merits. Pure eyes: This refers to unsurpassed wisdom. They had previously attained the flawless Dharma. Now with the flawless Dharma, they also attained pure eyes of Right Dharma.

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“The Bodhi-path is the cause of the Great Vehicle.
The One Great Vehicle is the effect of Bodhisattva-practice.
What is realized through the flawless Dharma are the true principles of ultimate reality.
What is seen and observed with pure eyes is the absolute truth of emptiness.”

“Bodhi” means enlightenment. To walk the path to enlightenment, we must practice the One Vehicle Dharma, which is the Great Vehicle Dharma. If we are willing to benefit others as well, we must form great aspirations. The direction of our spiritual practice is not one where we each walk our own path; we must motivate many people to practice and walk with us on this great, direct Bodhi-path. The Bodhi-path is the cause of the Great Vehicle; it is an open and spacious road. We can forge this path together and pave it with love. Only with this great loving-kindness and compassion can we contribute with a practice of great joy and equanimity. This is how we pave the great Bodhi-path.

The great, direct Bodhi-path is a broad and straightforward path. The One Great Vehicle, such an even and smooth path, must be paved by Bodhisattvas. When everyone puts the teachings into practice and is united in wholeheartedly paving this path, we will naturally attain the effect of Bodhisattva-practice, which is this path. If we can earnestly and mindfully engage in spiritual practice and mindfully experience the profound principles of the Buddha-Dharma, having walked this path ourselves, we can feel comfortable sharing it with others so they can likewise put the teachings into practice.

When none of the Dharma we take in leaks out, we have truly taken the Dharma to heart. So, through the flawless Dharma, what we realize is the principles of ultimate reality. Flawless Dharma, in addition to precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, also includes what the Buddha taught about the wisdom of all Dharma, all-encompassing wisdom and so on. He gave us many methods to help us eliminate afflictions, help us to purify our minds and, once we have formed aspirations, help us remain single-minded in our resolve so we can persevere in the face of any person or any kind of causes and conditions that come to disturb our minds. Thus afflictions and ignorance will be unable to contaminate our minds. These [methods] are flawless Dharma. If we can avoid being [influenced by] external conditions and are clear on principles of right and wrong, we will naturally be able to recognize the principles of ultimate reality.

Then, “What is seen and observed with pure eyes is the absolute truth of emptiness.” To have pure eyes, we must eliminate our ignorance. If we eliminated our ignorance, would we see anything as defiled? Everything will look pure. Look at Tzu Chi volunteers. They go among the people, go to those suffering from old age or illness or those living alone with no support. Their homes are filled with garbage and filth. This group of Bodhisattvas are not at all afraid of filthy things; they clear everything away with great care. This is what it means to have pure eyes.

The Buddha-Dharma is fundamentally something we practice in our daily living. What is the meaning of “pure”? We must not be obsessed with the language, breaking apart each word and dissecting its meaning, no. We must take the principles as a whole and apply it to our daily living as a whole. Of course, to eliminate afflictions, we must not discriminate between the poor and rich or the high and low in status. We must show compassion to all equally. All sentient beings, all life, are equal. We must be clear that [they suffer] because of the karma they brought with them. These deluded sentient beings have brought the karma of suffering with them into this world. “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” So, what they realize through the flawless Dharma are the true principles of ultimate reality, and what they see and observe with pure eyes is the absolute truth of emptiness. If we apply this kind of method toward experiencing the Bodhi-path in this world, the Bodhisattva-practice, we will be able to walk firmly with every step on this very real path.

So, the previous sutra passage says, “Today we are able to attain what we never had before. This is not what we first hoped for, yet today we spontaneously attained it. This is like how the poor son obtained infinite treasures.”

Venerable Kasyapa and others expressed that in the past, they were like the poor son. Although he saw many treasures, he did not dare to think of them as his own [The disciples said,] “We now understand that the awakened path the Buddha attained is also the awakened path that is inherently in us.” So, “Today we are able to attain what we never had before.” We have opened our hearts and understood. We have already broken through that mindset of only benefiting ourselves. “This is not what we first hoped for.” In the past, we did not dare think that we could realize this state, “yet today we spontaneously attained it.” We understand now. We believe; we have faith and understanding. Thus, we have attained this, just like the poor son “[He] obtained infinite treasures.” The Buddha had already announced that the enlightened state He had realized is something everyone can equally attain. Everyone can likewise attain that awakened state.

This is like how, in the vast universe, every planet is a world unto itself. If we can open up and broaden our minds and manifest our nature of True Suchness, we will be like a planet that is replete with all things. If we have not opened up our minds, we will be like the planets that are without water or life. These also exist in this universe. The same applies to the mindset of Bodhisattvas. Our lives must also be filled with abundance, not empty like the planets without water, grass or any sign of life. We must be like Earth, abundant in all things. As long as there is balance in the four elements, our minds can clearly discern right from wrong. Then, will there be anything we cannot understand? In conclusion, when learning the Buddha’s Way, we must learn to enrich our lives. Then we are truly practicing the Buddha’s teaching of the pure One Great Vehicle Dharma. So, we must be mindful.

The next sutra passage says, “World-Honored One, today, we have realized the Path and attained the fruit. From the flawless Dharma, we have obtained pure eyes. Throughout the long night, we upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts. Today, we have finally attained the fruition of this.”

Venerable Kasyapa was very reverent. With gratitude, he expressed to the Buddha the disciples’ state of mind. He also shared his own gratitude

World-Honored One, today, we have realized the Path and attained the fruit: We rejoice for ourselves that today we attained the fruit of the Path. In the past, we were content to remain on the Small Vehicle path, while now, through supreme Great Vehicle Dharma, we have realized the enlightened Bodhi-path.

“We rejoiced for ourselves.” Because of the Buddha’s teaching, we have finally understood. Thus, we rejoice and are very happy “that today we attained the fruit of the Path.” Now that we have attained the fruit of the Path; with the cause of the Bodhi, we know how to walk the Bodhisattva-path. We know this now, that in other words, in the past “we were content to remain on the Small Vehicle path.” In the past we [cultivated] the foundation, the Small Vehicle Dharma. Suffering, causation, cessation and the Path and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence were all very clear to us. We were clear on how we came and went. This is the Small Vehicle Dharma. “Content to remain” means we remained peaceful and at ease on this path. “Now, through supreme Great Vehicle Dharma, we realized the enlightened Bodhi-path.” At the Lotus Dharma-assembly, the disciples heard, had faith in and understood [this Dharma]. At this Great Vehicle Dharma-assembly, after understanding these teachings, they realized the enlightened Bodhi-path. They have now realized this. To “realize” is to experience. They were able to experience the Bodhi-path to awakening. The way to attain enlightenment was a path they now understood

Thus, Those who realize the Path are those who realize the path of ultimate reality; they realize the path of the One Buddha Vehicle. This means they realized the Buddha’s sequential teachings of opening and revealing His understanding and views so they may realize and enter them.

Thus, “Those who realize the Path are those who realize the path of ultimate reality; they realize the path of the One Buddha Vehicle.” This means they realized “the Buddha’s sequential teachings of opening and revealing His understanding and views so they may realize and enter them. Realizing the Path” is realizing the path of ultimate reality, the path that takes us to awakening. This is the path of ultimate reality, also known as the path of the One Buddha Vehicle. This is the only path; there are no others.

They had realized the Buddha’s “sequential teachings” for them. The Buddha came to this world to open and reveal to sentient beings. Thus, He taught according to their capacities. With “sequential teachings,” He taught us in stages to give us the Dharma. This is “opening and revealing.” Now, we mindfully listen to the Dharma. When His disciples mindfully listened, they eventually realized and entered the. Buddha’s understanding and views. The Buddha’s original intent, His understanding and views, were finally understood by the disciples. So, in realizing and entering them, they had already attained the fruit. In this way, they “in stages attained unsurpassed Bodhi and the fruit of learning the Great Vehicle”

Those who attained the fruit in stages attained unsurpassed Bodhi and the fruit of learning the Great Vehicle. Upon first abiding in the perfect teachings, with every bit of ignorance we destroy we realize a bit of the Dharmakaya. This is called the fruit of learning

[This is] “unsurpassed Bodhi and the fruit of learning the Great Vehicle. Learning” is starting to put the teachings into practice. We must earnestly learn and practice and not remain in the state of the Small Vehicle. This is what they all felt at that time.

“Upon first abiding in the perfect teachings” means that walking the Bodhisattva-path is “perfect teachings.” We must now immediately realize and perfect this teaching. So, we must practice the Bodhisattva-path and abide in this state of mind. “With every bit of ignorance we destroy, we realize a bit of the Dharmakaya.” If we can destroy our ignorance, then when we go among the people we will not be influenced by others or contaminated by turbidities. Going among people, we can create blessings; going among people, we can attain wisdom. So, “With every bit of ignorance we destroy, we realize a bit of the Dharmakaya.” The Dharmakaya is the true principles; it is the manifestation of True Suchness, which is our wisdom-life. If we can destroy a bit of ignorance, we will grow a bit in our wisdom-life. This is the “fruit of learning”

The Path is “the cause of the Great Vehicle.” The fruit is “the effect of the Great Vehicle.”

If we can aspire to learn and practice the Great Vehicle, we are cultivating the cause of the Great Vehicle and will obtain the effect of the Great Vehicle. The seed that we plant determines the fruit we harvest. So in this way, by planting the seed of the Great Vehicle, we will obtain the Great Vehicle’s fruit.

Thus, “We have realized the Path and attained the fruit from the flawless Dharma”

From the flawless Dharma: In the past, we eliminated the delusions of views and thinking. With the flawless Dharma of views, we have no Leaks and will not fall into the state of unenlightened beings.

“From the flawless Dharma, in the past we eliminated the delusions of views and thinking.” In the past we practiced the Small Vehicle. Although we practiced the Small Vehicle Dharma, we were clear on the most basic principles and had also eliminated ignorance. So, in the past we had the causes and conditions to eliminate all kinds of ignorance and delusions of views and thinking. Thus, we realized the Path and attained the fruit. In particular, “With the flawless Dharma of views, we have no Leaks and will not fall into the state of unenlightened beings.”

As we practice, if we hold certain views, though we say, “It is a good thing for everyone to do good deeds, I want to join them,” after joining, this thing is displeasing to us, and that thing makes us unhappy; thus, we lose our aspirations. We let our spiritual aspirations leak away. But now we already have firm aspirations; [deluded] perspectives and ignorance will not hinder us. If we have eliminated [delusions of] views, we are already free of Leaks and will not be influenced by external phenomena of all kinds. This is the flawless Dharma of views. Our perspectives must be pure and undefiled by ignorance. Then naturally we will not fall into cyclic existence; we will not bring karma with us when we pass away nor follow it into future lifetimes. Instead we will follow our vows into future lives and bring the Dharma with us instead

“Now we see the Middle Way and ultimate reality. We also destroyed dust-like delusions and fragmentary ignorance so we will not fall into the Two Vehicles.”

What we have seen at the Lotus Dharma-assembly, what we have witnessed and what we have heard, is now clear to us. Now our view is [one of] understanding. We now have faith and understanding. We have already witnessed this Dharma, the Dharma of the Middle Way and ultimate reality. We also destroyed maras and dust-like delusions. Mara’s web in our minds has been destroyed.

So, “fragmentary ignorance” refers to dust-like ignorance; There are still many dust-like [delusions]. These are the subtle and intricate afflictions that spiritual practitioners have. If our subtle afflictions and fragmentary samsara have been destroyed, when we return to the world, it will be because we are willing to transform sentient beings in each fragmentary life. It will not be ignorance, delusions and karma that bring us back to fragmentary [samsara]; it will be our vows and aspirations to always return to this world to transform sentient beings. Naturally “We will not fall into the Two Vehicles.” When engaging in spiritual practice in the future, we will not be in the Two Vehicles, clinging to our limited self. We will not, because we return with a sense of mission, steering the ship of compassion back to the world, coming to this world willingly and not because of the karma we bring with us

We have obtained pure eyes: In the past, their wisdom-eyes saw the principles of emptiness. Today, their pure eyes see the Middle Way. Their Six Roots are pure, and the practices of the Ten Faiths fill their minds completely.

Venerable Kasyapa said that in the past he used his wisdom-eyes to see the principles of emptiness. Now he is using the Dharma-eyes to see the principles of the Middle way. Thus, their “Six Roots are pure.” Not only is the eye-root pure, so are the rest of the Six Roots. “The practices of the Ten Faiths fill [our] minds completely.” The practice of the Ten Faiths are what Bodhisattvas must cultivate to advance. Thus, we have already entered the stages of the Bodhisattva-path, of perfecting the Ten Faiths.

The flawless Dharma: This refers to unsurpassed virtues and merits. Pure eyes: This refers to unsurpassed wisdom. They had previously attained the flawless Dharma. Now with the flawless Dharma, they also attained pure eyes of Right Dharma.

This is the Chapter on Faith and Understanding, so we must be firm in our faith. With the flawless Dharma, with those unsurpassed merits and virtues, we have already attained pure eyes. Throughout the long night, “We upheld the Buddha’s pure precepts.” So, we already have flawless Dharma and thus unsurpassed merits and virtues. When we practice the Bodhisattva-path, internally we must cultivate our minds, and externally we must continuously give to others. When we see all states as pure, our wisdom is unsurpassed.

In the past, we attained flawless Dharma because we had eliminated our afflictions. “Now with the flawless Dharma, [we] also attained pure eyes of Right Dharma.” In the past, we eliminated ignorance and afflictions. Now, even when we are in the midst of ignorance and afflictions, we can see through everything. So, “Attaining pure eyes of Right Dharma” is attaining wisdom

Everyone, learning the Buddha’s Way takes mindfulness. So, the Bodhi-path is the cause of the Great Vehicle path. The One Vehicle is the effect of Bodhisattva-practice. Thus, we must first awaken, then put this Dharma into practice. Cause and effect are absolutely essential. Only when we are awakened are we willing to give, only when we are willing to give to others do we have the chance to see flawless Dharma. “Flawless” means we eliminated all afflictions; only when we do not allow the Dharma to leak out can we develop our wisdom. So dear Bodhisattvas, as Buddhist practitioners, we must learn the Bodhisattva-path and must always be mindful.

Episode 852 – Taming Delusion With Wisdom of Skillful Means

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>> The mind of the Tathagata is equal to the entire universe. Through retaining and upholding, it can cover all things in the world. He upholds all virtuous Dharma and prevents it from dissipating. Upholding the Dharma has the power to prevent evil from arising. Increasing thoughts of wisdom allows one to freely apply and retain all.

>> “This is just like that wealthy elder who, knowing his son’s resolve was limited, used the power of skillful means to soften and tame his mind. Then afterward, he handed over all this wealth.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> ” The Buddha was just like this. He manifested these extraordinary matters. Knowing they only delighted in the Small, He used the power of skillful means to tame their minds, then taught them great wisdom.”      [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> The Buddha used skillful means, just like the elder in the analogy. He manifested these extraordinary matters: The Buddha displayed the wisdom of skillful means; there is nothing [like it] in the world. This is called a rare and extraordinary matter.

>> Knowing they only delighted in the Small, He used the power of skillful means: Knowing that these practitioners of the Dharma only took delight in the Small Vehicle practice of benefiting themselves, [He] used the power of skillful means to patiently teach and skillfully guide them.

>> He tamed their minds, then taught them great wisdom: Teaching with skillful means and the power of wisdom, gently adjusting and patiently guiding with the power of gentleness, He tamed their deluded minds.

>> “Today, we are able to attain what we never had before. This is not what we first hoped for, yet today we spontaneously attained it. This is like how the poor son obtained infinite treasures.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> Today, we are able to attain what we never had before. We Hearers have attained in this Dharma-assembly today the profound and intricate wondrous Dharma. This kind of wondrous Dharma is something we never had before.

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“The mind of the Tathagata is equal to the entire universe. Through retaining and upholding, it can cover all things in the world. He upholds all virtuous Dharma and prevents it from dissipating. Upholding the Dharma has the power to prevent evil from arising. Increasing thoughts of wisdom allows one to freely apply and retain all.”

“The mind of the Tathagata is equal to the entire universe.” How big is the universe? We truly have no way to measure it. The Buddha’s mind is equal to the entire universe; we should know this. So, we must all have a Buddha-mind, meaning that we must open up our minds and broaden our heart to be as vast as the universe. This is the Buddha-mind we must learn to have.

Because the Buddha’s mind is wide open, He was able to, through retaining and upholding, cover all things in the world. The universe is so big. There are so many stars in the universe, not to mention our own planet. All things in the world, in the whole universe, are covered [by His mind]. This is the Buddha’s mind, the Buddha’s wisdom. Thus, of all existing things and principles, there is nothing He does not know or understand. They are all encompassed by His mind. Clearly, the truths of all things in the world are within the Buddha’s ocean of enlightened wisdom. Thus, He is able to retain and cover all things.

The principle is the same. He is able to “uphold all virtuous Dharma and prevent it from dissipating” [He upholds] all virtuous Dharma. Though the Buddha taught for 49 years, the principles of all things in the world and the workings of the human mind still could not be explained fully and clearly. This because there are too many principles. The problem was not in His ability to teach, but in our inability to understand. The Buddha’s mind was wholly focused on helping all sentient beings to comprehend the great path and preventing virtuous Dharma from dissipating. Thus, we have been saying that we must uphold the [Three] Flawless Studies.

We must not allow virtuous Dharma to dissipate; we must earnestly listen to the Dharma and take it to heart. Taking it to heart is not enough; we must also put it into practice. Only by acting on it can we experience it. Once we experience it, not only can we understand the virtuous Dharma, from what we experience, we can give rise to this same Dharma with our own understanding. Having our own understanding is more clear than only hearing it. This is intimately connected with both our wisdom-life and our physical lives; this naturally helps us develop our wisdom-life.

“Upholding the Dharma has the power to prevent evil from arising.” The Buddha also taught us how to hold firm to our spiritual aspirations. We must hold firm to the Dharma. We cannot allow our mind to [be influenced] such that when we face external conditions we will be quickly led astray. We cannot allow this! If there is virtuous Dharma in our mind, it can “prevent evil from arising.” Then these evils, all the unwholesome things around us, will not contaminate our minds, as we are already upholding all virtuous Dharma. If virtuous Dharma does not dissipate, naturally unwholesome things will not arise. This is a great power, so we must develop and continue to grow, continually “increasing our thoughts of wisdom.” As our wisdom-life grows, we can freely apply our wisdom; we can apply it with total freedom. So, we must put our efforts into being mindful.

In the past, we and Sakyamuni Buddha engaged in spiritual practice at the same time. In the presence of countless Buddhas, we likewise engaged in spiritual practice. But when we practiced, we were not mindful and did not persist in upholding the virtuous Dharma. So, our minds were tempted by external conditions. A single thought gone astray can give rise to 1000 erroneous thoughts, thus we fall again into the Five Realms and four forms of birth. In the parable of the poor son, he wandered about for 20 to more than 50 years “20 years” represents transmigrating in the heaven and human realms.

To be in heaven, we practice the Ten Good Deeds. To be human, we must uphold the Five Precepts. If we can thoroughly practice the Ten Good Deeds, we will be born in heaven. We have talked about this before. As humans,we must obey rules and uphold the Five Precepts. Only then can we be reborn in the human realm. But as unenlightened beings in the human realm, in the place where the Five Realms coexist, it is easy to be tempted by other environments. If our minds give rise to a single evil thought, we will fall into the Three Evil Realms, the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. These are the Five Realms, [represented by] “more than 50 years.” In the Lotus Sutra there is this very clear analogy that helps us understand.

Thus, the previous sutra passage says, “This is just like that wealthy elder who, knowing his son’s resolve was limited, used the power of skillful means to soften and tame his mind. Then afterward, he handed over all this wealth.”

This begins to explain how this wealthy elder had found his son but the son’s resolve was limited. So, he had to remove his magnificent clothing and put on tattered clothes to approach his son. This took so much effort. The Buddha, in order to deliver sentient beings, had to again manifest in the human realm, to be born into the world. In the human realm, He had to endure yet more trials and suffering. Only by manifesting this form to attain Buddhahood would He have stories to share as teachings. He did not appear out of nowhere; like other humans, He went through birth, aging, illness and death. Attaining Buddhahood requires hard training. This is different from how most people live; this is spiritual practice.

If spiritual practitioners live like everyone else how are they engaging in spiritual practice? If we do not engage in practice, how can we attain awakening? So, the Buddha had to manifest this identity of being born into the palace to let everyone know that people should not be split into castes of different status, should not enter into conflict with one another or be attached to recognition, wealth or status. He left everything in search of the truth, then with it He guided sentient beings all over the world to eliminate attachments to afflictions and ignorance. He taught and transformed sentient beings. This is the Buddha’s aspiration and the aspiration of all Buddhas since Beginningless Time. This is the aspiration of awakened beings. Those who have awakened cannot bear the suffering of all sentient beings, so they mindfully dedicate themselves to helping.

However, sentient beings are still deluded. Though they are engaged in practice, they still have attachments and do not dare to accept the Great Vehicle Dharma. So, the Buddha is like the wealthy elder who, knowing his son’s resolve was weak, “used the power of skillful means.” He used skillful means and limited teachings to mindfully and gently tame his mind. Only then could he give his son all his wealth. This was the elder’s aspiration.

“The Buddha was just like this. He manifested these extraordinary matters. Knowing they only delighted in the Small, He used the power of skillful means to tame their minds, then taught them great wisdom.”

The next sutra passage says, “The Buddha was just like this”; the Buddha likewise “manifested these extraordinary matters.” What He manifested was very extraordinary. “Knowing they only delighted in the Small, He used the power of skillful means to tame their minds, then taught them great wisdom.” The Buddha understood His disciples’ minds; their capabilities were not yet mature, and their minds were not yet open so they all still delighted in the Small Vehicle and only practiced for their own benefit. The Buddha thoroughly understood this, so He trained them with skillful means. When the minds of these disciples were almost mature, when it was about time and their capabilities were almost mature, only then did He “teach them great wisdom.” Only then did He begin to use the Great Dharma to unlock their great wisdom.

The Buddha used skillful means, just like the elder in the analogy. He manifested these extraordinary matters: The Buddha displayed the wisdom of skillful means; there is nothing [like it] in the world. This is called a rare and extraordinary matter.

In this way, “The Buddha used skillful means, just like the elder in the analogy. He manifested these extraordinary matters.”

The Buddha “manifested the power of wisdom and skillful means, which is like nothing in this world.” These are “extraordinary matters,” things that are very rare. He used all kinds of skillful means; this is wisdom. Skillful means are a kind of wisdom. If not for skillful means, we would be unable to call on or draw near others, unable to have a heart-to-heart with them. That would be impossible. So, He had to use skillful means to deliver others. This is the power of the Buddha’s wisdom. He uses the power of His wisdom, which is “like nothing in this world. I want to awaken your mind. Only if you like me will you listen to me [I hope] you will not only to listen to me, but also be willing to draw near me, that you will not only draw near me, but also be able to understand my thinking.” Accomplishing this in the world is very difficult, so this is considered “extraordinary.” These are very rare, very extraordinary matters.

The awakened state is as vast as the universe; it is equal to the universe. When this state is explained in this way, can we comprehend it? Impossible. So, the Buddha had to use all kinds of [skillful] means to guide us.

Knowing they only delighted in the Small, He used the power of skillful means: Knowing that these practitioners of the Dharma only took delight in the Small Vehicle practice of benefiting themselves, [He] used the power of skillful means to patiently teach and skillfully guide them.

“Knowing they only delighted in the Small, He used the power of skillful means”   The Buddha engaged in spiritual practice and attained Buddhahood for the sake of all beings. But Small Vehicle practitioners engage in spiritual practice and seek enlightenment for their own sake, merely awakening and benefiting themselves. So, He had to “know these practitioners of the Dharma.” When someone wants to be a practitioner, when a person is willing to practice and learn the Dharma, what exactly is it that this person wants? What does this person want to attain? So, “He used the power of skillful means.” The Buddha had to apply the power of skillful means “to patiently teach and skillfully guide them.” By patiently teaching and skillfully guiding them, [He] tamed their minds

He tamed their minds, then taught them great wisdom: Teaching with skillful means and the power of wisdom, gently adjusting and patiently guiding with the power of gentleness, He tamed their deluded minds.

“Teaching with skillful means and the power of wisdom” is [the ability of] the Buddha’s wisdom; He teaches sentient beings with skillful means, “gently adjusting and patiently guiding.” To tame [their minds]. He had to use very gentle methods. To “patiently guide,” first He followed sentient beings’ capabilities. The Buddha must follow sentient beings’ ignorance to find skillful means to tame our minds. So, He “gently adjusted and patiently guided with the power of gentleness.” Using gentle methods is using “the power of gentleness.” Although the power of gentleness is gentle, it is truly powerful.

Many who practice tai chi or other martial arts, though their techniques appear very gentle, are actually very strong and forceful within. They have that strength inside them. So, in teaching sentient beings, the Buddha also used this power of gentleness to tame their minds. How can sentient beings actually comprehend the True Dharma? The Buddha has to make use of His time and power. Of course, it always comes back to having a mind of wisdom and a heart of boundless love. Then like the universe, our minds can cover and encompass all things, and we will be able to shelter everything. This is how we can experience the Dharma.

The next sutra passage says, “Today, we are able to attain what we never had before. This is not what we first hoped for, yet today we spontaneously attained it. This is like how the poor son obtained infinite treasures.”
Today, we are able to attain what we never had before. We Hearers have attained in this Dharma-assembly today the profound and intricate wondrous Dharma. This kind of wondrous Dharma is something we never had before.

This shows that the Hearers originally relied on hearing the Buddha’s voice to realize the truth. Now at this Dharma-assembly, the Vulture Peak Assembly, what they attained was such intricate and wondrous Dharma. In the past, they never dared to imagine this nor had they ever experienced it. Truly, “This is something we never had before.”

At this time, they had already realized it. In the past they never thought that this was the path they all wished to follow. They simply remained in the state they were in. Now, after the Buddha bestowed a prediction of Buddhahood upon Sariputra, everyone suddenly attained a great awakening. “We can all attain Buddhahood after all!” This awakened state, their awakened nature of True Suchness, was suddenly unlocked. So, “This is not what we had first hoped for, yet today we spontaneously attained it.”

This was not what our hearts originally hoped for, yet today as we received the Buddha’s teachings, we attained it spontaneously

In fact, “This was not what our hearts originally hoped for.” In the past, we had never dared hope for this. “Yet today as we received the Buddha’s teachings, we attained it spontaneously.” Now we have received the Buddha’s teaching for us, which has opened up our minds. He pointed out this Dharma, these principles, so that we know we can further open our hearts and also that the Buddha-mind is one with the principles of the universe. This is actually a very natural thing. We are already able awaken to the Buddha’s teachings and be one with nature.

So, “This is like how the poor son obtained infinite treasures.” Though the poor son saw there were many treasures and great businesses, he did not dare hope [they were his]. The Hearers were like the poor son, but in the end they finally understood. “Those who are Hearers previously attained the fruit of Hearers. Today they have attained the Bodhi-fruit.”

Those who are Hearers previously attained the fruit of Hearers. Today they have attained the Bodhi-fruit.

In the past, they had already engaged in spiritual practice, having encountered the Buddha-Dharma. So, “today” refers to the Dharma-assembly at Vulture Peak where the Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra. At this assembly they took the next step; “Today they have attained the Bodhi-fruit.” In the past they attained the fruit of Hearers, and now at this Dharma-assembly at Vulture Peak, they further attained the Bodhi-fruit. The Buddha had begun to teach the Bodhisattva Way, paving a great, direct Bodhi-path. This very straight path has already been paved, so we can walk this Bodhi-path with peace of mind.

All of us must truly be mindful as we engage in spiritual practice. The mind of the Buddha and the minds of sentient beings are the same; it is just that sentient beings are deluded, while the Buddha is awakened. Awakening and delusion are two sides of one coin. We must return to nature, like “the mind of the Tathagata, [which] is equal to the entire universe.” And, “By retaining and upholding, [we] can cover all things in the world.” Our minds can be this open and expansive. We must return to nature; therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 851 – Repaying the Buddha’s Grace with Diligence

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>> Everything the Buddha taught them, they sincerely, steadfastly and diligently upheld. The fruit that they attained came from the seed of what the Buddha taught them. A seed contains an ocean of fruits, thus they truly attained realizations. Their minds did not betray the teachings, and they thought they had repaid the Buddha’s grace.

>> “We obtained liberation from the Three Realms and the troubles of suffering and afflictions, so we abide in our final incarnation, in Nirvana with remainder. With what the Buddha has taught us, we truly attain realizations. We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Though for the sake of all Buddha-children we expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood, regarding this Great Dharma, we never aspired to or delighted in it.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “When the guiding teacher observed us giving up, He contemplated our intent and thus at first did not persuade us to advance nor tell us the true benefits.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> The Buddha in the past observed us giving up and remaining outside of the Great Vehicle. Through contemplation, He knew that this was because we only took delight in the Small Dharma.

>> Thus, in the Prajna Assembly, He did not persuade us to advance from the Dharma we were teaching nor tell us of the true benefit of attaining Buddhahood.

>> When the guiding teacher observed us giving up, He contemplated our intent: The Tathagata, the guiding teacher, observed us giving up [on the Great Vehicle]. He contemplated our intent: He observed that we only delighted in the Small and practiced only to benefit ourselves.

>> At first, He did not persuade us to advance nor tell us the true benefits: He did not speak nor urge them to advance forward by speaking of the true benefit of spiritual practice.

>> Inner cultivation to benefit ourselves is merit. External practice to benefit others is virtue.

>> “This is just like that wealthy elder who, knowing his son’s resolve was limited, used the power of skillful means to soften and tame his mind. Then afterward, he handed over all this wealth.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> This is just like that wealthy elder who, knowing his son’s resolve was limited: The great enlightened Tathagata’s mind knew that sentient beings’ resolve and aspirations were limited and weak. With His broad and boundless wisdom, He thoroughly understood all their thoughts. Hence, knowing his son’s resolve was limited.

>> He used the power of skillful means to soften and tame his mind: He responded to sentient beings by manifesting in the world, approaching them and becoming their beneficial friend and advisor. When they heard Him cleverly expounding the Dharma with the power of skillful means, it softened and tamed their minds, so they formed vows and aspirations of Bodhi.

>> Then afterward, he handed over all this wealth: [The Buddha] was just like this elder, who first tamed his son’s mind and later passed his wealth to him.

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“Everything the Buddha taught them, they sincerely, steadfastly and diligently upheld.
The fruit that they attained came from the seed of what the Buddha taught them.
A seed contains an ocean of fruits, thus they truly attained realizations. Their minds did not betray the teachings, and they thought they had repaid the Buddha’s grace.”

Over 2000 years ago, the Buddha gave teachings. Now, more than 2000 years later this Dharma is what we apply in our modern lives. We must cherish it wholeheartedly.

The previous sutra passage states, “We obtained liberation from the Three Realms and the troubles of suffering and afflictions, so we abide in our final incarnation, in Nirvana with remainder. With what the Buddha has taught us, we truly attain realizations. We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.”

We must be mindful in our spiritual practice. The Three Realms are the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. We ordinary people are in the desire realm. For the sake of our desires, we produce countless afflictions. So, we need to understand that once a greedy thought arises, the doors to many afflictions will be opened, causing us to undergo endless cyclical existence in the Five Realms and the four forms of birth, where suffering abounds.

Some people during the Buddha’s lifetime. Some people during the Buddha’s lifetime followed Him in spiritual practice. They listened to His teachings seriously, but all they practiced was the Small Vehicle. With the Four Noble Truths and. Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, they earnestly eliminated their afflictions, but this was only to benefit themselves, to attain “Nirvana with remainder.” They said that this was what the Buddha taught. “We simply practiced according to His teachings,” thus, “We truly attained realizations.” They truly felt that they had already eliminated their afflictions. They had no conflicts with people, no conflicts over matters and no conflicts in the world. After eliminating all afflictions, they felt free and at ease. They thought this was repaying the Buddha’s grace.

So, “Everything the Buddha taught them, they sincerely, steadfastly and diligently upheld.” They felt that with everything the Buddha taught, “We have already been very mindful; we were very sincere, mindful and diligent in accepting and upholding this.” Thus, “The fruit that they attained came from the seed of what the Buddha taught them.” Now they were able to reap these fruits; by cultitvating the seed, one can reap the fruit. They could understand the Four Noble Truths. This is what the Buddha taught them. By planting this cause, a seed,

“[because] a seed contains an ocean of fruits, thus they truly attained realizations.” Once a seed is planted [in the ground], we must earnestly cultivate it. Within one seed there are many, many fruits. Small Vehicle practitioners remain enchanted by the Small Vehicle Dharma. They believe that they have attained many fruits, so they have no desire to advance to going among people and teaching them. They feel they have “truly attained realizations. When this seed was given to us, we were able to make it flower and bear fruit. This is enough for us.”

So, “Their minds did not betray the teachings; they thought they had repaid the Buddha’s grace. Venerable Buddha, we have been earnestly practicing what You taught us, so we have already repaid Your grace.” Of course, the Buddha expected that His disciples would honestly engage in spiritual practice, make an effort to listen to the Dharma and understand the principles. Moreover, He hoped His disciples would not merely awaken themselves, but that each one “could give rise to infinity.” If one person forms firm aspirations, he can then teach and transform more people. This was the Buddha’s greatest wish. So, He wanted His disciples to not only benefit themselves but also to benefit others.

Thus, the previous passage begins by stating, “Though for the sake of all Buddha-children we expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood, regarding this Great Dharma, we never aspired to or delighted in it.”

They did not have a great interest in the Bodhisattva Way that the Buddha taught them. “We never aspired to or delighted in it.” They were unwilling to go among the people; they did not want to contrive affinities. So, they clung to their Small Vehicle practices.

What the Buddha wants to teach us to do is to earnestly eliminate afflictions while also interacting with people. Going among people without being affected by them is the true path to Buddhahood. I see so many people dedicating themselves. Even in prisons we find Tzu Chi volunteers transforming [inmates]. They lead them in study groups. They taught them to perform the sutra adaptations. Group after group of inmates from Pingtung, after being touched by Tzu Chi volunteers, after being transformed and getting out of prison, have come to tell us, “I am grateful.” This is because they had come in contact with so many teachings and come to understand the law of karma.

Some people have even said that, although they have a ten-year prison term, they still participate in the musical adaptation. In prison, through the adaptation of the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, they understood the principles. Although they still have ten years in prison, they hope to make the prison into a place for spiritual practice. This is not about feeling happy listening to music or enjoying learning the sign language or being able to carry out such an orderly performance of “The Sutra of Infinite Meanings.” When they take the sutra to heart and perform it, the most important thing is that it purifies their minds.

Some received parole or conditional release; all they need to do now is check in [with parole officers] every day. Now, they can freely run a business or work outside of prison. When they return home, their parents and their families are all very touched to see how they changed. After returning from prison, they have completely changed into new person with a pure [mind]. Now, they are re-learning how to live; they have been reborn.

You see, if in this way, the Buddha’s teachings can spread good seeds all across our society, then everyone can turn from the bad to the good and from the Small to the Great, from the Small Vehicle to the Great Vehicle. When we go among people to create blessings, by working with others we cultivate wisdom. If we can do this, this world can become a pure land. So, all Buddhas have been manifesting in the world since Beginningless Time; it has been so long. However, as each [Buddha] came to the world to teach the Bodhisattva Way, many people were willing to follow those Buddhas and seek the path to Buddhahood. However, the Small Vehicle practitioners did not have much interest in the Bodhisattva Way. Most of them only sought to benefit themselves.

So, the next sutra passage states, “When the guiding teacher observed us giving up, He contemplated our intent and thus at first did not persuade us to advance nor tell us the true benefits.”

At first, the guiding teacher saw that for years His disciples had engaged in practice only to benefit themselves. So, “The teacher observed us giving up. Observed us giving up” does not mean He abandoned those people; it was that they only focused on the Small Vehicle. The Buddha taught the Dharma impartially. When people with great resolve heard, they could respond and form aspirations. But though they also listened to the teachings, the Buddha’s disciples felt that. He was not teaching them, that He was only teaching lay disciples, the people living in society. “Going among the people and benefiting others has nothing to do with us practitioners.” So, the guiding teacher’s education was something they had no capacity to accept. They could not accept so they “gave up.” They gave up the Great Vehicle Dharma. “The teacher did not proactively persuade us to practice the Great Vehicle Dharma.” So, “The guiding teacher observed us giving up.”

The “giving up” falls on the practitioner. When the practitioners gave up the Great Dharma, they believed that what the Buddha meant by “benefiting others” was that those who lived in society should benefit society, that it had nothing to do with practitioners who had separated themselves from society. So, they abandoned the Great Vehicle Dharma. The Small Vehicle practitioners gave up on the Great Vehicle Dharma. The Buddha saw His disciples were not joyfully seeking the Great Vehicle, so He did not proactively persuade them to advance. The Buddha did not tell them about the benefits. So, “At first, He did not persuade us to advance nor tell us the true benefits.” The guiding teacher observed the circumstances and believed the conditions were not yet ripe

“The Buddha in the past observed us giving up and remaining outside of the Great Vehicle. Through contemplation, He knew that this was because we only took delight in the Small Dharma.”

He saw that they only took delight in the Small Dharma and not the Great Vehicle Dharma because their capacities were too small. They had not yet formed aspirations, so the Buddha did not force them to practice the Great Vehicle Dharma

“Thus, in the Prajna Assembly, He did not persuade us to advance from the Dharma we were teaching nor tell us of the true benefit of attaining Buddhahood.”

During the Prajna Assembly, He hoped to inspire great wisdom in everyone. He explained all matters and objects completely, that while time is illusory and intangible, all people, matters and things change. They are constantly changing and impermanent, always arising and ceasing. During the Prajna Assembly, this was what He ceaselessly tried to make clear [Yet] what everyone was clear on was only that everything is inherently empty. Some things change; in the end they are always arising and ceasing. This was the extent to which they understood the prajna teachings. They had no intention of advancing further. Thus, the Buddha “did not persuade us to advance from the Dharma we were teaching.” The Dharma they practiced was like this, it was the Small Vehicle. The Dharma-wheel they turned was the Small Vehicle.

“Nor did He tell us of the true benefit of attaining Buddhahood.” The Buddha had not said that they would attain Buddhahood, because they had not shown true interest in attaining it. So, the Buddha did not confirm for them that they could attain Buddhahood.

In the sutra passage, it says, “When the guiding teacher observed us giving up, He contemplated our intent.”

When the guiding teacher observed us giving up, He contemplated our intent: The Tathagata, the guiding teacher, observed us giving up [on the Great Vehicle]. He contemplated our intent: He observed that we only delighted in the Small and practiced only to benefit ourselves.

This means “The Tathagata, the guiding teacher, observed us giving up.” He noticed that they were stuck in the Small Vehicle. So, “He contemplated our intent.” He had already seen through their intentions. He observed they “delighted in the Small Dharma and practiced only to benefit themselves.” The Buddha had already seen their intentions and knew that they only sought to benefit themselves. So, “At first, He did not persuade us to advance nor tell us the true benefits.”

At first, He did not persuade us to advance nor tell us the true benefits: He did not speak nor urge them to advance forward by speaking of the true benefit of spiritual practice.

Since their minds had not yet begun to broaden, they were unwilling to benefit others. This thought had not occurred to them. So, the Buddha did not force them. He did not encourage them to advance, nor did He tell them the principle to attaining Buddhahood. Therefore, the Buddha remained silent. So, “He did not speak nor urge them to advance forward by speaking the true benefits of spiritual practice.” The Buddha did not urge them to advance forward.

They themselves were not diligent, but they blamed the Buddha for not urging them on. This was truly a bit unfair. The Buddha continually taught them, but they believed this was for people in society, that people in society should benefit society. Since they had already left the lay life, they were unwilling to get involved. It was that they were [not diligent], not that the Buddha was discriminating against them. His teachings were the same for all.

“Speaking the true benefits of spiritual practice” means of course there are true benefits to spiritual practice

Inner cultivation to benefit ourselves is “merit.” External practice to benefit others is “virtue.”

We need to cultivate and benefit ourselves; truly benefiting ourselves means loving ourselves. We must no longer create karma out of ignorance. We need to hold fast to our pure minds, and we must open our hearts in order to benefit other people; this is external practice. Through external practice, we benefit others; this is called “virtue.” Our inner cultivation is called “merit,” while our external cultivation is called “virtue.” Inner cultivation means eliminating afflictions, and external cultivation is benefiting others. By benefiting others we can gain wisdom; this is our true goal as Buddhist practitioners

“This is just like that wealthy elder who, knowing his son’s resolve was limited, used the power of skillful means to soften and tame his mind. Then afterward, he handed over all this wealth.”

This sutra passage talks about how. He is like that wealthy elder. Like the elder guiding that poor son who was in fact his own child, so too did the Buddha lead His disciples. He also taught them as if He was teaching His own child, patiently guiding them all

This is just like that wealthy elder who, knowing his son’s resolve was limited: The great enlightened Tathagata’s mind knew that sentient beings’ resolve and aspirations were limited and weak. With His broad and boundless wisdom, He thoroughly understood all their thoughts. Hence, “knowing his son’s resolve was limited.”

So, “The great enlightened Tathagata’s mind knew that sentient beings’ resolve and aspirations were limited and weak.” Sentient beings’ aspirations are too weak to withstand even the smallest of challenges. They only seek to benefit themselves and are unwilling to give to others. They still crave merits and virtues, yet they are unwilling to give to others. They have many merits but no virtues, for they only practice eliminating their ignorance. This is like the poor son who only cleaned out garbage and held no hopes of attaining the treasure. He only wanted to get rid of the garbage. This is what “limited resolve” means.

“With His broad and boundless wisdom, He thoroughly understood all their thoughts.” Because the wisdom of the Buddha was broad and boundless, He could thoroughly understand the thoughts of all sentient beings. Because their thoughts were still weak, if He were to use more forceful methods, He might sever their roots of goodness. Thus, He used a gradual process, using comforting methods to guide sentient beings. So, “Knowing his son’s resolve was limited” means the wealthy elder understood that the capacities of his child were limited. Therefore, “He used the power of skillful means to soften and tame his mind.” He used The Four Noble Truths and. Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence to guide them patiently

He used the power of skillful means to soften and tame his mind: He responded to sentient beings by manifesting in the world, approaching them and becoming their beneficial friend and advisor. When they heard Him cleverly expounding the Dharma with the power of skillful means, it softened and tamed their minds, so they formed vows and aspirations of Bodhi.

“He responded to sentient beings by manifesting in the world, approaching them and becoming their beneficial friend and advisor.” Now, He became like a good friend to them, becoming both their friend and advisor. He guided them slowly as a virtuous friend. “When they heard Him cleverly expounding the Dharma with the power of skillful means” means the Buddha used all kinds of skillful means like analogies, like the analogies of the burning house, the great white ox cart, the poor son and so on. In this way, He guided the disciples patiently, to “soften and tame their minds.” Gradually, He used gentle methods to help them, hoping the disciples could gradually give rise to Bodhicitta and form Bodhi-aspirations. This is the hard work of educating sentient beings.

Then afterward, he handed over all this wealth: [The Buddha] was just like this elder, who first tamed his son’s mind and later passed his wealth to him.

“Then afterward, he handed over all this wealth”. By gradually guiding him, the elder first tamed the poor son’s mind. He patiently guided him until he became willing; only then did the father begin to gather people and announce to everyone, “This is my son. He is my trueborn son. All my wealth now belongs to him. I have given it all to him.”

Everyone, as we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must definitely be mindful so we can experience what the Buddha taught us. With what the Buddha has taught us, we must aspire to and delight in [the teachings]. We must form aspirations and make vows and accept the Bodhisattva-path with joy. The Buddha’s hope for us was that. “One will give rise to infinity,” that we will all go among people to transform them. Sentient beings can be transformed. We can see no matter how lost sentient beings are, as long as we have methods to use with them, they can certainly find their way to awakening. It is not that they cannot be taught. So, we must all have faith in ourselves and also have faith in others. Therefore, we must always be mindful.