Episode 133 – Go Among People to Accomplish Great Vehicle Work
>> They support and nurture Great Vehicle work and lead all to readily attain. Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi and abide in the happiness of the wondrous truth.
>> The sun and moon are permanent and everlasting. Each lamp is used to kindle more lamps and their lights seamlessly merge. Therefore, [He] “expounds the Great Vehicle sutra called the Wondrous Dharma Lotus.” Because it is the ageless Truth it will continue on eternally. It is retained and guarded by the Buddha.
>> The sun and moon are permanent and everlasting. Each lamp is used to kindle more lamps and their lights seamlessly merge. Therefore, He “expounds the Great Vehicle sutra called the Wondrous Dharma Lotus.” Because it is the ageless Truth, it will continue on eternally. It is retained and guarded by the Buddha.
They support and nurture Great Vehicle work and lead all to readily attain. Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi and abide in the happiness of the wondrous truth.
We must always examine and pay attention to our minds. As we do so, we are constantly self-reflecting and asking if our minds are calm and peaceful. Or are our minds troubled and uneasy? This depends on whether we have been taking good care of our minds.
The Sutra of Infinite Meanings is the. Great Vehicle teaching that is guarded and retained within the Buddha’s mind. Indeed, it is the essence of the Lotus Sutra. Everything the Buddha did was in hopes that everyone would comprehend the Great Vehicle teachings. He hoped that seeds of goodness in their minds can quickly mature, and moreover, when causes and conditions ripen, will take root and bear an abundance of seeds. These can then be sown in the minds of all sentient beings. This is how “one gives rise to infinity; infinity arises from one.”
We have to seize every opportunity. When we encounter someone who we have karmic affinity with, we have to hurry and share the Dharma, share our experiences with them. Then we are seizing the opportunity to exercise our wisdom. Once we have the karmic conditions to plant seeds, we have to make an effort to nurture them. People who have the conditions to encounter the Buddha-Dharma should not practice to only benefit themselves. They also need to develop the Great Vehicle work.
If we only listen to the Buddha’s teachings but do not physically practice them, it is like listening to directions without following them. “You now have to go to where the big trees are. There is an open vista and beautiful scenery.” If we only hear it, we can only feel a sense of admiration. We have no real sense of how many great trees there actually are. We cannot experience how open the view is. So, after we are given directions, we must actually go there immediately. Only once we get there can we really know it personally, as if counting our own family treasures. By personally seeing this beautiful scene with our own eyes, we will understand it better than the person who gave us directions. This is called a realization.
To really experience and realize Buddha-Dharma, we have to put it into practice. Listening to the Great Vehicle teachings is not enough if we do not dedicate ourselves to the work and actively do it. When we interact with people, matters and objects, our actions are called karma, which means “to create, to act.” So, we need to do the Great Vehicle work. Through our actions, we can grow very quickly. By directly experiencing that state, we are putting the teachings into practice and will “readily attain results.” This means we can realize the Buddha-Dharma very quickly and will soon fulfill our spiritual aspirations. We form aspirations and make vows, in this way we can “readily attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi,” We can quickly understand and achieve supreme, perfect, universal enlightenment.
When one person speaks, many people can listen. When one person proves something, many people can believe it. When one person gives direction to that state, many people will be able to enter into it. The principle is the same. So, this is complete and thorough understanding. Then our minds can “abide in the happiness of the wondrous truth.” Of course, the Buddha-Dharma is true. True principles are also called ultimate truth, which is [absolute] reality. True principles are exquisite and wondrous.
I often think, “How amazing! How truly wondrous!” When I think about how people are born, how they grow and how they age, even the structure of the body alone seems very amazing. What is so wondrous is that things grow and age without our awareness. Indeed, they operate according to certain underlying principles that are subtle and wondrous. These principles are everlasting. In every minute and second, every instant, they are ever-present and in operation. This is called the aggregate of action. It is like when we are sitting here, and the sky is still dark. Then, without noticing anything, after a while, we walk out, [and see,]. “Wow, it’s light out!” The sky darkens and lightens over every minute, second and instant, in a continuous state of “action,” of revolving. Isn’t this amazing? Indeed, very amazing!
So, I always feel that true Dharma is subtle and wondrous. But when it comes to how things really work in this world, a very important thing to know is how the mind works. Think about this. Our minds have no shape or image, but we can experience a lot of things. Everything happens in our minds. But the sad thing is that while our minds can form an aspiration very quickly, that aspiration can disappear very quickly. Thus it arises, abides, changes and ceases. Such is our unenlightened mind. The minds of noble beings abide in ultimate bliss. They form an aspiration and that enlightened state of mind lasts forever. When they face people, matters and objects, they can be understanding, accommodating, content and grateful. No matter what kind of people [they face], no matter how they act and treat them, they are always grateful.
Look at Never-Slighting Bodhisattva. When people scolded him, he said, “I’m grateful.” When people beat him, “I’m grateful.” When people chased after him, beat him and scolded him, he stepped back, knelt down, prostrated and said, “I’m grateful. I respect you because you are eliminating my karma and teaching me, because you will become a Buddha in the future.” Indeed! When you have two stones and wish to make one smooth, you need to polish it with the other stone. So, shouldn’t we be grateful? We understand that a stone can be polished smooth. So, we need to maintain a calm mind and a sense of gratitude. Then we can be diligent without retreating. In facing the workings of the world, we must have a world-transcending spirit.
Of course, we must also be happy. The workings of the world naturally [lead to] thick and heavy afflictions. We love the people around us, but birth, aging, illness and death lead to separation while living and parting at death. Isn’t that painful? It is all very painful. To completely understand the working of the world, we must have a world-transcending spirit. In life, issues and things [we encounter] and interpersonal conflicts all bring suffering. But if we understand this law of nature, then we will not be affected by the suffering that results from gains and losses. If we can do this, we can “abide in happiness” and nothing will feel painful or difficult. This is supreme, perfect, universal enlightenment, which is Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. This is what “the unspoken Lotus Sutra” teaches us.
Every sentence in the Sutra of Infinite Meanings contains very profound principles. It talks about the workings of this world, but it also contains a world-transcending spirit. As for our spiritual aspirations and for abiding in bliss, if we can understand the Dharma thoroughly, it can abide in our minds and be “permanent” and “everlasting” like the sun and moon.
The sun and moon are permanent and everlasting. Each lamp is used to kindle more lamps and their lights seamlessly merge. Therefore, [He] “expounds the Great Vehicle sutra called the Wondrous Dharma Lotus.” Because it is the ageless Truth it will continue on eternally. It is retained and guarded by the Buddha.
Since ancient times, the sun and moon have always existed in our world. Even now, during the daytime, the sun will shine, and at night the moon comes out. The sun and moon always cycle like this. It is a “permanent” and “everlasting” principle that they rotate in this way. This is “action,” the aggregate of action, and is a [constant] cycle. Because heaven and earth cycle like this, everything on Earth follows the law of nature. Everything from the earth, the grasses, trees, to humans, matters, and objects, operates according to principles.
So, we have to realize that the sun and moon represent our innate enlightenment, our realizations and our awakened natures. This is intrinsic to all of us. That is why the awakened must [extend the awakening,] as a lamp kindles other lamps. One candle can light many other candles without being affected. This space will become brighter. So, “each lamp is used to kindle more lamps, and the lights seamlessly merge.” The lights from the lamps merge harmoniously. We light one lamp, then another. The lights merge in this space. You cannot distinguish how much light is coming from this lamp or that lamp. Their lights merge and they become one. So, “their lights seamlessly merge.”
During the era of the Buddha, the Buddha still taught the Great Vehicle teachings. The skillful means taught in the past were suitable teachings of the Agama period. Also, the wisdom used during the Prajna period to analyze people, matters and objects was a view that everything is inherently empty. [According to] Prajna and Vaipulya teachings, that is the case but what is a practitioner to do? Since everything is empty, where does one belong? In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha wanted to draw a conclusion. There is true emptiness, but also wondrous existence. The principles of true emptiness are exquisite and wondrous and are called the Great Vehicle teachings. The “Middle Way is the meeting of emptiness and existence” and is the Great Vehicle sutra called “the Wondrous Dharma Lotus.”
The Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra is a Great Vehicle teaching guarded within the Buddha’s mind. This was what this Buddha was about to begin freely proclaiming. After He attained a state of enlightenment, He taught because He wanted to reveal these teachings for people to realize, to understand. This was the Buddha’s original intent. The past Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddha was the same. When causes and conditions matured, He “expounded the Great Vehicle sutra called the Wondrous Dharma Lotus.” He did this to teach the Bodhisattva Way, because this “cause” is a true principle and will continue on eternally.
“Everlasting” also means eternal. Such absolute truth, the true principle, is universal and everlasting. This true principle is continued from the past to the present, by past and present Buddhas. The continuation [of this teaching] is what the Buddha guarded and retained. The Buddha hoped that we all have this spirit, this state of mind, and pass it on. The Buddha wanted to continue transmitting the principles taught by. Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddha in the past. Sakyamuni Buddha also wanted to transmit this to all sentient beings so they will have the same principles. If we can put these principles into action in our lives, we can turn hopes and ideals into reality. This reality begins with ideals.
The sun and moon are permanent and everlasting. Each lamp is used to kindle more lamps and their lights seamlessly merge. Therefore, He “expounds the Great Vehicle sutra called the Wondrous Dharma Lotus.” Because it is the ageless Truth, it will continue on eternally. It is retained and guarded by the Buddha.
So, principles and matters are one. Without those principles, there will be no matters and objects. Without these thoughts and ideals, we will not do this work. So, the spirit behind our missions comes from the Buddha’s original intent, which has been passed down to the present.
In summary, Buddhas of the past and present, have spent a long time on this. So, we must always make an effort to hold on to this spiritual state. We must protect our minds at all times.