Episode 12 – Wondrous Dharma Adapts to Times and Conditions
>> Tranquil and clear is the wondrous lotus flower. Tzu Chi practitioners on the Bodhisattva-path act according to the times and conditions. [They are] in all places.
>> The Buddha establishes teachings for the world. He teaches according to the times and capabilities. To transform sentient beings, He gives provisional teachings to reveal the truth.
>> The Dharma has no distinctions of big or small, high or low, deep or superficial. So, it resonates with the era and customs. The wondrous Dharma can be applied to all in this world.
>> People of this present era experience complications in their surroundings. One single ignorant thought defiles the mind, leading the mind to initiate and create countless amounts of karma. They give rise to endless greed, anger and ignorance. Human nature is inherently good but is obscured. Thus the Buddha established teachings for sentient beings to awaken their views and understanding.
In this world, [the Buddha] must adapt to times and conditions and be in all places. Haven’t we been saying this all along? For the sake of sentient beings, over the span of inconceivable asankyakalpas the Buddha never rested in His Mission to help sentient beings transform. He manifested countless births and manifested countless deaths. We know this already. Regardless of the time period, the Buddha is always in this world. No matter the place or the country, the Buddha continues to manifest everywhere. You see, He continues to expound the teachings according to the times and conditions. That is why we say in all places. We often talk about enlightenment. We all have this enlightened nature within us. So we say that the Enlightened One is in all places. The Buddha establishes teachings for the world. He teaches according to times. He teaches according to capabilities. This, I think we can all understand. Depending on the capabilities of sentient beings, He uses corresponding methods and establishes teachings according to their conditions. He constantly cares for sentient beings and protects and guides them onto the Bodhisattva-path. In order to help sentient beings according to their different capabilities, He uses provisional means to reveal the truth. Sometimes He uses skillful means. Sometimes He points directly to peoples intrinsic nature. Such is the Buddhas wisdom.
Tranquil and clear is the wondrous lotus flower. Tzu Chi practitioners on the Bodhisattva-path act according to the times and conditions. [They are]in all places. The Buddha establishes teachings for the world. He teaches according to the times and capabilities. To transform sentient beings, He gives provisional teachings to reveal the truth.
The wisdom of the Buddha is set up for all sentient beings. So, the Dharma has no distinctions of high or low, deep or superficial. It is what the Buddha teaches sentient beings. Sentient beings have the same Buddha-nature, the only difference is their capabilities. The Buddhas teachings are meant to help people return to their Buddha-nature. The teachings established by the Buddha are suited to sentient beings capabilities, so He uses many different methods. In other words, the Dharma refers to using these methods. When it resonates, it is the wondrous Dharma. When it does not resonate, even if it points directly to their minds, and makes it simple to see their true nature or to attain Buddhahood, people will not accept it. They will not understand so they cannot attain entry [to the Buddhas state]. Therefore, for those with limited capabilities, the Buddha compassionately and patiently tries to draw them in and help them understand. That is why we say that with Dharma there is no differentiation between big or small, high or low, deep or superficial. In truth, the most profound Dharma is the simplest Dharma. The Dharma has always been this way. Even though it has always been like this, we sentient beings cannot comprehend it, so He has to pull the vine to get at the beans. He has to use many methods. And that is why we say.
The Dharma has no distinctions of big or small, high or low, deep or superficial. So, it resonates with the era and customs. The wondrous Dharma can be applied to all in this world.
Is this time period a civilized era? Indeed! The Western world has become very civilized in the past couple of centuries. They underwent rapid development. During these past few decades, haven’t our standards of living in Taiwan also improved greatly? Here, our culture has become advanced, and so has our technology. Many kinds of sophisticated and specialized technology, along with flourishing computer and manufacturing industries can be found in Taiwan. In this advanced technological era, people follow these trends in their living. Consider that people now do their work mostly on computers. No matter how big a project is, it is analyzed by computers and designed using computers. Now we live our lives in the world of computers.
Do you still remember the major earthquake in El Salvador? We reached out to the people there and built them Tzu Chi Villages, which included schools. When one school was completed, the president of El Salvador attended the completion ceremony. The students were very happy. A child rushed up to the president and said, There is a computer in our classroom! The president was very curious, so he followed the children, and the large group marched to the classroom. On the wall of that classroom, a piece of cloth covered the wall. Where was the computer? The child lifted the cloth, and there was a picture of a computer, boxy and square, drawn on the wall. The students knew that computers are cube-like even though they did not have one. I saw this news being broadcasted on a news segment on our Da Ai Television Station. I remember that at the time, the executive director of Tzu Chi USA, Mr. Austin Tsao, happened to be back in Taiwan. I asked him, The school in El Salvador began operation. Have we really given them computers? He replied, Not yet. Then I said, Then you should hurry up and give them computers. Take the used computers that people are going to replace and collect them. There will be many. So he immediately contacted volunteers in the US. They quickly collected computers people were using but were about to replace and ended up with 100 to 200 computers. This is what I remember. Though it was initially just a drawing on a wall, that computer led many dedicated people to donate real computers that were in good shape. In more technologically-advanced countries, the second, third, fourth generation of computers come onto the market at rapid speeds, so many people replace their older models. Yet the old ones were still in good condition. When they were sent to El Salvador they were considered advanced educational tools.
This is what we refer to as peoples customs. Even in the same space and time, lifestyles can be different. So the Buddha had to adapt. His teachings to the different lifestyles and customs, habits and common practices of sentient beings. He used different methods to open up peoples hearts and minds so that they could have broader views, become more observant and learn more. The Buddhas awakened nature remains in the universe, present in all places. When the time and circumstances are right, the Dharma will be spread to that particular place. The wondrous Dharma is meant to be applied among people. The Buddha-Dharma is not only for 2000 years ago; it is still very widespread now. At this time, the world truly needs it. How do we ensure that among people there is a common perspective? This refers to the concept of our awakened nature. We all intrinsically have this awakened nature. We differ only because each era has its distinct lifestyles and customs. How can we now unify the various customs and guide everyone toward the same path? This depends on our awakened nature. In order to initiate this awakened nature, we need to apply the wondrous Dharma to this world, to relationships, and especially within groups of people. This is precisely the era that needs such wondrous Dharma.
I have also heard that Tzu Chi volunteers are going in and out of Sichuan. Every person and team stays there for a whole month so that they have sufficient time to observe peoples lifestyles in the villages. They observe whether the villagers lives are continuously improving, whether the elderly are taken care of and whether the sick people, the disabled and the wounded, are being rehabilitated etc. As Tzu Chi volunteers enter the Sichuan community, [they have to figure out] how to interact with the people there. In this world, how do people interact with each other? How do we gather and coordinate a group of people who do not know each other? How do we guide them to take care of one another as a group, comfort each other and do activities together? In the beginning, two people, one who was older guiding another who was younger, came together. After they started volunteering, they joined the study session in Chengdu. To attend, they had to take an 11-hour bus ride. But they wanted to understand Tzu Chi and to learn. These two were devout Buddhists. After they came in contact with Tzu Chi, they finally realized that this is the path they had been seeking. Therefore, these two Bodhisattvas attended sessions every week and never missed a session. Even if there was a typhoon or a rainstorm, they still came. Because the commute was very far, they rented a tiny room in Chengdu. At night, the buses stopped running, so they stayed in that room. The two stayed in one room. Later on, three, four, five people all crammed in there. One was an elderly Bodhisattva who was over eighty years old. Our volunteer asked him, Revered Bodhisattva, where are you from? He said, I am from a very far place which is more than a ten-hour car ride away. He went on and said, I came explicitly to see what you are all doing. This is exactly what I have been looking for. I am already over eighty, and now I have learned that the Buddha-Dharma can be practiced among people.
What can be understood and used to guide people to fulfillment is the true Buddha-Dharma. The Dharma is to be practiced among people, not simply kept in the monasteries. It should adapt to the needs of this world and the needs of contemporary life. In modern peoples lives, their circumstances are already very complicated. In such a complicated setting, with such a large population, if one with an ignorant thought comes in conflict with another person with an ignorant thought, they will contaminate each other. Thus the minds of all sentient beings have become hazy and unclear. So the Chinese characters that make up the word ignorance are no and clarity. In this era, people are competing against each other, fighting against and taking from each other. Think about this, how can we even begin to quantify the amount of negative karma created? It is immeasurable. The mind gives rise to greed and excessive anger and ignorance. The depth of this greed, anger and ignorance cannot be quantified. In essence, there is no end to greed. And not just greed, but anger as well. When there are more people, more things will go against our wishes. So when anger arises, we lose our tempers in a big way. The greater the anger, the more ignorant thoughts we have. When ignorance covers and obscures our minds, no matter what we say, our words are not clear; no matter what we hear, we cannot understand; no matter how we are taught, we do not learn. We seem to be covered by a veil of ignorance. We also call this delusion. Therefore, unchecked greed, anger and ignorance will very quickly swallow up all ethics, just as if a quality piece of wood was infested by termites. The termites will continue to eat away at the wood until it is completely hollowed out. The same thing will happen to morals and ethics. Morals, ethics and inherent goodness in human nature can all be gobbled up by greed, anger and ignorance. We call this ignorance. This is that our Buddha-nature has been covered and obscured by it. That is why the Buddha came into our world, to establish teachings for sentient beings.
People of this present era experience complications in their surroundings. One single ignorant thought defiles the mind, leading the mind to initiate and create countless amounts of karma. They give rise to endless greed, anger and ignorance. Human nature is inherently good but is obscured. Thus the Buddha established teachings for sentient beings to awaken their views and understanding.
Sentient beings have many confused thoughts, with a complex variety of capabilities, some sharp and some dull. In this day and age, actually, no matter what day and age, the Buddhas enlightened nature is pervasive. He came solely to establish teachings for sentient beings to unlock their understanding, hoping that all are more likely to hear it. In order for sentient beings to hear the teachings, they have to be widespread. For instance, the earthquake in Sichuan created these guiding causes and conditions. There, through our interactions with others, we can expand their views and understanding. As Buddhist practitioners, we must go among people. For the Dharma we hear to be useful, we cannot just hear it and not apply it. Therefore, I hope that everyone will try to understand the essence of this Dharma so that it can enter everyone’s hearts, and utilized by everyone. Then everyone’s mind can become clear and pure as we go among people. Like a lotus flower, we walk the Bodhisattva-path without defilements. This is the Dharma. There needs to be many methods that are explained repeatedly and patiently it cannot advance itself. For us, only when Dharma has entered our hearts can we spread the Buddha-Dharma in this world. Everyone, please always be mindful.