Episode 127 – Restoring the Wonders of the Tathagata-garbha
>> “Infinite Dharma-doors readily appear in front of us; we will attain great wisdom and understand all Dharma, then we can comprehend and distinguish the nature and appearance of reality.”
>> “When the princes heard that their father had become a monastic and attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, they all renounced their right to the throne and followed their father to become monastics. They formed Great Vehicle aspirations and constantly cultivated Brahma-conduct. All became Dharma teachers, having already planted the roots of goodness in the presence of millions of Buddhas.”
>> The eight princes manifested a sense of majesty and freedom. Each ruled over the four quarters of the world. They are the mind-kings of the Eight Consciousnesses. Each leads the corresponding mental function and the external conditions it connects with. They are categories of the leaders of the mind’s functions and objects of perception.
>> “They heard that their father became a monastic and attained universal enlightenment, so they followed him and became monastics, formed Great Vehicle aspirations and constantly cultivated Brahma-conduct.”
>> So, “whatever the Tathagata’s mind touches will be a condition illuminated by wisdom. Since this is inexhaustible, it is called the inexhaustible connections of the mind.”
Can we maintain vows as vast as the universe and remain unwavering for countless kalpas? If we can uphold our mission, practice the path and understand that the purpose of practice is to become awakened, help others awaken and have perfect awakened conduct, then as we go among others, the Dharma is everywhere. I keep saying that we need to turn consciousness into wisdom. No matter what situation we are in or what challenges we face, everything can help us grow in wisdom. Living among sentient beings,
“Infinite Dharma-doors readily appear in front of us; we will attain great wisdom and understand all Dharma, then we can comprehend and distinguish the nature and appearance of reality.”
Don’t we often read [these verses in] the Sutra of Infinite Meanings? Indeed! The infinite wisdom that is found in our interaction with others is called turning consciousness into wisdom. [In this way,] we naturally understand all Dharma. Every day the people, matters and things we experience help us grow in wisdom. We have to pay attention to them. If we let these opportunities slip away, they may become possible sources of affliction. If we just indulged ourselves our whole lives, that would be a pity, and would create karma. So, we have to seize [these opportunities]. We can have clear wisdom about principles and appearances of things as we interact with others.
The Lotus Sutra began with the Buddha entering Samadhi, teaching the “unspoken Lotus Sutra.” By doing so, He already taught us so many principles. But many people still did not understand. So, Manjusri Bodhisattva talked about the Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddha of the past. Of the 20,000 Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddhas, when the last one practiced and became a monastic, His eight sons also became monastics. This sutra passage continues,
“When the princes heard that their father had become a monastic and attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, they all renounced their right to the throne and followed their father to become monastics. They formed Great Vehicle aspirations and constantly cultivated Brahma-conduct. All became Dharma teachers, having already planted the roots of goodness in the presence of millions of Buddhas.”
I have explained these eight princes earlier. When these eight princes heard that their father had become a monastic and had already attained Buddhahood, attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, which is supreme, perfect and universal enlightenment, they were all joyful. So, these eight princes followed their father and renounced their claim to the throne. They completely renounced worldly pleasures and became monastics like their father. “They followed their father to become monastics. They formed Great Vehicle aspirations.” The aspiration formed by each prince was [to follow] the Great Vehicle [Dharma].
When we can turn consciousness into wisdom, wisdom that is supreme and unsurpassed, we can become awakened, awaken others and practice perfect awakened conduct. This is the Great Vehicle aspiration. The skillful means [taught] in the past were developed based on sentient beings’ capabilities. The Buddha’s original intent was to teach the Dharma of the One Vehicle, which is the true Dharma. He hoped everyone could understand His teachings and become awakened, then guide others to realize that they also naturally have this perfect and radiant intrinsic nature. He hoped that people will guide each other so their perfect and radiant nature can shine.
In the Sutra of Infinite Meanings, it states, “One gives rise to infinity; infinity arises from one.” Infinity exists already, which is the infinite sentient beings. The infinite sentient beings originally had that Buddha-nature. If we have this state of mind, we can share it with others; this is called walking the Bodhisattva-path. Once a candle is lit, it can light countless other candles. Not all candles need to be lit from the original. Once one candle lights another candle, the other candle can light other candles, and its flame neither increases nor decreases. The original candle still radiates light. So, if we all form aspirations and kindle the light in our hearts, that light can also shine on others. Then we can help their light shine forth. This is the Great Vehicle aspiration.
When we awaken and aspire to awaken others, we begin to “constantly cultivate Brahma-conduct. Brahma-conduct” are cleansing. Everyone knows that “Brahma[-conduct]” is also known as purifying practices. We ordinary people have constantly been reproducing afflictions without end. Every day, whenever we are dissatisfied with people and matters, we begin to produce afflictions again. When we dislike or loathe people, afflictions will enter our minds. Or, we may hear that there is a business opportunity somewhere, and become tempted by the wealth of this world. [An example is] opening a franchise. We open one store after another and if we do not have enough money, we borrow. So, we accrue more debts with the bank. When a financial crisis hits, we lose everything. This is how afflictions continuously reproduce. If we only increase our knowledge, we only continue to create karma.
We engage in spiritual practice to turn consciousness into wisdom, So, we should live a life of contentment. If our families are safe, have enough food to eat clothes to wear, that should be enough. Whatever we have left, we share with other people. But now, it seems that everyone is busy. How can they cultivate Brahma-conduct? Brahma-conduct is cleansing. This is when the mind no longer produces afflictions because of greed, anger or ignorance. We are in an era of great calamities. In this universe, in this world in particular, there are many natural disasters. Whether we are speaking of the macro- or microcosm, disasters arise from the imbalance of the four elements. The disharmony in our hearts is the disharmony of the microcosm. We are constantly accumulating an imbalance of the four elements in our hearts, so we are constantly creating afflictions.
That is why we must cultivate purifying practices. Since we are engaging in spiritual practice, we must repent the karma we created in the past. Karma from [dealing with] people, matters and objects attaches itself to our hearts. Therefore, we must repent, cleanse our defilements and change our habitual tendencies. This is how we cultivate Brahma-conduct. We must constantly eliminate the ignorance and afflictions that are in our hearts. We must also change our external practices and habitual tendencies quickly. We must truly change our actions in daily living to cultivate Brahma-conduct, a very pure way of engaging in spiritual practice.
Because there are problems in people’s hearts, we now need to use various methods [to help them]. Some people say that to have Brahma-conduct is to ignore what happens in the world around us so the mind can be cleansed. I have just said that as we interact with people, everyone is a Dharma-door. If we have turned consciousness into wisdom, everyone is [a source of] wisdom. So, only with experience can we grow in wisdom. Then our minds won’t be disturbed by things in our external conditions, or be defiled by afflictions. But as for our mind-king, when we transform the Eight Consciousnesses and return to our intrinsic nature, we will attain purity. Our Eight Consciousnesses remain pure and undefiled as it connects to external conditions. We will have turned consciousness into wisdom. This is “constantly cultivating Brahma-conduct. Constantly” means regularly interacting with others, not isolating ourselves. By cultivating purifying practices as we interact with others, we remain undefiled. “All became Dharma teachers, having already planted the roots of goodness in the presence of millions of Buddhas.”
The eight princes manifested a sense of majesty and freedom. Each ruled over the four quarters of the world. They are the mind-kings of the Eight Consciousnesses. Each leads the corresponding mental function and the external conditions it connects with. They are categories of the leaders of the mind’s functions and objects of perception.
Next, let us try to understand how. “They are categories of the leaders of the mind’s functions and objects of perception.” If the eight princes, those Eight Consciousnesses, are restored [as the mind-king], then they are “leaders of the mind’s functions and objects of perception.”
Every day, our minds are connecting with the phenomena of the outside world. The eyes connect to external forms. The ears connect to external sounds. The nose connects to external smells etc. This is the mind connecting with the outside world. How can we discern the external phenomena it connects with? With our consciousness? Or with our wisdom? Wisdom includes discerning wisdom. If, within these categories [of our mind’s functions], we use our consciousness to discriminate, we will give rise to greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt as we ceaselessly connect with the five sense objects in our external conditions. The mind-consciousness constantly absorbs, and the seventh consciousness constantly creates. With this karma, negative karma and karma of afflictions, we will cycle through the Six Realms without respite.
So, if we can exercise wisdom in facing and mastering external phenomena, our minds will not be influenced by conditions. This is returning to our true nature. There is only a small difference between consciousness and wisdom. Both connect with external phenomena, but wisdom returns us to our intrinsic nature while consciousness is influenced by external phenomena, creates confusion and reproduces those layers of afflictions.
So, in this passage,
“They heard that their father became a monastic and attained universal enlightenment, so they followed him and became monastics, formed Great Vehicle aspirations and constantly cultivated Brahma-conduct.”
This is restoring the Eight Consciousnesses back to the wonder of the Tathagata-garbha. The Tathagata-garbha mind is wisdom.
We turn the Eight Consciousnesses back to the Tathagatha-garbha, which is wisdom, our pure and undefiled nature. This is a wondrous ability. That is why we call the Buddha the Enlightened One of the Universe. His Tathagata-garbha can analyze all things in the universe very clearly. This is His great awakening, His Tathagatha-garbha and its application. This is the intrinsic Buddha-nature we all have. The Buddha is not the only one who has it; we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature. Everyone intrinsically has the Tathagatha-garbha to turn consciousness into wisdom.
So, “whatever the Tathagata’s mind touches will be a condition illuminated by wisdom. Since this is inexhaustible, it is called the inexhaustible connections of the mind.”
If we can return to our Tathagata-garbha, our radiant and pure nature, that is the state that is illuminated with the Buddha’s wisdom. What the mind connects with is endless. The consciousness of ordinary people can only connect with one state. I see you right now. I can only see from here to there. I see many people. My eye- and my mind-consciousness can see all of this. You are sitting there, and you can see me and the background behind me. This is the scope of what we see. But if I ask you how big is our vegetable garden outside, does your mind go to the vegetable garden? “How big is the land of our abode?” Your mind-consciousness goes there. [If I say,] “Quickly rein it back in to pay attention,” then your mind-consciousness comes back again.
This is why we say every ordinary person has the Tathagata-storehouse consciousness. It is used the same way, but we can only use it for an instant. If we do good deeds and listen to good teachings, we can become awakened for a short time. We know this is possible, but then we regress to the way we were. As ordinary people, even after we know better, we keep doing the same things. Whenever we see something new, thoughts stir, and we take issue with people, matters, objects. This is the way of ordinary people. Our consciousness constantly covers our wisdom. If our wisdom can infuse our consciousness, and eliminate it gradually, if we get rid of consciousness and keep wisdom, then we can clearly understand many things. Our minds can encompass the endless void and very clearly understand the true principles of the universe. We can be clear about every phenomenon we connect with so that our minds will not be covered by people, matters and objects.
So, I hope we remember what we hear every day. Every matter and phenomenon we encounter can increase our wisdom. Do not let them lead to reproducing afflictions. This is where the difference lies. Therefore, please always be mindful.