Episode 2 – Mindfully Seek the Dharma
>>”For the Buddha to elucidate teachings, there must be causes and conditions. Those without the wisdom of hearers will not believe or accept it. Without considering their own virtues, they claim to have attained what they have not. When one speaks a lie, thousands propagate it as the truth.”
>>”Supreme Two-Footed Honored One, I pray You will expound the supreme Dharma. I, as a senior disciple, sincerely implore You to explain it in detail.”
>> Merits from precepts and Samadhi, blessings and wisdom are like the Buddha’s two honored feet, which allow Him to freely travel through Dharma-realms.
>> The supreme Dharma: The state of mind that encompasses all the myriad forms, shapes and sizes of the world. Everything is captured within the One Dharma.
>> Supreme Two-Footed Honored One, I pray You will expound the supreme Dharma. I, as a senior disciple, sincerely implore You to explain it in detail.
>> Sariputra requested teachings on behalf of his fellow spiritual practitioners. So, he said that those who had been taught by the Buddha would certainly respect and believe Him. Those who accepted His teachings would benefit tremendously and attain the great joy of peace and safety.
>>”The countless beings assembled here will respect and believe this Dharma. For You have, life after life, taught ones such as these. With one mind, with palms together, we all want to receive Your words.”
“For the Buddha to elucidate teachings, there must be causes and conditions.
Those without the wisdom of hearers will not believe or accept it.
Without considering their own virtues, they claim to have attained what they have not.
When one speaks a lie, thousands propagate it as the truth.”
This is telling everyone, for the Buddha to share the Dharma in His mind, the causes and conditions must be complete. Regardless of the people, place or time, whenever He expounds the Dharma, the causes and conditions must all be present. Moreover, if the listeners are not replete with the wisdom of hearers, they will not faithfully accept great teachings.
Some with the right causes and conditions have encountered the Buddha’s teachings and believe they really understand it. They overestimate their own level of understanding, so they believe that they have understood everything. So, they naturally develop overbearing arrogance.
“Arrogance” alone can be split into seven categories. This shows how complex our minds are; These people act “without considering their own virtues. Considering” here means thoroughly evaluating. We evaluate ourselves to appraise our own wisdom and understand the actual extent of our knowledge. But, they do not [correctly] evaluate themselves. So, “without considering their own virtues, they claim to have attained what they had not.”
“What they had not” means they had not really attained or understood the Buddha’s teachings. Before really understanding it, ․they said, “We understand completely.” In truth, they did not understand the Dharma. But despite not understanding it, they still went out and taught; they shared their own understanding and misinterpretations of the principles with others. Then, others might believe this as truth. So, “when one speaks a lie, thousands propagate it as the truth.”
As we learn the Buddha’s teachings, we must constantly “consider” and ask ourselves, “How much do I really know?” If we truly understand something and can clearly discern right from wrong, then sharing our realizations with others will truly bring us infinite merits. But if our understanding is not quite right, we will lead people far off course. So, listening to the Dharma requires mindfulness and speaking requires great care. If we listeners are mindful, and the speaker is careful, then we will not go wrong.
The Buddha was very concerned about people who did not mindfully listen to the Dharma yet still shared their interpretation with others. The Buddha was very cautious around these kinds of people. He would not casually teach them the principles because He treasured everyone’s wisdom-life. For those with insufficient capabilities and wisdom, the Buddha held back [the teachings].
So, Sariputra kept sincerely asking for the Buddha to expound the Dharma. But the Buddha saw that the timing and the causes and conditions were not yet mature, so He kept holding back the True Dharma. But, Sariputra felt that it was simply not the right time yet, that the Buddha would teach that Dharma, just not now. So, Sariputra understood the Buddha’s intent. So in verse, he said,
“Supreme Two-Footed Honored One, I pray You will expound the supreme Dharma. I, as a senior disciple, sincerely implore You to explain it in detail.”
As previously discussed, the Buddha is the. Supreme Two-Footed Honored One. He is unsurpassed. Among those in the heaven and human realms, there is none with greater wisdom than He. Hence, He is “supreme.”
Merits from precepts and Samadhi, blessings and wisdom are like the Buddha’s two honored feet, which allow Him to freely travel through Dharma-realms.
Why is He described as “Supreme Two-Footed”? As we have discussed, since Beginningless Time when the Buddha began to engage in spiritual practice, He cultivated precepts and Samadhi. He upheld precepts and made vows replete with Samadhi and wisdom. He strictly abided by precepts.
We ordinary people are easily affected by our surroundings. Right now, we may want to change. But as we try to change and challenges arise, we may be tempted to violate [our resolve]. Thus, we cannot change. Some people reflect on and repent their mistakes. They feel they were very ignorant in the past, but now that they have gone through that, they say, “I must change.” Drinking, smoking, gambling and other habits are all unwholesome behaviors that they want to change. However, they say they need time. How much time? An endless amount. When their friends invite them, they join just like before. “Just once more. I will just go to one more gathering.” Then next time, their friends say, “One more time won’t hurt.” [They think,] “Yes, one more time won’t hurt. I’ll just go drinking one more time.” But this happens time after time. Time passes with every second, and those who do not change think there is always another chance; this goes on endlessly.
People with bad tempers may think, “I want to change; I know this is not right. I will change.” But when circumstance arises, they yell again. They may regret it and feel upset about how they were wrong to yell at others. Feeling upset is very painful. We may say to ourselves, “This is the last time I will yell. I will speak more cautiously in the future.” But when circumstances arise again, the words just burst out. These are our habitual tendencies. We always want to correct them. We keep aspiring to change and to uphold precepts. We keep forming aspirations and often say we want to change, but then we keep [doing things] we regret. Think about this, isn’t this very hard on us?
The Buddha, countless kalpas ago, formed His aspirations. Then He “maintained His original aspiration.” After this initial aspiration, countless kalpas passed. Lifetime after lifetime, He vigilantly upheld precepts. He strictly abided by them regardless of circumstances. He followed precepts in His thinking and actions. The way He interacted with His surroundings was guided by the principles of these precepts. So, regardless of the time or place, or of people’s capabilities, His actions were guided by His precepts, so He acted properly. Because He closely adhered to precepts, naturally His mind was in Samadhi.
This is where precepts come in. If we are replete with both precepts and Samadhi, naturally when we are among others, we will [do things to] benefit others and create blessings. [Cultivating] blessings and wisdom will always be a part of our interactions with others.
If we only cultivate precepts and Samadhi, that would be like having both arms but no legs. We need legs to move forward and to walk far. We also need strong arms, so we can do more things. So, blessings and wisdom are inseparable from precepts and Samadhi. Cultivating all four is like having four healthy limbs, like the Two-Footed Honored One. Theses are what the Buddha has practiced since Beginningless Time, the merits He has created internally and the virtues He has practiced externally. His inner and outer practices are unified.
Precepts and Samadhi are cultivated internally. Blessings and wisdom come from helping others. Together, they give rise to merits and virtues. The Buddha is the Two-Footed Honored One, so He can “travel through Dharma-realms.” He goes in and out of them without obstacle. No matter what kind of phenomena, what kind of environments or circumstances, what kind of challenges He encounters, everything is the Dharma appearing before Him. We ordinary people only see our surroundings but not the Dharma. When interpersonal conflicts arise, unpleasantness fills our minds, causing us to forget the Dharma. But for the Buddha, regardless of circumstances, the Dharma is always in His mind, so He will not commit transgressions.
He can “travel through Dharma-realms.” No matter where He is, He is filled with Dharma under all conditions. This is because He cultivated precepts and Samadhi, blessings and wisdom. So, as we engage in spiritual practice, we must be mindful. Learning the Dharma is easy. But when challenges arise, it disappears from our minds, so we continuously commit transgressions and feel regret. This is what we ordinary people are like. We may know the teachings, but afflictions still cover our [minds], ․so we often behave incorrectly so we often behave incorrectly. The Buddha makes no mistakes and just “travels through Dharma-realms.”
Next, “I pray You will expound the supreme Dharma.” The “supreme Dharma” is a state of mind where we have absorbed all teachings into our minds. The Buddha had taught for over 40 years. No matter what kind of capabilities people had, He gave teachings that suited them, so they could open their minds and understand. Sentient beings have 84,000 afflictions, so the Buddha opened 84,000 Dharma-doors. So, His [teachings] for different capabilities all came from a single state of mind.
Thus, “the supreme Dharma” consists of all the teachings that the Buddha had assimilated in His mind. This is “the supreme Dharma;” it is very subtle and wondrous.
How do we truly apply the Dharma that we hear? If we are mindful in listening to the Dharma, then we can really understand many things. Take impermanence for example. [Upon learning that] human life is impermanent, naturally those who are mindful, those who are closer to the Buddha’s heart, will also realize the impermanence of the world and the impermanence of all things. As they mindfully drew near the Buddha-mind, they could gradually realize this principle.
The supreme Dharma: The state of mind that encompasses all the myriad forms, shapes and sizes of the world. Everything is captured within the One Dharma.
The state of mind that encompasses all Dharma does not only exist in the Buddha. Every one of us can attain it, too. This just depends on how sincere we are in thoroughly grasping the importance of the mind. [This state] “encompasses all the myriad forms, shapes and sizes of the world.” With this state of mind, “everything is captured within the One Dharma.” This is the Buddha’s “supreme Dharma.”
Supreme Two-Footed Honored One, I pray You will expound the supreme Dharma. I, as a senior disciple, sincerely implore You to explain it in detail.
So, Sariputra asked the Buddha to expound the Dharma in His mind for them to thoroughly understand. Sariputra believed, “I am a senior disciple of the Buddha.” Because he was “foremost in wisdom,” the one who was closest to the Buddha-mind, he felt that he had the responsibility to lead all these people. So, Sariputra requested teachings on behalf of his fellow spiritual practitioners. “Those who had been taught by the Buddha” refers to how these disciples had been taught by the Buddha for a very long time, so they would faithfully accept [the Dharma].
Sariputra requested teachings on behalf of his fellow spiritual practitioners. So, he said that those who had been taught by the Buddha would certainly respect and believe Him. Those who accepted His teachings would benefit tremendously and attain the great joy of peace and safety.
Sariputra even said,
“The countless beings assembled here will respect and believe this Dharma. For You have, life after life, taught ones such as these. With one mind, with palms together, we all want to receive Your words.”
Sariputra said that there were so many people who had, in the past, been taught by the Buddha. So, they could accept the Dharma. The number of people was countless; aside from those at the assembly, this included people in the future as well. “[They will] respect and believe this Dharma.” They would absolutely have faith and respect in the teacher and the Dharma. They would definitely accept the teachings.
“Venerable Buddha, You have done so much to diligently teach them. Now, these people are surely wholeheartedly expressing their utmost sincerity by putting their palms together. In this way, they are focused and single-minded and waiting for teachings with great reverence. Please give them the teachings right now.” This shows they “all wanted to receive His words.” Sariputra really wanted to hear the Buddha begin speaking to everyone, and he made this request with reverence.
But did the Buddha believe that all these people could accept the Dharma? This was something He still had to consider, so He was still deciding. As we wait, we should still be mindful.