Episode 220 – With Mindful Understanding, Wisdom Appears
>> “Spiritual practice can only be
comprehended by the mind. We must faithfully accept and practice the teachings.
The source of the path is inherently in our minds. Upon awakening, wisdom will
gush forth.”
>> “Wholeheartedly with wondrous wisdom, over kalpas as numerous as
the Ganges’ sands, [they] contemplated it together, yet could not fathom the
Buddha’s wisdom.”
>> This term “wholeheartedly” is about one mind. The mind is
replete with the Ten Dharma-realms. [It contains] Buddha-wisdom and is
inconceivable and incomparable.
“Spiritual practice can only be comprehended by the mind.
We must faithfully accept and practice the teachings.
The source of the path is inherently in our minds.
Upon awakening, wisdom will gush forth.”
Everyone, don’t we engage in spiritual practice to reach an awakening? We want to awaken to the principles the Buddha realized. Recently, I have been talking about the mind. With our minds, we can reflect on our self-nature to find our intrinsic Buddha-nature. Only with the mind can we truly comprehend it. If we do not put our hearts into attaining realizations, we cannot truly achieve an awakened state. Therefore, we must always be mindful.
Of course, we must begin by “faithfully accepting and practicing teachings.” At the end of every sutra, after the Buddha finished teaching, everyone “faithfully accepted and practiced.” We must have faith in the Buddha’s teachings. “Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits.” Before our minds can give rise to the enlightened Bodhi-path, we must first have faith. This is similar to asking for directions. Once we ask, someone who has walked the path will direct us to the way that will take us to our destination. Similarly, we must have faith. If we do not have faith, we will end up on a side road. Then the farther we go, the more off-track we are, the more lost we become. So, we must have faith in the person who guides us. Therefore, we must “faithfully practice and accept the teachings.”
“The source of the path is inherently in our minds.” Where is the path we are truly seeking? It was originally in our minds. But we unenlightened beings have confused our minds. With one ignorant thought, afflictions arose. Then greed, anger and ignorance gave rise to many afflictions, which caused the inherent path to awakening in our minds to become indistinct, so we do not know where it is. Therefore, we must now return to our intrinsic nature. To return to our intrinsic nature, we need a method to do so. That is why we engage in spiritual practice.
If we faithfully accept and practice teachings, we can return to the source of the Way, to our intrinsic nature. Then “upon awakening, wisdom will gush forth.” If we can awaken, wisdom will gush forth like a spring. Then everything in the world, all people, matters, objects or principles, will be clear to us. We will understand everything. But now we are lost and not self-aware, so we need to really put our hearts into and spend a lot of time on listening, contemplating and practicing teachings. After we listen, we must really contemplate. If we [determine] that it is a true principle, a path, then we must practice it. This is called listening, contemplating and practicing.
Earlier, we already discussed this verse.
“Wholeheartedly with wondrous wisdom, over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sands, [they] contemplated it together, yet could not fathom the Buddha’s wisdom.”
How can we understand the Buddha’s wisdom? His wisdom is innate. It has always existed in His mind. After He attained enlightenment, He immediately revealed it to everyone. But when He gave teachings in that state of mind, it seemed like heavenly beings could not comprehend Him at all. This is because heaven is still among the Six Unenlightened Realms. So, they are still a ways from the purity and clarity needed to realize the Buddha-nature.
At that time, Sakyamuni Buddha thought that if even heavenly beings could not understand Him, then how could He share this state of mind with all sentient beings to guide them? So, He felt a bit dismayed. Then among them there was a heavenly lord from Brahma Heaven who sensed that the Buddha’s mind was very pure and undefiled, like a great perfect mirror that illuminated external conditions. This heavenly lord thought to himself, “It is so rare for someone to attain Buddhahood in this world; I will take joy in it and encourage Him.” He appeared and paid obeisance before Him, gave respectful and joyful encouragement.
At this moment, all Buddhas of the ten directions also appeared. These countless Buddhas from all directions of the world manifested around Sakyamuni Buddha to console Him as well. In the sutras, there is also a passage about this.
Therefore, when the Buddha first attained enlightenment, His enlightened state of mind was vast and endless. The Dharma He taught in this universe was indeed very deep and extremely profound. It cannot be thought of nor conceived. We unenlightened beings cannot truly realize the Buddha’s state of mind. We can spend a long time discussing how. His mind is as vast as the universe, endless and boundless. When we hear about a mind this broad, we can only say, “Yes, I’ve heard about it.” But what was the Buddha’s feeling at that time?
kept saying that at that time, the Buddha was feeling this way. If you ask me, “Master, how would you describe the Buddha’s state of mind after He had attained enlightenment?” I can only tell you, “I don’t know either.” Whenever I discuss this passage in the sutras, I also feel very open and joyous, very clear and radiant. That is how I feel.
But as for this feeling, if you were then to ask me, “Master, do you feel this way throughout the day?” I would have to tell you, “I do not.” After I finish discussing it, many worldly worries resurface. I hear things about some places, or that some place needs to discuss something. There is so much of this. We need to know how to build on the past and how to plan for the future, as well as how to deal with things right now. Whether we talk about past, present or future, we give rise to discursive thoughts and worries. These are worries, not afflictions, but they still appear in our minds.
So, we must thoroughly understand the spiritual state of all Buddhas. We can hear one teaching and realize 1000 things. We can, as I often say, “Seize the present and sustain it forever.” I often tell all of you, “Seize the present and sustain it forever.” Now that we have realized this mindset, we must forever remain in this spiritual state. Although I tell you this, are we truly able to sustain the mindset of that moment, the state of great perfect mirror wisdom, which is always very pure, bright and clear? This is truly very difficult.
So, once ignorance arises, it covers this mirror in our minds. This is why we unenlightened beings suffer. We suffer because we cannot remain pure nor keep the mirror in our minds clear and bright. This is what we must work on. We cannot always be constantly hindered by ignorance. We must cultivate ourselves. Our ignorance comes from habitual tendencies. Our habitual tendencies follow us in our present circumstances. Therefore, the way we habitually react to people, matters and objects constantly obscures our minds. Indeed, our minds were intrinsically pure, so we must strive to eliminate our habitual tendencies to constantly reduce the afflictions of this world. So, in Buddhism we always say, “Let it go.” We learn how to let go in order to we can reduce [our afflictions].
Therefore, the only method of spiritual practice is to use our minds to experience and understand these principles. That is the only way.
As I have been constantly saying, whether we gather ordinary Hearers or those with the wisdom of Sariputra, even if their collective wisdom was pooled, they still would not be able to understand the Buddha’s state of mind. Even if those who are wiser than Hearers, such as Pratyekabuddhas, the Solitary Realizers, even if the wisdom of as many people as there are stalks of rice, hemp, bamboo and reeds were pooled together and focused, it would still be impossible to realize.
Earlier, I spoke of newly-inspired Bodhisattvas. These Bodhisattvas now know that they must draw near to the Buddha’s mind. As they draw near to Him, they know to awaken themselves and others, to save themselves and others. They have formed Bodhisattva-aspirations, [but comprehension was not possible] even if their minds were combined “wholeheartedly with wondrous wisdom.” These are hearts of newly-inspired Bodhisattvas. They “wholeheartedly with wondrous wisdom” awakened themselves and others. “Over kalpas as numerous as the Ganges’ sands,” over such a long period of time, “[they] contemplated it together, yet could not fathom the Buddha’s wisdom.” To understand the Buddha’s state of mind and wisdom, they still have quite a ways to go.
So, we must seek that mindset.
This term “wholeheartedly” is about one mind. The mind is replete with the Ten Dharma-realms. [It contains] Buddha-wisdom and is inconceivable and incomparable.
Each of our minds is “replete with the Ten Dharma-realms.” Previously, I have discussed this. Do you all remember the Ten Dharma-realms? The Six Unenlightened and Four Noble Realms all exist in our minds. If we have faith, our minds can pervade the Ten Dharma-realms. Therefore, if we do not take care of our minds, we will fall into the Six Unenlightened Realms.
There, if we practice the Ten Good Deeds, we ascend to heaven realm; if we uphold the Five Precepts, we remain in the human realm. If an evil thought arises, we face painful retributions in the Three Evil Realms the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. If we do not change our habitual tendencies, we will be in the asura realm. These are the Six Unenlightened Realms. We cannot control where we end up; our karmic retribution determines how we cycle through the Six Realms.
The Buddha came to this world to “open and reveal” [the Dharma] for us, to help us achieve understanding, step by step, and “realize and enter” it. There are Four Noble Realms, Hearers, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas. Hearers, Pratyekabuddhas and Bodhisattvas start by [eliminating] fragmentary samsara and continue practicing until they [eliminate] transformational samsara and achieve complete transcendence. Then they will truly be the same as Buddhas.
So right now, our minds are in the Ten Dharma-realms. We need to be diligent, so we can transcend the Six Unenlightened Realms and enter the stage of the Four Noble Realms. This is what we must strive for.
Not only has the Buddha already transcended the Six Unenlightened Realms, among the Four Noble Realms He has supreme, perfect, universal enlightenment. When we try to use our unenlightened minds to realize the state of Buddhahood, we find it inconceivable. So, “Buddha-wisdom is inconceivable and incomparable.” How can it be revealed to everyone?
Earlier the sutra text said, “the Dharma cannot be demonstrated.” We can only try to describe the appearance of the Dharma; there is no object we can take out to show. In short, when we learn the Buddha’s teachings, it is very important to put our hearts into realizing [the Dharma]. Only by doing so can we faithfully accept and practice the teachings and diligently make progress.
Indeed, the source of the path is inherently in our minds. Where do we go to find it? “There is no need to seek the Buddha on Vulture Peak; Vulture Peak is already in our own minds. In each person there is a stupa on Vulture Peak. We can practice at the foot of that stupa.” I often remind you that. “The source of the path is inherently in our minds. Upon awakening, wisdom will gush forth.” If we can become awakened, wisdom will gush forth like a spring, and we will never be obstructed by anything. Then we can wholeheartedly try to thoroughly understand the Buddha’s wisdom. Of course, we are still far away from it. As I always say, we must be mindful and diligent.