Episode 241 – Waiting for the Causes and Conditions to Teach
>>”The Buddha’s wisdom is inestimable and indescribable. The ultimate reality of our nature cannot be verbalized nor seen. Seek the Dharma with utmost sincerity; the Buddha waits for conditions to mature before He teaches.”
>>”Why now does the World-Honored One earnestly praise skillful means? For 40 years the teachings He gave were all provisional, skillful means. Is what we have realized also skillful means?” This is the doubt about skillful means.
>>”The Dharma attained by the Buddha is extremely profound and difficult to understand. As to what He has said, His intent is difficult to know.”
>>”When the Buddha spoke of liberation, I understood it and have attained Nirvana.” They mistook the Nirvana of the Two Vehicles for the ultimate liberation of the Buddha. Therefore, they did not know the meaning behind the Tathagata’s earnest praise.
>>”As to what He has said, His intent is difficult to know. None of the Hearers or Pratyekabuddhas could grasp it.”
>> As to what He has said, in order to teach according to sentient beings’ capabilities and accommodate practitioners of all three capabilities, the Buddha established skillful means.
>> Also, the Dharma expounded by the Tathagata in the past, present and future, the worldly and world-transcending Dharma, was all given for the sake of transforming sentient beings. Thus, the Buddha had to give many teachings, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, boundless and endless.
“The Buddha’s wisdom is inestimable and indescribable.
The ultimate reality of our nature cannot be verbalized nor seen.
Seek the Dharma with utmost sincerity;
the Buddha waits for conditions to mature before He teaches.”
We recognize that the Buddha’s wisdom is inestimable. We ordinary people are certainly far behind Him. Right now we are listening to the vast differences between the principles in the Lotus Sutra and the skillful means He taught in the past. Just how different are they? [The difference] is truly “indescribable.” We cannot use language to describe the vast differences between them.
So, rather than making vague estimates, we should just return to our intrinsic nature, the ultimate reality of our nature. Within our minds, we all intrinsically have Buddha-nature, an intrinsic nature of True Suchness that is “no greater in Buddhas, no less in sentient beings.” Both ordinary beings and Buddhas have the same ultimate reality in their nature.
Although it is indeed as we say, it “cannot be verbalized nor seen.” We cannot describe it in words or show it tangibly. Do we still remember? The previous passage stated, “The Dharma cannot be demonstrated.” The Dharma expounded by the Buddha cannot be produced as a material object. This Dharma is inherent in everyone’s mind; it cannot be seen, so we have to mindfully experience it.
Look at how so many environmentalists from around the world come to Taiwan nowadays to [learn our methods]. They come to our recycling stations to observe with their own eyes how we reuse and recycle things. [They see] bottles and cans, papers and plastics, and so on, piled high as a mountain. They see many people working very joyously, and they listen to old folks in their 80s and 90s also listen to old folks in their 80s and 90s explain [what happens with] each object there.
Whether these visitors have PhDs, are professors or well-known experts, when they come here, they listen to and [learn from] the practical experiences of these elderly Bodhisattvas. These people from around the world find what they hear makes sense and become very touched. They also say they will take these methods back to their countries. This is the Dharma. It is all around us in this world. Therefore, all things in the world are our teachers.
Doctors treat patients as their teachers. We spiritual practitioners see all things in the world as our teachers. So, all things can inspire our minds and natures. Therefore, as we learn the Buddha’s Way, we must always be mindful. So, “the ultimate reality of our nature cannot be verbalized nor seen.” We cannot just talk the talk, with nothing to show for it; we must take action. All things in the world have an appearance, and all appearances contain the Dharma. In the end, what can we point to as the appearance of Dharma? Therefore, the Dharma is hard to describe. It can only be expressed by the actions that it has led us to take. So, we must be very mindful to comprehend it.
We all must have spiritual aspirations and seek the Dharma with utmost sincerity. We must use a heart of utmost sincerity to listen to the Dharma and put it into practice. If our practice is superficial, it will be very difficult for the Dharma to penetrate our hearts. It is not simply “not easy,” but it is indeed very difficult. So, if we seek the Dharma with utmost sincerity, no matter how far apart in time we are from the Buddha, He is still waiting for our capabilities and conditions to mature to teach us.
The Buddha’s Dharma, His wisdom-life, is still spreading in this world. As long as people in the world still have the sincere resolve to seek the Dharma, when the conditions are mature, He will manifest to give teachings.
The Buddha continuously waits for conditions to manifest and teach. He wants to help us understand that however profound the Dharma is, it is in fact very simple. However, practitioners of the Three Vehicles and fourfold assembly still cannot comprehend it. So, His teachings are extremely profound and difficult to understand. Actually, they are not difficult to understand, it is just that there is still some distance between the Buddha and us. Therefore, as I said earlier, rather than always looking outward, we need to look inward to find our nature of True Suchness. But the sutra states, “Why now does the World-Honored One repeatedly praise skillful means?”
“Why now does the World-Honored One earnestly praise skillful means? For 40 years the teachings He gave were all provisional, skillful means. Is what we have realized also skillful means?” This is the doubt about skillful means.
The fourfold assembly wondered why all of the Buddha’s teachings over the past 40-plus years were skillful means. Did this mean that they had only realized skillful means? They wondered if they had walked the path of skillful means in vain. Had the spiritual practice they engaged in [led to nothing]? Had it? No, there was truth in it. The principles are the same.
If we can all understand these principles, we will recognize that the Buddha’s past teachings were still based on the principles. They were wondrous provisional [teachings]. Provisional [teachings] are skillful and suitable means that help familiarize people with the surroundings, and eventually take them to their destination.
So, when people heard the Buddha say, “My past [teachings] were skillful means. I will now go back and teach the ultimate truth,” some people were doubtful. In the past 42 years, were all of the Buddha’s teachings skillful means? If that was the case, then was everything they had realized skillful, and not the true [principles]? Skillful refers to something that is not the ultimate, to an explanation based on analogies. Actually, [skillful means] are true.
It is also the case that if we are not carefully guided, our minds will be filled with ignorance, afflictions, arrogance and pride. And if our minds are still completely filled with afflictions, how can we accept the ultimate truth, our pure intrinsic true nature? Skillful means are just like water; they can slowly cleanse the mind until it is [completely] pure. Therefore, skillful means are also Dharma, and they are particularly suited to us.
But, everyone still thought,
“The Dharma attained by the Buddha is extremely profound and difficult to understand. As to what He has said, His intent is difficult to know.”
They all believed [the Buddha] now wanted them to understand the True Dharma of. His intrinsic nature of True Suchness, which is very profound and difficult to understand; how would the Buddha explain it? “The Dharma attained by the Buddha is extremely profound and difficult to understand.” Sakyamuni Buddha Himself told everyone this. Now, He would teach the One Vehicle Dharma that He had guarded in His mind for over 40 years. The Dharma He attained is extremely profound and difficult to understand. This is what the Buddha told everyone before He gave the [Lotus teachings].
For a long time, I have constantly told all of you that Sakyamuni Buddha’s wisdom was equal to that of past Buddhas from countless kalpas. Sakyamuni Buddha and all past Buddhas thoroughly understood the ultimate reality of all things in the universe. Although we have wisdom equal to all Buddhas’, we have not yet achieved full understanding. Therefore, there are doubts in our minds about when exactly we will finally be able to be equal to Buddhas and thoroughly understand Their principles.
So, from “what [the Buddha] said, His intent is difficult to know.” This is in the passage we are discussing. The Dharma attained by the Buddha was very profound. The intent and direction of the Buddha’s mind, the meaning and course of His teachings, are still truly difficult to understand for us ordinary beings.
“When the Buddha spoke of liberation, I understood it and have attained Nirvana.” They mistook the Nirvana of the Two Vehicles for the ultimate liberation of the Buddha. Therefore, they did not know the meaning behind the Tathagata’s earnest praise.
“When the Buddha spoke of liberation, I understood it and have attained Nirvana.” They all believed that they had accepted the Buddha’s teachings on liberation. After accepting it, their minds also became very tranquil and still. Because of this belief, they mistakenly thought that the Nirvana of Two Vehicle practitioners was the ultimate teaching of the Buddha. This is because ordinary beings are arrogant and have attachments. They all thought, “I have understood and comprehended everything the Buddha taught, so my mind is already very tranquil, and thus I have already attained ultimate liberation.” They all believed this, so they remained at that stage and did not want to diligently move forward.
So, they did not know why the Tathagata earnestly praised and kept talking about how He taught skillful means in the past and was going to give true teachings in the future. This was what people did not understand. Because of their lack of understanding, [we] must recognize that,
“As to what He has said, His intent is difficult to know. None of the Hearers or Pratyekabuddhas could grasp it.”
The Dharma the Buddha had taught truly had deep and profound meanings, even the simple and superficial teachings. You can ask sentient beings, “Do you know? Yes. Can you change? Eventually.” They are all like this. Truly, changing is very difficult. Why is it so difficult? Because we do not fully understand and these clear principles have yet to penetrate our minds. If we only listen, we cannot change our deeply-rooted habitual tendencies. This is how we unenlightened beings behave.
What about spiritual practitioners? They also hinder themselves; they have the “hindrance of knowledge.” We often hear people say, “I know, I know.” Yet after they say, “I know,” they hinder themselves by thinking they already know everything.
But, when they face the Buddha, He tells them, “What you have practiced in the past was only one stage. To truly get close to the state of Buddhahood, [to learn] the ultimate reality of One Vehicle,” they must switch to the great path of the Great Vehicle. “His intent is difficult to know.” If we keep going on this great path, where will we end up? This is such a great path. In the past, we were on a very narrow path and had become familiar and comfortable with it. Then, suddenly, we are on this broad path; do we know how to walk it or where we are going? We do not know. This is why we have doubts. What kinds of people have doubts? “Hearers or Pratyekabuddhas.”
As to what He has said, in order to teach according to sentient beings’ capabilities and accommodate practitioners of all three capabilities, the Buddha established skillful means.
So, “what He has said,” is what He taught according to capacities, to accommodate practitioners of all three capabilities. The Buddha had been giving teachings for over 40 years to those of higher, average and lower capabilities; He had to perfectly teach all of them at once. Thus, the same sentence had to be accepted by those of different capabilities. This is how He accommodated practitioners of all three capabilities.
Also, the Dharma expounded by the Tathagata in the past, present and future, the worldly and world-transcending Dharma, was all given for the sake of transforming sentient beings. Thus, the Buddha had to give many teachings, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, boundless and endless.
[He] now wanted them to turn from past teachings and return to the Dharma of the One Vehicle, the Great Vehicle. Think about it. How could Hearers and. Pratyekabuddhas accept this? The Buddha’s wisdom was so broad and great. They all thought, “I will just continue to do the same thing. How could I teach with one perfect voice and accommodate all three capabilities like the Buddha did?” So, everyone doubted their own abilities.
The Buddha kept encouraging us that “[the nature of] all Buddhas, minds and sentient beings do not differ.” As long as each of us are sincere and devoted, the Buddha will wait forever for [the right] conditions. When karmic conditions mature, He will begin to expound the Dharma. However, every single teaching is True Dharma. Earlier I said that all phenomena are Dharma, and all Dharma are revealed by the True Suchness of our intrinsic nature. If we have thorough understanding, “True Suchness helps us realize ultimate reality.” If we use the wisdom of the True Suchness of our intrinsic nature to understand all things in the world, everything is Dharma.
Therefore, spiritual practitioners treat all things in the world as teachers, just as a doctor treats patients as their teachers. In summary, we must better understand that the worldly Dharma is really the Buddha’s true teachings. So, we must always be mindful.