Episode 216 – Contemplate True Wisdom of the One Vehicle
>> “The universe is vast. The many stars in
the Milky Way are as numerous as the Ganges River’s sand. It is difficult to
estimate their count.”
>> So, “The Buddha’s disciples, filling the ksetras in the ten
directions, exhaustively contemplate and try to fathom the ultimate reality of
the One Vehicle.”
>> “If they put their minds together for billions of countless
kalpas, wishing to understand the Buddha’s true wisdom, they still cannot
understand the least bit of it.”
>> If they put their minds together: The mind-nature encompasses
everything and thoroughly understands the universe. Therefore, the good and the
evil, the ordinary and the saints, are all of this one mind. All teachings are
intrinsic to the mind, so it can accomplish all things.
>> Wishing to understand the Buddha’s true wisdom: This wisdom can illuminate
true nature. Principles that are not false are called true wisdom. Utilizing
this wisdom of reality as the path is the One Vehicle knowledge of reality.
“The universe is vast.
The many stars in the Milky Way
are as numerous as the Ganges River’s sand.
It is difficult to estimate their count.”
There were two astronomers who meticulously helped me understand what is in the skies. When they talk about astronomy, the [universe] truly seems vast and endless. They showed one picture after another of different galaxies. I asked them, “Does the Tzu Chi asteroid orbit the Sun?” He said, “Yes. That asteroid also orbits the Sun.”
So, I asked him, “Over 2000 years ago, the Buddha’s teachings talked about the universe. We, here on Earth, take 12 months to orbit the Sun. How long does the Tzu Chi asteroid take?” He said, “The time it takes for this asteroid to orbit the Sun is five times that of the Earth.” So, the more we continue to understand celestial bodies and galaxies, the more we believe in. Sakyamuni Buddha’s wisdom. Indeed, it is said a day in the Heaven of the. Four Heavenly Kings is 50 years in this world. This is something we can believe.
To sum up, in the universe, there are so many galaxies and stars; their number is incalculable. We know that this universe is broad, vast and endless, but just how big is it? He is an authoritative figure in astronomy, yet even he does not know. There are many people who specialize in analyzing such natures and appearances. This nature is vast and endless. How can we comprehend it? Basically, the celestial bodies in the universe contain many principles.
After showing one picture after another, at the very end, he had a picture that was completely dark. He said that in the sky, the universe, there is a section that is incredible. It seems completely empty, but they know there exists abundant “dark matter.” What kind of matter is this? We do not know. So, I said, “That is ‘true emptiness.’ In true emptiness there is wondrous existence. Wondrous existence is right here.”
So, Sakyamuni Buddha [applied His] wisdom to help us believe. How many stars are there in the sky? He used one descriptor, “as numerous as the Ganges River’s sand.” He compared it to the sands of the Ganges River to show us that the number is incalculable. Indeed, this is wondrously profound.
We humans live on this planet. So I asked, “Is there life on other planets?” He said, “There may be. They may have existed longer than we have. Perhaps they are more advanced than we are and may be a higher life form.”
In other words, [this is like what the Buddha told us]. He told us there are 20 trillion Buddha-lands and an unknown number of Enlightened Ones spread throughout those Buddha-lands. “Buddha” means “enlightened one,” and each “land” is a world. Within the universe, there are infinite worlds in the ten directions, 20 trillion Buddha-lands. This is something we can believe because astronomers say that other planets may have more advanced life forms than us human beings.
In summary, this is something we need to understand. Therefore, I keep saying [we are] “unable to fathom the Buddha’s wisdom.” We must believe that only Buddhas can thoroughly understand the worlds in the universe, the true principles of the One Vehicle.
So, “The Buddha’s disciples, filling the ksetras in the ten directions, exhaustively contemplate and try to fathom the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle.”
We see that celestial bodies and the universe cannot be understood even by experts who specialize in them. Therefore, the odds that we ordinary people can understand the Buddha’s wisdom are indeed very miniscule. So, we need to focus on contemplating and understanding the ultimate reality of One Vehicle. Buddha-nature is truly vast and endless.
In conclusion, in this world, many things are worthy of our continuous contemplation. We must exhaustively think and pool our abilities. Although we are not as wise as Sariputra, as long as we engage in mindful contemplation, we may approximate his wisdom. There is still quite a distance between. Sariputra’s [state] and the Buddha’s [state]. But when we strive for Sariputra’s wisdom, we come a bit closer to the state of the Buddha. Our goal is still the same as Sariputra’s, to seek the Buddha’s wisdom.
In summary, we must continue to collectively contemplate this wisdom. If we have time, after listening to the Dharma, we must pool our abilities to contemplate it. Then we can assess the depth of our understanding. “I heard this phrase, and this is how I understand it.” Perhaps your understanding and others’ understanding can be combined to form a deeper understanding. We need to pool our abilities and contemplate together [because] the Buddha’s Dharma is indeed very profound.
So, as we have said before, “Pratyekabuddhas [have] sharp wisdom and [are] without Leaks, in their final bodies.” This means that they have already ended their fragmentary samsara. But, [there is still] transformational samsara. They still have small bits of ignorance. These beings fill ksetras in the ten directions and are as “numerous as bamboo in a bamboo grove.” Many beings have already ended their fragmentary samsara, such as Pratyekabuddhas. They realized the impermanence of the world but were still unable to truly comprehend the ultimate reality of the Buddha’s One Vehicle. This nature of True Suchness is something they still cannot fully comprehend. So, even though their number, when they gather from all directions, is as many as the bamboo in a bamboo forest,
“if they put their minds together for billions of countless kalpas, wishing to understand the Buddha’s true wisdom, they still cannot understand the least bit of it.”
There are so many Pratyekabuddhas in the worlds of ten directions. If each one is like a stalk of bamboo, then they were gathered like bamboo groves. This is how “they put their minds together. For billions of countless kalpas” refers to the length of time spent on contemplating this, which is countless kalpas. A kalpa is a unit of time. We cannot use billions of years to describe that span of time. Indeed, [we have to use] countless kalpas, a much longer period of time.
“Wishing to understand the Buddha’s true wisdom they still cannot understand the least bit of it.” So, many Pratyekabuddhas of sharp wisdom gathered to contemplate the Buddha’s wisdom. But they “could not understand the least bit of it.” To understand even the slightest bit of His wisdom is still very difficult. Therefore, we must truly put our hearts into it.
When we say, “If they put their minds together,” what do we mean? “The mind-nature encompasses everything and thoroughly understands the universe.”
If they put their minds together: The mind-nature encompasses everything and thoroughly understands the universe. Therefore, the good and the evil, the ordinary and the saints, are all of this one mind. All teachings are intrinsic to the mind, so it can accomplish all things.
If we really want our minds to completely understand the Buddha’s wisdom, we really have to attain the [state] in which the mind can encompass everything. That means knowing all things about celestial bodies and the universe. This is what our minds encompass. We also “thoroughly understand the universe.” In the vastness of space, even though that last picture [they showed me] appeared to be completely empty, there is an abundant and vast quantity of [dark] matter. However, we still do not know what that really is. But the Buddha “understands the universe,” [which is that vast empty space]. In that true emptiness, there is wondrous existence. Therefore, He “thoroughly understands” the wondrous existence of this kind of matter. It must contain something we ordinary people cannot comprehend.
So, “thoroughly understanding the universe” means that the mind-nature can encompass everything in the universe; there is nothing it cannot thoroughly understand.
“Therefore, the good and the evil, the ordinary and the saints, are all of this one mind.” Now I need to tell you all not to be discouraged. We must understand that even if we are of one mind and this is what our mind-nature is like, to understand the Buddha’s mind-nature is indeed not easy. Although there are so many Pratyekabuddhas, and they have reached this stage of ending fragmentary samsara, they still have a ways to go to comprehend the Buddha’s wisdom. But they still have a little bit of understanding, and only a few people can even reach that.
Though we are all ordinary people, we need to understand ourselves well. Whether we are good or evil, ordinary people or saints, we all have this same mind-nature. This is what the Buddha means when He says, “[The nature] of the mind, Buddhas and sentient beings are no different.” Whether we are good or evil, [that potential] is contained within our minds. All sentient beings’ minds are the same, but when it deviates just a little, it diverges into good or evil. Some people are focused on doing good deeds. That is goodness.
Good people know to pursue the truth and to understand morals and ethics. This knowledge of true principles is something they have to understand. If they are evil, they deny the law of cause and effect, so they commit all sort of wrongdoings. Indeed, this happens because of the mind.
Within evil people there is still goodness. “Human natures are inherently good; their natures are similar,” but “their habits differ greatly.” The more habitual tendencies influence them, the more their habits differ. Therefore, He emphasized again that the good and evil, the ordinary and saints, are all of this one mind. This does not only apply to humans, but all life. Therefore, we must have faith in ourselves, focus our thinking and really pay attention to our views and understanding, our thinking and so on. We really need to always be aware of our minds.
So, “all teachings are intrinsic to the mind; it can accomplish all things.” The mind can accomplish many things. Aren’t all these things in the world created by humans? Therefore, we must always be mindful. When we are mindful, we will contemplate and accomplish this thing, or accomplish that thing. So, the mind “can accomplish all things.” Therefore, we have the potential to commit evils, evil practices, evil deeds and goodness, virtuous practices, good deeds. Therefore, all things come from the mind.
So, we wish to understand the Buddha’s wisdom, the “wisdom that can illuminate true nature.”
Wishing to understand the Buddha’s true wisdom: This wisdom can illuminate true nature. Principles that are not false are called true wisdom. Utilizing this wisdom of reality as the path is the One Vehicle knowledge of reality.
Those “wishing to understand” are these Pratyekabuddhas. All these people have already ended fragmentary samsara. But, they still have the delusional thinking of those in transformational samsara, just a little bit. Even though there is just the slightest bit, for them to attain understanding of the Buddha’s understanding and views, the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle, will still take some time.
So, “This wisdom can illuminate true nature. Principles that are not false” are called true wisdom. Right now we are only discussing how. Pratyekabuddhas wish to understand true wisdom. What is true wisdom? It is the wisdom that can illuminate true nature. Illuminate means to understand completely.
Take lights for example. At night, when all the lights are off and something is placed in front of us, we cannot see it at all. When the lights are on, we can see what it is and how far it is from us. Our awareness comes from this illumination. So, this kind of wisdom is called discerning wisdom. We know how to discern what is in front of us and how far away it is.
And with “principles that are not false” means we understand what it is, what characteristics it has, whether it is hard or soft and so on. We can make these discernments because we understand principles. The characteristics of this object are qualities we see and can recognize. Right now, we are talking about the discerning wisdom we ordinary people have. If we were in the state of Buddhas, we would already thoroughly understand all celestial bodies in the universe. This is called true wisdom.
And “utilizing this wisdom of reality as the path is the One Vehicle knowledge of reality.” This knowledge of reality is used to pave a path. He hopes we can all fully understand the teachings of this Path. This is what is called true wisdom. “Utilizing this wisdom of reality as the path” is called the One Vehicle. To use this Dharma is to use the One Vehicle. It is just like a great ship. We want to make use of this ship to get to the other shore. This is called a vehicle. This “vehicle” is the tool that we need to use to get there. So, we must comprehend the wisdom of reality and practice these teachings of the path.
These teachings of the path, [including] the Four Infinite Minds, Six Paramitas, are all methods. They are necessities. So, we “wish to understand the Buddha’s true wisdom.” So many have already eliminated ignorance, so why can’t they understand? I continue to emphasize to everyone that these people have only attained the final bodies of their fragmentary samsara. But, do you remember that. I previously told all of you that there is still transformational samsara. There are still slight bits of ignorance in their hearts; their minds have not entered the state of extinction.
So, when we learn the Buddha’s teachings, we put our hearts into learning it. There is a lot we need to understand. So, we need to cherish our time. Thus, we must always be mindful.