Episode 253 – Behold the Dharma with Admiration
>>”The assembly’s doubts revealed everyone’s admiration for the profound teachings. The perfect radiance of the three kinds of wisdom can eliminate the darkness of doubt. By listening to the essence of the Buddha-Dharma, we develop our wisdom-life. The Buddha’s mind safeguards His Dharma-children.”
>>”Bhiksus, bhiksunis, all heavenly beings, dragon, ghosts, spirits gandharvas and so on, look at one another hesitantly, and then gaze up at the Two-Footed Honored One. What is the meaning of all this? I hope the Buddha will explain it.”
>> He continued, “Among Hearers, the Buddha declared me foremost. And yet now even with my level of wisdom, I cannot resolve my own doubts. For the sake of the ultimate Dharma and for the sake of this path, the Dharma-children of the Buddha, with palms together, look up expectantly.”
>> I cannot resolve my doubts: With doubt of principles and confusion over things we cannot discern right from wrong. When we are not clear on matters, we do not understand the principles.
“The assembly’s doubts revealed everyone’s admiration for the profound teachings.
The perfect radiance of the three kinds of wisdom can eliminate the darkness of doubt.
By listening to the essence of the Buddha-Dharma, we develop our wisdom-life.
The Buddha’s mind safeguards His Dharma-children.”
This passage is sharing with everyone about what we have discussed before. Everyone was hesitant, all the spirits, bhiksus, bhiksunis, even Solitary Realizers, and those who made Bodhisattva-aspirations, the eight classes of Dharma-protectors and so on. At the Lotus Dharma-assembly, because the Buddha revealed the Great Vehicle Dharma, they all had doubts in their minds.
These doubts did not come from lack of faith in the Buddha, but out of admiration that. He still had deeper teachings. So, they doubted whether they could engage in this kind of spiritual practice to truly realize the Buddha’s understanding and views. They doubted they could realize the extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma. Of course, they all admired the Buddha-Dharma. So, the Buddha quickly revealed the Dharma that. He had been protecting in His mind, piece by piece, for everyone to understand. In teaching everyone,
the Buddha demonstrated that “the perfect radiance of the three kinds of wisdom can eliminate the darkness of doubt.” The Buddha used the radiance of the three kinds of wisdom to eliminate the ignorance, darkness and doubts in the minds of sentient beings. As long as people “listen to the essence of the Buddha-Dharma,” they will “develop their wisdom-life.”
The Buddha-Dharma is like [bone] marrow, which produces blood cells. Modern medical science is very advanced. Should our body’s ability to produce blood fail, if we are fortunate, medical advancements can help us find people with compatible stem cells. Then the compatible marrow stem cells can be extracted from the other person’s body. This is the “marrow” we speak of. Actually, nowadays marrow does not have be extracted from the bone; it is already circulating in our blood stream. In our blood, there are blood stem cells that can be used to save people. Once these peripheral blood stem cells are transplanted into the bone marrow of the person who needs it, naturally, their blood-producing function will be restored.
We ordinary people are like bodies with dysfunctional blood production. We obtain Dharma-marrow from the Buddha to supplement and recover our wisdom-life’s function of growth. So, the Buddha-Dharma is Dharma-marrow, the essence of our wisdom-life. For a long time, our bodies have been imbalanced, and we have lost this function. Now, by taking the Buddha’s wisdom and. His teachings into our minds, the Dharma-marrow of our wisdom-life will function again. This enables our wisdom-life to function and fulfill its potential. This also enables us to help others.
We see many [instances of patients] receiving someone’s bone marrow and becoming healthy again. When we can accept teachings and then help others, we are developing our wisdom-life.
“The Buddha’s mind safeguards [them].” After the Buddha attained enlightenment, in that instant, He wanted to immediately share that state of mind with everyone. But considering that sentient beings could not yet realize His understanding and views, He had to carefully guide them and exercise both compassion and wisdom. With compassion, He had empathy for their limited capabilities and wisdom and for the long time they had spent in the Six Realms, which caused them to endlessly create afflictions, preventing them from instantly realizing His understanding and views.
The Buddha first wanted to help us all to “refrain from all evils, do all good deeds.” By not committing evil, we will stop producing more karma, and gradually, our ignorance will disappear. When we do something good, we will be filled with Dharma-joy. This sense of Dharma-joy dilutes the suffering of afflictions and ignorance.
This is how the Buddha uses many methods to teach people to “refrain from all evils” and teach them about the law of karma. “Doing all good deeds” is how we sow blessings in the world. As we create blessings, we grow in wisdom, with which we realize the principles. This is a cycle of goodness. It is like the circulation of blood in our bodies. When the blood circulates properly, our bodies are healthier. Our wisdom-life works in the same way.
So, the previous passages stated,
“Bhiksus, bhiksunis, all heavenly beings, dragon, ghosts, spirits gandharvas and so on, look at one another hesitantly, and then gaze up at the Two-Footed Honored One. What is the meaning of all this? I hope the Buddha will explain it.”
Sariputra, on behalf of the assembly, requested that the Buddha quickly speak because everyone still had doubts. They were hesitant about the One Vehicle Dharma and whether they would be able to realize the Buddha’s understanding and views of the One Vehicle Dharma. This is what the previous passage was about.
He continued, “Among Hearers, the Buddha declared me foremost. And yet now even with my level of wisdom, I cannot resolve my own doubts. For the sake of the ultimate Dharma and for the sake of this path, the Dharma-children of the Buddha, with palms together, look up expectantly.”
In this assembly of Hearers, the Buddha constantly praised him, Sariputra, as foremost in wisdom in the assembly. The Buddha said he was foremost in wisdom. Now he, Sariputra, foremost in wisdom, wanted to more deeply understand the Buddha-Dharma and His understanding and views, His profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma. Sariputra himself still “could not resolve his doubts.” He was the same as them. He said that everyone had doubts, and that actually included himself. He had the same doubts they did and could not fully penetrate the Buddha’s teachings.
[He asked] “for the sake of the ultimate Dharma for the sake of this path,” The teaching the Buddha wanted to give was the ultimate Dharma. This was the path the Buddha had walked on. People say that to know how to walk this road, we must ask those who have walked it before so that we can know if it is easy or hard, if it is straight or winding. To know, we must ask someone who has walked it.
At its ultimate, this is the One Vehicle Dharma, an extremely profound, subtle and wondrous teaching. This is the road the Buddha had traveled. The Buddha said that. He had made offerings to countless Buddhas in the past. He [practiced] in Their presence and drew near all Their teachings. So, on the road the Buddha traveled, He went to many spiritual practice centers, and had already experienced much. This is why the Buddha understood everything and why we still do not understand.
“The Dharma-children of the Buddha, with palms together, looked up expectantly.” They all greatly anticipated [hearing] this ultimate Dharma and the Buddha’s experiences from these various spiritual practice centers. They eagerly waited for the Buddha to open His mouth and give these teachings.
So, from the Buddha’s verbal teachings arose “the Dharma-children of the Buddha.” This is because the Dharma has entered through our ears. The Dharma is spoken by the Buddha’s mouth and is heard and absorbed by our ears.
The Buddha’s teachings were safeguarded in His mind for over 40 years. What the Buddha had initially wanted to say had been guarded until now. They hoped the Buddha would finally teach the ultimate Dharma that. He had guarded for over 40 years. The Dharma exits the Buddha’s mouth and enters their ears. So, they were “the Dharma-children of the Buddha.” Their hands were clasped reverently as they waited. This happened as Sariputra asked the Buddha to teach the true path of the One Vehicle.
Let us first understand. “I cannot resolve my own doubts.” Sariputra was the one praised by the Buddha. Among His retinue of 1250, all his disciples, the one foremost in wisdom was Sariputra. Sariputra had followed the Buddha for nearly 40 years, because the second year after the Buddha attained enlightenment, He transformed Sariputra and Maudgalyayana. So, Sariputra said, “I have followed the Buddha for a very long time. He says I am foremost in wisdom. Now, although I am foremost in wisdom, I still cannot understand. I still have doubts and delusions.”
The two words, “doubts” and “delusions” convey “doubt of principles and confusion over things.” If we doubt the principles, if we cannot penetrate them, we cannot thoroughly understand matters.
I cannot resolve my doubts: With doubt of principles and confusion over things we cannot discern right from wrong. When we are not clear on matters, we do not understand the principles.
Don’t I often say that if we deal with matters harmoniously, we will be in harmony with the principles. How can we harmoniously deal with matters? We must harmoniously interact with people. For our character to be harmonious, we must engage in spiritual practice. Greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt are emotions we must gradually weaken. Only then will we become harmonious. When we can harmoniously interact with people, we will do all things harmoniously. When our afflictions slowly fade away, our understanding of people, matters and things will be much clearer. Right is right; wrong is wrong. We must discern them clearly.
“When we are not clear on matters, we do not understand the principles.” If we are not clear on matters, how can we thoroughly understand the principles? So, the Sutra of Infinite Meanings tells us that if we [make] “vows as vast as the endless void,” naturally, “infinite Dharma-doors will readily appear before us,” and we “attain great wisdom and understand all Dharma.”
We must go among people. There is a spiritual training ground in each person. Each of them can assist in our spiritual practice. This is because we each have different habitual tendencies and perspectives. Whether they are correct or incorrect, they give us things to consider. If people have positive traits, if they are right, [we learn] principles from them. If a person is ignorant, we should be vigilant of that in ourselves. “Treat conflicts as lessons; do not turn disputes into conflicts.”
Indeed, this is how I live every day. I treat conflicts as lessons. If I do something right, I will be earnest and seize the moment to persevere in sustaining those actions. If I do something that is not right, I will see it as a warning as to not make the same mistakes again. So, when we are not clear on matters, we cannot understand principles.
“When we have doubts and delusions, we often feel regret and blame ourselves excessively.” This is a saying that appears later in the sutra. Because we have doubts and delusions, we feel great regret. When we make a mistake, there is a saying, “The greatest punishment is regret.” We have this regret because we made a mistake.
Sometimes, after we make a mistake, we engage in self-reflection. When we recognize we were wrong, we feel that our character is deficient. This comes from regret, from great remorse. Thus, “we blame ourselves excessively.” We ordinary people act in this way. We do not think things through clearly, so when a thought goes astray, we do as we please. Only after we make mistakes do we feel guilt and do we constantly try to examine ourselves and others. These things cause very severe afflictions, so we must understand them more deeply.
Fellow Bodhisattvas, as Buddhist practitioners, we must always be mindful. Actually, doubts are good things. If we have doubts, we will quickly seek [answers]. This shows our admiration for the Dharma and demonstrates our diligence. To develop our wisdom-life, we must take the truly essential and pure Dharma into our minds and apply it, not only focus on the words. If we always only focus on the words, then we cannot transcend. So, I hope you will all develop your wisdom-life and apply the Dharma accordingly. Therefore, we must always be mindful.