Episode 51 – Purna Maitrayaniputra
>> One who comprehends true emptiness realizes wondrous existence. Seek tranquility and stillness to understand the wondrous principles of emptiness.
>> “Deeply plant the root of wisdom over lifetimes.”
>> Purna Maitrayaniputra means “Fulfilled, Son of Loving-Kindness.” He was named after his parents. Including the Seven Ancient Buddhas, he was best at expounding the Dharma. He had Four Unobstructed Abilities of Eloquence.
>> Purna Maitrayaniputra was foremost. Purna Maitrayaniputra was foremost in explaining and discerning principles.
One who comprehends true emptiness realizes wondrous existence. Seek tranquility and stillness to understand the wondrous principles of emptiness.
In our everyday living, we should constantly seek to comprehend whether all things are truly empty. Is there really wondrous existence in emptiness? The Buddha-Dharma explains that according to the truths the Buddha realized, all things and phenomena are empty. But clearly in our living, all things and phenomena exist. We cannot live without material goods. For example, when it is cold in the winter, what do we need? Clothing and blankets. If we do not have warm blankets, then it will be difficult to fall asleep. If we do not have warm clothing, the bitter cold weather will also be difficult to endure.
Actually, in this world, in our daily living, there is the principle of wondrous existence. “Emptiness” is when all things are reduced to nothing, when their embodiment is broken down. What forms their embodiment? The temporary union of the four elements. Just now, I mentioned blankets. As we may know, in the recent past, blankets were made out of cotton. To have cotton, we need seeds. The seeds are planted in the ground and the farmer cultivates them. For cotton plants to grow, one must wait for the right season. There is a season for planting and a season for harvest. When the harvest season arrives, after the plants have blossomed, it is time for us to pick cotton.
Now, in China, cotton is still planted. When cotton fields blossom, it is said that the vast expanse of whiteness is very beautiful. Then the cotton boll is picked and the seeds have to be removed from the boll. After the seeds are taken out, we have what is sold as cotton. After it goes through the manufacturing process, it is turned into blankets. In the past, a process called fluffing cotton was used to make one blanket after another. A person would slowly fluff the cotton so the cotton fibers wove together. After the fibers are slowly teased out, is it finished? We still need cloth [to make the cover].
A comforter cover then has to be manufactured. This piece of cloth also has to be produced through the labor of many people. This cloth is sometimes made out of cotton too, but sometimes silk or hemp; each type is made from a different plant. After harvesting and much weaving, there is cloth. Then that cloth is stuffed with layers of cotton that have already been fluffed. Then this blanket is considered complete.
Everyone, when the blanket covers our body, we are very warm. Do we think about all this? [To make] the blanket that covers us requires so much time and labor. Even if now we do not need to use cotton, and can use some type of nylon instead, the process is the same. So, a very labor intensive process and many different materials are required to form the “embodiment” of a blanket.
What happens when it is disassembled? We may need to remove the comforter cover after long-term use; it will get worn down. If we only use the inner layer, after long-term use the material will loosen. When we visit the impoverished, we often see that their blankets have become tattered pieces. Can those still be called blankets? Not anymore.
So when a material object is taken apart and returned to its elements, that is emptiness. What existed before no longer exists. When many different parts, time, the Four Elements, and labor, etc., come together, then all of a sudden, something exists; that is truly wondrous.
Just talking about how it began with a seed is already very amazing; not only can it grow into a plant, it can also blossom. Truly, all things in the world did not originally exist. But through a subtle and wondrous process, elements come together to form existence. The process takes different amounts of time and produces things with different names. Truly, all things are wondrous. So I also often contemplate this, what is emptiness? I really want to understand what true emptiness is. So, I think about how all things in the world are inherently empty. Even if they exist, they are just names. Something that did not originally exist was formed by combining parts, one by one. That is making something out of nothing. After some time passes, that something becomes nothing again.
Take humans for example. Before our parents gave birth to us, where were we? When we were born, we were so small. There was someone in our [Tzu Chi] hospital who was on her way from Yilan to her mother’s home. As she passed through Hualien, she suddenly had abdominal pains. After less than six months of pregnancy, she gave birth prematurely. When the baby was born in our hospital, she was dark and small and weighed only little more than 17 oz. She was so tiny.
The doctor rushed to save her; how was he to save this child who was not even six months old? How could he ensure that her blood would circulate around her entire body? How could he help her breathe smoothly? He had to give her some shots. I heard that the doctor had to give injections into her tiny blood vessels. Because her veins were hair-thin, the doctor worked hard to find one he needed so he could finally give her that shot.
We must know that sustaining a life requires a doctor who is patient, loving and respectful of life. Since she came into this world, she should be cherished and loved. After she was given supplemental nutrition, she could begin breathing. [Her weight] finally reached 21 oz, but it suddenly dropped to 17 oz and she once again needed urgent care. How many medical personnel were needed? It was really not easy. This is how it is with premature children; their lives are very fragile. But as long as someone cares for them well, even though they are born this way, they will be walking when we see them again in a year. After 10 years, she will probably be in school. After 20 years, she will probably be in college. After 30 years, she will probably be a wife, a mother. See, isn’t life so wondrous? The process of birth, aging, illness and death never stops. This subtle aggregation of actions has kept us going.
This applies to humans; this applies to all things in the world. By the time we are old, where do we return to? Where does this body of ours return to? Later on, when we leave this body, what is our course? Where are we heading? We do not know. Where were we before we were born? Where are we headed after we die? This is the cycle of ordinary people, from emptiness to existence, nothing becoming something. When we age and die, then this something becomes nothing, and we no longer exist in this world. See, isn’t this truly subtle and wondrous?
But how did this principle come about? We are not very clear; this is why we live in a state of confusion. We do not know to cherish what we use. Being able to live healthy lives is not easy, yet we do not know to cherish it. We do not have permanent ownership of this life, yet we do not make the most of our right to use it. We should take advantage of this lifetime, of the convergence of these many good causes and conditions. We have this chance to contemplate the wondrous principles of emptiness, yet we insist on just letting time go by. When we let time pass in vain, we are wasting it. This is our loss as ordinary people. With every bit we lose each day, we are just “like fish in a dwindling pond; what joy is there?” But sentient beings are deluded and see happiness in suffering. Isn’t it pitiful?
So to understand this principle, we must “seek tranquility and stillness to understand the wondrous principles of emptiness.” If we cannot still our mind, then no matter what helpful words we hear, they will enter one ear and go out the other. Perhaps we will hear that person’s voice, but the meaning of the sounds will not be clear to us. Because our mind was not focused, we have to go back and ask again, “What did you say?” This means our mind was not still. So, our mind must be tranquil and still.
People says, “If I need to be tranquil and still, then I have to go into seclusion.” This is not true mastery. When no one bothers us, of course we are tranquil and still. We must also be able to still our mind when we are among others. We must clearly understand the principles of the world around us. Of course, it takes hard work in our daily living to immediately recognize each thing that manifests before us. To know that this piece of cloth is pure cotton, we must have learned about it and how it was produced. Then, when people do not recognize it and ask us about it, we can hold it up, look at it, and know that it is pure cotton. Or we may say, “This is nylon.”
So to understand many things, we should routinely try to learn about the things before us. So we must “seek tranquility and stillness to understand wondrous principles of emptiness.” For even the most complex principles, we can begin this way and accumulate knowledge bit by bit. So, we must understand what the principles [of things] are and even continually cultivate our root of wisdom.
“Deeply plant the root of wisdom over lifetimes.”
We must uphold precepts and Samadhi and keep them in our heart.
This is not saying that in spiritual practice, we are to let go of it all. We must have awakened love; we must spread our love far and wide. But, we must do so with wisdom so not to be confused by material objects.
Whatever we see in this world, whether people, matters or objects, we must have a non-discriminating mind. Because our wisdom is impartial wisdom, we should have open minds and pure intentions toward all people and matters. We must regularly uphold and maintain precepts and Samadhi. Our mind must constantly uphold precepts and our actions must embody Samadhi. Though there is movement around us, our mind will remain very stable. This happens because our mind upholds precepts. Precepts allow us, while among sentient beings, to guard against wrongs and stop evil. The power of the precepts allows our mind to be tranquil. When we have exhausted all Leaks, naturally the Dharma cannot leak away.
Remember Purna Maitrayaniputra? He followed the Buddha to hear the Buddha-Dharma. He realized 1000 things from one lesson; by hearing one thing, he could understand many. He had this wisdom, so he was very eloquent in debates. No matter what kind of non-Buddhists challenged him to a debate, he could, one by one, refute their false doctrines with the Buddha’s teachings.
Purna Maitrayaniputra means “Fulfilled, Son of Loving-Kindness.” He was named after his parents. Including the Seven Ancient Buddhas, he was best at expounding the Dharma. He had Four Unobstructed Abilities of Eloquence.
Also, you should remember that. Maitrayaniputra asked the Buddha to let him go to the most brutal places to transform sentient beings. The Buddha said, “That place is so brutal, do you have the courage to go? I do. What happens if you go expound the Dharma for them and they insult you? I would be very grateful because they use only words, and not actions. If they insult me but do not hit me, I would be grateful. What if they hit you? I would still be grateful that they are only using fists to hit me, and not knives and spears to kill me.”
“What if they use knives and spears to kill you? I would also still be very grateful, because in a past life, I had created this type of affinity with them. So, in this life. I have this karmic connection with this group of people. If we can resolve that [karma] in this life, I would also be grateful to them.” That was how eagerly Purna Maitrayaniputra wanted to spread the Buddha-Dharma. Because he fully comprehended the Buddha’s true principles, the Agama Sutra states the following:
Purna Maitrayaniputra was foremost. Purna Maitrayaniputra was foremost in explaining and discerning principles.
Among the many disciples of the Buddha, he was best at explaining the Dharma. Everyone, in life we truly must be mindful. It is rare to be able to hear the Buddha-Dharma; moreover, we have the conditions to understand it. We must not let a single second pass by in vain. Let us use our heart to gain insight, and always be mindful.