Episode 189 – Open the Door to Wisdom with Compassion
>> “All Buddhas feel sympathy for sentient beings.” This is because “unenlightened beings are immersed in a sea of desires. [Practitioners of] the Two Vehicles are attached to Nirvana and cannot understand and realize the One Vehicle.”
>> “At that time the World-Honored One arose serenely from Samadhi” and looked at everyone. [His gaze] fell on Sariputra, so He told him, “The wisdom of all Buddhas is extremely profound and unlimited.”
>> Thus, this sutra opened and revealed [the Dharma] in response to practitioners of the Two Vehicles, particularly to guide the best of them. Therefore, He specifically taught Sariputra, so he would not be attached to the Small Vehicle fruit of Nirvana, but seek the Great Vehicle Nirvana of non-attachment to cyclic existence.
>> “This wisdom-door is difficult to understand and enter. It cannot be known by any Hearers or Solitary Realizers.”
>> The wisdom-door is “knowledge and understanding of all things, which is the ultimate truth.” A “door” is a way to understand clearly, somewhere we can enter. Once the door is open, we can enter and exit freely. This is the wisdom-door.
“All Buddhas feel sympathy for sentient beings.”
This is because
“unenlightened beings are immersed in a sea of desires.
[Practitioners of] the Two Vehicles are attached to Nirvana and
cannot understand and realize the One Vehicle.”
This is what worries the Buddha most. Because we are all unenlightened beings, we are immersed in a sea of desires.
All sentient beings have “desire.” This applies to sentient beings in all Six Realms, even in the heaven realm. Heavenly beings also have heavenly desires. Asuras have heavenly blessings but lack heavenly virtues. Therefore, they are also deeply immersed in the sea of desires. As humans, what type of mindset do we hold? It is also a boundless sea of desires, which is why we talk about, “1000-foot swells rise in the river of cravings 10,000 waves surge in the sea of suffering.” Because of [our cravings], we transmigrate within the Six Realms. This is because of humankind’s desires.
I often say that humans create the sources of all disasters, which all begin when greedy thoughts arise. When that greed is not satisfied, we become angry. Once the flames of anger are ignited, we become lost. Because of ignorance, we become greedy. Because we are greedy, we become angry. These three are truly subtle afflictions that continuously reproduce themselves in an endless cycle.
Because greed, anger and ignorance arise many other afflictions [also arise], [causing] people to create much karma. So, greed, anger and ignorance exist in people alongside pride, arrogance and doubt, leaving us unable to believe in the law of karma or to accept the Buddha’s Right Dharma. Therefore, many things happen because of desire. This is the state of ordinary people.
The Buddha comes to this world out of sympathy for sentient beings. Because their minds have not yet awakened, they are immersed in the sea of desires. Some people do already believe that the Buddha comes to this world to tell us that we all have an intrinsic Buddha-nature. Some people have a karmic affinity with Buddha, and they agree to return to this world together and accept the Buddha’s teachings, life after life. “Beings lacking affinity cannot be transformed.” From these words, we know that in our past lives, we have likely formed karmic affinities with the Buddha. Some have achieved Buddhahood, some are achieving, some have not yet achieved.
So, there are practitioners of the Two Vehicles. They believe in the Buddha’s teachings and can understand how life is “[full of] suffering, empty, impermanent, and without permanent self.” The Buddha taught these principles, and they understand them.
People may also live in a time without a Buddha, like the present moment. Though Sakyamuni Buddha left us over 2000 years ago, there are still people with sharp capabilities. Even if they have not encountered the Dharma, they still realize that life is truly impermanent; the seasons change, day and night alternate, and [humans undergo] birth, aging, illness and death. Some people have encountered His teachings, though they have not seen the Buddha in person. Yet just by understanding these principles alone, they can realize many of His teachings. In this way, they know they must engage in spiritual practice.
[The earliest spiritual practitioners] sought to be liberated from birth and death. These Small Vehicle practitioners sought the fruits of [the Small Vehicle], the initial, second, third and fourth [fruits]. They practiced only to benefit themselves by seeking [total release in] Nirvana. They believed that Nirvana meant no birth and no death, so they would no longer have to transmigrate among the Six Realms. Thus, they sought and were attached to. Nirvana because they saw it as a state of non-arising and non-ceasing.
But actually, ultimate Nirvana is free of attachments. This is why the Buddha had now begun to teach the Lotus Sutra, He set aside skillful means and began teaching the One Vehicle Dharma because the Two Vehicle [practitioners] were still too attached to attaining Nirvana. Though the Buddha has entered Parinirvana, He has not rested; all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas continuously return.
Think about it, Guanyin Bodhisattva also returns out of compassion. Also, before the Lotus Sutra was expounded, Manjusri Bodhisattva spoke of the 20,000 Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiant Buddhas. Manjusri Bodhisattva himself was the teacher of seven ancient Buddhas and had already attained Buddhahood in the past. That there are so many Buddhas attests to the fact that entering Parinirvana does not mean They no longer experience birth and death. They still return to this world out of compassion.
Their karmic retributions did not bring Them back, the Four Great Vows and the Four Infinite Minds did. Since reaching the state of Dharmakaya Bodhisattva, the Buddha continuously returned to this world to transform sentient beings. So by entering Parinirvana, or extinction, He has not completely disappeared. No. He still continues to return to this world. Since He knows all principles in the world, He is not deluded and is free of attachments. Thus, He surpassed delusions and attachments. So, we must realize the principles of the One Vehicle.
However, ordinary people are very deluded and. Two Vehicle practitioners are very stubborn, so they could not comprehend the principles of the One Vehicle.
As the Buddha’s [conditions] for transforming this world were ending, He began to teach the Lotus Sutra after. He emerged from Samadhi.
“At that time the World-Honored One arose serenely from Samadhi” and looked at everyone. [His gaze] fell on Sariputra, so He told him, “The wisdom of all Buddhas is extremely profound and unlimited.”
Everyone knew that Sariputra was foremost in wisdom among the Sangha, and now, to comprehend the One Vehicle teachings, [the Buddha indicated that this would take] one of great wisdom. So, the Buddha intended for [practitioners of] the Two Vehicles, the Hearers and Solitary Realizers, those with great capabilities, to recognize that the Buddha’s wisdom is so profound that even Sariputra may not understand His principles. This was the Buddha’s clever way of helping all of everyone recognize that. He was about to discuss something very profound. Indeed, the wisdom of all Buddhas is extremely profound and unlimited.
Actually, there were many people at Vulture Peak. From the ten directions came all Bodhisattvas, heavenly beings, the eight classes of Dharma-protectors and Living Bodhisattvas, as well as those who already attained fruits, [such as] Arhats, bhiksus and bhiksunis. All the intellectuals gathered there as well. Among all these people, why didn’t the Buddha teach this extremely profound and unlimited Dharma according to the capabilities of Dharmakaya Bodhisattvas? For instance, Manjusri Bodhisattva was present. Why didn’t the Buddha teach according to. Manjusri’s capabilities or to those of any other Dharmakaya Bodhisattvas? Why did He address Sariputra?
Among the sages of the Two Vehicles, the one with the most superior capabilities among. Small Vehicle practitioners was Sariputra. Sariputra’s wisdom and merits were the greatest among the Hearers, so everyone respected him very much. Therefore, as long as Sariputra was convinced, everyone else would be convinced. Besides, he was one of the heads of the Sangha, so the Buddha began telling him, so the Buddha began by telling him, “The wisdom of all Buddhas is extremely profound and unlimited.”
This sutra is about to open the provisional to reveal the true. “Open” refers to opening the provisional, the skillful means of the past. “Provisional” refers to clever, skillful means. Now that we have opened them up, we need to put them aside. To open the provisional is to set aside the skillful means that have been taught. In the past, there were skillful means, [but] now He would reveal the True Dharma. This is called “opening the provisional to reveal the true.” The purpose of the Lotus Sutra is to “open the provisional to reveal the true,” the one ultimate truth, the One Vehicle Way.
Thus, this sutra opened and revealed [the Dharma] in response to practitioners of the Two Vehicles, particularly to guide the best of them. Therefore, He specifically taught Sariputra, so he would not be attached to the Small Vehicle fruit of Nirvana, but seek the Great Vehicle Nirvana of non-attachment to cyclic existence.
The Lotus Sutra “opened the provisional to reveal the true” in response to the Two Vehicle practitioners. Those practitioners were still attached to skillful means. [Like all] ordinary people immersed in delusions, Two Vehicles practitioners had attachments. They knew that Nirvana leads to the end of cyclic existence, but they could not let go of the appearance of cyclic existence. This is why the Buddha helped them further understand that, although. Nirvana leads to the end of cyclic existence, we should not be attached to it. The purpose of learning the Buddha’s Way is to transform sentient beings, to benefit others, not just ourselves. Therefore, to guide those with superior capabilities among Two Vehicle practitioners, the Buddha had to “open the provisional to reveal the true.” Only practitioners with those capabilities were able to gradually accept this.
We can clearly see that it took the Buddha over forty years to help them achieve thorough understanding. To “open the provisional to reveal the true” is not that easy. Therefore, He targeted Sariputra so that he would not be attached to the Nirvana of the Small Vehicle nor believe that [all he had to do was] liberate himself, for this was not the Buddha’s intention.
He wants us to practice Great Vehicle Teachings, not focus on our own awakening. Therefore, we must awaken ourselves and others and have perfect awakened conduct. Simply awakening ourselves and being attached to Small Vehicle Nirvana is not good enough. Therefore, we must instead “seek the Great Vehicle Nirvana of non-attachment to cyclic existence.” This means we must keep going, keep making great aspirations and moving to the next level of a Nirvana that is non-arising, non-ceasing and free of attachments.
So, the Buddha also said that the wisdom of all Buddhas is very profound.
“This wisdom-door is difficult to understand and enter. It cannot be known by any Hearers or Solitary Realizers.”
The Buddha’s wisdom is very profound. He is about to open the wisdom-door and reveal His original [teachings], His True Wisdom. This wisdom-door is difficult to understand and enter. It cannot be known by any Hearers. If we remain at the level of Hearers and rely on listening [to the teachings] to awaken, we will have no way to achieve understanding.
Now the Buddha is about to open the wisdom-door, to freely carry out His original intentions. Thus He said, “Now I am about to open the wisdom-door, which cannot be known by you Hearers and Solitary Realizers.”
The wisdom-door is “knowledge and understanding of all things, which is the ultimate truth.” A “door” is a way to understand clearly, somewhere we can enter. Once the door is open, we can enter and exit freely. This is the wisdom-door.
Everyone, you may think I am spending a lot of time on this point and wonder why I keep talking about it. Is [attaining] wisdom and the ultimate truth really that difficult? It is truly very difficult. Everyone, when we engage in spiritual practice, we do not focus only on ourselves. Actually, even attaining self-realization is not that easy. To look within and eliminate greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt is not very easy at all. Besides, we are all still ordinary people, we are still immersed in the sea of desires. Since we are still immersed in the sea of desires,
our minds must be attuned to the door of the Buddha’s mind. The door to His mind is always open, but we do not always choose to enter. Even though the Buddha continues to guide and tell us, “you can come this way and enter this door,” we still have desires. These afflictions from greed, anger and ignorance continue to [grow] in a cycle of reproduction, so we are trapped in the Six Realms.
Everyone, we must awaken right now. In our modern society, we are able to understand many things clearly. So to understand worldly matters is not difficult. But we must truly awaken. Since we live in this era, we have opportunities for great awakening. So, we must always be mindful.