Episode 255 -Walk the Path to Virtue
>>”As Small Vehicle practitioners listen to. Great Vehicle teachings, they are shocked, have doubts and cannot understand it. Thus, conflicts arise in their minds. They regret not entering through the Great Vehicle teachings and hope to immediately learn the One Vehicle path.”
>> 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.
>> For the sake of this path, they vow to follow its teachings. People like this readily enter the path and grow in virtue as they walk it. They practice what they teach. From this, it can be seen that they have been practicing for a long time.
>> The Dharma-children of the Buddha: The Buddha’s original [teachings], which He had long guarded, were the true teachings of the One Vehicle, the ultimate, subtle and wondrous Dharma. The Buddha’s mind held this wondrous Dharma, the Dharma came out of His mouth, and the sounds entered their ears. From the Buddha’s mouth, they heard the sound of Dharma, which entered their hearts. Those who seek the Dharma and the path will give rise to and develop wisdom-life.
“As Small Vehicle practitioners listen to. Great Vehicle teachings,
they are shocked, have doubts and cannot understand it. Thus, conflicts arise in their minds.
They regret not entering through the Great Vehicle teachings
and hope to immediately learn the One Vehicle path.”
This is telling everyone that before the Buddha began giving the Lotus teachings, He manifested auspicious appearances, radiated light and entered the Samadhi of Infinite Meanings. That state is truly exceptional. In everyone’s heart, there was yearning, but also doubts. This was because, in the past, the Buddha never manifested these appearances. This scene truly shocked everyone. In particular when He emerged from Samadhi, He kept praising the one reality of the Great Vehicle Teachings.
But these Small Vehicle practitioners were used to how, in the past, the Buddha taught according to their capabilities. And after listening to His teachings, they had made some achievements. They knew how to engage in practice to transcend the suffering caused by impermanence in this world and the Six Realms. They were attached to this [practice], “attached to the Small [Vehicle] and biased toward emptiness.” So, when they heard the Great Vehicle teachings, they were shocked, had doubts and could not understand them. Shocked, because they wondered if their past spiritual practices were incorrect. Doubtful, because they questioned whether they could accept the Buddha’s teachings. So, “conflicts arose in their minds.”
When we engage in spiritual practice, the first requirement is to eliminate our doubts. We cannot have doubts. When we are on the broad path laid out by the Buddha’s great teachings, we must have faith. With faith, we have no doubts. So, in the process of learning the Right Dharma, we should exercise right thinking, right mindfulness and right conduct to honestly engage in spiritual practice. When our minds come in contact with the Right Dharma and great teachings, even if we used to only focus on our own awakening, the Buddha now wants us to also benefit others. This is walking the Bodhisattva-path. So, we do not need to be afraid.
For instance, a bhiksu once asked the Buddha, “I have engaged in spiritual practice, so my mind is bright and illuminating. I attained this state because of my practice. If I go and teach others, would my merits, my behavior and the radiance of my pure mind be parceled out to other people?”
So, the Buddha used a candle as an analogy. “Once the candle in your heart is lit, if someone lights their candle with yours, would that diminish your candlelight? No, venerable Buddha, the flame of this candle would remain the same. Even if others use it to light their own, my candle will shine just as brightly as before. Yes, even if thousands of candles are lit from yours, the flame of your candle will remain the same while the brightness of the space grows from the radiance of all those candles. So, then wouldn’t the world be even brighter?” Yes, this was one of many analogies that the Buddha used.
Although He now wanted people to set aside the Small Vehicle and practice the Great Vehicle, He knew people might be afraid because they could not understand it. Thus, “conflicts arise in their minds.” Some people may “regret not entering through the Great Vehicle teachings.” They may feel that what they practiced in the past was a waste of time and wonder why they could not directly accept the Great Vehicle teachings in the beginning.
Take a starving person for example. They eat a bowl of rice, but after that, they still feel hungry. So, they eat another bowl, and now they feel full. They may wonder, “If the bowl I just ate made me full, was the first bowl I ate unnecessary?” So, they feel great regret. “Had I known this, I would have only eaten this latter bowl.” Do things really work this way? If you did not eat the first bowl, how could the second bowl make you full? They are like people who “regret not entering through the Great Vehicle teachings.”
Indeed, I have previously said that provisional teachings are also wondrous. What the Buddha taught in the past were subtle and wondrous skillful means. This was how He gave [suitable teachings]. What we need to accept now is subtle, wondrous, extremely profound, unsurpassed Right Dharma. This is the wondrous Dharma, also called wondrous True Dharma. So, we do not need to be shocked or have doubts, nor do we need to feel regret.
Let us be mindful. The people at the Lotus Dharma-assembly finally reached this point of understanding. So, they wholeheartedly and reverently prayed that the Buddha would quickly teach the True Dharma of the One Vehicle, so they could understand it. So, they “hoped to immediately listen to the One Vehicle path.” This was their mentality at the time.
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.
Earlier we talked about, “For the sake of the ultimate Dharma and for the sake of this path.” They all hoped that the Buddha would promptly teach the subtle, wondrous Great Vehicle teaching that He had guarded in His mind for over 40 years.
Sariputra requested the Dharma on their behalf in the hopes the Buddha would quickly teach the ultimate Dharma. The ultimate Dharma, as we discussed yesterday, is the ultimate awakening we perfect by engaging in great practices. This kind of awakening is the realization of the principles of all things in the universe. Absolute Truth comes from supreme, perfect and universal enlightenment. Awakening ourselves and others is the ultimate Dharma. So, we must learn the ultimate Dharma. For the sake of this path, they vow to follow its teachings. People like this readily enter the path and grow in virtue as they walk it. They practice what they teach. From this, it can be seen that they have been practicing for a long time.
Next, we discuss “for the sake of this path.” What does it mean to follow the path? We vow to follow the teachings of the path. We make vows from the bottom of our hearts. Expressing these wishes is called making vows. “Vows as vast as the universe.” Do you still remember the spiritual state of the Bodhisattvas mentioned in the Sutra of Infinite Meanings? They made “vows as vast as the universe.” So, a mind that “vows to follow the teachings of the path” and one that makes “vows as vast as the universe” are the same. When we vow from the bottom of our hearts, these vows are very great vows. This is [a great] mindset.
So, we are now all willing to “follow the teachings of the path.” If people can follow the teachings of the path, “people like this readily enter the path.” If we are willing to practice the Buddha’s teachings, we can accept them with great ease. Then we can quickly, readily enter the path.
We must always stay on this road as we move forward. We must not worry about going too slowly; we must walk steadily. Our every step must be firm; we cannot rush forward because a slight misstep may take us far off course. So, we should not just seek to attain things quickly. The most important thing is to follow the teachings of the path. Then our steps will naturally be steady as we grow in virtue and head toward our goal. In this way, we can tread safely and will not easily deviate onto an evil path.
So, we “grow in virtue as we walk the path.” If we steadfastly engage in spiritual practice, we will walk a firm and stable path, the great and straight Bodhi-path. If we can walk the path with this mindset, one step forward at a time, we will then grow in virtue as we progress in our practice. So, we “grow in virtue as we walk the path.” If we can walk according to His teachings, naturally we will advance and gradually grow in virtue.
We “practice what we preach.” We cannot deviate from it. As it was clearly stated, if we have overbearing arrogance, we will easily give rise to doubts and go astray. So, we must “practice what we preach.” From this, we can recognize that “they have been practicing for a long time.” This is something we should know. When we “practice what we preach,” we must treat it as a long journey and walk that road steadily.
Similarly, in life, we are born as infants and then [grow] with the passage of time. As the days and years pass, we gradually grow older. This is all part of the natural cycle. In life, no matter how we practice, we still cannot escape the natural course of life. So, we must practice according to the teachings. Although it will take a long time, we must have patience.
So, [we are] “the Dharma-children of the Buddha.” We must be mindful because earlier we discussed what, “for the sake of this path, the Dharma-children of the Buddha [did].” This is Sariputra praising the Buddha and asking Him to reveal the ultimate Dharma, so we can follow this road to move forward and engage in spiritual practice because we are. “Dharma-children of the Buddha.” We are all the Buddha’s Dharma-children. Our bodies were given to us by our parents, so we can use them, and fortunately encounter the Buddha. The Buddha verbally passed on the wisdom of the teachings in His heart to help our wisdom develop. So, the Buddha’s teachings can nourish our wisdom-life. Thus, we are “the Dharma-children of the Buddha.”
The Dharma-children of the Buddha: The Buddha’s original [teachings], which He had long guarded, were the true teachings of the One Vehicle, the ultimate, subtle and wondrous Dharma. The Buddha’s mind held this wondrous Dharma, the Dharma came out of His mouth, and the sounds entered their ears. From the Buddha’s mouth, they heard the sound of Dharma, which entered their hearts. Those who seek the Dharma and the path will give rise to and develop wisdom-life.
This [commentary] passage speaks of “the Buddha’s original [teachings], which He had long guarded.” Since the moment of His enlightenment, His mind had been connected with the universe. At that time, His spiritual state became vast and boundless. He made vows as vast as the universe. At that time, He felt that He needed to quickly share this mindset with everyone. However, sentient beings have, for a long time, since Beginningless Time, cycled through the Six Realms and [accumulated] ignorance and habitual tendencies. So, they could not easily accept [this teaching].
Even Prince Siddhartha had to spend five years traveling and six in ascetic practice so that in that instant, His mind could converge with the stars to awaken. This moment of awakening was not independent of those many years of ascetic practice and travels. He did not instantly attain that enlightenment. That was not the case. So, aside from His aspirations and practice in that lifetime, indeed in His past lives, as the Buddha said many times, He had drawn near trillions of Buddhas. This took a very long period of time. Now he had appeared in the world and reached enlightenment. His mindset at that instant of enlightenment [was what He originally wanted to teach].
He originally intended to give these teachings but felt that sentient beings could not accept them. So, He used many ways to transform people, yet [His original teachings] were the thoughts “He had long guarded.” How long? Lifetime after lifetime, they had continually accumulated until now, 42 years after [He attained enlightenment], when He was finally ready to fully share them with everyone. So, it was said, “the Buddha’s original [teachings], which He had long guarded, [were] the true teachings of the One Vehicle.” The Buddha’s original [teachings] were the true teachings of the One Vehicle, the ultimate, subtle and wondrous Dharma.
So, “the Buddha’s mind held wondrous Dharma. The Dharma came out of His mouth, and the sound entered their ears.” When the Buddha spoke, people’s ears received the sound. So, “from the Buddha’s mouth, they heard the sound of Dharma, which entered their hearts.” When the Buddha spoke, people listened. From His mouth, from His words, they took the sound of the Dharma into their minds. So, “those who seek the Dharma and the path will give rise to and develop wisdom-life.” I often say when seeds are healthy and germinate, the sprout will gradually grow. This is how our wisdom-life works.
A physical life lasts only a few decades, but wisdom-life spans many lifetimes. If we know the law of karma, then in our daily living, everything we say will be in line with the teachings of the path. When we do this, we are nurturing our wisdom-life. So, we must always be mindful.