Episode 267 – For Deep Understanding, Eliminate Doubts
>>”The Tathagata, compassionate and wise, exercises loving-kindness to awaken wisdom. This enables sentient beings to see the truth. Pure faith and understanding are like a mirror that reflects external conditions. Distance yourself from doubts and regret to achieve faithful and joyful acceptance.”
>> The Buddha again stopped Sariputra, “If this matter was spoken of, heavenly beings, humans and asuras in all worlds would be shocked and begin to doubt, and bhiksus with overbearing arrogance would fall into the big pit.”
>> Among “those with overbearing arrogance,” bhiksus are specifically mentioned. Since they were leaders of the fourfold assembly, we use “bhiksus” to refer to all four groups.
>> The Buddha kept in mind that if bhiksus with overbearing arrogance listened to Him expound the wondrous Dharma of the One Vehicle now, they would certainly wonder if it conflicted with the Two Vehicle teachings He previously gave.
>> When they become doubtful, they will give rise to overbearing arrogance, commit the wrongdoing of speaking lies and fall into hell. Therefore, the sutra states, “They would fall into the big pit.” Because the Buddha had great compassion, before this group of people left the assembly, He patiently withheld His teachings.
>>”At that time, Sariputra again addressed the Buddha, saying, ‘World-Honored One, I only pray that You will speak it; I only pray that You will speak it.'”
>> That which is called wondrous Dharma cannot be understood by those without profound wisdom. The Buddha used provisional teachings of the Two Vehicles as skillful means to teach the One Vehicle. Before He proclaimed these teachings, people could not know or understand. Therefore, it is called wondrous. So, these skillful teachings could not be easily respected and believed by those with overbearing arrogance.
“The Tathagata, compassionate and wise, exercises loving-kindness to awaken wisdom.
This enables sentient beings to see the truth.
Pure faith and understanding are like a mirror that reflects external conditions.
Distance yourself from doubts and regret to achieve faithful and joyful acceptance.”
This is telling everyone that the Tathagata, Sakyamuni Buddha, always exercises His compassion and wisdom. For the sake of sentient beings, He adapts various methods to suit their capabilities. He hopes that everyone can be happy and filled with Dharma-joy.
“This enables sentient beings to see the truth.” The Buddha had only one wish, that sentient beings could realize His intent that sentient beings could realize His intent and take His teachings to heart. He hopes that all sentient beings can realize what He has realized and can also see what He sees, so they can attain the state of Buddhahood. This is what it means to “see the truth. Truth” here means the absolute truth of the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle.
This is the Buddha’s wish for sentient beings, so He wants to guide all of us to have “pure faith and understanding.” With pure minds, we can then believe in and comprehend the Buddha’s intent. If we have impure minds, we cannot thoroughly understand His mind. So, in order to thoroughly understand the Buddha’s mind, we must have pure faith and understanding.
The mind is like a mirror that reflects external conditions, If the mirror in our minds can reflect the Buddha’s state of mind, doesn’t that mean we have reached a state equal to His? The Buddha’s understanding and views will then be our understanding and views. For our understanding and views to be like His is not impossible. However, our “pure faith and understanding” is not yet thorough enough. Because it is not yet thorough enough, our faith and understanding is not yet pure, so we must put in great effort to “distance ourselves from doubts and regret.”
If we have faith, we do not have doubts. If we have doubts, we cannot grow roots of faith. So, if we have doubts, we cannot realize the pure wondrous Dharma. If we do not seize these karmic conditions, the Dharma will leave our hearts and end up very far from our state of mind. So, we must always have deep faith in the Buddha’s teachings; we must not have any more doubts. If we have doubts, they will obstruct our spiritual cultivation.
If we can distance ourselves [from doubts], we can give rise to faith and utmost sincerity to accept the Buddha’s teachings. With such “faithful and joyful acceptance,” we will work very hard. Faith leads to understanding and hard work. The Buddha’s mind, understanding and views will all be very clear to us. The Dharma-joy that arises at that moment comes from faithful acceptance.
So, everyone, to learn the Buddha’s teachings, we must learn the Buddha’s wisdom. In learning the Buddha’s wisdom, if we do not have faith, we will remain very far from the Buddha. We must believe that the Buddha is always, for the sake of sentient beings, exercising compassion and wisdom. His one great cause is always to enable sentient beings to clearly see true principles. This is the Buddha’s wish.
We sentient beings must develop pure faith and understanding, so we can purify the mirror of our minds. We must distance ourselves from doubts, so we can immediately give rise to faith in and accept the Dharma. The resulting sense of Dharma-joy is what we are really seeking; our goal in life is to reach the state of Buddhahood. So, we must always be mindful.
Earlier we [mentioned] that, several times, the Buddha said, “Stop, stop, there is no need to speak further.” This was repeated three times. But Sariputra still persisted in asking Him [to teach the Dharma]. The Buddha gave the same answer, because those in the assembly such as “heavenly beings, humans and asuras in all worlds would be shocked and begin to doubt.” He considered their capabilities and was worried that they would have fears and doubts.
The Buddha again stopped Sariputra, “If this matter was spoken of, heavenly beings, humans and asuras in all worlds would be shocked and begin to doubt, and bhiksus with overbearing arrogance would fall into the big pit.”
More importantly, there were “those with overbearing arrogance,” which referred to the fourfold assembly. That included bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas and upasikas. They were the Buddha’s human disciples.
Among “those with overbearing arrogance,” bhiksus are specifically mentioned. Since they were leaders of the fourfold assembly, we use “bhiksus” to refer to all four groups.
Bhiksus were the leaders of the fourfold assembly. Now the Buddha was about to teach the One Vehicle Dharma, but these disciples’ faith was not deep enough. These bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas and upasikas would, as they listened to this teaching, doubt the Two Vehicle principles He taught before.
The Two Vehicles are the Small and Middle Vehicles. In the past He spoke about the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence. They teach us that coming to this world, we face unbearable suffering in the cyclic existence of the Six Destinies. So, we must practice diligently to eliminate “fragmentary samsara.” We must return to our pure intrinsic nature to transcend the Three Realms and the Six Destinies. These were the Two Vehicle principles that the Buddha previously taught.
But now suddenly, He set aside those skillful means to teach the true, subtle and wondrous Dharma. So, people were frightened and had doubts. “Were the teachings that I practiced not the true teachings? I had finally developed a sense of renunciation toward this world and had finally eliminated my past afflictions. Now, the Buddha is teaching about walking the Bodhisattva-path.” Practicing the Bodhisattva-path requires returning to the Saha World. So, this may stir up fear in some people as it conflicted with and contradicted the teachings they had learned in the past.
The Buddha kept in mind that if bhiksus with overbearing arrogance listened to Him expound the wondrous Dharma of the One Vehicle now, they would certainly wonder if it conflicted with the Two Vehicle teachings He previously gave.
If they had doubts in their minds, they would give rise to overbearing arrogance. They felt, “I have already eliminated all afflictions, so I will no longer transmigrate in the Six Destinies; I have already transcended the Three Realms. So, I am already at a higher level than other people.” This was how their minds would give rise to arrogance.
Indeed, if spiritual practitioners have not eliminated their afflictions, they can easily give rise to overbearing arrogance. Overbearingly arrogant people “claim to have attained what they have not.” They have not attained [true understanding] but feel that they understood everything and know all they need to know. So, they speak falsely and “claim to have attained what they have not.” They clearly have not attained [full understanding], but claim that they have. They say they fully understood the teachings. With the wrongdoing of telling this great lie, they could easily fall into hell. Thus, the sutra mentions how they would “fall into the big pit.”
When they become doubtful, they will give rise to overbearing arrogance, commit the wrongdoing of speaking lies and fall into hell. Therefore, the sutra states, “They would fall into the big pit.” Because the Buddha had great compassion, before this group of people left the assembly, He patiently withheld His teachings.
The “big pit” is hell. The Buddha was compassionate, so He did not want to cause these people to create more karma. Therefore, “the Buddha had great compassion. Before this group of people left,” before they had left the assembly, “He patiently withheld His teachings.” As there were still such people at the assembly, the Buddha still said, “Stop, there is no need to speak further.” He stopped Sariputra again, “Enough. Say no more,” because there were still such people at the assembly.
But, Sariputra began to earnestly request teachings again. The sutra also states,
“At that time, Sariputra again addressed the Buddha, saying, ‘World-Honored One, I only pray that You will speak it; I only pray that You will speak it.'”
We really have to be grateful to Sariputra. If not for his persistence in sincerely requesting the teachings, this Dharma, the ultimate reality of the One Vehicle, would not be appearing before us now.
The Buddha stopped three times, and Sariputra asked three times. This shows how wondrous the Dharma is. Because the Dharma is wondrous, there is no way it can just be simply spoken. Only people with profound wisdom, mature capabilities and a deep root of faith can begin to accept such teachings.
That which is called wondrous Dharma cannot be understood by those without profound wisdom. The Buddha used provisional teachings of the Two Vehicles as skillful means to teach the One Vehicle. Before He proclaimed these teachings, people could not know or understand. Therefore, it is called wondrous. So, these skillful teachings could not be easily respected and believed by those with overbearing arrogance.
So, this “cannot be understood by those without profound wisdom.” The Buddha’s understanding and views, this extremely profound, subtle and wondrous Dharma requires profound wisdom, a deep root of faith and expansive wisdom in order to be understood.
Therefore, “the Buddha used the provisional teachings of the Two Vehicles as skillful means to teach the One Vehicle.” In fact, the skillful means that were taught by the Buddha for over 40 years can now also inspire [understanding] of the One Vehicle. If that first flight of stairs was not built, how could people reach the higher floors? We cannot just directly go to the seventh floor to see the beautiful view from there. If we start by building the seventh floor, is that even possible? We must first build the foundation. A seven-story building is built from the ground up, so for people to understand this extremely profound, subtle and wondrous. One Vehicle Dharma, [the Buddha] had to begin by slowly guiding those who could not understand the Dharma.
Since Beginningless Time, sentient beings have been blinded by ignorance. So, the Buddha had to guide and instruct us, one step at a time. Without the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Cyclic Existence, how could He teach the Six Paramitas? So, there is a sequence to the Buddha’s teachings. Today, wondrous Dharma can be taught because past skillful means slowly guided sentient beings until their capabilities matured.
The great Dharma of the One Vehicle is the teaching of the Bodhisattva-path. So, those who practice the Two Vehicle teachings were frightened of it. “Before the Buddha proclaimed these teachings,” people did not understand it. Before listening to these teachings, no one understood it. Therefore, these teachings are wondrous. So, they wondered why this teaching told them to return to the Saha World after they were finally able to leave it. They did not understand the wondrously profound [principle behind] maintaining a world-transcending spirit while returning to this world on a mission. This all depends on our minds. If we maintain an unwavering mindset as we return to the Saha World, we will not be defiled by the karmic forces here we will not be defiled by the karmic force here. So, this is what we aim to do with our spiritual practice.
Therefore, the past provisional teachings are the foundation of the present wondrous Dharma. “So, these skillful teachings are not easily respected and believed by those with overbearing arrogance.” Because of those without faith and understanding, the Buddha withheld the teachings. This is what we must understand.
So, this section of the sutra describes how, for a long period of time, Sariputra kept sincerely making requests. But, the Buddha stopped three times and still hesitated in giving the teachings. Indeed, He was considering whether it was appropriate to give teachings to this group. He wanted to teach “according to the people, time and place.” The place was right, and the timing was also right, but among the people, there were some whose karmic conditions were not yet mature.
Everyone, whether we are mature enough to accept great teachings really depends on us. Therefore, we must always be mindful.