Author: Scott Ogata

Episode 850 – Vowing to Seek the Wisdom of the Great Vehicle

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>> Ordinary people are not aware that their intrinsic nature contains great prajna. Though they may realize the small fruit of Hearers, ignorance remains within their minds. They seek the Dharma but not wisdom, having no aspiration to attain it. It is not that the Buddha withheld it from us, but that we took no delight in the Great Vehicle.

>> “We clung to 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 attained 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 the children of all Buddhas we expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood, regarding this Great Dharma, we never aspired to nor delighted in it.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> These verses refer to Subhuti and the others, who represented all Arhats in explaining that before the Lotus [Assembly], they had no intent to seek the Great Vehicle.

>> Though for the sake of all Buddha-children: “Though” here is connected to “we ourselves have attained” in the prior passage. For us, the fruit had been attained; as for the Buddha, His grace had been repaid.

>> During the Prajna Assembly, under the Buddha’s protection, the Great Vehicle sutras and the great causes of the Six Perfections were expounded to all Bodhisattvas so that they could seek the path to Buddhahood.

>> However, we saw all teachings of Great Vehicle Dharma as something extra, so we never aspired to nor delighted in them.

>> We expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood: They helped people with Great Vehicle capabilities use this to cultivate and uphold, and learn from practitioners with great aspirations, seeking to complete the path to Buddhahood

>> Regarding this Great Dharma, we never aspired to or delighted in it: Regarding the Great Vehicle Prajna teachings, we never had any interest or delight.

>> Never: He taught Bodhisattvas the Great Vehicle sutras. In the past, Small Vehicle practitioners respected the Great Dharma as being high above them and out of their reach.

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“Ordinary people are not aware that their intrinsic nature contains great prajna.
Though they may realize the small fruit of Hearers, ignorance remains within their minds.
They seek the Dharma but not wisdom, having no aspiration to attain it. It is not that the Buddha withheld it from us, but that we took no delight in the Great Vehicle.”

We all intrinsically have a pure nature. This nature of True Suchness contains great wisdom and prajna. Sadly, we ordinary people are unaware of it. Instead we oftentimes have the sense that. “Listening to the Dharma is about finding ways to escape from samsara and no longer transmigrate in the Six Realms. I will eliminate all my afflictions and no longer contrive affinities.” We may earnestly engage in this practice, but with this capacity we would only be able to attain the small fruit. As we have been recently saying, Hearers and Solitary Realizers have only reached this level.

Hearers eliminate afflictions by applying the Four Noble Truths. Having understood suffering, causation, cessation and the Path, they recognize that suffering comes from causation, which they must bring to cessation; this requires engaging in spiritual practice. “I must practice so that. I will no longer create and thus accumulate ignorance and afflictions. I must put an end to them.” This is the small fruit that Hearers realize. As for Solitary Realizers, they understand the. Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. With an ignorant thought, the Three Subtleties arise, thus each of the subsequent Twelve Links is continuously triggered in turn. Even after reaching old age, illness and death, we will still carry our karma and bring it back with us [in our next life]. This is what happens in the human realm. So, having understood that, we must put an end to the Twelve Links. This is realizing the fruit of Solitary Realizers. This is how Small Vehicle practitioners realize small fruits. However, traces of ignorance still remain.

These last two days we have been talking about escaping the Three Realms. Outside the Three Realms, there are still dust-like delusions, traces of afflictions we have not yet eliminated. So, we must advance to the stage of Bodhisattvas and walk along the Bodhisattva-path. Though we have reached the Bodhisattva-path, we may still have slight traces of afflictions. To address these, we must go among people. Just what is afflicting us? We cannot bear to let sentient beings suffer. So, we go among people to train ourselves, to benefit them and develop wisdom through our interactions with them.

But, Small Vehicle practitioners do not do this. They seek the Dharma, but not wisdom; they do not have that resolve. Wisdom is hidden in our nature of True Suchness. We inherently have great prajna in our nature, infinite wisdom that will never run out. But Small Vehicle practitioners stop [before realizing it]. They are like the poor son who only sought the bare minimum he needed to sustain his life each day. In fact, he was the son of a wealthy family and had abundant treasures. This is like us and our nature of True Suchness [In the parable,] when the elder found his son, he applied wisdom to approach him and gradually guide him.

The story of the poor son is used as an analogy for how we have lost sight of our nature of True Suchness. It is not that this pure nature disappeared, it is just that we have lost our way and no longer recognize our nature of True Suchness. We are also not aware that within our nature of True Suchness lies prajna, which is wisdom. We turned from our awakened nature to come together with objects of desire and ignorance. We are like the poor son who wandered away.

He is an analogy for us ordinary people or for those who lived in the Buddha’s lifetime and were transformed by the Buddha through directly receiving teachings from Him. Some of these disciples were already advanced in their spiritual cultivation. Upon seeing the Buddha, they aspired to become monastics and engage in spiritual practice, then became leaders of the Sangha. Many of them were great Arhats. Among them was Sariputra, foremost in wisdom. The Buddha had already bestowed a prediction of Buddhahood upon him. In the Chapter of Parables, as you may remember, we read about how the Buddha bestowed a prediction of Buddhahood upon Sariputra. Later, in the Chapter on Faith and Understanding, we read that people at the assembly saw the Buddha bestow a prediction on Sariputra that he will attain Buddhahood in the future. If Sariputra could attain Buddhahood, then there was hope that they could too.

The beginning of the. Chapter on Faith and Understanding mentioned. Wisdom-life Subhuti, Mahakatyayana, Mahakasyapa and Mahamaudgalyayana. Does everyone still remember? They stood up from among the Sangha and came before the Buddha together. On one hand, they repented that in the past, they remained in the state of the Small Vehicle and did not seek the Great Dharma; on the other hand, they expressed their feelings. They shared that in the past they were just like a poor son who, in a moment of immaturity, left that wealthy household to wander about for more than 50 years.” The Buddha is like that elder who would not abandon his son. No matter how much time it took, he continued to pursue and look for him. He kept searching until he found his son.

Similarly, the Buddha came to the human realm for one great cause. He came to open and reveal [the teachings] for sentient beings in the hope that they could realize and enter them. Thus, the Buddha opens and reveals, and the realizing and entering is up to sentient beings. When the Buddha expounds the Dharma, if we can comprehend it, eliminate afflictions and benefit both ourselves and others, then we will have both blessings and wisdom. In this world, we accumulate blessing. Among people, we develop our wisdom-life. By cultivating both blessings and wisdom, we can move forward evenly. This was the Buddha’s original intent.

At this point in the assembly, Subhuti, Katyayana, Mahakasyapa and Maudgalyayana, on behalf of the entire Sangha they led, stood up and said this, “It is not that the Buddha withheld it from us, but that we took no delight in the Great Vehicle. It was not that the Buddha was stingy toward us and refused to give us the Great Dharma; we were the ones who did not accept it. We thought this was only taught for Bodhisattvas and not for us. It was we who ‘took no delight in the Great Vehicle’ and remained in the Small Vehicle Dharma. The fault was not with the Buddha but with us.”

The previous sutra passage states that We clung to “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 attained realizations. We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.” This was what we discussed yesterday.

We thought [all we had to do] was earnestly eliminate afflictions and attain Nirvana with remainder. We practiced according to the Buddha’s teachings, thus “we truly attained realizations.” We had already realized the fruits. “We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.” We thought that following the Buddha’s teachings as we engaged in spiritual practice was repaying the Buddha’s grace. This is what these disciples thought in the past.

In the next sutra passage, they went on to say, “Though for the sake of the children of all Buddhas we expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood, regarding this Great Dharma, we never aspired to nor delighted in it.”

They did this for sake of the children of all Buddhas. All Buddhas means not just Sakyamuni Buddha. The teachings of all past Buddhas have been continuously passed down. The teachings we have received have been passed down as if from father to son. “We expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood.” All Buddhas share the same path; in expounding the Dharma, everything They teach is the Bodhisattva Way, hoping that we can earnestly seek the Dharma and the path to Buddhahood. “But when it came to the Great Vehicle Dharma, we were still unwilling to [practice] it.”

This was the [disciples] expressing their thinking. This was in the past, because now they already understood. Sariputra was able to receive the prediction of Buddhahood, so everyone had hope for themselves. Thus, they were happy and jubilant.

These verses refer to Subhuti and the others, who represented all Arhats in explaining that before the Lotus [Assembly], they had no intent to seek the Great Vehicle.

Now they were expressing their old state of mind. So, these verses, the repeated verses, were spoken by Kasyapa. Venerable Kasyapa followed Subhuti’s long-form prose. These verses were stated by Venerable Kasyapa.

So, these verses came from Subhuti and Venerable Kasyapa, as well as Katyayana and Maudgalyayana. They represented all the Arhats in explaining that before the Buddha gave the Lotus teachings, in their minds, “They had no intent to seek the Great Vehicle.” This was their mindset before the Lotus period.

Though for the sake of all Buddha-children: “Though” here is connected to “we ourselves have attained” in the prior passage. For us, the fruit had been attained; as for the Buddha, His grace had been repaid.

Thus [Kasyapa] said, “Though for the sake of the children of all Buddhas….” Here Kasyapa is speaking for everyone. “Though” here refers to how everyone had already attained, had already attained the fruits; they themselves already achieved this. So, we thought that with regard to the Buddha’s teachings, we had already repaid His grace. This was their perspective.

During the Prajna Assembly, under the Buddha’s protection, the Great Vehicle sutras and the great causes of the Six Perfections were expounded to all Bodhisattvas so that they could seek the path to Buddhahood.

So, “during the Prajna Assembly, under the Buddha’s protection” [refers to how] the Buddha was so mindful. “The Great Vehicle sutras and the great causes of the Six Perfections were expounded to all Bodhisattvas so that they could seek the path to Buddhahood.” Though during the Prajna Assembly, the Buddha began teaching. Great Vehicle sutras to all Bodhisattvas, we still thought this was only for Bodhisattvas, not for us. However, during the Prajna Assembly we too heard the Buddha expound. Great Vehicle sutras, teaching the great causes of the Six Paramitas and actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions. The Buddha taught everyone to benefit themselves and others. This was a method of spiritual practice the disciples had also heard and understood.

He taught the great causes of the Six Paramitas. A “cause” is a seed. There are many varieties of seeds. There are seeds of plants, seeds of small bushes and seeds of big trees. There are seeds of many different kinds of trees. Small Vehicle practitioners such as Hearers are like the seeds of plants or seeds of little trees. These kinds of trees cannot grow very big. These kinds of seeds are just like that. There are also seeds of big trees. Although the seeds are small, they are able to grow into big trees. These are the seeds of big trees. The Six Paramitas are also called the Six Perfections. These are great causes, seeds for something big. People who “seek the path to Buddhahood” are those who practice the Great Vehicle Dharma. The Buddha expounded the Great Vehicle Dharma, and people with great capacities could accept it. They were seeking the Buddha’s Way seeking the path to Buddhahood. To reach Buddhahood, they must go through the Bodhisattva-path

However, we saw all teachings of Great Vehicle Dharma as something extra, so we never aspired to nor delighted in them.

“However, we saw all teachings of Great Vehicle Dharma as something extra, so we never aspired to nor delighted in them.” This is something extra. The most fundamental thing to do is to eliminate afflictions. As for transforming sentient beings, that is less important; it is something extra. If we have time, we can practice it. If we do not have time, we focus on cultivating ourselves. We still think we are more important; everything else is extra. We think [the Great Vehicle] is extra and does not have much to do with us. Only if the conditions are present will we do this extra thing; we do not think it is very important.

Thus, “We saw it as something extra, so we never aspired to nor delighted in it.” We see it as something to be done casually. Actually, we must do it earnestly, but we treat it very casually. We think our own responsibilities more important. Transforming sentient beings is beyond this; it is something extra; It is not part of our core responsibility. In summary, this was their thinking. So, “We never aspired to nor delighted in it.” This was the view of these Small Vehicle practitioners in the past; Hearers and Solitary Realizers only sought the [Small Vehicle] Dharma.

We expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood: They helped people with Great Vehicle capabilities use this to cultivate and uphold, and learn from practitioners with great aspirations, seeking to complete the path to Buddhahood

“We expounded the Bodhisattva Way so they could seek the path to Buddhahood.” Thus, “They helped people with. Great Vehicle capabilities.” The Great Vehicle Dharma was assumed by them to be teachings exclusive to Bodhisattvas. Those Bodhisattvas with great capabilities “use this to cultivate and uphold and learn from practitioners with great aspirations, seeking to complete the path to Buddhahood.” They thought that this was only for those with great capabilities, those who seek the Buddha-Dharma and are willing to uphold great practices and make, cultivate and uphold great aspirations. This type of person was different from them. In the past, Wisdom-life Subhuti and the others had these thoughts. They were by the Buddha’s side but believed that He was teaching this tothose who aspired to go into the world and help othersn. So, they thought these words had nothing to do with them. “Regarding this Great Dharma, we never aspired to nor delighted in it.”

Regarding this Great Dharma, we never aspired to or delighted in it: Regarding the Great Vehicle Prajna teachings, we never had any interest or delight.

Regarding this Dharma of saving other people, we felt that it was of no use to us. “Regarding the Great Vehicle Prajna teachings, we never had any interest or delight.” The Prajna teachings they cultivated were. Small Vehicle teachings biased toward emptiness. They were all about emptiness. But regarding the Great Vehicle Prajna teachings, they never had any interest or delight. These disciples simply had no interest in helping others or going among people. They were not interested.

The Great Vehicle Prajna teaches “wondrous existence and true emptiness.” They only understood up to the principles of emptiness; they were unwilling to advance beyond that. That “emptiness” is part of the Dharma of “wondrous existence and true emptiness,” but they were unwilling to delve more deeply. Thus, “We never had any interest or delight.”

Never: He taught Bodhisattvas the Great Vehicle sutras. In the past, Small Vehicle practitioners respected the Great Dharma as being high above them and out of their reach.

“Never” refers to when. He taught Bodhisattvas the Great Vehicle Dharma, the Great Vehicle sutras. “In the past” refers to how in the past. “Small Vehicle practitioners saw the Great Dharma as being high above them and out of their reach.”

In the past, they felt that when the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle Dharma, He was only teaching sutras for Bodhisattvas. Back when they heard it, these Small Vehicle practitioners sought the Small Vehicle Dharma to benefit only themselves. With such capabilities, when they heard the Great Vehicle Dharma, it seemed unfathomable, too far above them. They saw it as high above them, very far from where they were; it was high above them. How can a small plant compare to a big tree? So, they were unwilling to advance further in their practice, Because they believed that life is impermanent, having been born human and having listened to the Buddha-Dharma, they felt they had to earnestly practice and quickly eliminate their afflictions so they would not have to return to the human realm or transmigrate in the Five or Six Realms. In this life, they wanted to quickly be liberated, but there was still such a long road ahead. The Bodhisattva-path was so lofty and distant, so they did not wish to move forward. “I just want to stop here! Having attained this kind of liberation, I am already satisfied.” So, they took no interest or delight in the Great Vehicle Dharma.

As Buddhist practitioners, we know that life is impermanent so we must be proactive. With the Small Vehicle Dharma, we can eliminate our afflictions and put an end to fragmentary samsara. However, is our aspiration that firm? Can we repeatedly return to go among people to seek the Dharma and transform others? Can we sustain this for a long period of time? We must be able to sustain [our aspirations]; only then can we truly eliminate afflictions. If our aspirations are not firm, when we go among people, even though we fear entering samsara again and have eliminated afflictions with the Small Vehicle Dharma, when some kind of [challenge] manifests, our Root Ignorance will manifest again. So, this is not the ultimate;

to reach it, we must continuously train ourselves to withstand all kinds of storms as we interact with people. This is having “non-arising patience.” We have spoken of this before. We must be able to withstand all kinds of friction. We must get through all kinds of challenges. Only then can we truly attain ultimate liberation. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 849 – The True Repayment of the Buddha’s Grace

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>> Bodhisattvas who receive the perfect teachings have only slight confusion about the principles. They do not require analogies as skillful means but can be directly taught the wonders of all Dharma and all principles. The Buddha directly teaches the Bodhisattva Way, which refers to the principles and teachings outside the Three Realms, the wondrous truth of all paths and ultimate reality.

>> “Throughout the long night, regarding the Buddha’s wisdom, we had no desire or attachment, nor any aspiration to attain it. As for ourselves, regarding the Dharma, we thought we had reached the ultimate. Throughout the long night, we cultivated [only] the teaching of emptiness.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “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 attained realizations. We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.”      [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> By eliminating the delusions of views and thinking, we attain the flawless fruits and obtain liberation from the Three Realms, the cycle of birth, aging, illness and death, and worries, sadness, suffering and afflictions. This is speaking of those who possess the flawless wisdom to eliminate the suffering of samsara.

>> So we abide in the final body: Their bodies still exist; they have not yet ceased to be, so it says they “abide”.

>> In this lifetime they have ended [afflictions], so they will not experience future incarnations. They have already realized the fourth fruit, thus it says this is their ‘final incarnation’.

>> Nirvana with remainder: They eliminated the delusions of views and thinking but their bodies still remained This is called “with remainder”.

>> The mind abiding in emptiness and stillness is called ‘Nirvana’.

>> With what the Buddha has taught us, we truly attained realizations: These limited teachings on the Dharma of arising and ceasing were what the Buddha taught. Engaging in spiritual practice accordingly, we already attained the noble path; this is true and not false.

>> With what they gained, they revealed what was lost. Though the fruit they attained was with remainder, the seed was still what the Buddha taught them. The cause and effect are both real, so they truly attained realizations.

>> We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace: They practiced diligently so they attained. They obeyed all of the Buddha’s instructions and faithfully put them into practice, so they thought they had repaid the Tathagata’s grace for transforming and teaching them.

>> All of us thought that we had practiced accordingly to attain realizations and had transformed ourselves and others, and thus we had already repaid His grace. Thus they had no wish to seek the Great Dharma. They did not accept the Buddha’s intention for them to turn from the Small toward the Great Vehicle.

>> Subhuti and others had thought if they could end fragmentary samsara, they would have repaid the grace of the Buddha. This is one who only liberates oneself.

>> They must learn His great compassion and wisdom to widely transform sentient beings. This is truly repaying the Buddha’s grace.

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“Bodhisattvas who receive the perfect teachings have only slight confusion about the principles.
They do not require analogies as skillful means
but can be directly taught the wonders of all Dharma and all principles. The Buddha directly teaches the Bodhisattva Way,
which refers to the principles and teachings outside the Three Realms, the wondrous truth of all paths and ultimate reality.”

Do you understand? The Small Vehicle practitioners still remained attached to their own practice to seek only their own awakening. Since their capabilities were limited, it did not matter what kind of principles the Buddha used to encourage them; when they listened to the Great Vehicle Dharma, those of limited capabilities thought it was something for other people and had nothing to do with them. They thought they had to stay pure and undefiled, with no conflicts in the world; thus they would have no afflictions. They thought that was all that they needed to do. No matter how the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle, the Bodhisattva Way, they thought it was something for other people.

He [used many] analogies, using matters as analogies for principles and principles as analogies for matters. He taught matters and principles using analogies, all to help us understand that when certain things happen in life, when our minds give arise to certain thoughts, as a result, we experience suffering or joy. So, everything the Buddha taught, the pitaka, common, unique and perfect teachings, were classified like this by those who came later.

“Bodhisattvas who receive the perfect teachings have only slight confusion about the principles.” This describes those with great capabilities. They believe in the Buddha’s teachings and also believe that they themselves have the Tathagata-nature of True Suchness. Therefore, as far as the principles go, they are already quite clear about them. They only have a few unclear things left. Their afflictions are light, not heavy, and the things they do not understand are subtle. They manifest as [unenlightened] Bodhisattvas, so they seek the path to Buddhahood because they still have room for improvement. Then they are able to transform sentient beings. Even Manjusri Bodhisattva, who had been the teacher of seven past Buddhas and who had attained Buddhahood himself, when he came to the world to help Sakyamuni Buddha deliver and transform sentient beings, also had to appear in Bodhisattva-form. Actually, when it came to the principles, these Bodhisattvas were not confused at all. They had simply come to help the Buddha teach and transform, so they requested the Dharma on behalf of sentient beings. They would appear and say, “I do not know. I will ask on everyone’s behalf so the Buddha can teach and everyone will know.” Actually they were not confused; they just manifested this kind of appearance in order to help.

For those with great capabilities like this, the Buddha did not “require analogies as skillful means.” He did not have to beat around the bush. He could directly point to their minds so they could behold their nature and attain Buddhahood. He could simply say to them, “For you to attain Buddhahood, your spiritual practice must be to truly understand the principles and eliminate ignorance. For every measure of ignorance eliminated, the same measure of wisdom will be revealed.” Where does wisdom come from? It comes from going among people. He simply told them this directly, and the Bodhisattvas understood and just did it. It was unnecessary to use all kinds of analogies; He could directly teach the Dharma to them. So, they could “be directly taught the wonders of all Dharma and all principles.” He taught them directly like this.

They understood; since their causes and conditions had already matured, coming to this world, they could encounter the Buddha-Dharma and put it into practice with faith and understanding. They knew that they should just do it. So, they went among people to transform them. This was what the Buddha taught them, and this was what those Bodhisattvas accepted. They formed great aspirations and walked the Bodhisattva-path, “which refers to the principles and teachings outside the Three Realms.” These are teachings outside the Three Realms.

As we discussed yesterday, spiritual practice inside the Three Realms only eliminates fragmentary samsara. But Bodhisattvas still manifest a slight amount of transformational samsara. Transformational samsara refers to our thoughts, to coming and going freely. They leave this life and go to the next, returning in order to fulfill their vows. Whether to the heaven, human, hell or hungry ghost realm, though they must still go there, it is because of their vows. No matter where in the human realm or whatever realm where they have affinities with sentient beings, they will go there.

For instance, Ananda had been following the Buddha for a very long time. But after the Buddha had entered Parinirvana, when His teachings were to be compiled, Venerable Kasyapa rebuked Ananda and said, “You have not eliminated your afflictions.” Ananda said, “In order to follow the Buddha, I retained a small measure of afflictions.” Therefore, when we form Bodhisattva-aspirations, we retain a small measure of afflictions. This is the “slight confusion.” They still keep just a little bit, but actually they are completely pure. They have to leave a little, so that they can appear to say, “I do not know. If I knew, the Buddha would not have to teach any further. So, I do not know. The Buddha has to teach us further.” So, when the Buddha spoke to these people

of higher capabilities and taught them the Dharma, it really was quite simple. He did not have to “pull the vine to get the bean.” He could teach them directly, without using all kinds of analogies. Thus, He “directly taught the Bodhisattva Way.” These are the “teachings and principles outside the Three Realms.” He pushed aside the Three Realms, the desire, form and formless realms, and how those afflictions can be removed. The Buddha quickly jumped over these and taught them how to practice the Bodhisattva Way. Thus, He “directly taught the Bodhisattva Way.” These are the teachings and principles outside the Three Realms.

So, this is “the wondrous truth of all paths and ultimate reality.” All Buddhas of past teach paths that connect; the Dharma of all Buddhas is interconnected. The principles are all the same. Thus, They pointed directly to our minds for us to behold our nature and attain Buddhahood. However, for us to do this we must go among people and walk the Bodhisattva-path. This principle is just as simple as that. Bodhisattvas, Living Bodhisattvas, are also like this. They just do it. It does not require a lot of explanation.

The previous sutra passage states, “Throughout the long night, regarding the Buddha’s wisdom, we had no desire or attachment, nor any aspiration to attain it. As for ourselves, regarding the Dharma, we thought we had reached the ultimate. Throughout the long night, we cultivated [only] the teaching of emptiness.”

This is the analogy that. Venerable Kasyapa used to describe himself. Throughout the long night, the Buddha’s wisdom shone like a ray of light. But the disciples remained in the long night, looking up at the stars and moon in the sky and thinking to themselves, “I have already seen the light! I have already realized the vastness of the sky.” They did not know that beneath the sky, all phenomena still exist. So many matters, appearances and principles were still not clear to them. They just remained within the long night, just looking up at the sky

[Kasyapa] used this kind of analogy to compare the Buddha’s wisdom to sunlight. When the sky is light, we can see the mountains, rivers and land, and the workings of things that are before us. This is the Buddha’s wisdom, yet they never thought to take it for themselves. Thus, they had no desire or attachment nor any aspiration to attain it. They thought they had already understood all of the teachings, that this was good enough. They thought they had reached the ultimate by attaining the fourth fruit, Arhatship. They were satisfied with that.

The next sutra passage then 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 attained realizations. We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.”

“We obtained liberation from the Three Realms.” They had cultivated and practiced the Dharma of emptiness in the past, thinking that in doing this they would attain liberation from the Three Realms. They thought, “We abide in our final incarnation. In this lifetime, we have already thoroughly understood the principles and have eliminated our ignorance so this will be our final lifetime”; they are in “Nirvana with remainder.” In fact, this is only “Nirvana with remainder,” because “Nirvana with remainder” means that they had only eliminated the suffering of the Three Realms. Now they already knew this. “With what the Buddha has taught us, we truly attained realizations. We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.” Knowing that the Buddha taught us mindfully, we earnestly engaged in spiritual practice. We practice earnestly now in order to repay the Buddha’s grace and live up to His great efforts on our behalf.

Indeed, this is also true. Of course, seeing His disciples earnestly engaged in their spiritual practice gave the Buddha the greatest comfort and joy. However, besides their own spiritual practice, the Buddha would have been even more joyful if they had taken the next step of going among people without being defiled by them. Only then would they be truly pure. If the bustle of the crowd causes one afflictions, how could one be considered purity? The Buddha wanted them to eliminate afflictions so even in the midst of complicated situations they could remain calm and pure. Only then would they truly remain undefiled and have truly eliminated afflictions.

By eliminating the delusions of views and thinking, we attain the flawless fruits and obtain liberation from the Three Realms, the cycle of birth, aging, illness and death, and worries, sadness, suffering and afflictions. This is speaking of those who possess the flawless wisdom to eliminate the suffering of samsara. 

So, these afflictions are the delusions of views and thinking. “By eliminating the delusions of views and thinking, we attain the flawless fruits.” This is what is known as eliminating afflictions [We] “obtain liberation from the Three Realms, the cycle of birth, aging, illness and death, and worries, sadness, suffering and afflictions.” All of these take place in the Three Realms. It is in the desire realm that ignorance exists in our views and thinking, such that we undergo birth, aging, illness, death, worries, sadness, suffering and afflictions. The sources of these are ignorance and afflictions. They possess “flawless wisdom to eliminate the suffering of samsara.” They know all of this. They know and already have the flawless wisdom to eliminate the suffering of samsara. They already know this. Thus it says, “We abide in our final incarnation. Their present bodies still exist; they have not yet ceased to be.” This is called “abiding.”

So we abide in the final body: Their bodies still exist; they have not yet ceased to be, so it says they “abide”.

Kasyapa and the Buddha’s other disciples still had their bodies. They had eliminated afflictions, but their bodies still existed. So, they were said to “abide. We abide in our final incarnation.” Their bodies were still in this world, but they had eliminated their afflictions

“In this lifetime they have ended [afflictions], so they will not experience future incarnations. They have already realized the fourth fruit, thus it says this is their ‘final incarnation’.”

When their bodies ceased to exist, when their bodies came to that very last day, they would “not experience future incarnations. I will not return to this world. I have no need to transmigrate further in the Six Realms.” This was what Venerable Kasyapa said because he had already attained the fourth fruit, Arhatship. “This lifetime is my last. This is my final incarnation.”

Nirvana with remainder: They eliminated the delusions of views and thinking but their bodies still remained This is called “with remainder”.

As for “Nirvana with remainder,” it means they had “eliminated the delusions of views and thinking, but their bodies still remained.” Although their delusions of views and thinking were already eliminated, their bodies still remained. So, it is called “with remainder.” Their bodies still remained. They had bodies, so when it was cold, they felt cold, and when it was hot, they felt hot. They still had to eat food every day in order to keep on living. So, this is saying that they still had bodies, but they had eliminated their afflictions. This is called “Nirvana with remainder”

“The mind abiding in emptiness and stillness is called ‘Nirvana’.”

“The mind [is] abiding in emptiness and stillness.” In their minds, they thought everything was empty. So, they thought there was no need to seek further and went no further in their practice. They felt they had no need for the Bodhisattva Way taught by the Buddha.

With what the Buddha has taught us, we truly attained realizations: These limited teachings on the Dharma of arising and ceasing were what the Buddha taught. Engaging in spiritual practice accordingly, we already attained the noble path; this is true and not false.  

“Our minds ‘abide in emptiness and stillness,’ so we have already entered the state of Nirvana. Our minds are empty. All that remains of us is the body.” So, this was “Nirvana with remainder. With what the Buddha has taught us, we truly attained realizations. These limited teachings on the Dharma of arising and ceasing….” These limited teachings benefit only oneself. This is what they do. The Small Vehicle teachings were “what the Buddha taught us,” what He expounded. The Buddha taught this so we practiced accordingly. Sure enough, we attained [realizations], and after understanding the principles, our minds became free and at ease. We have truly attained the noble path. “This is true and not false.” This is true. Because of this, “With what they gained, they revealed what was lost”. In this way, they felt they had attained, so what was “lost” was truly revealed, which was the aspiration to seek the Great Dharma. So, “Though the fruit they attained was with remainder, the seed was still what the Buddha taught them.” What the Buddha taught, like the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, were realized one level after another. With what they experienced, “The cause and effect are both real.” The cause and effect, the principles taught to them by the Buddha and the effects they had gained from their efforts, these principles, were all real. “So they had truly attained realizations.” If we can truly attain realizations through these teachings, we can achieve peace and freedom in our minds. Thus, “They truly attained realizations.”

With what they gained, they revealed what was lost. Though the fruit they attained was with remainder, the seed was still what the Buddha taught them. The cause and effect are both real, so they truly attained realizations.

“We thought that our attainment had already repaid the Buddha’s grace.” They felt that they “had practiced so they attained. They obeyed all of the Buddha’s instructions.” This is what they had done. “Whatever the Buddha taught us, that is what we did.” So, “They faithfully put teachings into practice.” They had practiced obediently, and this made the Buddha joyful. This was repaying the Buddha’s grace, repaying Him for teaching and transforming them.

Of course, if the students are well-behaved, the teacher is happy. The Buddha was the same way. If His disciples earnestly practiced, this was the most joyful thing for the Buddha. The Buddha came for one great cause, which was none other than to teach sentient beings to realize and enter the true principles. So, when sentient beings, the disciples, realized and entered the true principles, the Buddha was of course joyful. They seriously engaged in spiritual practice in order to repay the Buddha’s grace “All of us thought that we had practiced accordingly to attain realizations and had transformed ourselves and others, thus we had already repaid His grace.”

All of us thought that we had practiced accordingly to attain realizations and had transformed ourselves and others, and thus we had already repaid His grace. Thus they had no wish to seek the Great Dharma. They did not accept the Buddha’s intention for them to turn from the Small toward the Great Vehicle.

So, “They had no wish to seek the Great Dharma” ․Thus they had no wish to seek the Great Dharma. They did not accept the Buddha’s intention for them to turn from the Small toward the Great Vehicle. They should have gone to transform others, but they stopped at only transforming themselves. They did not want to go and transform others, so they had no wish to seek further. They never accepted the Buddha’s intent for them to turn from the Small toward the Great Vehicle. They still did not really understand. The Buddha hoped His disciples would “turn from the Small toward the Great Vehicle. You understand the basic principles. Now you must transcend the basic principles and make great strides without delay; go among the people and form great aspirations.” This was what the Buddha had hoped for, but still they were unable to truly comprehend the Buddha’s original intent. Thus, “Subhuti and the others had thought if they could end fragmentary samsara,” they would have repaid the Buddha’s grace. They thought by eliminating fragmentary samsara and afflictions in the Three Realms, they would have repaid the Buddha’s grace. Thus, “They were only focused on self-awakening.”

Subhuti and others had thought if they could end fragmentary samsara, they would have repaid the grace of the Buddha. This is one who only liberates oneself.

This was not what the Buddha had in mind as He taught them. “I did not teach you to be selfish. Do not only seek your own awakening without seeking to benefit others.” When we accept the Dharma, we should then again bring out the principles of the Buddha-Dharma to go and teach them to others; only then will the Dharma-lineage be passed down. We should not assume that after this lifetime, all will be over and done with

They must learn His great compassion and wisdom to widely transform sentient beings. This is truly repaying the Buddha’s grace.

To learn the Buddha’s Way, we must do this. Since we have understood and thoroughly grasped the principles, after we are clear, we should put them into practice. By putting them into practice, we can become examples for others to follow and go among people to create blessings. Amongst them, we can absorb much wisdom, and this wisdom will wear away our afflictions. We completely eliminate them when among people, yet remain undefiled by others’ afflictions. This is the only way to truly eliminate samsara. Otherwise, we will continue to carry our karma into our next life.

We should form great aspirations, and after taking the Dharma to heart, we must, in this very lifetime, seize the time to practice according to the teachings, putting the Dharma into practice. Then, in the future, on our very last day, when we meet our end, we will bring the Dharma with us when we go. We should keep the Dharma and true principles in our aspirations and aspire to come again journeying on the Dharma, instead of bringing karma with us when we go. We must take the vehicle of the Dharma and our vows to come back [to the world]. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 848 – Awakening is Like Sunlight Illuminating the Mind

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>> Throughout the long night, they see the far-off stars and the moon. Happily abiding in tranquility and stillness, they enjoy the vast void in solitude. They take no delight in the sunlight which universally illuminates all beings, nor in thoroughly comprehending suffering or contemplating liberation.

>> “Why was this so? All phenomena are empty and still, neither arising nor ceasing, neither great nor small. They are flawless and uncontrived. Because we contemplated them in this way, we did not give rise to joy.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Throughout the long night, regarding the Buddha’s wisdom, we had no desire or attachment, nor any aspiration to attain it. As for ourselves, regarding the Dharma, we thought we had reached the ultimate. Throughout the long night, we cultivated [only] the teaching of emptiness.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> We were lost, as if in a long and dark night. We only knew to delight in the Small [Vehicle]; fearing suffering, we sought emptiness.

>> The long night: This refers to how, for Two Vehicle practitioners, from the time from when they form aspirations until they reach the stage beyond learning, even for those with sharp capabilities, requires 60 small kalpas.

>> The Buddha, the World-Honored One, as a Buddha, had supreme wisdom, yet since they were deluded, they had no desire for or attachment to it. Desire and attachment are explained, Craving and delight are called desire. Miserliness is called attachment.

>> Nor [did we have] any aspiration to attain it. As for ourselves, regarding the Dharma: They had neither resolve nor aspiration to seek the path to Buddhahood. Deluded themselves, they clung to practicing Small [Vehicle] Dharma.

>> We thought we had reached the ultimate: Having realized Arhatship, they thought they had completely exhausted cyclic existence in the Three Realms and would not undergo subsequent reincarnation; for them this was the ultimate. They did not know that outside those realms, there still remained subtle ignorance that they had not eliminated at all. This was not the ultimate and supreme path to Buddhahood, to Mahaparinirvana.

>> By eliminating the delusions of views and thinking we escape from the Three Realms. In pure lands outside of those realms, Dharmakaya-Bodhisattvas, who experience transformational samsara, teach the Dharma-door of eliminating ignorance to attain Buddhahood.

>> Throughout the long night, we cultivated [only] the teaching of emptiness. Attached to the Small and deluded as to the Great, they were in the dark about the perfect vehicle. This is called a ‘long night’. They only practiced, upheld and cultivated the flawless teachings biased toward emptiness.

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“Throughout the long night, they see the far-off stars and the moon. Happily abiding in tranquility and stillness, they enjoy the vast void in solitude.
They take no delight in the sunlight which universally illuminates all beings,
 nor in thoroughly comprehending suffering or contemplating liberation.”

In the human and heaven realms, the night is long. When will daylight come? The minds of ordinary beings are dark, as if in a long night. How long will we have to wait for daybreak? Nonetheless, there are some people who think that, during this long night, we can enjoy looking up at the sky and gazing at the stars and the moon; isn’t such an atmosphere at night quite nice? Thus, these people remain stuck in this state of “happily abiding in tranquility and stillness.” The night is so quiet, with no one disturbing them. Thus they simply “enjoy the vast void in solitude.” Seeing the vastness of the sky covered in stars at night is a wonderful feeling, so they have no desire to seek the daylight. They do not wish to see the light of the sun that clearly illuminates all things on earth. Thus, they have even less of a desire to thoroughly comprehend human suffering or contemplate ways to attain liberation.

This is like the Small Vehicle state. Small Vehicle practitioners only seek to attain a state of peace and quiet. They seek a state without chaos and confusion, believing that to be a state free of afflictions. What is out of sight is out of mind. “No matter what suffering there is in the world, I do not wish to go out and see it, as the state of my mind is already very pure.” This is the extent of their thinking. So, we use the analogy of a person who does not enjoy daylight.

Yes, there are people like this. To them, nighttime is the time for rest. If the night lasted a bit longer, then they could rest a little more. When the sun comes up, they have to get up and go to work. So, they look forward to the nighttime, not to the daytime. This is the same idea.

It is only during daytime that we can see the sun illuminating the earth. Only then can we clearly see the various kinds of scenery in this world, Big or small, we will be able to see everything clearly. The same applies to spiritual practice and our nature of True Suchness. When we break through our ignorance, our pure nature of True Suchness manifests. This wisdom can discern all kinds of states, all kinds of principles, matters and objects; we can see them all very clearly. This is “the sunlight which universally illuminates all beings.” It is like wisdom that can discern all principles and states; this is what we should hope to achieve

[We must] “thoroughly comprehend suffering.” Only by understanding the principles can we truly comprehend suffering in this world. This suffering comes from so many people’s minds, from ignorance arising. Then the ignorance that is reproduced brings so much suffering to this world. If we understand the principles and thoroughly comprehend the truths of suffering, naturally we will be able to mindfully contemplate ways to liberate ourselves from this suffering. By liberating ourselves and liberating others, we ourselves and the people around us, every single person, will attain liberation. This comes from truly comprehending the principles. This is similar to our nature of True Suchness. Once we have transcended ignorance, leaving it behind, we can radiate the light of wisdom, which is like sunlight. When there is sunlight, all beings are illuminated. To thoroughly comprehend the truths of suffering, we need to mindfully contemplate it regularly.

After all, during long nights in the human realm we can still see the moon in the sky and find the scenery of the night sky enjoyable. However, as soon as we give rise to ignorance, we fall into the Three Evil Destinies. In that boundless darkness, there is no starry sky for us to gaze at. So, while we are human, we need to immediately seize this time and diligently advance. We should not remain in the long night.

So, the previous sutra passage states, “Why was this so? All phenomena are empty and still, neither arising nor ceasing, neither great nor small. They are flawless and uncontrived. Because we contemplated them in this way, we did not give rise to joy.”

Venerable Kasyapa described their way of thinking. In the past, they did not take joy in the Great Vehicle Dharma. They only sought to benefit themselves. Why? Their own explanation was that “All phenomena are empty and still.” The Buddha had said that the world is empty and illusive, like dew and lightning; it is empty and still. All they knew was that the suffering in this world was caused by the afflictions they created while interacting with people. This is why they suffered. “Since going among people creates entanglements of afflictions, it would be better for us to remain in an empty and still state. If we guard our minds well, there will be no more birth and death. We will not have to enter the human realm again or transmigrate in the Six Realms anymore.”

Since all phenomena are neither great nor small, why would we need to take particular delight in the Great Vehicle? All Buddha-Dharma is equal, so it is “neither great nor small [It is] flawless and uncontrived.” Since we have put an end to Leaks and no longer have afflictions, that is already good enough. “Because they contemplated [things] in this way, they did not give rise to joy.” In this past, this was their thinking.

In the next passage, Venerable Kasyapa continued by saying, “Throughout the long night, regarding the Buddha’s wisdom, we had no desire or attachment, nor any aspiration to attain it. As for ourselves, regarding the Dharma, we thought we had reached the ultimate. Throughout the long night, we cultivated [only] the teaching of emptiness.”

In the past, they felt they did not want to contrive affinities nor continue transmigrating in the Six Realms. “We already understood the Dharma we learned; we have reached the ultimate understanding.” So, throughout the long night, they stood fast to that state [of mind]. “Regarding the Buddha’s wisdom,” the wisdom as illuminating as the sun and moon, they had “no desire or attachment, nor any aspiration to attain it.” This was how they were. So, in regard to the Dharma, they were satisfied [with their understanding] and thought they had reached the ultimate. They just constantly remained in the long night, “cultivating [only] the teaching of emptiness.” Similarly, if it is very quiet at night, people may want to remain in that peaceful space to just focus on their spiritual cultivation.

We were lost, as if in a long and dark night. We only knew to delight in the Small [Vehicle]; fearing suffering, we sought emptiness.

Actually, we must understand that. “We were lost, as if in a long and dark night”. Indeed, if we put effort into understanding, we realize that in this long night, we are lost. When ordinary people are deluded, it is like a long night; everything is in darkness. We also often hear people say, “I live in darkness; I can’t see the light.” We have heard people describing themselves in this way. This is because they are unable to understand what life is actually about.

Small Vehicle practitioners only seek to understand a limited extent; they are unable to see the larger world. This is “only taking joy in the Small Dharma,” only seeing the limited scope of this state and only understanding the principles within it. That is all; they do not dare go beyond it, because it is pitch black outside. They do not dare go out. So, “Fearing suffering, we sought emptiness.” They were afraid that by going among people they might be contaminated by ignorance and remain among the Six Realms. Thus fearing suffering, they mindfully sought emptiness, focused on pursuing the principle of emptiness. So, “Fearing suffering, we sought emptiness.” This is like the analogy of the long night.

The long night: This refers to how, for Two Vehicle practitioners, from the time from when they form aspirations until they reach the stage beyond learning, even for those with sharp capabilities, requires 60 small kalpas.

 This long night refers to [the state of] the Two Vehicle practitioners, Hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. For people like these, the time between forming aspirations and reaching the stage beyond learning, even if they have sharp capabilities, is 60 small kalpas. This is a long time. So, practicing the Small Vehicle Dharma does not lead to liberation more quickly. Indeed, we must eliminate afflictions, ignorance and dust-like delusions in order to truly reach safety and no longer transmigrate in the Six Realms. That is true liberation. Therefore, the Small Vehicle does not immediately lead to liberation. It will take a very long period of time, 60 small kalpas. But they remain stuck in that place. So, “Regarding the Buddha’s wisdom, we had no desire or attachment”

The Buddha, the World-Honored One, as a Buddha, had supreme wisdom, yet since they were deluded, they had no desire for or attachment to it. Desire and attachment are explained, Craving and delight are called desire. Miserliness is called attachment.

We clearly know that the Buddha’s wisdom is supreme, but we remain lost in only seeking to awaken ourselves. So, we “had no desire for or attachment to it”; we did not wish to advance to the next stage.

Having desire and attachment means we crave it, delight in it. We did not want it nor did we delight in it, so we did not seek to advance. This is [explaining] desire. “Craving and delight are called desire. Miserliness is called attachment.” This sutra passage explains desire and attachment as finding joy in the Great Vehicle Dharma. Taking joy in the Great Vehicle Dharma is called having desire and attachment. Small Vehicle practitioners had no desire for or attachment to the Great Vehicle Dharma. They believe, “I am fine with where I am.” Of course, these two words, desire and attachment, when applied in unwholesome way, are ignorance. When applied in a pure way, to the Buddha-Dharma, they are diligence. So, when Small Vehicle practitioners have “no desire or attachment,” that means that they did not seek to advance.

“Nor [did they have] any aspiration to attain it. As for themselves, regarding the Dharma…”

Nor [did we have] any aspiration to attain it. As for ourselves, regarding the Dharma: They had neither resolve nor aspiration to seek the path to Buddhahood. Deluded themselves, they clung to practicing Small [Vehicle] Dharma.

The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, which they understood well, and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, which they were very clear on. There are so many different terms, and they understood all of them. So, they felt, “I am fine the way I am. I have no aspiration to further seek some path to Buddhahood. I am fine just like this.” They always felt, “I will stick to my old ways. Deluded themselves,” having caused their own delusions, they remain attached to the Small Vehicle Dharma, attached to the practice of the Small Vehicle. They “thought [they] had reached the ultimate.” They felt that this state was the ultimate.

We thought we had reached the ultimate: Having realized Arhatship, they thought they had completely exhausted cyclic existence in the Three Realms and would not undergo subsequent reincarnation; for them this was the ultimate. They did not know that outside those realms, there still remained subtle ignorance that they had not eliminated at all. This was not the ultimate and supreme path to Buddhahood, to Mahaparinirvana.  

“Having realized Arhatship,” they thought that all they had to do was realize the fruit of Arhatship. As they only sought their own awakening, they thought ending their cyclic existence in the Three Realms was their goal “They thought they had completely exhausted cyclic existence in the Three Realms. We have already eliminated the afflictions for transmigrating in the Three Realms. That is good enough for us; we do not want to be reborn.” By “not undergoing subsequent reincarnation,” they believed they had already reached the ultimate. They thought this but they “did not know that outside those realms there still remained subtle ignorance.” They only knew of the ignorance currently present, the ignorance within the Three Realms. They did not know that outside the Three Realms there remained even more subtle ignorance. These are dust-like delusions. Therefore, “they had not eliminated [them] at all.” These had not been eliminated; they were not yet aware of them, so they had not eliminated the ignorance from dust-like delusions. They were not yet aware of them. So, they had not eliminated them at all. “This was not the ultimate and supreme path to Buddhahood, to Mahaparinirvana.” They still did not know this.

What is the meaning of “outside those realms”?

“By eliminating delusions of views and thinking, we escape from the Three Realms.” In addition to the Three Realms, there are pure lands outside of those realms. In the pure lands outside of those realms there is transformational samsara; this is [cyclic existence] outside of the Three Realms. That is where Dharmakaya-Bodhisattvas practice and where they “teach eliminating ignorance as the Dharma-door to attaining Buddhahood.” This is the realm of the Dharmakaya-Bodhisattvas.

Within the Three Realms, they have put an end to their fragmentary samsara. But outside of the Three Realms, they still undergo transformational samsara. Undergoing transformational samsara, they leave one place and go to another. They come on their vows; this is “returning on the ship of compassion.” Similarly, the Buddha came to this world because of His vows. He wanted to teach the Bodhisattva Way, the path of eliminating ignorance and attaining Buddhahood. Bodhisattvas have ignorance in that they have not yet eliminated transformational samsara. They continue to form aspirations and make vows among people; they continuously return to the human world, but are not defiled by the Six Realms. Though in the Five Realms and four forms of birth, they do not become contaminated and can come and go freely.

Similarly, prison is where people who committed crimes are sent to, but there is a group that goes in on purpose. What do they go in to do? To teach. They teach the principles of being a good person and ways to repent after doing wrong. “Repentance brings purity”; then, we must earnestly uphold the rules. The underlying principle is the same. Bodhisattvas are just like [those volunteers]. The Dharma that the Buddha really wants to teach is that which enables us to attain Buddhahood. When we teach the Dharma to other people, we are actually making this Dharma our own. When we truly comprehend it, we witness suffering and recognize our blessings, thus developing our wisdom. By developing our wisdom-life, we are teaching the Bodhisattva Way.

Venerable Kasyapa continued to say, “Throughout the long night, we cultivated [only] the teaching of emptiness

Throughout the long night, we cultivated [only] the teaching of emptiness. Attached to the Small and deluded as to the Great, they were in the dark about the perfect vehicle. This is called a ‘long night’. They only practiced, upheld and cultivated the flawless teachings biased toward emptiness.

Actually “attached to the Small and deluded as to the Great” means they lost their motivation to seek the Great. But they were still in darkness; the perfect teachings of the Great Vehicle were not visible to them. They were “in the dark about the perfect vehicle,” the perfect teachings. So, “This is called a ‘long night’.” We are still in darkness. Our pure nature of True Suchness has always been there; but we became deluded. Thus we have been in a long night, surrounded by darkness.

So, “[We] only practiced, upheld and cultivated the flawless teachings biased toward emptiness.” In this way, we became deluded during the long night. We did not know that once the sun shines, its light can illuminate everything. In fact, there are many things in this world that we cannot see clearly during the long night. If we remain in the long night, we cannot see the sunlight. Thus, when we engage in spiritual practice, we should unlock our wisdom, not merely seek to benefit ourselves. We should unlock great wisdom so that we can come and go among people without being contaminated by them. These are the true teachings of the Buddha.

Clearly, we can walk into the sunlight, underneath the sun. Unfortunately, we allow shadows, the Five Skandhas, to cover our light. We should brush aside the Five Skandhas and unlock our wisdom. We must not let the Five Skandhas, cover us with afflictions and ignorance. This depends on whether we are willing to delight in [the Great Vehicle], whether we move ahead to seek it. If we advance, naturally we will grow in wisdom. To accomplish this, we must always be mindful.

Episode 847 – Practicing Precepts, Samadhi and Wisdom

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>> Depart from the defilements of afflictions to attain the pure Dharma. Be like the noble practitioners of the Three Vehicles in the Dharma they accept and uphold. With precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation, liberation’s understanding and views and non-contriving and flawless Dharma, we reach the truth of the noble path.

>> “Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient. We only sought to finish this matter and never sought any other matters. If we heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands or the teaching and transforming of sentient beings, we took no delight in them.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Why was this so? All phenomena are empty and still, neither arising nor ceasing, neither great nor small. They are flawless and uncontrived. Because we contemplated them as such, we did not give rise to delight.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> Why was this so?: They took no delight in the Great Vehicle Dharma, that could eliminate their afflictions, but remained content in the Small Way was this so? Since they possessed the Small Vehicle virtues of wisdom and ending, they had no wish for the Great Vehicle or for eliminating great afflictions. Since they possessed Small Vehicle wisdom, they took no delight in Great Vehicle wisdom.

>> All phenomena are empty and still: From sense organs to sense objects and so on, all phenomena are empty and still. Since they are empty and still, the land and all sentient beings are also empty and still. So, what is there to seek?

>> From the Five Skandhas to reaching Nirvana, True Suchness is covered by dust. Following conditions, it gives rise to all conditioned phenomena; everything arises from conditions. Cultivate the door of emptiness to liberation by observing that the Five Aggregates are all empty and still.

>> The Five Aggregates: The Five Skandhas are obstructions that can cover the Dharma-nature of True Suchness and give rise to all afflictions.

>> The Dharma-nature is inherently still. It comes without coming from anywhere, thus it does not arise. Since it is fundamentally non-arising, it does not cease. Thus, it is neither great nor small. The Six Great Elements are also called Six States; they are earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness. These six phenomena pervade all Dharma-realms and form all things, whether sentient or not. Thus they are called great. Non-sentient things are created from the Five Elements; sentient beings arise from the Six Great Elements.

>> For the sake of skillful means, the teachings were divided into the Great and Small Vehicles. In the perfect, immediate teachings, all coarse things are also subtle. The Small does not exist outside the Great, thus even the smallest is also great. In the only perfect and harmonious teaching, there is neither great nor small.

>> Flawless and uncontrived. Flawless: Observing the emptiness of the Four Noble Truths. Uncontrived: Observing the emptiness of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. Since the nature of things is empty, they are inherently pure. There are no flaws, nor is there any contrivance.

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“Depart from the defilements of afflictions to attain the pure Dharma. Be like the noble practitioners of the Three Vehicles in the Dharma they accept and uphold.
With precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation, liberation’s understanding and views
and non-contriving and flawless Dharma, we reach the truth of the noble path.”

If we can depart from defilements of afflictions, we will naturally attain the pure Dharma. How can we return to the pure Dharma? We must be like the Hearers, Solitary Realizers and Bodhisattvas, the noble practitioners of the Three Vehicles. Hearers uphold the Small Vehicle, Solitary Realizers the Middle Vehicle and Bodhisattvas the Great Vehicle. Though divided into Small, Middle and Great, everyone begins their spiritual practice by eliminating afflictions and ignorance. Therefore, we must practice as the practitioners of the Three Vehicles do.

First, we form aspirations to hear the Dharma. When we begin to listen to the Dharma, we become the Buddha’s disciples. The rules for Buddha’s disciples are to uphold the Five Precepts and Ten Good Deeds.

The Five Precepts are no killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying or drinking alcohol. We must completely abstain from these five things. As for the precept of no killing, some will say, “That’s right. I do not kill.” But every day, to satisfy their cravings they still consume the flesh of sentient beings. They kill in this way without realizing it. Although they do not kill those beings directly, they still kill them indirectly.

Then, there is stealing. Some people may feel, “I do not rob people. I do not steal.” But as they do business, they have choices to make. They can choose to do what is beneficial to people and make things that are necessities in life. Of course, they must do this in a way that makes money. Then they must make good use of that money. Not only should they not seek ill-gotten gains, they must also reach out to help others with love. This is what lay practitioners should do.

So, we must not be greedy, must not kill and must not steal. There are also rules for families and couples. Other than with their spouse, they should not engage in [sexual relations]. That is sexual misconduct. They must completely abstain from sex with people outside their marriage. Only if they are in a [committed relationship] can there be harmony in their family.

Next, we must not lie; we must earnestly guard our speech. Sometimes we follow our habitual tendencies; if our thinking is not proper, we can unintentionally hurt people with our words. Since we are learning the Buddha’s Way, we must always look after our karma of speech. We must not lie, not use flattery, not gossip and not use harsh speech. This is what we must practice.

Lastly, we must not drink alcohol. Once we consume alcohol, we will lose the function of our wisdom, since drinking can cause us to make big mistakes. This is an essential precept to uphold.

In conclusion, if we can learn [and apply] the Buddha-Dharma, we can safely walk the path of our life because we have the Five Precepts. Precepts help us refrain from evil. We want to guard against and stop evil. When [thoughts of] evil arise, we must immediately put a stop to them and prevent ourselves from acting on them. This is what the precepts are for.

So, “with precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation,” if we earnestly uphold precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, naturally we will feel stable and free. By upholding the Five Precepts, we can feel stable and at ease. So, Solitary Realizers cultivate precepts, Samadhi and wisdom, and Bodhisattvas have even greater need of precepts, Samadhi and wisdom. Bodhisattvas uphold precepts, Samadhi and wisdom to reach a flawless state.

So, “With precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation, liberation’s understanding and views,” we attain “non-contriving and flawless Dharma.” This is already the state of Bodhisattvas. This is the “truth of the noble path.” The true principle of the path noble beings walk is to achieve this. Only then will we have truly departed from the defilements of afflictions. Only then will we have truly attained purity.

Thus, the previous sutra passage states, “Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient. We only sought to finish this matter and never sought any other matters. If we heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands or the teaching and transforming of sentient beings, we took no delight in them.”

“Having eliminated what was within,” [they thought,] “I am upholding precepts. I have eliminated afflictions. I have already eliminated ignorance and ended cyclic existence.” This is what Venerable Kasyapa and others believed. “I only need to put an end to cyclic existence. Those other matters have nothing to do with me.” So, they “never sought any other matters.”

“If we heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands or the teaching and transforming of sentient beings, we took no delight in them.” When it comes to transforming sentient beings, if sentient beings’ minds are defiled, then the Buddha-land would be defiled as well. The Saha World that the Buddha came to was an impure land, a defiled land. But the Buddha had compassion for all beings; He came to this evil world of Five Turbidities, where the turbidity of sentient beings was severe. He came to this place in order to “open and reveal” so that sentient beings could “realize and enter.” He came to purify the lands of their minds. Therefore, as the Buddha’s disciples, we must help the Buddha purify and transform the minds of sentient beings. This is “the purifying of Buddha-lands.” To purify Buddha-lands, we must teach and transform sentient beings.

The next sutra passage states, “Why was this so? All phenomena are empty and still, neither arising nor ceasing, neither great nor small. They are flawless and uncontrived. Because we contemplated them as such, we did not give rise to delight.”

Why was this? All phenomena are empty and still. In the Prajna period, the Buddha also said this. All things are empty and still, “neither arising nor ceasing, neither great nor small.” After obtaining this Dharma, [some felt], “I am flawless and completely uncontriving.” They feel no need to do anything else. With this type of thinking, they wonder, “What else is there worth doing? What do other people’s issues have to do with me? All things are empty and still. How are other people’s issues related to me?” In the past, this was their thinking.

Why was this so?: They took no delight in the Great Vehicle Dharma, that could eliminate their afflictions, but remained content in the Small Way was this so? Since they possessed the Small Vehicle virtues of wisdom and ending, they had no wish for the Great Vehicle or for eliminating great afflictions. Since they possessed Small Vehicle wisdom, they took no delight in Great Vehicle wisdom.  

So, taking no delight in the Great Vehicle, they peacefully abided in the Small Vehicle. Why did it come to be like this? Because they “possessed the Small Vehicle virtues of wisdom and ending.” They were still attached to the Small Vehicle, so “They had no wish for the Great Vehicle or for eliminating great afflictions.” Since “They possessed Small Vehicle wisdom, they took no delight in Great Vehicle wisdom.”

“They possessed the Small Vehicle virtues of wisdom and ending. Wisdom” is the virtue of wisdom. “Ending” is the virtue of ending. But they were attached to the Small Vehicle. “I uphold wholesome teachings. I know I must eliminate my afflictions.” These are the virtues of wisdom and ending. Practicing wholesome teachings is the virtue of wisdom. With wisdom, we understand virtuous Dharma and recognize the principles. This is the virtue of wisdom. After we recognize the principles, we understand we must not violate precepts. As for afflictions, we must eliminate them all. This is the virtue of ending. Simply put, these are virtues of wisdom and ending.

But they were at the stage of the Small Vehicle; they still clung to the Small Vehicle. So, “They had no wish for the Great Vehicle or for eliminating great afflictions.” What are great afflictions? The multitudes of sentient beings are suffering; this is the Bodhisattvas’ great affliction. Bodhisattvas’ great afflictions are that they are unwilling to abandon suffering beings. Practitioners of the Small Vehicle were not interested in this. “They had no wish for the Great Vehicle.” They did not seek the Great Vehicle, so they had no desire to eliminate great afflictions.

All phenomena are empty and still: From sense organs to sense objects and so on, all phenomena are empty and still. Since they are empty and still, the land and all sentient beings are also empty and still. So, what is there to seek?

“All phenomena are empty and still.” They believed all phenomena are empty and still. That is to say, from the sense organs to the sense objects, all phenomena are empty and still

We all know what sense organs are. The Six Sense Organs are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. Our Six Sense Organs connect to the Six Sense Objects in our surroundings. Actually, in the final analysis, this is [all] empty. We can see things with our eyes, but the [eye] itself is composed of other things. What about the sense objects around us? They are also temporary unions. Seeds, soil, water, air and sunlight are elements that converge to give rise to things. If these elements disperse one by one, there is just emptiness. People were originally at peace and at ease with their place in life, but when their sense organs connected with sense objects their minds gave rise to a thought of greed, this desire to grasp things. Otherwise, on this planet, with such a beautiful natural environment, why would people want to dig into the mountains? Why would they want to harm the earth? This has to do with sense organs and sense objects coming together so that our consciousness begins to function. Otherwise, all things return to a natural state, and isn’t that empty and still?

Since [everything] is empty and still, “The land and all sentient beings are also empty and still.” What land is there to destroy? What sentient beings are there to save? If we can avoid creating karma, we can all live life with a pure mind. Then what afflictions would we have? We would have no afflictions at all. All would be empty and still; everything would be that way. So, they thought all phenomena empty and still.

From the Five Skandhas to reaching Nirvana, True Suchness is covered by dust. Following conditions, it gives rise to all conditioned phenomena; everything arises from conditions. Cultivate the door of emptiness to liberation by observing that the Five Aggregates are all empty and still.

Thus it says “from the Five Skandhas to reaching Nirvana.” Let us go back to the Five Skandhas; we go from the Five Skandhas to Nirvana. Nirvana is a pure state. The Five Skandhas are form, feeling, perception, action and consciousness. These are the Five Skandhas, also called the Five Aggregates. Originally, we were very pure, but as the Five Skandhas begin to function, we begin to create [karma]. Where is the source of these things? “True Suchness is covered by dust.” Dust is ignorance; we are immersed in ignorance and delusion. So, “Following conditions, it gives rise to all conditioned phenomena.” Originally, everything was unconditioned phenomena. Unconditioned phenomena are empty and still. But then workings of the Five Skandhas began, form, feeling, perception, action, consciousness. These five are inseparable from True Suchness. So, True Suchness is affected by external defilements, then led by ignorance, it follows external conditions and “gives rise to all conditioned phenomena.” Conditioned phenomena are things that are created; through taking action, we create things. This is how things are produced.

So, “Cultivate the door of emptiness to liberation.” We must earnestly engage in spiritual practice to thoroughly understand the principle that everything is empty. This is one of the doors to liberation. Therefore, [we must] “observe that the Five Aggregates are all empty and still” ․From the Five Skandhas to reaching Nirvana, True Suchness is covered by dust. Following conditions, it gives rise to all conditioned phenomena; everything arises from conditions. Cultivate the door of emptiness to liberation by observing that the Five Aggregates are all empty and still. If we understand this, these Five Aggregates, the Five Skandhas, can be empty and still. It is because we do not understand the Five Aggregates that we are obstructed every day.

The Five Aggregates: The Five Skandhas are obstructions that can cover the Dharma-nature of True Suchness and give rise to all afflictions.

An aggregate is something that obstructs us. Our nature of True Suchness is pure. It is completely free of defilements. Our pure intrinsic nature is wisdom. But this wisdom is covered by the Five Skandhas, thus we give rise to many afflictions. These are the Five Aggregates

The Dharma-nature is inherently still. It comes without coming from anywhere, thus it does not arise. Since it is fundamentally non-arising, it does not cease. Thus, it is neither great nor small. The Six Great Elements are also called Six States; they are earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness. These six phenomena pervade all Dharma-realms and form all things, whether sentient or not. Thus they are called great. Non-sentient things are created from the Five Elements; sentient beings arise from the Six Great Elements.

The Five Aggregates: The Five Skandhas are obstructions that can cover the Dharma-nature of True Suchness and give rise to all afflictions. So, “The Dharma-nature is inherently still. It comes without coming from anywhere, thus it does not arise.” If we can eliminate [our attachment to] external conditions, we will not give rise to afflictions that cause us to reproduce our ignorance, Then why would we have future lives? Originally, it is non-arising. Originally, it is empty and still. Our nature is inherently empty and still. “It comes without coming from anywhere.” There would be no causes and conditions bringing us here, so there would be no arising.

“Since it is fundamentally non-arising, it does not cease.” If it did not arise, how could it cease? Only something that arises can cease. When we come to this world, only after birth is there aging, illness and death. If we were not born, how would we go through aging, illness and death? So, this means there is no cessation; without arising there is no ceasing. Originally, there was nothing, just emptiness. With nothing there, how can we say, “This one is great; this one is small”? There is nothing there, so we cannot distinguish between great and small. Something must be there for us to distinguish between great and small, long and short.

The Six Great Elements are also called Six States; and we know these as earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness. We often talk about earth, water, fire and air. Next is our consciousness. In addition to our consciousness there is also space. We speak of earth, water, fire and air, but actually, they are all in space. It is within empty space that the four elements converge to form things. Then we differentiate them with our consciousness. So, “These six phenomena pervade all Dharma-realms.” All phenomena are within the Six Great Elements. “They form all things, whether sentient or not. Thus they are called great.” It is because we sentient beings take action that these [processes] continue on. People bring about more people. Matters bring about more matters. Objects bring about more objects. They are inseparable from the Six Great Elements. In this way, “Non-sentient things are created from the Five Elements.” Sentient beings arise from the Six Great Elements. We must mindfully understand this

For the sake of skillful means, the teachings were divided into the Great and Small Vehicles. In the perfect, immediate teachings, all coarse things are also subtle. The Small does not exist outside the Great, thus even the smallest is also great. In the only perfect and harmonious teaching, there is neither great nor small.

In the perfect teachings, coarse things are those that can be seen. Subtle things cannot be seen. The coarse are tangible; the subtle are intangible. The perfect teachings can encompass both the coarse and the subtle; all are the Dharma. No matter how subtle, we can thoroughly understand that. “The Small does not exist outside the Great.” There is no Small Vehicle outside the Great Vehicle. “Thus even the smallest is also great.” Even a tiny speck is also very big; as it is big, we cannot say it is small. In this way, great and small are equal. So, the Small can be Great. “Thus even the smallest is also great. In the only perfect and harmonious teaching, there is neither great nor small.” This is a very profound principle. With so many laws of physics, something might look very big, but actually inside it are very small things, and these small things are also very great.

Flawless and uncontrived. Flawless: Observing the emptiness of the Four Noble Truths. Uncontrived: Observing the emptiness of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. Since the nature of things is empty, they are inherently pure. There are no flaws, nor is there any contrivance.

So, as for “flawless and uncontrived, flawless” is “observing the emptiness of the Four Noble Truths.” We must earnestly observe the Four Noble Truths and how all things are empty [in nature]. “Uncontrived” is “observing the emptiness of the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence.” In fact, if we earnestly uphold the precepts, how can “an ignorant thought create the Three Subtleties”? How would [our cyclic existence] continue? Birth, aging, illness and death would cease. So, we must earnestly uphold precepts, Samadhi and wisdom “All phenomena are flawless.”

“Since the nature of things is empty, they are inherently pure. There are no flaws, nor is there any contrivance.” We are fundamentally pure. Pure means there is nothing here, so how could there be any Leaks? All phenomena are inherently pure; what is there to be contrived? So, “Because they contemplated them as such, they did not give rise to delight.” If we think in this way, is there anything we need to do? Everything is empty and still, “neither arising nor ceasing, neither great nor small, but flawless and uncontrived.” If we think this way, what is there to do? These are all such [profound] principles. As long as we can understand them, every single thing will be clear to us.

In conclusion, in learning the Buddha’s Way, we must begin by departing from the defilements of afflictions, transcending ignorance and purifying our minds of afflictions. Then everything will be pure. This is what the noble practitioners of the Three Vehicles practice. “Precepts, Samadhi, wisdom, liberation and liberation’s understanding and views.” This is the path that we must practice. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 846 – Purifying Buddha-Lands, Teaching Sentient Beings

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>> Purity is the true principle of True Suchness. A defiled mind brings all kinds of transgressions and unwholesome practices. The water of wisdom eliminates the mind’s filth, revealing our intrinsic nature and pure nature of True Suchness. Purifying Buddha-lands and transforming sentient beings, we delight in the Great Vehicle and the teachings of Bodhi.

>> “Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient. We only sought to finish this matter and never sought any other matters.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “If we heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands or the teaching and transforming of sentient beings, we never took delight in them.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> We only sought to finish this matter: They only sought to finish and be liberated from the great matters of life and death. They had already established purifying practices and had done everything that was needed so that they would have no subsequent incarnations.

>> [We] never sought any other matters: As for purifying Buddha-lands and transforming sentient beings, they considered these as other matters; this is precisely the shortcoming of the Small Vehicle. They looked upon this as something for others; they willingly took no part in it.

>> If we heard: Their resolve was limited. If they heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands: They thought eliminating all deluded karma was what is meant by purifying Buddha-lands. This refers to a practice that benefits oneself.

>> The teaching and transforming of sentient beings: Devising [methods] to guide and transform and embracing and bringing in sentient beings are practices that benefit others. Seeking the Dharma and transforming others is the work of Bodhisattvas.

>> We took no delight in them: Terrified of cyclic existence, they urgently sought to deliver themselves; they took no delight in entering the doors of compassion and wisdom.

>> Their wisdom was of the Small Vehicle, so they took no pleasure in the Great Vehicle Dharma and were lacking in great compassion. Thus, He taught them according to capabilities. The purifying of Buddha-lands is the Great Vehicle Dharma of teaching and transforming sentient beings. But they felt delivering and transforming [others] had nothing to do with them.

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“Purity is the true principle of True Suchness.
A defiled mind brings all kinds of transgressions and unwholesome practices.
The water of wisdom eliminates the mind’s filth, revealing our intrinsic nature and pure nature of True Suchness. Purifying Buddha-lands and transforming sentient beings,
we delight in the Great Vehicle and the teachings of Bodhi.”

Everyone, please be mindful! “Purity is the true principle of True Suchness.” It is inherently within all of us. As long as we are mindful and return to our intrinsic nature of True Suchness, all of the true principles will manifest. However, if our thoughts go astray, we give rise to ignorance. Then naturally our “defiled mind,” that mind defiled by ignorance, will give rise to discursive thoughts, and we will commit all kinds of transgressions. Once a single thought goes astray, 1000 thoughts will be wrong. Once our direction is off, every step after that will be wrong; the karma of body, speech and mind we create will all be unwholesome. So, our spiritual practice is very simple; we merely need to safeguard our pure minds. With a pure mind, all things will be good. If our mind becomes defiled, then everything will be unwholesome. Therefore, we must earnestly maintain a pure mind.

A pure mind is True Suchness. True Suchness is undefiled truth. So, “true principles” are True Suchness, and our nature of True Suchness is pure. Actually, everyone intrinsically has wisdom. Wisdom is like water; it can wash away defilements. When one thought has gone astray, our pure intrinsic nature became defiled. When one thought has gone astray, we fall into the state of ordinary beings. Then our unenlightened minds are continually defiled by ignorance. Only the water of wisdom can help us thoroughly understand the principles. When wisdom manifests, it is like water washing away dirty things.

We absolutely need to use the water of wisdom to clean our minds of filth. Not only must we not fill our minds with garbage, we must also use water to cleanse them. Similarly, in our spiritual practice, we must use the Dharma like water; we must use the Dharma to scrub and wash so that our minds’ filth can be completely eliminated and the true principle of our nature of True Suchness can be revealed [To reveal] this pure nature of True Suchness, we must make a great effort; we must use water to cleanse [our minds], must use the water of wisdom, the Buddha-Dharma’s true principles, and truly take the Dharma to heart. We must use great skill, as if we are wiping a mirror.

This is how we “reveal our intrinsic nature and pure nature of True Suchness.” We must use the water of wisdom to remove our minds’ filth before we can manifest our intrinsic nature and purify the True Suchness in us. Only when our minds have been cleansed can we “purify Buddha-lands and transform sentient beings.” In order to dignify Buddha-lands, we must teach and transform sentient beings. Whatever place we are born in, that is where we must exercise the Buddha-Dharma’s ability to purify and transform people’s minds, helping everyone to be able to apply the Dharma. The Buddha-Dharma is [applied] in this world. Living Bodhisattvas apply the Dharma and truly realize it in their lives. This is the method we must use to purify Buddha-lands. So, we must be Bodhisattvas in this world and apply the Buddha-Dharma in our lives. Then we can purify Buddha-lands and transform sentient beings. We transform sentient beings for the sake of purifying Buddha-lands, and we purify Buddha-lands for the purpose of transforming sentient beings. Each helps the other to be accomplished.

Thus, to benefit both ourselves and others, we must first understand the Buddha-Dharma and eliminate afflictions. The true principle of our nature of True Suchness must first be manifested before we can say to others, “Everyone intrinsically has Buddha-nature.” Only when we thoroughly understand the principles can we tell everyone, “Your wisdom is equal to the Buddha’s.” Thus, benefiting ourselves and transforming others must begin with us. To engage in spiritual practice and understand the Buddha-Dharma, we must “delight in the Great Vehicle and the teachings of Bodhi.” We should seek to benefit ourselves and others. This is how sentient beings are transformed.

The previous sutra passage states, “Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient. We only sought to finish this matter and never sought any other matters.”

This is in the previous passage. Venerable Kasyapa was still explaining, “We just stuck to upholding our own duties. We had already eliminated [afflictions] within and attained the virtues of wisdom and ending.” Wisdom is understanding the true principles of all Dharma. Ending is eliminating all kinds of ignorance and afflictions. So, these are the virtues of wisdom and ending. This is “eliminating what was within.” In their minds, they had understood the true principles. They had also eliminated ignorance and afflictions. They were practicing in accord with the Dharma, so they were satisfied. They only worked towards this; there was nothing else they sought. That was all. They were Small Vehicle practitioners who only sought to awaken themselves.

Therefore, they again said, “If we heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands or the teaching and transforming of sentient beings, we never took delight in them.”

If they had heard the Buddha teaching how to purify and transform, purify Buddha-lands and transform sentient beings, they took no delight in it nor ever thought that they should go do it.

“The purifying of Buddha-lands” depends on sentient beings. If sentient beings are pure, then the land will be pure. If sentient beings are defiled, then the land will be defiled. This is why we must purify Buddha-lands; wherever sentient beings are pure and accept the Buddha-Dharma, that is a pure Buddha-land where sentient beings are taught and transformed. But, there must be people to do this, to go out and help others. Venerable Kasyapa and others said, “We never took delight in them.” The teaching and transforming of sentient beings and the purifying of Buddha-lands were things they did not delight in. No joy arose in them; they were unwilling to dedicate themselves. They just took the Dharma the Buddha taught and spread it around for others to know.

We only sought to finish this matter: They only sought to finish and be liberated from the great matters of life and death. They had already established purifying practices and had done everything that was needed so that they would have no subsequent incarnations.

That is all they did. Thus it says, “We only sought to finish this matter”.  They felt these practices were their duty, and they practiced accordingly, following the Buddha’s teachings. This was what they did; “They only sought to finish and be liberated from the great matters of life and death.” They only thought of not returning to this world through the cycle of birth and death. That would be so painful, so they only focused on purifying practices.

Purifying practices are also called Brahma-conduct. They did not want their minds to be defiled again. They did not want to commit any kind of mistake or unwholesome practice again. They wanted to be rid of these. So, “They had already established purifying practices.” They had established themselves as models for engaging in pure spiritual practice. They had “done everything that was needed.” They felt that by doing this they had completely fulfilled their duties. So, “They would have no subsequent incarnations.” They would no longer transgress and engage in unwholesome practices. They did not need to worry because their afflictions were completely eliminated and their minds were completely pure. They understood the principles; without greed, anger and ignorance, they would not have negative causes, conditions, effects or retributions later on. These would all be gone. So, “They would have no subsequent incarnations.”

[We] never sought any other matters: As for purifying Buddha-lands and transforming sentient beings, they considered these as other matters; this is precisely the shortcoming of the Small Vehicle. They looked upon this as something for others; they willingly took no part in it.

They “never sought any other matters” [To them], there was nothing else. Purifying Buddha-lands and transforming all beings were “considered as other matters.” They were separate things ․[We] never sought any other matters: As for purifying Buddha-lands and transforming sentient beings, they considered these as other matters; this is precisely the shortcoming of the Small Vehicle. They looked upon this as something for others; they willingly took no part in it [They] “never sought any other matters. This has nothing to do with me. My basic duties, my own matters, are already completed. Going to purify Buddha-lands and transform sentient beings are extra things; they have nothing to do with me.” This is the “shortcoming of the Small Vehicle.” This is precisely the shortcoming of the practitioners of the Small Vehicle.

So, the Buddha was concerned. The Buddha’s wish was not yet fulfilled. The Buddha’s hope, His wish, was that everyone would return to their nature of True Suchness, then also widely transform sentient beings and attain Buddhahood. To truly manifest the nature of True Suchness and reach the great enlightenment of the truths of all things in the universe, we must practice the Great Vehicle and go among the people. Only when the lotus grows in mud does it bloom and bear seeds. This is what the Buddha was hoping for the most.

But these spiritual practitioners felt, “I have awakened myself. Everything else is extra. I have liberated myself. Whether others find liberation has nothing to do with me.” Not forming aspirations for these extra things was the shortcoming of Small Vehicle practitioners and was what concerned the Buddha. The Buddha hoped that every sentient being would truly find great enlightenment and attain great liberation. If we stay at the Small Vehicle Dharma, it is very easy to become defiled again. It is only when every person has been liberated that we can attain true liberation.

“They looked upon this as something for others. They willingly took no part in it.” They felt this Dharma was for others. They were willing to say, “It is not for me, and that is just fine. The Great Dharma is for practitioners of the. Bodhisattva-path to accept. It is not for me, and that is just fine. I do not need it. I am already satisfied. I do not need the Great Vehicle Dharma.” Thus, “They willingly took no part in it. This Great Vehicle Dharma is something I willingly abandon.” This is Small Vehicle practitioners’ shortcoming

[They felt,] “This is good enough for me.” Therefore, the next passage states, “If we heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands…” ․

If we heard: Their resolve was limited. If they heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands: They thought eliminating all deluded karma was what is meant by purifying Buddha-lands. This refers to a practice that benefits oneself.

Venerable Kasyapa spoke on behalf of everyone. So, he said “we.” Their resolve was limited. Their resolve was not that great, meaning it was weak. They only sought to awaken themselves. Or, “If they heard of the purifying of Buddha-lands, they thought eliminating all deluded karma was what is meant by purifying Buddha-lands.” They thought they would have to eliminate the deluded karma of sentient beings, all that ignorance, so many dust-like delusions. If they had to go among people again, it would really be difficult. They were able to purify themselves, but they could not purify and transform others. Therefore, they could benefit themselves, but they could not benefit others. To benefit themselves and also benefit others was really something they had no interest in doing.

The teaching and transforming of sentient beings: Devising [methods] to guide and transform and embracing and bringing in sentient beings are practices that benefit others. Seeking the Dharma and transforming others is the work of Bodhisattvas.

“Devising [methods] to guide and transform and embracing and bringing in sentient beings are practices that benefit others. Seeking the Dharma and transforming others” is the work of Bodhisattvas. So it is called the “teaching and transforming of sentient beings”

“The teaching and transforming of sentient beings” means that we must start to go transform and teach other people. To embrace and bring in sentient beings is to create great blessed affinities with them. When we embrace and bring them in, they become willing to listen to what we say; they become willing to engage in spiritual practice along with us. This way, we engage in practice to benefit others. In “seeking the Dharma and transforming others,” on one hand, we still must seek the Dharma from the Buddha. On the other hand, we still must go out and transform sentient beings.

We took no delight in them: Terrified of cyclic existence, they urgently sought to deliver themselves; they took no delight in entering the doors of compassion and wisdom.

 This is called the “teaching and transforming of sentient beings.” For “the purifying of Buddha-lands,” our own minds must be pure, and we also must go to teach and transform others. This is walking the Bodhisattva-path. But regarding these things, “[They] took no delight in them.” They really did not want to do these things. If they could eliminate their own afflictions, that would be enough for them. They were terrified of cyclic existence. Because they were “terrified of cyclic existence, they urgently sought to deliver themselves. They took no delight in entering the doors of compassion and wisdom.”

The Saha World is one of patient endurance. To patiently endure really is very difficult. To patiently endure really is very difficult. They did not want to return here. They did not wish to return to the Five Realms, so they were terrified. “We do not dare to return.” Thus, “They urgently sought to deliver themselves.” Transforming themselves was more important. Wanting to transform others was not a thought they had. So, “They urgently sought to deliver themselves. They took no delight in entering the doors of compassion and wisdom.” That meant asking them to have compassion, universal compassion, along with the wisdom to go among people and discern right from wrong without being contaminated themselves. Because sentient beings have so many conflicts, ignorance and afflictions, if our compassion was insufficient, we would not think of going among the people.

When we look around, it is the same thing nowadays. When people suffer and experience disasters, those disasters seem so far away from us; what do they have to do with us? We never consider that the world is really one, that we all live on the same earth and all breathe the same air. Since we are all living on the same earth, we cannot say that those disasters are far away. Science is very advanced nowadays. We also know now that these climate extremes are continuing to occur. Once things are out of balance, disasters will affect the entire earth.

All sentient beings are living together on this earth. As soon as sentient beings experience disaster, universal compassion should arise in us. So, with this great compassion, we can dedicate ourselves to others. Dedicating ourselves to others requires wisdom. We need wisdom to know how to save people, and we ourselves also need to stay safe. To help others is difficult, but we feel very happy doing it. It feels good to help others, to give without expectations. This is the Three Spheres of Emptiness. These are the “doors of compassion and wisdom.” But as for this Dharma of compassion and wisdom, they took no joy in it; they were not willing

Their wisdom was of the Small Vehicle, so they took no pleasure in the Great Vehicle Dharma and were lacking in great compassion. Thus, He taught them according to capabilities. The purifying of Buddha-lands is the Great Vehicle Dharma of teaching and transforming sentient beings. But they felt delivering and transforming [others] had nothing to do with them.

Because “their wisdom was of the Small Vehicle,” they took no pleasure in the Great Vehicle Dharma. In particular, because they were lacking in great compassion, they remained stuck in the wisdom of the Small Vehicle. So, the Buddha continuously taught the Dharma for those people according to their capabilities. All was for the sake of purifying Buddha-lands. This is the Buddha’s compassion. He wants to purify Buddha-lands and teach and transform sentient beings with the Great Vehicle Dharma.

This is purifying Buddha-lands. As for “delivering and transforming,” Small Vehicle practitioners felt that it had nothing to do with them. “How does one purify Buddha-lands? How does one teach, transform sentient beings? These things have nothing to do with me.” They never thought that this was why the Buddha patiently guided them. So, they were still unclear about the Buddha’s original intent.

Bodhisattvas respond to a Buddha-land, so there must be sentient beings to transform. The purity or defilement of the Buddha-land depends upon the purity or defilement of the sentient beings transformed. If the sentient beings to be transformed are pure, then the land itself will be pure. If the sentient beings to be transformed are defiled, then the land will also be defiled.

Bodhisattvas “respond to a Buddha-land, so there must be sentient beings to transform.” Since this place has an affinity with a Buddha, with all its sentient beings, “[the land] depends on the purity or defilement of the sentient beings to be transformed.” If the sentient beings there are pure, then the land will be pure; if the sentient beings there are defiled, then the land will also be defiled.

So Bodhisattvas, for the sake of dignifying Buddha-lands, today teach and transform sentient beings. By following these teachings, sentient beings physically bring to fulfillment the karma of purity and goodness and together attain purity. This is why they teach and transform sentient beings. The teaching and transforming of sentient beings is known as the purifying of Buddha-lands.

So, “Bodhisattvas, for the sake of dignifying Buddha-lands, today teach and transform sentient beings.” For us to attain Buddhahood in the future, we must now quickly teach and transform sentient beings and physically bring to fulfillment pure karma of goodness. We ourselves must make an effort to bring to fulfillment karma of purity and goodness and teach and transform sentient beings so that we can “together attain purity.” When our own minds can be pure, then sentient beings’ minds can also be pure. Because of this, “the teaching and transforming of sentient beings” is known as “the purifying of Buddha-lands. To teach and transform sentient beings,”

we ourselves must know that. “Purity is the true principle of True Suchness. A defiled mind brings all kinds of transgressions and unwholesome practices.” We must leave these far behind. We must use the water of wisdom to cleanse our minds of filth. We must “reveal our intrinsic nature and pure nature of True Suchness.” This requires us ourselves to be pure. So, “to purify Buddha-lands and to deliver and transform sentient beings,” we must always be mindful.

Episode 845 – The Tathagata-garbha is Replete with All Dharma

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>> Contained within the Tathagata-garbha is the Dharma of Buddhas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand. Contained within natural laws are the unified principles of all things. In fact, we reach the other shore, like the emptiness and wondrous existence of a pure shadow. Thus contained within the Tathagata-garbha is the Dharma of Buddhas, more numerous than the Ganges’ sand.

>> “We were like that poor son who had drawn near to his father; although he knew of all these goods, he had no wish to take any for himself. Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma, we had no aspirations ourselves, so we were also like that.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient. We only sought to finish this matter and never sought any other matters. If we heard of the purifying of the Buddha-lands, of the teaching and transformation of all beings we never took delight in them.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> They were explaining that they were replete with the Small Vehicle, with the virtues of wisdom and ending as its causes, thus they never sought the Great Vehicle Nirvana. The virtues of wisdom and ending: The understanding of the true principles is called the virtue of wisdom. The elimination of all afflictions is called the virtue of ending. Together these result in Bodhi and Nirvana.

>> Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient: They had eliminated the afflictions within, so they themselves said that this was sufficient. Eliminating what is within means eliminating the delusions of views and thinking, dust-like delusions and delusions of ignorance. These are the essence of delusion. The elimination of views and thinking in the. Three Realms is called eliminating what is within.

>> So, this is eliminating delusions of views and thinking. Views are the discriminations we make. What this means is that. When the mind-root connects with sense objects, we give rise to deviant views. These are delusions of views. Eliminating delusions of views and thinking: Thinking is contemplation, which also becomes defiled by desires. When the Five Sense Organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body crave the Five Sense Objects of form, sound, smell, taste and touch, attachment to these perceptions arise. These are delusions of thinking.

>> The delusions of views and thinking. When the Five Sense Organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body by all of the Three Vehicles, the Hearer, Solitary Realizer and Bodhisattva Vehicles. Having realized the truth of cessation as well as the True Suchness of emptiness of self, they achieved the fruit of the stage beyond learning. This is why they took this to be sufficient.

>> We saw completing this as the only matter and thought that there was nothing else: They are only concerned about ending cyclic existence and attaining Nirvana, [thinking] there was nothing else, such as the Great Vehicle.

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“Contained within the Tathagata-garbha is the Dharma of Buddhas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand.
Contained within natural laws are the unified principles of all things. In fact, we reach the other shore, like the emptiness and wondrous existence of a pure shadow.
Thus contained within the Tathagata-garbha is the Dharma of Buddhas, more numerous than the Ganges’ sand.”

“Contained within the Tathagata-garbha is the Dharma of Buddhas as numerous than the Ganges’ sand.” Think about this carefully; all of us have the intrinsic Buddha-nature, and all of us have the intrinsic Tathagata-garbha. What is ultimately contained within the Tathagata-garbha? Dharma of Buddhas numerous as the Ganges’ sand. Even the Buddha-Dharma of a single Buddha is not something that we can quickly understand, not to mention the Dharma of. Buddhas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand. Actually, all this Dharma is stored within everyone’s Tathagata-garbha.

We have also often said that. “All Buddhas share the same path.” The path of every Buddha is the Dharma, and that path is always the same. Which Dharma is it that is always the same? That which his contained within natural laws. The Dharma lies within the laws of nature. What the Buddha awakened to was how to return to the state of natural laws.

Look how many things a person’s mind can contain. If our thinking contains a thought of ignorance, upon [seeing] what is clearly a good deed, our thoughts about it will be [otherwise]. If we give rise to jealousy we will not want to praise others, but instead slander them with our speech. This is due to thoughts that arise in our minds. If someone else clearly does something good, why wouldn’t we take joy in their merits and virtues? When someone truly does good, we need to encourage them. If the thoughts we give rise to are not proper, through our [negative] speech we will influence the direction of others’ minds. We all do this to each other, because we do not see the principles clearly. That is why we must engage in spiritual practice, to return to the natural laws, to the Dharma, to the principles of our nature. We return to our nature of True Suchness. When we find our own Dharma-treasury we will not be influenced by others. This is the unified principle of all things. This is the intrinsic wisdom that we all possess.

Nowadays, we all use our own thinking to investigate this world, but we see only one side and not the other for we are still ordinary beings. The Buddha’s wisdom is comprehensive. He could completely understand everything about this world. He could travel through 10 trillion Buddha-lands in the time it takes to eat a meal. No matter the time or space, the Buddha always brings together the principles and appears in this world, coming to teach us all and letting everyone know that our wisdom is equal to that of the Buddha. When we can bring together the wisdom of many and unite it as one, we can comprehend and become one with nature. In this way, “Contained within natural laws are the unified principles of all things.”

“In fact, we reach the other shore.” Presently, we are in the state of ordinary people. This shore of unenlightened beings is ignorance. Within our minds, ignorance and discursive thoughts remain, and our understanding is narrow and very limited. The Buddha wanted to expand, broaden our minds; He wanted us to thoroughly understand that, from this shore, of unenlightened beings, we can arrive at the other shore, of noble beings. He wanted us to understand that this is “the emptiness and wondrous existence of a pure shadow”; this is the same mind as the Buddha’s.

Although we are in this world, we are just like shadows. Are shadows real? They are empty. Regardless, these shadows are extremely subtle and wondrous. Do you still remember this story? There was a bird flying, and it arrived where the Sangha was. Even in the shadow of Sariputra, it still felt uneasy, but arriving in the shadow of the Buddha, it was able to find peace. Likewise, if we are able to take this Dharma to heart, turn from our unenlightened perspective to that of the wondrous Dharma of noble beings and apply it in our lives, it is like we are in the shadow of the Buddha. We are protected in this shadow, for the Dharma can guard against wrongs and stop evils. This is how we apply the Dharma.

“Thus contained within the Tathagata-garbha is the Dharma of Buddhas more numerous than the Ganges’ sand.” The Tathagata-garbha is intrinsic to us all. The Buddha taught us so much Dharma; if we hear one thing, we can understand ten, because it all lies within the Tathagata-garbha that each of us inherently possesses. Everyone intrinsically has this Buddha-nature. Therefore, I hope that all of us, as we learn the Buddha’s Way and listen to the Dharma, will always be mindful.

The previous sutra passage states, “We were like that poor son who had drawn near to his father; although he knew of all these goods, he had no wish to take any for himself. Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma, we had no aspirations ourselves, so we were also like that.”

We are like that “poor son.” Though he had drawn near his father and had entered his father’s luxurious house, though he knew of those treasures inside and had taken charge of those treasures, he never looked at those treasures as his own. This is like when we listen to the Dharma now and say, “I know.” You know, but you do not change.

We want to “know” this Dharma, to know it so that it becomes our own. Only then is it the True Dharma. Yet we only know and have not yet experienced the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma. We teach it to others, but as for us, “We had no aspirations ourselves. I heard what the Buddha taught, but He did not teach it for me. This is what the Buddha wanted to teach you, so I am telling you based on what He said. Therefore, it is not me who has to go do it; it is you who have to go.”

These are the biased views we all have. These disciples only looked after themselves and dared not walk this path of difficult practice. So, they said, “Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma, we had no aspirations ourselves, so we were also like that.” Every time I read this passage, I first reflect on myself and think, “Aren’t I just like this?” I am continually telling this to others, but it is always they who are doing it, not me doing it. So, I too feel remorseful.

However, when I see others doing these things, I also feel very joyful. I get to take a bit of joy in their merits and virtues. I can say, “Yes! What you are doing is right. This is the way to do it. This is the Bodhisattva-path.” This puts everyone’s mind more at ease, allowing them to walk even more earnestly on the Bodhisattva-path. This world needs Bodhisattvas, for only then can sentient beings be transformed. How much can one person with two hands accomplish? We all must purify our minds together, and we all must combine our strength to give together. Then an impure land can be transformed into a pure land. In coming to this world, the Buddha hoped that all of us would be able to turn our minds around, to turn an unenlightened mindset to a noble one, to the mindset of a Bodhisattva.

The next passage says, “Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient. We only sought to finish this matter and never sought any other matters. If we heard of the purifying of the Buddha-lands, of the teaching and transformation of all beings we never took delight in them.”

Venerable Kasyapa was using this analogy to illustrate his regret and repentance. He was repenting for the past, for how he had only kept to the Small Vehicle and never thought to form Great Vehicle aspirations. He was older now, and the Buddha had also grown old.

They were explaining that they were replete with the Small Vehicle, with the virtues of wisdom and ending as its causes, thus they never sought the Great Vehicle Nirvana. The virtues of wisdom and ending: The understanding of the true principles is called the virtue of wisdom. The elimination of all afflictions is called the virtue of ending. Together these result in Bodhi and Nirvana.

This was how he had been in the past, only caring about eliminating his own afflictions.  The meaning below of. “This is explaining that they were replete with the Small Vehicle,” only standing fast in the Small Vehicle with “virtues of wisdom and ending as its cause.”

As for “wisdom and ending, the understanding of the true principles is called the virtue of wisdom. The elimination of all afflictions is called the virtue of ending.” This is the virtue of wisdom and the virtue of ending. So it simply says, “The virtues of wisdom and ending are its cause.” They were attached to only learning how to cultivate wisdom and how to eliminate afflictions and ignorance. Thus, they only sought Bodhi and Nirvana. They only sought a path to Bodhi. Bodhi is wisdom, and Nirvana is the elimination of afflictions. They just stood fast here. They only sought understanding of the principles and ways to eliminate afflictions. “Thus they never sought the Great Vehicle Nirvana.” So it says, “Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient”

Having eliminated what was within, we took this to be sufficient: They had eliminated the afflictions within, so they themselves said that this was sufficient. Eliminating what is within means eliminating the delusions of views and thinking, dust-like delusions and delusions of ignorance. These are the essence of delusion. The elimination of views and thinking in the. Three Realms is called eliminating what is within.

“Eliminating what is within” means eliminating afflictions of the mind. They have already eliminated greed, anger and ignorance, so they think, “I already have a deep understanding of life, so I do not get angry, nor do I have any thoughts of ignorance. Because I understand all is empty and illusory, I am very satisfied with this.”

“Eliminating what was within” means eliminating delusions of views and thinking, dust-like delusions and delusions of ignorance, the three kinds of delusions. These three kinds of delusions must be eliminated, not just greed, anger and ignorance. Unless these forms of ignorance can be meticulously eliminated, they will be like seeds; if we do not completely eliminate them, these seeds of ignorance can sprout up again. So, this is “eliminating what was within.” Small Vehicle practitioners had eliminated greed, anger and ignorance and were satisfied with this. Actually, their delusions of views and thinking, dust-like delusions and delusions of ignorance were still quite numerous.

So, how do we eliminate all of this ignorance? We must test ourselves by working with others to see if we really have completely eliminated all of it. If we have not completely eliminated it, when interacting with people or when facing certain situations, we will give rise to afflictions again. Therefore, we must eliminate dust-like delusions

So, this is eliminating delusions of views and thinking. Views are the discriminations we make. What this means is that. When the mind-root connects with sense objects, we give rise to deviant views. These are delusions of views. Eliminating delusions of views and thinking: Thinking is contemplation, which also becomes defiled by desires. When the Five Sense Organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body crave the Five Sense Objects of form, sound, smell, taste and touch, attachment to these perceptions arise. These are delusions of thinking.

So, this is “eliminating delusions of views and thinking. Views” are the discriminations we make. What this means is that. “When the mind-root connects with sense objects, we give rise to deviant views. These are delusions of views.” As our mind-root experiences mental phenomena, like all of the different things that we see, we think, “I want this; I don’t want that.” We thus make this discrimination. When we discriminate by what we want, because we desire it and try to get it by any means possible, thus creating afflictions and ignorance, bringing injury to others and creating karma.

So, in this way, these mental phenomena are what the mind perceives. This is the sense object of mental phenomena. “Phenomena” can also be a sense object (Dust). When the Five Roots perceive the Five Dusts, the mind then reacts in virtuous or unwholesome ways. With virtuous [thinking], when sentient beings are suffering, we use all of our mental and physical power to rescue those sentient beings. If they are unwholesome thinking, we give rise to deviant views. Thus, these are delusions of views


“Thinking” is contemplation. We have intricate schemes to carry out our plans, whether we carry them out ourselves or teach others to carry them out for us. Everyone collectively causes ignorance to arise in people, causing turmoil in society. All of this is thinking that has been defiled by desires. Thinking can be wholesome or unwholesome. If our thinking is wholesome, it means we are cultivating contemplation. This is also spiritual practice. However, if our thinking goes astray, then we are ordinary people defiled by desires. Once defiled by desires, we remain confused throughout our entire lifetime. Thus, when the Five Sense Organs of eyes, ears, tongue, nose and body crave form, sound, smell, taste and touch, attachment to our perceptions arises and stays present in every thought. These are called “delusions of thinking.”

The Chinese character for “contemplate” is a “field” over a “mind.” That field is what we work in. It is for us to sow seeds in and continuously cultivate. This is contemplation. If we sow seeds of ignorance in our minds, then we unenlightened beings will continuously replicate them, multiplying our ignorance so our ignorance and afflictions continue on. This is like planting a field. From a single seed, “One gives rise to infinity, and infinity arises from one.” Therefore, if we think wholesome thoughts, then everything will be wholesome, and we can bring harmony to the world. If our thoughts are unwholesome, if everyone has unwholesome thoughts, it will create chaos in the world. This is how our lives are determined by our thoughts. These are delusions of views and thinking.

These are delusions of ignorant views and delusions of ignorant thinking. We cannot see clearly and cannot get past our thoughts. This is what is known as delusion. We are unable to realize the true principles because we are covered by ignorance

The delusions of views and thinking. When the Five Sense Organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body by all of the Three Vehicles, the Hearer, Solitary Realizer and Bodhisattva Vehicles. Having realized the truth of cessation as well as the True Suchness of emptiness of self, they achieved the fruit of the stage beyond learning. This is why they took this to be sufficient.

These delusions of views and thinking can commonly be eliminated by any of the Three Vehicles, the Hearer, Solitary Realizer or Bodhisattva Vehicle. They all eliminate delusions of views and thinking. This ignorance must be eliminated by all spiritual practitioners. In “having realized the truth of cessation, cessation” means one has completely eliminated one’s afflictions. We use the Path to eliminate our afflictions. Only when afflictions are eliminated will we achieve “realization.” Then we can truly confirm that we have eliminated our ignorance.

When the principles appear before us, this is called “realization.” When we can see all these principles clearly, that is elimination. Therefore, “Having realized the True Suchness of emptiness of self, they achieved the fruit of the stage beyond learning.” When we have realized the “emptiness of self” and can give without expectations, with the Three Spheres of Emptiness, when we achieve this, then this is the nature of True Suchness. We will return to our nature of True Suchness. We must make it to the level of the “stage beyond learning.” We will have learned everything and understood all the teachings. We continuously polish this mirror. When we have continually polished it to the point that there is no more dust to polish, when there is not a trace left to polish, then that is the “fruit of the stage beyond learning.” As a result, the mirror is completely clear, so it reflects the outside environment; it clearly reflects whatever is front of it. This is “sufficient.” Only this can be truly fulfilling.

However, Small Vehicle practitioners think, “We only sought to finish this matter and never sought any other matters. I only want to focus on spiritual practice, to practice to eliminate afflictions, nothing else. I am already quite busy with this. None of those things have anything to do with me.” That was how they thought.

We saw completing this as the only matter and thought that there was nothing else: They are only concerned about ending cyclic existence and attaining Nirvana, [thinking] there was nothing else, such as the Great Vehicle.

Thus, “They are only concerned about ending cyclic existence” [They thought,] “This is my only responsibility.” So, “They never sought anything else, such as the Great Vehicle.” This meant they thought the Great Vehicle had nothing to do with them. Is that true? The Buddha hoped that we would truly return to the Tathagata-garbha and realize that which is contained within it is. Dharma of Buddhas as numerous as Ganges’ sand. We should realize that contained within natural laws are the unified principles of all things. These are all found within each of us. So, contained within us are the natural laws that contain the unified principles of all things. We should make every effort to investigate them. Our Tathagata-garbha contains no less Dharma than that of past Buddhas as numerous as the Ganges’ sand but. “Buddhas more numerous than the Ganges’ sand.” So, our Tathagata-garbha, our Dharma-treasury of wisdom, is contained in our nature of True Suchness. Therefore, I hope everyone will always be mindful.

Episode 844 – The Treasure of the Buddha-Dharma

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>> Knowing the Dharma yet having no faith in or understanding of it is like being employed to count the wealth of others. One can see the family’s wealth filling the house, yet one takes no delight in it for oneself.

>> “As for the secret Dharma of all Buddhas, it was only for Bodhisattvas that this truth was revealed. Its true essence was not expounded for us.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “We were like that poor son who had drawn near his father; although he knew of all these goods, he had no wish to take any for himself. Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma, we had no aspirations ourselves, so we were also like that.”    [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> We were like that poor son who had drawn near his father: The son is an analogy for the Hearers and others, and the father for the Tathagata. This analogy was brought up to explain the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma. This is the unsurpassed path mentioned earlier.

>> Although he knew of all these goods, he had no wish to take any for himself: Though they knew of the treasure of the Dharma, they never saw it as their own, nor wished to take it for themselves.

>> Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma, we had no aspirations ourselves, so we were also like that. This is like how Two Vehicle practitioners maintained their intent to benefit themselves and took no delight in seeking the Great Dharma.

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“Knowing the Dharma yet having no faith in or understanding of it
 is like being employed to count the wealth of others.
One can see the family’s wealth filling the house,
yet one takes no delight in it for oneself.”

Knowing the Dharma yet having no faith in or understanding of it is like being hired by others to count treasures. For instance, at a jewelry store, there are string after string of pearls, bracelet upon bracelet and ring upon ring. We can see all these pearls and agates. If the jewel is of good size and quality, this piece will be worth ten, a hundred or even hundreds of millions of dollars (NT). Even though it looks like glass, a small [diamond] can be worth so much. That is how valuable it can be. But, does the jewelry belong to these [workers]? No. It is the store owner’s. Does it really belong to him? No, he sells the jewelry to the buyers. Is it the buyers’ then? Yes. But, do they possess these things forever? Does forever mean for a lifetime? How long is a lifetime? We do not know.

Even after buying many gemstones, they dare not even keep these things at home. They still need to pay rent for a safe deposit box in order to keep them at the bank. They do not have these things with them. Even if they want to wear them, they might endanger themselves going outside. People spend so much money to buy these things, but who do they really belong to? The people who own these things do not get to keep them on their person. They must put these jewels and treasures elsewhere and hire people to look after them.

If we really comprehend the Dharma, will we need to spend so much money on acquiring these things? Look how many people live in suffering and poverty. If we can use the money spent on these things to save people, using these tens or hundreds of millions for meaningful purposes, who knows how much good could be done? Furthermore, those who collect these treasures do not consider that the process of finding them requires mining that damages the earth. This is how these treasures are obtained. No one knows how many people have [died] for the sake of obtaining diamonds or other things from these mines. No one knows how many have been sacrificed. Yet, people enjoy these things simply for their own vanity. Does it really make a difference in their lives?

I often take joy in talking about how despite living in the poorest places and suffering from poverty themselves, some people still try their best to save others. We call these people the rich among the poor. We say that they are full of spiritual wealth. There are many people like this! So, we can ask, where is the value of wealth to be found?

In the Buddha’s time, there was also a story about this. In the city of Rajagrha, there lived an elder named Danmiri. When this elder was still very young, his father left him such a great inheritance that he was as wealthy as a country, wealthier than the king. Inside his house, everything was gold, silver, crystal or agate. The entire house was decorated like this; even the floor he walked on was paved in crystal.

Once, when the son of King Prasenajit, Prince Virudhaka, was still young, he fell ill with a skin disease. This disease needed to be treated with agarwood, high quality agarwood mixed into the medicine. A search was conducted throughout the kingdom. A great proclamation was made, but for a period of time, nobody found any. Later, a minister told the king, “There is an elder named Danmiri with a house full of treasures. I am sure his house must have this kind of wood.” On hearing this, the king visited Elder Danmiri in person.

When Elder Danmiri heard the king coming, he personally went outside to greet him. The king went through the first court, the second, the third, the fourth and then the fifth. There were five courtyards leading to the mansion. When the king entered the first door, he saw the gatekeeper was gracefully dressed and the women who greeted guests were beautiful, dressed very stylishly and elegantly. The decorations inside the house were also beautiful. Coral, amber, crystal and jewels decorated the floors. The [elder] truly lived up to his reputation of being as wealthy as a country.

After having a small talk there, Danmiri asked the king, “What has brought your majesty to personally visit my house?” The king said, “What I need is agarwood of the highest quality. Your Majesty, please feel free to tell me how much you need. I only need two liang.” Danmiri immediately gave a piece of agarwood to the king. The king ordered it to be taken back to the palace immediately and quickly mixed with the medicine. Meanwhile, the king remained and chatted with Elder Danmiri. He then asked him, “You are already so blessed. May I ask you if you have met the Buddha? Have you ever heard the Buddha teach?” Elder Danmiri said, “What is a Buddha? I have never heard of this.”

King Prasenajit was a very sincere believer in the Buddha-Dharma, as well as a great Dharma-protector. Thus, he explained about the Buddha to him, about the stages the Buddha had gone through. Born as a prince in the kingdom of Kapilavastu, He abandoned His kingdom, the throne and His status as a prince to engage in spiritual practice. Thus He attained Buddhahood and was now teaching the Dharma to all. Just from hearing this, the elder rejoiced. After he escorted the king back, he followed the king’s advice and went to visit the Buddha. When he arrived there, he met the Buddha, which made him even happier. There, he asked the Buddha for teachings. The Buddha began to teach him with the Four Noble Truths. As soon as he heard this, compassion arose in Elder Danmiri’s heart. “Why did I not realize life is full of suffering? It turns out that most people suffer so much. My whole life. I have never needed to ask for anything. I have so much wealth and enjoy so much comfort. Of what the Buddha just taught me, from suffering to causation to cessation, the most liberating is the practice of the Path. Now that I have comprehended the principles, I should earnestly engage in spiritual practice.” From the Buddha’s teachings, he gained faith and understanding. So, he immediately attained the initial fruit and asked Him to allow him to become a monastic. The Buddha was also very happy and accepted him as His monastic disciple.

In the Sangha, people found it strange. Elder Danmiri had never known the suffering of life. Why was it that when he heard the Dharma, he could awaken so fast to the principles of life? So the Buddha told them how, 91 kalpas ago, in the age of Vipasyin Buddha, after the Buddha of that time entered Parinirvana, five bhiksus who had followed that Buddha shared the same vows and path. They wanted to find a very pure place in order to earnestly engage in spiritual practice.

One among these five people said, “If one of us is willing to focus on begging for alms outside and go out every day for the sake of our sustenance, then the other four can focus on spiritual practice. If we can do it this way, the ones who engage in spiritual practice will also bless the one willing to help the others succeed in spiritual practice.” One of them then said, “I am willing to help you succeed in your spiritual practice.” This bhiksu went to the settlements outside of the forest every day to beg for alms and bring back five portions to share with the other four people. In doing so, he kept everyone in good health so they could focus on spiritual practice.

Throughout 90 days of living this way, these four bhiksus were truly diligent, and they all attained Arhatship. They said, “Today, our accomplishment was possible because of this bhiksu who mindfully took care of us so we never lacked clothing or food and could focus on spiritual practice. We should also help him succeed.” How could they help him? They asked this bhiksu, “Do you have any needs or requests?” He said, “I do not have any needs or requests. Seeing you able to thoroughly comprehend the Buddha-Dharma makes me very happy.”

These four bhiksus then said, “Of course, but we also wish [success] for you. What is your aspiration?” This bhiksu thus said, “I also very much hope that in the future, I will not have to experience the suffering of this world. I hope I can be wealthy life after life and be replete with wisdom. And, once I have the causes and conditions to encounter the Buddha-Dharma, I hope that, within that lifetime, I will experience and awaken to the Buddha’s principles. This is my wish.” Thus, these four bhiksus blessed him together.

The Buddha stopped here and said, “That Bhiksu is now Danmiri.” Thus, when he listened to the Dharma, he awakened and understood. So, in knowing the Dharma, we need faith and understanding. Knowing the Dharma without faith and understanding “is like being employed to count the wealth of others”

“yet taking no delight in it for oneself.” This is like the poor son. Though he had wandered homeless, after coming to this mansion of the rich family he was invited in by the elder. Though he saw [the treasures], he still did not feel, “This is mine.” Aren’t we also like this son? When we engage in spiritual practice, we must truly put our hearts into giving. These things that we have always possessed can be found inside our hearts; we do not need to destroy the earth. We all have the Seven Treasures inside of us; we do not need to spend so much to buy them. We ourselves are the master gemcutter; we can achieve that fine workmanship ourselves. If we earnestly work on discovering our treasures, we will know how to make good use of them to unceasingly increase our wisdom and blessings and exercise our blessings and wisdom in the world. We can create blessings among people and cultivate wisdom in this world. This is something that we can achieve. We just need to be mindful.

The previous sutra passage states, “As for the secret Dharma of all Buddhas, it was only for Bodhisattvas that this truth was revealed. Its true essence was not expounded for us.”

Venerable Kasyapa described all the “secret Dharma” taught by the Buddha, saying they regarded it as teachings for Bodhisattvas. It seemed to have nothing to do with them at all. But this is what they heard and what the Buddha asked them to share, so this was the Dharma they shared with others.

These were Small Vehicle practitioners, who lacked the intent to go among the people. They had no thought of becoming Bodhisattvas, so they did not think this Dharma important to them. But, they could repeat the Dharma to others on behalf of the Buddha. These were Small Vehicle practitioners; they only spread these words and teachings, but they did not practice them themselves.

The following sutra passage says, “We were like that poor son who had drawn near his father; although he knew of all these goods, he had no wish to take any for himself. Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma, we had no aspirations ourselves, so we were also like that.”

They were like that poor son. Although he had already drawn near his own father and knew where all the treasures were stored, the poor son had “no wish to take any for himself.” He did not have the will to pursue them. Thus, “though we taught to others” was Venerable Kasyapa saying that they were like the poor son themselves. They were Hearers. Though they “taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma,” though they taught the treasures of the Dharma, they were only hearing what the Buddha said and spreading it around on His behalf. They were also teaching the Dharma He taught, but they themselves “had no aspirations.” They told others they must resolve to do it, but they did not have the will to practice it. “So we were also like that” means that they were just like the poor son. This was Venerable Kasyapa’s analogy

We were like that poor son who had drawn near his father: The son is an analogy for the Hearers and others, and the father for the Tathagata. This analogy was brought up to explain the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma. This is the unsurpassed path mentioned earlier.

The “son” is analogous to Hearers, Solitary Realizers and so on. These were the Small Vehicle practitioners. The “father” is the Tathagata, who is the guiding teacher of the Three Realms and the kind father of the four kinds of beings. The “four kinds of beings” are not only human beings; this includes all sentient beings. He treats them all as His only son.

So, fathers of this world are [fathers to] individuals; they have their own blood-line and own children. But the Buddha is the father of everyone. He wants to pass down the Dharma-lineage to sentient beings. He comes to the world on the Dharma of Suchness, transforming sentient beings as a great compassionate father.

“This analogy was brought up to explain the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma.” This analogy was drawn to talk about the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma. The Dharma is a treasure; it is more precious than worldly treasures. It is the Dharma-treasure that truly benefits people. Whether in this lifetime or in future lifetimes, if we can obtain the Buddha-Dharma and keep passing it on, each lifetime, we will understand the Dharma more, and our affinity with the Dharma will deepen. Then lifetime after lifetime, we will have more affinities to encounter the Buddha-Dharma.

Recently, we keep seeing three- and four-year-olds or four, five, six, seven or eight-year-old children. We can see, when they hear the Dharma they really take it to heart. They are so persistent in listening to the morning Dharma lecture. Think about it. Isn’t this because they already have the Buddha-Dharma in their hearts? When we come back to this world, if we have taken the Dharma-treasure to heart, although we cannot take anything with us when we die, we will bring the Dharma with us instead of karma. Thus, this kind of Dharma-treasure is what was mentioned earlier as “the unsurpassed path.”

Do you remember that we talked previously about “the path of difficult practice” and “the path of purity”? “The path of difficult practice” is the Bodhisattva-path that we need to cultivate. “Actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions” is called “the path of difficult practice.” Next is “the path of purity.” We need to eliminate afflictions and keep our minds undefiled. This is “the unsurpassed path.” This is the Dharma, the treasure that the Buddha taught

Although he knew of all these goods, he had no wish to take any for himself: Though they knew of the treasure of the Dharma, they never saw it as their own, nor wished to take it for themselves.

“Although he knew of all these goods, he had no wish to take any for himself.” This is such a shame. Although we understand the Dharma-treasure, we do not take it as our own. This is because we still cannot experience our intrinsic nature of True Suchness, the treasure of True Suchness. As we do not know it, we “never saw it as our own.” We think that all these things out there, all these teachings, belong to the Buddha. It is what the Buddha taught the Bodhisattvas to walk the Bodhisattva-path. It has nothing to do with us. So, we “never saw it as our own.” We think it is not ours. Thus, we do not “wish to take it for ourselves.” This is because we never formed aspirations to pursue it.

So, “Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma, we had no aspirations ourselves, so we were also like that. This is like how Two Vehicle practitioners maintained their intent to benefit themselves and took no delight in seeking the Great Dharma.”

“We” refers to. Venerable Kasyapa, Subhuti and the others. “Though we taught to others the treasure of the Buddha-Dharma….” They listened to the Buddha’s teachings, but they were like [the son]. They taught others according to the Buddha’s teachings. But they formed no aspirations to [practice it]; they told others to do it without doing it themselves. This is “like how Two Vehicle practitioners maintained their intent to benefit themselves and took no delight in seeking the Great Dharma.” It was just like this.

Everyone, while we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must make an effort to be mindful. Once the Buddha attained Buddhahood, He said, “Everyone inherently has this. Tathagata-nature of wisdom.” So, we must believe this. Wisdom is inherent in all people. This is because we all have a Buddha-nature equal to the Buddha’s. We all have the Tathagata-garbha, have the Tathagata’s storehouse of treasures. We must believe in ourselves. Therefore, we must always be mindful.

Episode 843 – The Buddha-Dharma is Truly Wondrous

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>> The nature of the mind is inherently pure and calm and contains all absolute truths in existence. This is called ‘all this wealth’. The Great Vehicle merits and virtues of practicing kindness and exercising compassion, cultivating oneself and transforming others, comprise the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma.

>> “At the right time, all Buddhas would bestow predictions on them, saying, ‘In a future lifetime, you will achieve Buddhahood’.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “As for the secret Dharma of all Buddhas, it was only for Bodhisattvas that this truth was revealed. Its true essence was not expounded for us.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>>As for the secret Dharma of all Buddhas: Secret refers to the mysterious and profound Dharma of all Buddhas, Tathagatas of the ten directions. Having not aspired to or delighted in it, the Hearers said they transmitted the teaching to Buddha-children, who would hear the Dharma and attain predictions

>> This secret is the pure mind, our intrinsic nature, manifested through the two kinds of emptiness. It is without name or appearance, the True Reality, essential and wondrous, thus it is called true essence.

>> The mind cannot be sought nor attained. This is called ultimate emptiness. The nature of all conditioned phenomena is ultimately empty and tranquil.

>> All phenomena arises from the mental cognition of the environment. This is called ultimate existence. What separates sentient beings from all Buddhas is none other than the mind.

>> This is the secret Dharma of all Buddhas. It is true and free from all illusion, subtle, wondrous and inconceivable.

>> Its true essence was not expounded for us. It was not for us that. He spoke of the path of true essence.

>> So, With their mindset at that time, they called this the secret of all Buddhas. It was only for Bodhisattvas that this truth was revealed. All these teachings are for Bodhisattvas. He did not teach for us this essential path that leads to the true attainment of Buddhahood.

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“The nature of the mind is inherently pure and calm and contains all absolute truths in existence. This is called ‘all this wealth’.
The Great Vehicle merits and virtues of practicing kindness and exercising compassion, cultivating oneself and transforming others, comprise the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma.”

Recently, we have continuously been discussing how the poor son wandered around out there. Regarding the Buddha-Dharma, this refers to how giving rise to a thought of ignorance causes us to endlessly cycle in the Five Realms and four forms of birth, enduring all kinds of suffering. This goes on for such a long time, and the suffering is so great. In fact, it all began with that one thought. Our thoughts can be good or evil. A good thought comes from the intrinsic nature of our mind, which is inherently pure. It is incredibly calm and contains everything. All truths in existence are contained in this intrinsically pure mind. But if we are not careful, our mind may waver, and we may give rise to an ignorant thought. Then we will not know the way back [to that state].

The Buddha, in His compassion, returned repeatedly for the sake of all beings. He followed His children, sentient beings, continually looking for them. It was for this single goal, to help sentient beings find the way back, back to their [intrinsic nature]. This is the compassion of the Buddha. He cares for all sentient beings and cannot bear to abandon any sentient being.

The Five Realms and four forms of birth include the heaven, human, hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. All Five Realms are encompassed by the Buddha’s compassion, to say nothing of the four forms of birth. The four forms of birth occur in the Five Realms. The womb-born, transformation-born, moisture-born and egg born all exist within the Five Realms. The Buddha loves them all as His only son. Because of the Buddha’s great compassion, for the sake of all sentient beings, in lifetime after lifetime. He continuously searches for them. With sentient beings’ [differing] capabilities, if they have the capacity, He immediately gives them suitable teachings. “The arising of conditions is ‘going out’.” He immediately seizes these causes and conditions to transform and deliver sentient beings.

Each of us sentient beings is an individual, but the Buddha has great compassion for us as a whole. Each of us sentient beings has our individual habitual tendencies, our individual ignorance and afflictions. When He gives attention to one, is He able to give attention to another? Actually, the Buddha, in His great compassion, wants to take care of everyone; He is unwilling to abandon a single being. Thus, He spends a very long time saving and delivering sentient beings; He spends a long time searching for them. So, the Buddha is the guiding teacher of the Three Realms and the kind father of the four kinds of beings. He truly lives up to these names. Therefore, we must all have an appreciation for the Buddha’s compassion and must make a great effort to love ourselves. We must earnestly accept the Buddha’s teachings and uphold them ourselves.

The mind is without form, substance or appearance. As the nature of the mind is inherently pure, it contains all absolute truths in existence. Within the nature of our minds lies the truth of all things in the world. We are all the same; the truths of all things in the world are contained in our Tathagata-garbha. We all inherently have this, so we should all love and respect ourselves.

See, when it comes to sentient beings, as long as we maintain a pure mind, by knowing the truths of all things we can accord with karmic conditions. As karmic conditions mature, we will be able to continuously give to others. Therefore, all of us have all truths in existence within us. “This is called ‘all this wealth’.” We all have “the Great Vehicle merits and virtues of practicing kindness and exercising compassion, cultivating oneself and transforming others.” This is the wealth we all inherently have within. We just need to earnestly exercise loving-kindness and compassion to cultivate ourselves and transform others. Forming this kind of Great Vehicle aspiration will bring merits and virtues. Externally, we must put teachings into practice. Internally, we must earnestly cultivate ourselves. This is the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma. The Dharma-treasure is [found within] our storehouse consciousness’s True Suchness and is the intrinsically pure nature of our mind. We must all mindfully seek to comprehend this state of mind.

So, the previous sutra passage says, “At the right time, all Buddhas would bestow predictions on them, saying, ‘In a future lifetime, you will achieve Buddhahood’.”

When we give rise to Great Vehicle aspirations, all Buddhas share the same path, and upon seeing us sentient beings form Great Vehicle aspirations, all Buddhas use the same voice to likewise bestow a prediction of Buddhahood upon us.

As it said in the previous sutra passage, “In a future lifetime, you will achieve Buddhahood.”

Following this, it then says, “As for the secret Dharma of all Buddhas, it was only for Bodhisattvas that this truth was revealed. Its true essence was not expounded for us.”

This is how Venerable Kasyapa described the way the Buddha bestowed predictions of Buddhahood upon disciples who had formed Great Vehicle aspirations. This is the secret Dharma of all Buddhas. When the Buddha taught, He had to have different levels of teachings; He had to teach according to capabilities. There were earlier and later, shallow and profound and great and limited teachings. This is how the Buddha used His wisdom through observing the minds of sentient beings. He is like a doctor; pediatricians have to see the child in order to know the correct dosage to prescribe. When general internists treat adults, they know, based on the patient’s age and physical condition, the dosage to prescribe. This is the same principle. Sentient beings have illnesses of the mind, so the Buddha prescribes medicine for them. Out of His love and care for us, He is careful and teaches us according to our capabilities. So, the Buddha has “secret Dharma,” His methods of teaching.

“It was only for Bodhisattvas that this truth was revealed.” When the Buddha teaches the Great Dharma, Small Vehicle practitioners think it is not being taught to them, that it is for Bodhisattvas. They think the True Dharma is only meant for Bodhisattvas. This is the meaning of this passage.

As for the secret Dharma of all Buddhas: Secret refers to the mysterious and profound Dharma of all Buddhas, Tathagatas of the ten directions. Having not aspired to or delighted in it, the Hearers said they transmitted the teaching to Buddha-children, who would hear the Dharma and attain predictions

“All Buddhas” means all the Buddhas in the ten directions “‘Secret’ refers to the mysterious and profound Dharma of all Buddhas.” The Dharma of all Buddhas in ten directions is very mysterious and profound. An average person would not be able to understand. They may want to comprehend the truths of all things in the world, but they are unable to truly understand. Thus, it is said to be “mysterious and profound.”

We cannot see the many principles underlying all things in the world. But it is these intangible principles that come together to create all things. All these visible things, things with appearance, are called “all things in the world”; there is not one that is not a temporary union of many causes and conditions coming together. I often say that to grow a tree, there has to be a seed, a plot of soil, then water and air. These suitable conditions depend on [principles] that we cannot see. It takes more than just a seed and soil to have suitable conditions. It takes more than just soil and water for a seed to germinate and sprout. It is not enough to have water; there cannot be too much or too little. Think about this; so much that happens in nature requires things to be just right. This principle is also something we must mindfully seek to comprehend. The workings of all things have their own underlying principles, their own Dharma that is “just right.”

Thus the Dharma, the [principles] within all things, is truly a hidden secret. It really is a “secret Dharma.” People cannot understand it so easily. So, the Buddha had to teach according to capabilities. This like when a seed is planted in the ground; is it compatible with this soil and this amount of water and sunlight? The gardener has to be very mindful of the special nature of each plant. Soil can be measured for salinity and acidity and many other kinds of properties. One must seek to mindfully understand this. So, all things in the world contain this kind of secret Dharma, not just the Buddha’s [teachings]. All things in the world likewise contain this kind of “secret Dharma.” So, “‘Secret’ refers to the mysterious and profound Dharma of all Buddhas”

[They] “had not aspired to or delighted in it.” They showed that they knew this about themselves. Venerable Kasyapa knew that this was what he and the others were like in the past. When the Buddha taught Bodhisattvas, none of them thought He was speaking to them, so all they did was listen. The Buddha told them to spread the teachings, so they went out and shared them; “thus have I heard” these teachings of the Buddha. All they did was spread the Dharma, but they did not feel that it was something they wanted to practice. They just spread the Dharma and did not want to put it into practice. So, “The Hearers merely transmitted the teachings.” They just transmitted them. They believed their task was just to transmit the teachings to Buddha-children. This Dharma was for Buddha-children; it was for those who are Bodhisattvas, “to hear the Dharma and attain predictions.” They saw Buddha-children listen to the Dharma and receive predictions [of attaining Buddhahood].

This secret is the pure mind, our intrinsic nature, manifested through the two kinds of emptiness. It is without name or appearance, the True Reality, essential and wondrous, thus it is called true essence.

So, there is “this secret.” The secret is “the pure mind, our intrinsic nature, manifested through the two kinds of emptiness.” This is the secret. The two kinds of emptiness are true emptiness and illusive emptiness. We must walk the Middle Way. So, we must know about true emptiness and wondrous existence. We cannot just say, “All things are empty.” Within emptiness there is wondrous existence. Wondrous existence is our nature of True Suchness. The principle of our nature of True Suchness is that our nature is pure. Our intrinsic nature is pure, it is “without name or appearance, is the True Reality, essential and wondrous.” Our nature of True Suchness is very important and wondrously profound, so it is called true essence. It is truly essential

This sutra passage seems hard to understand, but it is necessary that we understand it because we all need to earnestly search out our original state of mind. When it comes to our mind, “All phenomena are empty in nature and arise interdependently.” All things contain true principles. Our true nature is inherently pure, but we gave rise to an ignorant thought. Why did we give rise to ignorance? Where did our pure nature go? Where is our nature of True Suchness? We must seek out our minds.

The mind cannot be sought nor attained. This is called ultimate emptiness. The nature of all conditioned phenomena is ultimately empty and tranquil.

“The mind can be sought but not attained. This is called ultimate emptiness. The nature of all conditioned phenomena is ultimately empty and tranquil.” Because of this, if ordinary beings search for their mind, is there truly a mind to be found? Our mind is made of flesh, but our nature of True Suchness is intangible, without form or substance. This is “ultimate emptiness”; it is the true state of our mind.

If we can penetrate the ultimate teaching of emptiness, this emptiness will be the principle of ultimate emptiness. “The nature of all conditioned phenomena is ultimately empty and tranquil.” In truth, all things are conditioned phenomena. Conditioned phenomena are formed by things coming together in accord with many principles. These are things with form and appearance, they have causes, conditions and effects, thus there are these phenomena. This is all conditioned phenomena. When we take action, causes and conditions converge, resulting in our circumstantial and direct retributions.

I often talk about this. This is because our nature, the Dharma within us, is ultimately empty. We cannot find it because it is intangible. This is analogous to a seed in the soil. Is it suitable for this soil? What are the properties of this soil? Is the soil alkaline or acidic? Or is it something else? Even soil has its nature and essence. Is it suitable for this seed? This is something we cannot see.

I can tell you something is salty. What does salty taste like? Or sweet, what does sweet taste like? We can taste it. But it is something we ourselves know, we ourselves understand. You say it is sweet, but I cannot experience the sweetness you are experiencing. This is “empty in nature and arising interdependently.” Only when these causes and conditions converge do we experience that feeling. So, this nature is “ultimately empty and tranquil. All phenomena arise interpedently with the mind.” It is our minds connecting to the environment that leads to the arising of all things. This is “ultimate existence.”

All phenomena arises from the mental cognition of the environment. This is called ultimate existence. What separates sentient beings from all Buddhas is none other than the mind.  

“What separates sentient beings from all Buddhas is none other than the mind.” We are in between sentient beings and the Buddha. Because we are learning the Buddha’s Way, we know the ignorance of unenlightened beings. We must prevent ourselves from being contaminated by this ignorance again. So, we must earnestly hold firm and guard against wrongs and stop evil. Though we are learning Buddha’s Way, we have not yet reached the state of Buddhahood. Reaching the state of Buddhahood depends on our minds. So, “What separates [us] is none other than the mind.”

Therefore, “This is the secret Dharma of all Buddhas. It is true and free from all illusion, subtle, wondrous and inconceivable.”

If we can put our mind toward thoroughly understanding the principles and earnestly making use of them, then “The secret Dharma is true and free from illusion.” We all intrinsically have this True Suchness. Everyone has this nature of True Suchness; this is true. But if I ask you to take it out and show it to me, you will not be able to, as it is without form, substance or appearance. This is absolute truth; these are the principles. We must take in the principles to turn our minds around. We must turn our unenlightened minds toward learning the teachings of noble beings. As long as we keep walking and doing, we can accomplish all difficult tasks.

The “secret Dharma of all Buddhas” though it is very profound, is true and free from all illusion. This is the True Dharma. This is truly subtle, wondrous and inconceivable.

Its true essence was not expounded for us. It was not for us that. He spoke of the path of true essence. 

But when the Buddha taught this Dharma, [some disciples felt,] Its true essence was not expounded for us. It was not for us that. He spoke of the path of true essence.” Early on, Venerable Kasyapa misunderstood. He thought the Buddha was not saying this for him but was only asking him to transmit it. “It was not for us that He spoke of [this truth].” This was not taught for them. “This is the very important Great Vehicle Dharma; this was not taught for me.” This was what Venerable Kasyapa and others thought at the time

So, With their mindset at that time, they called this the secret of all Buddhas. It was only for Bodhisattvas that this truth was revealed. All these teachings are for Bodhisattvas. He did not teach for us this essential path that leads to the true attainment of Buddhahood.

As he listened to the Buddha’s teaching, his capabilities were insufficient, so he did not accept these teachings. He thought they were only meant for Bodhisattvas.

So everyone, in learning the Buddha’s Way we must be mindful. In fact, when the Dharma is taught, it can be used by everyone. It is not only for certain people to use. We can all comprehend this Dharma, and we can all practice it. “All phenomena are empty in nature and arise interdependently.” The nature of True Dharma is empty and tranquil; it is without substance or form. We are unable to see it but we can put it into practice. This is the true principle of all things. So, this is like the wealth attained by the poor son. This is the treasury of spiritual practitioners. So, as we learn the Buddha’s Way we must truly always be mindful.

Episode 842 – Practicing with Loving-kindness and Compassion

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>>In learning and practicing the Buddha-Dharma, we must make great vows. We give rise to loving-kindness and compassion and transform ourselves while benefiting others. For enlightened sentient beings with great aspirations, the Buddha gave predictions of certainly attaining Buddhahood in the future.

>>”All Buddha-children, having heard this Dharma from us, would contemplate night and day and diligently practice it.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>>”At the right time, all Buddhas would bestow predictions upon them, saying, ‘In a future lifetime, you will attain Buddhahood’.”    [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>>At the right time, all Buddhas would bestow predictions on them: At a time that is right, all Buddhas, with the same voice, would give them confirmation and bestow predictions of attaining Bodhi.

>> In a future lifetime, you will attain Buddhahood: You, in countless ages hence, will perfect the Bodhisattva-path and attain Buddhahood.

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“In learning and practicing the Buddha-Dharma, we must make great vows.
We give rise to loving-kindness and compassion and transform ourselves while benefiting others.
For enlightened sentient beings with great aspirations,
the Buddha gave predictions of certainly attaining Buddhahood in the future.”

We always say to everyone that forming great aspirations and making great vows is very important. The Buddha’s hope is that we can all transform ourselves while benefiting others. To transform ourselves and benefit others, we must have great aspirations. We must also engage in spiritual practice. If we do not practice ourselves, how can we teach this to others? If we do not put the teachings into practice, how can we lead others to do the same? Therefore, the Buddha wants us to understand the principles of the Dharma and make an effort to eliminate ignorance and afflictions. If we are able to do this, if we know that we must eliminate afflictions, then when we interact with people, we will no longer replicate our afflictions, stirring up so many afflictions. Of course, this is the sequence of the Buddha’s teaching. If we do not recognize suffering, we will not want to realize its origin. Once we comprehend suffering, we must put the teachings into action to eliminate the source of suffering. Thus we come to understand the Dharma’s profound principles. So, these are the truths of suffering, causation, cessation and the Path. This is what we must all understand when we first make vows and enter the Buddha’s door.

After we understand this, the Buddha then tells us, “Life is full of suffering, which all comes from our minds.” Once ignorance arises, it brings the contamination of The Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence are the reason we have come to the human realm. When we understand that this is the reason, along with the affinity with our parents, we must then seek to comprehend how our circumstantial and direct retributions result from what we did in past lifetimes. So, once we are aware of our direct and circumstantial retributions, we must heighten our vigilance. As for our afflictions, “Since we have come here, we should be at peace.” We must not let afflictions defile us again. So, we must calm our minds. When afflictions and ignorance arise, we must eliminate them. If we give rise to discursive thoughts, everything around us will become an affliction, and our minds will be [bound] by afflictions again. These are contrived affinities. We are entangled with and defiled by afflictions. This is ignorance.

However, we must go among the people and create blessed affinities. When we get involved in working with others, we must have a very open mind and create blessings, not contrive affinities. If we contrive affinities with others, we increase our afflictions. If we are engaged in spiritual cultivation, when we encounter afflictions, with hearts at peace we can just laugh it off; we will not become entangled in our afflictions. Going among the people and contriving affinities are completely different.

The Buddha teaches us that. “Bodhisattvas arise because of [affinities] with suffering sentient beings.” So, we must give rise to kindness and compassion; the Buddha-mind is one of kindness, compassion. Learning the Buddha’s Way means learning His loving-kindness and compassion. With this loving-kindness and compassion, we can transform ourselves while benefiting others.

Think about it; we now live in the evil world of Five Turbidities. There is extreme weather, an imbalance in the four elements and many disasters. Take the flood in Malaysia for example. The affected area was actually very broad, stretching from Thailand to Sri Lanka, to Malaysia and Indonesia, across four countries. This flooding affected these four countries, but Malaysia was the most severely impacted, with eight states affected by the disaster.

In the areas struck by disaster, Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia all came together and mobilized [to help]. From northern, central and southern Malaysia, everyone brought their strength together. Undaunted by the distance, they all joined in the work of disaster relief. Those unaffected by the disaster went there and saw the disaster area; they saw the suffering of sentient beings. So, everyone was very willing to join in, and they served with sincere hearts. This is giving rise to kindness and compassion.

“Transforming ourselves” is about us. Look at the disaster survivors. The power of this disaster was truly great. Whether people are poor or wealthy, when a natural disaster strikes, everyone is affected equally by it. So, we must be aware; the Buddha’s impartial compassion teaches us that we must show compassion to all equally. When we see suffering, we transform ourselves; we recognize our own blessings. By taking the Dharma to heart, we can comprehend the principles of suffering. So, when the Dharma is taken into our hearts, this is what we call “transforming ourselves.”

“Benefiting others” is when everyone goes to help and give of themselves in disaster relief. So, during this period of time, a “cash for work” program was established. Every day that people came to work, they could earn 100 ringgits 100 Malaysian ringgits is sufficient to allow people to feed themselves and buy powdered milk for their children.

In summary, this is the method we used to help others. What we actually wanted to do was provide aid, but there was so much garbage and dirt. If no one cleaned up the area, how could this place recover? How could they live? How could businesses recover? So, the “cash for work” program initiated following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines was a very good experience to draw from. If it could work there, it should be done here as well.

We mobilized manpower from all over Malaysia in the hope that those waiting for relief aid would be able to mobilize to clean up their own homes through the program. We went to extend help to them. Those unaffected by the disaster and people in those communities mobilized their love to sincerely wish blessings for [the survivors]. They donated or participated [in the relief work]. This is the power of love, which enabled us to finish this aid project sooner.

This power of love has always been the same. The Buddha always hoped for everyone to practice the Buddha-Dharma and to be willing to make great vows. Everyone must have vows, the vows to give rise to kindness and compassion and transform ourselves and benefit others.

“For enlightened sentient beings with great aspirations,” for those who have formed great aspirations, those awakened sentient beings, the Buddha gives His affirmation. He affirms them by bestowing His prediction that “[They] will certainly attain Buddhahood in the future.” He believes when everyone form great aspirations, the path [they walk] is the path to Buddhahood. It is the Bodhi-path.

The previous passage states, “All Buddha-children, having heard this Dharma from us, would contemplate night and day and diligently practice it.”

As I said earlier, these “Buddha-children” are Bodhisattvas. They already have formed Bodhisattva-aspirations. The Dharma that the Buddha teaches is to open up the Bodhi-path. He hopes that everyone will form Bodhicitta, which is put into practice on the Bodhi-path. All those who walk the Bodhisattva-path are called Buddha-children. “Having heard this Dharma from us, [they] would contemplate night and day.” They would earnestly contemplate the Dharma within their own minds. “Isn’t the Dharma like this? Shouldn’t we study and cultivate with diligence and not just listen to the Dharma? Shouldn’t we put the teachings into practice?” Then, we will have taken the Dharma to heart.

The next sutra passage continues, saying, “At the right time, all Buddhas would bestow predictions upon them, saying, ‘In a future lifetime, you will attain Buddhahood’.”

Because they had heard the Dharma, they began to diligently contemplate night and day and diligently walk the Bodhisattva-path. When we form an aspiration, the Buddha knows. So, at that time, “At the right time, all Buddhas would bestow predictions upon them, saying, ‘In a future lifetime, you will attain Buddhahood’.” This is why we must form aspirations, form great aspirations and great vows.

“At the right time” means at that time, when everyone forms great aspirations. We often say that a thought of reverent sincerity can be heard by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The ancients also said, “There are spiritual beings three inches above us.” This means that, three inches above our heads, at such a short distance, there are spiritual beings [watching us]. That is to say, when we give rise to a thought, these spirits know if it is good or evil, not to mention all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Therefore, if we are reverently sincere and continually diligent from the start will naturally be known by the Buddha. Thus, He begins to bestow His prediction on us, because we “contemplate night and day and diligently practice it.” With reverent and sincere minds, of course the Buddha will understand us and will bestow His prediction on us accordingly

At the right time, all Buddhas would bestow predictions on them: At a time that is right, all Buddhas, with the same voice, would give them confirmation and bestow predictions of attaining Bodhi.

“At a time that is right” means at any given time. As soon as we start to give rise to thoughts, we are already determined. The moment we have that determination is the moment we are most sincere; that is the right time.

“All the Buddhas [share] the same voice.” I often say that all Buddhas share the same path. Not just Sakyamuni Buddha, but all Buddhas work to transform sentient beings. Sentient beings’ capabilities and thoughts are thoroughly understood by all Buddhas; there is nothing They cannot understand. So, at any given time, we must form great aspirations. This is what Buddhas and Bodhisattvas rejoice in and what all heavenly beings and. Dharma-protectors watch over.

Therefore, “at the time that is right,” refers to any given time. As long as we form great aspiration and vows, all heavenly beings and Dharma-protectors and all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can hear us and understand. So, as long as we are determined, all Buddhas, from the past, present and future, “with the same voice will give [us] confirmation.” They can give us confirmation. Confirmation is the same as bestowing a prediction. They assure us that we just need to follow this aspiration and steadily advance without retreating.

Haven’t we talked about this? Each of us once formed great aspirations, but we retreated partway through our journey and became ordinary people. Or we may be engaging in spiritual cultivation but retreat to the Small Vehicle. For instance, when Sariputra engaged in spiritual cultivation in his past lives, he formed great aspirations and was full of faith. Not only did he give up his wealth, he even gave up his organs. There was a young man [who came to him] who was really a heavenly being in disguise. He said to Sariputra, “I am so sad.” In that life, Sariputra was an elder, and he asked him, “Young man, why are you worried? Why are you sad?” The young man said to the elder, “My mother is ill.” The elder said, “If your mother ill, then she must quickly see the doctor. How much money do you need? I can help you.”

The young man said, “I do not need money. The doctor told me that to treat my mother, she needs an eyeball from a kind-hearted man to use as catalyst for the medicine. This is the only way my mother will recover. She needs an eyeball from a kind-hearted man.” The elder thought, “I am a kind-hearted man, and I often help others. Since I have two eyeballs and he only needs one, I think I can give one to him. Since I am willing to give away my possessions, I should also aspire to give my body as well. It is just one eyeball.” He said, “Ok, I will give you [my eyeball] so you can save your mother’s life.” Just like that, the elder quickly took out one of his eyes.

The young man saw the elder quickly take out his eye and said, “Why did you act so quickly!? I didn’t get to tell you that. I need the right eye, not the left one. The doctor said only the right eye will work. Why you didn’t tell me sooner? I have already taken it out; now what?” The young man began to cry again [and said,]. “My mother cannot be saved. Stop crying. Alright. Since I already took out one eye, that was my own fault. I will give you my right eye.” So, he took out the right eye. With both eyes gone, he was blind.

That young man deliberately took the eyeball and sniffed it. He took a deep breath [so the elder] would know he was smelling it. Then he said, “How could it smell so bad!?” He threw it to the ground and loudly stomped on it with his foot. The elder thought, “It is truly difficult being a Bodhisattva. I do not wish to be a Bodhisattva anymore. Even when I gave [my eye to him], he criticized it as being smelly.” So beginning at this point, Sariputra made a vow and retreated to the Small Vehicle.

So, Sariputra, foremost in wisdom, was able to encounter the Buddha, yet continued to practice the Small Vehicle for more than 40 years. As we can see, a single thought can cause us to quickly retreat. Though Sariputra did not retreat to the state of ordinary people, he still remained in the Small Vehicle. So, if we strengthen our spiritual aspirations, at that time, “All Buddhas, with the same voice, will give [us] confirmation.” They will affirm for us that we will attain Buddhahood in the future, thus bestowing this prediction on us.

In a future lifetime, you will attain Buddhahood: You, in countless ages hence, will perfect the Bodhisattva-path and attain Buddhahood.

So, “In a future lifetime, you will attain Buddhahood.” This is [the Buddha’s] affirmation for us. This means that. “You, in countless ages hence,” of course this will be after a very long time, “will perfect the Bodhisattva-path and will attain Buddhahood.” We must practice the Bodhisattva-path and furthermore must perfect it. We must be mindful and willing to give and must not retreat from our spiritual aspirations. We must always give without asking for anything in return, and when we give, we must do so joyfully. If we can do this, we “will attain Buddhahood.”

Everyone, in learning the Buddha’s Way, we can say it is simple or complicated. Simply put, we must have firm and solid spiritual aspirations. When our resolve is firm and our vows are sincere, we will be free from any outside factors affecting our minds. Really, this is not difficult. Previously, I spoke of the “path of difficult practice. Actualizing the Six Paramitas in all actions” is the path of difficult practice.

With “giving,” when our resolve is firm, we will not retreat from our mindset of giving. There is giving of material wealth, Dharma and fearlessness. We can give material things to others. When sentient beings are in need of help and we quickly comfort them, this is the giving of fearlessness. When we have the opportunity, we can quickly convey the Dharma, these great principles, and thus pass on the Buddha’s teachings. What is difficult about the three types of giving? They are not difficult at all.

After giving comes “upholding precepts.” Upholding the precepts means following the basic rules of human beings. If something is wrong, we should not do it; we must earnestly seek to be a good person. We must guard against wrongs and stop evil. If something is wrong, we must not give rise to any thought of it. This way, we can be free of hindering afflictions.

As for “patience,” with true patience, is there anything we cannot patiently endure? If we can thoroughly comprehend the principles, that all things are empty in nature, then when we engage in spiritual cultivation we can see all worldly matters and people clearly. Knowing that all things are empty in nature, what do we have to take issue over? Then naturally, non-arising patience [will grow] in our minds and manifest in our daily living.

After giving, upholding precepts and patience comes “diligence.” If we can diligently advance every day naturally our minds will become focused, and our “wisdom” will grow. In this way, what difficulties are there in actualizing the Six Paramitas? If we can uphold these six practices and realize them in all our actions, we will be able to give so much to others. In the end, our practice will be complete, and we will truly be filled with great joy.

The world is full of suffering, and Bodhisattvas arise due to suffering sentient beings [So], we must make great vows and form great aspirations to transform ourselves and benefit others. When we have this kind of kindness, compassion, naturally all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will affirm for us that we can attain Buddhahood in the future. So, because of this, we must always be mindful.

Episode 841 – Walking the Bodhi-path toward Enlightenment

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>> Seek the Great Vehicle practice and the Bodhi-path toward enlightenment. Cultivate, learn and accept the teachings and practice toward perfect enlightenment. Uphold great wisdom to seek Bodhi while exercising great compassion to deliver sentient beings.

>> “The Buddha instructed us in expounding the supreme path. The ones who cultivate this path will eventually attain Buddhahood.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> “We shouldered the Buddha’s teachings for Great Bodhisattvas, using all causes and conditions, all kinds of analogies and many expressions to expound the supreme path.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> We shouldered the Buddha’s teachings for Great Bodhisattvas: We received the Buddha’s instruction to teach Bodhisattvas with sharp capabilities and great capacities the Great Vehicle Dharma of attaining Buddhahood.

>> Using all causes and conditions, various analogies: With the Tathagata’s teachings, we had the direct cause and beneficial conditions and used various analogies.

>> The Buddha’s noble teachings go from the shallow to the profound. All teachings that He gave are inseparable from causes and conditions.

>> [We use] many expressions to expound the supreme path: In accordance with people’s capabilities, we use many expressions to teach what others are able to understand. So, with a certain number [of expressions], we expound the teachings of the Tathagata’s supreme path.

>> “All Buddha-children, having heard this Dharma from us, would contemplate night and day and diligently practice it.”     [Lotus Sutra, Chapter 4 – Faith And Understanding]

>> All Buddha-children, having heard this Dharma from us: Bodhisattvas follow the Buddha’s words, listen to the teachings and cultivate them. Thus they are called Buddha-children. They have heard the Great Dharma as Hearers.

>> The Great Vehicle Prajna teachings were expounded specifically for Bodhisattvas and not for us practitioners of the Two Vehicles. Thus we never had the resolve to seek it; though we spoke of it, we did not practice it.

>> [The Buddha-children] contemplated night and day and diligently practiced it: Day and night, they tirelessly listened to these principles and cultivated their contemplation of this Dharma. They were diligent without indolence.

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“Seek the Great Vehicle practice and the Bodhi-path toward enlightenment.
Cultivate, learn and accept the teachings and practice toward perfect enlightenment.
Uphold great wisdom to seek Bodhi
while exercising great compassion to deliver sentient beings.”

When we engage in spiritual practice, we should cultivate the Great Vehicle practice. The Dharma-door of the Great Vehicle is to awaken ourselves and others. As we engage in our own practice, we must also benefit others. Benefiting ourselves and others simultaneously is the Great Vehicle practice. These are called [the Buddha’s] Two Perfections. We need to be replete with blessings and wisdom; this is what we must cultivate. This truly the Bodhi-path toward enlightenment. It is a path that we all must mindfully pave with love. The Buddha did not only point us toward this path over 2000 years ago, He also taught us how to pave this path well. So, as we use love to pave this path we walk, we are not just paving it for ourselves, but for everyone else to walk on as well. This is the Great Vehicle practice. As we walk the Bodhi-path toward enlightenment, we must all apply our collective efforts.

Time passes by continuously with every second. In terms of time itself, ultimately, it neither increases nor decreases. There is never more or less time but we give it these labels. In the relative sense of the workings of the world it appears that time continues to pass. But if time itself does not appear or disappear, what is it that is passing? From the perspective of worldly matters and things we can conventionally say time is passing. We can talk about time passing because of material objects [changing], including our physical bodies. Physiologically, we are constantly changing; this never stops. Thus we can say that time easily passes by.

One revolution of Earth around the Sun is one year. In each year there are 365 days. In those 365 days, time passes in hours, minutes and seconds. We must seize the time and not let a single second slip by. Look at people who are diligent, like the staff of Tzu Chi’s missions; these Bodhisattvas practice very diligently. They came here to celebrate Chinese New Year. Even though it was their time off, they used this time to dedicate themselves to the work they themselves are determined and willing to do.

For example, our staff at Da Ai TV woke up early in the morning to gather together to listen to teachings, taking in the fragrance of the Dharma. Afterwards, they cleaned the entire TV station, inside and out, down to the smallest surface. During the volunteers’ Morning Assembly, they even collectively vowed to use the Five Spiritual Roots and Five Powers as their direction for the year. They made use of their time to clean the dust and dirt in their surroundings, so next they were going to clear away the afflictions in their minds. Having eradicated their afflictions, they aspired to practice the teachings.

We also saw that at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Superintendent Chao and all the doctors, department heads, assistant superintendents and medical staff came together with the Bodhisattva-volunteers to clean up the [Xindian] Jing Si Hall. Everyone was cleaning so earnestly that they worked up a sweat. In such cold weather, they were actually sweating. They said, “Although we are sweating and exhausted from cleaning, we feel very happy. This is our spiritual practice center, a Jing Si Hall, where we pass on the Jing Si Dharma-lineage.” They were very committed; this demonstrates faith, vow and practice. With faith and understanding and power of thought, they formed aspirations to dedicate themselves. They are also Bodhisattvas who seize the time to seek the Great Vehicle practice and the Bodhi-path toward enlightenment. We also saw from Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital that

the superintendent, assistant superintendent and staff in each department went out into the streets. On such a cold day, the homeless were still sleeping on the streets. How could they endure the cold? The staff had prepared steaming hot soup for the homeless to eat. They gently shook them to wake them up, “Please, have something hot to eat!” They gave them things that warmed their bodies and hearts. Aren’t they Bodhisattvas? As these Bodhisattvas learn and practice, on top of normally safeguarding life and love, they do not waste a second of time and diligently learn and practice, walking toward the true path to enlightenment. This is the great wisdom and great vows of Great Vehicle practitioners. When learning the Buddha’s Way,

we must learn the Dharma and practice of the Great Vehicle. To practice among people and give to them, we need to have methods. We must cherish our time and make the most of it. With time, we can bring all things to fruition. Bit by bit, second by second, we can gather resources to help suffering people or those who have been struck by disasters. With every second of time, we work to accomplish our missions. When it comes to our missions and our environment, we put our hearts into giving. This is making use of the power of love.

Right now, we also see that in China there is frost and snow falling. It is a bitterly cold winter! Volunteers are holding relief distributions there. As they go off to that freezing cold place, we always give them travel reminders. Whenever any of us go away, there are three things we must be mindful of. We should be able to “do it ourselves.” We must put the teachings into practice ourselves, join in the efforts ourselves. Then we “witness others doing it.” As we ourselves are doing this, when we see others doing the same, we should constantly praise them. We should also “take joy in others doing it.” As we are doing this and see others doing the same, when they can cooperate with us, we will all feel very happy. These are the three reminders.

This is how Living Bodhisattvas are. Whether they are local volunteers or volunteers who travel there from Taiwan, coming and going back and forth, they all share this reminder with each other. They work in concert with unity, harmony and love; this is how a group of Bodhisattvas give rise to the power of love. They “seek the Great Vehicle practice and the Bodhi-path toward enlightenment,” so they “practice, learn and accept the teachings and walk toward perfect enlightenment.” They also “uphold great wisdom to seek Bodhi while exercising great compassion to deliver sentient beings.” For Living Bodhisattvas to accomplish this is actually not difficult.

So, the previous [sutra] passage says, “The Buddha instructed us in expounding the supreme path.” The supreme path is the Bodhisattva-path. “The ones who cultivate this path will eventually attain Buddhahood.” To engage in spiritual practice, to attain Buddhahood, this is the path we must take. We have to pave this path ourselves, then everyone can walk on it. If we all pave this path of love together, we can all successfully walk this. Great Vehicle Bodhisattva-path.

The following sutra passage says, “We shouldered the Buddha’s teachings for Great Bodhisattvas, using all causes and conditions, all kinds of analogies and many expressions to expound the supreme path.”

This passage [begins with]. “We shouldered the Buddha’s teachings for Great Bodhisattvas.” We are very grateful that the Buddha came to teach us. He transmitted this Dharma-lineage to us so we would know how to be Bodhisattvas and benefit ourselves and others. On this Great Vehicle Bodhisattva-path,

We shouldered the Buddha’s teachings for Great Bodhisattvas: We received the Buddha’s instruction to teach Bodhisattvas with sharp capabilities and great capacities the Great Vehicle Dharma of attaining Buddhahood.

“We received the Buddha’s instruction”; we accepted the instruction that He gave us “to teach Bodhisattvas with sharp capabilities and great capacities the Great Vehicle Dharma of attaining Buddhahood.” This was what the Buddha taught us, so this is what we should learn “[Bodhisattvas] with sharp capabilities and great capacities” refers to people with sharper capabilities and great capacities. When we teach them the Great Vehicle Dharma, they are able to accept this great path to Buddhahood. This is the Great Vehicle path. So, this is the Dharma taught for Bodhisattvas, the Great Vehicle Dharma that enables Bodhisattvas to attain Buddhahood. This is what the Buddha taught us. We must then put it into practice and continue to pass it on.

Using all causes and conditions, various analogies: With the Tathagata’s teachings, we had the direct cause and beneficial conditions and used various analogies.  

“Using all causes and conditions [and] all kinds of analogies” was also the way the Buddha taught us. With the Tathagata’s teachings, “we had the direct cause and beneficial conditions. Thus [He] used all kinds of analogies.” The direct cause is taking the Buddha’s teachings into the fields of our minds. Beneficial conditions are what we create when we put the teachings into practice. By cultivating beneficial conditions, we are developing our wisdom. These are our causes and conditions. In order to develop these direct causes and beneficial conditions, the Buddha used all kinds of analogies and expressions to teach us. These are the methods the Buddha used to teach sentient beings. We must do the same; we must learn these methods so we can also universally teach sentient beings and spread these seeds of goodness. We should also create beneficial conditions and cultivate the causes of blessings and wisdom. This is also what we must learn, what we must do.

The Buddha’s noble teachings go from the shallow to the profound. All teachings that He gave are inseparable from causes and conditions.  

“The Buddha’s noble teachings go from the shallow to the profound.” The Buddha taught in the hope that we could turn from unenlightened beings into noble beings. This way of teaching goes from the shallow to the profound, from the Agama gradually to the Vaipulya, patiently guiding us in this way. Then it gradually enters Prajna teachings on nature of emptiness and wondrous existence. He gradually guided us to the Lotus teachings, which are about wondrous existence. This depends on causes and conditions. So, we must have direct causes, and we must have beneficial conditions.

Everyone intrinsically has a nature of True Suchness. We all have it. But if we ourselves do not set in motion the farmer within us to earnestly create causes and conditions, if we do not earnestly treasure our direct causes, nor our affinities with sentient beings, if we do not cherish these, we will never have an opportunity [to realize it]. Thus, we must know that the direct cause is the Buddha’s teachings, which we must keep in our minds. We must then put them into practice and go among people to create beneficial conditions and cultivate wisdom. By doing this, we are practicing the teachings He gave us that help us turn from unenlightened into noble beings.

[We use] many expressions to expound the supreme path: In accordance with people’s capabilities, we use many expressions to teach what others are able to understand. So, with a certain number [of expressions], we expound the teachings of the Tathagata’s supreme path.

So, “Many expressions [are needed] to expound the supreme path”.  “Many expressions” are needed to teach according to people’s capabilities. How many expressions do we need? Some people who have sharp capabilities and great capacities can, just by hearing a few simple phrases, understand and attain awakening. But teaching people with duller capabilities and more severe afflictions requires a long time and many methods. Thus, we need “many expressions” to teach according to capabilities. So, “to teach what others are able to understand,” we have to see what teachings they will be able to accept and under what circumstances we can give them this kind of teaching.

This means we must patiently guide them. The Buddha does not give up on any sentient being and hopes that all sentient beings can attain Buddhahood. Regardless of whether our capabilities are dull or sharp, He teaches according to capabilities, teaches what we can understand. So, He used “a certain number [of expressions].” Whether the Agama, Vaipulya, Prajna, Lotus or even the Avatamsaka state, He taught sequentially from the shallow to the profound. This was generally what He did. “We expound the Tathagata’s supreme path.” These are the teachings the Buddha wished to expound.

The following sutra passage says, “All Buddha-children, having heard this Dharma from us, would contemplate night and day and diligently practice it.”

“All Buddha-children, having heard this Dharma from us,” refers to Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas follow the Buddha’s words; they act according to the Buddha-Dharma. They heard the Buddha and listened to the teachings and cultivated them. Disciples who truly accept the teachings are called Buddha-children.

All Buddha-children, having heard this Dharma from us: Bodhisattvas follow the Buddha’s words, listen to the teachings and cultivate them. Thus they are called Buddha-children. They have heard the Great Dharma as Hearers.

“They have heard the Great Dharma from the Hearers” [At this assembly] the Buddha had already directly told Hearers and Solitary Realizers that they were Buddha-children, as they had already comprehended the teachings. From Subhuti to Mahakasyapa and Maudgalyayana, everyone at this assembly was prepared to pass on the Buddha’s teachings.

All Buddhas share the same path. Every Buddha cultivates a state of mind that allows Him to realize the truths of all things in the universe. All Buddhas want to teach sentient beings, but sentient beings’ capabilities are dull, so They likewise begin with the teachings of suffering, causation, cessation and the Path. They teach in the same order, the Agama, Vaipulya, Prajna and the Lotus.

This is especially so for the Lotus teachings; all Buddhas share the same path. Before a Buddha enters Parinirvana, He absolutely has to expound the Lotus Sutra. This is the Dharma of wondrous existence. Prajna teachings are about emptiness. Only if it contains wondrous existence is it the prajna of true emptiness, the prajna wisdom that is truly pure and undefiled. Thus, we must realize this wondrous existence. To realize wondrous existence we must go among people to experience even more. Only if we can remain uncontaminated among them have we truly realized the pure and wondrous Dharma of true emptiness. This is “wondrous existence.”

The Great Vehicle Prajna teachings were expounded specifically for Bodhisattvas and not for us practitioners of the Two Vehicles. Thus we never had the resolve to seek it; though we spoke of it, we did not practice it.

“The Great Vehicle Prajna teachings” are the teachings the Buddha expounded for Bodhisattvas. Ordinary people cannot fully understand Prajna. They have to open and expand their minds to truly realize the Buddha’s true wisdom. Venerable Kasyapa said, “We had thought the. Great Dharma the Buddha expounded in the past was only for Bodhisattvas, not for us practitioners of the Two Vehicles. So, we thought it had nothing to do with us. We never had the resolve to seek it. Though we spoke of it, we did not practice it.”

This was what Buddha taught; after they heard these teachings for Bodhisattvas, they took these words and shared them with others, so they “spoke of it [but] did not practice it.” All they did was share what they heard with other people. That was all

[The Buddha-children] contemplated night and day and diligently practiced it: Day and night, they tirelessly listened to these principles and cultivated their contemplation of this Dharma. They were diligent without indolence.

“[The Buddha-children] contemplated night and day and diligently practiced it. Day and night, they tirelessly practiced.” They “listened to these principles,” listened to this Dharma, and “contemplated and cultivated this Dharma.” They contemplated, practiced Dharma in this way. They were diligent without indolence. “We [disciples] are also very earnest and mindful. After we have heard the Dharma, we pass these teachings on for other people to hear. But these things are things for them to do; this has nothing to do with us.” Don’t we all have this kind of mindset? We can share it but not practice it. Even if we have heard many teachings, if we are unwilling to practice them, that is useless.

So, “Bodhisattvas arise because of suffering sentient beings.” If we are learning the Buddha’s Way and wish to attain Buddhahood, we absolutely have to walk this path; we absolutely must go among people. This is like being tempered by a fiery furnace so we can be refined into a fine and sharp tool and be able to help all sentient beings. This is the true goal of learning the Buddha’s Way.

So, we “seek the Great Vehicle practice and the Bodhi-path to enlightenment.” This is our goal. We must exercise our great compassion to help sentient beings. In order to help sentient beings, we must continuously seek the Dharma, seek the Bodhi teachings. We must both practice and listen. After listening to the teachings, we must put them into practice. Therefore, we must always be mindful.